Globally, Locally Jim
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thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Globally, Locally Jim
@thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
410 followers 210 following 430 posts
Interested in building community, investing in proving the world, approaching politics in mature, informed, compassionate way, emphasizing useful info, ideas, and constructive action rather than outrage and alarmism, though satirical laughter works for me.
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thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
All people besides Native Americans are descended from the children of immigrants who were allowed to become Americans through birthright citizenship.
So by current Trump/Miller definitions, not only his parents are not citizens, but he is not American either.
July 26, 2025 at 10:54 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
My mother was given this in high school in 1950.
I wonder if people of all political allegiances can agree, that whether or not we are following this American Creed depends on whether freedom, equality, justice, and humanity apply to everyone, and who you define as enemies.
The American's Creed By William Cyler Page believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a Republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect Union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. therefore believe it is my duty to my Country to love it; to support its constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its flag; and to defend it against all enemies. ***** Presented to Dorothy Benedict with congratulations upon High School graduation. May the future bring you success, happiness, and achievement in the highest ideals of American citizenship. Eunith B Kiatm Member of Congress, 4oth District lof New York
July 5, 2025 at 1:37 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Seen in the Pittsburgh area… I thought the first sign was making fun of the MachoMAGA mindset, but no, the second display shows that Leonard is fully embracing Incel Gun Envy.

I think I just heard Freud laughing, and DeTocqueville crying.
A sign that displays D.O.G.E., explaining the acronym as DEPARYMENT OF GUN ENVY. The same sign as the previous photo, but now displaying “buy and sell guns.”
June 20, 2025 at 2:30 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
White is all right, brown is put down
— Stephen Miller MAGA protest rules apparently
#ThinBlueLine #Hypocrisy #Protest #Riot #MAGA #StevenMiller #Trump #Racism
The hypocrisy: Picture was taken January 6th 2001 of Pro-Trump protesters assaulting police Tweet: FBI Director Kash Patel @FBIDirectorKash Follow Hit a cop, you're going to jail... doesn't matter where you came from, how you got here, or what movement speaks to you. If the local police force won't back our men and women on the thin blue line, we @FBI will. • • Text over photos of Los Angeles protesters and pro-Trump protesters assaulting police: Just so l understand: Mexican-Americans protest in Los Angeles, there are no reported deaths, and it's a riot. A bunch of MAGA attack the Capitol Building, police officers die, and it's a peaceful protest. Is that correct?*
June 9, 2025 at 3:27 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Trump in the 1980’s explaining his hypersensitive vengefulness: when people “didn’t do little things that could’ve helped” it’s disloyalty, and “I look upon it as a great act of horror.”
June 4, 2025 at 11:19 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
In case you can’t afford $2 million crypto purchases, you can always wind political favors such as pardons by claiming you persecuted for being a Trump supporter.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/u...
May 29, 2025 at 12:18 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
This is just the latest example of [conservative] fear-based policy: denying voting rights (or immigration, or health insurance, or even food benefits) to thousands of people out of fear that 100 of them might be undeserving or scary.
Zann Zsuzsannika DOJ voting section has just three lawyers left There are only three attorneys left in the DOJ's voting section, according to an estimate a watchdog group provided to Democracy Docket, as the department pivots from protecting voting rights to investigating voter fraud. One former DOJ attorney called it a "decimation" of civil rights enforcement. #Trump #Corruption #Republican #Conservative #Hateful #WeaponizingGovernment #VotingRights #VotingFraud
May 25, 2025 at 1:12 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
At a time when Medicaid is being cut, Trump Republicans plan to spend billions of dollars devastating remote ecosystems where no humans migrate but animals must migrate north and south to survive. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
On 27 April, the US House of Representatives homeland security committee unveiled its proposed budget, allocating $46.5bn to fund new chunks of barrier on the aimost 2,00 inile US-Mexico border, where building a wall was a focus and highly vexed issue in the first Trump administration and is far from complete. The new push for more wall comes as unauthorized crossings by people migrating to the US through or from Mexico had been falling fast last year after Joe Biden tightened restrictions and have now reached historic lows. This was noted by CBP and trumpeted with inflammatory language by the Trump White House, even as the president spoke of "invasion". "Even when numbers were the highest, people were crossing in areas that already had a border wall," said Meza. "San Rafael valley never saw those numbers." • A javelina is seen on a trail cam attempting to squeeze through a portion of existing border wall in 2023. Video: Sky Island Alliance/Wildlands Network The Santa Cruz River is a vital animal migration corridor that meanders into Mexico and back to Arizona. "The river will now be walled on both legs of its journey," said Harrity. A nearby wildlife camera recently captured a video of a mountain lion carrying its prize, a dead coyote, into Mexico. The valley is almost devoid of people. And it lacks the telltale signs of migration in the borderlands: ripped clothes on bushes, discarded backpacks and empty water bottles. in five years, a camera by the river has never captured an image of a migrant crossing into the US, even though it's one of the few parts of the valley with shade and water. But in a 2024 study by the Wildlands Network and Sky Islands Alliance, motion-activated cameras along 100 miles of walled border showed an 86% decrease in wildlife crossings and a 100% reduction for animals such as wolves, bears, pronghorns, and jaguars. "The Trump administration would rather score cheap political points and a favorable Fox News headline than solve a problem. Instead of wasting taxpayers' dollars, undermining military readiness and jeopardizing American families' safety, Trump and [Elon] Musk should focus on actually fixing our broken immigration system," said Martin Heinrich, US senator for New Mexico and a Democrat. "New Mexicans who live on the border want actual solutions, like creating new legal pathways for immigration, investing in effective border security for law enforcement, and addressing the root causes of mass migration," he added. In Arizona, 63% of the border has already been sealed off and the remaining open sections are critical for wildlife, with the San Rafael valley being one of the last intact expanses of Sonoran desert grasslands in the state. The area's rugged Huachuca and Patagonia mountains, part of the Sky Island range, serve as stepping stones across a harsh desert by offering a range of habitats, food sources and water for animals. "The biodiversity here is incredible," said Meza, of the Sierra Club. As well as bears, mountain lions and wolves there are subtropical species such as the wild pig-like javelina, and rare big cats - ocelots and jaguars, with natural ranges of hundreds of miles between countries in search of food, water and mates. "This is at the heart of all these different ecosystems coming together," Meza added.
May 19, 2025 at 10:13 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
If you feel like a post about #Trump needs to include a picture, don’t use the ones he likes best or just the outrageous ones… here, I made some mutant options.
Notice the background of destruction in the second one.

