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M. Tullius Cicero 🇺🇦

@tulliuscicero43.bsky.social

1.8K followers 1.1K following 3.8K posts

O tempora! O mores! Pro-democracy, anti-extremism. Former Midwesterner in New Mexico. Pro-Oxford comma, objective case, subjunctive mood.

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M. Tullius Cicero 🇺🇦 @tulliuscicero43.bsky.social · Mar 21

Important advice. 👇

Denys Beecher @dbeecher.bsky.social · Mar 21

In the, apparently increasingly likely, event that someone doesn't receive their Social Security benefit I would recommend that your first stop not be trying to call SSA directly. Report it to your local Congressperson or Senator's office, using their website constituent services form if possible
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Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · Mar 21

The most obvious thing about this is it is evil and sociopathic. But there’s another element: speaking as someone who has both prosecuted fraudsters and defended people very wrongfully accused of being fraudsters, it’s absolute bullshit.

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Alan Dettlaff @alandettlaff.com · 6h

Yesterday I was told that the class I’m scheduled to teach this month, Confronting Oppression & Injustice, is no longer part of our curriculum. This is a required class yet there was no discussion, no faculty vote, just an email saying the class no longer exists. This is what it’s like in Texas now.

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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 3h

Belatedly reading about this and as always really important to remind people in *every breath* that when the right talks about “woke” and “DEI” they are talking about the cultural and political wins of the civil rights movement. This arrangement existed for 52 years because of historical activism.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 13h

www.dailytarheel.com/article/e9c7...

UNC ends Black Student Movement's 52-year 'co-ownership' of Upendo Lounge

BSM President Adam Sherif said administrators cited new federal guidelines that instruct all federally funded entities to ensure they are not engaging in "discriminatory practices, including those lab...

www.dailytarheel.com

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 5h

Or as the New York Times puts it: “Mr. Trump's budgetary maneuvering appeared unorthodox…”

Mr. Trump's budgetary maneuvering appeared unorthodox, even though it may spare more than 1 million active-duty service members from the financial hardship of missing a paycheck next week. It was not clear how much money the administration had at its disposal, and how long it could rely on accounting moves to pay troops during the shutdown.

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David Ryan Miller @davidryanmiller.com · 5h

Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 of the US Constitution called and wants to weigh in:

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🎃 Phillip Anderson is UNDEAD 🧛🏻‍♀️ @phillipanderson.bsky.social · 5h

There has to be a reckoning for this, for all of it. No more “look forward, not back” nonsense. Not this time. Those who ordered this evil shit, and those who carried those orders out *must* be held to account.

LongTime🤓FirstTime👨‍💻 @longtimehistory.bsky.social · 6h

ICE drag girl out of car & body slam her to ground—then pin her face down & kneel on her neck.

"I'm 15!" she cries out. "I'm not resisting!"

Agents have now asked multiple area housing associations to unlock main doors—so they can go door to door.

Hoffman Estates, Illinois

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Andrew Weinstein @andrewjweinstein.com · 11h

It's wild that we've reached a point where the President openly admits to firing people for political reasons, and his OMB director tweets about it like it's a victory. This is page one of the authoritarian playbook, happening in plain sight.

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The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 9h

Wow!

ProBon @probon.bsky.social · 13h

Meanwhile the world has stopped buying American orange juice.
It now trades at 43% of the price it went for when Trump took office.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 9h

A second generation nepo baby, raised by a pair of sociopaths and given every advantage in the world. I'm sure this story will end well.

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 23h

Trump said he deserved a cut for brokering the TikTok deal, and at once there was agreement that his son Baron would have a top executive slot... though he hasn't asked for it, and has no apparent qualifications to hold it. This is how Trump 2.0 works. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025...

Barron Trump tipped for top TikTok job

US president’s 19-year-old son could be appointed to the app’s board

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 9h

Did you miss it this week?

I have a new job: president of News Creator Corps. Goes like this.

Via the people now called creators, audiences are migrating to the social layer in the internet stack. Maybe there's a way to move with, rather than against that.

newscreatorcorps.org/2025/10/news...

