Phil C
@redefineleadership.bsky.social
Corporate and tax attorney. Former fed / program manager / consultant.
I left the federal government in 2018 because I didn’t want my name associated with the first Trump administration’s policies.
I left the federal government in 2018 because I didn’t want my name associated with the first Trump administration’s policies.
The rights’s turn away from free market economics toward state control was entirely predictable - the right hates that the natural choice of truly free markets is tolerance and equality. State control is necessary to inject hate into a competitive marketplace.
August 26, 2025 at 11:32 PM
The rights’s turn away from free market economics toward state control was entirely predictable - the right hates that the natural choice of truly free markets is tolerance and equality. State control is necessary to inject hate into a competitive marketplace.
Irony: being pro second amendment, and also being the reason “the consent of the governed” is withdrawn.
August 17, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Irony: being pro second amendment, and also being the reason “the consent of the governed” is withdrawn.
This exactly. Quit watching shit on TikTok and do things that make you happy. And treat women like people.
I promise you’ll have more of whatever you want in life than you thought possible, because the men who do these simple things are so rare.
I promise you’ll have more of whatever you want in life than you thought possible, because the men who do these simple things are so rare.
There is no “male loneliness epidemic”. It’s an epidemic of red pilled losers that care more about what other men think than actually trying to meet women and enjoy their company
It definitely looked like group think.
Also they do know the other women were paying attention to their body language, and them openly laughing at Riley right?
Also they do know the other women were paying attention to their body language, and them openly laughing at Riley right?
August 15, 2025 at 7:09 PM
This exactly. Quit watching shit on TikTok and do things that make you happy. And treat women like people.
I promise you’ll have more of whatever you want in life than you thought possible, because the men who do these simple things are so rare.
I promise you’ll have more of whatever you want in life than you thought possible, because the men who do these simple things are so rare.
The right wing’s replacement of individual determinism with authoritarian control requires distrust in existing systems enacting democracy and universal rights, and the technological development of recent decades is the perfect mechanism to sow the seeds of doubt.
A confluence, like the 30s.
A confluence, like the 30s.
August 12, 2025 at 12:48 PM
The right wing’s replacement of individual determinism with authoritarian control requires distrust in existing systems enacting democracy and universal rights, and the technological development of recent decades is the perfect mechanism to sow the seeds of doubt.
A confluence, like the 30s.
A confluence, like the 30s.
There will be a day when we see the tech industry in Silicon Valley the way we see, today, companies who make watches or power drills. Tech is a tool, not a solution. A fancy tool, but a means to do some other aspect of human life more efficiently.
And most of the value is in Word and Excel.
And most of the value is in Word and Excel.
July 28, 2025 at 7:35 PM
There will be a day when we see the tech industry in Silicon Valley the way we see, today, companies who make watches or power drills. Tech is a tool, not a solution. A fancy tool, but a means to do some other aspect of human life more efficiently.
And most of the value is in Word and Excel.
And most of the value is in Word and Excel.
AI (LLMs) solves the problem of recall, not the problem of creation. Increasingly good AI simply allows people to access what is already known, but adds nothing to knowledge.
July 28, 2025 at 6:41 PM
AI (LLMs) solves the problem of recall, not the problem of creation. Increasingly good AI simply allows people to access what is already known, but adds nothing to knowledge.
The new democratic coalition. We need sensible, deliberate immigration policies that allow hardworking people to come to this country and build lives. Community is the people who want to be in it, are grateful for the opportunities it offers them, and want to make it even better.
ICE Took Half Their Work Force. What Do They Do Now?
www.nytimes.com
July 27, 2025 at 1:41 PM
The new democratic coalition. We need sensible, deliberate immigration policies that allow hardworking people to come to this country and build lives. Community is the people who want to be in it, are grateful for the opportunities it offers them, and want to make it even better.
Reposted by Phil C
But this line... is just perfect: "The Constitution is like a gym membership for these people: they talk about it constantly, it’s mostly aspirational, and they’re winded after the Preamble."
