substack.com/@antwest12/n... On Liars

Fireflies. Acrylic on Gallery Wrap Canvas. #BlueSkyArtShow #Wood

Goldman: You said references to ICE as secret police encourages threats. The problem is you have it backwards sir. People are making valid observations about your tactics which are outright fascist. If you don’t want to be called a fascist regime, stop acting like one.

1/ People everywhere are tired of politics that runs on fear and division. The good news is that something better is already taking shape. “Hope vs hate” is not a vibe. It is a choice. It is a strategy. It is a movement you can join and grow. #DV1 #ProudBlue #Voices4Victory #USDemocracy

Just finished my free course on the GOP Disinformation Course. Check it out. www.defendersofdemocracyacademy.com/PlaybookSignUp

11/
When caught lying, they never apologize. They cry censorship. Play the victim. Blame the system. Then they pivot to a brand new lie. It’s all motion, all distraction, no accountability. This isn’t debate—it’s a con. And the longer it runs, the harder it is to stop.

10/ With the public disoriented, they attack the referees: journalists become “fake news,” teachers “indoctrinators,” scientists “agenda-driven.” Judges, watchdogs, truth-tellers—smeared. Tear down the institutions that uphold facts. Replace truth with tribe and loyalty.

9/ When people don’t know what to believe, they believe nothing. “They all lie.” “Both sides are corrupt.” The goal isn’t persuasion—it’s disillusionment. Make truth feel futile. Make facts feel fake. Get people to give up—and the GOP wins by default through disengagement.

8/ They don’t stop at one lie. They flood the system—dozens of stories, headlines, conspiracies all at once. Fact-checkers can’t keep up. Truth gets buried. That’s not a glitch—it’s collapse. Collapse of trust. Collapse of attention. Collapse of shared democratic reality.

7/ Now Democrats are forced to respond. But boring facts can’t compete with juicy lies. The GOP launches the next outrage while the left is still explaining the last one. This isn’t an honest fight. It’s an asymmetric war—and the goal is to keep truth constantly on defense.

6/ Then the mainstream press takes the bait. “Is DEI to blame?” The lie becomes the question. Fact-checks come too late. Even rebuttals amplify the frame. The more it’s repeated, the more it spreads. Reporters chase conflict, not clarity—and the disinfo machine keeps rolling.

5/ Then comes the echo chamber. Right-wing media floods the zone. Fox. Facebook. YouTube. Bots. Influencers. Repetition builds false consensus. The more you hear the lie, the more “real” it feels. Propaganda by volume—engineered to overwhelm truth with noise and narrative power.

4/ Once outrage is triggered, they assign blame: immigrants, trans people, Democrats, scientists. Doesn’t matter if it makes sense—it just has to make someone the enemy. The goal isn’t truth. It’s resentment. Keep people angry, distracted, and loyal to the ones stoking the fire.

3/ The playbook always starts with a spark—a protest, a tragedy, a migrant caravan. Before the facts arrive, they flood the zone with emotion: race, gender, DEI, elites, “the border.” The goal? Hijack the narrative fast. Bypass logic. Trigger outrage. Seize control before truth can.

2/ The chaos isn’t a bug—it’s the plan. When facts feel unstable, people check out. When lies are constant, truth feels irrelevant. Confusion becomes the strategy. If no one knows what’s real, no one knows who to trust. That’s the whole point: disarm the public with disorientation.

True. Most don’t know what that means. But they will

Accelerationism.

1/🧵 It’s not dysfunction. It’s design. The GOP uses a ruthless disinformation playbook to confuse, divide, and exhaust the public. They don’t want you informed—they want you disoriented. Here’s how their machine works—and how we expose it. #Voices4Victory #DemVoice1 #USDemocracy #ProudBlue

3/7 Slavery was lawful. Jim Crow was lawful. Forced sterilization was lawful. “Lawful use” did not protect people then, and it won’t protect people now. Legality can authorize harm. History is the warning label.

4/7 Under a lawless Trump-style administration, “lawful use” becomes a trapdoor: redefine threats, expand surveillance authorities, criminalize dissent, then call it “legal.” The contract clause becomes a compliance mandate for abuse.

