unfortunately the wanton destruction of government property is allowed without congressional approval if it “makes a really good metaphor”

The whole point of democracy is so one person's derangement does not become everybody's problem. It's social hygiene. The fact the richest men in the West are a mix of grotty twelve year olds and deranged apocalypse fanatics is a problem, and we should be honest about it.

New NYT euphemism just dropped

For Tolkien fans, a timely passage for No Kings Eve, from WH Auden’s review of Lord of the Rings.

Treating the Declaration of Independence’s list of grievances like a to do list. "He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing … his invasions on the rights of the people." "For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate …".

This is functionally a robbery of New York City and New York State taxpayers, who contribute billions more to the federal government annually than we get back. Stealing our money, blocking our bus lanes.

Love to pay the salary of public servants who routinely defame me and suggest that they want me dead lol

Again, it is a full-blown federal felony crime for anyone in the White House or Executive Office of the President to order tax investigations into anyone. And it's not just a crime to DO it, it's even a federal crime for an employee not to REPORT such an order to the Treasury Inspector General.

This cannot just be about healthcare. The existing constitutional system hangs in the balance. The rule of law is now baked into this shutdown in a huge way.

There's literally no reason for Congress to exist if any random freak in the presidential orbit can nullify laws and seize federal funds. All of this is plainly illegal, but Mike Johnson leads the most corrupt Congress in US history (and by a wide margin.)

the president using the office to punish americans that didnt vote for him should really be one of the biggest scandals in americas history

Almost like we founded the entire country on opposing this exact sentence.

There is no conceivable argument that these ships, even if we assume they were carrying narcotics, could not be dealt with in some other way. I think we can just drop the caveats and say: This is mass murder.

Old CBS would’ve probably spelled the guy’s name right, too.

A miracle they’re still alive. Elated for their families. Can’t help but think of all the hostages who would have also come home two years ago had Netanyahu chosen his own people over his thirst for war.

A perfect contrast. One of these two people is demonstrating the type of leadership that will get us out of this mess. The other is our current minority leader.

Nixon’s crimes look like harmless high school pranks compared to the now-daily unprecedented illegal & unconstitutional crimes being committed daily by this president & his staff

It’s all so deeply cruel..

Pope Leo is spitting. www.npr.org/2025/10/09/n...

The situation in America is not great. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

"Democratic strongholds" in this militaristic context makes it sound like we're terrorists or insurrections or warlords. I cannot express how angry I am at American journalism for enabling this moment.

John Roberts’ Constitution: The federal government protecting people’s right to vote or giving them health care violates the sacred principle of state sovereignty but if the deranged POTUS and his bloodthirsty advisers want to use the military to invade other states for being too liberal that’s fine

a significant reason this is happening is because out of a combination of partisanship and cowardice Congress has essentially abdicated its constitutional role in the republic

Look. Invading our own country is about as straightforward a case as you can have for impeachment. The GOP abandoning the Constitution is kind of the only story there is and it gets no coverage.

we simply do not have a union anymore if the president is using troops from one state to invade others entirely on the basis of political disagreements

A traveler from an antique land--great guy--said to me with tears in his eyes "Sir, two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert." And I said wow, that's really something. But we'll be building a big beautiful statue to my hubris and it will stand for eternity

The ICE agents deploying these are people without necessary training, those who couldn’t cut it in police training or didn’t want to join the military. They are in this to hurt people and play Call of Duty on our streets, deploying chemical weapons on our neighbors as if they’re pressing L1.

Everyone is trying to have a normal Saturday night and the president's top advisor is on X announcing that civil war is necessary

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.

the utter impunity of the police, backed up by the full legal and political apparatus of the United States, gave this regime an incredibly advantageous starting point in their attacks on American cities harder to get people outraged about ICE tactics when police already do this

The sight of opposition politicians being arrested is becoming more and more common in America.

As everyone else has noted, the ice stuff is just going to get worse and the dem plan of ignoring it isn't going to get better

Republicans believe free speech is when they can say what they want and when you can say what they want. bsky.app/profile/bern...

I asked Chris Murphy if he privately talks to Dem colleagues about why they don't sound the alarm loudly. His answers were depressing. Dems tell him they don't want to be "alarmist" or that "democracy" didn't work in 2024, so they want to stick to health care. 5/ newrepublic.com/article/2013...

You could not more perfectly invert the whole point of the power of the purse than this false notion the legislature cutting off appropriations means the executive gets more power.

The White House is engaging in direct extortion of local and state governments, attempting to force them to change their policies by stopping funding projects that already have signed grant agreements with the federal government.

You don’t have to read between the lines. Trump is literally saying, publicly and out loud, that he is at war — actual, military-involved war — with Americans and American cities he personally dislikes. That impeachment is politically off the table is a national scandal.

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

perhaps instead of cowering under a blanket labeled "health care," democrats should respond and advance on the issues that move people. this, of course, would require a foundation of conviction and principle, which may be asking too much of the party's leadership and strategists.

I’m really grateful for Pritzker. But that he’s so good at this also makes clear just how badly most other Democrats are failing to meet the moment.

What makes a loser: defector.com/what-makes-a...

how is it possible that the dumbest people in the entire country are representing us as U.S. senators

Truly unbelievable levels of both mealy-mouthed politician speak and cowardice, mixed with a complete misreading of the political moment. A perfect encapsulation of why @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social is unfit to lead this party.

Hakeem Jeffries still refuses to endorse the Democratic Nominee for NYC mayor but has plenty of praise for Eric Adams who, left the party, openly supports Trump, & cut a deal with Trump to disappear the DOJ’s bribery & corruption charges against him. Can’t imagine why the Dem Party has 26% approval🤔

There is a difference between righteous anger, directed at injustice, and hateful anger, directed at those who are different. Authoritarian regimes deliberately conflate the two to silence criticism and create false equivalence. It's important we don't let those in power succeed in this endeavor.

if literally everything else is the same except that the upper peninsula of michigan was part of wisconsin and the florida panhandle was part of alabama, clinton wins decisively and Trump becomes a forgotten joke. It makes you think! bsky.app/profile/lisa...

Democrats should never vote to fund a government that's waging war on its own citizens and firing officials *because* they insist on following court orders instead of breaking the law. Let Senate Republicans nuke the filibuster. None of this is normal and it shouldn't be treated as such.

that we have built an alternate media ecosystem in which every American city is an apocalyptic hellhole - completely unmoored from reality - and the political system has collapsed to the point that the president can use this fabrication to send troops against his own citizens is a staggering failure

The media have to start framing this accurately. The president is now functioning as a tyrant. The story is whether the other two branches of government will do anything to stop him.