AMCW 177
@tce177.bsky.social
No one of any consequence. Many interests & wearing several hats, so my posts/reposts will inevitably be all over the place.
Be good to each other.
Be good to each other.
Reposted by AMCW 177
The reason you defend civil liberties is not because it is popular (it is never popular) but because if the government can deport you to a foreign gulag without trial then it doesn't matter how popular the rest of your policy platform is.
December 14, 2025 at 1:24 AM
The reason you defend civil liberties is not because it is popular (it is never popular) but because if the government can deport you to a foreign gulag without trial then it doesn't matter how popular the rest of your policy platform is.
Reposted by AMCW 177
This should be the biggest story in the country right now. The sitting US President was extorting state lawmakers from his own party by threatening to withhold public money if they didn’t gerrymander for him.
I don’t know how else to say it…
I don’t know how else to say it…
December 12, 2025 at 4:21 AM
This should be the biggest story in the country right now. The sitting US President was extorting state lawmakers from his own party by threatening to withhold public money if they didn’t gerrymander for him.
I don’t know how else to say it…
I don’t know how else to say it…
Reposted by AMCW 177
Finland is one comparatively successful model, but not just because schools teach critical thinking. Finland has high social trust, strong public-service media and coherent institutions. The whole system supports verification and open deliberation, you can’t copy the surface without the structure.
December 7, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Finland is one comparatively successful model, but not just because schools teach critical thinking. Finland has high social trust, strong public-service media and coherent institutions. The whole system supports verification and open deliberation, you can’t copy the surface without the structure.
Reposted by AMCW 177
They dumped people in a foreign torture gulag without any kind of process and made sadistic videos celebrating it. Psychopaths.
They’re killing people as a twitter joke. It’s depraved. Can’t let yourself lose the capacity to be appalled and disgusted and outraged by this.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announces another boat strike in response to a request/wish from Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet.
December 5, 2025 at 2:44 AM
They dumped people in a foreign torture gulag without any kind of process and made sadistic videos celebrating it. Psychopaths.
Reposted by AMCW 177
During Tiannamen, we did the right thing and extended student visas to Chinese students. Many of whom ended up living their lives in the US and became professors directly training the next generation of scientists.
The US benefits when it treats people with respect and gives them a reason to stay.
The US benefits when it treats people with respect and gives them a reason to stay.
Treated as a spy and communist by the US and eventually was deported to China where he built their ICBM program.
"It was the stupidest thing this country ever did. He was no more a communist than I was, and we forced him to go."
-- Navy Undersecretary Kimball
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Xu...
"It was the stupidest thing this country ever did. He was no more a communist than I was, and we forced him to go."
-- Navy Undersecretary Kimball
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Xu...
December 2, 2025 at 10:56 PM
During Tiannamen, we did the right thing and extended student visas to Chinese students. Many of whom ended up living their lives in the US and became professors directly training the next generation of scientists.
The US benefits when it treats people with respect and gives them a reason to stay.
The US benefits when it treats people with respect and gives them a reason to stay.
Reposted by AMCW 177
Not only is this 100% correct, but because of the ultra-high net worth individuals we’re dealing w/what you have is a gigantic insider threat & counterintelligence problem. 1/
one reason "great power competition" is a bad description of the emerging order is that an interlinked global kleptocracy does not care about national interests or rivalries
Extraordinary WSJ reporting today that unveils the extent to which Trump, Witkoff, Kushner and US business executives are salivating over business deals with Russia while Putin’s forces kidnap Ukranian children and bomb civilians in their apartments.
🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...
🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...
November 30, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Not only is this 100% correct, but because of the ultra-high net worth individuals we’re dealing w/what you have is a gigantic insider threat & counterintelligence problem. 1/
Reposted by AMCW 177
Trump offered a full pardon today to the former president of Honduras, who was convicted of trafficking 400 tons of drugs into the United States.
November 29, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Trump offered a full pardon today to the former president of Honduras, who was convicted of trafficking 400 tons of drugs into the United States.
Reposted by AMCW 177
as so often, the explanation is probably 'animals feel emotions that are similar to ours, and when we disregard the evidence to avoid 'anthromorphism' it's fundamentally ideological, not scientific'
this might be the saddest story I've ever written, about a seal that I will be thinking about for a long, long time.
defector.com/why-wont-nor...
defector.com/why-wont-nor...
