Brian Cook
@2ndadminstate.bsky.social
Tinkering with the Constitution has failed. The American commercial republic must be reconstructed.
Professor Emeritus of Public Administration & Policy, Virginia Tech.
"Speech is silver, silence is gold. Self is universe."
--Ursula Le Guin
Professor Emeritus of Public Administration & Policy, Virginia Tech.
"Speech is silver, silence is gold. Self is universe."
--Ursula Le Guin
Pinned
Brian Cook
@2ndadminstate.bsky.social
· Feb 25
Here is the essence of the American republic’s dilemma. Those with considerable wealth and control over productive assets do not necessarily need a regime of self-government to sustain their lifestyle and wealth-generating pursuits. But the republic needed them if was to prosper over time.
Reposted by Brian Cook
Russia now controls far less land in Ukraine than it did one month into the war.
December 26, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Russia now controls far less land in Ukraine than it did one month into the war.
Reposted by Brian Cook
No one says to legit business owners, "hey I see there's an underground market selling toxic knock-offs of your product: how will you incorporate the toxic product AND protect your customers against its harms?" But apparently it's fine to make this suggestion to educators with respect to AI.
December 24, 2025 at 7:56 PM
No one says to legit business owners, "hey I see there's an underground market selling toxic knock-offs of your product: how will you incorporate the toxic product AND protect your customers against its harms?" But apparently it's fine to make this suggestion to educators with respect to AI.
Definitely time to push hard for a new definition of what constitutes net worth.
At some point we must come to a reckoning of how meme-driven investors prop up failsons who leverage the unsound investments into their failing ventures to extend their warped views through media ownership
"America’s wealthiest tech billionaires added more than $550bn to their combined net worth this year, as they benefit from an investor frenzy around leading artificial intelligence companies."
December 26, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Definitely time to push hard for a new definition of what constitutes net worth.
Reposted by Brian Cook
My teaching has been very effective, students love it, won lots of awards, etc.
But my approach now simply doesn't work. >80% of the submissions for every assignment use some AI. I have to *completely* change the entire way I teach SOLELY because of some greedy and irresponsible billionaires.
But my approach now simply doesn't work. >80% of the submissions for every assignment use some AI. I have to *completely* change the entire way I teach SOLELY because of some greedy and irresponsible billionaires.
Yes, this!: "this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning"
I'm finding that I don't have just to change assignments. I have to **abandon my entire teaching strategy**, which has always been built around scaffolded independent projects across the semester.
I'm finding that I don't have just to change assignments. I have to **abandon my entire teaching strategy**, which has always been built around scaffolded independent projects across the semester.
It is EXHAUSTING not only being made responsible for coming up with new kinds of assignments for our students; it's also tedious reading op-eds that suggest the core problem is a crisis in teaching. But, as Chris and I lay out here, this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning.
December 26, 2025 at 2:54 PM
My teaching has been very effective, students love it, won lots of awards, etc.
But my approach now simply doesn't work. >80% of the submissions for every assignment use some AI. I have to *completely* change the entire way I teach SOLELY because of some greedy and irresponsible billionaires.
But my approach now simply doesn't work. >80% of the submissions for every assignment use some AI. I have to *completely* change the entire way I teach SOLELY because of some greedy and irresponsible billionaires.
Reposted by Brian Cook
Plato argued in the Republic that the 'tyrant,' or someone with unlimited wealth and power, would live the worst possible life because his soul would be devoured by lawless, unlimited desires that could never be sated. I think we've gotten confirmation of this from more cases than Trump lately
I always thought Plato was pretty pollyannaish on this point, but this is decent evidence for the view that a man of bad character will therefore be unhappy even with every external trapping of success and good fortune.
President Donald Trump gifted the world with nearly 200 Truth Social posts (and counting) on Christmas Day, where he amplified conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and called for a member of Congress to be deported.
December 26, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Plato argued in the Republic that the 'tyrant,' or someone with unlimited wealth and power, would live the worst possible life because his soul would be devoured by lawless, unlimited desires that could never be sated. I think we've gotten confirmation of this from more cases than Trump lately
Reposted by Brian Cook
Why won't your member of congress drop this in the hopper? Copy and paste, change out the name, force a vote.
They can do that as many times as they want.
They can do that as many times as they want.
December 26, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Why won't your member of congress drop this in the hopper? Copy and paste, change out the name, force a vote.
They can do that as many times as they want.
They can do that as many times as they want.
The appendix for the Bribery impeachment article will have a lot of supporting data.
GOP operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, convicted election fraudsters, were paid $960,000 in the second quarter to secure a pardon for a former nursing-home operator who defrauded the government of $38 million. Trump pardoned the man, Joseph Schwartz, last month.
Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon
Even some of the president’s closest advisers have been surprised by a number of the recent series of pardons.
www.wsj.com
December 25, 2025 at 11:46 PM
The appendix for the Bribery impeachment article will have a lot of supporting data.
