Not available over the air in Portland due to Sinclair, so I’m one of 1.6 million and counting to have watched it on YouTube.

People of DC: The ABC station in the nation's capital, Sinclair-owned WJLA, was afraid to run this segment tonight. Let them know what you think about this. With minimal online skills can find their contact info.

My latest @flux.community: As the Trump administration declares war on the "radical left," opponents of Trump need to remind their fellow Americans that MAGA includes most of the population in this group. 1/ plus.flux.community/p/proclaimin...

There is no world in which it is normal for the president to publicly call upon his attorney general to hurry up and prosecute his political foes. It’s like the Watergate tapes but posted on social media. Let’s get a grip on what’s happening here.

Oh. My. God. Profoundly twisted framing from @nytimes.com The casual reader of this hed and subhed would have exactly zero inkling that this is likely corrupt or even illegal or unconstitutional. Euphemistic to the point of absurdity.

I don’t think any country in the history of the world has ever done anything as stupidly self destructive as what Trump and RFK jr are doing with vaccines.

The rapidity with which the GOP went from “the government shouldn’t pick winners and losers” to “the President should decide who hosts late night shows” should probably shape how future historians write about the pre-Trump GOP.

My latest at @flux.community: Democrats and other opponents of Trump should not yield an inch in making the case to the American people that the GOP is the party of political violence and authoritarianism. 1/ plus.flux.community/p/to-beat-ma...

The Republican party is a party of violence and blatant corruption. Everyone knows this. We will not stop saying this truth. No president in US history has repeatedly incited violence against citizens as much as Donald Trump. Essential reading from @jtccarroll.bsky.social.

Yep: "To think up-for-grabs voters who rely on Obamacare subsidies will [...] think, “Wow, I’m stoked the Democrats got my subsidies renewed for six months so I don’t have to worry about this until after the midterms!” is comical and absurd." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/whats...

The president of the United States just declared war, actual military war, not a metaphorical one, on a major American city, and one governed by his political opponents. In any other period, this would be impeachment-worthy.

if i had the opportunity to ask a question of anyone in the administration, given this "war in chicago" messaging, i would ask them how many americans the president intends to kill in his war

The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.

My latest @flux.community: In a speech last week warning Trump off troop deployments in Chicago, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker modeled how to confront a lawless presidency. 1/ plus.flux.community/p/vowing-to-...

ICYMI @flux.community: Democrats and the media need to grasp that supposed majority support for Trump's authoritarian rule was always a figment of their imaginations, and is now discredited by the reality of the president's growing unpopularity. 1/ plus.flux.community/p/leaning-ha...

If we’re going to do this, I guess it’s good to do it early while he’s weak, but it’s surreal. It’s surreal that we were a stable and incredibly wealthy country and we’re going to tear ourselves apart so conservatives don’t have to admit they went insane and elected a criminal madman. Never forgive

That Pritzker press conference was... surreal, and I think marks a significant moment of escalation in the constitutional omni-crisis. This was the governor of a state saying plainly the Union itself is being torn apart and his state is being militarily invaded by an authoritarian regime.

The president is sending the military to control American cities and if you're a reporter who's framing that illegal power grab as "pushing the boundaries of constitutionality" or "acting boldly to fight crime" or whatever, please go find another line of work where you won't get us all killed.

Yep. News orgs should state unabashedly that they are not in the business of amplifying Trump officials’ lies, and any official who feels entitled to such amplification can go stuff it. Let Noem shriek into the MAGA disinformation abyss all she likes. Just say no to this sleazy scam already.

In honor of Labor Day, my latest at @flux.community: for Trump's Cabinet officials, their "work" encompasses performative rituals of humiliation in which they publicly praise the president for his amazing accomplishments. 1/ plus.flux.community/p/at-televis...

The classical fascist regimes were not invulnerable, even after seizing the reins of power: Mussolini's primiership almost collapsed during a crisis where the criminality of his movement became apparent; it was a lack of political initiative and craven opportunism that allowed him to continue on

Very good discussion of the intellectual roots of MAGA, its deep flaws and incoherences, and the challenge of the moment for liberalism in response, from @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social and @lkatfield.bsky.social, off of her new book, which I highly recommend: www.theunpopulist.net/p/what-is-th...

The “Is Trump dead” thing is amazing because it turns his health and frailty and physical degradation into a compelling meme

someone should put together a "kennedy death count" for everyone who dies of a preventable disease and just plaster it everywhere www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...

This interview, which is also available to listen to as a podcast, provides a useful overview of some of the dangerous trends we’ve been seeing in recent months regarding federalization and militarization of state and local police functions.

