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.
I can't stop watching this clip . . .
Joke of the day from Moscow: Russia tried to unveil its first humanoid AI robot, Aidol. Key word: tried. The robot collapsed during its debut, forcing organizers to cut the presentation short. Their rushed attempt to lift the prop only made things worse.
November 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM
I can't stop watching this clip . . .
Reposted by Brian Cook
Trump and his allies have mused about invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to some US cities. @amandacarpenter.bsky.social
and @rlullo.bsky.social cover what you need to know about what the Act does and doesn’t do. https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/what-trump-can-and-cant-do-with-the
and @rlullo.bsky.social cover what you need to know about what the Act does and doesn’t do. https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/what-trump-can-and-cant-do-with-the
What Trump can and can't do with the Insurrection Act
Demystifying the most ominous law in America
www.ifyoucankeepit.org
November 11, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Trump and his allies have mused about invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to some US cities. @amandacarpenter.bsky.social
and @rlullo.bsky.social cover what you need to know about what the Act does and doesn’t do. https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/what-trump-can-and-cant-do-with-the
and @rlullo.bsky.social cover what you need to know about what the Act does and doesn’t do. https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/what-trump-can-and-cant-do-with-the
Let's check in on the National Airspace System...
Uh oh ‼️
Uh oh ‼️
November 11, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Let's check in on the National Airspace System...
Uh oh ‼️
Uh oh ‼️
Dear websites,
NO I DO NOT want to accept all cookies. Why can't you read the signal my browser is sending?! Sheesh...
NO I DO NOT want to accept all cookies. Why can't you read the signal my browser is sending?! Sheesh...
November 11, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Dear websites,
NO I DO NOT want to accept all cookies. Why can't you read the signal my browser is sending?! Sheesh...
NO I DO NOT want to accept all cookies. Why can't you read the signal my browser is sending?! Sheesh...
Reposted by Brian Cook
Thank you Jordan Herrera @herreraformissouri.bsky.social for your service, your leadership, and for honoring the oath you swore to support and defend the Constitution. We need more candidates like you!
November 11, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Thank you Jordan Herrera @herreraformissouri.bsky.social for your service, your leadership, and for honoring the oath you swore to support and defend the Constitution. We need more candidates like you!
Dear Senator @edmarkey.bsky.social. You could have objected to unanimous consent when the 'shutdown deal' proposal came to the floor. Why didn't you? How are you defending these programs if you just let some of your colleagues capitulate and let the GOP majority just waltz right to a vote????
On Veterans Day and every day we must keep the promise of health care, of education, of employment that our veterans deserve. We must defend these programs as they have defended our nation. youtube.com/shorts/ty3TJ...
On Veterans Day
YouTube video by Ed Markey for Senate
youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Dear Senator @edmarkey.bsky.social. You could have objected to unanimous consent when the 'shutdown deal' proposal came to the floor. Why didn't you? How are you defending these programs if you just let some of your colleagues capitulate and let the GOP majority just waltz right to a vote????
Give. me. a. break! DJT is incapable of wanting something that would make the lives of other people better, like "lasting peace." He pursues peace in the same way he pursues attention and riches, as a status badge for his dominance. I just can't believe journalists still treat him as somehow normal.
POLITICO: The documents paint “a vivid picture of the hurdles the Trump administration and its allies in the region face in creating the ‘lasting peace’ President Donald Trump seeks and are in stark contrast to the mostly rosy rhetoric ..”
@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 11, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Give. me. a. break! DJT is incapable of wanting something that would make the lives of other people better, like "lasting peace." He pursues peace in the same way he pursues attention and riches, as a status badge for his dominance. I just can't believe journalists still treat him as somehow normal.
Reposted by Brian Cook
This Veterans Day, we are sharing the words of veterans who are working to impeach and remove this treasonous, tyrannical POTUS.
"As a veteran I swore that oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
There is no dispute that there is an enemy of the Constitution in the Oval Office right now."
- Keira Havens @highcountryrose.bsky.social
There is no dispute that there is an enemy of the Constitution in the Oval Office right now."
- Keira Havens @highcountryrose.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 12:44 PM
This Veterans Day, we are sharing the words of veterans who are working to impeach and remove this treasonous, tyrannical POTUS.
Along with all its other problems, the US Senate is actually situated between the people's House and the Executive. It has executive functions that the people's House does not and tends to favor the executive. Would a unicameral legislature under a new constitution be better? Worth debating.
A key reason the Senate needs to be destroyed is that its internal structure diffuses accountability & captures its members
This is why ousting Schumer isn't enough. Democratic senators don't pressure each other much, they have weak leadership by design, and they want to preserve arcane Senate rules that let them hide behind process.
Without primaries or massive outside pressure, this is where they'll be.
Without primaries or massive outside pressure, this is where they'll be.
