If we have to become an authoritarian state, can we at least get eco-cities, bullet trains, and renewable energy?
Mom. Writer. IR and USG SME. Historian. Neurodivergency advocate. Non-violent protester. Believer in better angels.
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If we have to become an authoritarian state, can we at least get eco-cities, bullet trains, and renewable energy?
Dear Canada/Sweden/Finland: This is precisely what you all should be doing and it would be my honor to even just make the coffee while you build and grow your relationship. Sincerely, JoAnne
"The lunatics are running the asylum."
CHICAGO…
No matter what @MarshaBlackburn keeps saying, it’s not criminals they’re targeting. www.cnn.com/2025/08/30/u...
I’m pretty sure this is factually accurate. F-ing disappointing.
I suppose it depends on your definition of “dominated”. My take is that, whether the majority of Americans are supportive of MAGA/the Trump Regime or not, our nation is currently dominated by them. There certainly aren’t currently any effective balances on the increasingly unitary Executive Branch.
My Minnesotan heart is incredibly proud of Tina for calling a spade a spade. (Or a pos a pos.)
Others have said this too. That he thinks everything is a zero sum game. It’s a very oversimplified version of Realism as a political philosophy. Reagan, the textbook Neorealist, didn’t even believe that kind of stark &, frankly, basic bitch version of a theoretical paradigm.
Wow: French President Emmanuel Macron just called out Trump at a major press conference with the German Chancellor 😳
How limited is your knowledge of Chicago & it’s history if you think anyone in that town is more than an inch away from stirring some shit up over anything, ever. Now you want to give them a righteous cause? Someone dumb enough to fuck around with Chicago DESERVES to find out.
I’ve got to say - occupying Chicago is one of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard. Yes, I know that they’re TRYING to bait a fight so they have an excuse to crack down harder. The fault in their calculations, though, is the idea that they could ever “win” an insurgency against Chicagoans.
It tracks that MAGA dominated America would have the dumbest possible Mengele.
No wonder RFK Jr is so hostile to doctors and medical tests! He can diagnose children by looking at their faces in the airport! We are, of course, hearing this now because he is the only provider Medicaid is going to cover in 2027.
What is clear is that Johnson clearly knows absolutely nothing about effective governance or he would be doing it for the state he is supposed to represent.
Chicago keeping art alive:
The Regime is doing this a lot. It’s unconstitutional because Congress has the “power of the purse”. Every time this happens, it is illegal.
“I’m feeding all of these kits now - please provide me lots of food and clean water.”
When we talk about the safety of Americans, THIS is what I want to be talking about. I want children to be safe. At school, at church, on the playground. At the grocery store, the theater, the mall. I want children to be more important than firearms. Period.
The current President of the United States is focused on his own grift, criminality, vanity, & revenge. Average Americans can’t buy food, find housing, or afford medical care. Students are being murdered in schools and churches because lobbyists & corporations have more say than citizens.
Dear People Working to Improve the Speculum: You’re the real heroes! Thank you! 🙏 apple.news/Ads4CWUnsTQm...
A lot of people are saying they have been reconsidering their stance on coups. Not me, of course, but a lot of other people. I’m just repeating what a lot of people are saying…
You are living through the unthinkable: the president of the United States using the military to seize domestic power. The greatest crisis of executive power in American history, at the hands of the worst, most corrupt, and most unfit president in American history.
The laugh is at the guy, and it’s a dark humor “laugh so you don’t cry” situation. Or, in my case, a “laugh because screaming into the void that is where these people’s decency and good sense should be is driving me mad” situation. It’s more like being turned into the Joker than actually laughing.
No
Including being a better person.
Nope
In lieu of the apology that I deserve, I would like everyone who doubted before to do everything they can to fix what they allowed the regime to break.
“MAGA lady feels uncomfortable about historical facts and doesn’t want to deal with their implications for the present. Would prefer to continue to take privileges for granted rather than acknowledge to her children that she continues to benefit from the ongoing underlying systems and structures.”
Same. Not interested in self-censoring to save others the effort.
As Bogart told the Nazi in Casablanca:
Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul if ICE does decide to FAFO:
She’s so polite. If I were there I would’ve intervened and told him that she is under no obligation to serve him shit, let alone tolerate him being an ass to her.
Fact
Because when you’re repeating the mistakes of the past, you get style points for historical accuracy.
Worker at the gas station: “Ugh, that last guy really wrecked the trump!”
It is much more likely than many people realize.
Perhaps “Trump” will become the new “commode” - famously named after Commodus.
Aaaaand they shouldn’t.
Newsom is doing the right thing for democracy in THIS moment - and this moment is where our focus needs to be.
Bottom line? Parker & Smith were kings of insult comedy before Trump, and they will continue to be long after. He shouldn’t have tried to play on their field, because it just exposes the fact that, for all MAGA has tried to pretend otherwise, he’s really just not funny. apple.news/AWNmKcLL-Tf6...
