Marc N Cunat
@marccunat.bsky.social
Beach Bum, recovering trial lawyer, Ex-Post News, Shark Tooth Politics
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
ICE agent when told he's about to arrest a US citizen. Direct quote: "I DON'T CARE."
November 24, 2025 at 10:15 PM
ICE agent when told he's about to arrest a US citizen. Direct quote: "I DON'T CARE."
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
In 1924, Calvin Coolidge's 16-yr-old son played tennis on the White House grounds w/o wearing socks. He got a blister and was dead from infection a week later.
This is unthinkable today—which is why I wrote this series. Cuz the systems that save us from this kind of fate are in urgent need of care.
This is unthinkable today—which is why I wrote this series. Cuz the systems that save us from this kind of fate are in urgent need of care.
For a yr, I've been working on a series for The New Atlantis about the vast systems that underlie our lives. Our ancestors built them up over decades to fend off hunger, thirst, darkness and disease. But too few of us know about them—and they're all at risk. The conclusion is now available online:
Why We Are Better Off Than a Century Ago
Our ancestors built grand public systems to conquer hunger, thirst, darkness, and squalor. That progress can be lost if we forget it.
www.thenewatlantis.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:03 PM
In 1924, Calvin Coolidge's 16-yr-old son played tennis on the White House grounds w/o wearing socks. He got a blister and was dead from infection a week later.
This is unthinkable today—which is why I wrote this series. Cuz the systems that save us from this kind of fate are in urgent need of care.
This is unthinkable today—which is why I wrote this series. Cuz the systems that save us from this kind of fate are in urgent need of care.
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
As historian Joseph Fronczak has argued, fascism in the 1930s circulated internationally as a set of easily imitated practices like the "Roman salute" and the colored shirts. Today, fascism travels as practices like going to a coup dressed like the MAGA shaman. www.newsweek.com/fact-check-w...
Fact Check: Was "QAnon shaman" spotted at Brazil Congress invasion?
Many parallels are being drawn between the January 6 D.C. riot and the invasion of Brazil's government HQ, but was there a familiar face in the midst?
www.newsweek.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
As historian Joseph Fronczak has argued, fascism in the 1930s circulated internationally as a set of easily imitated practices like the "Roman salute" and the colored shirts. Today, fascism travels as practices like going to a coup dressed like the MAGA shaman. www.newsweek.com/fact-check-w...
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
It's also important to note that this affection for foreign authoritarians is not just confined to the elite of the GOP. Here are the Republican women of a tiny rural county in Oregon featuring Brazil's Bolsonaro-coup-loving version of the MAGA shaman (Monteiro) at an event. bsky.app/profile/seth...
Anyone know anything about this “political expert on Brazil” named Julio Monteiro about whom there appears to be no information available on the interwebs or Twitter?
November 26, 2025 at 3:05 PM
It's also important to note that this affection for foreign authoritarians is not just confined to the elite of the GOP. Here are the Republican women of a tiny rural county in Oregon featuring Brazil's Bolsonaro-coup-loving version of the MAGA shaman (Monteiro) at an event. bsky.app/profile/seth...
A little history to go along with Thanksgiving dinner.
The America First movement of the late 1930s and pre-Pearl Harbor 1940s was a diverse coalition, but a significant portion of that coalition was comprised of American authoritarians who looked admiringly upon Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany and wanted to do something like that here.
November 26, 2025 at 3:51 PM
A little history to go along with Thanksgiving dinner.
Outstanding 🧵 from Professor Seth Cotlar on America Firsters.
Using it at Thanksgiving dinner, if necessary.
Using it at Thanksgiving dinner, if necessary.
Trump’s base is crammed with America Firsters who claim to hate the way the US has interfered with the internal politics of other countries. This was one justification for cutting USAID and other forms of soft power. But when Trump crimes with his dictator buddy in Brazil, there will be crickets.
Pretty convincing evidence here that the Trump administration was planning to jailbreak and provide asylum for Bolsonaro -- and that Trump inadvertently revealed the plan.
And this, as the now-cliche goes, would have been a paralyzing scandal for any other administration.
And this, as the now-cliche goes, would have been a paralyzing scandal for any other administration.
November 26, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Outstanding 🧵 from Professor Seth Cotlar on America Firsters.
Using it at Thanksgiving dinner, if necessary.
Using it at Thanksgiving dinner, if necessary.
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
After WWII, the slogan "America First" was rarely used by mainstream politicians. For example, take anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-"illegal immigration," pro gun rights, pro-private school, and anti-MLK Day Nazi Art Jones of Illinois ca. 1984. bsky.app/profile/seth...
Arthur Jones, the "America First" Nazi candidate from Illinois. This is a Klan newspaper from 1984.
