DPhil candidate LMU Munich, Amerika-Institut | historian, early America and 1790s BritAm diplomatic history | British influence in early Am foreign policy | revolutionary narrative | formerly đŻđ”đ©đȘ
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Anyway...Dems need to break out of the impulse to see 200 white people protesting against Covid restrictions as "the voice of the people which we must heed" while seeing 10X as many people protesting racist police violence as "a niche special interest group that's out of step with real Americans."
Stupid @nytimes.com is so happy to help cause our downfall and then post articles like this documenting it.
Thiel ally? Good lord.
White evangelicals give up spots in heaven for status and wealth on earth.
My childâs HS overemphasizes sports for attendance purposes and I hate it. Too much sports in HS = less time and money for education and disadvantages non-athletic kids (who arenât even acknowledged for scholarship anymore because it would hurt feelings.)
Yes - i always thought it was an ideal more than myth - storytelling about what America could be, yada yada. But in the end all that myth/ idealizing didnât teach Americans anything. So it sucks. I actually watch a ton of foreign shows/movies (with their own myths) & it is a good escape.
When do we stop calling him âPresident?â
One thing about this regime - it has totally ruined movie watching for me. Watching a movie like Civil War or Superman, or even the old Avengers - or anything featuring âthe American presidencyâ just rings so hollow now. Our values & Constitution are a joke. And no superhero is coming to save us.
I am sounding the alarm on the real crisis we face today. Donald Trumpâs overreach is what our founders warned against â it is unprecedented, unwarranted, and un-American. Thereâs no emergency here that calls for military intervention.
If a president wanted to become effectively a dictator, heâd likely: 1. Purge govt of non loyalists 2. Weaponize law against opponents 3. Use military to police opposition strongholds 4. Threaten media, schools, businesses w penalties to get them to heel 5. Change election rules in his favor.
It isn't until the 26th paragraph that there is mention that what Trump is doing is being challenged as illegal. And it accepts Trump's stated rationale to act. Here is what I think: Trump is illegally deploying the military in blue cities to set the stage to interfere with the 2026 elections.
The central lesson of Reconstruction is that we should have hanged the Confederate officers and taken their land
Any of Rep. Collier's constituents, And the constituents of any TX Democrats in this legislature, Have all been eliminated from representative government. No one can speak for them now. Their representatives have been captured and silenced.
@nytimes.com needs new ownership & management, to get back to real reporting - speaking truth to power - & I can maybe start a subscription again. But too many NYT writers wonât speak truth to their own bosses, so theyâll just keep churning out this pap believing a NYT byline still means something.
anyway the choice america faces going forward is live in the confederacy or do reconstruction for real and purge those motherfuckers from all of public life. and there isnât really an in-between.
US army rolling the red carpet to murdererâs plane. I will never forget this image.
The fact that women are comfortable running here shows you what a tremendous, infuriating waste of taxpayer dollars this is.
In contemporary authoritarian regimes, like in Russia or Turkey, they still have âelections.â But, they arenât free or fairâtheyâre mostly rigged in favor of the ruling party. Trump and MAGA are trying to bring these sham elections to the US. Rigging the midterms is their first attempt.
Federal law enforcement is being used to literally hunt down Texas Democrats in Illinois so Republicans can draw new electoral maps and disenfranchise millions of people. An extremely scary precedent is being set right now and Illinois is the first proving ground: www.axios.com/2025/08/07/f...
Is there really any point for me to keep studying the beginning of American government if the democratic republic they created isâŠended?
Good lord - wtf is wrong with these people??
We remember history till the last of the people who made it die. The great Arab historian Ibn Khaldûn used this to explain why dynasties last 4 generations. The first does it. The second sees it done. The third runs on momentum. And the fourth, clueless...falls. About a lifetime's worth of years.
People talk about how the recent abrasive policies of the United States are going to prevent the World Cup and the Olympics and... buddy, let me explain why many athletes whose life goal is to prove their physical superiority have no issues with fascism.
Thank God. That site is so important but not usable or searchable.
This should absolutely apply to primary source âhoardersâ who monetize access to American history no longer in copyright - access to old newspapers and letters hidden away in âhistorical societiesâ and archives. In the digital Information Age there is no excuse.
wall street rallies as donald trump promises to hide negative data from the public and traders
I appreciate the idea but no. The American dream should be that that shop owner and his wife have free healthcare and nursing so that he doesnât have to rely on the kindness of strangers to survive.
The Trump administration is undertaking an unprecedented strategy to try to undermine our elections. They are doing so by rewriting election rules, targeting election officials, supporting election deniers, and retreating from protecting voting rights. bit.ly/4l1lUPP
Valid question. Weâre paying for this every day. Taxpayers in red states are paying the salaries of members in Congress EVERY DAY- members who are doing everything in their power to end the constitutional rights and freedoms of their own constituents.
