In my view, the window to *forestall* autocratization of the US political system is basically closed. We're now in the consolidation phase of a new authoritarian constitutional settlement. The question is how far it'll get (will it achieve its apparent goal of fascism?) & at what pace. Here's why:

I think it's now possible to make a poli-sci course that equips one for modern political analysis better than most classic theory and has a syllabus sourced entirely from random internet posts. Text 1. Wilhoit's Law, born as part of a 2018 blog comment crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/l...

Forever evergreen

i'm reading this charles sumner speech from february 1866 and my dude is cooking

oh no

crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their consultants

this is as good as turning the Constitution off. If this is what congressional leaders are going to do when an executive just seizes power from the legislative branch, we do not have one.

I’ll say it again: It was a huge mistake for Congress to abolish itself.

Maybe one day we'll get together and and amend the Constitution so that it contains Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution. But until then, our hands are tied.

A few words about “peaceful protests.” 1. At least 5% of people are uncontrollable assholes and will behave badly in any situation, let alone a high-tension one. So a large protest without ANYONE throwing shit, yelling slurs or for violence, etc. is likely not achievable. /1

I've been thinking about this C.S. Lewis quote for the last few days as we head into some dark times.

generally speaking, the median voter has the memory and political knowledge of an amoeba. if you think that the coverup of Biden’s cognitive decline is going to resonate in 4 years, fine, but your explanation should be good enough to overcome basically everything we know about voters

more and more people are recognizing: our system has degenerated into an overweening court pitted against an overweening presidency, with congress nowhere to be found. www.liberalcurrents.com/the-present-...

This is gonna be four years of the dumbest motherfuckers alive painfully discovering why things worked the way they did before they broke them, then reinventing a shittier version with more nazis.

fuck these fucking guys who did this slate.com/news-and-pol...

[FDR, December 7th, 1941, off-mic]

I don't really care what the "political consequences" are of fighting for the proposition that *everyone* is entitled to due process before they are removed from the United States and sent to a Salvadoran prison. It's not really a principle if you only adhere to it when it's politically expedient.

I had been doubtful that we were going to have a "this is the crisis moment" with Trump, as opposed to "everything about this is a destructive catastrophe." But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment. 1/

Optimus Prime explaining to me that Trump take toy is bleak

What it feels like reading the Econ nerds’ posts now:

So the Supreme Court’s strategy seems pretty clearly to be forestall admitting we have a constitutional crisis by giving Trump huge victories on narrow procedural grounds. This is akin to having engineers move the Rubicon River closer and closer to Rome to avoid Caesar crossing it.

for those without petitions already on file, I think a next friend petition in the last district in the U.S. where the petitioner was present arguing that he is constructively in U.S. custody would be the next step

Dead people telling the President to pursue a trade war with an uninhabited island is real George III territory

Has anyone made onion and/or garlic flavored protein powder yet? If not, who wants to make a billion dollars?

made a meme about my mental state

The next Democratic administration must do to the ICE and CBP agents what Reagan did to the air traffic controllers. Break them on the wheel.

AAUP @aaup.bsky.social needs to put Columbia on the censure list.

This isn’t a real school anymore, it’s simply pretending to be one. I won’t be setting foot on that campus again. bsky.app/profile/jame...

Germans know how to make only two types of game. Settlers of Catan and Calculuskrieg 2025: Extended Charts Edition.

Did you ever hear the one about the Keynesian funeral director? He used ashes to fertilize nearby wheat fields. I guess in the long run we're all bread.

Again, the Secretary of State has no authority to “revoke” green cards.

I do not like this. I do not like being ruled by sociopaths soaked in an information system divorced from reality. I do not like that my president is an aspiring tyrant who has betrayed our allies to side with Putin. I do not like waking up every day feeling a kind of dirty no shower can fix.

Important, if infuriating, detail about the 5-4 decision today. The dissent is not on the ground that impoundment of funds is legal, it's on the ground that the district court's order imposed an impermissible *remedy* by ordering the disbursement of funds. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

Being able to drop a quarterly US GDP prediction by 5.1% from +2.3% to -2.8% in a single week is one of the most impressive economic developments in the history of the world.

Why are we treating literacy like some kind of elite affectation

I don't think I have ever wanted to be an American citizen less than I do right now. The shame is unbearable.

This four nations final is the first time I've ever actively rooted against a U.S. national team. It's nothing compared to everything else, but I didn't realize how much it would depress me.

This is just to say I have fired the bureaucrats throughout your government Even the ones that were probably keeping planes in the air Forgive me I am not very smart So efficiency Much savings

Have you done any of the following: -Compared the Neo-Nazi takeover of the federal government to trans people asking for respect? -Wrote the same brain-dead point over and over? -Had nightmares where you didn't critique both sides? If so, work at the Atlantic is for you! No other quals needed.

👀 "If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me." -- AUSA Hagan Scotten, SDNY.

It does seem possible that being a dissembling pile of morons *may* influence one's credibility somewhat.

The Partition of India displaced 20 million people, killed almost 2 million & created a refugee crisis whose effects are still in play over 70 years later, if you actually think it's a model for anything but massive catastrophe, you should not only not be employed here you should be in a padded cell

I don't think it's obvious because of the overwhelming amount of chaos in the news, but this is the biggest shift in American foreign policy since 1945. This is a titanic shift, and I'm not sure anyone knows what the result is going to be.

i cannot stress enough that at the very least everyone in leadership needs to go. all of them. probably most electeds over 70 too. primary them all. while we're at it can we just drop the entirety of the ny dem party on a deserted island

If Republican politicians believe they’ll be killed by their own voters or coworkers if they honor their oaths to the country and Constitution, then the only moral response is to (wo)man up and die. I know it sounds callous, but I’m sorry, it’s true.