Four more in a comment.
#NotMyPresident
May 19, 2025 at 1:41 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
New protest poster: “White South African are not the only refugees.”
White South Africans Granted Refugee Status by Trump Leave for U.S. Dozens of Afrikaners who claim discrimination in their home country left Johannesburg on Sunday. Their departure for the U.S. came as the Trump administration was halting virtually all refugee admissions.
May 12, 2025 at 10:28 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Found in this month’s Funny Times: not so funny, and something I am trying to keep in mind.
Anti-Tyrants Almanac Do Not Obey in Advance (Lesson 1 from "On Tyranny" by Timothy Snyder)* "Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. Bezos surrendered BEFORE TRUMP WAS EVEN ELECTED! His cowardly example has been imitated by other billionaires, CEOs, legacy media, big law firms and several universities. *Timothy Snyder teaches history at Yale. Here at The Almanac, we consider his book "On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century" to be required reading. The same is true for all of his other books, especially "On Freedom," and "The Road to Unfreedom." But don't take our word for it. Pick up a copy of your own. And here's a suggestion: Don't buy it from Amazon. Jeff Bezos is rich enough. Support your public library of local book store instead.
May 12, 2025 at 10:27 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
In case it might be relevant to some current political situation, here are some thoughts about #cults, with my addenda/elaborarions in the second image.
#Trump #MAGA #cult
Warning Signs of a Cult 1. The leader is always right. 2. Criticism of the leader or questioning the leader is considered persecution. 3. Anything the leader does is justified no matter how harmful it may be. 4. The leader is the only source of the truth, everybody else is lying. 5. Followers must be blindly devoted to the leader and never question him. 6. The members won't recognize they belong to a cult. Jim Foley 7. The leader is sometimes revered with an almost godlike status 8. The leader is seen as a source of protection from evil people and forces, and also someone to be defended. 9. Group members should not have contact with people outside the cult. 10. The leader is not held to typical standard of behavior, for some reason often including being allowed to have multiple sexual partners. 11. Group members can set aside any standards of behavior if it is in service of the cult/ "movement."
May 1, 2025 at 4:20 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
This reminds me of how Ukraine agreed to give up all of their nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for the assurance of US protection…
osintr.bsky.social OSINTRadar @osintr.bsky.social · Apr 30
BREAKING: 🇺🇸🇺🇦 Ukraine is ready to sign the mineral resources deal and handover the minerals and natural resources to the U.S. - Bloomberg

