Conservatism was proto-fascism, pre-fascism, Not-Fascism Because of These Imaginary, Temporary, Situational Guardrails A riff on @polphilpod.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

New post: When you elect a reactionary twit, you get this. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

New Post! They coulda just leveled with us from the start, but nooo--they had to deny open records requests on B.S. grounds & playact transparency. Here's a breakdown of SPD's non-answer-fest in local media about Flock & Leonardo surveillance camera systems. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

New from me: County next door exemplifies the cloying, presumptive Christian Nationalism of Trumpist GOP as they mourn how Rob Reiner died while still Jewish. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

New Post: Some details on the effort to get public records from the Salina Police Department on its Flock cameras to see if it's wise for the police to police themselves. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

While the world is nuts, our little DSA chapter continues to bird-dog the local sheriff, because nobody remains in media here who can or will. I may be just a janitor, but that means I’m accustomed to sniffing out crap. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

New post! In red states, the ICE dramas are about how 287(g) agreements are taking the complicity and collaboration out of the spotlight. But no one can get their stories straight. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

Inside small-town politics: faux-populism, Christian Nationalism, neoliberal establishment do-little incumbents, normalized insurrection supporters, and a contest for the soul of a small city. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

Okay, I'm as caught up as I'm ever gonna be on Peter Thiel's lectures on the antichrist, and whew: Never was there a guy more in need of a lot of therapy and a lot of poverty.

Hey, you've already read a bajillion Charlie Kirk pieces. What's one more? open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

JVL does a semi-weird swerve on “courage” featuring Bolton and his Bulwark crew. If we have memories, and a better vision for post-authoritarianism, we ought to be cautious. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

I've probably shared more pieces from The Bulwark's Jonathan V. Last than almost anybody. But I've long sensed a blindspot (?) in him, and it has to do with the essence of political conservatism. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

Oh, please, please, PLEASE!

Your rights as a parent only count if you religiously hate difference, not if you want to keep your kids alive. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

Analogies suck, but how else to translate abstruse legal bullshit to unplugged, regular folks? open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

Much of this has been said by others, I grant, but Chase Strangio is right—we ALL need to be saying it, ourselves, in our own way, in our own spaces, as loudly and proudly as we can. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

I've never asked for money. Doing so now on behalf of tornado victims in the middle of the Kansas nowhere. Please read, give, and share. Thank you kindly. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

New from me: Defending empathy from Vance, Rigney, Wilson, Yoram Hazony’s National Conservatism, MAGA…and Damon Linker open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

Who says a FB can't give rise to a deeper dive? Yeah, we gotta unite, but never forget how we got here. On “laws of Nature and Nature’s God,” Claremont, conservative redemption arcs, and the rush to make things bygones as we band together to fight tyranny. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

There’s no grand strategist or strategy, just Trump’s Id calling for domination at all costs and those who’ve gathered to dance to the same music. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

Thanks to @loudlightks.bsky.social for a Reel that helped me clarify some thoughts on the MAGA mindset as expressed by wannabe KS Sec. of State Pat Proctor. My Latest: open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

Well, hell. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

Putting a passage in pictures to show the war we're in. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

So glad I broke it off with Steven Howe. Guys like him are toxic. Witness Idaho... open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

I regret to inform y'all that my attempted Bromance with Representative Steven Howe is concluded. He's not the man I hoped he was. I know you were rooting for us, but it takes two to make a relationship work, and the values have to line up, you know? jamestalley.substack.com/p/farewell-s...

What I hope is a thorough puncturing of the early days of Roger Marshall's career and why a consistent third of his constituents have never bought his schtick. Context for non-Kansans and a walk down Amnesia Lane. open.substack.com/pub/jamestal...

The attack on DEI shows why liberals should stop arguing about "strategic" use of language forever. DEI stands for three uncontroversial virtues that most every American accepts, and the right still turned it into a vile slur. It doesn't matter what you say - they will poison it because YOU said it.

This thread

Knock me over w/a feather: Steven Howe replied! Not surprising: He dodged the thrust of my criticism, how a man who claims to be decent, principled & caring can target & oppress harmless children & their supportive families, teachers & health care providers jamestalley.substack.com/p/steven-wri...

Hey, artists, in case you were wondering if your work matters: I'm a scientist working on climate change and biodiversity, and I would not be who I am today without The Lorax, The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down, The Last Unicorn, and The X-Files. I know I'm not alone. Thank you for all you do.

This is the way.

A second letter to Salina Rep. Steven Howe, who "Nicewashed" his way into more deceptively glowing coverage this week, impotently asking us to "think of the poor, disabled school children" while hoping we won't think of all he's done to help ruin the world. jamestalley.substack.com/p/im-startin...

How it started. How it’s going

Trump: I AM A KING! NYT: Trump displays a "fondness for regal themes"

Maybe the strangest idea I see liberals hold is that, even if there aren't enough leftists to swing elections, the left's negativity re: Dems is responsible for spreading apathy for the party. As if there is a huge low-info, easily persuadable group of voters capable of parsing leftist critiques.

Anytime someone says this will be a long four years I want to cry, because they fundamentally misunderstand what’s happening. That’s not to say there won’t be elections, but we can no longer count on them in the same way. When the govt breaks, it doesn’t magically rebuild by election deadlines.

The real MeToo “cancel culture” was what happened to the women and other victims who came forward. They were retraumatized, harassed, humiliated, sued, fired, and blacklisted. Then they were the subject of a revisionist history that MeToo went “too far” and deserved a reactionary backlash

🧵 Rome wasn’t razed in a day: 🔥 While the US goes to shit on a turd sandwich, it’s hard not to get lost in all the ways US-ians are getting fucked. Let’s reflect back on some of the meaningful ways you can get active & stay active at combating this new regime, and causing a whole lot of trouble.

Saying DEI with the hard R

Hey NYTimes — *now* you’re lighting the beacons? NOW?!? After months of “Sauron: Avatar Of Evil… Or Extreme Uniter?” thumbsucker reporting you’re screaming what we’ve known since 2015? Fuck all the way off.

Great thread takedown of the "network state"

Under fascism, no one is safe. Universities stayed quiet as the admin targeted DEI & foreign aid, censored research, etc. Now, they face devastating cuts to indirect cost rates, threatening research & operations. Silence won’t protect institutions. It won’t protect people; it never does.

🚨 JD Vance reposted a Harvard legal scholar known for arguments in support of extensive executive powers and unilateral executive action. He appears to be telegraphing that the administration is going to ignore judicial orders seeking to stop its radical efforts to reshape the federal government.

Meta’s policy changes have allowed neo-Nazi content to flourish on Instagram, with accounts openly spreading hate, antisemitic rhetoric, and Nazi symbols while profiting from it. This unchecked extremism is spreading faster than ever. Read more: globalextremism.org/post/neo-naz...