"What this moment reveals is not merely the fragility of white political innocence, but the durability of a system that has survived Reconstruction, Jim Crow, civil rights reform, and the carceral turn by continually redefining violence as order."
"Authoritarian systems do not begin with overt tyranny. They begin with a normalization process. Each move is framed as temporary, necessary, or targeted at 'bad people.' Each expansion of power is justified by manufactured crisis. Each erosion of civil rights is sold as a trade-off for safety."
"Over time, confinement without trial, punishment without conviction, and surveillance without oversight become treated as unfortunate but reasonable."
“Federal agents continue to rain terror on Minneapolis, Minnesota, and other U.S. cities including Portland and Lewiston, Maine. That violence has made it crystal clear that the goal of attacking immigrants is not simply to create a white nation; it is also to terrorize Americans into accepting the domination of MAGA Republicans.”
"Trump sicced his droogs on Minneapolis because he’s a racist who hates Somalis, and his lawless campaign has spread to Maine, of all places, because it’s another state with a Somali population whose voters rejected him in 2024."
"At this point, the predominant emotion so many of us are feeling is anger. Anger that people are being treated like this. Anger that our government is doing it. Anger that it’s doing it with our tax dollars."
"The most dangerous moment for any abusive relationship, whether one-on-one, or one-to-millions, comes when the victims want to leave. It’s why all cult leaders try to isolate their victims from external information and contact. Everything that’s not about the leader is a threat."
"Trump’s paranoia at losing his power will not lead to a sudden rash of moderation. It will not lead to less violence. It will not lead to a lowering of tensions." ...
Trump wants to remake America to be his personal Jonestown, an isolated compound separate from any external accountability or internal dissent—a giant island only existing to serve himself."
"Frst you get Epstein, which gets you Greenland, which gets you ice in Minneapolis. which now gets you raiding the Georgia [election board]. I mean, the distractions are actually piling up the scar tissue that's being pulled apart here."
One of my guilty pleasures is Law & Order, especially the Jerry Orbach era. Somehow did not remember anything in season 7 (w/ Benjamin Bratt) and running through it right now it's just amazing good the writing was. On "Barter" they even have a title card at the end with a follow-up on the story! #sogood#lawandorder
At one point they are shooting at Chelsea Gym and I see a "267" address, look it up and there was in fact a Chelsea Gym at 267 W. 17th st, not too far from where we usually stay in NYC. Apparently that gym was one of the earliest places to specifically court gay men and there are some little snippets of history about it on the web. It's now a yoga spot. #sogood#lawandorder
"Trump’s ability to trigger the racist impulses of millions of Republicans and rally white nationalists to his cause is no sign of special political skill. Rather, it’s a reminder of how deep these impulses go in the national psyche and how easily a racist demagogue can incite them."
Black and white text on alternating backgrounds reads "If you allow the govt to break the law because of an emergency, they will always create an emergency to break the law."
"If you accept that non-citizens have no right to due process, you are accepting that citizens have no right to due process. All the government has to do is claim that you are not a citizen; without due process you have no chance to prove the contrary."
"The constitutional crisis took several giant steps forward over the weekend as the Trump administration crossed into more or less open defiance of federal court orders."
"Over the weekend, Musk and JD Vance each posted statements asserting that the president should or could defy court orders. A Harvard law professor joined the conversation by endorsing the notion that judicial restraints on the president violate the separation of powers doctrine."
"The burning has started. The question is, where will it stop? Will they go as far as Vice President JD Vance has suggested they might? Vance retweeted Harvard Law Professor Adrian Vermeule, who referred to decisions made by judges—the co-equal third branch of government that is designed to make decisions about what constitutes 'legitimate acts of state'—as 'judicial interference.'”
"While Trump and his henchmen deconstruct the administrative state, his lawyers are embracing the logic of dictatorship. The core argument emerging in their legal filings and executive orders — one without support anywhere in the Constitution or the law — is that simply by being elected, Trump has the power to do whatever he wants."
"Our opinions generally have emotional rather than intellectual roots, and indeed rationality largely functions as a post hoc justification. Our political opinions, ultimately, are what we feel about the world, not what we think about it. And in turn, our opinions about particular events have a lot to do with how we feel about the world in general. It’s not an exaggeration to say that most people’s views about the kind of things that happen today are extensions of concerns of their own ego. And consequently, invitations to change their minds because new facts emerge, or because old ideas are discredited by new evidence, are in fact a threat to the strength and even survival of that ego."
"But few people, especially those who have received a decent education, want to acknowledge that their views are based on emotion and not reason. They therefore try to argue".