Dante Atkins
@danteatkins.bsky.social
Fiona and Rowan's dad, basically. Spider guy, Lefty Dem, pragmatic progressive. Win elections with the majority you have, not the majority you wish you had.
Pinned
Dante Atkins
@danteatkins.bsky.social
· Jul 8
Military documents confirm that the LA operation today was a “show of presence” intended to send a message to LA residents about the power of the federal government.
After staging with armed soldiers and Border Patrol agents on horse, they packed up and left after a short walk.
After staging with armed soldiers and Border Patrol agents on horse, they packed up and left after a short walk.
"Freedom of maneuver" is a military term designed to distinguish between pacified and hostile territory in an occupation setting, in case that helps inform you of how the federal government views American cities.
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
DOGE 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter
U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate.
www.cnbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:47 PM
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
You know, in the run-up to Iraq, people didn't talk this way out loud. Now? MAGA doesn't understand that there's a loud part and a quiet part.
Rep. Salazar on Venezuela: "We're about to go in ... we need to go in ... Venezuela for the American oil companies will be a field day"
November 24, 2025 at 9:11 PM
You know, in the run-up to Iraq, people didn't talk this way out loud. Now? MAGA doesn't understand that there's a loud part and a quiet part.
Matt Stoller will never stop gooning to his personal fantasy of a red-brown alliance with a populist right and it doesn't matter what the actual facts are, he's not gonna stop. Like, EVEN IF the fascists were actually good on anti-trust, we really doing a red-brown anti-corporate alliance? Really?
Matt Stoller: “..Trump & Mamdani defeated establishment in their own way, representing hunger of voters on the right & left who want something different. If those sides cd come together.. that would be a sea change in how we organize our political economy”.
www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-r...
www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-r...
Monopoly Round-Up: Why the Establishment Freaked Out Over a Mamdani-Trump Press Conference
Meta wins its antitrust case, there are now two fire truck antitrust claims, the stock market got wobbly, and Larry Summers was exiled from the establishment, at least for now.
www.thebignewsletter.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Matt Stoller will never stop gooning to his personal fantasy of a red-brown alliance with a populist right and it doesn't matter what the actual facts are, he's not gonna stop. Like, EVEN IF the fascists were actually good on anti-trust, we really doing a red-brown anti-corporate alliance? Really?
They are a) fascists, who b) are incompetent, and c) try to make up for their incompetence with threats
BREAKING: Comey case dismissed without prejudice. Halligan invalidly appointed, judge rules. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 24, 2025 at 5:41 PM
They are a) fascists, who b) are incompetent, and c) try to make up for their incompetence with threats
Look, this is fun to mock, but it's crucial to understand what he's saying. He is saying that it is impossible to get a woman's enthusiastic consent for sex and a relationship without unacceptable concessions, so the only acceptable choices are rape and coercion.
November 24, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Look, this is fun to mock, but it's crucial to understand what he's saying. He is saying that it is impossible to get a woman's enthusiastic consent for sex and a relationship without unacceptable concessions, so the only acceptable choices are rape and coercion.
Pretty simply, this is because PA statewide leadership believes it can't win majorities without placating fracking interests, whereas no such pressures exist in Virginia. If anything, Spanberger's success relies on pro-climate educated liberals, so this is catering to her constituency.
While Josh Shapiro is ditching the Northeast climate agreement, Abigail Spanberger (no radical liberal) is preparing to join it. @gurleygg.bsky.social explains why.
prospect.org/2025/11/24/j...
prospect.org/2025/11/24/j...
Josh Shapiro Ditched the Same Climate Pact That Abigail Spanberger Is Joining - The American Prospect
To seal a state budget deal, Pennsylvania is departing the RGGI emissions control program, but Virginia is jumping back in.
prospect.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Pretty simply, this is because PA statewide leadership believes it can't win majorities without placating fracking interests, whereas no such pressures exist in Virginia. If anything, Spanberger's success relies on pro-climate educated liberals, so this is catering to her constituency.
