Jim Hightower

Trump told Kansas voters he'll deliver year-round subsidies for corn farmers only if they re-elect Sen. Roger Marshall. If the Democrat wins: "I'm not doing it." Is this how farm policy should work? @nfudc.bsky.social @ewgofficial.bsky.social jimhightower.substack.com/p/buying-far...

In a thinly-veiled act of profiteering, President Trump’s Transportation Secretary (and former corporate airline lobbyist) Sean Duffy is pushing to repeal the regulations meant to protect consumers from airlines’ junk fees, writes @jimhightower.com.

The Bum Steer (with apologies to Jim Hightower whose coinage I pilfered)

Nobody elected Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Altman, or Huang to decide humanity's future. Yet the same barons who unleashed AI on us now say they'll "save humanity" by remaking our economy and laws around it. Who asked you? jimhightower.substack.com/p/beware-bil... @athenaforall.bsky.social

It's not often here in Texas that we see a lot of aisle-crossing or bipartisan support for the issues that We The People face, but I'm pumped to see Republican Sid Miller taking a stand for what he believes in, and joining with @claytontuckertx.com to stop Nate Sheets' corrupt campaign.

Sean Duffy worked for a lobbying firm that represented the Big Three airlines. Now he runs the Transportation Department and wants to repeal protections on hidden fees, delays and wrecked wheelchairs. @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social jimhightower.substack.com/p/gop-gets-b...

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Jim Hightower helped define a short-lived period of hopeful progressive populism in Texas. Clayton Tucker is reviving the tradition in the midterms ...

Texas has a lot of voters who quit showing up because nobody on the ballot was fighting for them. Will this year be different? jimhightower.substack.com/p/friday-sig... #Texas #Populism #TexasPolitics #Midterms #JimHightower

Here's a little light reading for Susan Collins, who also enjoys a political relationship with Harlan Crow. #resist #mepolitics #VoteBlue #ModerateMyth

A Supreme Court justice took millions in luxury perks from billionaire Harlan Crow and saw no problem. Clarence Thomas has also voted again and again to narrow the laws that define bribery. Should the Court have an enforceable ethics code? jimhightower.substack.com/p/do-you-sus...

Google is making movies to convince you AI is your friend. A multitrillion-dollar company says it's just telling the story "authentically." I was born at night, but not last night. Full commentary: jimhightower.substack.com/p/the-academ... @humanartistry.bsky.social #BigTech #AI

Our team LOVES to see everyday people taking their frustration and putting it to work. Join them? @tanyafortexas.bsky.social @doncooverks.bsky.social @kanstransan.bsky.social @joannamendoza.com @villegas4congress.bsky.social @jonnyutah4congress.bsky.social

Big Pork launched a lobbying campaign called Save Our Bacon. The bacon they want saved is their profit margin, and they want Congress to override state animal welfare laws. Full commentary: jimhightower.substack.com/p/two-legged... @ciwfusa.bsky.social #SaveOurBacon #AnimalWelfare

GOP "small business" plan: redefine small by 1,000 percent so billion-dollar giants qualify for grants and contracts meant for Main Street. Full commentary: jimhightower.substack.com/p/you-betcha... @velazquez.house.gov #SmallBusiness #Monopolies

A 24 year old farm worker was killed by heat in Mississippi. No worker should be killed on the job, but we still have no enforceable federal heat protection rules. 1/

"What’s wrong with us? Our nation’s moral compass, I mean." @jimhightower.com aginginamerica.news/2026/10/02/w...

In 1987, Congress said sick seniors on Medicaid can only spend $30/mo on personal needs. It has not raised it in the decades since. We can give billionaires tax subsidies galore, but seniors have to scrimp pennies for a rare treat? @justiceinaging.org jimhightower.substack.com/p/why-cant-i...

Corporations can spend unlimited cash electing their straw men, and the Supreme Court says you don't get to know who's buying whom. The Transparent Election Initiative thinks The People can overrule that. I agree. jimhightower.substack.com/p/montana-pr...

I got together with TavisSmiley to debunk Ken Paxton's popularity, among many, many other topics! jimhightower.substack.com/p/friday-sig...

Trump's EPA says communities don't need to be notified about a data center moving in, and there's no public comment needed on air pollution. You'd learn about it from the bulldozers. jimhightower.substack.com/p/the-people... #DataCenters #EPA

Trump says Democrats want to blow up Mount Rushmore. Tim Scott says they want to rip our hearts out. The GOP is reviving McCarthyism. Full commentary: jimhightower.substack.com/p/gop-leader...

They studied the harm, then sealed the study. Corporate data centers are hiding safety studies behind NDAs while cutting deals with local officials nationwide. Louisiana got a "no harm" verdict they weren't allowed to read. jimhightower.substack.com/p/corporate-... #BigTech #DataCenters

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Abbott courted AI billionaires with taxpayer subsidies and no local oversight. Now rural Texas hates him for it, and when he ordered data centers to report water use, 70% ignored him outright. Full story: jimhightower.substack.com/p/gregs-foll... @momsagabbott.bsky.social

Trump's FCC is trying to stop you from seeing this.