Another professional fired for telling the truth about topics critical to our national security and stability. What could go wrong? 🤷♀️ apple.news/A5uGs4wlpRZ2...
Be aware that this is happening, share it with your social media networks and at least one other person who maybe doesn’t always stay informed for whatever reason. Just, politely, make people aware that this IS happening.
Brace yourself for the reality that both may be true.
And since it’s recommended that pregnant women limit total caffeine consumption to less than 200mg per day, which is about 12oz of real coffee, his wife has been forced to make Baby Coffee. Sadly, every morning she is reminded that this is not coffee, it is liquid disappointment.
That’s the type of “coffee” that my goddaughter drank when she was 4.
Here’s what’s actually happening in D.C. Residents and protesters are pushing back on this blatant authoritarian takeover of an American city. The people of D.C. want federal forces out NOW. #FreeDC
Anyone leaking should go to somewhere like @theatlantic.com @propublica.org @latimes.com or @wired.com
Thank you. My family comes first, but I took an Oath without an expiration date. Now I try to do both.
“Bonus” post: for those who are Star Wars fans - when people advocate this course of action, I would ask them to watch Andor, Season 2. There are those who want us to be - may even be actively pushing - for us to be Ghorman. Don’t take the bait - or spread it.
Advocating for others to try, though, is irresponsible at best. It is also a strategic and tactical mistake that is much more likely to set the movement back, speed up the full transition to authoritarianism, and actually rally people TO the regime rather than against it. 3/3
I encourage anyone who advocates for this method to do even a basic google search of the security measures in play. All other considerations aside, it simply isn’t viable. If people doubt my assessment, they are welcome to personally test the system. I strongly advise against it, though. 2/3
You are correct. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say it would be a massacre. The security around the POTUS isn’t a matter of, say, five guys with side arms. There are, among a LOT of other things, missiles locked on target - & until he is impeached & convicted, those measures would be used. 1/3
I appreciate, on a very deep level, the desire to bring about, if necessary, a revolution. I don’t begrudge people who honestly don’t understand the terrain - physical, human, or otherwise. I, however, DO understand the complexities… & the devastating consequences of getting it wrong either way. Fin
I could go on, but it starts to get way too specific and personally identifiable. Bottom line: I, personally, have the bonafides and the commitment. I’m open to realistic & viable suggestions. Those advocating for a mob-style storming of The White House, though, do not understand the realities. 6/
I buy fewer things and try to buy used, small business, and ethical sources. I am a neurodiversity advocate. I am raising kind, compassionate children who understand that they have responsibilities to their communities - small to large. I’m working to connect and grow a support network. 5/
If there is a big protest in DC, I will try to travel there to attend. I am on record saying that I am willing to be deputized by the Courts to serve warrants on members of the regime - preferably with a team, but I would go alone if necessary. I am careful about where I spend money. 4/
Still, though, I have: attended other protests when I was healthy enough to do so; donate so others can go; get the word out via social media & volunteer efforts; call, email, & physically write my representatives regularly; donate to the ACLU, ActBlue, NPR/PBS, individual campaigns; etc. 3/
I, personally, think we need several big ones, with a huge presence in DC similar to the March on Washington. As for what I, personally, am willing to do: I am somewhat limited by chronic illness, caregiving for two young & medically complex children, & being over 1k miles from DC. 2/
Yeah, I get that. I’m doing that. The No Kings protests had millions of people across the nation. There would have easily been as many people in DC as the Women’s March, but the regime would’ve said the crowds were for his parade. I agree that we need another BIG one, preferably on the Mall… 1/
This isn’t AI? He actually did this? I don’t have high expectations for him - but the bar is somewhere near the bottom of Lake Baikal at this point.
I understand our legal options. My point is that there are people who are genuinely advocating for a mob of people to, I guess, just walk into The White House and physically carry him out. It just sort of blows my mind that people think that’s possible but, tbf, they’ve probs never been here.
Zelenskyy deserves the #Nobel just for sitting through that atrocity of a presser with the orange king.
If you have friends & family in DC, check in on them. When the military + local police presence + curfew hit its zenith in DTLA, I got so down.. Familiar spaces & walks were not the same, & at times it felt like my home was not my own. Community, both near & far, is really important right now.
I hope her lawyer is in contact with the ACLU.
