Steve Rugare

They had really tapered off for a while. I thought maybe I’d blocked enough numbers to get off the lists, but no. The shady 501c4 tide rolled in the last few days. The democrats are just a bunch of Nigerian princes at this point, except the princes are more likely to deliver.

Early in this administration, I wrote to my republican senators (Moreno and Husted) about the illegal activities of DOGE. I suggested they might want to start guarding Congress’ powers or they would have purely ceremonial jobs in a few months. Sadly, I was right. What dopes!

Even at this late date, I still see “experts” on tv and the op-ed pages saying we’re on the “verge” of a constitutional crisis. Not only did all the serious people miss the verge, they missed the whole crisis. As of today it’s over, and so is the Constitution of 1789.

It’ll be hard in the future to convince people who are looking back on this awful period that the perpetrators didn’t pull off some dastardly scheme, they were open about it in advance, and chosen by people who -liked it -assumed it wouldn’t happen but liked that it bothered others -were kinda bored

I’ve been appalled. I’ve been concerned. I’ve been shocked at the complete rottenness of American institutions. But this weekend is the first time I’ve been terrified. It’s now clear what the plan is for ICE, and it’s the worst case. We are all targets.

If you think American politics are insane now, wait until they turn Marin County into Youngstown www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-w...

Republicans in Congress just voted to create a mercenary paramilitary large than the Marine Corps and accountable only to their leader. And I bet Washington pundits will still claim we shouldn’t raise the temperature by calling them fascists.

I’ve received three texts from this guy so far today, all business-as-usual consultant pablum. Allred is a decent guy, but is it any wonder that people have given up on the Democratic Party when this is the best they can do? Is there even going to be a real election in Texas next year?

It is 100% carrying water for the opposition to participate in this collective delusion that Dems for some reason need to answer for every teen who throws a rock rather than hold the Trump admin accountable for intentionally creating chaos and breaking the law to stoke violence. They are in charge.

The LA protests will trigger a drumbeat of "law and order" messaging from the White House and their media allies as a prelude to invoking the Insurrection Act. This is entirely predictable, and any Dem or media outlet that facilitates this narrative will be aiding Trump's authoritarian project.

Remember when this pic of Elián González was a national scandal instead of a daily occurrence?

The real scandal in 1930s German politics was Kaiser Wilhelm’s cognitive decline

I know some people who could have written this. And they’ll go to their graves making excuses.

Now that SCOTUS gave Trump a permission slip to misapply the Enemy Aliens Act, does anyone doubt that he’ll try the Insurrection Act very soon? Does anyone doubt that the justices know the signal they’re sending?

Judging by the texts I’ve received today, the best thing democrats can imagine doing with Booker’s speech is fundraiser off it. They truly seem to be allergic to any action that meets the moment.

Peter Thiel ally Curtis Yarvin recently accused the Trump administration of failing to understand that “regime change”, requires that “Every existing institution of science” be “fully cremated” & replaced w/ a “new scientific establishment.” Soon after, RFK Jr guts HHS & announces a new division 1/

This is an utter disgrace. This man has debased our election system to new depths.

I think a lot about this quote from Anaïs Nin’s diary from 1939-1944: “America is in even greater danger because of its cult of toughness, its hatred of sensitivity, and someday it may have to pay a price for this, because atrophy of feeling creates criminals”.

Elon doing the “straight armed salute”

Yes.

It will never be enough. The goal is to break the University, not have them meet demands. Taunting Columbia with the hope of compliance just sweetens the pot with humiliation.

In some countries this position is known as a Political Officer.

"On October 8, 1931, a law went into effect requiring every Italian university professor to sign an oath pledging their loyalty to the government of Benito Mussolini. Out of over 1,200 professors in the country, only 12 refused. All of them were immediately fired." www.chronicle.com/article/what...

I’m not hearing the words “arbitrary & capricious” enough these days. There are laws protecting us against the actions of agencies that are irrational in this way. The funds would come through an agency, like the Education Dept, not from Trump’s pocket. We need Maine to sue and NOT settle.

so far I'm seeing a lot of universities respond to grant terminations with "oh I guess now we don't have that grant anymore" instead of "your assertion of a grant termination is executive overreach, see you in court" So, universities: respectfully, what the fuck?

And it seems to be happening with less of a fight here, in spite of the much larger variety in our decentralized system. Higher ed has sustained itself on grant overhead charges. Now they’re easy prey for the bitter, power-mad extortionists in the White House.

This week feels so much darker. It’s mostly the lawless thuggery of ICE and CPB, but it’s also the feeling that too many in the center left are still counting on institutions that are actually failing.

Remember that this is where his discussions with El Salvador began. The migrant detentions there are the dry run. He wants to ship U.S. prisoners to El Salvador.We cannot sleepwalk through this.

I hope Democrats learn from Merrick Garland’s mistakes and the failure of Obama’s “move on” strategy vis-a-vis Bush era war crimes, and understand that all these people ultimately need to go to prison.

This power grab is unprecedented, unbounded, and unconstitutional.

“Schmidt being “violently interrogated” at Logan Airport for hours, and being stripped naked, put in a cold shower by two officials, and being put back onto a chair.” Whatever happened to #abolishICE? It needs to be abolished. This is torture.

My Lyft driver in Milwaukee was an Obama-Trump-Biden-Trump voter. She hates Trump's misogyny, racism, affinity for Russia, and economic incompetence—all of which she saw coming. But there was no way she could vote for Kamala Harris after her uninspiring performance on The View.

The provision of the 14th amendment that the Supreme Court unanimously wrote out of the constitution existed for a reason. Its drafters knew what would happen if you allowed insurrectionists back into power.

Impressively appalling

Read this right now www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

. @annecaprara.bsky.social is correct here

The deal is I punch you in the face How about I give you $50 instead Nope, I want to punch you I’ll buy you dinner but no violence Sorry, I really like to punch Ok, what if you slap me medium-hard It’s a punch in the face or nothing Ok fine, punch me. I can’t be blamed for obstructing a deal

Another sign that this administration doesn’t intend to face voters: they keep putting Lutnick and Bessent before cameras. Every time one of those guys speaks, another person starts taking those guillotine memes more seriously.

At the White House yesterday, Musk said he wanted the cybertruck to look like what Blade Runner would drive. Can someone tell him the story took place in 2020, and no one wants to drive there. The man’s intellect is so very thin.

Are you 🤬ing kidding me??? Criminalizing Habit for Humanity? I know Elon Musk believes empathy is the weakness of our society, does that mean the entire MAGA movement goes along with that maniacal ideology too??? Come on America, we are so much better than this.