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Professional coder, amateur musician, poet, gardener, nature lover. UU Christian affirming world faiths + atheism/humanism. cis/queer 🏳️🌈🇺🇸🇺🇦
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Who stands to benefit from this change? Follow the money.
The Devo documentary is essential American cultural education. I think it wasn't easy at the time for the casual listener to get the high concept under the weird "New Wave" veneer. A great band!
"A mural of the Statue of Liberty in shame" by JDL Street Ar in Lille , Roubaix France 🇫🇷
How about we just re-establish the CDC as an independent nonprofit institution?
Let's not forget that Trump 1.0 did not lift a finger to get PPE during COVID. We had refrigerated trucks full of corpses. The only good thing he did was the vaccine push, and with RFK who knows what will happen next time.
In that light I don't see resistance to the current regime as "defending democracy". What we are defending are human rights, some of which are enshrined in the Constitution.
The U.S. is not a democracy. There has always been a distinction between the electorate and the citizenry. If this were a democracy, there would be no "voter registration", and every attempt would be made to achieve maximum participation in the process.
It's that simple
The last refuge of white privilege is to deny its existence. That's why Dear Leader wants to eliminate DEI and suppress history. We have to pretend that the status quo is fair and just.
This image will haunt the country for generations.
- Don't be an asshole - Don't punch down We'd do well if folks would at least follow those rules. Unfortunately, the President has legitimized breaking both.
Good for her! Resist the bullshit!
I will continue reading books, physical books with printed paper pages, because I like them, and because they create quiet, intimate spaces for contemplation.
Executive summary: citizens must demand better from government.
I just want to bump @womensartbluesky.bsky.social - a really classy feed featuring a wide variety of styles, media, cultures, and periods.
📢 The OAH has issued a Statement on the White House Review of the Smithsonian. Read the statement: ow.ly/hgLR50WGhfQ
Bravo! Thank you for standing up in this moment and articulating the issues so clearly and forcefully!
Never forget
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
🧵 The administration has yet to produce any evidence proving a need to remove trans service members from duty. Refusing retirement benefits to anyone who capably and honorably served is morally corrupt and un-American. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Some people seem not to expect strict parsing
The Constitution isn't what secures our rights: it's the voluntary adherence to the Constitution by the government. Nothing is automatic or guaranteed. Hence we must be vigilant and prepared to fight again for rights we have previously won.
We will not allow city councils, school boards or the administration to suppress our freedom of speech. We stand with @chriswarcraft.bsky.social and all others who dare to speak out.
Exactly what is happening right now.
Fascism is expensive.
Also, Congress needs to reassert its Article I powers. So much has been ceded over decades.
I'm here for it all day
Busting up big corporations and tackling Wall Street’s greed. Getting big money out of politics. Strengthening unions and fighting for higher wages. Medicare for all, paid family leave, universal childcare... This is the progressive populist agenda we need in America.
Has dude been in a bookstore or library in the 21st century?
If you want to be in the game, you have to play the game.
Love the intense look from Ms. Lanchester.
In any case, Warren must be doing something right.
Has AI solved climate change yet?
And even if what he wrote was true, who's going to pay for it if they think it's "wasteful" now?
In all seriousness, I think you are failing to address the fact that DHS and ICE have assumed the power to violate (at a minimum) the 1st, 4th, 8th, and 14th amendments of the Constitution. You can't just ask them to be nicer about that.
Reality must conform to Dear Leader's fantasy.
Absolutely do it
Blistering
We've replaced media controlled by elite gatekeepers with media controlled by elites and their algorithmic gatekeepers.
Defeating Trump and MAGA is necessary but not sufficient. It will only give us a *chance* to begin turning things around. If I've learned anything in the last decade, it's that progress is neither automatic nor permanent. The forces of regression will still be there, as always.
Always a good time to remind Americans that Congress has the Constitutional power to regulate foreign trade. The President is only able to do this because Congress has effectively ceded its power to the Executive branch.
Seeing a sign in a train station to beware of pickpockets, and hearing a PA announcement reminding people of recent thefts, and seeing no law enforcement, lends credence to the belief that police don't really exist to keep regular citizens safe.
I agree with your take in general, but I'm not sure it applies in this case, at least according to the reporting. More investigation is needed here.
In the U.S. there would be tear gas, flash bang grenades, and rubber bullets.
Bottle caps that stay attached. Such a simple thing, but shows care for the environment. Come on, America, we can do better.
We're fine with unqualified idiots in office unless they're sex offenders. Weird.
Re: the idea that empathy or compassion is bad or even "toxic," a belief held even by some Christians today. There is problem with that belief, and that problem comes from Jesus himself....
He knows more about this than 99.9% of white people in America.
There is no reason why we should be unable to feed, house, educate, and care for the health of everyone in our society.
The only reason we care about the Epstein affair is its potential to damage the opposition, whether the opposition is Trump, or the "deep state". Nothing about it will lead to improving lives or dealing with the real, critical issues facing us. And in that sense, it is truly a distraction.
