Maybe the children will only have two dolls

This is an essential. "Democrats need to beat the Trumpists in elections that we ensure are free" is the best strategy for the next 2-4 years. But it is not a long-term strategy! The only possible long-term strategy is that someone else needs to defeat the Trumpists for control of the Repub Party.

Again, every time this happens, we literally have no idea if the masked, plainclothes people are actual government agents, or private citizens acting in party-affiliated paramilitaries. The whole point of IDs & uniforms & no masks is that we know these things.

Documents Allege a Federal Agent at Portland ICE Threatened to Shoot an Ambulance Driver Feds delayed medics who had come to pick up an injured protester. Then, according to confidential incident reports, the agents became aggressive.

ICE agents blocked an ambulance that was trying to take an injured protester to hospital.

"We are still not being allowed to leave by ICE officers.” an EMT said on radio

When driver tried to get out, an agent yelled, "DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN, I WILL SHOOT YOU"

www.wweek.com/news/2025/10...

"Send them back where they came from" not good enough when they have embarrassed the administration. They must be deported to a place where he might be tortured.

Who belongs in Trump's America?

So cool that whenever someone asks the president, “did you eat the Lindbergh baby” he’s like, “no but I’d be allowed to, I have the right to, I might do it later”

“I’m English on my mom’s side and ethnically a kidnapper on my dad’s”

They literally just fought a Supreme Court case for the right to racially profile. It was in the news!

They have done so in reasoned and thoughtful written opinions—opinions that, in the nor- ‘mal course, we would get to parse, assess, and embrace or reject, while fully explaining our reasoning.

I really appreciate Justice Jackson contrasting the lower courts' meticulous and responsible approach to judging—extensive deliberations, written opinions—with the Supreme Court's slapdash, unreasoned work over the shadow docket. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

One thing that comes through awfully clearly in these ICE videos is how many of these goons gravitated toward the job because being able to assault people with impunity is a big thrill for them.

Trump & Vance: Venezuela’s so dangerous we’re thinking of going to war with it & are killing people in boats.
Also Trump & Vance to Venezuelans in the US with TPS who are fleeing this danger: Tough luck.

How are you even supposed to know that this person is a federal law enforcement officer?

They don't like it?

ICE agents raid South Shore apartments; Trump says Chicago could become military training ground ICE agents raided a South Shore apartment building overnight as the city braces for a possible military deployment.

Chicago, Illinois, 2025:

"They had the Black people in one van, and the immigrants in another van."

"They was bringing the kids down, had them zip-tied to each other."

"I kept asking, 'What is the morality?' One of them laughed. He said, 'Fuck them kids.'"

abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...

Surreal moment for America. Needless to say, if the normal police ever pulled something like this — pulling every single person out of an apartment building and handcuffing them to run warrant checks — they would be sued into oblivion.

Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.

ICE agents raid South Shore apartments; Trump says Chicago could become military training ground ICE agents raided a South Shore apartment building overnight as the city braces for a possible military deployment.

“ABC7 spoke to Pertissue Fisher, a woman who lives in the building. She said ICE agents took everyone in the building, including her, and asked questions later….’They was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other.’”

It can’t happen here, you say. But it is happening.

Top 10 American Fears of 2024 (Chapman Survey) Horizontal bar chart ranking the top fears of Americans (percentage “afraid” or “very afraid”): 1. Corrupt government officials (65.2%, top fear for years). 2. Loved ones becoming seriously ill (58.4%). 3. Cyberterrorism (58.3%). 4. Loved ones dying (57.8%). 5. Russia using nuclear weapons (55.8%). 6. Not having enough money for the future (55.7%). 7. U.S. becoming involved in another world war (55.0%). 8. North Korea using nuclear weapons (55.0%). 9. Terrorist attack (52.7%). 10. Biological warfare (52.5%). Red bars display percentages; small arrows indicate change from 2023 rankings.

Top Public Worries in the U.S. (Yale & GMU poll, May 2025) Stacked bar chart of worries among U.S. adults. Categories ranked by share “very worried”: • Government corruption (54% very worried, top issue). • Other leading concerns: cost of living (48%), the economy (47%), state of democracy (44%), disruption of federal services (44%), cultural/social divisions (36%), treatment of immigrants (35%), global warming (29%), crime (26%). • Lower worries include job security (17%), health (16%), and being targeted because of identity/beliefs (15%). Green shades show “very/somewhat worried,” yellow/orange shades show “not very/not at all worried.