Imagine in another country a corrupt president was trying to change the election laws. Then that president's political ally threatened to remove all the legislators of the other party to get it done. That's what's happening in Texas right now.
This isnât fascism starting. This is fascism humming along like a well-oiled machine.
This is amongst the most impactful two minutes of broadcasting Iâve ever seen. By Emma Murphy, International Editor, ITV News. #Gaza
Iâve seen over the last 7 years how this trend towards NOT separating children due to skills/capacities actually contributes to a great âdumbing downâ of American edu over all. Itâs nonsense to pretend that some kids arenât smarter, start from unequal positions or all advance at same time.
If you, regular person, did anything like this after a fatal car accident, you would be prosecuted for a variety of crimes, including insurance fraud. If you then repeatedly lied to the courts about it, like Tesla did, you'd get prosecuted for that too, plus stiff monetary sanctions.
Trump is panicking because the economic numbers are giving a recession vibe. From the Chief Economist at Moody's.
On the one hand, a patriot with decades of experience defending America. On the other hand, a conspiracy theorist who hates Americans and American institutions. Presented here as "two visions of America under Trump" www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/u...
The Supreme Court allowed Trump to fire three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission without cause, despite federal law. Justice Kagan dissented, warning the decision would âdestroy the independence of an independent agency.â
All this has revealed is that straight white men still have way too much power in our society to make us all have to care and worry about their BS.
No one gave a shit if a gay man was lonely navigating a homophobic society. No one gave a shit if a woman was lonely in an abusive marriage. No one ever gave a shit if the Black kid in a white school was lonely. But we all need to care about straight white men being lonely. Miss me with this bs.
And here we go. The plan seems to be to go full đŸđđđđđđđđđđđđ, to turn the nation into a military police state. Theyâre telling each other to be careful what they write down, but theyâve already written down too much. đ§”:
But they didnât have the propaganda machine that MAGA does.
If you understand anything as a historian itâs that you can always count on people to do the wrong, immoral, unethical thing if it serves them. Even if it hurts others. Especially if they run a business.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down operations after loss of federal funding:
I spoke with 40+ sources for a look inside the Anti-Defamation League. Hereâs some of what I found. ADLâs gentle response to Elon Muskâs infamous salute was partially driven by his support of Israel. To ADL, that indicated he didnât have âantisemitic tendencies.â (1/x) nymag.com/intelligence...
Elon Muskâs giddily uninformed strike force of Peter Thiel acolytes cost the government $21.7 billion, according to a new report from Dems on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
This is how Canada does big cities - huge amounts of foreign direct investment in Vancouver BC (mostly Chinese investors) have helped make it a world class city but also drive up home prices for the average buyer.
every single economic indicator right now is a blasting air siren with red flashing lights
The U.S. Army has given Palantir a software contract worth up to $10 billion over the next decade. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
I'm coming to the conclusion that nothing good can happen, ever again, until algorithmic social media is destroyed.
Iâve lived in Texas (outside Dallas) and I can confirm it totally sucks, itâs even more soulless than most states, and even as a high schooler I knew I would never never live there again for the life of me. I watched all these people moving from CA to TX like
My grocery prices are through the roof here in the PNW. Itâs pretty unsustainable.
4. Every other discipline thinks they can do history but they often cannot
US and EU close in on deal to massively raise taxes on Americans, in total violation of both US domestic law & WTO treaty obligations
Because everyone loves to cuddle machinery.
This is serious. Very serious.
Bob Geldof wonât take any nonsense from Trevor Phillips: âNetanyahu is lying. The IDF are lying. âTheyâre dangling food in front of starving, panicked, exhausted mothers. And when they arrive to accept the tiny amount of food theyâre allowed by pantomime outfit the GHF, theyâre shot wantonly.â
After some deep research on Peter Thiel and his deeply deeply disturbing worldview I can heartily confirm. He is a fascist who actively supports dictatorship & has no regard for liberties or freedom which to him are just poppycock distractions used by the Antichrist for world domination.
A warning for America.
The Trump administration's tactics to suppress dissent go beyond traditional censorship. A First Amendment expert examines how the government can silence opinions it dislikes without direct bans. theconversation.com/3-ways-the-g... #polisky
Eswatini : l'accueil de "criminels" expulsĂ©s par les Ătats-Unis agite le royaume
Michael Fanone: "Mike Johnson is an insurrectionist member of Congress who was one of the architects of the justification for the attempt to overturn a free and fair election."
I just love how in society when there is less of something, it makes companies feel like they can get away with changing the prices and charging whatever they want, and weâre all like, âOK.â
"He's in the process of establishing a dictatorship." It's a simple 8-word sentence. News media could tell the public that. They know it's true. They report on the various steps toward autocracy every day. But they're afraid to utter that 8-word sentence. Which is more evidence of how true it is.
