More heroes for MAGA. Pardon the perpetrators and reserve their speaking slots at the Republican National Convention. Goddamn right I’m accusing. This is the world MAGA wants. They love this. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/nyregion/ny-arrests-sam-nordquist-murder.html

I've been waiting for an instance of censorship by government outlet Xitter that someone could build a 1A case around. This might be the one! @mluckovich.bsky.social

How bad are things likely to get for trans people in the US? Russia is our model. I think we can expect the US to look like this for trans people within 3-4 years. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna136753

April 19 we take to the streets to be heard. Many times before then too, but April 19. https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/the-petty-tyrants?r=4euxpy&utm_medium=ios

New York Times editorial board showed some courage today. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/opinion/transgender-trump-orders.html

The last time I saw a progressive use the term “Latinx” was 6+ years ago. The last 50+ times I’ve seen it are when soneone slams Dems for “using terms like Latinx,” thus helping Trump. Anytime I read commentary on “Democratic failure,” I know I’m about to see the word “Latinx.”

It needs to be known that major social media platforms are censoring announcements of protests, to thwart resistance organization. (Hopefully not Bluesky.) If you aren’t hearing about protest opportunities, it’s probably because posts are being taken down.

For 2 weeks, Trump and his criminals have been a playground bully. The Dem Party, a mild-mannered big kid capable of defending unpopular others, has been worried it will lose popularity if it is seen doing so: “I don’t care, go ahead and beat him up.” Wrong strategy.

These two weeks have been the Democratic Party’s worst hour ever. No opposition whatsoever from prominent leaders. They actually seem to support Trump.

It is hard for me to imagine there won’t soon be a bill introduced banning ALL gender-affirming care, including for adults. And when it is, it’s hard for me to imagine Democrats will oppose it. Trans people have few allies now. Cruel policy is coming.

The apathy of Americans in the face of the rise of a cruel dictator may mean our democracy was always doomed. A polity that has no care for its institutions is certain to lose them. When the people realize what they eagerly gave away, it will be too late. We WANT this.

This. And I think Jonathan V Last is the most insightful voice in political commentary today. Democrats are nowhere to be seen right now, helping our new king attain heights of popularity. The Dems are an impotent disgrace right now.

In our dictatorship, doing the right thing will often mean going to prison. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/22/us/trump-news

So…the 300-character limit here is indeed a drag for a blowhard like me. Is Substack a way to deal with this? Could I write a longer post on Substack, link it here, and then we can talk about it over there?

Trump is not president, but king. Caesar. No law limits him. His power, absolute. The only opposition he has is from us, the people, and we who oppose him are, currently, a minority. Being in this opposition may be dangerous. Have we accepted that yet? We must. (Edited 10:02 AM via @skeetsapp.com)

This is a good one. As with any 3-year-old, you can never know what Trump will do. If he says “I’ll do X,” and it’s a bad idea, well, “he isn’t serious; it’s a negotiation ploy,” so criticism doesn’t stick. /1

In this article, serious writers try to predict what we’ll get with Trump, and as inevitably happens, no matter how critical they are, make Trump seem more coherent and serious than he is. Never forget that the president is just a 3-year-old. That’s the whole analysis.

Get the Skeets app and use the list moderation function to organize your BlueSky feed. You gotta work a little to make the Bluesky experience right for you, but I think this is healthy. Bluesky isn’t going to curate you up with dopamine hits.

I’ll get active here shortly…just wrapping up things at Facebook.