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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 9h

Crypto is scam.
Crypto is crime.
Crypto is corrupt.
Crypto is theft.
Crypto is harm.
Crypto is fraud.
Crypto is waste.
Crypto is pollution.
Crypto is exploitation.
Crypto is deception.
Crypto is suicide.
www.thestreet.com/crypto/busin...

www.thestreet.com

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Amanda Renteria @amandarenteria.bsky.social · 11h

This shutdown feels different.

States will soon reach a breaking point and millions could see disruptions to food assistance.

Now, thousands are being fired from their jobs. We deserve better. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Trump administration begins laying off federal workers amid shutdown

More than 4,000 positions will be eliminated across agencies, the government told a court Friday night.

www.washingtonpost.com

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JMHoltwoman @pixiedust5954.bsky.social · 9h

I would like to see protestors shouting phrases such as “WE are what is great about America!!!” Or
“We ARE America!!” Or anything along those lines. The right keeps chanting “USA USA”. We need something like that.

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 8h

“We can give $20 billion to Argentina but we can’t afford the CDC’s measles experts” is a hell of an argument

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 5h

vought's view is that the president is an elected dictator and lo and behold he is seizing outright the power of the purse

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 6h

Unconstitutionally taking money that the law says must be spent on one purpose & using it for something else—when it's to establish personalist control over the FUCKING MILITARY—is about as dangerous a constitutional crisis/failure as you can imagine

Via: www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

The Office of Management and Budget sent a notification to Congress about their intent to use research and development funds to pay members of the military, two sources with direct knowledge tell NBC News.

A spokesperson for the OMB confirmed to NBC News that it plans to use the research and development funds and that there are two years' worth of funds available within the Department of Defense.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 5h

in vought's view, the president is a living embodiment of the "will of the people" and congress has no legitimate power to limit him

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Fired but Fighting (National Public Health Coalition) @firedbutfighting.bsky.social · 5h

No one knows what is happening. Now, we are hearing some of the CDC RIF notices might have been in error.
Error = Miscoding

Where are we hearing this? Through media of course! No one is being transparent with CDC staff.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

We continue to track the cuts. Stay tuned.

a picture of a giraffe dancing with the words welcome to the circus

Alt: a picture of a giraffe dancing with the words welcome to the circus

media.tenor.com

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M. Tullius Cicero 🇺🇦 @tulliuscicero43.bsky.social · 5h

I highly recommend Dr. Stenner’s book. /end www.cambridge.org/core/books/a...

The Authoritarian Dynamic

Cambridge Core - Psychology: General Interest - The Authoritarian Dynamic

www.cambridge.org

M. Tullius Cicero 🇺🇦 @tulliuscicero43.bsky.social · 5h

which (along with their us/them dualism and fear of Otherness) is why it’s easy for them to dehumanize people they perceive as being not like them. Around 30-35% of any given population consists of people with authoritarian personalities. They are, as you indicate, VERY fear-driven. 2/

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M. Tullius Cicero 🇺🇦 @tulliuscicero43.bsky.social · 5h

Per the research of @karenstenner.bsky.social and others conservatives mainly fear change but authoritarians fear complexity/diversity. (Here “authoritarians” = “ppl w/authoritarian personalities.) Authoritarians are also much more likely than other people to have strong reactions of disgust 1/

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 6h

🧵 regarding the shutdown:

The Democrats aren’t being clear enough about this but we can be: this shutdown is about saving lives.

If we don’t reverse the Medicaid cuts (and the ACA subsidies on insurance bought through the exchanges) that Republicans made this year, people will die.

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USA TODAY @usatoday.com · 8h

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

bit.ly

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 6h

Many historians of Rome identify Roman generals becoming the personal sources of payment for their armies as a key step in the downfall of the Republic, since it personalized military authority and freed armies to fight for their immediate leader, who paid them, instead of for the Republic

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 5h

A federal judge in Illinois has ordered the Trump administration to stop beating, shooting at, and generally using violence against journalists and peaceful protesters. trib.al/4vE1zjf

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah. TikTok is out. It's an arm of the ruling fascist party at this point.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

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Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.bsky.social · 5h

This was my first thought too. When the military became reliant on the leader and not the state, the republic died.

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 6h

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