dratchison.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

I have to admit that I did not have “The Defense Department under a Republican administration resurrects Socialist Realism three decades after the USSR’s collapse” on my bingo card.

submitted 20 days ago • 29 comments

I also have no gasts left to flabber. I have tempted fate & in response, the administration will do something so horrific that I will be forced to summon a gast to flabber.

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

Corey Booker: “IF AMERICA HASN'T BROKEN YOUR HEART, THEN YOU DON'T LOVE HER ENOUGH." 💙🥹

submitted 52 days ago • 26 comments

@booker.senate.gov dismantles a Confederate monument.

submitted 52 days ago • 86 comments

And, to be clear, it's almost certainly happening because the base has been screaming for action from elected Democrats. This isn't "relax, they've got this." This is "keep yelling, it's working."

submitted 52 days ago • 54 comments

I also have no gasts left to flabber. I have tempted fate & in response, the administration will do something so horrific that I will be forced to summon a gast to flabber.

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

((TV announcer voice)) Having trouble hiring people due to low wages or undesirable jobs? Don’t increase the pay or make conditions better! Just hire KIDS to work those overnight shifts - they’re young, they don’t need sleep! apple.news/Ar4VsEhF9RU-...

submitted 58 days ago • 0 comments

With the help of the @mpsa.bsky.social leadership team & Council, & many other PoliSci department chairs, the MPSA Department Chairs Caucus is now MPSA organized section 79! Our goal is to provide professional development opportunities & support to department chairs/heads in the discipline.

submitted 61 days ago • 1 comment

Re-upping this again as more people read about the Khalil case. More information to come, but nothing in WP and NYT so far contradicts original reporting. Again, it DOES NOT MATTER what you think about him or his cause. Either government is bound by the law for all of us or we're all at their mercy.

submitted 75 days ago • 15 comments

Reminder: When a person or institution you hate is targeted for illiberal persecution by an aspiring authoritarian, you have to defend them EVEN IF you don't like them. It doesn't matter if you don't like campus protestors or Columbia or the law firms. We must defend them or we're all at risk next.

submitted 75 days ago • 61 comments

In my dystopias & democracies class, students make a fictional authoritarian state, then a nonviolent resistance movement, and then they democratize & write a constitution. Some of their authoritarian regimes were terrifyingly good. (& there were a number of authoritarians that rhymed with Tusk. 🤔)

submitted 75 days ago • 2 comments

oh

submitted 80 days ago • 130 comments

Every single Democratic governor and attorney general needs to do this -- if only to make it clear to voters right now that the firings and funding freezes that are about to hurt their states badly are the work of Trump-Musk in Washington. Get ahead of this now, or get blamed for it later.

submitted 85 days ago • 163 comments

And guess who will bear the brunt of a DIY society? If you are curious, Prof. Calarco has a book for you.

submitted 89 days ago • 3 comments

“We fired all the guards at the bank so they’re not roadblocks to anything that happens.”

submitted 89 days ago • 273 comments

Setting up a personalist regime in which everyone is forced to beg for favors from the leader (to get federal funds, an exemption from tariffs, or an agreement not to be prosecuted)

submitted 93 days ago • 7 comments

Attended the Metro Nashville Human Relations Commission 60th Anniversary today & learned about a national org that follows EOs & responses from civil society, plus info on legal actions that the pro-democracy community takes against harmful policies. More info at Democracy2025.org

submitted 102 days ago • 0 comments

Is this why his DOGE picks lack a fully developed prefrontal cortex? Beause folks with an adult brain, long-term planning skills, and impulse control would be worried about jail time? All can still be on parent's insurance. Most have to pay an underage rental car fee. One can't legally drink

submitted 108 days ago • 0 comments

This is a constitutional crisis: the President doesn't have the power to cancel funds appropriated by Congress. Also, the math is insane; there is NO way to cut $4B/day by getting rid of "fraud". Cuts of that magnitude will dangerously undermine the core functions of government.

submitted 111 days ago • 926 comments

No mystery what we're seeing here: -Illegally withholding spending/nullifying contracts -Purges of law enforcement and prosecutors -Taking bribes for lenient treatment while threatening enemies with persecution -Pardoning violent/paramilitary allies -Granting vast powers to an unelected billionaire

submitted 112 days ago • 51 comments

It's quite a time to be a specialist in German politics while residing in the U.S. Lots to process. If you have a bigger attention span than mine this week, check out my book about how "left" and "right" are the wrong terms for understanding the present moment. 1/2 tupress.temple.edu/books/beyond...

submitted 112 days ago • 1 comment

I have a chapter in my book about how Richard Nixon tried to use the OMB to take away DOD grants to universities from 1970-1973. His closest aides knew it was a controversial order, but only slow walked it. It was eventually stopped by OMB staff who threatened to go to the press.

submitted 115 days ago • 2 comments

If you’re looking for something to read that points us in the direction of resistance, consider this book. @dratchison.bsky.social is awesome. cup.columbia.edu/book/survive...

submitted 114 days ago • 0 comments

If you’re in need of some hope or ideas for nonviolent resistance to dystopian government, try our book (me + Shauna Shames): cup.columbia.edu/book/survive...

submitted 115 days ago • 1 comment

States like Tennessee have been laboratories for fascism for years but this is next-level out of control.

submitted 120 days ago • 43 comments

this is not the obituary I wanted to read today

submitted 123 days ago • 38 comments

I have to admit that I did not have “The Defense Department under a Republican administration resurrects Socialist Realism three decades after the USSR’s collapse” on my bingo card.