November 26, 2025 at 2:57 PM
After WWII, the slogan "America First" was rarely used by mainstream politicians. For example, take anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-"illegal immigration," pro gun rights, pro-private school, and anti-MLK Day Nazi Art Jones of Illinois ca. 1984. bsky.app/profile/seth...
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
The America First movement of the late 1930s and pre-Pearl Harbor 1940s was a diverse coalition, but a significant portion of that coalition was comprised of American authoritarians who looked admiringly upon Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany and wanted to do something like that here.
November 26, 2025 at 2:53 PM
The America First movement of the late 1930s and pre-Pearl Harbor 1940s was a diverse coalition, but a significant portion of that coalition was comprised of American authoritarians who looked admiringly upon Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany and wanted to do something like that here.
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
Right wing American Isolationists have almost always been belligerent authoritarians who sell themselves to the public as peace loving populists protecting ordinary Americans from the machinations of warmongering elites. wwnorton.com/books/978132...
America Last
<em>Washington Post</em> • 50 Best Nonfiction Books of 2024<br /><br /> A leading journalist and public intellectual explains the long, disturbing history behind the American Right’s embra...
wwnorton.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Right wing American Isolationists have almost always been belligerent authoritarians who sell themselves to the public as peace loving populists protecting ordinary Americans from the machinations of warmongering elites. wwnorton.com/books/978132...
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
Trump’s base is crammed with America Firsters who claim to hate the way the US has interfered with the internal politics of other countries. This was one justification for cutting USAID and other forms of soft power. But when Trump crimes with his dictator buddy in Brazil, there will be crickets.
Pretty convincing evidence here that the Trump administration was planning to jailbreak and provide asylum for Bolsonaro -- and that Trump inadvertently revealed the plan.
And this, as the now-cliche goes, would have been a paralyzing scandal for any other administration.
And this, as the now-cliche goes, would have been a paralyzing scandal for any other administration.
Trump appears to blurt out secret plan, not knowing it's already a bust
YouTube video by MS NOW
www.youtube.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Trump’s base is crammed with America Firsters who claim to hate the way the US has interfered with the internal politics of other countries. This was one justification for cutting USAID and other forms of soft power. But when Trump crimes with his dictator buddy in Brazil, there will be crickets.
How hard would it be for journalists to go back to the brand names, used last year, & report the cost this year ? Prior to interviews with Trump sycophant’s, put it on a chart ?
What are we doing here ?
What are we doing here ?
Such classic gaslighting it's an instructive moment. The question is not whether generic is better or worse, it's that a list with more expensive brand names is not the same as a list with cheaper generics. Perverting that truth into an attack on those calling it out is Manipulation 101.
Hassett: "On one of the Sunday shows, the anchor criticized the fact Walmart said the Thanksgiving dinner is cheaper by about $10. Then he said, 'Oh yeah, but they substituted generic stuff,' as if having a generic something is a crime for ordinary folks! It shows how out of touch these people are."
November 26, 2025 at 3:43 PM
How hard would it be for journalists to go back to the brand names, used last year, & report the cost this year ? Prior to interviews with Trump sycophant’s, put it on a chart ?
What are we doing here ?
What are we doing here ?
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
“.. They’re pretty much the whole boat when it comes to increases in electricity demand,” Quigley said.
“It’s going to get worse,” he said.
@cnbc.com $XLU
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/a...
“It’s going to get worse,” he said.
@cnbc.com $XLU
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/a...
November 26, 2025 at 1:30 PM
“.. They’re pretty much the whole boat when it comes to increases in electricity demand,” Quigley said.
“It’s going to get worse,” he said.
@cnbc.com $XLU
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/a...
“It’s going to get worse,” he said.
@cnbc.com $XLU
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/a...
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
“The transcripts show that Witkoff is a sycophant serving Putin’s interest and that the transcript that Americans have been claiming was their own plan was, as everyone smart insisted, in fact Russia’s plan.” www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/26/t...
The Dim Philby Leaks - emptywheel
The release of transcripts showing that the Ukraine "piece" plan that Trump claimed to be his own was in fact simply the Russian plan could have the same effect the discovery of Mike Flynn's back chan...
www.emptywheel.net
November 26, 2025 at 1:30 PM
“The transcripts show that Witkoff is a sycophant serving Putin’s interest and that the transcript that Americans have been claiming was their own plan was, as everyone smart insisted, in fact Russia’s plan.” www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/26/t...
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
This matches with the weakest consumer confidence since about the same time. 🇺🇸
Inflation-adjusted Retail Sales down from March 2021
November 25, 2025 at 11:31 PM
This matches with the weakest consumer confidence since about the same time. 🇺🇸
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
Oil and gasoline futures down 16% and 7% YoY, respectively.