Why Won’t Nora The Leopard Seal Abandon Her Dead Pups? | Defector
In the fall of 2021, Renato Borras-Chavez, a marine mammal ecologist at the University of Rhode Island, spotted a leopard seal on an ice floe. Borras-Chavez was on a research expedition to a glacial f...
defector.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:23 PM
as so often, the explanation is probably 'animals feel emotions that are similar to ours, and when we disregard the evidence to avoid 'anthromorphism' it's fundamentally ideological, not scientific'
Reposted by AMCW 177
The movement to destroy liberal democracy is international, and so must be its defense
NEWS --> BBC confirms to me that they did edit a line out of historian @rutgerbregman.com's speech. It called Trump "the most openly corrupt president in US history."
BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Trump’s Fury at BBC Gets Unnerving Results with Pro-MAGA Edit Stunner
First, British Broadcasting Corporation execs resigned after Trump complained about a segment. Now the BBC edited out a line from a historian that was critical of Trump. Where does this end?
newrepublic.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
The movement to destroy liberal democracy is international, and so must be its defense
Reposted by AMCW 177
"Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10 per cent of its overall annual revenue — or $16bn — from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show" - Reuters www.ft.com/content/4560...
We have to be able to hold tech platforms accountable for fraud
Algorithms ensure that people who click on scams are likely to see more of them
www.ft.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:50 AM
"Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10 per cent of its overall annual revenue — or $16bn — from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show" - Reuters www.ft.com/content/4560...
Reposted by AMCW 177
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
![Excerpt from a BBC article: ""We usually work, 10, 11 or 12 hours a day," says a 49-year-old woman from Jiangxi unwilling to give her name. "On Sundays we work around three hours less."
She is in an alleyway, where a dozen people are huddled around a row of bulletin boards.
They are reading the job ads on the board, while examining the stitching on a pair of chinos draped over it.
This is Shein's supply chain. The factories are contracted to make clothes on order - some small, some big. If the chinos are a hit, orders will ramp up and so must production. Factories then hire temporary workers to meet the demand their permanent staff cannot fulfil.
The migrant worker from Jiangxi is looking for a short-term contract - and the chinos are an option.
"We earn so little. The cost of living is now so high," she says, adding that she hopes to make enough to send back to her two children who are living with their grandparents.
"We get paid per piece," she explains. "It depends how difficult the item is. Something simple like a t-shirt is one-two yuan [less than a dollar] per piece and I can make around a dozen in an hour.""](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreiber7g4o5pujmzmjjzsp5dkz7blfexburuwjispfpv6dki7akjb7a@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 12:07 AM
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
Reposted by AMCW 177
this provision does a lot more than that: it gives de facto civil and criminal immunity to senators and their staff by requiring notification of the entire Senate if a member or their staff is under investigation
The House has voted unanimously to repeal the provisions in the shutdown package which allow GOP Senators to sue the federal government and get as much as $1 million in damages - because the feds looked at their phone records in the Jan. 6 investigation.
November 20, 2025 at 2:39 AM
this provision does a lot more than that: it gives de facto civil and criminal immunity to senators and their staff by requiring notification of the entire Senate if a member or their staff is under investigation
Reposted by AMCW 177
this is obscene and evil
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 5:53 PM
this is obscene and evil
Reposted by AMCW 177
i would like more democrats to start promising to lock these fuckers up
Basically saying "if you do crime for me, I won't only pardon you--I'll give you millions of dollars of public money." Truly unprecedented level of corruption
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Michael Flynn, DOJ in Settlement Talks Over $50 Million Claim
The Justice Department has been discussing settlements with two former officials from Donald Trump’s first term who — like the president — claim they’re owed major payouts from the US government as vi...
www.bloomberg.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:05 PM
i would like more democrats to start promising to lock these fuckers up
Reposted by AMCW 177
Imamoglu inspires me a ton because he keeps staring down brutal, illiberal suppression of political opposition and refuses to give up. They stripped him of his college degree so he wouldn't legally be able to run for President and he just said “I will never bow”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...
