Great recent article on the variables involved by @scottsantens.com www.scottsantens.com/17-key-varia....

🧵 Yesterday I shared my views on how disordered discourse has captured the US state and the risk of that happening elsewhere, but I don’t want to leave you hanging without proposing a solution.

What we’re witnessing in America is what happens when disordered discourse captures a political party, then the state itself. The Republican Party was the first to fall - abandoning truth for conspiracy, ideology for grievance, and policy for performative outrage.

Re-upping this piece once more because it was a long time in the making. But also because after he was wrongly accused by media outlets, law firms, and politicians, Silverman deserves to have as many people read about his vindication as possible.

Protest is good for you and good for the nation. Get out there

ICYMI: “And now, a response from the leader of the frog resistance...” 🐸 🎵 #Colbert

Senate is back in session today. 1/ So a quick 🧵on where things are at on the shutdown. You get a lot of propaganda and spin thrown at you, so I want to give you the real, behind-the-scenes tea.

Ruin a book by adding “Tom Clancy’s” to the title Tom Clancy's Naked Lunch

Wasn't sure if I was going to post anything about this but I'm feeling good at the moment and my girlfriend tells me to put myself out there more, so here we go...

The one thing that may save us is that Trump and his admin are just so buffoonish and incompetent. They mimic the aesthetics of authoritarian regimes without seeming to have a real plan. Some random thoughts I had this week about the state of our country...

Trump and Netanyahu are going down a path that is monstrously immoral and will also leave Israel less secure in the future.

Trump getting away with deploying troops to L.A. was a dangerous turning point.

Slightly diminish a band: Pewter Zeppelin

Started out writing about how terms like socialism and communism are misused. Ended up writing about the unfair treatment of Zohran Mamdani, progressive messaging, and how the great champions of free market capitalism supported programs like #UBI and a more robust social safety net.

To the extent I'm aware of it, it disgusts and saddens me.

an utter lack of curiosity is a defining quality of the worst people u know

Want to feel old? There is a ‘90s exhibit at the history museum.

Juan Linz wrote about presidentialism's weaknesses and the threat of falling to authoritarianism, but noted the U.S. was an exception, with traits that supported democracy and smoothed over institutional challenges. Decades later, the U.S. now seems to be following the pattern Linz warned about.

My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.

I’m thinking about contracting with a research assistant. Someone who has a background in journalism and politics and is (for better or worse) extremely online. Is this a thing that exists?

Frank Herbert's Dune and the warning it offers about AI's effect on society. #Dune #FrankHerbert #AI

Idaho bans "everyone is welcome here" flags in classrooms. How the authoritarian right uses the language of civil society to undermine rights.

O.J. verdict

Saw this posted somewhere else and had to redownload Elon's crappy platform to verify this absurdity is for real. Media will claim the left is out of touch with the working class while conservatives post stuff like this. 1/x

Trump is speed-running the crimes King George committed to prompt the Declaration of Independence.

Been saying this for months...

Trump v. CASA - the context and implications of the ruling are far more disturbing than the legal questions.

Just love going from crisp autumn morning to surface of the sun and then good sweater weather in a space of ten days.

Trump supporters betray the last of their alleged principles as they cheer for a new war in the Middle East.

Has anyone noted the irony that Trump is letting Netanyahu do to him exactly what he claimed NATO and Ukraine were doing to the U.S? He spent the campaign ranting about how these ungrateful allies were going to drag us into a war. Now he's being led by the nose into a war with Iran. #trump #Iranwar

In this house we believe The state enjoys a monopoly on legitimate violence Violence can only be legitimate when constrained by the rule of law Agents of state violence should be uniformed and accountable to the people

What is most worrisome to me is not that Trump will intentionally start a nuclear war, although that is always a possibility, but that he will—through some combination of ego, ignorance, bad advice from his unqualified senior Cabinet officials, and bad luck—start one inadvertently or by accident.

Not surprised by how many or how much they debase themselves. Just shocked by how cheaply they sold their souls. History is full of people who did so for wealth or power. They do it for a pat on the head from someone who would stab them in the back for a dollar.

Trump crossed the Rubicon this month and we should all be concerned. An honorable military tradition is quickly being destroyed.

approximately 49% of all college professors in the United States are only employed part-time

When I was about ten years old, I met David Morse when I was on my way with my dad to a Halloween party. He questioned the logistics of my costume.

In honor of Trump unironically attending Les Mis, I will unironically repost the thread of which I am likely most proud: Why Les Mis was an ahead-of-its-time primer on the cause and harms of mass incarceration (with citations).

1. The importance of family visits to re-entry (www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...), and the social strain of incarceration on families (www.russellsage.org/sites/all/fi...)

Trump wants to be America's Putin. Musk is a thirteen year old boy who just discovered Plato and Ayn Rand and thinks rich "geniuses" like him should rule. Of course they broke up.

Also I think it's relevant that 430 LEO officers stood scared of one kid with a rifle in Uvalde. Parents without body armor or guns charged the building. Cops were too afraid. I don't think there's a lot of commitment to die for Trump if the shit goes down.

if the wheels had come off this thing any faster it'd be a Cybertruck

Who could have guessed that two narcissistic psychopaths would turn on each other? #trump #elon

It's not about protecting the environment or preserving historical sites and it never has been. It's about rich people (far too many who call themselves progressive) who desperately want to avoid having to live near poor people.

Who Went Nazi? Dorothy Thompson's analysis of personalities likely to embrace fascism is still terrifyingly relevant today.

SCOOP: The State Department's new reorganization plan includes the opening of an "Office for Remigration," a term popularized by far right extremists and neo-Nazis in Europe. The office will coordinate directly with DHS "to advance the President’s immigration agenda." My report:

Europe needs to step up and defend democracy now that the United States has decided to implode.

Pete Hegseth has a teenage boy's grasp of warfare.

In the United States now, a "centrist" is a conservative who can string two coherent sentences together and/or go twenty minutes without saying something blatantly racist.

Talk about suspending habeas corpus should offend and terrify us. politicalnerdery.substack.com/p/talk-about...