An essential read about the fascistic undoing of #universities: "What is really happening here is an attack on the American faith in knowledge as a value and a public good that has served us well." -- Professor Meghan O'Rourke
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/opinion/university-defunding-trump-rufo.html
People can get used to anything. Anything. You can get used to this, and wait your turn in line silently.
Or you can take action now to protect the people who are at the front of the line.
Those are the two choices. Which will it be?
2/ #uspol
The Trump administration isn’t stopping with undocumented immigrants.
They aren’t going to stop with •anyone• until there’s no one left — or until we stop them. No matter who we are, you and I and everyone are all in line to be targeted. That’s how fascism works.
#uspol 1/
Really proud of our best #Minnesota senator, Tina Smith. Beyond the clickbait headline (which I liked) it’s a very worthwhile 30-minute interview with #MehdiHasan
‘A Dick, A Jerk, A Threat to Democracy’: Dem Senator Unloads on Elon Musk https://zeteo.com/p/a-dick-a-jerk-a-threat-to-democracy
Ignorant sophistry:
"But in any case, this is the same law that was used to justify the internment camps in World War II, and it didn't get struck down by the Supreme Court then."
"So they've had a long time to decide if this law is something the president should be able to use."
The Supreme Court of that day also didn’t strike down segregation laws, so thanks for the warning about what y’all plan next.
Agree 100%
The idea that the density of good people is different among different categories, whether races or genders or degrees of ableness or whatever, seems completely suspect to me. So there's that.
But also, abstract goodness is not always the entirety of what is needed of employees. Regardless of what score anyone might get open whatever test you could throw at them, there is intrinsic value and having people who come from different backgrounds. Diverse groups have a better mix of origin stories, and are not just diverse in nature but in nurture.
Diverse groups have walked more paths, seen more things, experienced more situations. There is a greater breadth of empathy. There are more varied sources of inspiration. Inspiration comes in odd ways from different situations.
When solving mysteries, differences in people's personal histories will lead them to see the same situation differently, sometimes shaking them out of overly narrow, limiting, or even toxic assumptions.
When creating policy, having folks present who can more directly represent those impacted can help to call out and perhaps avoid biases, prejudices, indignities or injustices that might be invisible to or unappreciated by a narrower group that is so used to things going a certain way that they don't realize or find it easy to relate to that full space of potential negatives others might endure.
When creating stories, diversity brings more richness of life experience to draw on.
When innovating, diversity brings more points of view a greater breadth of traditions and techniques to draw on, better thinking outside the box because the boxes people have inhabited are so many and varied.
When entertaining, more sources of music, jokes, artistic tools and media. Even with 5000 TV channels and as many grocery store products, we crave variety, which better comes of diversity than a sea of cultural sameness.
One can allege there is a kind of dogged efficiency in eliminating diversity, but there is no reason to suppose it will do anything other than destroy all that has made the US an interesting place to visit, study, and buy from.
The monocultural sludge we are becoming is the farthest thing from smart, safe, healthy, entertaining, or free. Even a highly efficient from of that toxic sludge will still be sludge and will not thrive economically or socially. The stock market is just an early warning sign but there will soon be other even more visible indicators. Our society is melting down before our eyes and the present experiment in selfish, bigoted authoritarianism is the cause, not the cure.
This cesspool of feigned expertise and mindless leadership being thrust upon us claims to be motivated by a desire to avoid bankruptcy, but in fact is the shortest path not only to economic but also moral, cultural and intellectual bankruptcy that anyone could have devised. If there is an efficiency to be claimed it is in the swift path ruin it has charted. Future generations of locusts will study the raw, ruthless, and ultimately pointless efficiency it has required to dismantle and plunder a thriving society in such short order.
#diversity #DEI #DOGE #efficiency #USPol #USPolitics #politics #society #bigotry #monoculture #locusts #economy #inspiration #justice #representation #gender #race #disability #bias #prejudice #injustice
H/T @salixsericea
Long piece by @tzimmer_history but worth taking the time. It’s not pleasant reading, but it’s super helpful to synthesize all the hourly outrages into a unified and coherent big picture. It’s a picture that doesn’t fully match anything that’s come before.