Trump told towns fighting AI data centers they "want to end up backwards and poor," and says they should "let data reign." Reign, like kings, with Musk and Bezos on the throne. People of every political stripe are fighting back. jimhightower.substack.com/p/the-presid...

Musk and Thiel have decided they're better than you. To these plutocrats, government exists to protect their pile from the Common Good. We've beaten this arrogance before and we can again. Full commentary: jimhightower.substack.com/p/billionair... #Oligarchy

Big Tech is promising your town jobs, tax revenue, and a shiny future. What they're not mentioning: your water bill, your electric bill, and what happens after the construction crews leave. Part 2 of our plain-English AI series is up. What's really going on with the data center boom?

Gates & Murdoch are playing cowboy on 300,000-acre ranches they can't run. Biggest landowners now hold 42M acres, up from 27M in 15 years, and your taxes subsidize it while families get locked out. jimhightower.substack.com/p/billionair...

A Silicon Valley billionaire is quietly writing the laws that make homelessness a crime. Joe Lonsdale's think tank ships bills to statehouses: sleep outside, face a $5,000 fine or jail. 16 states and Trump have signed on. @homelesslaw.bsky.social jimhightower.substack.com/p/whos-behin...

Every week there's a new headline about AI changing everything. But what actually IS it? Not the hype, not the panic -- the real explanation, in plain English. Spoiler: it's a lot less magic than they're selling you. jimhightower.substack.com/p/friday-sig...

I don't hate poor people. Do you? So why are our poverty policies so hateful? The powerful rig the rules, then blame the folks they robbed. Read the whole thing: jimhightower.substack.com/p/i-dont-hat... Take action with @repairers.bsky.social!

Good news: empty schools are becoming affordable homes for priced-out teachers. San Diego, Austin & South Miami are turning vacant classrooms into family apartments and cutting rents by half. @stateinnovation.org Full commentary: jimhightower.substack.com/p/not-all-pr... #AffordableHousing

The Treasury Secretary says the rich-poor gap is "over." His proof? A billionaire got sick of hearing about it, so he decreed it dead. You'll know it's over when your paycheck covers your bills. Full commentary: jimhightower.substack.com/p/why-is-tru...

Musk and Bezos want to pave your farmland to build robots that replace you. Thousands of billionaire-backed data centers, quietly approved, draining our water and power grid. They call it progress. I call it feudalism. jimhightower.substack.com/p/big-tech-i... #BigTech #DataCenters

Austin spent decades branding itself "weird" — then priced out the artists who made it that way. Neon artist Todd Sanders, 30 years in business, just got squeezed 80 miles out of town by developer-friendly tax hikes. jimhightower.substack.com/p/moneyed-po...

Missouri GOP tried to use the initiative process to kill the initiative process. Voters weren't fooled: 80% rejected the scheme. 15 more states are pushing similar bans. This is the playbook now. @fairnessproject.bsky.social @piperformissouri.bsky.social jimhightower.substack.com/p/voters-reb...

CEO pulling $23M/year needed corporate money to cover a $492 home generator repair. $600M in exec perks uncovered last year — free tickets, booze "for research," you name it. Full commentary: jimhightower.substack.com/p/corporate-... #CEOPay #EatTheRich

"Who the Hell elected you to dictate our future?" The AI gold rush is old greed in new packaging. This is populist rebellion, not envy. jimhightower.substack.com/p/the-data-c... @mediajustice.bsky.social @kairosfellows.bsky.social

They called me a “big government socialist” for trying to help farmers sell their own food. My answer: the “free” in “free enterprise” isn’t an adjective, it’s a verb. Full story: jimhightower.substack.com/p/friday-sig...

Elon Musk says he'll save humanity by colonizing Mars. If he means it, he should go first. He runs three companies, grabs subsidies, cheats workers, then sues anyone in his way. Full commentary: jimhightower.substack.com/p/why-trust-...

We just became the best-funded grassroots campaigns for Texas Ag Commissioner in decades, easily since @jimhightower.com. We did it $50 at a time from regular folks -- not from billionaires, corporate PACs, or data centers. Together, we're proving organized people can beat organized money.

An obscure trillion-dollar tech boss called you foolish for questioning his AI takeover. He admits it's about profits, not people. Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg: same tune. Full commentary: jimhightower.substack.com/p/ai-billion... #AI #Billionaires

The FCC just approved a plan for 50,000 orbiting space mirrors to light up the night sky, no public input required. Brendan Carr's own words: "harms are unlikely to occur." Would you want night turned into day over your house? @aas.org jimhightower.substack.com/p/ignorance-...

John Deere billed a Montana rancher $4,000 for a $600 repair — because he wasn't "authorized" to fix his own tractor. Farmers organized, sued, and won this month. @repairorg.bsky.social jimhightower.substack.com/p/corporate-... #RightToRepair #JohnDeere