Darkling Thrush

I'd like to use Bluesky more, but the short character limit on posts feels too restrictive for me. :(

We graded 9 State of the Union addresses using a 6-dimension framework: 🥇 FDR 1941 — 100% 🥈 Washington 1790 — 97% 🥉 LBJ 1965 — 90% Obama 2011 — 86% Reagan 1982 — 79% Nixon 1974 — 73% Bush 2003 (Iraq WMD) — 64% ← R LBJ 1967 (Vietnam credibility gap) — 63% ← D Trump 2026 — 40%

American justice in 2025: Armed gangs wearing masks and hoods surprise law-abiding people on streets, disappear them to prisons on other side of country or fly them to prisons in 3rd world countries, at sole discretion of chief executive who claims no obligation for due process.

youtu.be/h7Y-9C6ox1Y?...

How do we define 'Democracy', and when is the U.S. no longer it? www.cbc.ca/news/world/t...

For all those who voted for the current mess because they wanted to flip off the 'liberal elites'...

"I’ll wear a costume like yours when the war is over," Zelensky replied and shifted in his golden chair, rolling his eyes. Fundraiser to support armored medical evacuation vehicles to help save Ukraine’s defenders on the front. donorbox.org/help-ukraine...

Cartoon by Benjamin Slyngstad

Will he impeach himself?? 🤔

Old Soviet joke for our times: Guy stops by the newsstand every day, scans the front page, doesn’t buy the paper. One day the vendor asks what he’s up to. Guy says: “looking for an obituary.” Vendor says “those are towards the back of the paper, comrade.” Guy says: “not the one I’m looking for.”

Not your grandfather's Republican party.

So how many MAGA reporters have heckled Elon Musk about not wearing suits to the White House?

Viral On The Way!

Trump would not have gotten along with Churchill either. "America First" sympathized with Hitler.

A federal judge in California sided with a coalition of unions, temporarily barring the Office of Personnel Management from ordering federal agencies to terminate probationary workers, adding that the firings were “illegal, should be stopped and rescinded.” www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...

Democracy dies when it's bought out by billionaires. www.npr.org/2025/02/26/n...

Firing random people without talking to their supervisors or even understanding what they do is not how you improve government efficiency. youtube.com/shorts/sfcV4...

Thank you.

If you’re cheering for a South African sociopath to fuck over US military veterans then you should probably stop with that America first bullshit.

True Leadership & Patriotism 🇺🇦

I was so tempted to email back "I worked on DEI protocols for our climate change education program" and sign it with a big middle finger. 🤣

More trauma tactics. It's no accident this was sent out on a Saturday. They wanted to make sure civil servants could not enjoy their weekend. One more ploy to demoralize and exhaust. www.cnn.com/2025/02/22/p...

We have to be the adults.

So much this.

Good people treated badly. 🌲 www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1yk...

youtu.be/vDNCkfZLUSE?...

Worst. Episode. EVER.

An insiders perspective. Articulate, well stated, with an apt analogy. www.facebook.com/bob.doucette...

“I don’t fight the fascists because I think we will win. I fight the fascists because they are fascists.” - Chris Hedges www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/they-are-a...

Russell Vought, Trump’s Director of OMB: "We want to put them in trauma."

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought said in a video. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. … We want to put them in trauma.” ~ Russell Vought www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uczq...

No, but if you’re looking for one, I am aware of a guy you work with that was indicted four times and convicted of thirty-four felonies.

During these turbulent times, it's good to have friends abroad to send aid packages. Thanks @tae-the-north.bsky.social !

We're at the point where future generations will wonder, "Why didn't someone do something?"