Bryan George
@ebryangeorge.bsky.social
Research Engineer, Musician, sUAS pilot, Husband, Father, Writer, Free Speech / Thought Advocate, and Equal Opportunity Offender of all dogmatists
6/6 And the fire will be out. And the bureaucracy will be leaner. And new green shoots will start to emerge from the smoldering ash. So, that's my optimism - democracy survives and somehow come out better for it. Sounds like Russian optimism, I admit, but it's the best I've got at the moment 🙏
April 1, 2025 at 10:34 PM
6/6 And the fire will be out. And the bureaucracy will be leaner. And new green shoots will start to emerge from the smoldering ash. So, that's my optimism - democracy survives and somehow come out better for it. Sounds like Russian optimism, I admit, but it's the best I've got at the moment 🙏
5/6 But is it the end of the world? Unlikely. The far likelier outcome is that he will have his revenge on the DC establishment who dissed him, the 2026 midterms will go badly for the GOP, and the Democrats will finally get their heads out by 2028 to field a candidate who can beat Trump's successor
April 1, 2025 at 10:34 PM
5/6 But is it the end of the world? Unlikely. The far likelier outcome is that he will have his revenge on the DC establishment who dissed him, the 2026 midterms will go badly for the GOP, and the Democrats will finally get their heads out by 2028 to field a candidate who can beat Trump's successor
4/6 And so here we are, with DOGE, led by Trump - or is it the other way around? No matter. Here they are in Washington, literally burning the emmer effer to the ground, and all any of us can do is stand back and watch it happen until the fuel is spent, the wind dies down, or the rain starts falling
April 1, 2025 at 10:34 PM
4/6 And so here we are, with DOGE, led by Trump - or is it the other way around? No matter. Here they are in Washington, literally burning the emmer effer to the ground, and all any of us can do is stand back and watch it happen until the fuel is spent, the wind dies down, or the rain starts falling
3/6 So it is with the federal bureaucracy. It isn't the bureaucracy's fault for being bloated, it's Congress' fault for building up the bureaucracy without thinking about how to build it down if necessary, and they can't do so now without also losing their phony baloney jobs, to channel Mel Brooks
April 1, 2025 at 10:34 PM
3/6 So it is with the federal bureaucracy. It isn't the bureaucracy's fault for being bloated, it's Congress' fault for building up the bureaucracy without thinking about how to build it down if necessary, and they can't do so now without also losing their phony baloney jobs, to channel Mel Brooks
2/6 A forest fire starts because the growth of something good, like a forest, becomes unsustainable. And, of course, the trees in a forest will not check themselves. So an external destructive force has to do that work for them. But ultimately the forest is better off for it, assuming it survives
April 1, 2025 at 10:34 PM
2/6 A forest fire starts because the growth of something good, like a forest, becomes unsustainable. And, of course, the trees in a forest will not check themselves. So an external destructive force has to do that work for them. But ultimately the forest is better off for it, assuming it survives
5/5 And most of all, you have to appreciate that, once the racial barriers are gone, addressing inequity without also breaking the economy is a three- to four-generation process based on percentage points off loans, tax breaks, and the like. Nothing good will happen overnight.
March 23, 2025 at 4:16 PM
5/5 And most of all, you have to appreciate that, once the racial barriers are gone, addressing inequity without also breaking the economy is a three- to four-generation process based on percentage points off loans, tax breaks, and the like. Nothing good will happen overnight.
4/5 To be clear, I strongly favor constructive solutions to address lingering economic racial disadvantages. It's just that in a nation where people are free to vote in secret on what the future should look like, you have to recruit and persuade, not confront and shame, those whose support you need
March 23, 2025 at 4:16 PM
4/5 To be clear, I strongly favor constructive solutions to address lingering economic racial disadvantages. It's just that in a nation where people are free to vote in secret on what the future should look like, you have to recruit and persuade, not confront and shame, those whose support you need
3/5 When history looks back at the reasons we have a second Trump administration today, losing the hearts and minds of millions by telling them "We're going to make it harder for your kids to get ahead now to make up for their kids not being able to then, so suck it up Buttercup" will be up there
March 23, 2025 at 4:16 PM
3/5 When history looks back at the reasons we have a second Trump administration today, losing the hearts and minds of millions by telling them "We're going to make it harder for your kids to get ahead now to make up for their kids not being able to then, so suck it up Buttercup" will be up there
2/5 Oh wait, no, that happened on an Earth in a different timeline. On *this* Earth, those leaders grabbed whatever tools were at hand to do *something* anti-racist, which resulted in pushes for quota hiring and white guilt, and the right used those unforced errors to make "DEI" a four-letter word
March 23, 2025 at 4:16 PM
2/5 Oh wait, no, that happened on an Earth in a different timeline. On *this* Earth, those leaders grabbed whatever tools were at hand to do *something* anti-racist, which resulted in pushes for quota hiring and white guilt, and the right used those unforced errors to make "DEI" a four-letter word
8/8 Those are contradictory requirements, of course, but ultimately if you ignore 2) you get none of 1). I hope @kenmartin.bsky.social has better luck threading that needle than his predecessors.
