Tootfinder

America has gone from promoting democracy abroad to undermining it (Max Boot/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/09/02/trump-rubio-foreign-policy-democracy/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250902/p16#a250902p16

"Are we losing our democracy?"
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/31/opinion/trump-autocracy-democracy-report.html?unlocked_article_code=1.xk8.G-lO.sNBbzX5OaSNR&amp…

Opinion | In Trump’s America, Are We Losing Our Democracy?
Donald Trump has wielded power as no previous president has.

„MAGA seems to think it can begin with coercion and then build hegemony. But they may be making the same mistake the Leninist parties did in the West: pursuing an insurrectionary politics unsuited to the terrain of an advanced liberal democracy with a developed civil society. They are pursuing what Gramsci called the “war of maneuver”—rapid, lightning assaults—rather than the “war of position”—a gradual and more deliberate kind of approach.“

Richard Murphy, who previously advocated green growth, gets there in the end.
"The real challenge we face is not how to restart a growth engine that has already driven us to the edge of environmental collapse. It is how to redesign the economy so that the resources we already have are used to meet human and ecological needs.
Growth is not coming back — and nor should our democracy depend upon it."

Growth is not coming back — and nor should our democracy depend upon it
Martin Wolf has (once again) declared in the Financial Times that the fate of democracy rests on economic growth. As he said, in advance of the Budget: [Reeves'] first priority must be to get whatever growth she can.  Growth made democracy possible, he claims, and only growth can now save it, in...

Der Thread von @… über die Zerstörung des US-Amerikanischen Rechtsstaats.
Vorbereitet wurde das mit einer gezielten Besetzung des US-Verfassungsgerichts mit Trumps Handlangern in seiner ersten Amtszeit.
Ein Spiel das CDU und CSU derzeit auch spielen: sie versuchen die Besetzung des deutschen Verfassungsgerichts mit Richter*innen, die nicht auf Partei- son…

toad.social
Mastodon server operated by David Troy, a tech pioneer and investigative journalist addressing threats to democracy. Thoughtful participation and discussion welcome.

The battle for fair representation isn’t confined to Texas and California.
This week, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered the legislature to redraw its districts after finding the maps illegally diluted Black voting power.
That legal victory is more than regional;
it proves the fight for democracy is winnable.
Resistance yields results.
If Mississippi can deliver a win for Black voters, every state can
—if we commit, organize, and refuse silence in the …

From New York to California, the Resistance Rises
They tried to shut us down; instead, they unleashed a rebellion.

I am very disappointed in #MayorLurie's action re TNC's on Market. It's clear the voters got snookered/[played by the language re "commercial vehicles" - where the clear intent was to allow deliveries to the businesses on Market. Conveniently ignoring the commercial licenses of TNCs - but hey, we need to keep the segment that can afford to use the TNCs happy, don't we…

Lurie is damaging transit, the environment—and democracy—on Market Street - 48 hills
The mayor is undoing the will of the voters and opening the street to Uber, Lyft, Waymo—and others are sure to follow

I am very disappointed in #MayorLurie's action re TNC's on Market. It's clear the voters got snookered/[played by the language re "commercial vehicles" - where the clear intent was to allow deliveries to the businesses on Market. Conveniently ignoring the commercial licenses of TNCs - but hey, we need to keep the segment that can afford to use the TNCs happy, don't we…

Lurie is damaging transit, the environment—and democracy—on Market Street - 48 hills
The mayor is undoing the will of the voters and opening the street to Uber, Lyft, Waymo—and others are sure to follow

Warnings From Weimar. Why Bargaining With Authoritarians Fails.
#weimar

Warnings From Weimar
Why bargaining with authoritarians fails.

