loraine17.bsky.social
@loraine17.bsky.social
One of the 39% (per Pew research) who are party free Independents aka political refugees. Purple America Centrist.
Pinned
Thank you Professor Cummings.

verfassungsblog.de/stopping-aut...
Stopping Autocratic Legalism in America – Before It Is Too Late
verfassungsblog.de
Reposted
"Argentina's done it. Russia's done it. Turkey's done it. Venezuela's done it. And Zimbabwe's done it. It's a thing that tin pot dictators do... right before starting a hyperinflation and destroying their own economies."
January 12, 2026 at 10:56 PM
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Trump is trying to change how the midterm elections are conducted

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump is trying to change how the midterm elections are conducted
Many of these endeavors go far beyond typical political persuasion, challenging long-established democratic norms.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 13, 2026 at 2:18 AM
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What can history teach us about what happens when a populist strongman with an idiosyncratic taste for low interest rates undermines central bank independence?
January 12, 2026 at 1:44 AM
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We Have the King That Thomas Paine Feared

www.thebulwark.com/p/we-have-ki...
We Have the King That Thomas Paine Feared
The rule of law was central to the American experiment. Is it still?
www.thebulwark.com
January 10, 2026 at 1:01 PM
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The Trump administration’s rapid and aggressive response to the Minnesota shooting has prompted quiet concern among some administration allies, as well as former and current Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
‘Highly problematic’: Trump admin faces internal doubts over ICE shooting response
Even supporters of the president fear that the administration’s approach risks undermining public confidence in the ongoing investigation.
www.politico.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:59 PM
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Just to be clear, Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley proposed a bill in the Senate a year ago, along with AOC and Luna in the House, to cap interest rates on credit cards at 10%. It is nice that Trump has suddenly decided to get on board with it in an election year.
January 10, 2026 at 3:14 PM
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"As a Venezuelan human rights lawyer and one of millions forced to leave my homeland, watching videos of the operation felt surreal. At first it seemed to mark an end. But more recent developments shattered that illusion: The system that sustained his rule remains." open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Venezuela’s Post-Maduro Future Is Still Up for Grabs
The alternative to a democratic transition is a calcified autocracy.
open.substack.com
January 10, 2026 at 4:19 PM
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We use body worn cameras. Always. Even detectives. I’ve used a phone to take pics but not records stuff. If I’m worried about my safety, I’m not using one hand to record on my phone.
January 10, 2026 at 2:04 PM
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Again I say into the void: stop saying the ICE officer had no time to think. Time doesn’t start when the drama starts. They drove up. They walked up. They engaged. Stop saying there is only reflex, no thought. If so, stop arming ambulatory startle reflexes & calling them cops
January 10, 2026 at 1:56 PM
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All of these bootlegged copies of the 60 Minutes segment flooding my feed (saying, ‘Watch it quick! Before it disappears!’) makes me feel like I’m in the Soviet Union and just got some black market foreign newspaper I need to hide under a floorboard in my house.

This is where America is now
December 23, 2025 at 1:58 AM
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We’re bombarding our Paleolithic brains with the thoughts of thousands of strangers every hour. The internet has put us in contact with more minds than we’re cognitively equipped to handle — and our own seem to be wilting under the load, Lane Brown writes.
A Theory of Dumb
What if the cause of Americans’ collective cognitive decline is, simply, each other?
nymag.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:00 AM
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The war will end when Russia stops fighting. Therefore, pressure has to be put on Russia, so that they stop believing that they will win. Why is that so hard to understand?
November 27, 2025 at 1:49 AM
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Dear republican congressman:

You just got another week off, you have absolutely no plans since you were going to be in dc.

How about some town halls? If you do three, that’s a total of 6 hours of work the whole week. Easy peasy!
October 24, 2025 at 9:15 PM
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Trump spent his 2024 campaign promising Americans he'd lower grocery prices. Virtually all major grocery categories are now more expensive than they were a year ago, however, some substantially so. - Axios

www.axios.com/2025/09/11/t...
Grocery prices rise at the fastest pace since 2022 as Trump tariffs bite
On the campaign trail, Trump promised lower grocery prices.
www.axios.com
September 11, 2025 at 11:49 PM
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When public media disappears, so do the stories that bring us together.

With federal funding eliminated, millions may lose their last trusted source of news and connection.

If that matters to you, now’s the time to act. Donate: n.pr/458sOhq
August 3, 2025 at 3:24 PM
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The next ‘Storm of the Century’ could be even stronger, new study shows

cnn.it/4kCkn2s
The next ‘Storm of the Century’ could be even stronger, new study shows | CNN
There is a general consensus about the frequency of nor’easters in a warmer world, but were still big questions about their intensity.
cnn.it
July 14, 2025 at 9:14 PM
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Please STOP releasing balloons.They don’t go to heaven they fall back to the ground,where animals get entangled in the string & choke. Birds,turtles& wildlife often mistake balloon fragments for food, leading to injury/death.There has to be a better way to honor someone without harming living things
July 7, 2025 at 9:48 PM
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I'll be on the Rachel Maddow show tonight in the second half of the 9pm ET hour talking about the Texas flooding and the connection to climate change.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Texas floods reveal limitations of disaster forecasting under climate crisis
Texas’s ‘flash flood alley’ could bring even more floods in near future as Trump cuts compound with warming climate
www.theguardian.com
July 7, 2025 at 10:44 PM
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June 19, 2025 at 11:24 AM
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Pete Hesgeth — who wants to rename the Navy ship that honors Medgar Evers, a WWII veteran who landed on Omaha Beach — is using that same beach for a photo op in which he promises we will “never forget” the veterans there.

What an unbelievable asshole.
June 7, 2025 at 4:22 PM
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81 years ago today. The Allies went to rescue the world from fascism. Let us never forget. And let us never fail to oppose forces of evil.
German Chancellor: "May I remind you that we are having June 6 tomorrow. This is the D-Day anniversary."

Trump: "Not a pleasant day for you. That was not a great day."

German Chancellor: "This was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship."
June 6, 2025 at 10:46 AM
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(Reuters) - FEMA staff left baffled after the disaster agency’s head said during a briefing that he hadn’t been aware the US has a hurricane season. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fema-staff-confused-after-head-said-he-was-unaware-us-hurricane-season-sources-2025-06-02/
June 2, 2025 at 9:04 PM
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For all the “Russia participates in the START treaty which is why the bombers we’re in the open” level of cope out there:

No they don’t. They suspended their participation in 2023. They just thought the bombers we’re safe
June 2, 2025 at 1:52 PM