I also have no gasts left to flabber. I have tempted fate & in response, the administration will do something so horrific that I will be forced to summon a gast to flabber.

Corey Booker: “IF AMERICA HASN'T BROKEN YOUR HEART, THEN YOU DON'T LOVE HER ENOUGH." 💙🥹

@booker.senate.gov dismantles a Confederate monument.

And, to be clear, it's almost certainly happening because the base has been screaming for action from elected Democrats. This isn't "relax, they've got this." This is "keep yelling, it's working."

I also have no gasts left to flabber. I have tempted fate & in response, the administration will do something so horrific that I will be forced to summon a gast to flabber.

((TV announcer voice)) Having trouble hiring people due to low wages or undesirable jobs? Don’t increase the pay or make conditions better! Just hire KIDS to work those overnight shifts - they’re young, they don’t need sleep! apple.news/Ar4VsEhF9RU-...

With the help of the @mpsa.bsky.social leadership team & Council, & many other PoliSci department chairs, the MPSA Department Chairs Caucus is now MPSA organized section 79! Our goal is to provide professional development opportunities & support to department chairs/heads in the discipline.

Re-upping this again as more people read about the Khalil case. More information to come, but nothing in WP and NYT so far contradicts original reporting. Again, it DOES NOT MATTER what you think about him or his cause. Either government is bound by the law for all of us or we're all at their mercy.

Reminder: When a person or institution you hate is targeted for illiberal persecution by an aspiring authoritarian, you have to defend them EVEN IF you don't like them. It doesn't matter if you don't like campus protestors or Columbia or the law firms. We must defend them or we're all at risk next.

oh

Every single Democratic governor and attorney general needs to do this -- if only to make it clear to voters right now that the firings and funding freezes that are about to hurt their states badly are the work of Trump-Musk in Washington. Get ahead of this now, or get blamed for it later.

And guess who will bear the brunt of a DIY society? If you are curious, Prof. Calarco has a book for you.

“We fired all the guards at the bank so they’re not roadblocks to anything that happens.”

Setting up a personalist regime in which everyone is forced to beg for favors from the leader (to get federal funds, an exemption from tariffs, or an agreement not to be prosecuted)

Attended the Metro Nashville Human Relations Commission 60th Anniversary today & learned about a national org that follows EOs & responses from civil society, plus info on legal actions that the pro-democracy community takes against harmful policies. More info at Democracy2025.org

Is this why his DOGE picks lack a fully developed prefrontal cortex? Beause folks with an adult brain, long-term planning skills, and impulse control would be worried about jail time? All can still be on parent's insurance. Most have to pay an underage rental car fee. One can't legally drink

This is a constitutional crisis: the President doesn't have the power to cancel funds appropriated by Congress. Also, the math is insane; there is NO way to cut $4B/day by getting rid of "fraud". Cuts of that magnitude will dangerously undermine the core functions of government.

No mystery what we're seeing here: -Illegally withholding spending/nullifying contracts -Purges of law enforcement and prosecutors -Taking bribes for lenient treatment while threatening enemies with persecution -Pardoning violent/paramilitary allies -Granting vast powers to an unelected billionaire

It's quite a time to be a specialist in German politics while residing in the U.S. Lots to process. If you have a bigger attention span than mine this week, check out my book about how "left" and "right" are the wrong terms for understanding the present moment. 1/2 tupress.temple.edu/books/beyond...

I have a chapter in my book about how Richard Nixon tried to use the OMB to take away DOD grants to universities from 1970-1973. His closest aides knew it was a controversial order, but only slow walked it. It was eventually stopped by OMB staff who threatened to go to the press.

If you’re looking for something to read that points us in the direction of resistance, consider this book. @dratchison.bsky.social is awesome. cup.columbia.edu/book/survive...

If you’re in need of some hope or ideas for nonviolent resistance to dystopian government, try our book (me + Shauna Shames): cup.columbia.edu/book/survive...

States like Tennessee have been laboratories for fascism for years but this is next-level out of control.

this is not the obituary I wanted to read today

It can be the giant friend in my Pixar movie about leaf sheep & sea bunnies. (C’mon Pixar! They need a movie.)

Can one pin a post on @bsky.app yet? Asking for a friend.

Meanwhile, in the world of women.