Here’s what the “just let tech bros run everything” crowd fundamentally misunderstands about how innovation actually works: It requires exactly the kind of chaotic, unpredictable, open ecosystem that authoritarianism systematically destroys.
Real innovation happens when companies have to compete on merit, not on who can kiss the leader’s ass most effectively. In a functioning democracy with actual rule of law, the best products have the opportunity to win. In an authoritari…

Fascism For First Time Founders
Over the last year or so I’ve seen a disturbing tendency in tech/startup/VC worlds to buy into the neoreactionary view that for startups to be successful they need to get on board the Trump t…

"I was elected mayor of Istanbul, but I write this from jail: Turkish democracy is under grave threat"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/24/mayor-istanbul-jail-ekrem-imamoglu-turkey-democracy

RE: #USPOL
What you can do, in the next *two weeks* . Keep a bare minimum of democracy f…

In 1934, Dorothy Thompson, wife of Sinclair Lewis, became first journalist expelled from #Hitler's Germany, after interviewing him and finding him "the very prototype of the little man "
By 1941, she'd written an influential WWII era essay that has stood the test of time, on who amongst us makes a likely #Nazi

Hungary is a disgusting reminder of the cruelty, greed, and ignorance Russia thrives on.
They spy on Ukraine and support Moscow's war crimes and genocide of Ukrainian people and culture.
Georgio reports from the trenches of democracy in Ukraine, where the boot-licking US corporate media will never venture.
He shares the friend link to bypass the paywall:

Spy drones Hover Over Western Ukraine From Hungary
Live from Ukraine 🇺🇦

California's Prop 50 to combat Trump's blatant rigging of our elections is listed here.
Californians: This is the whole ballgame. Vote YES on Prop 50.
✅ Key Contests This November That Will Shape the Future of Democracy - Democracy Docket
https://www.

Key Contests This November That Will Shape the Future of Democracy
Read more here.

#lectrr #cartoon #democracy

This #WaPo slogan is outdated.
Democracy dies in darkness was the official slogan of the American newspaper The Washington Post since 2017. It was meant to symbolise that a thriving democracy requires transparency and illumination of government actions and decisions. The slogan underscores the role of journalism in holding power accountable by shining a light on public officials and decision…

https://www.nzz.ch/english/francis-fukuyama-trump-is-in-the-process-of-dismantling-the-whole-american-constitutional-order-ld.1893899
>The other [misinterpretation of liberalism] is identity politi…

Carving Pumpkins to save democracy
#uspol

In Ukraine, democracy finds its fiercest defenders: https://benborges.xyz/2025/08/18/in-ukraine-democracy-finds-its.html

Americans once had a coherent and clear understanding of political tyranny,
one crafted by Thomas Jefferson and updated for the industrial age by Louis Brandeis.
A concentration of power
—whether by government or banks
—was understood as autocratic and dangerous to individual liberty and democracy.
In the 1930s, people observed that the Great Depression was caused by financial concentration in the hands of a few
whose misuse of their power induced a financ…

Trump's fawning cabinet and the threat to US democracy (Gideon Rachman/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/4052d80c-b09a-413d-bdc9-990b54293107
http://www.memeorandum.com/250901/p34#a250901p34

Terrorism & Democracy in Burkina-Faso
P Carmel Marie Zagre
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23046 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.23046

Terrorism & Democracy in Burkina-Faso
This article examines the political consequences of terrorism in Burkina Faso. Using a dataset combining geolocated terrorist events from ACLED (from 2015 to 2024) with public opinion data from Afrobarometer, I compare the effect of successful terrorist attacks on public support for democracy and authoritarian alternatives. The results reveal that successful terrorist attacks significantly increase support for military regimes, one man regimes, and one party systems, while decreasing support fo…

Democracy-in-Silico: Institutional Design as Alignment in AI-Governed Polities
Trisanth Srinivasan, Santosh Patapati
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.19562 https://

Democracy-in-Silico: Institutional Design as Alignment in AI-Governed Polities
This paper introduces Democracy-in-Silico, an agent-based simulation where societies of advanced AI agents, imbued with complex psychological personas, govern themselves under different institutional frameworks. We explore what it means to be human in an age of AI by tasking Large Language Models (LLMs) to embody agents with traumatic memories, hidden agendas, and psychological triggers. These agents engage in deliberation, legislation, and elections under various stressors, such as budget cris…

Anyone looking for context on the Irish presidential election, here is everything you need to know:
https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/10/24/messy-democracy-irelands-reshaped-presidency/

Messy Democracy: Ireland’s Reshaped Presidency
As Ireland elects its new President, Claire McNab offers a historical overview of the role and its prospects.  Ireland is on its fifteenth instance of a task which Scotland has never done: electing…

yo! listen up!
I am HERE for:
🧀 cheese
🏛️ democracy
🎨 art, animations, #pixelart, #b3d
📷 photography
🎸 tasty solos
🤓 nerdery

🫱🏽‍🫲🏿 How Anti-Corruption Can Be a Winning Issue for Democrats
#politics

How Anti-Corruption Can Be a Winning Issue for Democrats
It’s a powerful, unifying theme—and it’s tied to the crisis of democracy under Trump.