DOGE did not exist to save taxpayers money. It existed to take a wrecking ball to programs that had drifted into the crosshairs of the insane conspiracy right as hiding the secret switch that would turn off liberalism. They found nothing, destroyed entire agencies and gave the data to who knows who.
hey don't be so hard on yourselves; it delivered oceans of sensitive government and citizen data to billionaires
Musk’s DOGE Quietly Killed Off After Delivering Almost Nothing
The agency disbanded eight months ahead of schedule.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:51 PM
DOGE did not exist to save taxpayers money. It existed to take a wrecking ball to programs that had drifted into the crosshairs of the insane conspiracy right as hiding the secret switch that would turn off liberalism. They found nothing, destroyed entire agencies and gave the data to who knows who.
Literally the only reason I ever go to X is to see highlights of goals by the LA Kings when I can't watch the games, and if the NHL and the Kings posted here I would never visit X at all.
Between this and literal Nazis growing their followings, I just can’t understand why so many lefties are still voluntarily using the platform. I know I’m preaching to the choir, but…
November 23, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Literally the only reason I ever go to X is to see highlights of goals by the LA Kings when I can't watch the games, and if the NHL and the Kings posted here I would never visit X at all.
There's something darkly funny about accounts based in the Global South getting payouts from Elon by generating AI ragebait to promote fascism in the US
November 23, 2025 at 5:11 PM
There's something darkly funny about accounts based in the Global South getting payouts from Elon by generating AI ragebait to promote fascism in the US
He has been giving the same answer for months but he's asked about it every interview. These questions aren't being asked to inform the public. They exist to continually suggest to viewers that Mamdani secretly hates Jews.
WELKER: What is your message to Jewish New Yorkers who feel you won't be tough enough in your response to antisemitism?
MAMDANI: That I am looking forward to being the next mayor and fulfilling the commitment I've made to Jewish New Yorkers to not only protect them but to celebrate and cherish them
MAMDANI: That I am looking forward to being the next mayor and fulfilling the commitment I've made to Jewish New Yorkers to not only protect them but to celebrate and cherish them
November 23, 2025 at 4:41 PM
He has been giving the same answer for months but he's asked about it every interview. These questions aren't being asked to inform the public. They exist to continually suggest to viewers that Mamdani secretly hates Jews.
This is Noam Chomsky in a nutshell. China and Russia are entitled to empire over their "sphere of influence" but the US is not.
Shorthand: If someone expresses that US Imperialism is a stain upon the earth whose sin can never be washed clean, but Soviet or Chinese imperialism is either acceptable or just didn't happen, you're talking to a tankie.
November 22, 2025 at 10:40 PM
This is Noam Chomsky in a nutshell. China and Russia are entitled to empire over their "sphere of influence" but the US is not.
Reposted by Dante Atkins
this is your brain when your entire politics is just a set of aesthetics
November 21, 2025 at 11:04 PM
this is your brain when your entire politics is just a set of aesthetics
Bezos does not think it's in the public interest for you to know that pretty much every single billionaire in the US devoted lavish attention on Epstein even after they all knew what he was about
The Washington Post editorial board decided the Epstein files have “no public interest” before even seeing them. That’s a stunning position for any newsroom to take. Praising Clay Higgins as the lone ‘no’ vote, too? No wonder no one trusts legacy media. Absolutely disgusting.
November 22, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Bezos does not think it's in the public interest for you to know that pretty much every single billionaire in the US devoted lavish attention on Epstein even after they all knew what he was about
Reposted by Dante Atkins
They line up perfectly.
November 22, 2025 at 2:32 AM
They line up perfectly.
My politics seem very unintelligible to a lot of people because I love AOC and Zohran but dislike Bernie and left bro media, so I get incoming from both mods and harder left. But to me it's simple. I like positive coalition builders who fight for a better world and don't long for far-right populism.
November 22, 2025 at 3:30 AM
My politics seem very unintelligible to a lot of people because I love AOC and Zohran but dislike Bernie and left bro media, so I get incoming from both mods and harder left. But to me it's simple. I like positive coalition builders who fight for a better world and don't long for far-right populism.
Fully expecting Ryan Grim and Matt Stoller to be the first on board the draft MTG campaign to give us the "neither left nor right" populism they think we deserve
MTG's statement is basically, I'm the real MAGA; Trump and the bipartisan DC Establishment are covering up Epstein's pals and selling you out to foreign countries, Big Pharma, Big Tech and others. She all but says that she'll lead a realer populist movement (for President?) when the country's ready.
