Democrats still don't get it.
This country is ------.
#44 | Posted by ClownShack

I don't know how many in Congress get it. Plenty of rank and file Democrats get it, but as DB, says, they just don't know what to do about it.

Two thirds of studies are not reproducible by researcher's peers.
#40 | Posted by visitor_

And you consider that an automatic failure? How many failed scientific experiments did it take to produce the polio vaccine? I don't know, but I bet it was a number greater than zero.

Another good piece (shorter!) from the same author, emphasis mine:

From Madison's Vision to Musk's Dystopia
How Libertarian Naivety Paves the Way for Reactionary Control

The blood now staining our hands isn't just from failing to defend democracy"it's from betraying the sophisticated understanding of power that Madison built into our constitutional system itself. We've allowed the very fusion of private and public power that he sought to prevent, creating a new form of tyranny that wears the mask of efficiency and innovation.

This betrayal has given rise to strange bedfellows, alliances that might seem contradictory at first glance. The apparent contradictions can be confusing: How do Christian nationalists and gay atheist tech billionaires end up on the same side? Why are some reactionaries pushing ethnic nationalism while others advocate for immigration? What binds together Catholic integralists, Silicon Valley oligarchs, and MAGA populists?

The answer lies in their shared rejection of Madison's vision. Despite their surface-level differences, these groups are united by a common desire to concentrate power outside of democratic institutions. They may disagree on the specifics of how that power should be wielded, but they agree on dismantling the systems that disperse and balance it.

Tech billionaires see an opportunity to reshape society through private control of crucial infrastructure. Christian nationalists envision a return to religious authority unconstrained by secular checks. MAGA populists dream of a strongman leader unencumbered by institutional restraints. What unites them is not a coherent ideology, but a shared antipathy towards the democratic dispersion of power that Madison designed. . . .

Their thought-leaders provide theoretical justification, the tech oligarchs provide infrastructure and resources, and the populists provide the political energy needed to dismantle democratic institutions.

But I'll ask again, if Pres Trump decides that he will not follow the Court decision, what can the Court do to make him follow that decision?

Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social
Well, looks like we're already here. The Trump administration willfully defied a court order. Hopefully the court will hold the government in contempt. What happens next is going to tell us exactly what direction we are headed

ChrisJustice @chrisjustice01.bsky.social
SCOTUS created a criminal Frankenstein
And soon it will take their power too
Activists warned for the last decade

This piece helped me to understand a lot of disparate bits of information that I have been somewhat aware of but hadn't been able to put together in one coherent, overarching framework regarding the forces that are now ensconsed within our federal agencies and are deliberatley and methodically working to destroy the very fabric of our democracy. Very scary stuff.

"This is not about Trump. This is about what comes after him."

FTA:

The rise of Trump--a figure simultaneously hostile to democratic institutions and eager to embrace tech oligarchs"presented an unprecedented opportunity. Here was a potential autocrat who didn't just accept Silicon Valley's critique of democracy, but embodied it. His contempt for constitutional constraints, his belief that personal loyalty should override institutional independence, and his view that government should serve private interests aligned perfectly with Silicon Valley's emerging anti-democratic worldview. When combined with unprecedented technological control over information flows, financial systems, and social networks, this created a perfect storm: the ideology that justified dismantling democracy, the political vehicle willing to do it, and the technological capability to make it happen. . . .

[R]esistance efforts face an uphill battle against the immense resources and influence of those pushing for a post-democratic future.

And if we do not act now, we may wake up one day to find that democracy was not overthrown in a dramatic coup--but simply deleted, line by line, from the code that governs our lives.

And yet, the most terrifying part? Donald Trump, the supposed strongman at the heart of it all, is oblivious. He has no grand ideological project beyond his own power. He does not understand the system being built around him, nor the fact that his own presidency is merely a vehicle for forces that see him as a useful, temporary battering ram against democracy.

But those around him? They understand perfectly.

J.D. Vance, the Vice President in waiting, has studied Curtis Yarvin's work. Peter Thiel, his longtime patron, has been funding this vision for over a decade. Balaji Srinivasan is writing the blueprint. Elon Musk is laying the infrastructure. And the young operatives now wiring AI models into the Treasury Department--disbanding civil service, bypassing traditional government, and replacing democratic accountability with technological sovereignty--are working toward a future that will long outlast Trump himself.

This is not about Trump. This is about what comes after him.

Actuarial realities do not favor an aging leader with a declining grasp on policy. But they favor the thirty- and forty-somethings laying the foundation for the post-democratic order. The men who have spent the past decade engineering an exit from democracy are no longer whispering in the dark corners of the internet. They are in power, with money, AI, and a plan. And democracy, in its current form, has never been closer to the brink.