Turkey Seeks 2,000-Year Jail Sentence for Erdogan’s Top Political Rival
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Imamoglu inspires me a ton because he keeps staring down brutal, illiberal suppression of political opposition and refuses to give up. They stripped him of his college degree so he wouldn't legally be able to run for President and he just said “I will never bow”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...
Reposted by AMCW 177
Something the US needs to accept too is that without a large-scale correction imposing consequences on a large number of people, the crisis of governance here will continue indefinitely
November 12, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Something the US needs to accept too is that without a large-scale correction imposing consequences on a large number of people, the crisis of governance here will continue indefinitely
Reposted by AMCW 177
The Trump administration is objectively pro-dictatorship, in the global sense.
In September, the Trump administration conducted a historic deportation flight to Iran.
We tracked down people deported on the plane.
Some are in hiding, others have fled the country.
Their story:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...
We tracked down people deported on the plane.
Some are in hiding, others have fled the country.
Their story:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...
‘It Feels Like I’m in a Nightmare’: Inside the First Deportation Flight to Iran
www.nytimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:29 PM
The Trump administration is objectively pro-dictatorship, in the global sense.
Reposted by AMCW 177
increasingly toying with the idea that this is the root of all "rule of law" issues. A democratic theory of the rule of law should begin with the idea that the rule of law emerges from the average citizen's lived experience. And that experience today is being ruthlessly ripped off at all times.
I can’t say it enough: U.S. culture is scam culture. It pervades everything we do. We don’t notice it because it’s the water we swim in. A party would do well to remind everybody how awful this is and propose to fix it.
I think Democrats should offer voters a broadly defined anti-fraud platform. Yes, obviously, start with Trump’s influence peddling, but don’t stop there. Online fraud is massive, almost every phone call you get is a scam, and the solution has to be federal or it just won’t work.
August 7, 2025 at 5:49 PM
increasingly toying with the idea that this is the root of all "rule of law" issues. A democratic theory of the rule of law should begin with the idea that the rule of law emerges from the average citizen's lived experience. And that experience today is being ruthlessly ripped off at all times.
Reposted by AMCW 177
October 23, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by AMCW 177
The optics of Trump building a ballroom that 99.9% of Americans will never set foot in while millions line up for food banks are worth more than any policy paper or economic proposal. This image is a visceral punch in the mouth that needs no words. It should haunt the GOP for a generation.
a live look at the demolition of the White House's East Wing for Trump's ballroom
October 22, 2025 at 5:18 PM
The optics of Trump building a ballroom that 99.9% of Americans will never set foot in while millions line up for food banks are worth more than any policy paper or economic proposal. This image is a visceral punch in the mouth that needs no words. It should haunt the GOP for a generation.
Reposted by AMCW 177
you cannot defeat trumpism with a politics which cannot even argue that it is wrong. because apart from the incompetence, it is wrong. i mean morally.
October 22, 2025 at 3:12 AM
you cannot defeat trumpism with a politics which cannot even argue that it is wrong. because apart from the incompetence, it is wrong. i mean morally.
Reposted by AMCW 177
Usually when dictators loot the treasury, they have the wisdom to do it quietly www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
Trump Said to Demand Justice Dept. Pay Him $230 Million for Past Cases
www.nytimes.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Usually when dictators loot the treasury, they have the wisdom to do it quietly www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
Reposted by AMCW 177
skepticism? yes, skepticism is the core of good work. cynicism? if you think things don't matter, you'll hurt the people for whom they do, and you'll hollow out your own life.
October 20, 2025 at 5:48 PM
skepticism? yes, skepticism is the core of good work. cynicism? if you think things don't matter, you'll hurt the people for whom they do, and you'll hollow out your own life.
Reposted by AMCW 177
I worry less about this attempt to consolidate an authoritarian regime succeeding in the end, even with as much damage as it's doing in the meantime. But if all these people walk free and still get a coin toss chance at winning elections, you're just inviting the next attempt to be more successful.
October 20, 2025 at 3:53 AM
I worry less about this attempt to consolidate an authoritarian regime succeeding in the end, even with as much damage as it's doing in the meantime. But if all these people walk free and still get a coin toss chance at winning elections, you're just inviting the next attempt to be more successful.