"#Austria’s Democracy on the Decline"
“The Situation is Serious”: #Democracy Index with Sobering Result for Austria
https://www.europesays…

Autocracy seems to be the default. In poorer countries that almost goes without saying. In wealthy countries a fragile democracy may hold autocrats at bay. However, the wealthier a democratic country is, the greater the number of voters who seem to yearn for an autocratic regime, as elections appear to demonstrate.

"Protests in Serbia: a battle for democracy that the EU must not ignore"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/25/the-guardian-view-on-protests-in-serbia-a-battle-for-democracy-that-the…

Democracy After Disaster
Natural disasters rip away our collective sense of control, so it's critical that the road of recovery is paved with community voice and agency...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralianpods.com/democracy-after-…

Trump is not the actual problem. The problem are all those people that enable him. And John Roberts stands out as someone that has the pretence of integrity (which nobody in MAGA or TESCREAL has), yet is going at great lengths to destroy the checks and balances of American democracy.
https://

The Roberts Court Is Winning Its War on American Democracy
Chief Justice John Roberts has now overseen 20 years of increasingly illiberal rulings by the Supreme Court.

Federal Judge Rules Sigal Chattah Unlawfully Served as Nevada's U.S. Attorney (Yunior Rivas/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/federal-judge-rules-sigal-chattah-illegally-served-as-nevadas-u-s-attorney/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250930/p176#a250930p176

While the US can protect security in Europe and deserves our undying gratitude for having done so for the last 80 years,
Europeans cannot protect democracy in the US.
They can and must, however, protect liberal democracy in Europe,
which risks becoming a collateral victim of Trump’s domestic and foreign policy agenda.
What happens in America doesn’t stay in America.
It is often a precursor for trends in Europe.
Just as the

2/2 Reflection on #citizenship:
I do not treat the concept of “#democracy" lightly. I was born into the aftermath of centuries of totalitarian oppression that ended suddenly, leaving the nascent Ukrainian state of the late 90s and early 2000s floundering in the turbulent whirlpool of hopes and fears felt by millions of people who were finally allowed to ponder: how to build a free democratic state in the place of Soviet and imperial ruins?
I was taught the words "democracy", "citizen", "freedom", "voting", “liberty" (and more) by people who, less than two decades prior, weren't allowed to leave the borders of their country. I was told about self-determination by people whose political choices were ridiculed, punished, and eviscerated form most of their lives. The duty of governing ourselves felt to us ephemeral - a nice fantasy, akin to a fairytale or a utopia from fictional works.
And then I saw those same people fight with their bodies and souls once the previously unfathomable democracy was threatened. Protests in 2004, then again in 2014, then the unthinkable war against foreign invasion in 2022. Democracy no longer felt abstract or silly. It became as tangible as saying "I love you".
I write of Ukraine as I reflect on becoming a citizen of another country because the history and values of my adopted United States feel as real as the skin on my legs, the significance of its legacy lays as heavy as the weight of my waist-long hair, and the desire to uphold the freedoms of its Constitution burns my throat as harshly as dehydration after a long day in the sun.
People have asked me why I even want to join this country, when the present moment is shrouded in impenetrable darkness. And I answer: because I've felt the warmth of a newly lit fire of freedom breaking through shadows that for centuries looked like solid walls. I have seen kindness, and solidarity heal the fear and hate of oppression. I've seen liberty emerge from nothing but the human soul.
I am not a religious person, but I have faith. Faith in the ideals at the foundation of the American project. Faint but powerful recognition that "we the people" now includes me.
I love #America. And I hope to keep loving my home for the rest of my life.

