It's the same way for gay folks. The proliferation of the bad -isms and -phobias never means good things for us, either. We're not safe until we're all safe.

Mirrortocracy is such a great term. The tech world is full of such people, who are high off the smell of their own farts and who surround themselves with sycophants who marvel at the olfactory beauty of their stench.

Nor were elections suspended during WW2. The 1942 midterms and 1944 Presidential election were held on schedule, with FDR winning his 4th term.

And this is after Russ Vought and Steve Bannon openly spoke of their desire to put federal workers in trauma.

Absolutely. We could collectively say "these are not our values" and that would be the end of it. But the fact that we are not saying this is tacitly saying "these are our values" while the administration does fascistic performative cruelty. The silence is acceptance.

On the bright side, it's cured the imposter syndrome I've had my entire life. So there's that.

Yeah, the anger has to go somewhere and there will be lots of it.

Yes. Mass neurosis/psychosis.

This is why I got an MMR booster this past summer. If you were vaccinated in the late 1960s, you may need to do the same.

Yes, and the Scott Bessents and Richard Grenells are the quislings enabling it.

I think a related concept here is that only conservative viewpoints are legitimate sources of critique or dissent. I may be a white American, but I doubt that Vance would consider my inclusive pro-democracy opinions to be a valid critique of this administration.

My question still is this: how does one ensure that any agreement reached is honored by an administration that deceives, lies and ignores the clear text of the laws and Constitution?

It is quite shocking to me that Japan will get a woman leading the government before the United States. Wow.

I'm familiar with that essay and it is well worth reading for yourself.

Printed volumes of the US Code are forever, tho.

And he's correct. As with the last Trump presidency, leadership of the free world passes to Europe and the world's other democracies until such time, if ever, America is again ready for it.

Get your flu and covid shots, make sure others are up to date.

But also lots of celebrating. A big global celebration of the kind not seen since V-E and V-J days.

Each potential voter had power and agency. It was democracy vs. fascism. Stop coddling bad decisions.

How does one enforce any of this? This administration operates on lies, deceit and lawlessness. There is nothing you can trust and they ignore even clear Constitutional and statutory provisions. They can agree to all of this and then ignore it.

Excellent. To quote the late Christopher Hitchens, “Because anti-Semitism is the godfather of racism and the gateway to tyranny and fascism and war, it is to be regarded not as the enemy of the Jewish people, I learned, but as the common enemy of humanity and of civilisation.”

Every demo I'm in in this chart save for college graduate utterly failed to meet the moment. Truly sad.

My working theory here is that the conduct in Chicago is deliberately outrageous hoping it will provoke a response so they can escalate the response. They want an excuse to send in troops.

This is essentially the JVL argument I mentioned earlier: let people feel the full brunt of Republican policies. Sending the House home for next week is, I think, a tactical error by Johnson. Dems can make their case on healthcare knowing full well no deal is forthcoming.

Her calm in the midst of this is admirable. This is how it's done. She never loses her temper or her dignity, even as she's violently assaulted.

The irony here is that rural America voted 70%+ for Trump and would have been far better off under President Harris. They voted for their own demise. Trump is going to decimate their way of life.

You know who else was on coins while they were alive?

In a world where cyberwarfare, drones and logistics are the hallmarks of an advanced military, the obsession with physical appearance and lethality is also dangerously obsolete.

Without a doubt, the failure to address human driven climate change is the greatest failure of my generation. We came so close in 2000 to electing someone who would have done something, too. We've squandered 30+ years failing to address a known problem.

This is a good point. As it drags on and the lack of pay hurts the military and air traffic controllers, the glee will become increasingly problematic.

The whole thing is pay paywalled, but the direction of it is that the Dem demands are unwise in saving Trump from the worst effects of the OBBB. As a power strategy, he's probably right. But that entails very real human costs and is wholly amoral.

Wow, I didn’t know any of this.

It's weird to me to realize that most people now have no memory of Germany being divided and no memory of reunification. It's just history to them. For those of us who do remember, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a momentous and unexpected event.

Not being reported in the media: there's a giant TFR over the whole Chicago area to prevent drone flying (SFC to 400 AGL). It's up for another 11 days to 10/12 at 2359Z. It is the only such TFR in the country. This exists no doubt to prevent media orgs/the public from obtaining aerial footage of ICE

There's something even more wrong with the millions of voters and non-voters who looked at him and said, "yes, more of this, please".

“And in this respect, I’m coming to understand the AI hype machine as part and parcel of the fascistic project. That’s not an analogy. I’m not saying AI is similar to fascism, or parallel to it. I’m saying AI is fascism.”

Ah, yes. The "cheap grace" Bonhoeffer discussed (and he was influenced by Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. in developing this while visiting the US).

Some, perhaps. But perhaps we should also consider whether some of them are simply evil people with malevolent and malicious intent. Mental illness implies sickness over which they have no control. Some of them *chose* this. Every society has monsters. Most keep them out of the government.

Copaganda is invariably bullshit. Cops lie. To the press, in their reports, to juries. They are not to be trusted.

He's in the files?

Thread

Millions of Latino voters, coming back to the Democratic Party for good. Just like they did in California when Republicans pushed Prop 187 in 1994.

Could be what's called a dry drunk; i.e. sobered up but still exhibiting personality traits as though he were still drinking. Hegseth strikes me as a mean, angry drunk.

Not gonna lie, this ad is top-tier. This is *really* good.

I've worked on delegate and party rules matters for multiple presidential campaigns over the past 40 years. There was no legal way to hold a "snap primary." There would have been a barrage of lawsuits from the already-elected delegates had such a thing been attempted. The scheme was wildly illegal.

"Believe me, nice people don’t go Nazi. Their race, color, creed, or social condition is not the criterion. It is something in them." I think that something is a moral compass, empathy and compassion for others. Another word for that is decency. MAGA is the indecent, the morally bankrupt.

A whole lotta white families may get the Thanksgiving and Christmas they voted for.

Matthew 25: 44-45.

Yes, wishing an easy fast to all my Jewish friends who are observing.

I maintain that the original industry to undergo enshittification was the airlines. Notwithstanding the very real improvements in safety and premium products, the basic coach product has been in decline for decades.