Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Brian Cook

@2ndadminstate.bsky.social

320 followers 160 following 1.2K posts

Tinkering with the Constitution has failed. The American commercial republic must be reconstructed. Professor Emeritus of Public Administration & Policy, Virginia Tech. Constitutionalism and administration, administrative ethics, environmental policy.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · Feb 25

Here is the essence of the American republic’s dilemma. Those with considerable wealth and control over productive assets do not necessarily need a regime of self-government to sustain their lifestyle and wealth-generating pursuits. But the republic needed them if was to prosper over time.

5 5 18

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 1h

Artists and writers should not shrug and capitulate. We can keep the pressure on. I filed a claim as part of the settlement against Anthropic for one of my books that was pirated. Even if I realize only a tiny monetary payback, it's being part of the class demanding accountability that matters.

1 1

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 2h

Dispatch #2 from James C. Scott's Two Cheers for Anarchism:
More regimes have been brought, piecemeal, to their knees by
what was once called "Irish democracy," the silent, dogged
resistance, withdrawal, and truculence of millions of ordinary
people, than by revolutionary vanguards or rioting mobs.

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 21h

The Republican Congress and the Trump administration made this bed; they, across all three branches, are fully responsible for the crash of our constitutional system.... @vermontgmg.bsky.social
www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...

There is no budget "deal" to be made

President Trump has so broken the constitutional framework as to make joint normal, responsible government impossible.

www.doomsdayscenario.co

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 23h

that can have have massive political effects. Multiplied many thousandfold, such petty acts of refusal may, in the end, make
an utter shambles of the plans dreamed up by generals and heads of state.

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 23h

Acts of disobedience are of interest to us when they are
exemplary, and especially when, as examples, they set off a chain reaction, prompting others to emulate them. Then we are in the presence of less of an individual act of cowardice
or conscience--perhaps both--than of a social phenomenon...

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 23h

That leaves opposition in small ways. To that end, and to help those looking for ideas and possibilities that suit their circumstances, I will be posting short daily excerpts from James C. Scott's little book, Two Cheers for Anarchism.
Here is the first one.

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 23h

So the question now, as it has been since the fascist destruction, is what we are going to do about. I don't know about you, but I lack the physical courage and mental toughness to lead, or serve on the front lines, to consolidate a counter movement and engage in direct action to fight back.

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 23h

Yes, some pockets of legal and organizational fight and resistance continue. Some even still talk as if regular politics may still pull us out of this.

But it really is now as the poet long ago said,
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 23h

The US Constitution is now completely trashed, no matter how much you may protest that it is still functioning, albeit in a seriously damaged state. The real state of the economy is hidden behind oligarchic insanity about idiotic 'AI', and financial and equity market fantasies about big paydays.

1 1

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 1d

Brutally honest:
"If we decide to play it safe because it’s better to tend one’s own garden rather than engage the world around us, then we deserve to become slaves.... [Arbitrary power means there] will soon be no private gardens left to tend."
jneem.substack.com/p/this-is-no...

This is no time for self-care

It is a time to act

jneem.substack.com

Reposted by Brian Cook

Flying Pace @flyingpace.bsky.social · 4d

Don’t just fantasize about Trump & Co. facing justice “when all this ends.” Demand justice now so THAT all this ends.

citizensimpeachment.com

Citizens' Impeachment

Citizens’ Impeachment is an organization powered by American citizens with a single goal: to get Donald Trump impeached, convicted, and removed from power.

citizensimpeachment.com

4 11

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 4d

It's going to hurt us, but economic and financial pressure and non-participation are our best tactics. Find any way you can to grind the economy to a halt. But we also need leaders to take big actions. www.bannedinyourstate.com/p/the-point-...

Reposted by Brian Cook

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 4d

The legitimacy of the power of courts depends on their giving of legal reasons for their decisions. Lacking any democratic authorization, the absence of reasons means it's naked power being asserted, which relieves us of any obligation to obey. We may comply for prudence's sake, but we don't have to

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 4d

Justice Jackson is obviously correct. SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE are now illegally going to have their status terminated early — as every court other than the Supreme Court has found so far.

Not a single word of justification from the Justices in the majority to justify this. NONE. Not one.

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 4d

Sotomayor and Kagan would deny the application.

Jackson, alone, writes, accusing the majority of "privileging the bald assertion of unconstrained executive power over countless families’ pleas for the stability our Government has promised them."

