Saw "Dr. Strangelove" and "Taxi Driver" in theaters recently, two great movies about men whose conspiracy-brained, toxically masculine, self-righteous, victimhood complexes find their unavoidable outlet in violence. No connection to anything our government is doing, though.

"take a break from the losers and clowns" - my wife

I guess the new party line really is "the guy who called to ban third world immigration, told wives to submit to their husbands, and spread antisemitic conspiracy theories was actually a moderate, you simply have no idea how many overt Nazis I know because you live in a bubble."

💯 endorse this (except for Sciabarra being "on the right," which would horrify him). Then check out his "Ayn Rand: Russian Radical" which puts Rand into productive dialogue with Marx & Hegel, and finish off his "dialectics & liberty" trilogy with "Total Freedom: Toward a Dialectical Libertarianism."

"It is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the state of Israel because our religion and our culture is such an important and long-standing institution that is really separate to this sort of ethno-nationalist state." - Hannah Einbinder

1. Murder is bad. 2. Exploiting murder to criminalize opposition is bad. 3. Propagandizing for fascism, getting rich pedaling hate, calling for gays to be stoned, preaching antisemitism, reveling in political violence, and facilitating harassing/assaulting professors is bad.

I have tickets to see Taxi Driver tonight. Gonna be a very strange viewing.

We're ruled by a rapist (not the first time) and his rape-laundering movement/propaganda ecosystem. We can't understand this moment, how we got here, or how we get out, without appreciating the insights of radical feminism. Listen to the brilliant @peacenotpeas.bsky.social on patriarchal rule:

Feel free to hit me up with questions directly ([email protected]). And, of course, if you want to donate, we're a full tax-deductible nonprofit and have some strong operating expenses. But please remember, you can directly save a life from incarceration or worse; jury nullification actually works.

Yet the main thing we provide is a wealth of knowledge and experience. If you'd like to book a free speaker or a trainer, want to get involved in our outreach in front of courthouses or just have questions on finer points, FIJA is a public resource.

And we're creating entirely new pamphlets with sections to help jurors in Grand Juries guide.fija.org/wp-content/u...

We're putting updates on classic pamphlets online so they can be mass-printed without having to purchase stacks through us: guide.fija.org/wp-content/u...

And FIJA's nonstop nationwide work through the 90s and 00s is responsible for making "jury nullification" a familiar phrase, even a meme. But what we need now is not merely "awareness" in abstract social media RTs, but in-person pushes and concrete guides around how to nullify effectively.

FIJA was founded by libertarians and civil rights activists who were very much aware of how critically social struggles in the 60s and 70s depended upon jury nullification. They built immense knowledge and experience, which remains a wealth of resources.

They simply cannot punish a juror for a not-guilty vote and not have the entire pretense of juries come crashing down. The fascists control a vast state apparatus; but large swathes of the population are unsettled by their actions. This may not matter in congress, but it can matter in the jury box.

Many will talk about the *historic* importance of Jury Nullification, how struggles for trial by jury to check feudal power and veto laws were deeply tied to early liberation movements like the levellers and diggers, and that's real! But I see it as a critical exploit to be ruthlessly leveraged.

To many radicals jury nullification has long been a little cringe and right-coded: it's working within the legal system and trying to swing *votes.* But what matters are the consequences. And over the last month we've seen incredible wins in LA and DC with juries refusing to indict protesters.

There simply aren't a lot of legal or nonviolent means available to directly check the ratcheting clutch of fascism, but #JuryNullification is one site of extremely high and direct impact. By standing outside a courthouse for an hour you can help jurors vote their conscience and save a life.

As a kid I used to put up stickers saying "google jury nullification" -- FIJA.org and the materials and expertise gathered over three and a half decades of struggles is what that pulls up. We're nearing live with a revamp of the website with more resources.

FIJA has won immense ground since the early 90s, getting jury nullification more proactively enshrined in various states and repeatedly forcing case law to acknowledge the right of activists to pass out Jury Nullification literature to potential jurors.

This summer I was appointed the executive director of FIJA, the nationwide organization that has been working since 1989 to defend & expand #jurynullification. In the face of Trump's rapid fascist takeover, jury nullification has been serving as a critical backstop to keep activists out of prison.

