@hansder.bsky.social
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The savvy will scoff, but I am completely serious about this. Congressional Dems should introduce a constitutional amendment to limit the pardon power and force votes on it whenever they can. Dem presidential wannabes should endorse the idea. Blue states should signal support.
Rein In Trump's Pardon Power
Before it's too late... And presidential immunity, while we're at it.... Take it to Congress, to states, even to the streets.
www.offmessage.net
May 2, 2025 at 3:46 PM
The savvy will scoff, but I am completely serious about this. Congressional Dems should introduce a constitutional amendment to limit the pardon power and force votes on it whenever they can. Dem presidential wannabes should endorse the idea. Blue states should signal support.
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Many “savvy” folks argue protests can’t work. Evidence suggests otherwise.
“Muslim ban set off a fury of protests across US, garnering tremendous media attention and discussion… Portraying ‘Ban’ at odds with inclusive elements of American identity prompted some citizens to shift their attitudes…”
“Muslim ban set off a fury of protests across US, garnering tremendous media attention and discussion… Portraying ‘Ban’ at odds with inclusive elements of American identity prompted some citizens to shift their attitudes…”
A Change of Heart? Why Individual-Level Public Opinion Shifted Against Trump’s “Muslim Ban” - Political Behavior
Public opinion research suggests that rapid and significant individual-level fluctuations in opinions toward various policies is fairly unexpected absent methodological artifacts. While this may gener...
link.springer.com
February 2, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Many “savvy” folks argue protests can’t work. Evidence suggests otherwise.
“Muslim ban set off a fury of protests across US, garnering tremendous media attention and discussion… Portraying ‘Ban’ at odds with inclusive elements of American identity prompted some citizens to shift their attitudes…”
“Muslim ban set off a fury of protests across US, garnering tremendous media attention and discussion… Portraying ‘Ban’ at odds with inclusive elements of American identity prompted some citizens to shift their attitudes…”
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European leaders really need to stop repeating this ”500 million Europeans shouldn’t ask 340 million Americans to defend us”. The transatlantic link was never an American charity and we need to start reminding our American friends of that fact.
The US is in fact losing as much as Europe is.
The US is in fact losing as much as Europe is.
Andrius Kubilius, the European Commissioner for Defence Industry and Space:
“There are 450 million Europeans. We should not be crying out for 340 million Americans to defend us against 140 million Russians, who are not even able to defeat 38 million Ukrainians.
“There are 450 million Europeans. We should not be crying out for 340 million Americans to defend us against 140 million Russians, who are not even able to defeat 38 million Ukrainians.
March 22, 2025 at 10:32 AM
European leaders really need to stop repeating this ”500 million Europeans shouldn’t ask 340 million Americans to defend us”. The transatlantic link was never an American charity and we need to start reminding our American friends of that fact.
The US is in fact losing as much as Europe is.
The US is in fact losing as much as Europe is.
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Trump and Musk are basically trying to deskill America:
1) kill all white-collar jobs and replace them with AI
2) kill universities
3) use tariffs to turn the U.S. into an economic island manufacturing, oil and ag hub
4) empty the cities
5) push men into manual labor & women back into the kitchen
1) kill all white-collar jobs and replace them with AI
2) kill universities
3) use tariffs to turn the U.S. into an economic island manufacturing, oil and ag hub
4) empty the cities
5) push men into manual labor & women back into the kitchen
March 15, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Trump and Musk are basically trying to deskill America:
1) kill all white-collar jobs and replace them with AI
2) kill universities
3) use tariffs to turn the U.S. into an economic island manufacturing, oil and ag hub
4) empty the cities
5) push men into manual labor & women back into the kitchen
1) kill all white-collar jobs and replace them with AI
2) kill universities
3) use tariffs to turn the U.S. into an economic island manufacturing, oil and ag hub
4) empty the cities
5) push men into manual labor & women back into the kitchen
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I agree with this.
Clarity can be terrifying.
It can also be immensely helpful.
There is no hiding from reality now.
Clarity can be terrifying.
It can also be immensely helpful.
There is no hiding from reality now.
Phony friendliness and behind-the-scenes treachery from Trump and Vance would have been much more dangerous to the cause of freedom in Ukraine than the self-exposure by both men.
February 28, 2025 at 8:55 PM
I agree with this.
Clarity can be terrifying.
It can also be immensely helpful.
There is no hiding from reality now.
Clarity can be terrifying.