What? Payments for WHAT? Where is this money going? Whoâs benefitting? Do some actual reporting. These arenât negotiations. This is a hostile takeover. Damn press and its collusion with the end of democracy and freedom.
âWinningâ politically should never have to be predicated on who spends more money. Period. Thatâs not fair or equitable. And itâs not sustainable. We need firm election regulations/caps on political spending. Or the rich will always win.
The John Robertâs Court - with disastrous rulings like Citizens United and the presidentâs immunity case - has literally destroyed America and ended our 250-yr democracy.
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
At this point the GOP Congress must be receiving something more than just âstaying in officeâ from the Trump administration. The damage they are willfully doing to America, American principles is unprecedented. So what are they getting from Trump? We need some reporting on the corruption.
i think if we want to not just be constantly forced to react to and fight back against inevitable encroachment on all aspects of life by these niche far right groups there needs to be a more active effort to infiltrate and undermine them and also put more energy and money behind alternatives
All business is authoritarian and will gravitate towards corruption for profit without strict regulation. Universities acting like businesses donât belong in democracies.
In other words, Maxwell given lighter sentence to tell the world Trump is innocent. Just more corruption every damn day.
On an alternate note, our successful capitalism is now destroying the democracy that enriched it - as billionaires and companies support fascism and dictatorship to protect their empires.
One last thought: in the long run, democracy has delivered! We became the richest, most powerful country in the history of the world more or less in direct proportion to the expansion of our democracy. That may be why Trump has been so insistent that until his arrival, the US was a hellhole.
"the real danger of a strongman isnât his tactics; itâs how others, especially those with power, justify their acquiescence" from the former American ambassador to Budapest www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
âThe lesson of Hungary is this: We cannot claim to care about democracy only when it costs nothing. President Trump, like Mr. Orban, no doubt believes that everyone can be bought. Americaâs elites are proving him right.â #giftlink www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
A classic coordination failure: everyone makes excuses for why they go along with authoritarianism rather than resisting. And democracy and the rule of law crumble. We thought our institutions and culture were stronger, but we are following Hungary's path.
"Itâs really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!â Trump wrote, saying that two more late-night TV hosts are ânext.â This is exactly what it looks like. https://trib.al/RtvZCex
This is why I believe having a dog to care for is key for childhood development - it teaches empathy like nothing else can.
Several current senior Trump officials say the president and his team feel âemboldenedâ by how many major corporate entities and other private organizations have bent the knee in recent months. Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. "Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die" Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:
Iâm sorry, WHAT? WTAH is Israelâs problem and why canât we f-ing extricate ourselves from their genocide?
Iâve had this and itâs awful.
Yup. Right before our eyes in broad daylight. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Really remarkable how we have gone from "former President Clinton met with the Attorney General" as a scandal to "the DOJ is the President's personal law firm, and every part of the administrative state serves to target the President's political opponents" as the norm.
âWe are spending enormous stacks of money on a toy shovel to scoop water out of the Titanic. But because it satisfies the far right's bottomless lust for inflicting human suffering, it goes on.â
Cancel Paramount+ and give that $ to PBS/NPR.
Republicans have made ICE the largest law enforcement agency in the country. Democratic governors, mayors, and lawmakers have the power to stop secret police tactics like abductions by masked ICE agents: www.bluestatedefiance.org/no-secret-po...
This is certainly my daily experience as a humanities academic, faculty member and university governor.
Sounds like a good use of our taxpayer dollars and of the VPâs time on behalf of all Americans.
How gerrymandering can change election outcomes, in one chart www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp...
Brazil has some things to teach Americans about the rule of law:
Populism is popular until people discover it's just a very thin euphemism for fascism.
This graph is astonishing. The people that bang on about ânatural birthâ and âwomen have been doing this forever without helpâ need to be forced to stare at this until their eyes water.
Israel fire kills dozens more aid seekers in Gaza, medics say, as hunger worsens reut.rs/45ke0vp
Fascinating survey data on the missing Biden voters by Lake Research. The voters who sat out in '24 weren't looking for a centrist or turned off by trans rights. They want a genuine economic populist agenda: take on corporate greed, lower costs, and make the wealthy pay their fair share.
You know itâs fascism because theyâre trying to change the culture and politics of America using the power of the state.
F this guy - F MAGA - weâve all been promised an America that weâre not getting and I donât see why MAGA deserves theirs but liberals donât.
Once they kill the voices of all the pundits, we're all dead. So today I'm grateful for my @wgawest.bsky.social
âFive-Alarm Fireâ: Texas Dem Sounds Off on Trumpâs Bid to Gerrymander Midterms www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...