Reposted by Brian Cook
Dec. 25, 1775: Col. Henry Knox and his men take no rest for Chirstmas as they move the artillery train from Fort Ticonderoga down the Hudson Valley in rough conditions. Teams of oxen drag the captured British guns 6 miles today through a fresh snowfall that is 2 feet high in places.
December 25, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Dec. 25, 1775: Col. Henry Knox and his men take no rest for Chirstmas as they move the artillery train from Fort Ticonderoga down the Hudson Valley in rough conditions. Teams of oxen drag the captured British guns 6 miles today through a fresh snowfall that is 2 feet high in places.
Bribery = Impeachment. Says so right in the Constitution. The Trump v US ruling does not protect Trump from this consequence. Keep the pressure on Congress to act and uphold their oath.
Do we already have a bribery impeachment article @citizensimpeachment.com?
Do we already have a bribery impeachment article @citizensimpeachment.com?
The blatant selling of pardons is perhaps the clearest instance of criminal conduct authorized by SCOTUS. Pardons are a quintessential "official act." So, even when Trump takes a bribe to issue one, he is presumably above the criminal law.
The president’s own chief of staff was reportedly stunned by his pardon of a former Honduran president.
December 25, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Bribery = Impeachment. Says so right in the Constitution. The Trump v US ruling does not protect Trump from this consequence. Keep the pressure on Congress to act and uphold their oath.
Do we already have a bribery impeachment article @citizensimpeachment.com?
Do we already have a bribery impeachment article @citizensimpeachment.com?
Reposted by Brian Cook
I'll stick with President Washington's message. founders.archives.gov/documents/Wa...
December 25, 2025 at 2:12 PM
I'll stick with President Washington's message. founders.archives.gov/documents/Wa...
Reposted by Brian Cook
Once again: an authoritarian using the government to punish private institutions is not a "duel". www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
In Private Letters, Harvard and Trump Administration Escalate Duel
www.nytimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Once again: an authoritarian using the government to punish private institutions is not a "duel". www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
Hey @housedemocrats.bsky.social!
Are you going to keep shrugging your shoulders at this level of depravity from the current regime? You really think we must just hold out until you get around to doing something in 2027?
Are you going to keep shrugging your shoulders at this level of depravity from the current regime? You really think we must just hold out until you get around to doing something in 2027?
“.. We need to get better at treating this like a business,” ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons said .. as efficiently as Amazon moves packages: “Like Prime, but with human beings.”
@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
December 24, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Hey @housedemocrats.bsky.social!
Are you going to keep shrugging your shoulders at this level of depravity from the current regime? You really think we must just hold out until you get around to doing something in 2027?
Are you going to keep shrugging your shoulders at this level of depravity from the current regime? You really think we must just hold out until you get around to doing something in 2027?
Reposted by Brian Cook
Yes, and hearing those echoes comes with the obligation to call for impeachment—for the immediate ouster of the regime leader.
Again: storing human beings in warehouses, like cargo. Like freight.
The historical echoes remain deafening.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
The historical echoes remain deafening.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
ICE documents reveal plan to hold 80,000 immigrants in warehouses
The Trump administration wants to build seven large-scale deportation hubs to speed up deportations, internal ICE documents show.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Yes, and hearing those echoes comes with the obligation to call for impeachment—for the immediate ouster of the regime leader.
Clearly the definition and calculation of ‘growth’ is seriously deficient. We need a new effort to identify, define, and calculate socioeconomic conditions that are meaningful to how people live their lives.
December 24, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Clearly the definition and calculation of ‘growth’ is seriously deficient. We need a new effort to identify, define, and calculate socioeconomic conditions that are meaningful to how people live their lives.
Reposted by Brian Cook
For the record, everyone has a responsibility to fight fascism. Being knowingly part of a machine that tortures and murders people is still not right even to pay the bills.
But all the more reason why those most able should loudly reject the arrangement all together. And demand a better one.
But all the more reason why those most able should loudly reject the arrangement all together. And demand a better one.
December 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
For the record, everyone has a responsibility to fight fascism. Being knowingly part of a machine that tortures and murders people is still not right even to pay the bills.
But all the more reason why those most able should loudly reject the arrangement all together. And demand a better one.
But all the more reason why those most able should loudly reject the arrangement all together. And demand a better one.
Reposted by Brian Cook
There are going to be a lot of folks who are eventually going to join ICE if that 50,000 bonus is real.
It’s not complicated. You pay people to be fascist and remove all financial support if they choose to resist, you are eventually going to get a lot of fascists.
It’s not complicated. You pay people to be fascist and remove all financial support if they choose to resist, you are eventually going to get a lot of fascists.
December 24, 2025 at 2:02 PM
There are going to be a lot of folks who are eventually going to join ICE if that 50,000 bonus is real.
It’s not complicated. You pay people to be fascist and remove all financial support if they choose to resist, you are eventually going to get a lot of fascists.
It’s not complicated. You pay people to be fascist and remove all financial support if they choose to resist, you are eventually going to get a lot of fascists.
