Paul DiMilla

The Trump administration is a fascist administration, but the United States is not yet a fascist state.

Total state capture takes time. Every obstacle we can present as individuals, groups, communities, and institutions helps slow that process.

Everything we do to resist matters. It ALL matters.

I suspect the next few weeks of living in a Dorothea Lange photo are going to shatter a lot of Americans' preconceptions about who's using SNAP and WIC.

Updating my LEGO White House

If the National Guard is really in D.C. to protect federal
property, they should probably have been at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. two days ago

Take note of all these people turning out for protests in small towns in red states.

Remember them the next time you’re inclined to write an area off because “they voted for this.”

“The Purdue student newspaper owns its own presses” is the sound of engines revving

Laws are not self-executing. Is this an obvious Hatch Act violation? Of course. But without good men and women in government faithfully executing the laws, it doesn't matter.

When this is all over, assuming we still have a constitutional government, there needs to be an accounting.

The Pope tweets: "The poor are not there by chance or by blind and cruel fate. Nor, for most of them, is poverty a choice. Yet, there are those who still presume to make this claim, thus revealing their own blindness and cruelty. #DilexiTe" Someone replies: "I was so hopeful I could be a Catholic again after the disaster that Francis was, guess we just get Francis 2.0 now and I am heartbroken. How do I stay a Catholic now...I don't want to lose faith but I am. You belong to someone else, not God."

heartbroken to learn the pope sympathizes with the poor. how can i continue to believe in god

Protest organizers are also recommending that you don't lean into antifa.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1N1kt

In the last 70 years, federal jobs fell from 4.5% of all employment to below 2%.

Civil servants aren't what's driving government debt, and firing them won't address it.

Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

THE ONLY ORANGE MONARCH I CARE ABOUT IS THE BUTTERFLY

Welcome back monarchs on Sunday,
No kings next Saturday.
A sign like this should work for both.

Habitual grifters only know how to continue grifting, not a clue on why they might consider otherwise

The entire American economy is being held hostage to the whims of a guy who doesn’t understand how the economy works

One Year After Klamath Dam Removal, 'There's Just Fish Jumping All Over the Place': Scientists Describe Improvements to Water Quality and Wildlife

Hanging onto every bit of good news

The river has come alive in the Klamath with wild Chinook salmon. The wider ecosystem is healing.

This most powerful story of Indigenous-led #rewilding after the largest dam removal in US history keeps getting better.

lostcoastoutpost.com/2025/oct/9/o...

"Officials are hoping for minimal impacts on travelers, but it's unclear what the extent of the impacts may be." Would a tragic crash or collision still count as "minimal", or is that perspective too "woke"?

Wait, they’re coming for my goddamn pasta now?!

Today, I drove an hour and a half with my wife and a couple friends to pick up a neighbor who was summarily, inexplicably arrested by ICE at a check-in ten days ago and then just as inexplicably released, 100 miles from home today. It was a happy occasion, all things considered, but...

If more people had exercised merely their right to vote in the last election(s), we would have more time & freedom to focus on other important issues (e.g., how to cook lamb, whose cat is cuter, etc.).

Since when did this administration care about the Rule of Law?

I'm 1,500% sure.

Pope Leo hits out at critics of global warming In his first major statement on climate change, the pontiff criticises those who minimise climate change.

"God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters - what will be our answer, my dear friends?"

We'll never know (at least publicly), as the NFL truly cares only about one thing at the expense of all other issues (e.g., fan safety, CTE among its players, etc.): money.

"No love lost" fits the ethos of the NK government perfectly.

Might want to add "distempered" to your description of the child's mind.

The moment where Hegseth ends his speech and not a single officer claps is the most hopeful thing I have seen in a long time.

A lot of people think that every international student admitted means one fewer spot for domestic students, when the opposite is more likely true - the tuition revenue international students bring allows public universities to provide substantial discounts to domestic students, improving access.

Readers hopefully make it to your concluding paragraph & "In the end, I suspect that Hegseth is trying to bolster his stature by flexing his bureaucratic muscles." where you try to calm down the anxiety. But, wow, the set of wacko alternatives being worth noting by a seasoned expert is alarming.

This Dallas Fed factory survey comment from someone in computers/electronics stands out: "I may have to close the company. Orders have stopped coming in, and we do not know why."

Excellent advice, and let me add getting out in nature (be it a stroll around your neighborhood, a walk at the beach, or a hike in the forest & mountains) will allow you to disconnect & do a world of good for your soul while reminding you some good things in life are there if you're willing to look.