The fracturing of the Dutch far-right, after Wilder's reminded everyone that bigots are bad at compromise, is definitely a relief. Dutch folks I've talked to definitely see D66 as progressive, <strike>so there's no question this is a hard turn to the left (even if it's not a total flip to the far-left)</strike> a lot of folks don't agree. I'm going to let the comments speak rather than editorialize myself..
While this is a useful example of how a democracy can be far more resilient to fascism than the US, that is, perhaps, not the most interesting thing about Dutch politics. The most interesting thing is something Dutch folks take for granted and never think of as such: there are two "governments."
The election was for the Tweede Kamer. This is a house of representatives. The Dutch use proportional representation, so people can (more or less) vote for the parties they actually want. Parties <strike>rarely</strike> never actually get a ruling majority, so they have to form coalition governments. This forces compromise, which is something Wilders was extremely bad at. He was actually responsible for collapsing the coalition his party put together, which triggered this election... and a massive loss of seats for his party.
Dutch folks do still vote strategically, since a larger party has an easier time building the governing coalition and the PM tends to come from the largest party. This will likely be D66, which is really good for the EU. D66 has a pretty radical plan to solve the housing crisis, and it will be really interesting to see if they can pull it off. But that's not the government I want to talk about right now.
In the Netherlands, failure to control water can destroy entire towns. A good chunk of the country is below sea level. Both floods and land reclamation have been critical parts of Dutch history. So in the 1200's or so, the Dutch realized that some things are too important to mix with normal politics.
You see, if there's an incompetent government that isn't able to actually *do* anything (see Dick Schoof and the PVV/VVD/NSC/BBB coalition) you don't want your dikes to collapse and poulders to flood. So the Dutch created a parallel "government" that exists only to manage water: waterschap or heemraadschap (roughly "Water Board" in English). These are regional bureaucracies that exist only to manage water. They exist completely outside the thing we usually talk about as a "government" but they have some of the same properties as a government. They can, for example, levy taxes. The central government contributes funds to them, but lacks authority over them. Water boards are democratically elected and can operate more-or-less independent of the central government.
Controlling water is a common problem, so water boards were created to fulfill the role of commons management. Meanwhile, so many other things in politics run into the very same "Tragedy of the Commons" problems. The right wing solution to commons management is to let corporations ruin everything. The left-state solution is to move everything into the government so it can be undermined and destroyed by the right. The Dutch solution to this specific problem has been to move commons management out of the domain of the central government into something else.
And when I say "government" here, I'm speaking more to the liberal definition of the term than to an anarchist definition. A democratically controlled authority that facilitates resource management lacks the capacity for coercive violence that anarchists define as "government." (Though I assume they might leverage police or something if folks refuse to pay their taxes, but I can't imagine anyone choosing not to.)
As the US federal government destroys the social fabric of the US, as Trump guts programs critical to people's survival, it might be worth thinking about this model. These authorities weren't created by any central authority, they evolved from the people. Nothing stops Americans from building similar institutions that are both democratic and outside of the authority of a government that could choose to defund and abolish them... nothing but the realization that yes, you actually can.
#USPol #NLPol

Let’s just get one thing straight: There is nothing Israel cannot do today. Israel could shoot Palestinian babies on live TV to a laugh track and not one so-called democracy, not one so-called civilised, Western country would raise a single hand to stop them.
Israel has laid bare the moral vacuity of “Western civilisation” and those oft-lauded “European values”. Bullshit all.
We are naught but barbarians, allowing a live-streamed genocide to happen right before our eyes.
Th…

What is #degrowth?
We offer a definition wherein the fundamental core is the planned reduction of energy and material use to keep within planetary limits, while the associated 'pluriversal' belt of concepts and practices is also essential to degrowth.
Part of our response to @…

As the guardrails of American #democracy
fall one by one, #DJT is on the brink of becoming a #Dictator
Will he be
stopped?

