Everett Young

Bill Kristol is, incredibly, a really good commentator. Yes, the neo-cons got Iraq wrong and I’m sure I’d still be more supportive of welfarism than Kristol is today, but he’s pretty enlightened, if he wasn’t 20 yrs ago, and takes a back seat to nobody in despising MAGA. He’s borderline liberal.

More heroes for MAGA. Pardon the perpetrators and reserve their speaking slots at the Republican National Convention. Goddamn right I’m accusing. This is the world MAGA wants. They love this. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/nyregion/ny-arrests-sam-nordquist-murder.html

I've been waiting for an instance of censorship by government outlet Xitter that someone could build a 1A case around. This might be the one! @mluckovich.bsky.social

How bad are things likely to get for trans people in the US? Russia is our model. I think we can expect the US to look like this for trans people within 3-4 years. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna136753

April 19 we take to the streets to be heard. Many times before then too, but April 19. https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/the-petty-tyrants?r=4euxpy&utm_medium=ios

New York Times editorial board showed some courage today. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/opinion/transgender-trump-orders.html

The last time I saw a progressive use the term “Latinx” was 6+ years ago. The last 50+ times I’ve seen it are when soneone slams Dems for “using terms like Latinx,” thus helping Trump. Anytime I read commentary on “Democratic failure,” I know I’m about to see the word “Latinx.”

Dems can win by defending trans rights. We just need to be strong and confident. People like confidence. People don’t really vote on issue positions. They just like strength and confidence. Dems need to understand that.

It needs to be known that major social media platforms are censoring announcements of protests, to thwart resistance organization. (Hopefully not Bluesky.) If you aren’t hearing about protest opportunities, it’s probably because posts are being taken down.

For 2 weeks, Trump and his criminals have been a playground bully. The Dem Party, a mild-mannered big kid capable of defending unpopular others, has been worried it will lose popularity if it is seen doing so: “I don’t care, go ahead and beat him up.” Wrong strategy.

These two weeks have been the Democratic Party’s worst hour ever. No opposition whatsoever from prominent leaders. They actually seem to support Trump.

Correct, of course.

It is hard for me to imagine there won’t soon be a bill introduced banning ALL gender-affirming care, including for adults. And when it is, it’s hard for me to imagine Democrats will oppose it. Trans people have few allies now. Cruel policy is coming.

The apathy of Americans in the face of the rise of a cruel dictator may mean our democracy was always doomed. A polity that has no care for its institutions is certain to lose them. When the people realize what they eagerly gave away, it will be too late. We WANT this.

How to Stop Trump in One Stupid Chart Make line go from low to high.

This. And I think Jonathan V Last is the most insightful voice in political commentary today. Democrats are nowhere to be seen right now, helping our new king attain heights of popularity. The Dems are an impotent disgrace right now.

Trump Administration Live Updates: Immigration Policies, D.E.I. Office Closure and More

In our dictatorship, doing the right thing will often mean going to prison. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/22/us/trump-news

So…the 300-character limit here is indeed a drag for a blowhard like me. Is Substack a way to deal with this? Could I write a longer post on Substack, link it here, and then we can talk about it over there?

I notice he did say something not-so-nice about Putin. I suspect that is because he is no longer jealous of Putin. He has the same power here that Putin has there. And Trump is now dreaming of ruling the world. This will affect his guardrail-free mind.

Trump is not president, but king. Caesar. No law limits him. His power, absolute. The only opposition he has is from us, the people, and we who oppose him are, currently, a minority. Being in this opposition may be dangerous. Have we accepted that yet? We must.
(Edited 10:02 AM via @skeetsapp.com)

Thus do we attribute genius to the actions of a toddler, whose real purpose to be revealed is always around the next corner. If disaster comes—just wait! He’s cooking up something even better! If things turn out ok—see! He knew it all along! 3/3

If he promises something amazing that’s unrealistic, well, who knows, maybe he can achieve it and his opponents just weren’t dreaming big enough! If he doesn’t or can’t achieve it, then it was a tactic all along to achieve something else! /2

Nobody knows what Trump is going to do A flagrantly dishonest president meets a deeply incurious conservative base

This is a good one. As with any 3-year-old, you can never know what Trump will do. If he says “I’ll do X,” and it’s a bad idea, well, “he isn’t serious; it’s a negotiation ploy,” so criticism doesn’t stick. /1

Opinion | ‘We’d Have Been Better Off if Trump Won in 2020’: Three Columnists Brace for the First 100 Days What kind of disruptions does America need? And what will Trump not actually follow through on?

In this article, serious writers try to predict what we’ll get with Trump, and as inevitably happens, no matter how critical they are, make Trump seem more coherent and serious than he is. Never forget that the president is just a 3-year-old. That’s the whole analysis.

Yikes that’s a lot of snow

Get the Skeets app and use the list moderation function to organize your BlueSky feed. You gotta work a little to make the Bluesky experience right for you, but I think this is healthy. Bluesky isn’t going to curate you up with dopamine hits.

Leggo baby!

Also: not designed to give constant dopamine hits, so I think mentally healthier, perhaps?

I’ll get active here shortly…just wrapping up things at Facebook.