David Durant
@ddurant.bsky.social
1.3K followers 320 following 1.5K posts
Librarian, avid reader, background in history, "Never-Trumper human scum."
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I'm reminded of James Madison's famous quote:

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

www.loc.gov/resource/mjm...
Image 1 of James Madison to W. T. Barry, August 4, 1822.
www.loc.gov
I would argue that it's more like they wallow in a pathetic sense of perpetual victimhood.
Sickening cruelty by MAGA secret police in pursuit of ethnic cleansing:
There are at least 170 incidents where ICE held US citizens against their will.
This includes 20 children, including two with cancer. That includes four who were held for weeks with their undocumented mother and without access to the family’s attorney until a congresswoman intervened.
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
Reposted by David Durant
“.. one of the U.S. officials, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said that Admiral Holsey had raised concerns about the mission and the attacks on the alleged drug boats.”

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/u...
Reposted by David Durant
The mission of the Republican Party is to use the government to attack US citizens who do not support them.
Reposted by David Durant
I just gave a talk to a room full of CTOs on ethical decision making in an age of AI and this attitude towards AI — the dampening of critical thinking and an assumption that AI has the right answer to everything — is exactly why I created this talk
Wow. Just wow.

"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."
When Knowledge is Free, What are Professors For?
Higher Education Must Stop Competing with AI on Information and Start Teaching What Machines Can’t Do
www.forbes.com
Because they're the only ones who'll do his blatantly illegal and unconstitutional bidding:
There is no shortage of brilliant lawyers in the US, of all political perspectives. So why does Trump surround himself with grifters and losers with a law degree and a gross disrespect for professional rules of ethics?
The 1,287,923 defects in the Comey case ... so far
Welcome to the Rocket Docket, Lindsey Halligan!
www.publicnotice.co
As a former Republican voter I fully endorse and recommend this thread:
I've alluded to it before, but serving as a GOP county delegate was the most depressingly eye-opening political experience I've ever had.

I expected a few wackos, but I thought most of the delegates there (people from my community, many of them members of my church!) would be smart and engaged.
I've sometimes tried to explain how I found my old party, the Republican Party (especially in New York), becoming increasingly full of awful, shallow, vicious people I just didn't want anything to do with, whether I agreed with them on policy or not. The texts illustrate that perfectly.
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The Roberts six basically decide the outcome up front and then work backwards to contort a collection of legal theories and contradictions which allow them to decide the justification for it.

The Constitution is not a central player in their decisions.
Roberts is saying that the court's own precedent from a couple of years ago, where it ruled that Alabama had to draw racial fair maps, doesn't apply to this (identical) case, essentially because the Alabama case was poorly argued.
It's a terrible argument, but the hill Roberts is gonna die on.
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"This is what you get after a decade of Trumpism’s ascendance: a young-activist base that has self-selected for the most amoral and psychotic political strivers, and has held them up as a professional ideal." www.thebulwark.com/p/its-gettin...
It’s Getting Worse.
The Trump administration’s assault on the rest of us is intensifying.
www.thebulwark.com
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The drive to impose white nationalist dictatorship continues:
I see Israel's found its pretext for trashing the ceasefire.
Sadly, I fear this will make that scenario look positively quaint.
I'm sure the list of people they aren't mad at would be far shorter.
Seriously, I'm in full agreement, Considering Trump's expanding loss of self-control and obviously being manipulated by the likes of Stephen Miller, I'm not so sure he'll settle for a token victory this time.
I'm worried about you being that far out on the limb.
Another university chooses to defy the tyrant:
BROWN UNIV.: “.. the compact by its nature and by various provisions would restrict academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of Brown’s governance, critically compromising our ability to fulfill our mission.”

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
I'm sure he considers himself "Pro-Family."
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Subject of Investigation: Are some Congressional Republicans Nazis
Means of Investigation: look at them
Conclusion of Investigation: yeop
Politico received an initial tip that a Taylor staffer had a swastika neatly pinned to his cubicle during a zoom call. When confronted, the congressman’s press office pretty implausibly sought to present the situation as a police matter, and Politico went along with that in its headline and lede.
Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office

An American flag altered to include an image of a swastika was found in Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Charlie's Kirk's murder is truly playing the same role for MAGA that the Sergei Kirov assassination did in the 1930s USSR:
Vance: "Because we have such a big problem with left-wing political violence... we really have to re-train the entire government to focus on the left-wing violence problem."
This soulless amoral clown is cordially invited to do something anatomically incorrect to himself:
Mike Johnson on the No Kings Protests: “The Hate America rally that'll happen Saturday…I bet you see pro-Hamas supporters. I bet you you see Antifa types. I bet you see the Marxist in full display, the people who don't want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic.”
The Trump regime is now the global champion of white nationalism. It is truly the retroactive triumph of the Confederacy:
Reposted by David Durant
my thoughts on the nazi GOP text group are roughly what i mentioned in the 1st part of this essay. identity with the GOP has become increasingly correlated w/ "ethnic antagonism" — this type of rhetoric is sadly to be expected as you make GOP identity stronger

www.gelliottmorris.com/p/how-trump-...
When identity politics Trumps the Constitution
The First Amendment is the latest casualty of the Republican Party's identity politics, and Trump's cult of personality. What can stop him?
www.gelliottmorris.com
This is happening nowhere but in the twisted depths of Trump's fevered imagination:
Trump: "The people of Chicago are walking around with MAGA hats. You have women, beautiful Black women, walking around with MAGA hats. 'Please let the president in and we don't care how he does it ... bring in the Marines.'"