How Surveillance Firms Use ‘Democracy’ As a Cover for Serving ICE and Trump https://www.404media.co/how-surveillance-firms-use-democracy-as-a-cover-for-serving-ice-and-trump/

# My thoughts on EU Chat Control
I just don't think we are ready for what's coming, most people will be caught off guard when the real consequences of losing our privacy come: democracy and other rights will be affected in the near future, and when people realize this it will be too late (the "I've got nothing to hide" crowd is what I am referring to).
Insane timeline that we live in, I don't see a future where we get to maintain end-to-end encrypted com…

Federal Court Orders Trump to Answer on Actions Taken for Anti-Voting Order (Yunior Rivas/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/federal-court-orders-trump-to-answer-on-actions-taken-for-anti-voting-order/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250801/p133#a250801p133

Labor Day: Bigger Than Ever 17x17K Rally!
📍 El Camino Real, Santa Clara to Redwood City.
🗓️ Monday, Sept 1 | 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
https://tinyurl.com/historic17x17k

From Santa Clara to Redwood City: Historic 17x17k Rally on El Camino Real · May Day Strong
DEFEND OUR DEMOCRACY AND SAY NO TO FASCISM. Note: the "contact organization" link on the right of this page DOES NOT go to us!! Do not reach out that way, as we will not get it. ONCE YOU REGISTER, you will be able to connect with us directly with questions and comments!! To find a place to stand, you must sign yourself up for a segment, at signup.com: https://tinyurl.com/17x17ksegmentsignup. We cannot assign a spot for you, we really need you register yourself on this other site to get accur…

FWIW: Germany had only been a nominal liberal democracy for a dozen years and had a judicial class trained in the system of the Kaiser and Bismarck, no matter what the Weimar Constitution said.
Also: the vilest sorts of anti-semitism had been mainstream German beliefs since before Luther, who was awful. https://

"Les États-Unis sont-ils encore une démocratie ?
Je dirais que les États-Unis sont aujourd'hui un système "autoritaire compétitif". Il s'agit d'un jargon de science politique qui désigne les pays qui ont les apparences de la démocratie, mais où des règles du jeu équitables ne s'appliquent plus."
#USA

Americans worry democracy in danger amid gerrymandering fights, new poll finds – live;
Armed troops in cities? Kidnappings in broad daylight? No big deal.
Gerrymandering? OMG! 😏

LECTURE> MU-CRS Seminar with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tomas Larsson about “Sacred Things and Democracy in Thailand”
https://ift.tt/pHW1icM
Lessons for the Upcoming Age of Climate Refugees: Next meeting of the ASLH Environment, Law, and…
via Input 4 RELCFP

'Archivist fired by Trump launches a national effort to strengthen democracy': 'On Constitution Day, Shogan launched a national bipartisan effort called "More Perfect" to work on strengthening democracy' https://www.pbs.org/newsho…

Archivist fired by Trump launches a national effort to strengthen democracy
Colleen Shogan made history when she became the first woman to serve as Archivist of the United States in 2023. In February, President Trump fired her with no reason given. On Constitution Day, Shogan launched a national bipartisan effort called "More Perfect" to work on strengthening democracy. Amna Nawaz reports for our series, Art in Action, and our arts and culture coverage, CANVAS.

Man, this is a really good conversation. Mehdi Hasan and Zeteo are out there doing awesome work:
#Zeteo

Is Syria Heading for Democracy or Another Dictatorship?
Mehdi challenges Syrian official Qutaiba Idlbi on his President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s past record as a militant and Al Qaeda leader, and on the new post-Assad Syria’s relations with Israel.

In Big Win for Voters and Democrats, Court Blocks Trump's Demand for Voter ID on Registration Form (Jim Saksa/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/in-big-win-for-voters-and-democrats-court-blocks-trumps-demand-for-voter-id-on-registration-form/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251031/p121#a251031p121

It's not hyperbole to say that what we in the Fediverse are doing to build decentralized social media is important for the future of liberal democracy.
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/08/05/take-back-our-digital-infrastructure-to-save-democracy/

Maybe a bit controversial statement, but has democracy not already died in the US? Congress has no effective oversight anymore, GOP only listens to Trump, democratic party is totally ineffective. Rule of law is severely damaged.
#USA #democracy

Alligator Auschwitz

authoritarian politics, Thomas Mann
... An excellent, powerful exhibition on democracy and despotism through the life and writing of local lad Thomas Mann, roughly 1890s to 1950s (now two Nobel references in one thread).
Rich set of contemporary and current images (Pegida, AfD etc), lots of visitor engagement. Folk were taking this in slowly, giving me time for some online translation.
➡️ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann

