AOC: And they are able to radicalize a generation of young boys in particular, away from healthy masculinity and into an insecure masculinity that requires the domination of others who are poorer, browner, darker, or a different gender than them.

This is the perfect encapsulation of the state of the Democratic Party. Can't risk taking a position that might offend someone. Offering transparent and empty platitudes instead. It's calorie-free b.s., and voters know what calories taste like. This satisfies nobody.

“We can give $20 billion to Argentina but we can’t afford the CDC’s measles experts” is a hell of an argument

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

Air Traffic Controllers have been chronically overworked and understaffed, in a highly stressful job that demands a high standard of perfection. Threatening not to pay them retroactively for work performed during the shutdown? The government is begging for an air traffic disaster.

One major difference between the US government and other developed Western countries is America's complete inability to conceive of citizen happiness as an intrinsic goal.

Nobody asked for this. Nobody wants this.

god he was so right

Last week I read The Sirens' Call from @chrislhayes.bsky.social. It made me think about the relationships between social media platforms, attention, and choice, and how much of our lives we unconsciously surrender to algorithms.

And Ben Gvir, one of the real terrorists, wants to keep them for months in a bedbug infested terrorist facility While the world stands by The Israel experiment has failed. Dismantle it and replace it with something that respects humanity

The regime is acting this way because there are no consequences so it is clear that consequences—the development of them, the advocacy for them, the imposition on bad behavior—are the answer to our crisis.

About 125,000 transgender people are assaulted in the restroom every year. No transgender woman has ever been convicted of assaulting a woman in a public restroom.

This is critical reading for Democratic politicians. Poll-testing won't suffice. They need to have principles, grow a spine, and find a visceral topic that people will actually care about enough to talk about it with the other people in their lives... Like, say, the establishment of a police state.

"The length of our analysis should not be mistaken for a sign that the fundamental question these cases raise about the scope of birthright citizenship is a difficult one. It is not." Our shitbag SCOTUS may end up reversing this, but there's life, and respect for democracy, in the US judiciary yet.

Chris Murphy: "In a different era, maybe just asking for a minor adjustment in health care tax credit policy would be enough. But it’s not a normal time. If you don’t mount a stand right now on behalf of democracy, there won’t be another opportunity."

As @chrismurphyct.bsky.social shows here, Democrats can believe it’s more important to stop bad GOP policy than to let Republicans touch the hot stove, yet still recognize that the driving priority HAS to be to rein in the lawlessness.

"There’s a false choice to say we either talk about how expensive things are under Trump, but we can only talk about that and we can’t talk about these assaults on our freedoms. And for a while that was the common wisdom among pollsters," says @vanhollen.senate.gov. newrepublic.com/article/2013...

"We’ve got to be a populist economic party. But we’ll never be able to raise the minimum wage if our democracy disappears. So whether or not the polls tell us that everybody believes that democracy is at risk—it is at risk," says @chrismurphyct.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2013...

I really like the phrase "Kavanaugh stop." It's not a Terry stop, because a Terry stop is short and based on reasonable suspicion of a crime. A Kavanaugh stop, by contrast, is when masked goons kidnap a person for speaking Spanish.

You know what would be great? If Democrats came out and said that the next time they’re in power, they’ll change the rules and end shutdowns for good. And then actually did it. Beyond being dumb and unnecessary, it’s flat-out disrespectful to keep treating federal employees like bargaining chips.

🙏 💚

The Democrats are always supposed to cave to Republican demands, whether they're in power or out of power.

Just another reminder that there is an ongoing atrocity, recognized and condemned by the vast majority of countries across the globe, supported only by Americans and our tax dollars.

Geneva is a lovely place and would be a much more appropriate location for international diplomatic work.

The only question remaining for the next administration should be whether to pursue charges against all the officers involved after ICE is dissolved.

None of the illegal and immoral actions of the President, and none of the damage done to our constitutional system of government, would be possible without a compliant and supportive Supreme Court.

It’s not possible to find one lens to explain the moment we’re living in. But the idea that hyper financialization has turned society into an asset class to be raided in order to get stock prices up is pretty close.

Selling this was only ever about limiting the ability to see Palestinians being murdered in real time. This has been laid bare, but it no longer matters, and they China will now transfer ownership to a series of purveyors of the American surveillance state, and war crimes will no longer be visible.

It also ignores that leaving was a form of influence! Millions sent a clear message about the minimum standards of fairness and respect we believe are foundational for civic conversation. Their obsession with our departure makes clear it was effectively communicated; they just don't like it

im having a harder time with politics than i ever have in my life, including the iraq war and the recession. we're in a full blown fascism explosion and the so-called opposition party has never been weaker. everything we've stood for as americans is being eroded, with a whimper.

As the excellent post also notes, reforming the party requires the political courage to clean house and walk away from major donors. This will only happen if rank-and-file Democratic voters demand it. Most elected officials do not appear to have the moral fortitude required to meet the moment.

Critical part of the President's new $100,000 charge for H1-B visas: The Administration can also offer a $100,000 discount to any person, company, or industry that it wants. Replacing rules with arbitrary discretion. Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.

Harris refused to move an inch on supporting a genocide knowing Trump 2 would happen and there are still white liberals blaming ppl for whom killing 100’s of thousands of children is a red line. Incredible.

I'm at the part of Return of the King where Frodo and Sam are trudging through an interminable wasteland with no end in sight and little hope of success, but they keep moving because quitting is worse

Honestly, this would probably be for the best for all involved. A smaller US for a smaller-minded populous, and an open democracy for the blue staters who still care about such things.

I've been an NFL fandom free agent for several years now. I think I've officially narrowed down my list.

Absolute, unequivocal evil.

“A democratic society needs people in Ezra Klein’s position to treat Charlie Kirk’s anti-democracy stances as disqualifying, rather than pretend they’re just another policy opinion…” @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social w/an excellent critique of Kirk hagiography www.arcdigital.media/p/ezra-klein...

Nor even "an end to impoundment and rescission so that the budgets passed by Congress actually mean anything."

Government funding is the one card congressional Democrats have to play, and one they could and should use to push back against Trump's authoritarianism. What's their big demand? RFK Jr's resignation? Reforms in ICE? Stand down of National Guard? NOPE. "Obamacare enhanced premium tax credits"

Today, the UN officially designated Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide. As a party to the Genocide Convention, the U.S. has a legal obligation to obey our own laws, stop weapons sales to Israel, and demand a permanent ceasefire. End the genocide. Ceasefire now.

NEW: Independent U.N. inquiry concludes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, joining a growing number of experts and rights officials in that assessment. Israel has dismissed the report as "distorted and false."

I asked Sen. @vanhollen.senate.gov whether Dems should fund government in exchange for short-term ACA subsidy extension: "I'm not going to vote to fund Donald Trump's ongoing lawbreaking, right? Because right now, any agreement is not worth the paper it's written on." www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWYQ...

The estimated number of deaths so far due to USAID cuts are truly mind-boggling. Musk will be complicit in the unnecessary deaths of millions of people. (estimation below done by www.impactcounter.com/dashboard?vi... )

“Mr. Van Hollen saw a different lesson [from his role in the Abrego Garcia case]. ‘This finger in the wind stuff has got to end. We also need to stop deluding ourselves that the problem is all about messaging, or about volume, or style. We don’t just need to fight. We need to fight for something.’”

It seems like Hegseth is only concerned with stopping DEI, purging liberals from the military, and quashing news stories about how bad he is at the rest of his job.

Animals deserve to live natural lives. (He says despite cohabitating with six cats.)