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

Art historians note that after the democratic Roman Republic came to a violent end and gave rise to the hegemonic Roman Empire, public aesthetics changed from the tasteful and idealistic to the imperious and garish

submitted 7 hours ago • 2 comments

So, Trump/Hegseth’s STATED reason for firing the top military officer and replacing him with an unqualified guy is because he is black. That’s their rationale The actual reason appears to be even worse, if that’s possible: they want someone who’ll follow Trump’s orders even if unconstitutional

submitted 19 hours ago • 3 comments

A very thorough assessment from @DougSaunders.bsky.social of Canada’s complex immigration system with excellent suggestions for improvement www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

submitted 11 hours ago • 0 comments

Canada’s border is broken, but not the way Trump thinks. I’ve spent two months learning what’s gone wrong with the constellation of border/immigration/asylum/settlement/citizenship policies and how the next government, of either party, can fix them www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

submitted 18 hours ago • 2 comments

Canada’s border is broken, but not the way Trump thinks. I’ve spent two months learning what’s gone wrong with the constellation of border/immigration/asylum/settlement/citizenship policies and how the next government, of either party, can fix them www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

submitted 18 hours ago • 2 comments

Each of these four points is crucially important. They explain why Ukraine is not lost — and Europe is not threatened — without the United States. More commitment and expenditure will be required, but there’s no reason for surviving democracies to capitulate

submitted 18 hours ago • 2 comments

So, Trump/Hegseth’s STATED reason for firing the top military officer and replacing him with an unqualified guy is because he is black. That’s their rationale The actual reason appears to be even worse, if that’s possible: they want someone who’ll follow Trump’s orders even if unconstitutional

submitted 19 hours ago • 3 comments

President Trump’s purge at the Pentagon is a major step toward creating an officer corps personally and absolutely loyal to him, @radiofreetom.bsky.social writes. theatln.tc/3oq1fmSh

submitted 20 hours ago • 69 comments

"The Defense Department’s civilian worker purge is beginning with probationary employees, those who have one to three years of experience or who recently were promoted." Nothing says "meritocracy" like firing people who have just been promoted. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

Jeez. US could cut Ukraine's access to Starlink internet services over minerals, say sources. Trump’s government are behaving like mobsters www.reuters.com/business/us-...

submitted 1 day ago • 132 comments

As the Cold War bit, Orwell wrote that the left had to choose between backing and opposing Stalinism. Just as, in 1940, the right had to choose over Nazism. Now the right is having to choose between backing and opposing Trumpism. And once again, the choices made now will have consequences.

submitted 1 day ago • 10 comments

The pettiest and thinnest-skinned man alive is also currently the most powerful man in the world

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

This is very, very bad. Am working on a write-up, but let’s just say that firing military leaders for blatantly political reasons is wildly inappropriate; firing all the too lawyers is ominous; firing them all at the same time is a terrifying five-alarm fire

submitted 1 day ago • 114 comments

He appears to have learned about that guy Auric’s plan to irradiate it all

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Among those Trump and Musk fired at the FAA: - Lawyers who help keep drunk or reckless pilots out of the skies - Air traffic control support staff - Employees who track potential new flying hazards like cranes - Staffers who medically clear pilots to fly www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

submitted 1 day ago • 107 comments

He appears to be taking notes from Maduro as well as Putin

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

We've reached the point when European neo-Nazis are no longer comfortable being publicly associated with American neo-Nazis.

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

So, days after a judge ordered President Musk to reinstate USAID funding to life-saving organizations around the world, @stephanienolen.bsky.social contacted 40 of them and only one had seen its funding restored. It appears the administration is in contempt of court www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/h...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Daniel Dale, as ever, doing the Lord’s work:

submitted 2 days ago • 74 comments

Unless the FDP improves its fortunes and reaches the 5% threshold for Bundestag seating, the next German government can only be the two classic “grand coalition” parties plus the Greens. A very familiar arrangement but one that drives anti-incumbent voters to dangerous extremes, as we see here

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

This headline ought to add the phrase "...after succumbing to one" www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/b...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Deciding to rename bases after Civil War generals and to retail Putin's fictions about Ukraine in the same month really displays the depth of his commitment to his country's most violent enemies

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

Fresh off attacking NYC’s successful congestion pricing, Trump is now ordering a “compliance review” of CA High Speed Rail, with an eye toward killing it. Trump wants more traffic, dirtier air & just generally to make people’s lives shittier & less healthy. We’re committed to HSR. It’s happening.

submitted 2 days ago • 12 comments

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

This remains the State Department’s public position on Ukraine, per its web site. Note the date. Keep your eyes on this page www.state.gov/bureau-of-po...

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

This remains the defining tweet of the Trump era

submitted 3 days ago • 14 comments

This town got taken by the cryptocurrency scam known as “cryptocurrency” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/m...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

If you're wondering why I and other colleagues call this an America Crisis

submitted 3 days ago • 8 comments

Let me suggest that the premier of this province could keep his promise of fighting Trump’s Canada-damaging policies by immediately instituting a congestion-charge regime in Toronto, say $20 a day to drive between Don and Humber. That would really stick it to the president

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

in his statement "cancelling" congestion pricing, sean duffy calls people who ride the subway "an elite few" and i just feel as a communication professional that they gotta decide if they're going with that or crime-ridden drug den homeless shelter

submitted 3 days ago • 110 comments

So where does this lead? Are the majority of Republicans in Congress who gave Zelensky a standing ovation going to call out their president after he repeatedly uttered Kremlin lies about him? Trump calls Zelenskyy a ‘dictator’ as US rift with Ukraine deepens on.ft.com/4b7QYdu

submitted 3 days ago • 20 comments

Staring across the front at the 11,000 North Korean troops Putin has managed to press-gang is the single South Korean volunteer in the Ukrainian army. @markmackinnon.bsky.social found him and boy is he interesting www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

In case there was any doubt, Secretary of State Rubio declared that the big takeaway from the Riyadh "peace" talks for the US should be “the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/w...

submitted 4 days ago • 10 comments

The radio traffic during the Pearson crash is gripping www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiUC...

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

Using diplomatic currency to let a rapist and sex trafficker off the hook while you claim to be tough on crime. Using the pardon power to free the world’s largest fentanyl trafficker while you harass uninvolved countries over the drug. All because those guys flattered you www.ft.com/content/3f95...

submitted 5 days ago • 18 comments