Daniel Becker

Turns out i may be at least half wrong in my historical analogy: based on today’s reports on the #Trump administration’s planned #retribution campaign against alleged “leftist” #domesticTerrorists, I can’t help but wonder… Is #TylerRobinson the #maga Marinus van der Lubbe?

For the record, I am appalled by this murder. Condolences to his family.

Reading some of the commentary on the #CharlieKirk assassination, I can’t help but wonder… Is he becoming the Horst Wessel of #maga?

There are some #events that turn out to be epochal turning points, and people who witness them realize right away that this is that kind of event. E.g., 11/9(89), 9/11(01). More often, though, the day’s significance doesn’t come into view until later. E.g., 1/30(33). Which moment are we living in?

#America2025 sure smells a lot like #Italy1920s or #Germany1930s or #Russia2000s or #Turkey2010s.

These #fellowTravelers could easily stick it out for four years and see another day of a #postTrump, #postMAGA career, unless they’re #trueBelievers in #MAGA. Which, in most cases, I doubt. So what do they know, or anticipate, or hope for, that we don’t?

The thing that worries me most about this moment is the sheer number of people #fallingInLine. ( #CBS #ABC #Bezos #Zuckerberg #TimCook #AJBondi #ChiefJustice etc. et al.)

I have no answers. I don’t even have words. (And the numbers now scare me.)

So maybe 4 is the (vain?) hope that this is when this will all be over? But Sudoku offers the option of 1… or 9 (scary)… 81, if you count the squares (🤮).

Could it be a coping strategy? I do work with a target on my back after all in an industry — #higherEd — and an organization — @harvard.edu — in a field — #librarianship — that the current regime either dislikes or is actively persecuting.

Now I have no idea where this sudden affinity for the number 4 comes from. (I’m usually drawn to primes.)

Just finished a #sudoku and for some unknown reason I’m upset that I didn’t end on the number 4.

We love our National Parks. Help us #SaveOurSigns We need your help to #SaveOurSigns

We can’t really prevent the current administration from #whitewashing and/or #erasing US #history. But we CAN save it for the future. #saveoursigns
h/t: @datarescueproject.org

Heartbreaking and terrifying.

If #Iran retaliates, do you think they’ll strike in the parts of the US that voted for #Trump or the parts that he’s targeting with his #illiberal, #theocratic #authortarianism that kinda mirrors their own?

I guess we really do deserve this government, if this is the opposition we have. 😔

But I wish @housedemocrats.bsky.social and @democrats.senate.gov were a little punchier in their statements. Nobody’s going to listen to or even read that and go “yeah, you’re right!” All of that dribble is boring and doesn’t rise to the occasion.

I don’t want to go to #war with #Iran either, and I do agree that #Trump abused his powers by circumventing #Congress (or at least part of Congress, since he seems to have kept Sen. #Thune and Speaker #Johnson but not any #Democrats in the loop).

Where is #Congress in all of this? @warren.senate.gov @markey.senate.gov @lynch.house.gov ?

To #Trump, this isn’t about #Iran, the #security of #Israel, #nuclearWeapons. It’s about showing he’s “the man.” And perhaps also about creating a #pretext for further erosion of #civilLiberties and strengthening of his #authoritarianism.

Going to #war with #Iran is #Bibi #Netanyahu clinging to power despite his growing unpopularity and #Trump trying to look strong (or at least not look weak) by comparison to someone he considers beneath him.

Now, I’m not an expert in Middle East affairs but it seems to me that this entire thing isn’t in the national interest of either #Israel or the #USA.

Welp, and less than an hour later, we seem to be actually at (not properly constitutionally declared) war.

My colleague laying it plain.

Thanks @senangusking.bsky.social

And to think that #Nazi Germany’s #Hitler built his “foreign policy acumen” on bilateral #nonaggression pacts… 🤔 And then used what we would now call a #deepfake violation of one of those pacts to justify #WorldWar2. #Wartime situations call for desperate measures… Better prepare… it’s coming!

This chilling piece from @theatlantic.com (by an avowed #neocon no less) should give us pause as we look at what’s happening in #Iran. It wouldn’t be the first time that an aspiring #authoritarian ( #Trump / #Vance ?) has used a foreign or terrorist incident (or mere threat) to undermine democracy.

American Democracy Might Not Survive a War With Iran The United States is well down the road to dictatorship. Imagine what Trump would do with a state of war.

This chilling piece from @theatlantic.com (by an avowed #neocon no less) should give us pause as we look at what’s happening in #Iran. It wouldn’t be the first time that an aspiring #authoritarian ( #Trump / #Vance ?) has used a foreign or terrorist incident (or mere threat) to undermine democracy.

Not sure how/if this is supposed to work (or is legal) but it goes to show that what matters to this administration isn’t “antisemitism,” or “civil rights,” or even “viewpoint diversity.” What they want is to stymie #Harvard (and other higher ed institutions), if only to prove a (nonsensical) point.

ICE Detains Family of Suspect in Colorado Attack

Back in the days that this administration seems to want to return to, they called this “Sippenhaft.”