RealityBased1🇨🇦

Expand the Supreme Court.

The water is warm here.

It's been time.

Force Democrats to run on this issue.

It's a completely corrupt institution that serves to rubber-stamp Trump and MAGA's fascist agenda.

That was the problem with Jan 6 prosecutions. They started at the bottom and then the clock ran out

Let this sink in. The President of the United States is now appealing a court order forcing him to feed starving children.

Well that didn’t age well, and I mean Jeanine Pirro….🍷

Feels like the Democrats should maybe put up a website showing all of the Trump Flight Cancellations?

This will be the defining photo of his 2nd term for future historians.

Agree. Nobody’s perfect but he’s the right leader for the times.

What is a “real” Christian though?
There are hundreds of sects. The only difference is what part of the Bible they choose to ignore or cherry pick.

Can a single President cripple a country? Just take a look at what Jacob Zuma did to South Africa. Zuma was a populist, charismatic, and proudly anti-establishment, with an open hostility towards the traditional political class. When he took office in 2009, he inherited a nation with internationally respected institutions, an economy growing at 5% a year, and systemic inequality being slowly reversed after decades of apartheid. While Nelson Mandela sought to unite the South African people, Zuma shamelessly exploited social division for political support, presenting himself as the leader of a political movement rather than the South African people. He openly promoted the concept of "cadre deployment"; the placement of loyal ANC Party members in key positions across the public sector. This included government departments, state-owned companies, and regulatory bodies. Zuma justified this by arguing it was necessary to ensure that those who held power in the state were aligned with his political goals rather than the previous administrations. The party didn't just become more important than the state, the state became a mere utility to advance the ideological agenda of the party. The result was rampant nepotism, abuse of power, and corruption on an unprecedented scale. With Zuma enriching himself, his family, and those that proved their loyalty to him.

For almost a decade, Zuma used his control of party structures, security agencies, and state-owned enterprises to build a loyal patronage network that rewarded political allegiance and punished integrity. Oversight bodies were hollowed out, prosecutors intimidated, and investigators sidelined, creating a climate in which corruption became both a survival mechanism and a route to advancement within the ruling elite. He accepted millions in bribes from defence manufacturers. He spent $25 million USD of taxpayers money to upgrade "security" on his home, which included building a swimming pool, amphitheatre, and cattle kraal. One corruption scandal alone was alleged to have cost the South African people $25 billion. Any efforts to investigate his corruption was cast as political persecution, and his devoted followers passionately defended him. When a constitutional court attempted to establish a Commission into his conduct, he refused to attend, resulting in a 15 month prison sentence. Thousands of his supporters began rioting, with more than 350 people killed in the unrest that followed. He was even accused of raping the daughter of a family friend, but used mob style tactics and misogynistic rhetoric to intimidate and discredit the victim, and once again portrayed himself as a political martyr. By the end of Zuma's Presidency, South Africa's debt to GDP ratio doubled, economic growth stagnated, unemployment jumped by 5%, and an energy infrastructure that was once the envy of the world became so riddled with corruption that rolling blackouts became a daily occurrence.

South Africa’s public institutions had been profoundly and irreversibly weakened, investor confidence shattered, and the notion of public service replaced by a culture of impunity and rent-seeking that continues to haunt the country’s governance today. Zuma's replacement, his Vice-president Cyril Ramaphosa, has himself been embroiled in just as many corruption scandals as Zuma, with one police investigation finding he had $4 million USD stashed in his couch at his farm. He remains President today of the most unequal country on earth. Once corruption embeds itself within a country's civil ecosystem, it becomes almost impossible to eradicate. Too many positions of power become occupied by those with too much to lose if transparency and accountability ever truly return. South Africa should be a cautionary tale for the rest of the world, especially those currently under the threat of their own Zuma-like charlatans... and there are plenty like him to be found. As Lord Acton famously said, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

From @realcarrickryan.bsky.social's FB page.

I know many people believe that once the orange plague (and his minions) are exterminated, things will go back to "normal". But as Carrick points out, once corruption sets in, it's impossible to eradicate.

Look to any authoritarian country.

The most ridiculous part of this is that it is now day 4, and this wasn’t thrown out day 1

The abusive husband will usually claim he has an excellent relationship with his wife….

This ridiculous case has gone on far too long. Kill the damn birds already!

Never has an obituary been so widely longed for.

MAPLE MAGA Is Collapsing in Canada Defections, budgets, and Canada's sovereignty have officially started the beginning of the End for Canada's MAPLE MAGA Leader, Pierre Poilievre. He's over.

MAPLE MAGA Is Collapsing in Canada. #cdnpoli open.substack.com/pub/deanblun... @deanblundell.bsky.social

Hey Universe? Make up your mind.

Expel Hoekstra

Huge night for democrats and democracy tonight. As we celebrate, though, we need to plan forward. We need to avoid complacency, and to be ready for inevitable backlash from Trump and the GOP. We’ll need to work to turn this step forward into the next. Onward.

For years, but especially for the past year, Democrats have been in thrall to the idea that they need to chase an imagined median voter, and adopt that voter’s positions. Mamdani’s victory shows another way: hold principles, and persuade people to share them.

Populist Dems won. Moderate Dems won. We won in blue states. We won in purple states.

Maybe the take is that (a) people think Trump is out of control; and (b) people like Dems when we're taking a stand and fighting for what we believe in - as we have been for the last month.

He’s got to go. Like yesterday.

Nancy Pelosi: "He's just a vile creature, the worst THING on the face of the earth." All the pearl clutchers can shut it. Trump has said worse and I’m glad he gets a taste of his own medicine.

I second the motion on the floor!
#ProudBlue #Pinks #TrumpIsUnfitForOffice

He’ll be running the place by next week

I can't believe I agree with Ronnie

This is an excellent idea!!!

Has the tRump family invested in any bone saw companies? 🤔

Join me in calling trump's little Johnson at
202 225 2777
Demand he swears in
Congresswoman Elect ADELITA GRIJALVA

Jeffries: "The Trump administration and Mike Johnson are running a pedophile protection program. That's what they've been doing. And that's the reason they refuse to swear in Representative Elect Adelita Grijalva."

INAL but isn’t a jury trial much more expensive, not to mention a waste of everyone’s time?