Brendan
@reelgills.bsky.social
Reposted by Brendan
yep. i can identify any number of structural issues but at the end of the day the basic problem is the republican party. this has been apparent for at least 20 years. it is also an incredibly unpopular observation to make among “serious” people.
Right.
If you want a good explanation of why the American system of government worked well enough for 200 years and then suddenly stopped, it's because Republicans in Congress suddenly started letting their partisan interests COMPLETELY override their institutional interests
If you want a good explanation of why the American system of government worked well enough for 200 years and then suddenly stopped, it's because Republicans in Congress suddenly started letting their partisan interests COMPLETELY override their institutional interests
a lot of problems wouldn't exist if we had a congress with even an ounce of self interest
January 4, 2026 at 11:52 PM
yep. i can identify any number of structural issues but at the end of the day the basic problem is the republican party. this has been apparent for at least 20 years. it is also an incredibly unpopular observation to make among “serious” people.
Reposted by Brendan
have to say that i liked this one quite a bit
wrote about the “national conservative” vision for america
Opinion | They Don’t Want to Live in Lincoln’s America
www.nytimes.com
September 10, 2025 at 11:06 PM
have to say that i liked this one quite a bit
Reposted by Brendan
It's really key to understand this: ***they don't need actual backlash of any substance or scale to run this cycle***. All they need is a few random comments, which they can always find, which means that you can basically run this cycle at will. You don't need libs to play along at all!
August 7, 2025 at 7:06 PM
It's really key to understand this: ***they don't need actual backlash of any substance or scale to run this cycle***. All they need is a few random comments, which they can always find, which means that you can basically run this cycle at will. You don't need libs to play along at all!
Reposted by Brendan
me driving to get lettuce because i can't afford a home in a walkable neighborhood after an american knife maker voted a certain way without realizing he needs swedish steel
August 4, 2025 at 1:13 AM
me driving to get lettuce because i can't afford a home in a walkable neighborhood after an american knife maker voted a certain way without realizing he needs swedish steel
Reposted by Brendan
The photographer Adrienne Salinger photographed teens in their bedrooms from the early ’80s into the ’90s. Her subjects are those whose worldly goods extended only to the stuffed animals, pairs of sunglasses, and posters displayed around them.
Teen-Agers in Their Bedrooms, Before the Age of Selfies
Adrienne Salinger’s cult photography book from the nineties makes a comeback.
www.newyorker.com
July 26, 2025 at 8:28 PM
The photographer Adrienne Salinger photographed teens in their bedrooms from the early ’80s into the ’90s. Her subjects are those whose worldly goods extended only to the stuffed animals, pairs of sunglasses, and posters displayed around them.
Reposted by Brendan
NEW PIECE IS UP.
I don’t enjoy facing the truth about this court, but it must be done.
Yesterday’s decision in McMahon has me convinced.
Hope you’ll sign up for the September webinars. We need the people - not just lawyers - to understand what’s at stake. open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...
I don’t enjoy facing the truth about this court, but it must be done.
Yesterday’s decision in McMahon has me convinced.
Hope you’ll sign up for the September webinars. We need the people - not just lawyers - to understand what’s at stake. open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...
Facing this Court
A Sober Look at What to Expect in Trump v. Casa And What We Do About It
open.substack.com
July 15, 2025 at 9:50 PM
NEW PIECE IS UP.
I don’t enjoy facing the truth about this court, but it must be done.
Yesterday’s decision in McMahon has me convinced.
Hope you’ll sign up for the September webinars. We need the people - not just lawyers - to understand what’s at stake. open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...
I don’t enjoy facing the truth about this court, but it must be done.
Yesterday’s decision in McMahon has me convinced.
Hope you’ll sign up for the September webinars. We need the people - not just lawyers - to understand what’s at stake. open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...
Reposted by Brendan
Yet another victory for Trump thanks to his packed Supreme Court.
Some of us tried to warn both leftists & liberals over the years that reforming the courts &, yes, packing the Supreme Court should be the priority. That the GOP has rigged it all. But 🤷🏽♂️👇🏽
Some of us tried to warn both leftists & liberals over the years that reforming the courts &, yes, packing the Supreme Court should be the priority. That the GOP has rigged it all. But 🤷🏽♂️👇🏽
Supreme Court Clears the Way for Trump’s Cuts to the Education Department
www.nytimes.com
July 14, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Yet another victory for Trump thanks to his packed Supreme Court.
Some of us tried to warn both leftists & liberals over the years that reforming the courts &, yes, packing the Supreme Court should be the priority. That the GOP has rigged it all. But 🤷🏽♂️👇🏽
Some of us tried to warn both leftists & liberals over the years that reforming the courts &, yes, packing the Supreme Court should be the priority. That the GOP has rigged it all. But 🤷🏽♂️👇🏽
Reposted by Brendan
"Trump is all-powerful except in the specific way that might crash the bond market" is incredible jurisprudence.
May 22, 2025 at 11:38 PM
"Trump is all-powerful except in the specific way that might crash the bond market" is incredible jurisprudence.