Good Morning! Yesterday's sunrise at La'ie Point, Oahu #Hawaii It had stopped raining after nearly 20 hours of torrent. When I arrived in the dark, it was still thundering and lightning ⚡⛈️ #BlueSkyMonday #AlphabetChallenge #WeekHForHs 📷 #Photography #OMSystem #EastCoastKin

Good Morning! I took this shot yesterday of a Laysan #Albatross flying over Kahuka Point in #Hawaii for the art challenges of: 🦅 #FebruArty2026 #flight 🌅 #AlphabetChallenge #WeekHForHs #Photography #EastCoastKin #OMSystem #Birds #BirdPhotography

Good Morning Blue Skyers! The trade winds continue here in #Hawaii and so do the sunsets. This is about as red as it gets. I am hoping to fly Jacqueline, my drone, at least one more time before leaving. 🤞 🌟 #AlphabetChallenge #WeekHForHs 🌟 #ColorADay #RedWed 📷 #Photography #OMSystem

The Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to spend taxpayer funds, and no law allows the president to halt if he feels some US states aren’t being “good stewards” of the money. In case there’s any confusion on this, the Impoundment Control Act forbids it. Taxation without representation.

The Trump administration issued its final decision today to strip federal #ESA protection from all populations of imperiled lesser prairie chicken. In September, we filed an appeal challenging a #Texas court’s decision that cleared the way to strip the birds’ federal protections.🧵 bit.ly/46sNjG3

Happy sunrise from the North Shore of Oahu. This entire La'ie Point, where I took this shot from this week, is made of lava rock pounded by the Pacific Ocean for centuries. #RockinTuesday #AlphabetChallenge #WeekHForHs #Hawaii #Photography #EastCoastKin #ArtChallenge

The Narrows / New York #photography

“The desert tells a different story every time one ventures on it.” — Robert Edison Fulton Jr.

James: It’s unfortunate that the president is weaponizing the federal government, particularly the DOJ. It’s also unfortunate that Pam Bondi seems to believe that the DOJ is the personal attorney for the President of the United States, rather than serving the interests of America

Sometimes the lower rungs fall first. That’s how power protects itself. But gravity works on everyone. The powerful who enabled or participated in Epstein’s abuse won’t outrun consequences forever. Corruption collapses from the bottom up. Don’t lose faith. #TrumpIsGuilty

What is the state of Trump? He is failing at fascism. For Trump to succeed in his fascist transition, he needs a bloody, popular, victorious war. And that is out of his reach. The State of the Union was full of fascist atmospherics. It was also blowhard exhaustion snyder.substack.com/p/fascist-fa...

Never forget this: The forces undermining our democracy, rigging our economy, polluting our planet, and stoking hatred are counting on you to give up. Cynicism is how they win.

In the vast ocean, they've developed skill sets that make them effective & if we're honest, BRUTAL hunters. Just like us. So as much as I think "goth dolphin" and "panda whale" are perfect names, I have to agree with the Lhaq'temish term. They're our relatives under the waves. Qwe ‘lhol mechen.

The Lummi (Lhaq'temish) nation are a recognized tribe belonging to the Coast Salish peoples, from the region that is now Bellingham, WA. Their word for the orca (Orcinus orca) is: Qwe ‘lhol mechen It translates to "our relatives below the waves." Let's talk about 'qwe ‘lhol mechen'.

There's a plant that smells like chocolate. My new favorite flower.

No active medical license and didn't complete her residency. She isn't qualified to be Surgeon General.

damn, Trump's surgeon general nominee Casey Means is a transparent bullshitter even by the standards of the regime. Watch how she's tries to blame Chris Murphy's staffers for the fact he has her dead to rights on being dishonest and corrupt.

Largely a niche topic just years ago, AI mentions in lobbying disclosure reports have gone ⬆️nearly 500% btwn 2020 & 2025. Much has come from the defense industry, as it advocates for implementation of new military tech. Read more to follow the $: www.opensecrets.org/news/2026/02...

It's about time! Summers has been disparaging women in STEM for as long as folks have been listening to him

scooplet: Mathias Dopfner, C.E.O. of Axel Springer (Politico, Business Insider, Welt) met with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles earlier today. Source says it was an introductory, get-to-know-you meeting.

Summer memory

Not all crooked trees are bent with age. Some lean over to tell secrets, if only we would listen. Secrets only the owls know.

In Iceland, books are exchanged as Christmas Eve presents. Then you spend the rest of the night in bed reading them and eating chocolate. Sounds perfect to me.

Wow. Mike Johnson only took 2 Qs during today's House R presser - he usually takes at least 4 - and neither was about Rep. Tony Gonzales. Johnson is refusing to call for Gonzales's resignation following the release of texts showing he pressured an aide who later committed suicide for sexual photos.

Al Green didn’t last long.

Well, no one knows more about fraud than jd Vance or whatever his name is.