November 11, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Along with all its other problems, the US Senate is actually situated between the people's House and the Executive. It has executive functions that the people's House does not and tends to favor the executive. Would a unicameral legislature under a new constitution be better? Worth debating.
Reposted by Brian Cook
I am once asking people to take seriously Jon Michaels' and my idea of "vigilante capture." It is tragically a real thing.
The President pardoned members of his private militia after they failed to overturn an election; they, in turn, pledge their support to him and urge him to use them to police civil society.
New:
On The Gateway Pundit's podcast yesterday, Stewart Rhodes announced he's relaunching the Oath Keepers
He also urged Trump to “call us up as a militia" & "order us all to come together in our counties under his command."
www.mediamatters.org/oath-keepers...
On The Gateway Pundit's podcast yesterday, Stewart Rhodes announced he's relaunching the Oath Keepers
He also urged Trump to “call us up as a militia" & "order us all to come together in our counties under his command."
www.mediamatters.org/oath-keepers...
November 10, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I am once asking people to take seriously Jon Michaels' and my idea of "vigilante capture." It is tragically a real thing.
Way back in the misty depths of time, I engaged my policy analysis students in a discussion about whether human dignity should be the baseline criterion for assessing public policy proposals. It was a terrific conversation. People will be receptive to the idea, so let's get to it.
Dignity agenda, free from fear and want 🥰
I just want everyone to have the experience of living in dignity with access to sufficient food, safe housing, needed medical care, high quality education, and time to engage with what sparks their curiosity and spirit
this should not be controversial 🫠
this should not be controversial 🫠
November 10, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Way back in the misty depths of time, I engaged my policy analysis students in a discussion about whether human dignity should be the baseline criterion for assessing public policy proposals. It was a terrific conversation. People will be receptive to the idea, so let's get to it.
The Senate deal is not great. If this is a war, though, we have to take lessons from each battle, and assess gains and setbacks. The ultimate aim is to crush Trumpism and transform the ruling classes. Keep up the pressure, folks.
talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-qui...
talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-qui...
A Quick Take on Team Cave’s Big Win
I have what I suspect is a somewhat counterintuitive take on the...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
The Senate deal is not great. If this is a war, though, we have to take lessons from each battle, and assess gains and setbacks. The ultimate aim is to crush Trumpism and transform the ruling classes. Keep up the pressure, folks.
talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-qui...
talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-qui...
I think the appropriate response from states is, “Your request violates federal and state laws. If you want it, come and get it, or bring suit to recover the funds. In the meantime, at least we help the citizens we are obliged to help & we actually pay our civil servants for the hard work they do.”
The US Department of Agriculture has ordered that "states must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025".
November 9, 2025 at 6:20 PM
I think the appropriate response from states is, “Your request violates federal and state laws. If you want it, come and get it, or bring suit to recover the funds. In the meantime, at least we help the citizens we are obliged to help & we actually pay our civil servants for the hard work they do.”
I'm here to support Don's @donmoyn.bsky.social message, but to add that administrative power is real, it can be done well or poorly, and it is usually the other branches of the federal government that make administration worse. Also, the chaos crushes the civil servants trying to do their jobs.
This is an absolutely insane administrative process. Within the space of a week, states were told by judges/White House
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
NEW: The Trump admin told states it must immediately "undo" the work to provide full food stamp benefits, or face penalties. The feds sent this in a late-night memo, only adding to the chaos and confusion around SNAP. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/b...
November 9, 2025 at 4:16 PM
I'm here to support Don's @donmoyn.bsky.social message, but to add that administrative power is real, it can be done well or poorly, and it is usually the other branches of the federal government that make administration worse. Also, the chaos crushes the civil servants trying to do their jobs.
Did ICE and the other federal invaders bring their snowplows? Maybe Chicago should just leave the streets unplowed around the facilities the invaders have taken over.
One of the most intense lake-effect snow storms of the past 15 years hits Chicago tonight.
NWS Chicago is saying that if the snow band stays over Chicago for more than a couple hours, we could see 2-4 FEET of snow
BRING IT ON
BRING IT ON
November 9, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Did ICE and the other federal invaders bring their snowplows? Maybe Chicago should just leave the streets unplowed around the facilities the invaders have taken over.
Thanks. But I have chosen to consume as little as I possibly can from big MAGA collaborators like Apple. @magacollaborators.bsky.social
Pluribus, the new series from Breaking Bad’s Vince Gilligan, is phenomenal. Best to go in without knowing too much about it, but it has a lot to say about the world today. And Rhea Seehorn is on course for that Emmy.
November 8, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Thanks. But I have chosen to consume as little as I possibly can from big MAGA collaborators like Apple. @magacollaborators.bsky.social
Strain of the presidency? Give me a break. It’s the strain of being the world’s most noxious psychopath.
