Friday Round Up! 10/24/25 We need to focus on the players who are throwing the game.

@asharangappa.bsky.social makes a very good point here. We all can see how lawless Trump is, but we also need to focus on those who refuse to hold him accountable.

Argentina and Rural America’s Awakening Suddenly, Trump’s contempt for his base is showing

The latest Substack post from Nobel-laureate @pkrugman.bsky.social looks at the old problem of how Republicans take advantage of their rural supporters but seem to never lose their votes. It may be a bit of hopium to think that will change, but to quote Star Wars, “Rebellions are built on hope.”

You should always read @hcrichardson.bsky.social , but today’s post is especially important to read

Thank you to everyone who exercised their first amendment rights and protested today at the No Kings events. Thank you for remaining peaceful and for reminding everyone where the true strength in this country lies.

How Trump Is Making China Great Why we’re going to lose the trade war, and much more besides

I find @pkrugman.bsky.social ‘s analysis here nice and succinct. I encourage everyone to give it a read and think about.

open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

I think about the importance of naming things accurately whenever I hear someone state that we need to “tone down the rhetoric”

Text card: Listen for dangerous words. Be alert to the use of the words extremism and terrorism. Be alive to the fatal notions of emergency and exception. Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary. #OnTyranny

One of the lessons I discuss in "On Tyranny":
Listen for dangerous words.

Read the dissent here. The current SCOTUS “conservative” majority consistently throws out precedent and the law whenever it suits the authoritarian ambitions of this administration. It is beyond the pale.

Happy Fall Equinox, everyone. May we all find more balance in this increasingly unbalanced world.

I hate fascism so much. It is so painful to watch.

Making Sense of MAGA An ideological roadmap to help you understand the madness.

Another must read from @asharangappa.bsky.social

While no map is going to be comprehensive (for example, this does not include the MAHA movement), Asha’s breakdown gives a great overview of different MAGA factions along with their objectives and tactics.

What do you think the chances are Congress calls in RFK to demand he stop causing so many experts to resign?

As for me, I’m not holding my breath (except maybe literally when I am out in public).

Please give this a read. Any actions the current FBI take should be met with even more skepticism than you might have had previously.

Another must read from Elie Mystal. I appreciate how well he just lays it out without mincing words.

This is a disgrace. He is already impeachable

Republicans confirming Emil Bove is just the latest evidence that they have no respect for the rule of law. Vote every last one of them out.

I know this is far from the biggest story of the day, but I’m highlighting it because I often hear the argument that immigration needs to be stopped because there exist a couple of criminal immigrants.

Think of how much higher the crime rates are for those pardoned for J6 than immigrants!

Prof Snyder is a leading scholar on authoritarianism who til recently taught at Yale. While you may not trust this media outlet, you should absolutely trust that he knows what he is talking about. I endorse 95% of what the article says and it is brutal.

ICE just opened a huge detention facility in FL and the “Big Beautiful Bill” dramatically increases their ability to make more.

If only there was a historical precedent that we could point to that suggested rounding up people the state found undesirable and concentrating them in camps was bad.

I want to thank @democrats.senate.gov for keeping debate on this “Big Beautiful Bill” going through the night. Do not let Republicans pass this monstrosity that will kill people, bust the budget, and turn us into a police state in the middle of the night!

The level of hypocrisy of this administration is just staggering. Remember well: if they consider you an enemy, no law or fact is going to keep them from coming after you. We need to stop this fascist regime.

Please oppose the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. It will kill people - maybe even someone you care about.

Trump continues to try to generate a crisis in LA as people were just waking up to how horrible the “Big, Beautiful Bill” is. That bill needs to fail as does the march towards full martial law.

We Are No Longer a Serious Country And the world is starting to notice

Nobel prize winning economist (and author of my favorite intro Microeconomics textbook), Paul Krugman @pkrugman.bsky.social, makes a good point about the state of our policy making.

open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Opinion | How Will We Know When We Have Lost Our Democracy?

I fully support everyone’s first amendment rights to free speech, including the right to criticize the government. Especially if that government is the utterly incompetent, cruel, and petty Trump regime.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/o...

The cruelty of this administration and the Republicans in Congress seems to know no bounds. Let’s hope that somehow the Senate stops this budget bill but I won’t be holding my breath.

I really hope the Republican’s budget bill fails this evening. What an unbelievably cruel pile of trash. Tax the poor, cut their programs, and heap trillions onto the debt to fill the accounts of the wealthiest.

I was asking myself who in the series I related to most when I came upon this exact page. “Well, maybe it is Narita,” I thought disappointedly.

Yes, this has been a problem from day one of Trump’s presidency (especially this time around). Now what are we going to do about it?

Death is such bullshit.