Massive walkout underway at CDC. RFK jr. must resign so that we can be safe.

i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.

No honest American can watch grown men and women publicly humiliate themselves in front of Trump without realizing that something has gone terribly wrong with this presidency. My latest at The Hot Screen: 1/ jtccarroll.substack.com/p/at-televis...

Props to @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social for thinking seriously about the very real possibility of military interventions in U.S. cities. Figuring out ways to deter and impose enormous costs on Trump around such moves is absolutely essential, even if daunting. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/thinking-a...

"I admit that my first thought was 'Why aren’t the stupid Democrats doing something about this?' On further reflection, though, I had the sobering thought: 'Do what?' … If there is to be any meaningful opposition to the end of our democracy, it is going to have to come from all of us."

Something Democrats CAN do: " … make a public case that premeditated violence against American citizens … would be an unforgivable and impeachable offense by the president, particularly in light of the fact that he is quite openly trying to provoke excuses for such violence."

My latest @flux.community: Opponents of Trump should ready strategies in anticipation of his instigation of violence in D.C. and other American cities, all squarely aimed at destroying his legitimacy as president. plus.flux.community/p/beyond-ill...

stop calling everything a distraction youtube.com/shorts/yyFjN...

My latest at @flux.community: The president's illicit deployment of troops to the nation's capital on false pretenses advances an authoritarian agenda that his opponents should expose, repudiate, and delegitimize. 1/ plus.flux.community/p/trumps-dc-...

Anyone who has experience in an abusive household, or who has worked with people in them, or has read a lot about them, will be familiar with a particular dynamic: Dad is full of loud passions & intense moods, sweeping through like a thunderstorm, unpredictable, volatile, often violent. He is ...

Starting to get the feeling that Republicans will never run out of ways to show how very much they hate the gays. Astonishing that this hatred has now led them literally into a war on color. Pathetic, sad, weak. It's like rainbows are their kryptonite. wapo.st/417XT2E

"Today the most dangerous place in D.C. is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." @anatosaurus.bsky.social and @mikepod.bsky.social talking this week about the MAGA regime's hostile takeover attempt of D.C.

This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.

Washington DC needs statehood like never before. Democrats have failed to prioritize it in the past. Maybe this latest authoritarian Trump move will wake them up.

"Trump has invented an alternate reality, rooted in racism, bloodlust, and a desire for domination. In this alternate reality, DC is beset by 'bloodthirsty criminals' and 'roving mobs of wild youth…'" @jtccarroll.bsky.social on Trump's fascistic DC takeover despite 30-year lows in crime

My latest at @flux.community: As Trump contemplates a pardon for a convicted sex trafficker implicated in the abuse of hundreds of girls and women, his corruption and immorality are pushing American society to the brink. plus.flux.community/p/lawless-to...

Democrats need to jump on this story and amplify it all weekend and beyond. Openly authoritarian action that makes Trump look weak, reactive, and clueless. Everyone knows that you don't change reality by shooting the messenger. Total loser move. www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/b...

2/ As useful as AI can be for individuals and organizations, however, there are very real harms that it or its users can cause. As Karpf notes, every major tech innovation provokes social controversy. It's not the tools that are the problem, but the social structures deciding how they're used.

4/ Rao also reframes AI as a mirror for humanity: it reveals our own mediocrity, creativity, and biases. Like any technology, AI is what you make of it. But chatbots are even more so. plus.flux.community/p/why-medioc...

3/ If the left ignores tech, it’s giving up the table--and ending up on the menu. Thoughtful engagement, regulation, and public investment are critical if democracy is to survive in the AI era. This is especially important if AI becomes much more capable. The people must have a say.

1/🧵 There's been so much hype, naysaying and doomerism about AI that I wanted to do two episodes about it on "Theory of Change" with @vgr.bsky.social and @davekarpf.bsky.social. The discussion w/Rao centers on his idea of "mediocrity" and its significance in natural, economic, and AI processes.

This is something I've only internalized recently: reactionary thought does not propose an alternative set of values. It doesn't envision an alternative set of institutions or governing structures. It has no generative aspect. It is a permission structure to *ignore* values, to wallow in instinct.

One of the most curious flaws of reactionary ideologies is that they genuinely believe they have no ideology. @jtccarroll.bsky.social catches this in Trump's efforts to censor US National Park Service portraits of history @flux.community

Republicans are waging a generalized war on science, but I think many of them don’t fully grok that RFK isn’t at war with science alone or per se: he’s at war with sick people, and of the view that only the lucky should be allowed to survive into old age. They are know nothings, he is Mengele.

when RFK says he wants to “end chronic disease,” what people hear is “he wants to cure us” but what he means is “i want to cull the weak”