Yet prices at the pump are ~unchanged from a year ago. @gasbuddy <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:el26bci423wwjjnhoohutwem" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@gasbuddyguy
Yet prices at the pump are ~unchanged from a year ago. @gasbuddy <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:el26bci423wwjjnhoohutwem" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@gasbuddyguy
November 26, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Oil and gasoline futures down 16% and 7% YoY, respectively.
Yet prices at the pump are ~unchanged from a year ago. @gasbuddy <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:el26bci423wwjjnhoohutwem" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@gasbuddyguy
Yet prices at the pump are ~unchanged from a year ago. @gasbuddy <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:el26bci423wwjjnhoohutwem" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@gasbuddyguy
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
Last week: "Quiet, Piggy."
This week: An "ugly" reporter, "inside and out."
This week: An "ugly" reporter, "inside and out."
November 26, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Last week: "Quiet, Piggy."
This week: An "ugly" reporter, "inside and out."
This week: An "ugly" reporter, "inside and out."
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
“.. Basically, we are creating a digital twin for the U.S. labor market.” 👀
@cnbc.com @mackenziesigalos.bsky.social
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/m...
@cnbc.com @mackenziesigalos.bsky.social
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/m...
November 26, 2025 at 3:19 PM
“.. Basically, we are creating a digital twin for the U.S. labor market.” 👀
@cnbc.com @mackenziesigalos.bsky.social
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/m...
@cnbc.com @mackenziesigalos.bsky.social
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/m...
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
the Doug Mills video embedded in the NYT Trump aging story is pretty amazing
November 26, 2025 at 4:01 AM
the Doug Mills video embedded in the NYT Trump aging story is pretty amazing
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
For months, Ed Martin and Bill Pulte harassed Trump’s political adversaries with bogus claims of mortgage fraud. But in a twist, we’ve now learned that the DOJ is investigating Martin and Pulte themselves for allegedly improper conduct. lnk.thebulwark.com/4ofiJ8U
How Much Did Trump Stooge Ed Martin Blab to Alex Jones?
The InfoWars chief was hardly discreet in hinting he knew about DOJ’s “retribution” investigations.
lnk.thebulwark.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:00 AM
For months, Ed Martin and Bill Pulte harassed Trump’s political adversaries with bogus claims of mortgage fraud. But in a twist, we’ve now learned that the DOJ is investigating Martin and Pulte themselves for allegedly improper conduct. lnk.thebulwark.com/4ofiJ8U
The day after Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday shopping season, and like their predecessors of a century ago, reformers are focusing on consumers’ power to push back on the policies of the Trump administration, launching a campaign they call “We Ain’t Buying It.”
November 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM
The day after Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday shopping season, and like their predecessors of a century ago, reformers are focusing on consumers’ power to push back on the policies of the Trump administration, launching a campaign they call “We Ain’t Buying It.”
A lesson in, read it all.
Machiavelli: It is better to be feared than loved, but you must absolutely avoid being *hated.*
So many forget that last part.
So many forget that last part.
It is a bit alarming, when rereading Machiavelli's The Prince, that it lands as reportage rather than political theory. However, I find great comfort in the fact that they are really effing it up.
November 26, 2025 at 2:54 PM
A lesson in, read it all.
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
- He stopped the policy of encouraging flu immunization in Louisiana
- Delayed reporting on a pertussis outbreak that killed two children in Louisiana.
-Promoted false information on covid vaccine harms.
He is now number 2 at CDC.
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
- Delayed reporting on a pertussis outbreak that killed two children in Louisiana.
-Promoted false information on covid vaccine harms.
He is now number 2 at CDC.
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
Controversial Louisiana surgeon general tapped for CDC leadership role
Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham has spoken against Covid shots and ended mass vaccination campaigns. Now he's in a position to make national health decisions.
www.nbcnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:49 PM
- He stopped the policy of encouraging flu immunization in Louisiana
- Delayed reporting on a pertussis outbreak that killed two children in Louisiana.
-Promoted false information on covid vaccine harms.
He is now number 2 at CDC.
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
- Delayed reporting on a pertussis outbreak that killed two children in Louisiana.
-Promoted false information on covid vaccine harms.
He is now number 2 at CDC.
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
Reposted by Marc N Cunat
Such classic gaslighting it's an instructive moment. The question is not whether generic is better or worse, it's that a list with more expensive brand names is not the same as a list with cheaper generics. Perverting that truth into an attack on those calling it out is Manipulation 101.
Hassett: "On one of the Sunday shows, the anchor criticized the fact Walmart said the Thanksgiving dinner is cheaper by about $10. Then he said, 'Oh yeah, but they substituted generic stuff,' as if having a generic something is a crime for ordinary folks! It shows how out of touch these people are."
November 26, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Such classic gaslighting it's an instructive moment. The question is not whether generic is better or worse, it's that a list with more expensive brand names is not the same as a list with cheaper generics. Perverting that truth into an attack on those calling it out is Manipulation 101.