November 22, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Fully expecting Ryan Grim and Matt Stoller to be the first on board the draft MTG campaign to give us the "neither left nor right" populism they think we deserve
Right, so, the legal argument Texas is making is "it's too hard"
NEW: The Texas redistricting case has officially reached SCOTUS. State leaders say the justices should restore their Republican-friendly gerrymander because it's too close to the election to revert back to the old boundaries.
w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 22, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Right, so, the legal argument Texas is making is "it's too hard"
Do you think Mamdani regaled Trump with stories about how FDR won the presidency four times with huge majorities by being a working class hero?
November 22, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Do you think Mamdani regaled Trump with stories about how FDR won the presidency four times with huge majorities by being a working class hero?
Ryan Grim is the last person on the planet to realize that Trump is extremely gullible and parrots the talking points of the last person he talked to who validates any of his priors. We're all admiring Mamdani's abilities and Ryan is all "OMG socialist unity 😍"
Like, how stupid do you have to be
Like, how stupid do you have to be
November 21, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Ryan Grim is the last person on the planet to realize that Trump is extremely gullible and parrots the talking points of the last person he talked to who validates any of his priors. We're all admiring Mamdani's abilities and Ryan is all "OMG socialist unity 😍"
Like, how stupid do you have to be
Like, how stupid do you have to be
Meanwhile, over at the Nazi place, Ryan Grim still hasn't given up on Trump turning into the right wing populist of his dreams. What a pathetic excuse for a supposed leftist.
November 21, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Meanwhile, over at the Nazi place, Ryan Grim still hasn't given up on Trump turning into the right wing populist of his dreams. What a pathetic excuse for a supposed leftist.
I don't think the pro-Israel faction of American politics is worried about what Zohran will do in New York. I think what they're afraid of is that he is so damn charming, talented, charismatic and articulate that he will easily convince less informed people of the virtues of his stances.
November 21, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I don't think the pro-Israel faction of American politics is worried about what Zohran will do in New York. I think what they're afraid of is that he is so damn charming, talented, charismatic and articulate that he will easily convince less informed people of the virtues of his stances.
Zohran met the campaign's final boss and won without a fight by rolling 10 straight nat 20s on persuasion checks, that's all I can figure
November 21, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Zohran met the campaign's final boss and won without a fight by rolling 10 straight nat 20s on persuasion checks, that's all I can figure
So, this is a complete twilight zone but also never underestimate the power of personal magnetism in politics.
Q: Stefanik has called Mamdani a 'jihadist.' Do you think you're standing next to a jihadist right now?
TRUMP: No, I don't. I met with a man who's a very rational person
TRUMP: No, I don't. I met with a man who's a very rational person
November 21, 2025 at 10:13 PM
So, this is a complete twilight zone but also never underestimate the power of personal magnetism in politics.
Mamdani is preternaturally talented beyond what anyone has any right to expect from him
Q: Just days ago you referred to Trump as a 'despot.' Will you retract?
MAMDANI: We're both very clear on our positions & what I really appreciate about the president is our meeting focused not on places of disagreement but shared purpose we have
TRUMP: I've been called much worse than a despot
MAMDANI: We're both very clear on our positions & what I really appreciate about the president is our meeting focused not on places of disagreement but shared purpose we have
TRUMP: I've been called much worse than a despot
November 21, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Mamdani is preternaturally talented beyond what anyone has any right to expect from him
Grok, not content with saying that Elon is the best pornstar, pitcher, basketball player, piss-drinker, and shit-eater on earth, is now doing straight up holocaust denial, claiming that the gas chambers were for disinfection, not extermination, and that "cultural taboos" forbid examining the truth.
French authorities are taking X to court because Grok is now doing straight up holocaust denial. Gas chambers intended for disinfection, cyanide residue tiny, ‘story’ persists because of taboo against critical examination. (Full translation in alt text)
November 21, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Grok, not content with saying that Elon is the best pornstar, pitcher, basketball player, piss-drinker, and shit-eater on earth, is now doing straight up holocaust denial, claiming that the gas chambers were for disinfection, not extermination, and that "cultural taboos" forbid examining the truth.