The Last Bastion...
@twainspatriot.bsky.social
690 followers 670 following 1.4K posts
Father, partner, geophysicist, orogen/volcanophile with occasional irrational urge to tip the scales toward egalitarianism & social justice. Kinda happy-go-Loki. Firm proponent of human engagement with objective reality. No DMs pls.
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twainspatriot.bsky.social
That seems uncharitably harsh...

But then, we are talking about MAGA. The folks facilitating a return to the suffering we last endured in 1940s Europe.
twainspatriot.bsky.social
Look, if countries start prosecuting dictators for corruption, that would set an awful precedent
twainspatriot.bsky.social
The Trump Admin thinks (misdemeanor) immigration *is* violent crime, and removes law enforcement officers from *legitimate* criminal investigations to enforce this nonsense. Antifa (i.e., anti-fascists) they view as anyone who opposes their criminal enterprise.

Maybe that should be the story?
twainspatriot.bsky.social
They imagined them. They did all they could to create a system that would reward democratic participation and punish would-be tyrants. They may not have imagined that politics would organize into just two parties, or that one would go full-tyranny
twainspatriot.bsky.social
Tale as old as time. Antebellum slave owners maintained their minoritarian power base as long as they did only because they formed a political coalition with northern bigots upset about immigration from Ireland and Germany
twainspatriot.bsky.social
I suspect “luck” has nothing to do with it
twainspatriot.bsky.social
Needs more scaffolding. I recommend something along the lines of the Piazzale Loreto in Milan...
twainspatriot.bsky.social
I'ma' predict that (a) Trump will not pull off a peace deal (Bibi will extend the war to extend his govt) and (b) Trump will not celebrate in Oslo.

The Nobel Committee already has expressed its opinion that democracy is a predicate for peace. A system of values Eliot Cohen does not grasp or share?
twainspatriot.bsky.social
"Pushed the boundaries of"? These boundaries you speak of seem to be much more infinitely elastic than one might have imagined legality to be, oh, say, ten years ago.
twainspatriot.bsky.social
They will do whatever they can to intimidate the American people against using their collective voice. They know, as we know, that We the People are all that stand between us and their dreams of dictatorship.
atrupar.com
Mike Johnson: "We're so angry about it. I mean, I'm a very patient guy, but I've had it with these people. The theory we have right now -- they have a hate America rally that's scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It's the pro-Hamas wing and antifa people ... "
twainspatriot.bsky.social
Okay now THAT’S cool. The fundamental root of adaptive behavior.
twainspatriot.bsky.social
If there is a hell, Trump is more deserving of it than anyone… And being listened to rather than laughed at will not be part of his hellscape agenda
twainspatriot.bsky.social
That’s not a matter of “psychologists fear”… The patterns of increasing bullying, domineering, intimidation and violence at all levels of human interaction from interpersonal to statecraft are demonstrable.
twainspatriot.bsky.social
No doubt this will come as a great relief to the National Guard and conscripted LEOs (such as FBI drawn from drug enforcement and other task forces that used to do good in the world).

Less so perhaps the MAGA folks and former domestic terror militia members in ICE.
twainspatriot.bsky.social
RFK is correct that Trump Derangement Syndrome is a pathology, but he’s bass-ackwards in thinking that the Columbia Associate Professor is among those directly suffering its effects…
atrupar.com
RFK Jr: "Somebody showed me a TikTok video of a pregnant woman at 8 months pregnant -- she's an associate professor at the Columbia Medical School -- and she is saying 'F Trump' and gobbling Tylenol with her baby in her placenta. The level of Trump Derangement Syndrome is now a pathology."
twainspatriot.bsky.social
*Donald Trump, and the Republican Congress and lawless Supreme Court that enables him in the complete absence of a Constitutional Order.
twainspatriot.bsky.social
It’s an unfair playing field for a competition though. Sen. Howell (NE) proposed radio broadcasts of proceedings in 1924 but Teapot Dome was sensationalized even without that.

Nixon raised televised lying to an art form, but MAGA? In the social media era? Hoo boy.
twainspatriot.bsky.social
That one‘s a punch to the gut…
thetnholler.bsky.social
CARTOON OF THE DAY 😕🇺🇸
twainspatriot.bsky.social
"Ethics, shmethics..."

This is the Trump Administration we're talking about, after all.
jennycohn.bsky.social
An NYU legal ethics professor has “called the arrangement ‘rather bizarre.’ Pointing to rules of professional conduct for lawyers that prohibit conflicts of interest, he said Mr. Ellis… could not ethically give himself legal advice about…whether policy actions he wants to take would be lawful.” 2/
twainspatriot.bsky.social
“SCOTUS says so” no longer seems to have any coherency nor any correlation whatsoever with what the Constitution and/or Legislation would mandate…
joycewhitevance.bsky.social
Partisan gerrymanders may be legal, but only because SCOTUS said so. They are anti-democratic measures used by a party that fears losing power to hold onto control, a mechanism that lets parties choose their voters instead of letting voters choose who will represent them.
twainspatriot.bsky.social
The Trump Administration considers intimidation and terror tactics to be their most effective tool for achieving policy goals.

Let that sink in. The current US government is a terrorist organization.
twainspatriot.bsky.social
“or suggesting that individuals are inherently privileged, oppressed, racist, sexist, or victims based on personal identity characteristics.”

If that’s prohibited, historical reality might like to have a word with Utah’s state legislators…
twainspatriot.bsky.social
I also wonder whether ICE leadership understands that Puerto Ricans are, in fact, American citizens