#news #ukraine
April 30, 2025 at 6:45 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
North Carolina it has been at the center of so many controversies and changes related to Trump/MAGA culture wars and now economic policies.
Check back on their furniture industry in a year to see which prediction here is correct.
[fact-checking of the Time interview, by Glenn Kessler, WaPo]
"We're also, very importantly, because of that, because of the money we're taking in, those companies are going to come back and they're going to make their product here. They're going to go back into North Carolina and start making furniture again." This is dubious. North Carolina has a thriving furniture industry, but it increasingly relies on wood from countries such as Mexico - and exports to Canada. Trump's tariffs will make raw materials more expensive and retaliatory tariffs will price U.S. products out of the market. Already this month, a North Carolina housewares company that supplies Walmart and Target said it would shut down and fire all its employees, in part because tariffs would make materials from Mexico and Asia too costly.
April 30, 2025 at 12:34 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Trump’s lies about immigration might be partly generated by events from maybe the last time he read a news article besides a poll.

Screenshots from an article by Glenn Kessler in WaPo, fact-checking the Time interview.
• Follow Fact-checking politicians Follow + "Many criminals - they emptied their prisons, many countries, almost every country, but not a complete emptying, but some countries a complete emptying of their prison system. But you look all over the world, and I'm not just talking about South America, we're talking about all over the world. People have been led into our country that are very dangerous." Advertisement This is poppycock. Immigration experts know of no effort by other countries to empty their prisons and mental institutions. As someone who came to prominence in the late 1970s and early '8os, Trump appears to be channeling Cuban leader Fidel Castro's 1980 Mariel boatlift. About 125,000 Cubans were allowed to flee to the United States in 1,700 boats - but there was a backlash when it was discovered that hundreds of refugees had been released from jails and mental health facilities. But there's no evidence this happened during the Biden administration. Yet again, Trump is basing policy on an invention.
April 30, 2025 at 12:27 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Trump not only lies about tariffs, but might still truly not understand them.