Reposted by Brendan
If I’m correct, it seems like the Supreme Court just ruled that there’s no such thing as an independent agency unless ending the independence of said agency would destroy the US economy
May 22, 2025 at 10:20 PM
If I’m correct, it seems like the Supreme Court just ruled that there’s no such thing as an independent agency unless ending the independence of said agency would destroy the US economy
Reposted by Brendan
Hitler’s rise to power shows how a country with a functional, if flawed, democratic machinery handed absolute power over to someone whom the conservative political class regarded as a chaotic clown with a violent following.
The Forgotten History of Hitler’s Establishment Enablers
The Nazi leader didn’t seize power; he was given it.
nyer.cm
April 19, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Hitler’s rise to power shows how a country with a functional, if flawed, democratic machinery handed absolute power over to someone whom the conservative political class regarded as a chaotic clown with a violent following.
Reposted by Brendan
Breaking News: The Trump administration threatened to withhold funding from public schools unless DEI programs it deemed unlawful were eliminated.
Trump Administration Threatens to Withhold Funds From Public Schools
State education officials will be required to verify that they have eliminated all programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion that the administration deems unlawful, according to a new memo...
www.nytimes.com
April 3, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Breaking News: The Trump administration threatened to withhold funding from public schools unless DEI programs it deemed unlawful were eliminated.
Reposted by Brendan
Life comes at you ... at exactly the rate it promised to come at you during its 4-year re-election campaign where it told you exactly what it planned to do literally thousands of times.
April 3, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Life comes at you ... at exactly the rate it promised to come at you during its 4-year re-election campaign where it told you exactly what it planned to do literally thousands of times.
Reposted by Brendan
When this presidency ends—and it will end—we need a Rooseveltian plan to not only undo the damage he did, but build bigger than we’ve ever built before.
Big universal programs and mandates. Pack the SCOTUS. Kill Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United v. FEC. New anti-trust laws aimed at Amazon. Etc.
Big universal programs and mandates. Pack the SCOTUS. Kill Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United v. FEC. New anti-trust laws aimed at Amazon. Etc.
Trump's executive order tonight has illegally cancelled union contracts for 67% of the federal workforce & 75% of unionized federal employees — roughly 700,000 union workers
This may be the single biggest attack on the labor movement in American history
This may be the single biggest attack on the labor movement in American history
March 28, 2025 at 4:58 AM
When this presidency ends—and it will end—we need a Rooseveltian plan to not only undo the damage he did, but build bigger than we’ve ever built before.
Big universal programs and mandates. Pack the SCOTUS. Kill Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United v. FEC. New anti-trust laws aimed at Amazon. Etc.
Big universal programs and mandates. Pack the SCOTUS. Kill Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United v. FEC. New anti-trust laws aimed at Amazon. Etc.
Reposted by Brendan
"The answer to a politics of scarcity is a politics of abundance; a politics that asks what it is that people really need and then organizes government to make sure there is enough of it," writes our columnist Ezra Klein.
Opinion | There Is a Liberal Answer to Elon Musk
Right-wing populism thrives on scarcity. The answer is abundance. But a politics of abundance will work only if Democrats confront where their approach has failed.
www.nytimes.com
March 9, 2025 at 8:05 AM
"The answer to a politics of scarcity is a politics of abundance; a politics that asks what it is that people really need and then organizes government to make sure there is enough of it," writes our columnist Ezra Klein.
Reposted by Brendan
Guerilla advertising seen in the London Metro
March 1, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Guerilla advertising seen in the London Metro
Reposted by Brendan
A new era of government censorship has begun.
It started with the silencing of scientific speech, when the admin blocked release of research on bird flu. But MAGA has also cracked down on other wrongthink—on race, geography (!), and of course Trump himself
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
It started with the silencing of scientific speech, when the admin blocked release of research on bird flu. But MAGA has also cracked down on other wrongthink—on race, geography (!), and of course Trump himself
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | A new era of government censorship has dawned
Donald Trump fancies himself a champion of free speech. Oh, really?
www.washingtonpost.com
January 31, 2025 at 1:47 PM
A new era of government censorship has begun.
It started with the silencing of scientific speech, when the admin blocked release of research on bird flu. But MAGA has also cracked down on other wrongthink—on race, geography (!), and of course Trump himself
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
It started with the silencing of scientific speech, when the admin blocked release of research on bird flu. But MAGA has also cracked down on other wrongthink—on race, geography (!), and of course Trump himself
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Reposted by Brendan
18F, the federal government’s technology shop, was demolished by Musk’s team shortly after midnight. It was a cost-recoverable org, charging agencies for their expertise, using a consulting model. Its cost to government was negligible, its benefits huge. My team there once saved DoD $500 billion.
March 1, 2025 at 2:25 PM
18F, the federal government’s technology shop, was demolished by Musk’s team shortly after midnight. It was a cost-recoverable org, charging agencies for their expertise, using a consulting model. Its cost to government was negligible, its benefits huge. My team there once saved DoD $500 billion.