Perceptions of Federal Government Problems (AP-NORC poll) Bar chart showing the percentage of U.S. adults who consider various issues in the federal government to be a major problem, minor problem, or not a problem. • Corruption: Overall 70% major, 22% minor, 7% not a problem. Higher among Republicans (78%) than Democrats (63%). • Inefficiency: 65% major overall, with Republicans (81%) much higher than Democrats (55%). • Red tape (bureaucracy): 59% major overall, with Republicans (73%) higher than Democrats (47%). • Civil servants unwilling to implement president’s agenda: More partisan split—Republicans 56% major problem, Democrats 20% major problem; overall 34% major, 36% minor, 28% not a problem. Title: “Majority of the public believe corruption, inefficiency, and red tape are major problems in the federal government.

Word Cloud of How People Describe American Government (Berkeley Democracy Policy Lab) Large central word: “Corrupt.” Other prominent words: Broken, Chaotic, Dysfunctional, Shit, Clueless, Divided, Inefficient, Crooked, Hijacked, Justice, Woke, Bloated, Untrustworthy, Hopeless, Frustrated, Disastrous, Messy, Sneaky, Turmoil, Delusional. Smaller scattered words include both negative and neutral terms such as Crap, Important, Poder, Resilient, Unfocused, Needs Help. Visual emphasizes “Corrupt” as the dominant public perception.

I’m starting to notice a trend in the polling data…

—Top Public Worry: Corruption

—Biggest problem in Fed Gov: Corruption

—Top fear: Corruption

—What one word would you use to describe American government?: “Corrupt”

It’s almost like voters are trying to tell us something.

Rural Americans who rely on Head Start worry about its future: ‘Without free childcare I couldn’t work’ Many voters who voted Trump into the White House fear that the free childcare program could face a slow death

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This is really a stark example of abject political cowardice and how the administration brings it out of people

January 2025: introduces legislation making reparations for the Wounded Knee Massacre

Yesterday: I don’t have an opinion on calling it a battle

So many echoes from this article for US politics....

[at my second rodeo] listen up you ignorant sack of shit

We taught our raccoons sign language and the first thing they said was "The trouble is, you think you have time.”

What's happening could not be more open and explicit. If you displease the regime, they will bring criminal charges against you.

Ask your immigrant friends what it's like to live in a country where the rule of law is a fiction and your freedom depends on the whims of a dictator.

China expands Argentina soybean buying to 20 cargoes, traders say Chinese importers kept up a hectic pace of Argentine soybean purchases after the South American supplier's move to abolish export taxes temporarily made its prices competitive, traders said on Wednesday.

So just to be clear: The US is propping up Argentina’s economy, and now Argentina can eliminate its export taxes, so it can sell tons of soybeans to China, so China isn’t forced to buy soybeans from the US, so the US can pay subsidies to keep our farmers solvent.

www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Government censorship that fails due to widespread public objection is still government censorship.

Much like a coup attempt is still a coup attempt even if the people behind the coup attempt were mostly winging it, caused haphazard violence, and failed to overthrow the government like they wanted.

Over 14,000 physicians currently practicing in the United States, concentrated in underserved Midwestern+Southern states, are currently working on H-1B visas.

This is the high-skill visa program, lifeblood for critical sectors, that the US Administration is sledgehammering.

doi.org/10.1007/s116...

John Roberts liked to think he would be ranked among the great chief justices.

And probably that is what everyone he ever encounters tells him.

The rest of us think: Step aside, Roger Taney. It's now Roberts on his own.

When autocratization is reversed: episodes of U-Turns since 1900 The world is in a “wave of autocratization.” Yet, recent events in Brazil, the Maldives, and Zambia demonstrate that autocratization can be halted and reversed. This article introduces “U-Turn” as ...

“52% of all autocratization episodes become U-Turns, which increases to 73% when focusing on the last 30 years. The vast majority of U-Turns (90%) lead to restored or even improved levels of democracy”

V-Dem data

In a normal government this guy would be fired instead of imprisoning people
"It is still a crime for anyone to seek money to improperly influence federal contracts, the legal experts said, whether they are a public official or not, and whether they ever delivered on their promise or not."