Kristof blames liberal recalcitrance on immigration for folks turning to "nationalists and charlatans", omitting that Trump killed a bipartisan immigration bill from the sidelines to keep the issue favorable to him.
The point is, our national rhetoric has always been aspirational and far ahead of the reality on the ground.
As a supposedly democratic country, we also have relatively little enthusiasm for actually voting, which isn't helped by the strange clinging to archaic practices like Tuesday voting and the need to "register", which continues to be used to deny access.
The amount of money in elections has been out of control for at least a couple of decades or more, and we don't have the means, legally or culturally, to rein it in. The influence of corporations and wealthy donors far outstrips the influence of the people at large.
The ability of the majority party to draw Congressional districts now with surgical precision to ensure continued party rule is also destroying democracy and a sense of basic fairness in elections and representation.
Our two-party, winner-take-all political system is also deeply antidemocratic insofar as a 51% majority in a legislative body confers nearly absolute power by controlling all proceedings.
The Constitution as written cannot correct this because it relies too much on elected and appointed officials adhering to certain norms, exercising restraint, and defending and respecting the proper roles of each branch.
The U.S. has always been, in ways large and small, a "mixed regime", certainly up to the passage of civil rights and voting rights legislation in the 1960s. Over the past few decades, especially after 9/11, power has become increasingly concentrated in the Executive branch.
We're doing next to nothing about the two biggest threats facing humanity right now: climate change and AI.
Also known as the "I Didn't Have The Balls To Vote Against The Bad Bill That Cuts Medicaid And Will Kill Rural Hospitals Act".
Astonishing
The MAGA cult has nowhere else to go. We've seen this movie before.
Get up offa that thing, and dance till you feel better!
Wisdom, eloquence, a hero.
Reading the incredibly insightful book on Trump 1.0, Surviving Autocracy, by @mashagessen.bsky.social, is a reminder of how terrible it was. Trump 2.0 is more of the same, but faster, more destructive, and more incompetent.
Of course it's beyond shameful that this concentration camp exists, but members of Congress and state governors should demand full transparency and concern for the families and friends of detainees.
Not a constituent, but thank you!
OXNARD, CA MAYOR TRYING TO STOP 'UNJUST" ICE RAIDS
Interesting juxtaposition: a post about a superhero film above a picture of a real human blocking a big ass truck. Fwiw I'm more interested in the latter.
There will have to be a full accounting for these crimes
Some folks seem to think this Epstein Files snafu might cause real damage to Trump or the administration. I doubt it. How many times have we been told that Trump was finally cornered, only to see him slip away again? We need to flip Congress in '26. That's it.
Thank you for doing this difficult, important work on our behalf. I am not a Floridian, but I am a U.S. citizen, and I am appalled, disgusted, and ashamed that we have fallen to this level of degradation.
I just left the Everglades Immigrant Interment Camp. No, I’m not using their ridiculous name. It was a very tough to witness humans in those cages. Every Floridian should be ashamed that our taxpayer money is being used for this.
Because what the world needs now is not love, but testosterone.
Concentration camps
I’ve given up hope that Trump himself will ever be brought to justice, but maybe the people who did his dirty work will.
There certainly appear to be some assholes on this platform, although I suspect some are ragebait bots, who knows.
Welcome to the resistance
Wait till he sees "it's a Wonderful Life".
This powerful message: “I did the research and found out I was wrong.” I’m not going to say much more except please take the time to watch. Then send it around to family and friends, no matter their political persuasion. Part I
Thank you for the information. The public needs to know exactly what is happening. I would join with those requesting that we not use the name "Alligator Alcatraz". Is it not in fact a concentration camp? This is not to stoke undue outrage, but to accurately name the function.
He can't do anything without the votes.
I happen to think it's really important to have competent people in top government posts.
Bass: I just signed an executive directive that puts all city departments and leadership on notice to protect Angelenos—essentially from the federal government. We’re also filing a FOIA request because we want to know: Who are these masked men, and why are they masked in the first place?
Do they? It seems clear that they don't understand how government works. The head of DHS did not know what habeas corpus is. I do think Trump wants to break the government, and a way to do that is to get incompetent people to manage it and let the chips fall where they may.
From the content I've watched this creator does a great job communicating and explaining agricultural issues to those of us who lack firsthand experience.
Who needs diplomats to say "Fuck off, and pay us higher tariffs."
Please have your children vaccinated. It helps everyone.
What's left? We still need these government services, and as a citizen I don't know if they are still functional in the ways we expect.
Presumably, some talent that were not served involuntarily have left for greener pastures at home or abroad.
We know DOGE was a slash and burn operation.
We know a lot of the top posts are filled with know-nothings and sycophants.
I really want some deep reporting on how the government is functioning now.
I keep thinking about how much we're spending on lawyers to defend the government's illegal activity. Somehow it's both necessary and perverse.
sometimes sadness is feeling something that has been there all along, now
The alt text reads like a haiku
Comfort food: white rice with butter