March 1, 2025 at 11:58 PM
8/8 Those are contradictory requirements, of course, but ultimately if you ignore 2) you get none of 1). I hope @kenmartin.bsky.social has better luck threading that needle than his predecessors.
7/8 I would argue not, but only if the Democrats (forget the Republicans, they're the walking dead) can figure out how to rework the global order so that it 1) does what the previous one did and 2) still works for the U.S. who work with their hands.
March 1, 2025 at 11:58 PM
7/8 I would argue not, but only if the Democrats (forget the Republicans, they're the walking dead) can figure out how to rework the global order so that it 1) does what the previous one did and 2) still works for the U.S. who work with their hands.
6/8 Trumpism is, then, a monster of the Establishment's own making, so the only question is, what will the Establishment do about it now? Can it, or is it already too late to prevent the U.S. from becoming simply another unexceptional power player on the world stage with nothing special to offer?
March 1, 2025 at 11:58 PM
6/8 Trumpism is, then, a monster of the Establishment's own making, so the only question is, what will the Establishment do about it now? Can it, or is it already too late to prevent the U.S. from becoming simply another unexceptional power player on the world stage with nothing special to offer?
5/8 None of this was helped in the least by Barack Obama, followed by Hillary Clinton, indicating that the future belonged to a hip, educated, tech-savvy, sexually open, less white generation, and that everyone else was, at best, irrelevant or, at worst, expected to die off, so who cares?
March 1, 2025 at 11:58 PM
5/8 None of this was helped in the least by Barack Obama, followed by Hillary Clinton, indicating that the future belonged to a hip, educated, tech-savvy, sexually open, less white generation, and that everyone else was, at best, irrelevant or, at worst, expected to die off, so who cares?
4/8 And yes, that was deserved in the sense of preventing WWIII and raising the global standard of living. But from a political standpoint, it was also a ticking time bomb simply waiting for the perfect right wing demagogue to come along and take advantage, and Donald Trump (of all people) was him.
March 1, 2025 at 11:58 PM
4/8 And yes, that was deserved in the sense of preventing WWIII and raising the global standard of living. But from a political standpoint, it was also a ticking time bomb simply waiting for the perfect right wing demagogue to come along and take advantage, and Donald Trump (of all people) was him.
3/8 Still, the post-WWII order supposedly leading to universal economic prosperity has, in fact, left large chunks of the working class population of the U.S. and sections of the U.S. itself to rot in place while the Washington DC ruling class patted itself on the back for its cleverness.
March 1, 2025 at 11:58 PM
3/8 Still, the post-WWII order supposedly leading to universal economic prosperity has, in fact, left large chunks of the working class population of the U.S. and sections of the U.S. itself to rot in place while the Washington DC ruling class patted itself on the back for its cleverness.
2/8 I actually agree in a very limited way with some of the "America First" agenda. No, I don't think globalization is bad. No, I don't believe only native-born Americans of European descent should have exclusive domain over our culture, politics, and law. And *hell* no, I'm not putting on the cap.
March 1, 2025 at 11:58 PM
2/8 I actually agree in a very limited way with some of the "America First" agenda. No, I don't think globalization is bad. No, I don't believe only native-born Americans of European descent should have exclusive domain over our culture, politics, and law. And *hell* no, I'm not putting on the cap.
"Some of the most powerful people in the world" are well on their way to becoming some of the most irrelevant people in the world. I'm not suggesting that they need to respond to everything that's happening, but when they do respond it needs to be powerful.
February 18, 2025 at 12:18 AM
"Some of the most powerful people in the world" are well on their way to becoming some of the most irrelevant people in the world. I'm not suggesting that they need to respond to everything that's happening, but when they do respond it needs to be powerful.
Ignorance may be bliss, but it's painful to watch... 😬
January 30, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Ignorance may be bliss, but it's painful to watch... 😬
The Democratic Party has completed its transformation into the world's largest political self-licking ice cream cone. Buckle up.
January 28, 2025 at 5:48 PM
The Democratic Party has completed its transformation into the world's largest political self-licking ice cream cone. Buckle up.
2/2 To me, it seems a simple analysis of how far behind economically minorities were circa 1964, accounting for compound interest on wealth they were largely unable to acquire previously, would put the lie to the assertion that equity is a "solved problem". Prove me wrong, and feel free to cite me
January 28, 2025 at 12:03 AM
2/2 To me, it seems a simple analysis of how far behind economically minorities were circa 1964, accounting for compound interest on wealth they were largely unable to acquire previously, would put the lie to the assertion that equity is a "solved problem". Prove me wrong, and feel free to cite me