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www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202... Inspectors General provide important oversight and investigate fraud, waste, and abuse. Democracies need oversight to prevent abuses in power. Removing the watchdogs is one more aspect of authoritarianism.

$18B in NYC infrastructure frozen—not because the tunnel or subway aren’t needed, but because shutdown politics paused DEI reviews. Infrastructure sacrificed to anti-“woke” crusades.

Universities would be required to prohibit anything that would "punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas" and "commit to defining 'male,' 'female,' 'woman,' and 'man' according to reproductive function and biological processes.”

When federal employees swear to ‘faithfully discharge the duties’ of office, that includes obeying the laws that keep government neutral—like the Hatch Act.

SCOOP: At 9:35am on Wednesday, the first morning of the US government shutdown, employees at the Small Business Administration (SBA) received a template from human resources for their suggested “out of office” email. They were advised to blame the Democrats.

According to a report received by the employee and shared with MSNBC, FBI Director Kash Patel fired a probationary agent who had displayed a gay pride flag on their desk last year “claiming he had displayed an improper ‘political’ message in the workplace.” www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/k...

DOJ posts blatant political statement on their official website (top). On the bottom of the website? A disclaimer that all DOJ employees are subject to the Hatch Act.

This DHS post uses the Statue of Liberty to spread exclusionary, nationalist propaganda, twisting a symbol of welcome into a message of cultural restriction.

How to show the world your priorities: Deny Black South Side neighborhoods a long-promised Red Line extension and stop ADA upgrades for the disabled—because DEI offends you.

www.wired.com/story/ice-so... ICE risks creating a parallel surveillance state. Palantir probes of non-U.S. persons can sweep in USPER data through associations with fewer guardrails blending surveillance and immigration enforcement with little oversight. That’s how authoritarian systems take root.

substack.com/@steadystate... “In a democratic nation, where an outright military coup is unlikely, the way to gain control of the military is to use fear and intimidation to drive out those who would resist and replace them with those who will bend a knee to the dictator.”

“Too often, job performance under this Justice Department leadership isn't measured by competence — in fact, it can be disqualifying," Young said. "In many cases, blind loyalty is the only factor that matters.” www.cbsnews.com/news/doj-fir...

substack.com/@nslforameri... NSL4A's excellent and powerful statement condemning Trump's statements at Quantico.

Congress’s 2020 law authorized $1 coins for the 250th. Since Coolidge in 1926, no living president has appeared on coins. Trump putting himself on a 2026 coin isn’t prohibited, but it echoes authoritarian leaders who use national symbols for self-promotion. www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

When asked about "violent" left protestors, Noem says, "Leave the country. We don't want you."

Noem’s response to the NFL picking Bad Bunny? She ranted the NFL “won’t be able to sleep at night,” called them “weak,” and vowed they would “win,” then oddly invoked God’s blessing. The NFL isn’t losing sleep over Noem. But Trump and this authoritarian crew do have a grandiose view of themselves.

A Pentagon that can’t retain staff beyond a microwave TV dinner cycle reveals classic authoritarian instability, not strength. www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Supreme Court precedent protects flag burning as expressive political speech. Trump's post addresses the military, but the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. §1385) generally prohibits federal troops from enforcing domestic law off-base, except on military bases or under the Insurrection Act.

AFGE, federal workers’ union, has filed a lawsuit against the the Department of Education for altering employees' out-of-office emails to include partisan language. www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

The authoritarian president who staged a coup attempt is now an expert on which party is aligned with Satan.

This is part of their authoritarian toolkit—normalize state violence, protect “strength,” and intimidate.

The NCTC chief praised Trump’s plan to label ANTIFA a terrorist org and called for federal terrorism charges—neither of which exist in U.S. law. This shows why Kent is unfit for the role. The Steady State warned Congress in June. drive.google.com/file/d/1DX-u...

Sorry to quibble, but it’s the oligarchs & assorted servants of evil who have infiltrated & usurped the government who are doing that, not the steady state (non politicians) that used to keep things running and who are also under attack. This is an important detail.

Not just to government, to the steady state that keeps things running, but to our society as a whole, and that is the greater threat because it means that the ground has been poisoned in a way that makes a regression easier and more likely in the future. We have to be in this for the very long haul.

Here’s a close up at the first pages in our free mini zine, (Wink.) #1 - Resistance Resources. Full zine is an 8 page collection of info & organizations everyone needs to know about, chosen by us. @50501movement.bsky.social @steadystatevets.bsky.social NIMJ.org Print free @ PaperAmmunition.com 🖨️💙🔥

They’re the “steady state.” They’re the keel that keeps the boat upright and resisting bad weather, operating in a reliable way. That’s why the #REPUBLICANS hate them. Because the steady state is good for American government.

October 3, 2025 'Veterans of the U.S. national security community posting as The Steady State noted that “a president posting a video depicting his opponents as prey for the Grim Reaper and zombies outside the ‘unemployment office’ is the opposite of what we expect in a healthy democracy.”'

“Veterans of the U.S. national security community posting as The Steady State noted that “a president posting a video depicting his opponents as prey for the Grim Reaper and zombies outside the ‘unemployment office’ is the opposite of what we expect in a healthy democracy.” @heathercox

"One of the main distinctions between our country and Putin’s Russia, Xi’s China or Kim Jong-un’s North Korea is that government services and communications channels may not be perverted into instruments of partisan propaganda.”

A federal agency boosting a meme tied to extremism isn’t “funny,” but dangerous. Symbols like this have been weaponized by hate movements, and normalizing them in official spaces blurs the line between recruitment and radicalization.

Congress has a duty of oversight. If $17T entered federal coffers, the public deserves to know: where is the money?

If they are straight up racist, we need a thicker skin. If we say they are fascist, we are inciting violence and terrorism. The cognitive dissonance for them must be dizzying.

We need not point out that a president posting a video depicting his opponents as prey for the Grim Reaper and zombies outside the ‘unemployment office’ is the opposite of what we expect in a healthy democracy.

If top White House officials can support torture and still rise to power, what does that say about our democracy? Rule of law isn’t optional. It’s our foundation.

Back in July, 300+ former natsec officials from The Steady State warned the Senate: authoritarianism is rising at home. That warning matters more than ever today. steadystate1.substack.com/p/the-steady...

Please join our good friends at the Hayden Center and Senator Mark Warner at this critical event -- in the face of increasing politicization of the Intelligence Community, this is Ground Zero.

And one to match, with a national security focus: go.bsky.app/RXFLYri

Always wanted to Jack Ryan (yes, he was a CIA Analyst) -- here is the kind of thing he would have worked on for real (rather than fast-roping to a sub).

www.academyofdiplomacy.org/news/press-r... “The American Academy of Diplomacy unequivocally condemns recent online attacks seeking to discredit American diplomats based on their faith or identity” and calls on “Department of State leadership to convey their full support of its workforce...”

“Report foreign invaders.” This is how authoritarian states speak—dehumanize outsiders, recruit citizens to police one another, and frame fear as patriotism. In a democracy, law enforcement should be neutral, rights-based, and professional, and not use language of repression.

substack.com/@steadystate... "... American power is declining almost in inverse proportion to Trump’s insisting it is supreme. " An outstanding assessment of Trump's vision of power - and its consequences!

Hate to ask. But important -- BlueSky and other Social-Media-Who-Shall-Not-be-Named -- are key to @steadystatevets.bsky.social getting its message out. And we need your help. This Starter Pack includes @steadystatevets.bsky.social and other, similar groups. Please blast out! go.bsky.app/RXFLYri