Sorry, that’s the GRAND Union Flag. My apologies to his excellency GW.
Coming January 1, the 250th anniversary of a "defining moment of the American Revolution when Gen. George Washington established the Continental Army and responded to escalating British pressure with the raising of the Great Union Flag on Prospect Hill." www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/144...
December 24, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Sorry, that’s the GRAND Union Flag. My apologies to his excellency GW.
Coming January 1, the 250th anniversary of a "defining moment of the American Revolution when Gen. George Washington established the Continental Army and responded to escalating British pressure with the raising of the Great Union Flag on Prospect Hill." www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/144...
December 24, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Coming January 1, the 250th anniversary of a "defining moment of the American Revolution when Gen. George Washington established the Continental Army and responded to escalating British pressure with the raising of the Great Union Flag on Prospect Hill." www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/144...
Reposted by Brian Cook
There is a genuine sadness to this era of tech. This IS the Rot Economy, and what you get when growth is all that matters. Every person defending LLMs is ultimately defending growth itself. It’s not about technology and hasn’t been for a long time. It’s about more things to sell and develop for.
December 24, 2025 at 5:36 AM
There is a genuine sadness to this era of tech. This IS the Rot Economy, and what you get when growth is all that matters. Every person defending LLMs is ultimately defending growth itself. It’s not about technology and hasn’t been for a long time. It’s about more things to sell and develop for.
Reposted by Brian Cook
Reminder: Julius Streicher, publisher of Der Stürmer, was hanged in Nuremberg on the basis of “Count Four” — He was found to have incited persecution on political and racial grounds in connection with war crimes.
December 23, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reminder: Julius Streicher, publisher of Der Stürmer, was hanged in Nuremberg on the basis of “Count Four” — He was found to have incited persecution on political and racial grounds in connection with war crimes.
Reposted by Brian Cook
it's just so emblematic of what passes for conservative thought, this belief that their children go to college not to leave ignorance behind by learning from experts, but rather to teach the experts from their locus of ignorance, and to have their nonsensical prior assumptions validated as true
December 23, 2025 at 4:40 PM
it's just so emblematic of what passes for conservative thought, this belief that their children go to college not to leave ignorance behind by learning from experts, but rather to teach the experts from their locus of ignorance, and to have their nonsensical prior assumptions validated as true
Dear @beyer.house.gov,
Does “real work” mean going on vacation for a month? How about WORKING to uphold your oath by getting the tyrannous mobster ‘president’ out of office forthwith? Do it for your own sake before he sends another mob to murder you.
Does “real work” mean going on vacation for a month? How about WORKING to uphold your oath by getting the tyrannous mobster ‘president’ out of office forthwith? Do it for your own sake before he sends another mob to murder you.
December 23, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Dear @beyer.house.gov,
Does “real work” mean going on vacation for a month? How about WORKING to uphold your oath by getting the tyrannous mobster ‘president’ out of office forthwith? Do it for your own sake before he sends another mob to murder you.
Does “real work” mean going on vacation for a month? How about WORKING to uphold your oath by getting the tyrannous mobster ‘president’ out of office forthwith? Do it for your own sake before he sends another mob to murder you.
Reposted by Brian Cook
The "smoking gun" mindset has really perverted a lot of our culture.
It's how major media justifies giving both sides accounts of overt displays of bigotry as long as no slurs were used.
It's how the Court justified making bribery effectively legal.
There are infinite examples
It's how major media justifies giving both sides accounts of overt displays of bigotry as long as no slurs were used.
It's how the Court justified making bribery effectively legal.
There are infinite examples
People keep waiting for the smoking gun with Epstein and maybe there is actual photo evidence of Trump with an underage girl.
But I don’t know what to tell people. What more do you need? Stop waiting for the next files and start saying 2+2=4.
But I don’t know what to tell people. What more do you need? Stop waiting for the next files and start saying 2+2=4.
December 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM
The "smoking gun" mindset has really perverted a lot of our culture.
It's how major media justifies giving both sides accounts of overt displays of bigotry as long as no slurs were used.
It's how the Court justified making bribery effectively legal.
There are infinite examples
It's how major media justifies giving both sides accounts of overt displays of bigotry as long as no slurs were used.
It's how the Court justified making bribery effectively legal.
There are infinite examples
Reposted by Brian Cook
The Tyranny impeachment article against Trump yet again makes the Top 10 most viewed bills on Congress.gov.
H.Res 353.
H.Res 353.
December 23, 2025 at 2:28 PM
The Tyranny impeachment article against Trump yet again makes the Top 10 most viewed bills on Congress.gov.
H.Res 353.
H.Res 353.
Reposted by Brian Cook
What about the murder and child rape and kidnapping and torture though?
Democrats are making “affordability” a core strategy for the 2026 election, aiming to capitalize on voters’ anxieties about housing, healthcare, and grocery prices to counter the Trump administration.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/u...
How Democrats Used One Word to Turn the Tide Against Trump
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2025 at 11:02 PM
What about the murder and child rape and kidnapping and torture though?