I’m not making the argument about what is “right”, by the way. I don’t actually know. I’m just thinking about the various perspectives & musing that I hadn’t considered much beyond my own. I think, though, that we probably all need to determine where our own tipping point is. 5/
Then again, there are also very few Americans who know what it’s like to live under the shadow of an authoritarian regime & look back into your country’s history and think, “If only they would have made the sacrifice then - so many fewer people would have been hurt or killed.” 4/
I never really thought about how many people in a lot of developed, truly democratic societies, probably don’t even realize that, yes, we would be likely to die. We’d need to go in accepting that likelihood. 3/
Like, I get that a lot of people around the world just don’t care that the number of people necessary to sacrifice their lives, STILL not be likely to succeed, & an event that would be likely even serve as the justification to become fully authoritarian… I get that & I see the argument for it. 2/
Wait. DO people around the world really believe that it’s that simple to take out a POTUS? I never really thought about it, but most of the world doesn’t do things like us, do they? Like, most democracies, at least, could genuinely do that without it automatically becoming a massacre. 1/
Texas in 2025.
My utmost respect to #Zelinsky & the other Europeans in attendance in DC right now. Their willingness to treat Trump so pleasantly rather than just punching him the the face? Putting their own pride aside for the good of #Ukraine, Europe, & the world? That’s being the better person, & it’s NOT easy.
I have incredibly low expectations for this regime, but I still struggle to fathom the unprecedented levels of sycophancy and incompetence.
To be fair, USAF is the least likely branch to f-about with Canada. One of the many reasons the regime’s ideas are so idiotic - N American air defense is even more integrated than the rest of Canada/US military forces. If a butterfly flaps its wings on a U.S. airbase, Canada’s got its flight plan.
There’s also the Canadian Stealth Air Force. Note: I am from Canadian border states that is also known for our numerous Canada Geese. They are mean cobra chickens and are not to be approached, let alone messed with. They don’t care about you. They give no quarter or mercy. All hail the Canada Goose
A couple days later & it turns out I was incorrect about this. I have had images of this floating around in my head almost constantly. Many include a Bullwinkle-like character dressed as a Mounty. He looks grim, but stoic & resigned, like he’s seen things that will haunt him…
Republican control
Are you sure the judge didn’t just say “pretty please”? Write a better headline.
🎯
That was awful. This is even worse.
The fact that they did this as a political stunt really indicates how incompetent at least the more public members of this regime are. They wanted to intimidate & be scary. What they accomplished was numerous images directly associating agents with the very crimes they are presently repeating.
Not gonna lie, we (Americans) are literally THE WORST about this sort of thing (& a lot of other things). It’s wildly embarrassing to those of us who actively try not to be self-absorbed and arrogant. We’re really bad about this with the UK, AUS, & NZ, but we’re horrendous with Canada.
That is the correct response. Each State’s National Guard should be reserved at home in case something occurs there, otherwise they would be deployed and unavailable to their State. The calculus would be different if it were a true emergency, but it isn’t. DC doesn’t need them, so the shouldn’t go.
Nicely done Anchorage!
I am sure there were numerous recruiters. I would bet that some were also victims themselves who were groomed to a point where they got the message that they, too, had to recruit. The physical violence is terrible, but the psychological trauma is even more heinous and difficult to recover from 2/2
Abusers like Epstein & Maxwell are very manipulative. They seek vulnerable people, make promises, & then systematically normalize exploitation & invalidate trauma. Everything from gifts and kindnesses to shame and violence are used as tools to gain compliance. They make people doubt reality. 1/2
Yeah, it’s not a flattering photo.
As Hunter Biden said, go forward with the lawsuit - I’m sure the discovery phase would be interesting.
A way to really trigger Trump is to ask not only if Epstein arranged their introduction and why, but also if Epstein & Melania had a sexual relationship before - or after - their introduction/dating/marriage. It’s crass & icky, but that’s Trump. He would take that bait, or snap trying not to. 6/6
This is why the press & the people need to keep pressing on everything Epstein - including asking about Melania’s role. Also, since (1) Epstein & Trump had a thing about trying to have sex with their friend’s wives, (2) they competed over who could have sex with their conquests (& victims) first 5/6
Trump’s ego is massive, but he is simultaneously incredibly insecure. He needs perpetual coddling & reassurance that he’s a big deal because he’s constantly trying to prove himself to his abusive father. Trump bullies & abuses because it briefly makes him feel strong. 4/6
The Epstein files can actually bring Trump down. Whatever is in them has him so nervous & reactive that the image you used is accurate. I want all the abusers in those files taken down because I don’t want them to be able to hurt anyone anymore. I ALSO think that it’s Trump’s weakest link. 3/6
… Trump, Miller, & Co ARE trying to soft launch martial law in blue cities & states per the original plan, they’re just flexing the timeline a bit in hopes of a two-birds scenario. That’s my read on it anyway. That said: Epstein is to Trump what tax evasion was to Capone… 2/6
I think martial law was always part of the plan. Vought & Heritage Foundation have been laying the ground work for Gilead for a while, & getting Theil & Palantir to make it technofascist was a bonus. Meanwhile Putin has been working Trump for a while as well. In other words… 1/6
I mean, I don’t lose sleep over it. I just care about all victims. I feel more for Ivanka. Regardless, though, Trump has to be brought down & every abuser needs to come down with him.