Kay

I think the reason people are frustrated with Democratic leaders is that they expect these elected representatives to act like a real disaster is happening, which it is. Four-day weekends and bratwurst junkets in Munich kind of undercut that

Accountability is not free. It costs money to train and build a professional non-political civil service that is not just in it for bribes.

It costs money to train and recruit for a court system that is independent and fair-minded.

But the public supporting this wrecking spree doesn’t see that.

But this information asymmetry has allowed cynical corporate aligned politicians to develop a false narrative that the government is a failing “deep state” that must be destroyed.

That is not true.

The proof is obvious: People want to move here. And it’s not just because of our great shopping.

Government’s wins are often invisible: Systems that avoid plane crashes; alliances that avert war; surveillance that prevent pandemics.

Government wins are often *the avoidance of loss.*

So how do we tell the story of the destruction of government? The story of future losses *not* averted?

A great teacher isn’t one who imparts the most facts. The best ones get you caught up in their love of the topic. Like you might not even be that into the topic, but either they got you into it or, if not, now you’re excited about the possibility of loving another topic, too.

coworker: wow how’ve you been eva it’s been a while

THE GOVERNMENT’S OFFICIAL POLICY IS THAT PEOPLE LIKE ME DON’T EXIST

LITERAL NAZIS HAVE ACCESS TO THE SSA DATABASE OF NAME CHANGES

ITS AMBIGUOUS IF MY VALID DRIVERS LICENSE IS FRAUD AND GROUNDS TO IMPRISON ME

me: fine

Reminder:

If you feel like you're losing everything, remember that even trees lose their leaves every year but still stand tall and strong, knowing that eventually better days will come.

Stand tall and strong.

I'm proud of you

If Democracy truly is dying in plain sight, then why have all of the living former presidents and vice-presidents been absolutely silent? Do they not care?

Whitehouse.gov captures from: 2008 Sept. 15; 2013 Mar. 21; 2017 Feb. 3; and 2021 Feb. 25

Every 4 years, a team of libraries & research organizations work together to preserve material from U.S. government websites during the transition of administrations. 🗳️

Get the latest on the 2024/2025 End of Term Web Archive @eotarchive.org ➡️ blog.archive.org/2025/02/06/u...

Pippin shows us how to resist the Palantir: have your brain so hobbity that when a mind like Sauron's tries to read it, it is just baffled.

Fool of a Took!

I know it's quite minor compared to his other crimes but I'm rather peeved that Thiel mined Lord of the Rings for names while completely missing any moral lesson from them. Does he look to Saruman as a role model?

‘I was being groomed to rape’: The young men being taught to hate women Online ‘bubbles of hate’ are weaponising the insecurities of frustrated young males to create violent misogynists with extremist potential

‘I was being groomed to rape’: The young men being taught to hate women by incel culture.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02...

Ask yourself: when is the last time I saw my lawmaker at a town hall? Not on TV. I'm talking you were in the same room as them.
When was the last time you actually spoke to them? Asked a question and heard an answer?
Maybe we need to bring back town halls.

Keep. Making. Art.

Well I wanted more open government tech. Not like this though.

I'm going back to using a typewriter

I resent having to have so much anger in my heart all the time. Because it’s not my default. I’m a happy person by default.

A stern peregrine falcon looks at the reader against a background of pinks. "My love for you is like a Peregrine Falcon. Strong. Powerful." The peregrine zooms through the sky over a forest. "Energetic. Zooming towards you at 200 mph." The peregrine catches a bird. "Striking prey in a dramatic mid-air explosion of feathers. Storing excess meat in crevices or on ledges." The peregrine barfs up a pellet with a BLECHHH. "Vomiting up pellets of bone, feathers, gizzard, and other coarse material. Wait. What were we talking about?"

My love for you is like a peregrine falcon. One more valentine from a past year.

Biden's EPA issued $20 billion in green grants. Now Trump's administration wants that money back In a major reversal, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency says he'll try to rescind $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean-energy projects.

In a major reversal, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency said he will try to rescind $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean-energy projects.

Oh no.

Star Trek The Next Generation scene. We're on the holodeck / dreamitorium which of course we know is a giant cube shaped black room, on ship, with yellow stripes in grid pattern throughout. A man is pictured wearing a olde English Sherlock Holmsey looking suit. (It's Moriarty, DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN) He looks as serious as a heart attack while talking to someone just off camera. Closed caption reads, "Brief terrifying periods of consciousness."

Oh my god.

NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION! HANDS OFF MY MONEY, MUSK!

The snow is beautiful today.

Trump’s feared DOJ enforcer has a secret: He, too, investigated Jan. 6 The acting DOJ official behind a potential witch hunt against prosecutors and FBI agents who investigated the Capitol riot worked on Jan. 6 cases himself.

Just to underscore the tension at DOJ at the moment, here's what one federal law enforcement official told me about the acting deputy attorney general:

"I, along with other career FBI and DOJ personnel that I’ve spoken with, really have one message for him and that is, “go fuck yourself, traitor.'"

Looking for people who were active in the Missouri GOP between 2013-2015.