Chad Rector
@chadrector.bsky.social
Political Science, Marymount University. International organizations, Asia. Occasional hobbies: pro-housing activism in Silver Spring MD, playing the Pontian lyra, making Alsatian tarts. Johnny-come-lately Bluesky's 2.2 millionth user. www.chadrector.net
Pinned
Chad Rector
@chadrector.bsky.social
· Jan 10
Montgomery County calls itself progressive but in practice it is a deeply conservative place that cannot abide conflict or discomfort. I grew up here, I love it, and it continues to let me down montgomeryperspective.com/2025/01/10/m...
Mink Joins Jawando in Opposing Attainable Housing - Montgomery Perspective
By Adam Pagnucco. On Tuesday, Council Member Will Jawando became the first council member to openly oppose the Planning Board’s Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative. (County...
montgomeryperspective.com
On my street, 3 blocks from a future purple line stop, homes get torn down to build mansions but duplexes are illegal.
People are allowed to build mansions for millionaires, but not quads for everyone else. On land that they own. By a transit station. In America. It's obscene.
See thread ->
People are allowed to build mansions for millionaires, but not quads for everyone else. On land that they own. By a transit station. In America. It's obscene.
See thread ->
Reposted by Chad Rector
AOC: "This is about, do you understand the assignment of fighting fascism right now? And they assignment is to come together across difference no matter what."
November 5, 2025 at 3:21 AM
AOC: "This is about, do you understand the assignment of fighting fascism right now? And they assignment is to come together across difference no matter what."
Reposted by Chad Rector
Show us on the doll where the sandwich hit you.
November 4, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Show us on the doll where the sandwich hit you.
Reposted by Chad Rector
This right here, this exact sentence, is THE problem in American political journalism.
The IRA *was* cheap energy and good jobs! That was the whole bill! Democrats did precisely what political pundits are telling them to do and the pundits just ignore it.
The IRA *was* cheap energy and good jobs! That was the whole bill! Democrats did precisely what political pundits are telling them to do and the pundits just ignore it.
November 1, 2025 at 12:13 PM
This right here, this exact sentence, is THE problem in American political journalism.
The IRA *was* cheap energy and good jobs! That was the whole bill! Democrats did precisely what political pundits are telling them to do and the pundits just ignore it.
The IRA *was* cheap energy and good jobs! That was the whole bill! Democrats did precisely what political pundits are telling them to do and the pundits just ignore it.
My grandfather still participated in the *most dangerous* anti-fascist gathering in American history! But sorry Wendell; it's no longer the largest. (He would understand, and approve.)
October 19, 2025 at 2:04 PM
My grandfather still participated in the *most dangerous* anti-fascist gathering in American history! But sorry Wendell; it's no longer the largest. (He would understand, and approve.)
Reposted by Chad Rector
It's dangerous to say, but since it is true, it's more dangerous to not say: The Supreme Court of the United States is not a legitimate body. It's been deliberately and systematically captured by ideologues on behalf of an anti-Constitutional project, and its extremist members have been bribed.
October 11, 2025 at 12:00 PM
It's dangerous to say, but since it is true, it's more dangerous to not say: The Supreme Court of the United States is not a legitimate body. It's been deliberately and systematically captured by ideologues on behalf of an anti-Constitutional project, and its extremist members have been bribed.
Reposted by Chad Rector
Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).
The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.
The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.
SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled
The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency
@heatmap.news
The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency
@heatmap.news
Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says
It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.
heatmap.news
October 10, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).
The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.
The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.
Reposted by Chad Rector
Everything that's wrong with legal journalism in one New York Times headline and pie chart.
If all these "legal experts" are so shocked by the threats to the rule of law, maybe they're not the experts we should be asking in the first place.
All of this was foreseeable. Many forecast it.
If all these "legal experts" are so shocked by the threats to the rule of law, maybe they're not the experts we should be asking in the first place.
All of this was foreseeable. Many forecast it.
October 6, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Everything that's wrong with legal journalism in one New York Times headline and pie chart.
If all these "legal experts" are so shocked by the threats to the rule of law, maybe they're not the experts we should be asking in the first place.