5 48 150

Reposted by Brian Cook

Paul Gowder @gowder.io · 4d

I just told ABC that I'm not particularly convinced that any minority set-aside program (currently being used as a pretext for Trump to halt CTA funding, when we know it's political retaliation) would actually be unconstitutional. While this seems to fly in the face of cases like Croson and (cont)

1 2 11

Reposted by Brian Cook

Boston Review @bostonreview.bsky.social · 4d

The flip side of this exceptionalizing is to erase and excuse the slow and less spectacular violence of American political life. When ICE agents raid homes, when Medicaid is stripped from millions, both politicians and media speak of “policy” rather than “violence.” @eric-reinhart.com

What Is Political Violence? - Boston Review

Pundits and politicians conceal the truth: it’s all around us, perpetrated by our political system itself.

www.bostonreview.net

2 4

Reposted by Brian Cook

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 4d

One thing to remember: Trump may have criminal immunity for official acts but Hegseth doesn’t….

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 4d

Don’t believe anyone who tells you that intelligence shows anything “without a doubt,” but even if the intelligence was water-tight, this strike was still murder. No law permits the deliberate, premeditated killing of civilians.

35 130 510

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 4d

@brianbeutler.bsky.social delivering the goods: "The modern conservative movement . . . [an] invasive, predatory organism"

Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 4d

The modern conservative movement (or far right, or whatever you call it) has always been a invasive, predatory organism, but until Obama's election, the GOP itself hadn't tipped over into total zero-sum thinking. www.offmessage.net/p/they-radic...

7 19

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 4d

Far more successful when it is a mission-oriented public agency with broad public support than through a private contractor who mostly cares about the public treasure he captures through endless rent seeking.

Blake Emerson @blakeprof.bsky.social · 4d

We did this already like 60 years ago.

1 2

Reposted by Brian Cook

Josh Zingher @zingherpolisci.bsky.social · 4d

prospect.org/health/2025-...

2 8 17

Reposted by Brian Cook

Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · 4d

We pulled together 8 invaluable lessons from democracy defenders worldwide who have grappled with authoritarian threats. Catch up on the lessons learned and join us in drawing strength and inspiration from these stories. ⬇️ https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/eight-rules-of-antiauthoritarianism

Eight rules of antiauthoritarianism

Introducing the Democracy Atlas

www.ifyoucankeepit.org

14 26

Reposted by Brian Cook

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 5d

There are no more constraints on a president’s ability to use military force, and this president is using all that power to target civilians. All Americans should be extremely alarmed.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Trump ‘Determined’ the U.S. Is Now in a War With Drug Cartels, Congress Is Told

www.nytimes.com

5 19 31

Reposted by Brian Cook

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 5d

America enters a new, dark chapter: "Kavanaugh Raids" on entire buildings and neighborhoods, a chapter surely to be remembered as infamously as we now view the "Palmer Raids" of the first Red Scare. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/welcome-to...

Welcome to the Era of "Kavanaugh Raids"

ICE crosses another big, important line.

www.doomsdayscenario.co

16 350 690

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 5d

Oh come on. Call it what it is. A protection racket. Mobster moves is the only thing these criminals know.

Quinn Yeargain @yeargain.bsky.social · 5d

School Bully Offered Kids an Invitation for a Deal. Some See a Trap.

School bully wants kids to sign on to giving him their lunch money to get special treatment. Some in fourth grade class say agreeing would end lunch-buying freedom.

New York Times article

Header: Trump Offered Universities an Invitation for a Deal. Some See a Trap.

Subhed: Trump officials want universities to sign on to conservative priorities to get special treatment. Some in higher education say agreeing would end academic freedom.

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 5d

We've known about Vought's comments since February. But it's good to see this in print again. He may just overplay his hand now in a way that will boomerang spectacularly.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 5d

In speeches, Vought spoke of “demoralizing federal workers to the point that they don’t want to do their jobs.”

“.. we want them to not want to go .. because they are.. viewed as the villains,” he said. “We want to put them in trauma.”

from 2024:
@propublica.org
www.propublica.org/article/vide...

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 5d

Same here, with a special shout out to the present and former public servants in the US EPA who have endured some of the most horrific mistreatment.

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 5d

At a more personal level, lemme say...

"To the public servants who really work so hard and wake up with a sense of mission and purpose, I just want to say: I see you. And I'm grateful for you."