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davidslifka.bsky.social
Political innovation and funding (http://Bluem.Ventures); Abundance agenda (AbundanceMap.org); Decentralized social media.
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"What will Dems in Congress do as *politicians,* not as *legislators*" Perfect articulation of the communication gap between Dem electeds and the base. by @pbump.com

So weird how this just keeps happening

This is absolutely what gives away the motivation: destruction, not improvement.

REMINDER: Cutting IRS spending is not a “cost-cutting” move. Cutting the IRS lowers revenue. It’s a move to protect the wealthy, like Elon Musk. Auditing the rich returns $12 for every $1 spent. www.nber.org/papers/w31376

Dem base and donors: "We want candidates who are smart, moderate, take advice from experts, and support data-driven policies." Also Dem base and donors: "Why don't we have any charismatic firebrand knife fighters ready for this moment?!"

Without going all Martin Niemöller here, I do think that it's bad not to speak up for immigrants, transgender Americans, civil servants, women, Ukraine, and everyone else the MAGA bullies are going after. We're beyond picking and choosing whom to defend. It's time to stand up and speak out.

What's incredible is how there are thousands - tens of thousands - of stories like this, a genuine national crisis akin to a foreign invasion, and our elite press is so bubbled, so insular, that they can only cover it by writing "Strong leaders flex governing muscles" 700 times over. Pathetic.

As a political scientist who studies countries that managed to stop the slide into authoritarianism, I can assure you that ***refraining from provoking the authoritarian*** is not how it works. Without further ado, I will now go tear out another chunk of hair.

DOGE is operating with little transparency and rapid speed. The case for that rests on it having assembled the smartest guys in the room. This rather blows a hole in that.

One thing that I'm increasingly coming to believe is that stories are going to be central to what comes next. Stories of the harm done. Stories of the great things achieved by government in the past. Stories of valor kindness and quotidian simple resistance.

This is all a good reminder that, “no help, no votes until the criminal conduct stops” is neither a big ask nor a politically perilous one.

It’s hard to communicate the crisis that’s unfolding and the dangers ahead because a lot of superficial things won’t change. The Netflix will still turn on. Your sports teams will play. You’ll see movies. But the things that make liberal democratic life uniquely stable, secure, & vibrant will decay.

Are Dem electeds out there screaming about the Thursday Night Massacre, and I'm just not seeing it? I sure hope so.

My footnote "The government is not offering to exchange dismissal of a criminal case for Adams's assistance on immigration enforcement" is raising lots of questions already answered by my footnote

Every resistance to corruption matters.

This is Soviet-level brazen lying. "we post our actions to the DOGE handle on X and to the Doge web site, so all of our actions are maximally transparent." Meanwhile DOGE.gov is empty, and their posts are like "we canceled 18 contracts." It's not subtle!

Pope Francis FTW as usual

for pity’s sake, I am BEGGING university leaders to stop framing this issue in terms of what this will cost the university. people dont care! EXPLAIN WHAT THIS WILL COST THE PUBLIC: closed hospitals and clinics, skipped treatments, loss of access to experimental drugs, unemployment, recession

Democrats... shouldn’t define themselves simply as Mr. Musk’s operational opposite, leaving themselves defenders of a broken status quo. Their goal must be a muscular, lean, effective administrative state that works for Americans. THANK YOU @pahlkadot.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/o...

Heres what I don't get: The richest, freest, most innovative society in human history… Produced a set of huge winners, wealthy beyond imagining… Who say that everything is terrible and we have to upend the system in order to save it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is likely great for Tesla

Is it just me, or does “the new President ordered the government to cancel all of its newspaper subscriptions” sound particularly out of a tinpot dictatorship?

Musk has halved Twitter’s revenue but doubled its profits, by cutting expenses 75%. (round numbers)

Finally NOAA can ignore woke weather over irrelevant foreign places like Canada and the Caribbean

No idea how executive coaching is meant to be an exemplar of waste.

The most at-risk government employees are probably the spies. Who is and isn't listed in the OPM databases says a lot, because the CIA maintains its own personnel files. DOGE should require security clearances and have a counterintelligence program. I hope it does.

Indivisible is urging people to visit their senators' local offices between now and Thursday to demand that they use every tool—including denying a quorum and blocking unanimous consent—to fight the confirmation of Project 2025 architect Russell Vought for head of OMB docs.google.com/document/d/1...