Steve Butterfield

Funny...but not funny.
Agencies and public servants suffering under this administration. And being replaced by loyalists.

Well written and reasoned. ‪@thesteadystate.org

"He has called for “regime change” in Iran, but his real interest may be in avoiding regime change here in America."

"from the playbooks of authoritarian leaders: When a ruler needs to tighten his grip on power, he starts a war."

This is a terrific example of what we need for all of the areas where Trump and his reptile republicans have violated American laws and values in their failing attempt to establish an authoritarian state.

Let's establish "shadow federal agencies" populated by retirees creating similar databases.

Kudos to Stephen Colbert for standing up for himself and against tyranny.

I've always been a fan of his — going way back to the Colbert Report years.

I enjoyed chatting with him in August. Here's a brief clip from our discussion.

Let's complete FDR's New Deal!

The victims were children.

Brian Allen

🚨 Pete Buttigieg nails it:

“In a country that amended the Constitution to ban beer… then fixed it when we realized it was dumb… surely we can amend it again to say corporations aren’t people and money isn’t speech.”

Translation:

We corrected Prohibition
We can correct Citizens United

Not implausible unfortunately.

ICE Agents Can't Hide Behind their Masks Forever | Stuart Stevens LIVE "The absurdity of these ICE agents thinking about wearing masks, they're hiding their identity... It's like children covering their eyes and they think they're not going to be found in hide and seek."

We must have accountability! Well-expressed. Thank you Stuart.

www.lincolnsquare.media/p/ice-agents...

What's disappointing is that the other governor's--both Democratic and Republican--are not boycotting/protesting these exclusions.

CBS is still doing some reporting of relevant news--albeit sourced from DHS statistics.

Bad Bunny didn’t just ask for a seat at the table.

He flipped it over and brought in a bigger one.

A new America is emerging with a more expansive view of patriotism, love of country and Americanness.

It’s coming! It’s here! Whether you like it or not.

Sunday Pages: "This Was Their Finest Hour" A speech by Winston Churchill

Thank you Greg! I, too, continue to believe that our nation will emerge the better for this struggle. It is leading to a new awakening.

Words to start the day--

"We're right. They're wrong. And there are more of us than there are of them." Stuart Stevens

open.substack.com/pub/gregolea...

ICE Agents Can’t Hide Behind their Masks Forever From the Stasi to the Gestapo, history tells us that the names of the state's henchmen always come to light.

"We're right. They're wrong. And there are more of us than there are of them."
@stuartpstevens.bsky.social

"...will be fish food for history, spending the rest of their lives dealing with the consequences of their immorality and illegality.”

open.substack.com/pub/lincolns...

"We're right. They're wrong. And there are more of us than there are of them."

Ian McKellen delivers this remarkable monologue. He is so talented. And this is so on point.

My wife and I saw him perform a piece on Lincoln's assassination at Ford's theater some time ago.

Jeffrey Epstein Was Obsessed With My Tweets Just Before His Death—And Now I Know Why The new Epstein Files drop reveals that just weeks before the arrest that would lead to his death, Epstein was focused on the thesis of my 2019 bestseller, Proof of Conspiracy. The reason shocked me.

@sethabramson.bsky.social is a national asset.

open.substack.com/pub/sethabra...

"By the end of his first year, Hitler had around 50,000 people held in his roughly 70 concentration camps, facilities that were often improvised in factories, prisons, castles, and other buildings."

This cannot be something a civilian law enforcement agent is allowed to wear in the US — and an agency that has a culture that tolerates this cannot be saved.

Three rules in FBI firearm training:

1. Always point your weapon downrange
2. Do not point your weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot
3. Don’t put your finger on the trigger unless you intend to shoot

Guns are not for threatening compliance for unarmed people doing things you don’t like

Scott MacFarlane with some encouraging reporting on DOJ's failing attempts to imprison Trump's "political enemies."

Amen.

There was nothing inevitable about today's economic ills.

We got here by the sustained efforts of many self-interested actors.

And by the willingness of many of our fellow Americans to be bamboozled and hoodwinked by skillful (and dishonest) electioneering.

Accountability for ICE and CBP However bad you think the corruption and misconduct at ICE and CBP is — the reality is far far worse.

If you have any interest in ICE and CBP--and how could you not--@vermontgmg.bsky.social testified how bad they have become over the past 25 years.

"crime rate of CBP agents and officers was higher PER CAPITA than the crime rate of undocumented immigrants"

www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/accountabi...

A helpful guide for those of us who are new to this.

Tolkien’s Dragons and Ours Oligarchy’s Blasted Heath

Please read if you like Tolkein, Synder, or America.

"Dragons, explained Tolkien, assemble huge wealth, appreciating only its quantity, but taking no joy in any particular object."

Helps explain why the morbidly wealthy (h/t Hartmann) oppose democracy.

open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...

Journalists Arrested: It Really Happened Here - Tanner Friedman Don Lemon is not my kind of infotainer. I tried watching his CNN show, but too often he sounded like just another cable “news” talking head. And I haven’t watched anything he’s done since, from Twitte...

“In this country, journalists should not be arrested for trying to do their jobs, whether you like their work or not, whether the government likes their work or not. It’s a significant reason why we have the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

====>

tannerfriedman.com/blog/journal...

Why America Needs More Political Division The problem wasn’t that Hillary Clinton described MAGA as deplorable. The problem was that she stopped doing it.

Stuart Stevens, a repentant, skilled, former GOP operative, lays it out.

"If I ran the Democratic Party, I would begin and end every day with a national chant of “We’re Right. They’re Wrong. There are more of us than them.”

@stuartpstevens.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/lincolns...

Jim Stewartson, Decelerationist 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇺🇸 on X: "“If they are allowed to get in, they will quickly dismantle America, brick by brick… Kash Patel is simply on fire.” —Russian state propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, 12/3/24 Right on schedule. h/t @JuliaDavisNews https://t.co/FfC5cttzKx" / X “If they are allowed to get in, they will quickly dismantle America, brick by brick… Kash Patel is simply on fire.” —Russian state propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, 12/3/24 Right on schedule. h/t @JuliaDavisNews https://t.co/FfC5cttzKx

Extraordinary clip from a Russian news show in Dec 2024.

“If they are allowed to get in, they will quickly dismantle America, brick by brick… Kash Patel is simply on fire.”
—Russian state propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, 12/3/24

I hope she has the good sense to value him. Actually, I hope she has the good sense to reform...or resign.