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Brian Cook

@2ndadminstate.bsky.social

Tinkering with the Constitution has failed. The American commercial republic must be reconstructed. Professor Emeritus, Public Administration & Policy, Virginia Tech. "Democracy is for friends and citizens, not masters and slaves" Wilson Carey McWilliams

2465 Posts621 Follower251 Folgt
Sam Halpert@samhalpert.bsky.social · yesterday

This is an armed paramilitary operating far outside its legal mandate (immigration) & against fundamental principles of US law (1A) in an intimidation campaign to smother legitimate opposition to their violent effort to revolutionize the relationship between the executive branch & sovereign states.

Highlights in **’s WSJ To unmask anonymous online critics, DHS has sent hundreds of subpoenas to social-media companies, according to people familiar with the matter. **Its agents have tracked down Americans at work and on the road,** asking them to sign letters acknowledging their online speech about ICE "may" be a crime.
Brian Cook@2ndadminstate.bsky.social · yesterday

Please pause a moment to think about all the dedicated women and men fighting wildfires around the world. They are the front lines of the climate war being waged against us by all the greedy, cruel minions of the global psychopaths.

Sam Halpert@samhalpert.bsky.social · 3d ago

The reason the gravity of these crimes aren’t more widely understood is that people we should expect to respond appropriately to them have largely abdicated their duty.

Secretary of Defense Rock@sodrock.bsky.social · 3d ago

Still can’t over the fact that the president of the United States just told an entire state to pound sand after getting cyberattacked by a foreign adversary because they didn’t vote for him and it was treated like a Tuesday lol

Norm Ornstein@normornstein.bsky.social · 2d ago

It is very hard not to have contempt for John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, who have sold their souls to find some fig leaf to support the worst nominee for Attorney General ever. The signed agreement is worthless without the signatures of the parties, namely Trump. The IRS break stands. Moral cowards. 

Citizens' Impeachment@citizensimpeachment.com · 2d ago

in practice the entire passage about impeachment has been deleted from the Constitution, because no one in Congress has any interest in defending democracy #ImpeachConvictRemove

Citizens' Impeachment@citizensimpeachment.com · 8mo ago

"After all, Congress’s refusal to impeach, despite all circumstances compelling it, functionally edits that ability out of the Constitution, effectively deleting through disuse the very defense mechanism the Constitution provided for just this sort of occasion." - Cathy Gellis

Brian Cook@2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 3d ago

“This is not, in fact, a Presidency at all—whatever name we still call it.” It operates not just unconstitutionally, but almost completely outside the Constitution. It is as Sam has also said, an autogolpe, a self-coup. And it won’t magically end because of the outcome of an election this November.

Sam Halpert@samhalpert.bsky.social · 3d ago

This is a “tax & spend” Presidency. The President asserts he can unilaterally impose taxes (via tariffs & via “settlements” w/arbitrarily targeted corps), & that he can unilaterally spend unauthorized funds from the Treasury. This is not, in fact, a Presidency at all—whatever name we still call it.

Sam Halpert@samhalpert.bsky.social · 4d ago

The problem with this framing is that it isn’t a question of whether he will or won’t, as if it’s some future event. The coup is *already underway*. POTUS has usurped Congress’ war power, its spending power, its tax power. He dissolves agencies Congress created. He overrules state govt at gunpoint.

David Dayen@ddayen.bsky.social · last wk.

I don't know how you look at everything Trump's been doing to mess with the election and think anything other than that he's trying to rig it. But whether he will succeed is a different matter, as Bob Kuttner reports. prospect.org/2026/07/28/t...

Sarah Taber@sarahtaber.bsky.social · 5d ago

Yeah and a lot of the "white rural voters" people are trying to court, aren't even. They're exurbanites with a city job, a long commute, & a "farm" that mostly functions as a tax shelter. They might "feel" rural. But have no real skin in the rural economy, beyond driving up the price of land.

larry.earth (he/him) 8647@larry.earth · 5d ago

Great thread. Thesis: democrats already have strong support from Black rural voters, but the conversation about "rural voters" is a euphemism for WHITE rural voters.

Sam Halpert@samhalpert.bsky.social · 5d ago

Google's decision to destabilize the credibility of a key reference tool--the product of significant public investment (from the US and also other govts) doesn't signal a shift that we must simply accept. Hoaxes have always been technologically possible. 9/ www.techpolicy.press/we-need-to-r...

We Need to Reimagine Digital Maps as Public Infrastructure. Here’s Why.

Google Maps serves over one billion users monthly, but unlike other essential infrastructure it operates without public oversight, Nidhi Singh Rathore writes.

techpolicy.press

Brian Cook@2ndadminstate.bsky.social · last wk.

Professional sports worldwide have gotten so corrupt and infected by the likes of Draft Kings that they make thoroughbred horse racing look relatively clean by comparison.

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · last wk.

Jared Kushner's brother is proposing to help Infantino sell a World Cup stake. This would basically be a direct transfer from future fans to FIFA executives and investment firms. How corrupt can the organization get before fans turn away? www.nytimes.com/athletic/747...

Phillips OBrien@phillipspobrien.bsky.social · last wk.

What the world is learning is that the US now lacks the capability to fight for any other state, and probably will so for many years until it retools its industry and creates a new defense plan. That will never happen while these corrupt clowns run things, so will take a while.