Screenshots from an article by Glenn Kessler in WaPo, fact-checking the Time interview.
"You know, we're resetting a table. We were losing $2 trillion a year on trade, and you can't do that. I mean, at some point somebody has to come along and stop it, because it's not sustainable." Trump gets two things wrong here. First of all, the goods and services deficit was almost $920 billion in 2024, according to the Commerce Department. So he's doubling the real number. Second, the United States is not "losing" money on trade deficits. After all these years, Trump still does not grasp this fundamental economic point. Yet he's basing policy - and steering the United States into economic uncertain times - on this misunderstanding. "We're taking in billions of dollars of tariffs, by the way. And just to go back to the past, I took in hundreds of billions of dollars of tariffs from China, and then when covid came, I couldn't institute the full program, but I took in hundreds of billions, and we had no inflation." This is false. Trump's China tariffs in his first term took in only about $75 billion - not counting $28 billion in aid to farmers who lost their shirts when China stopped buying soybeans, pork and other products. Inflation averaged about 2 percent in Trump's term, but was about 1.23 percent in 2020 because of the pandemic. According to Customs and Border Protection, as of April 19, the United States has taken in about $14 billion in tariffs under his International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) declarations. But again, Trump has a fundamental misunderstanding. Countries do not pay tariffs; the burden falls mainly on American consumers. "If you look at, more importantly, the companies, the chip companies, the car companies, the Apple. $500 billion. Apple is investing $500 billion in building plants. They never invested in this country." This is false. Shortly after Biden became president, Apple announced it would invest $430 billion over five years in the United States. In Trump's first term, Apple announced a $350 billion investment over five years - which Trump repeatedly credited to his policies. "Look, that's what China did to us. They charge us 100 percent. If you look at India - India charges 100-150 percent. If you look at Brazil, if you look at many, many countries, they charge - that's how they survive. That's how they got rich."
April 30, 2025 at 12:24 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Hey #RFKJr , how is that Vitamin A #measles cure doing? I am sure that the kids developing Vitamin A liver damage and seizures just need essential oils or something. #Lubbock #outbreak
From #TheWeek magazine, with a small image of a measles testing program: Lubbock, Texas Measles: Texas' measles outbreak worsened this week as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continued to promote disproven treatments instead of vaccines. Texas reported 18 new cases, bringing its total to at least 327. At least one child has died. The outbreak remains centered in rural Gaines County, which has low vaccination rates, but has spread to New Mexico and Oklahoma. Some parents followed Kennedy's recommendation to use supplements containing vitamin A such as cod liver oil, which he called "almost miraculous." But doctors at Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock reported treating unvaccinated children with signs of liver damage from consuming too much vitamin A. Doctors sometimes use vitamin A to manage severe cases, but it doesn't prevent measles and can cause liver damage, hair loss, dry skin, and, in extreme cases, coma and seizures. "When we have kids taking it for weeks and weeks, then you do potentially have a cumulative impact of the toxicity," said Lubbock physician Lara Johnson.
April 12, 2025 at 5:36 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Small rural conservative Wooster, Ohio: 1,000 people spread through the town square, lining the aptly named “Liberty St” crossed by Market St.
#HandsOff #50501 #Resist #ProtectDemocracy
April 6, 2025 at 4:30 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Concentration Camps are not just in El Salvador: at Krome in Miami, people are packed in standing-room only for days with no food or bathrooms. Many sources on this, thanks to smuggled cameras; let’s start with usually Trump-apologist USA Today:

www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/23/immigrant-women-hell-on-earth-trump-ice-detention/82029368007/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0LfIOJKklagqLwNDgh7XiPSliuO0rwC1vRQt9WiZFI_nTGckafvu5_Xbg_aem_LAIW7hXUk8xlK25w_QkHAw#ja64xqyiq9ilh7lcxaad8t4e4rpbywc https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/23/immigrant-women-hell-on-earth-trump-ice-detention/82029368007/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0LfIOJKklagqLwNDgh7XiPSliuO0rwC1vRQt9WiZFI_nTGckafvu5_Xbg_aem_LAIW7hXUk8xlK25w_QkHAw#ja64xqyiq9ilh7lcxaad8t4e4rpbywc https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/23/immigrant-women-hell-on-earth-trump-ice-detention/82029368007/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0LfIOJKklagqLwNDgh7XiPSliuO0rwC1vRQt9WiZFI_nTGckafvu5_Xbg_aem_LAIW7hXUk8xlK25w_QkHAw#ja64xqyiq9ilh7lcxaad8t4e4rpbywc
April 1, 2025 at 10:40 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
It makes sense that Witkoff would join the top secret discussion of military strategy while in Moscow: this of course makes it easier for the Russians to participate without any journalist knowing about it. Trump might point out that is smart!
timothysnyder.bsky.social Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · Mar 26
Witkoff was a fool for joining that chat from Moscow. But the entire charlatan national security team also chose to put him on that chat when they knew (or should have known) that he was in Moscow. A spy novel based on this level of cretinous behavior would be unbelievable.
stevevladeck.bsky.social Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · Mar 25
If they’re sharing highly classified military plans over Signal while some of the folks on the thread are overseas, what *else* are they doing?
March 26, 2025 at 11:57 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Democrats, building a spine vertebra by vertebra, are trying out some xenophobia.
More important than Musk’s allegiance to South Africa
is his allegiance to apartheid and to his wealth…