All of this was foreseeable. Many forecast it.
If all these "legal experts" are so shocked by the threats to the rule of law, maybe they're not the experts we should be asking in the first place.
All of this was foreseeable. Many forecast it.
Reposted by Chad Rector
This is such an essential phrase: “The only Constitutional rights upon which we can depend are those we extend to the weakest and most reviled among us.”
Judge Young then proposes that maybe Americans just don't care because there aren't many immigrant Palestinians among us and Gaza is far away. He then concludes this section with a robust defense of WHY people should care about what this admin is doing, which I'm reproducing in full.
Read it all.
Read it all.
![Here's why: The United states is a great nation, not because any of us say so. It is great because we still practice our frontier tradition of selflessness for the good of us all. Strangers go out of their way to help strangers when they see a need. In times of fire, flood, and national disaster, everyone pitches in to help people we've never met and first responders selflessly risk their lives for others. Hundreds of firefighters rushed into the Twin Towers on 9/11 without hesitation desperate to find and save survivors. That's who we are. And on distant battlefields our military “fought and died for the men [they]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2vtbmhmrwzbqcfv4we4uxzzt/bafkreianfbathhbvefrnll3y3kq5tvm7mdcto6topuv6ha7rrlxgichb3y@jpeg)
September 30, 2025 at 6:57 PM
This is such an essential phrase: “The only Constitutional rights upon which we can depend are those we extend to the weakest and most reviled among us.”
Reposted by Chad Rector
The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy.
www.chosun.com/english/nati...
www.chosun.com/english/nati...
National Defense Ministry Honors 11 Soldiers for Refusing Illegal Orders
National Defense Ministry Honors 11 Soldiers for Refusing Illegal Orders Honored for rejecting illegal orders during martial law, Marine death probe
www.chosun.com
September 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy.
www.chosun.com/english/nati...
www.chosun.com/english/nati...
Reposted by Chad Rector
We're experiencing the exact same things that Turkey and Hungary experienced before descending to authoritarianism, and if you think it will end differently here without each and every one of us fighting back, you are delusional.
September 17, 2025 at 11:50 PM
We're experiencing the exact same things that Turkey and Hungary experienced before descending to authoritarianism, and if you think it will end differently here without each and every one of us fighting back, you are delusional.
Reposted by Chad Rector
We are witnessing a swift and sweeping consolidation of media (traditional and social) into the hands of a small number of billionaires who are actively aligned/aligning (both via free will and coercion) with Trump and his right wing political party. This is (I’ll say it) a fascist project.
September 17, 2025 at 2:06 PM
We are witnessing a swift and sweeping consolidation of media (traditional and social) into the hands of a small number of billionaires who are actively aligned/aligning (both via free will and coercion) with Trump and his right wing political party. This is (I’ll say it) a fascist project.
Reposted by Chad Rector
The New Yorker asked me “how bad” today’s Supreme Court ruling was. I boiled it down to one paragraph:
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
September 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
The New Yorker asked me “how bad” today’s Supreme Court ruling was. I boiled it down to one paragraph:
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
If federalized National Guard troops can't generally enter another state without that state's permission, then they can't _transit through_ those states either.
The only way to get into DC is to go through VA or MD. If both those have Dem governors... ?
The only way to get into DC is to go through VA or MD. If both those have Dem governors... ?
The President’s Power to Call Out the National Guard Is Not a Blank Check
Domestic deployment under the law has its limits, and for good reason.
www.brennancenter.org
September 3, 2025 at 7:01 PM
If federalized National Guard troops can't generally enter another state without that state's permission, then they can't _transit through_ those states either.
The only way to get into DC is to go through VA or MD. If both those have Dem governors... ?
The only way to get into DC is to go through VA or MD. If both those have Dem governors... ?
Reposted by Chad Rector
🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics.
The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.
The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.
August 30, 2025 at 8:10 PM
🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics.
The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.
The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.
Reposted by Chad Rector
The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...
America Tips Into Fascism
Today is different than before.
www.doomsdayscenario.co
August 25, 2025 at 3:32 PM
The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...
