Neal Beets
@nealbeets.bsky.social
Author of A New Constitution for the United States of America, available on Apple Books and Kindle. Retired city attorney and city manager. Here's my website where I write mostly about our Constitution: https://is.gd/vvquq8
And yet we all are gathered in this leftover love, this longing become the measure
of a joy all mourners know. An old man's mind is a graveyard
where the dead arise.
of a joy all mourners know. An old man's mind is a graveyard
where the dead arise.
November 16, 2025 at 5:16 PM
And yet we all are gathered in this leftover love, this longing become the measure
of a joy all mourners know. An old man's mind is a graveyard
where the dead arise.
of a joy all mourners know. An old man's mind is a graveyard
where the dead arise.
Trump is winning the race to the bottom.
July 27, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Trump is winning the race to the bottom.
One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.
— Omar El Akkad re Gaza. Could also be said about MAGA, MAHA, tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts, etc
— Omar El Akkad re Gaza. Could also be said about MAGA, MAHA, tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts, etc
July 27, 2025 at 8:16 PM
One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.
— Omar El Akkad re Gaza. Could also be said about MAGA, MAHA, tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts, etc
— Omar El Akkad re Gaza. Could also be said about MAGA, MAHA, tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts, etc
What happened to Congress’s Art I power over interstate commerce and trade that the president can impose, modify, reimpose, pause tariffs as he alone decides upon?
July 21, 2025 at 7:44 PM
What happened to Congress’s Art I power over interstate commerce and trade that the president can impose, modify, reimpose, pause tariffs as he alone decides upon?
Whatever happened to federal civil service protections that so many career federal employees are summarily fired?
July 21, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Whatever happened to federal civil service protections that so many career federal employees are summarily fired?
What happened to our current trade agreements that President Trump can unilaterally impose whatever tariff he wants on other countries?
July 21, 2025 at 3:05 AM
What happened to our current trade agreements that President Trump can unilaterally impose whatever tariff he wants on other countries?
Perspective....
In a June Democratic mayoral primary, Zohran Mamdani received more votes than 22 sitting US Senators received in their most recent general elections.
June 25, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Perspective....
My bet: Elon will run for President in 2028.
June 4, 2025 at 6:18 PM
My bet: Elon will run for President in 2028.
In tune with Francis, out of tune with Trump.
"All these themes — peace, justice, charity, dialogue, building bridges, welcoming and synodality — are in tune with the policies of Francis, whose “courageous voice” Leo invoked as he blessed Rome and the whole world with God’s love."
May 28, 2025 at 2:17 PM
In tune with Francis, out of tune with Trump.
Fascinating, especially the part about leadership being less about control and more about service.
Pope Leo’s Doctoral Dissertation: Thoughts on Power and Authority
www.nytimes.com
May 23, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Fascinating, especially the part about leadership being less about control and more about service.
Sometimes youth are more mature than adults.
🥹🥹🥹
this is a letter to the editor from a high school track runner who came in second to a trans girl in a race. her state house rep in maine started talking about it. so she wrote this: www.pressherald.com/2025/05/14/r...
May 16, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Sometimes youth are more mature than adults.
Poetry for our time.
April 26, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Poetry for our time.
Read along with one of the most popular books in history.
Next week over on Substack we will begin reading The Pilgrim’s Progress together over the next several weeks. Grab a copy and join us! It’s free to follow along. Sign up here:
open.substack.com/pub/karenswa...
open.substack.com/pub/karenswa...
The Priory | Karen Swallow Prior | Substack
Prayers of Attention. Click to read The Priory, by Karen Swallow Prior, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
open.substack.com
April 26, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Read along with one of the most popular books in history.
Reposted by Neal Beets
Yes, this:
What if #CitizensAssemblies were a core part of government?
We make the case for a House of the People — a permanent, randomly selected 4th branch. Democracy needs more voices.
By @joshalerner.bsky.social & Marjan Ehsassi
🔗 www.peoplepowered.org/news-content...
We make the case for a House of the People — a permanent, randomly selected 4th branch. Democracy needs more voices.
By @joshalerner.bsky.social & Marjan Ehsassi
🔗 www.peoplepowered.org/news-content...
April 22, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Yes, this:
Excellent reminder.
Freedom is indeed individual, but the individual is the product of all of us together.
April 22, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Excellent reminder.
Reposted by Neal Beets
April 13, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Great, long article about Trump and Trumpism. Best I’ve seen.
When David Brooks joined the conservative movement in the 1980s, there were two types of people: those who cared earnestly about ideas, and those who wanted only to shock the left. The reactionary fringe has won, Brooks writes.
I Should Have Seen This Coming
bit.ly
April 10, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Great, long article about Trump and Trumpism. Best I’ve seen.
Reposted by Neal Beets
This America is grotesque.
This is what they're doing to Dr. Badar Khan Suri.
This is not my America, and the world is aghast.
This is not my America, and the world is aghast.
April 9, 2025 at 9:04 PM
This America is grotesque.
Hahahaha
I mean, it worked for his casinos. And his airline. And his university.
April 3, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Hahahaha
Rigid ideologies turn politics into a morality play, a soap opera.
March 28, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Rigid ideologies turn politics into a morality play, a soap opera.
We should do better
If you look at the 2024 Election based on the total number of citizens who were ELIGIBLE TO VOTE, here's what happened:
31.60% of us voted for Trump (77,302,580)
30.66% of us voted for Harris (75,017,613)
1.19% of us voted for someone else/wrote in (2,918,109)
36.55% of us didn't vote (89,428,588)
31.60% of us voted for Trump (77,302,580)
30.66% of us voted for Harris (75,017,613)
1.19% of us voted for someone else/wrote in (2,918,109)
36.55% of us didn't vote (89,428,588)
March 26, 2025 at 6:21 AM
We should do better
Paraphrasing Wendell Berry, trying to make sense out of many of President Trump’s actions is like looking for eggs in a cuckoo clock.
March 24, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Paraphrasing Wendell Berry, trying to make sense out of many of President Trump’s actions is like looking for eggs in a cuckoo clock.
Yes.
I really have no problem with rational entitlement reforms, even cuts, when they are debated and passed by Congress and implemented in a coherent way. This is profoundly different from suddenly pulling the rug out from under people by executive dictat.
March 24, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Yes.