July 16, 2025 at 3:21 AM
But this line... is just perfect: "The Constitution is like a gym membership for these people: they talk about it constantly, it’s mostly aspirational, and they’re winded after the Preamble."
You know what else helps farmers? Alternative energy subsidies. Power companies build wind farms in corn fields and the farmers get a cut of the profits. These deals are turning* small family farms across the Midwest profitable.
*Were turning.
*Were turning.
What they don’t tell you is that farmers wouldn’t need all these tax cuts and assistance if we had a functioning social safety net. The whole point is that government purchases the overstock and provides it to the hungry. The GOP creates inefficiencies because they don’t like 🫵🏾 YOU having things.
Brooke Rollins: "Every day, USDA spends nearly $300 million on SNAP. $300 million! That's a huge government program. We're never gonna take food out of hungry kids' mouths, but ... "
July 2, 2025 at 4:37 PM
You know what else helps farmers? Alternative energy subsidies. Power companies build wind farms in corn fields and the farmers get a cut of the profits. These deals are turning* small family farms across the Midwest profitable.
*Were turning.
*Were turning.
The repressive ICE raids are intended to produce protests and outrage. Those protests will be labeled violent and used to justify limitations on the elections. 1/
June 8, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The repressive ICE raids are intended to produce protests and outrage. Those protests will be labeled violent and used to justify limitations on the elections. 1/
Trump’s fold on tariffs is terrible for two reasons: 1) it confirms China has built a supply chain dependency and they know it. They will use this knowledge to leverage other forms of power. 2) it creates the conditions for inflation and economic weakening of the US. China also knows this. 1/
May 12, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Trump’s fold on tariffs is terrible for two reasons: 1) it confirms China has built a supply chain dependency and they know it. They will use this knowledge to leverage other forms of power. 2) it creates the conditions for inflation and economic weakening of the US. China also knows this. 1/
The tell for all of these right wing influencers is that they think people skills don’t matter. Anyone who has ever built something - a business, an idea, a team - understands that working effectively with people, whomever they are, is the singular path to success.
Weak Men Create Hard Times
And weak men love a strongman.
thedispatch.com
May 7, 2025 at 6:53 PM
The tell for all of these right wing influencers is that they think people skills don’t matter. Anyone who has ever built something - a business, an idea, a team - understands that working effectively with people, whomever they are, is the singular path to success.
The midterm elections will be defined — and biased towards MAGA republicans — by leaks of government intelligence and records on the candidates and their staff.
This is one purpose of the DOGE consolidation of government databases, and a primary tactic to create competitive authoritarianism.
This is one purpose of the DOGE consolidation of government databases, and a primary tactic to create competitive authoritarianism.
April 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM
The midterm elections will be defined — and biased towards MAGA republicans — by leaks of government intelligence and records on the candidates and their staff.
This is one purpose of the DOGE consolidation of government databases, and a primary tactic to create competitive authoritarianism.
This is one purpose of the DOGE consolidation of government databases, and a primary tactic to create competitive authoritarianism.
Either Trump capitulates and forever loses his ability to make a credible threat, or we just entered World War III.
China Halts Critical Rare Earth Exports as Trade War Intensifies (Gift Article)
Beijing has suspended exports of certain rare earth minerals and magnets that are crucial for the world’s car, semiconductor and aerospace industries.
www.nytimes.com
April 13, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Either Trump capitulates and forever loses his ability to make a credible threat, or we just entered World War III.
Weak, weak president.
April 11, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Weak, weak president.
Trump canceling the reciprocal tariffs wasn't a win. The remaining 10% global tariff is exactly what Stephen Miran and the global restructuring crowd wants. They think it will force other currencies down, making those countries pay the cost of tariffs when their goods become less expensive here. 1/
April 10, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Trump canceling the reciprocal tariffs wasn't a win. The remaining 10% global tariff is exactly what Stephen Miran and the global restructuring crowd wants. They think it will force other currencies down, making those countries pay the cost of tariffs when their goods become less expensive here. 1/
Trump is using taxpayer money to reward his cronies. $200 million dollars. That’s a buck and a half from every taxpayer in the United States.