Reposted by Chad Rector
"One was an open paramilitary wing of an openly fascist political party, the other is an unaccountable government force operating without clear uniforms, identification, or transparency... for an openly fascist political party."
ICE Is Nothing Like the Brownshirts Because the Brownshirts Actually Identified Themselves
Let’s get this out of the way: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is nothing like the Sturmabteilung, aka Hitler’s Brownshirts. Your main clue is ...
buff.ly
August 18, 2025 at 6:28 PM
"One was an open paramilitary wing of an openly fascist political party, the other is an unaccountable government force operating without clear uniforms, identification, or transparency... for an openly fascist political party."
Reposted by Chad Rector
This is step one in how we lose free and fair elections. It’s not that Trump will “cancel” the midterms.
It’s just everyone has to vote in person, and urban downtowns will be filled with ICE checkpoints and intimidating National Guard troops to “double check” that only citizens vote.
It’s just everyone has to vote in person, and urban downtowns will be filled with ICE checkpoints and intimidating National Guard troops to “double check” that only citizens vote.
August 18, 2025 at 12:22 PM
This is step one in how we lose free and fair elections. It’s not that Trump will “cancel” the midterms.
It’s just everyone has to vote in person, and urban downtowns will be filled with ICE checkpoints and intimidating National Guard troops to “double check” that only citizens vote.
It’s just everyone has to vote in person, and urban downtowns will be filled with ICE checkpoints and intimidating National Guard troops to “double check” that only citizens vote.
Reposted by Chad Rector
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
August 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
It is everyone's patriotic duty to click on the link here, and maybe also click on a few of the ads.
August 2, 2025 at 12:23 PM
It is everyone's patriotic duty to click on the link here, and maybe also click on a few of the ads.
I almost want to sign up for Paramount+ again, quickly while that South Park episode is still up, then cancel again as soon as they pull it down.
It's like training an ostrich - it probably won't work at all, but your only hope is to have a quick feedback loop.
It's like training an ostrich - it probably won't work at all, but your only hope is to have a quick feedback loop.
July 24, 2025 at 4:19 PM
I almost want to sign up for Paramount+ again, quickly while that South Park episode is still up, then cancel again as soon as they pull it down.
It's like training an ostrich - it probably won't work at all, but your only hope is to have a quick feedback loop.
It's like training an ostrich - it probably won't work at all, but your only hope is to have a quick feedback loop.
Reposted by Chad Rector
"A canary in the coal mine of the rule of law." This is an immensely important story about the DOJ being turned into an institution that is breaking the law at the behest of the President...the kind of story that would have tanked previous administrations. [Gift link] www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/p...
A D.O.J. Whistleblower Speaks Out
www.nytimes.com
July 23, 2025 at 8:42 PM
"A canary in the coal mine of the rule of law." This is an immensely important story about the DOJ being turned into an institution that is breaking the law at the behest of the President...the kind of story that would have tanked previous administrations. [Gift link] www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/p...
In case laws matter at all anymore, the reasons given in this letter in no way whatsoever fall within the President's statutory authority over emergency tariffs.
The United States is seeking to steal the sovereignty of Brazil, there's really no other way to describe this. It's an effort to overthrow their domestic political institutions.
July 9, 2025 at 8:48 PM
In case laws matter at all anymore, the reasons given in this letter in no way whatsoever fall within the President's statutory authority over emergency tariffs.
This bill is what happens when weak party leaders can't contain members outbidding each other, piling more and more extremism in an insane logroll.
Leaders with effective control, who care about the party brand, constrain members not just so the bill gets passed at all, but to prevent the backlash.
Leaders with effective control, who care about the party brand, constrain members not just so the bill gets passed at all, but to prevent the backlash.
July 1, 2025 at 10:16 PM
This bill is what happens when weak party leaders can't contain members outbidding each other, piling more and more extremism in an insane logroll.
Leaders with effective control, who care about the party brand, constrain members not just so the bill gets passed at all, but to prevent the backlash.
Leaders with effective control, who care about the party brand, constrain members not just so the bill gets passed at all, but to prevent the backlash.