but I have to acknowledge that mentioning Musk’s foreign background will reach some fear-based Repub voters.
Taking a Page From Trump's Book Tim Walz's comments about Elon Musk suggest an attack on the tech billionaires immigrant background is making its way into the public conversation. At a town-hall-style event in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz, Democrat of Minnesota, derided Elon Musk as a "South African nepo baby." Holden Smith/ZUMA Press Wire, via Alamy Walz, his party's nominee for vice president last year, is one of several Democrats who have referred to Mr. Musk's immigrant background as they ramp up attacks on the billionaire's powerful role in the Trump administration. At times, their language, casting Musk as a foreign outsider, has echoed aspects of President Trump's own xenophobic insults of his political foes - although Mr. Trump's remarks were typically directed toward elected officials of color, not white billionaires. At a news conference last month, Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio said she wondered, "Which country is he loyal to? South Africa, Canada, or the United States?" Representative Nydia Velázquez of New York declared Mr. Musk should "go back to South Africa" at a recent protest. At a different protest, Representative Don Beyer of Virginia said, "We're going to send Elon back to South Africa."
March 20, 2025 at 12:26 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
This cartoon is from 2010. Knight had a great idea about renaming “global warming” as “weather extremism,” to be a better fit for what actually was happening.

Instead, folks went with “climate change” which still doesn’t capture the level of alarm needed and the variety of extreme events we see.
March 13, 2025 at 12:35 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Does anyone remember 2022 when newspapers even as conservative as the New York Post were willing to openly challenge Trump’s legitimacy?

#Resist #Trump #Media #Journalism #Democracy #SaveDemocracy
Two articles mocking Donald Trump’s candidacy back in 2022, with phrases such as Trumpty Dumpty and “ Florida retiree announces running for president” published in the New York Post #Politics #Trump #NewYorkPost
March 12, 2025 at 5:09 PM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
This is a sad commentary and mockery of response of Democrats to the crisis of the dismantling of
government, but then I acknowledge it as part of the picture of rebuilding.

At least for Gretchen Whitmer and Tim Walz, talking sports is most clearly not some new act, and it’s not all they are doing.
Ambitious Democrats Have a New Game Plan: Yak It Up About Sports Prominent leaders are flocking to sports radio shows and podcasts, an early sign of how the party is trying to reach apolitical young men who have tilted toward President Trump. Listen to this article • 8:26 min Learn more "It takes the politics out of it," said Mr. Walz, whose career as a high school football coach was often highlighted after he became the Democratic nominee for vice president last year. "When I go out there and go on those shows, it shows you're a real human being and it connects with people on something they care about." Certainly, Americans have long mixed sports and politics, and many of these Democrats were talking sports well before the last election. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who once aspired to be a sports broadcaster, appeared on the "Locked on Lions" podcast last spring to talk about the N.F.L. draft, which was held in Detroit. But the post-election appearances have been especially striking, particularly because former Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on only a few sports shows during the fall campaign. The Harris campaign tried but failed to have her appear on popular podcasts hosted by the sports commentator Bill Simmons and the Kelce brothers of professional football, according to a person who sought to arrange her media interviews. (The campaign also failed in its efforts to book her with the podcaster Joe Rogan and the "Hot Ones" YouTube show, which interviews celebrities as they eat blisteringly spicy chicken wings.)
March 9, 2025 at 11:36 AM
thoughtfulpolitics.bsky.social
Seriously, they’re doing their best to prevent firing those people who are “good”: white, male, straight (at least misogynist and pretending not to be gay), who declare unblinking loyalty to Trump rather than the USA, with no gender-affirming care other than masculinizing hair and jaw implants.
March 8, 2025 at 12:02 PM