It can also be immensely helpful.
There is no hiding from reality now.
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Maybe Elon had to do with AfD's support falling, but surely Linke's surge had much more to do with Merz' failed gambit to pass the migration bill with AfD votes and Linke came out with strong antifascist rhetoric and ruled out forming a coalition with CDU/CSU. They swung Green voters not AfD voters.
February 25, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Maybe Elon had to do with AfD's support falling, but surely Linke's surge had much more to do with Merz' failed gambit to pass the migration bill with AfD votes and Linke came out with strong antifascist rhetoric and ruled out forming a coalition with CDU/CSU. They swung Green voters not AfD voters.
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this is a good example of the attitude that has led democrats down the road to disaster. it rests on the belief that public opinion cannot be shaped or mobilized or moved, only reacted to
February 14, 2025 at 1:41 AM
this is a good example of the attitude that has led democrats down the road to disaster. it rests on the belief that public opinion cannot be shaped or mobilized or moved, only reacted to
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In this piece I ask whether states can launch investigations of the various Musk security breaches, issue subpoenas and compel testimony from him and his malicious posse
www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/a-disappoi...
www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/a-disappoi...
A Disappointing Jobs Report, Stopping Musk, Rubio The Mass Murderer, Keep Making Your Calls Everyone!
The world's richest man is trying to kill tens of millions of the world's poorest
www.hopiumchronicles.com
February 8, 2025 at 5:25 PM
In this piece I ask whether states can launch investigations of the various Musk security breaches, issue subpoenas and compel testimony from him and his malicious posse
www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/a-disappoi...
www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/a-disappoi...
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From Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University: slate.com/life/2025/02...
Dear Fellow College Presidents: We Need to Do More Than Wait This One Out
Why civil society needs university leaders to speak up.
slate.com
February 8, 2025 at 7:17 PM
From Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University: slate.com/life/2025/02...
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You may not like it, but Leah's right. There's a reason the Prodigal Son is a parable in almost every culture. when someone experiencing cognitive dissonance comes to you, you have two choices: embrace them, and win them over forever; or reject them, ensuring they never again question their beliefs.
February 2, 2025 at 10:13 PM
You may not like it, but Leah's right. There's a reason the Prodigal Son is a parable in almost every culture. when someone experiencing cognitive dissonance comes to you, you have two choices: embrace them, and win them over forever; or reject them, ensuring they never again question their beliefs.
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The Tea Party mobilized over far less than Trump has executed in the last two weeks and was able to shift national media coverage to a focus on debt for months.
Drawing on research, goals of protest would be to get media to talk more about how unpopular Trump’s policies are and, through coverage, draw attention to most egregious stuff, move public opinion, splinter some factions of his coalition and, even, shift policy. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting | American Political Science Review | Cambridge Core
Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting - Volume 114 Issue 3
www.cambridge.org
February 2, 2025 at 7:39 PM
The Tea Party mobilized over far less than Trump has executed in the last two weeks and was able to shift national media coverage to a focus on debt for months.
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To folks saying "Calling does nothing!" and then... not suggesting any actions instead, even small ones? Please, save us both some time, don't bother posting at me, and just block me now. I'll use the time to take action (not JUST call, fyi) & you can use it to... stare into the abyss of doom? 🤷🏻♀️
February 1, 2025 at 2:32 PM
To folks saying "Calling does nothing!" and then... not suggesting any actions instead, even small ones? Please, save us both some time, don't bother posting at me, and just block me now. I'll use the time to take action (not JUST call, fyi) & you can use it to... stare into the abyss of doom? 🤷🏻♀️
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Democratic lawmakers need to understand something:
Imagine your house is on fire. Fire truck shows up. Firefighters get out. They look at the fire, then at you, and say: "Such a fire is a grave threat. This house will not sustain."
And just stand there.
This is how many of you are coming across.
Imagine your house is on fire. Fire truck shows up. Firefighters get out. They look at the fire, then at you, and say: "Such a fire is a grave threat. This house will not sustain."
And just stand there.
This is how many of you are coming across.
February 1, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Democratic lawmakers need to understand something:
Imagine your house is on fire. Fire truck shows up. Firefighters get out. They look at the fire, then at you, and say: "Such a fire is a grave threat. This house will not sustain."
And just stand there.
This is how many of you are coming across.
Imagine your house is on fire. Fire truck shows up. Firefighters get out. They look at the fire, then at you, and say: "Such a fire is a grave threat. This house will not sustain."