Vox Populi, Vox Dei, Elon Musk declares from his digital throne--the voice of the people is the voice of God.

But in the world they are building, the people have no voice. The algorithms speak for them. The executives decide for them. The future is optimized, efficient, and entirely out of their hands.

Vox Populi, Vox Dei. They whisper it, as they lock the gates.

"I have to reconcile it this way, if a group like the KKK were doing some sort of valuable research, should the feds help fund that?"

Ridiculous analogy. Terrorist groups aren't the ones doing the research at these colleges, but then you know that.

Tesla protesters should get same treatment:

DOJ says it will only prosecute anti-abortion protesters if there are "extraordinary circumstances" or in cases involving "significant aggravating factors" such as "death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage."

But I'll ask again, if Pres Trump decides that he will not follow the Court decision, what can the Court do to make him follow that decision?

Given the lengthy list of flagrantly illegal and/or unconstitutional actions from this administration, I'd like to see an answer to this question.
The courts can stamp their feet and rule rule rule ... but if Trump's hand picked people ignore it because they'll get pardoned or it's immune from any action as being under the power of the executive, what will happen?
More feet stamping and "rulings"?
#15 | Posted by jpw

I'd like to know too. I suspect the rulings will make their way to the Supreme Court that will be the final arbiter on these rulings, either ruling very quickly or after months delay. Trump seems confident they will rule in his favor, but if they don't and Trump refuses to comply, what then? Only a successful impeachment could stop him at that point?

Pres Trump has divided this great Country to the point that he has his followers ascribing "enemy" to those who disagree with him.

Oh, it's about to get a lot worse. Deportations and arrests lie ahead for those who are bold enough to disagree with him publicly:

Domestic Enemy Hat
@kenwhite.bsky.social

A reminder in dark times: kindness, mercy, decency, and respect towards the least of us enrages Trumpists. It burns them. It's like a mirror that shows them how they fall short of humanity.

Kindness and decency towards the people Trumpists hate is not just right; it torments Trumpists.

Oklahoma man says Social Security benefits terminated without warning or explanation

An Oklahoma City retiree said his Social Security benefits were suspended without warning " and with no explanation given when he reached out. He worries it may have to do with the place he was born, and ongoing Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cutbacks.

The man, James McCaffrey, who was born to an active-duty U.S. soldier at an overseas Army base, said because of recent comments from DOGE leader Elon Musk, he's worried his benefits were cut because of his foreign birthplace.

McCaffrey said he started to think something was often when he received an unexpected Medicare bill.

"It said that I needed to pay $740 before the 25th of this month or I was going to lose my Medicare," McCaffrey said.

That seemed odd, since his Medicare payment is normally deducted from his Social Security check.

"So I called Medicare," he said. "They returned my call after a wait and told me that they were unable to process it through my Social Security payment, that there was some problem with it. We talked for a bit. He kind of let it out that he thinks it's a possibility that my Social Security was suspended."

And yet another inexplicable deportation:

Brown Medicine doctor deported despite federal court order. What we know.

A federal court order that would have halted the immediate deportation of a Rhode Island doctor was issued Friday evening while the doctor's departing plane sat on the tarmac at Boston Logan International Airport, said a family friend and colleague.

But the plane ultimately took off, carrying Dr. Rasha Alawieh out of the country for reasons still unclear to her family, her lawyer and Brown Medicine colleagues such as Dr. Basma Merhi.

"They did not do anything to stop the plane," said Merhi, who was learning details of the event through information relayed by Alawieh family members. "So, clearly, they wanted to deport her regardless of if there was a judge's order or not. She didn't do anything wrong."

Alawieh had been studying and working in the U.S. for the last six years and had been in Rhode Island, working for Brown Medicine in the Division of Kidney Disease & Hypertension, since last July.

She worked at Rhode Island Hospital evaluating potential transplant recipients and followed the progress of those patients after their procedures, Dr. George Bayliss, the transplant division's medical director, said Saturday.

the man with the nuclear codes, is angry, emotional and acting erratically

"A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons." Hillary Clinton on DonOLD Trump

The cruelty is the point.
Republicans are cruel, mean spirited people.
They show us their true colors every day.
#2 | Posted by snoofy

This man was fortunate that he had other income besides SS and that he was healthy enough to make the repeated daily phone calls, travel to the nearby SS office, which although scheduled to be closed hasn't shut down yet, and then wait for 4 hours in order to speak to someone. A lot of seniors are simply not healthy enough to do that.

