cc @steveroth.bsky.social (you'll hate this, but i think it's pretty good context.)

it would be amusing if they drew down 5K in order to live up to their end of the bargain.

or who are in thrall in some form vague and ideological or some form more concrete to people who do understand.

i think we'll get the blockchain clause first.

if there is a new order made by this crowd, i don't think it will be rulebased at all. u must know Wilhoit's Law: "Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

yes. if the Republican Congress (probably meaning first the Republican public) comes around, we sanity might again prevail. it's maybe a long shot, but certainly one i am hoping for.

i think he has absurd hopes he can bully his way to annexing Canada. i think it's probably all part of a quite disorganized mix. maybe he can get Canada, maybe he can raise enough revenue to go back to the 19th C and abolish the income tax. i'll admit i was surpised Sheinbaum managed to charm him.

what if we formed an organization, in which people kept abreast of these things, notified others like minded, tried to encourage and track productive activism. we might get together, so these tasks would be less lonesome, intimidating, dull. it might be fun, even. call it a party.

better react to something than become bewildered or overwhelmed and react to nothing, is my theory. pick your poison, or as many poisons as you can handle.

what are the odds identities of confidential USAID funding recipients, named in classified files now accessed by 20-somethings with no vetting or counterintelligence training or legal authority, will evade professional intelligence activities of US adversaries? whose lives are in these kids’ hands?

Interesting on “coequal branches” and the US Constitution. by Richard Bishirjian riffing on David Siemers. theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/10/myth...

“we apologize as we are busy assisting other constituents” (from the message when you hit voicemail at Senator Rick Scott’s office)

Suppose you think USAID is more about official cover for intelligence work than aid. I think that’s exaggerated, untrue, but OK. Then it is *more* outrageous its classified docs shld be compromised. Agents in the field don’t determine US intelligence policy but it is they whom these leaks may kill.

for whatever it’s worth, i just called my (MAGA) Congresswoman’s office to demand Elon Musk’s arrest and imprisonment for the flagrant lawbreaking this weekend with respect to USAID.

suppose there is, and there’s a court order or injunction. who enforces it?

“Screwing around with Treasury payments and tariff walls is not just outrageous—it is like mixing a nice bleach-and-Drano cocktail. You wouldn’t describe that as ‘breaking mixology norms’, unless you were doing a goof.” ~Paul Musgrave musgrave.substack.com/p/shredding-...

i’m always talking about thick scary tails i’m worried about but say the base case, the modal outcome, is we muddle through largely as we have. i’m not sure that’s right any more.