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-authoritarianism-means
Update. "#Trump Executive Order Targets #IMLS for Closure"
https://www.wordsandmoney.com/trump-executive-order-targets-imls-for-closure/
"In a March 14 Executive Order, President Donald Trump has targeted seven more federal agencies for permanent closure, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
If some parts of IMLS are "statutorily required" and cannot be shut down by an executive order, the #OMB has seven days to show it.
"EveryLibrary is hosting a petition [to keep IMLS open]…The American Library Association has…weighed in with a statement."
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Has the hate always been there?
So my dad was a USPS employee for my entire life. And I realize they are a bit different in the usual federal employee but because of him I always thought federal employment was important work. I also had a couple of relatives who worked on different federal fields and they weren’t rich but were comfortable and never seemed to be hated. Now I feel admitting being a federal employee .. especially to my agency seems to open me up to be hated.I just saw tonight someone saying they worked 60+ hours as a federal employee in a post .. and saw a reply saying “well since most of your colleagues work 20 hours …..”. I know no one who only works 20 hours on my team .. even people who I know have FMLA leave and possibly could if needed. Is there lazy people. Sure. But I worked in the private sector for many years as well and there are plenty of lazy people everywhere. But I’ve never seen harder workers or more passionate workers since moving to federal. I just don’t understand the hate. Edit: Just want to say to this day my dad was the hardest working man I’ve ever known. His minimum week was 6 10 hour days. .. during busy parts of the year it was 7 12 hour days. .. which of course was the most the government would allow. But he took every hour they offered… until he couldn’t anymore. There was not a lazy bone in this man’s body and it pisses me off when people offer otherwise.
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#Coup #Activism #Reddit #subreddit #fednews #FederalWorkforce #FederalGovernment #USpol #Trump #Elon #Musk #DOGE
These stories about random people in the US that get arrested for flimsy reasons are deliberate. You don't want this to happen to you and so you will start to act more careful, you align your actions to what is “expected” by the authorities and not just rely on being allowed to do anything that is legal.
Installing this feeling is on purpose – and this works even if you don't belong to the groups of people currently targeted.
The Dems have one strategy: hope the voters bail them out.
40% of the time it works every time.
#democrats #uspol https://mastodon.social/@anirvan/114166628397720772
A friend of mine sent me this & urged me to spend eight minutes watching & listening. I don't use LinkedIn, but to my surprise i am able to access & play it fine, sans account. Tis a fine speech. I don't speak French, but happily the video includes a decent onscreen translation.
Dan Bowyer
If you monitor global politics and have 8 minutes to spare you must watch this. I've yet to watch, read, or hear such a magnificent speech on the state of the union.
Krasnov is the American Liz Truss.
Will *he* last longer than a head of lettuce? The answer, unfortunately, is almost certainly yes. Because as stupid as the Westminster system (as used in both Canada and the UK) is, their system is somehow even worse.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/14/donald-trump-crashing-us-economy-fake-news
Peaceful march & protest in Suffolk, Virginia, against Jen Kiggens' refusal to meet her failure to stand against the Trump-Musk coup #uspol #jenkiggans #musk
Chinese crypto scammer #JustinSun put tens of millions of dollars in Trump's pocket weeks before the government dropped all charges against him.
https://www.jacobsilverman.com/p/the-president-took-a-75-million-bribe
"Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench,
And minister in their steads!"
Timon of Athens (IV, 1)
#UsPol #ShakespeareSunday
#Trump is also decimating the #US #defense industry, as #EU countries are quickly developing technologies and equipment to fill the holes left by his desertion of our #NATO #OTAN allies.
(Example: Drones could be more important in modern warfare than bigger systems—and #Ukraine owns the absolute cutting edge of this technology.)
So what happens to Lockheed, Boeing, etc when their foreign customer base sees it can do without them?