A 37 year old architect from India, who was enrolled in a PHD program at Columbia and due to graduate in May, fled to Canada after the US recently revoked her Visa and sent ICE agents to her apartment:

Laura Seay
@texasinafrica.bsky.social

Before Mahmoud Khalil's detention last week, ICE came for a Columbia PhD student. She had nothing to do with the Gaza protests, but was arrested last spring during a roundup while trying to walk home. Charges were dismissed. The State Department still revoked her visa.

Every senior citizens' nightmare, and if the DOGE bros have theire way, I expect will hear more stories like this:

Johnson is 82 and still kicking. Yet sometime last month, someone or something led Social Security to both tag him as dead and start clawing back his benefits.

Johnson's strange trip through the netherworld began in February, when a letter from his bank arrived addressed to his wife, Pam.

"We recently received notification of LEONARD A. JOHNSON's passing," it began. "We offer our sincerest condolences ... "

At first she figured it was a scam--her husband, after all, was sitting right there. But then the bank got to the point.

"We know this is a difficult time, and we're here to help," the bank wrote. "We received a request from Social Security Administration to return benefits paid to LEONARD A. JOHNSON's account after their passing."

"There's nothing you need to do--we've deducted the funds from LEONARD A. JOHNSON's account."

Uh oh. It itemized how $5,201 had been stricken from their bank account, on the grounds that Ned wasn't justified to get those benefits--because he was dead. That was for payments he'd received in December and January.

Ned found that his February Social Security check hadn't been paid, and he's yet to receive his March check, either. His Medicare insurance had been canceled. . . .

What followed was a nearly three-week battle to resurrect himself. He called Social Security two or three times a day for two weeks, with each call put on hold and then eventually disconnected. Finally someone answered and gave him an appointment for March 13. Then he got a call delaying that to March 24.

In a huff, he went to the office on the ninth floor of the Henry Jackson Federal Building downtown. It's one of the buildings proposed to be closed under what the AP called "a frenetic and error-riddled push by Elon Musk's budget-cutting advisers."

NEW: The family of Mahmoud Khalil have just released footage of his arrest. It's distressing.

"Stop resisting"

"He's not resisting"

The men who take him are in plain clothes and in unmarked cars. They refuse to give their names or even say what agency they're from.

Sounds like Gestapo tactics and for what reason?

FTA:

Schmidt had been visiting Luxembourg and flew back to the U.S. on Friday. His partner had gone to pick him up at Logan Airport, and waited four hours before calling authorities.

"It was just said that his green card was flagged," said Astrid Senior, his mother. She said she didn't hear from her son directly until Tuesday, when she learned he'd been hospitalized.

Senior described Schmidt being "violently interrogated" at Logan Airport for hours, and being stripped naked, put in a cold shower by two officials, and being put back onto a chair.

She said Schmidt told her immigration agents pressured him to give up his green card. She said he was placed on a mat in a bright room with other people at the airport, with little food or water, suffered sleep deprivation, and was denied access to his medication for anxiety and depression.

"He hardly got anything to drink. And then he wasn't feeling very well and he collapsed," said Senior.

He was transported by ambulance to Mass General Hospital. He didn't know it at the time, but he also had influenza.

There was a rumor that the sad sacks who went to Boaz's Konservative Kry Klub shared their passwords with each other.
BullBringer has stated there are a few different people who access that username.
#19 | Posted by ClownShack

Yes, Eberly confirmed that to be the case with the Bellringer handle at least.

#17 Well, that's your side of the story anyway.

This is a ridiculous assertion, what does "fail" even mean?
#18 | Posted by oneironaut

Doesn't deliver for the American people. VA services that can't be accessed. Social Security checks that don't arrive. FEMA funding that isn't available. That kind of thing.

The Lincoln Project is a bunch of war mongering pedo ----.
#13 | Posted by Bluewaffles

Or did you just give the handle to someone else?

#13 | Posted by Bluewaffles

This is the sort of bigotry I expect from Elite Democrats, while the man on the street suffers.
#17 | Posted by oneironaut

She is not talking about women in general but about two specific women, who have been leading the House and Senate appropriations committees. This would probably be clear to you if you actually read Pelosi's statement in full:

"Democratic senators should listen to the women," she says, referring to Murray/DeLauro who want a 1-month stopgap bill instead.

This is a ridiculous assertion, what does "fail" even mean? You're basically saying Trump wants to fail himself out of a job.
Preposterous, no wonder no one takes you guys/gals seriously. Just lies upon hoaxes with "anon" sources.
#18 | Posted by oneironaut

He wants most of the federal government to fail, which will in turn will justify all the cuts he is making. He doesn't want the defense dept or homeland security to fail, but everything else that can be privatized and/or turned over to the states he doesn't care if it fails.