“.. A Washington Post analysis of multiple video feeds found that Trump spent nearly 20 minutes apparently battling to keep his eyes open at the Thursday event. .. a seemingly stark illustration of the strain of the presidency on a 79-year-old ..
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
November 8, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Strain of the presidency? Give me a break. It’s the strain of being the world’s most noxious psychopath.
Generations are arbitrary
www.td.org/content/td-m...
www.td.org/content/td-m...
November 8, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Generations are arbitrary
www.td.org/content/td-m...
www.td.org/content/td-m...
Nothing will stop the SCOTUS 5 from ensuring their grant of unlimited power to DJT 47 expands exponentially. Except possibly when taxes (tariffs) are involved.
The stay on the SNAP payments order issued by the SCt will continue for 2 days after the 1st Cir rules, thereby giving Trumped Justices the opportunity to order the starvation of children if, as seems likely, the 1st Cir declines to do so.
www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?...
www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?...
Search
www.supremecourt.gov
November 8, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Nothing will stop the SCOTUS 5 from ensuring their grant of unlimited power to DJT 47 expands exponentially. Except possibly when taxes (tariffs) are involved.
Reposted by Brian Cook
"Oh we don't have the votes, impeachment won't do anything".
Literally a single member of Congress introduced impeachment articles in late April and it freaked out Trump so much he made a rapid shift towards the midterms, miscalculated, and got Brian Kemp to announce he wasn't running for Senate.
Literally a single member of Congress introduced impeachment articles in late April and it freaked out Trump so much he made a rapid shift towards the midterms, miscalculated, and got Brian Kemp to announce he wasn't running for Senate.
GOP amps up Trump impeachment talk in midterm battle as party leaders woo Kemp for Senate | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump and GOP leaders are beginning to plot their midterm push to hang onto power amid a shaky political environment, courting key candidates in critical battleground House and Senate...
www.cnn.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:33 PM
"Oh we don't have the votes, impeachment won't do anything".
Literally a single member of Congress introduced impeachment articles in late April and it freaked out Trump so much he made a rapid shift towards the midterms, miscalculated, and got Brian Kemp to announce he wasn't running for Senate.
Literally a single member of Congress introduced impeachment articles in late April and it freaked out Trump so much he made a rapid shift towards the midterms, miscalculated, and got Brian Kemp to announce he wasn't running for Senate.
SNAP benefit interruptions is a 6.5 on the political earthquake scale. Interruptions to several Social Security benefits programs would be a 9.0. The first GOP senator or representative to declare that people shouldn't complain will be crushed by falling debris.
NEW: SSA employees are getting extremely worried about how the agency will continue to provide benefits to some 70 million Americans, according to meeting minutes obtained by @wired.com. @zoeschiffer.bsky.social and @leahfeiger.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/social...
Social Security Employees Grill Management During Tense Shutdown Meeting
WIRED obtained notes from a Social Security Administration management meeting, where employees pressed leadership on plans for the agency.
www.wired.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:48 PM
SNAP benefit interruptions is a 6.5 on the political earthquake scale. Interruptions to several Social Security benefits programs would be a 9.0. The first GOP senator or representative to declare that people shouldn't complain will be crushed by falling debris.
My semi-informed opinion: it is a mistake to start a regime design with analogs, templates, concepts. Start with evidence of what worked under what circumstances, then sketch out some basic design principles, as James Madison did. We now may not like what emerged in 1787, but it proved adjustable.
If the goal is for multiple parties to reflect local concerns, and put an end to four-year cycle of all-or-nothing politics, you’d do much better by making the head of government institutionally dependent on the legislature. Westminster-style government and colonial legacies FTW!
/end
/end
November 7, 2025 at 7:18 PM
My semi-informed opinion: it is a mistake to start a regime design with analogs, templates, concepts. Start with evidence of what worked under what circumstances, then sketch out some basic design principles, as James Madison did. We now may not like what emerged in 1787, but it proved adjustable.
Reposted by Brian Cook
Between 2015 and 2023, support for restoring Poland’s democracy grew even as the autocratic government tightened its grip. How did their pro-democracy forces endure amid darkness? Here’s what we can learn from Poland’s democratic comeback. https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/keep-going
Keep going
A story of resilience from Poland
www.ifyoucankeepit.org
November 7, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Between 2015 and 2023, support for restoring Poland’s democracy grew even as the autocratic government tightened its grip. How did their pro-democracy forces endure amid darkness? Here’s what we can learn from Poland’s democratic comeback. https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/keep-going
Impeach, Convict, Remove
Congress, this is a five-alarm fire. As you dither on your oath bound responsibilities, he is remaking the military. I am *begging* you to contemplate what that means.
Hegseth Is Purging Military Leaders With Little Explanation
We spoke with 20 current and former military officials about the purge.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
We spoke with 20 current and former military officials about the purge.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
November 7, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Impeach, Convict, Remove