And just stand there.
This is how many of you are coming across.
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A major transatlantic clash over the regulation of digital platforms looks inevitable at this point.
www.politico.eu/article/spai...
www.politico.eu/article/spai...
Tech billionaires want to ‘overthrow democracy’ with social media, Spain PM Sánchez says
“The technology that was intended to free us has become the tool of our own oppression.”
www.politico.eu
January 22, 2025 at 6:55 PM
A major transatlantic clash over the regulation of digital platforms looks inevitable at this point.
www.politico.eu/article/spai...
www.politico.eu/article/spai...
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Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde to Trump: "I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender people in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives ... and the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals"
January 21, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde to Trump: "I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender people in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives ... and the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals"
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As we all learn how to become a ferocious effective opposition together in the coming months, a recommendation:
- amplify those trying to help, make us louder
- degrade/undermine (or ignore) the malevolent
- do not degrade/undermine those trying to help
We have limited capacity. Use it wisely.
- amplify those trying to help, make us louder
- degrade/undermine (or ignore) the malevolent
- do not degrade/undermine those trying to help
We have limited capacity. Use it wisely.
January 22, 2025 at 7:10 PM
As we all learn how to become a ferocious effective opposition together in the coming months, a recommendation:
- amplify those trying to help, make us louder
- degrade/undermine (or ignore) the malevolent
- do not degrade/undermine those trying to help
We have limited capacity. Use it wisely.
- amplify those trying to help, make us louder
- degrade/undermine (or ignore) the malevolent
- do not degrade/undermine those trying to help
We have limited capacity. Use it wisely.
Reposted
NO AMOUNT OF MONEY OR MANPOWER could have stopped these fires in a bone dry landscape that's gotten virtually no rain in 8 months during 80-100 mph winds. This is not a liberal policy failure, it's an ongoing heartbreaking tragedy. So--
January 11, 2025 at 7:07 PM
NO AMOUNT OF MONEY OR MANPOWER could have stopped these fires in a bone dry landscape that's gotten virtually no rain in 8 months during 80-100 mph winds. This is not a liberal policy failure, it's an ongoing heartbreaking tragedy. So--
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🧵 I live in Los Angeles. We have not had to evacuate and are safe, but like many people here, I have friends who have lost everything. I realize I can't combat the firehose (see what I did there?) of bullshit spewing about this disaster from internet and media sources, but I'll say this:
January 11, 2025 at 7:07 PM
🧵 I live in Los Angeles. We have not had to evacuate and are safe, but like many people here, I have friends who have lost everything. I realize I can't combat the firehose (see what I did there?) of bullshit spewing about this disaster from internet and media sources, but I'll say this:
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The physical world still exists and eventually ideas formed in the mass hallucination chamber of social media will collide with it, even for the people in the grips of the hallucinations. And when that happens a lot of people will die.
January 9, 2025 at 4:19 PM
The physical world still exists and eventually ideas formed in the mass hallucination chamber of social media will collide with it, even for the people in the grips of the hallucinations. And when that happens a lot of people will die.
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If democracies are going to survive, they need to go to war with social media and the tech oligarchs who oversee it. We cannot have a society governed by mass hallucination.
January 9, 2025 at 4:04 PM
If democracies are going to survive, they need to go to war with social media and the tech oligarchs who oversee it. We cannot have a society governed by mass hallucination.
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What we’re done is create a massive information infrastructure which privileges conspiracy theories, demagoguery, bigotry, lies, and hysteria - much larger than the traditional news infrastructure. It’s the main information source for many.
And then new political movements evolved to exploit it.
And then new political movements evolved to exploit it.
January 9, 2025 at 3:54 PM
What we’re done is create a massive information infrastructure which privileges conspiracy theories, demagoguery, bigotry, lies, and hysteria - much larger than the traditional news infrastructure. It’s the main information source for many.
And then new political movements evolved to exploit it.
And then new political movements evolved to exploit it.
Reposted
2024 Headline of the Year nominee (January)
December 22, 2024 at 6:52 PM
2024 Headline of the Year nominee (January)
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2024 Headline of the Year nominee (April)
December 22, 2024 at 7:07 PM
2024 Headline of the Year nominee (April)
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2024 Headline of the Year nominee (February)
December 22, 2024 at 7:17 PM
2024 Headline of the Year nominee (February)