Coalition of the Bad. People who give a shit about other people successfully leveraged ratcheting social/cultural pressure outside the state, and everyone who doesn't give a shit about other people has rallied together to seize the state and kill us all.

"I could [write signed confessions to raping children] and not lose voters."

The American government is waging war against… America.

Happy Jury Rights Day! When we are summoned for jury duty, we have an opportunity to save someone from being caged. Look into Jury Nullification and the Fully Informed Jury Association (@fijanational.bsky.social) for more information about what you can do: fija.org

Here's your last chance to submit an abstract for the upcoming Cosmos + Taxis issue on the great Don Lavoie!

Damn, I was hoping his first post back would be something like: I am not Dead! In fact, many are saying I’m “alive.”

Crime really would go down if we locked up every single person, they've got a point there

Less "it can happen here" and more "it happened here and it's continuing to happen every day."

Many people have spent decades acting scandalized anytime someone called something fascist. This is not unrelated to the fact that we are now living under fascism.

Heroism.

If the US libertarian movement was built for anything at all, it was for this exact moment in time (the government putting people in camps, looting companies, occupying cities), but instead of rising to the moment, it’s betraying every single one of its principles and proponents.

We are seeing an unbelievably embarrassing and disgusting (though not altogether unpredictable) betrayal of principles with “libertarian” organizations choosing to simply ignore military rule, gestapo raids, concentration camps, and the rest of the fascist takeover of the US.

Aaron is a great friend, great interlocutor, and great voice, articulating a truly emancipatory libertarianism (or radical liberalism) in the face of an increasingly un-libertarian libertarian movement. His project is very dear to my heart and I'm always so happy and humbled to be on his great show.

"The worst get [to be members of ICE]."

Thousands of Israelis stayed home from work, flooded city streets and blocked roads and highways across the country on Sunday, staging some of the largest anti-war protests in months as the military prepares for a major assault on Gaza City. wapo.st/4mvMVfK

Now in Tel Aviv! We’re disturbing routine everywhere today because there is nothing normal about our government starving children, bombing civilians, and letting the hostages be killed. We refuse to let them steal our future on this land. We have to end these horrors NOW.

My friend @nathanpgoodman.bsky.social has spent years researching and writing about the "boomerang effect" of US foreign policy being turned against US citizens and then the regime just goes on TV and... says that's exactly what they're doing.

An unbelievably special belated 30th birthday gift from my wife: a signed picture of my favorite musician, Joan Jett.

Another Monday, another showy deployment of state violence to make the president more like a dictator and distract from him raping children.

"Nuclear stockpiles big enough to destroy the world ten times over are, in effect, invisible, omnipresent guns to each and every one of our heads." - @corymassimino.bsky.social c4ss.org/content/50452

From kingly adulation and bribery to record high taxes and spending to free speech crackdowns to economic planning to militarized cities to FEMA camps to child rapist leaders, right-wingers were absolutely correct about everything they saw coming. Too bad they support it all.

"building of new concentration camp temporarily halted due to construction regulations" is unfortunately a really, really funny illustration of current day america

Maybe the most beautiful film ever made. Seeing it on the big screen is an experience absorbing like no other. The way Kar-wai captures that subjective feeling of looking back at something in your life with true longing. The way he makes apartment hallways and noodle shops so... sensual. Pure magic.

All-timer talk with @aaronrosspowell.com and @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com, a libertarian and a progressive who've both become more nuanced with time. Aaron's diagnosis of (and remedy for) fusionism is necessary listening for libertarian and non-libertarian alike. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cQv...

Another day, another horrifying escalation in the Gaza genocide.

My latest chat with Roderick is unfortunately as timely as ever. The essay we discuss was deeply influential on me and brings a lot of clarity to the enduring moral questions surrounding war.

"The Fantastic Four: First Steps" is everything I've dreamed of for decades: a grand, sincere, colorful sci-fi family-adventure about people who bicker, doubt, worry, explore, invent, inspire, protect, love, and (so says both the film and Jack Kirby) represent the best within us.