How the White House hired Republican political firms to launch an anti-migrant ad campaign
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security skipped a fully competitive bidding process to give two Republican-linked firms the first part of a $200 million anti-immigration ad campaign.
apnews.com
April 6, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Trump is using taxpayer money to reward his cronies. $200 million dollars. That’s a buck and a half from every taxpayer in the United States.
Economics is the artistic expression of fascism, an attempt to simplify complex problems into simple answers measured in finite amounts.
Economics cannot answer the important questions about life and living.
Economics cannot answer the important questions about life and living.
March 29, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Economics is the artistic expression of fascism, an attempt to simplify complex problems into simple answers measured in finite amounts.
Economics cannot answer the important questions about life and living.
Economics cannot answer the important questions about life and living.
Important note: control of government is tied to a “stake in their own success.” In other words, politicians should profit directly from their power, because that profit shows how good they are at governing. This is a straight Law and Econ justification for corruption.
Today for @bloomberg.com, I have a review of the Palantir CEO's new book "The Technological Republic," which is both tedious and creepy. Karp wrote his dissertation on Adorno's critique of jargon, seemingly to reverse engineer it?
www.unpopularfront.news/p/palantirs-...
www.unpopularfront.news/p/palantirs-...
Palantir's Peculiar Sales-Pitch
A Republic...if you can creep it
www.unpopularfront.news
February 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Important note: control of government is tied to a “stake in their own success.” In other words, politicians should profit directly from their power, because that profit shows how good they are at governing. This is a straight Law and Econ justification for corruption.
Clarity on Trump & assoc.'s goals helps us understand how actions connect. Trump has two goals: 1) reduce electoral competition so he or chosen successors stay in power; 2) enrich himself. Every action relates to these two goals, directly or indirectly.
February 23, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Clarity on Trump & assoc.'s goals helps us understand how actions connect. Trump has two goals: 1) reduce electoral competition so he or chosen successors stay in power; 2) enrich himself. Every action relates to these two goals, directly or indirectly.
Controlling government systems leads inevitably to using those systems to discredit and attack opponents, in competitive authoritarianism. I don't doubt Elon is looking for fraud right now, but he won't be able to resist auditing political opponents when the election looms and Trump might lose.
February 22, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Controlling government systems leads inevitably to using those systems to discredit and attack opponents, in competitive authoritarianism. I don't doubt Elon is looking for fraud right now, but he won't be able to resist auditing political opponents when the election looms and Trump might lose.
Reposted by Phil C
"DHS has ordered its entire investigations division - composed of 6,000 agents - to divert focus on drug dealers, terrorists, and human traffickers and shift priority to the Trump administration’s mission of deporting people in the U.S. illegally." www.azcentral.com/story/news/p...
Thousands of DHS agents shift to deportation instead of drugs, weapons and human trafficking
Redeploying Homeland Security Investigations agents is part of a broader Trump effort. But some fear many serious transnational crimes will go unprobed.
www.azcentral.com
February 18, 2025 at 7:40 PM
"DHS has ordered its entire investigations division - composed of 6,000 agents - to divert focus on drug dealers, terrorists, and human traffickers and shift priority to the Trump administration’s mission of deporting people in the U.S. illegally." www.azcentral.com/story/news/p...
Reposted by Phil C
Convo with my friend from Hungary tonight who left after Orban’s election.
She said “your head will spin with all the wild stuff they try to pull, new things every day, but don’t take your eyes off the money. It’s all about the money, and what they’re stealing, and for whom.”
She said “your head will spin with all the wild stuff they try to pull, new things every day, but don’t take your eyes off the money. It’s all about the money, and what they’re stealing, and for whom.”
February 3, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Convo with my friend from Hungary tonight who left after Orban’s election.
She said “your head will spin with all the wild stuff they try to pull, new things every day, but don’t take your eyes off the money. It’s all about the money, and what they’re stealing, and for whom.”
She said “your head will spin with all the wild stuff they try to pull, new things every day, but don’t take your eyes off the money. It’s all about the money, and what they’re stealing, and for whom.”