From Rev. William Barber, Save America Movement
We stand at a moment of moral crisis in our great country. It is incumbent upon us, The People, to stand up and say this is wrong.
"You've been chosen to make sure that those that would destroy, those that would hate, don't have the final say."
#ResistRepression #Resist

No Kings rally in Evanston, IL, looking N, W and S.
A good time, peaceful, neighborly. Democracy.
cc
@…
@…
@…

Well, we got our California Proposition 50 voting materials - that's the proposition to do redistricting.
Unlike the fake-democracy states, like Texas, here in California we voters actually get to chose whether we re-district or not.
(BTW, I am voting "YES" on Proposition 50.)

😎 How do politicians view democracy? It depends on whether they win or lose
#politics

How do politicians view democracy? It depends on whether they win or lose
There is a heightened concern about the current state of democracy around the globe. These include worries about a decrease in freedom, the growing number of autocracies around the world and citizens' dissatisfaction with democracy or government.

"The story of the East Wing’s demolition is the story of the Trump admini.writ large, a metaphor for what he’s doing to American democracy. The current President doesn’t seek permission. He fears no one and nothing. He is protected by the most lethal army in the world and a Supreme Court that has made it almost impossible to hold him liable for actions even remotely connected to his duties. This has allowed Mr. Trump to become the most openly corrupt president in American history."…

Your regular reminder that marginal income & capital gains tax rates are too low
-- and this poses an existential threat to 🇺🇸 democracy
https://bsky.app/profile/robertscotthorton.bsky.social/post/3lzu3j77n622p

Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social)
Larry Ellison envisions a surveillance state in which techbros rule. '“Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on,” Ellison said in an hour-long Q&A during Oracle’s Financial Analyst Meeting last week.' https://fortune.com/2024/09/17/oracle-larry-ellison-surveillance-state-police-ai/

“Trillion-dollar corporations and billionaires are compatible with democracy.”
– Very smart people who are regularly quoted by the mainstream press.

Ukraine disrupts Russia's fuel for war with repeated drone strikes on far-away refineries.
I love this for them.
Georgio is an Italian reporter who is in Ukraine, reporting from the trenches of democracy.
He reveals the truths that US corporate media refuse to acknowledge, much less report on.
He shares the friend link to bypass the paywall:

How Ukraine Cuts the Fuel for Russia’s War
Live from Ukraine 🇺🇦

The state of checks and balances in the country is among the more ominous indicators of the health of America’s democracy:
in the executive branch is a president who is keen on exercising every lever of power that he has
– as well as some he does not
– to enrich himself and his allies
and to suppress dissent and political opposition.
The legislature is dominated by a regime-friendly political party
that is too happy to roll over and accede to the preside…

Americans have a secret weapon against Trump (Zack Beauchamp/Vox)
https://www.vox.com/politics/466518/trump-business-boycott-democracy-resistance
http://www.memeorandum.com/251030/p39#a251030p39

How Important Is Preserving Democracy to Ukrainians? A Machine Learning Analysis of Democratic Attitudes: https://benborges.xyz/2025/10/08/how-important-is-preserving-democracy.html

I’ll be here tomorrow for #NoKings, please join me here or… just about anywhere, really! There’s over 2,500 events tomorrow nationwide.
https://www.indivisiblepeninsulabayarea.org/nokings/…

No Kings Day for Democracy - Palo Alto Bay Area | October 18, 2025
Join the No Kings Day parade and Democracy Fair in Palo Alto, Bay Area. Stand against authoritarianism and build democracy together.

"By now it should be clear that the subjection of the United States to the dictatorship of Donald Trump is no longer a theoretical possibility or even a distant probability. It is an imminent reality."
Andrew Coyne , Globe and Mail
https://www.theglobe…

Donald Trump is on the brink of becoming a dictator. Can he be stopped?
As the guardrails of American democracy fall one by one, it is no longer a question of where the President is going, but how fast he will get there

😰 Americans worry democracy is in danger amid gerrymandering fights, poll finds
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/22/world/politics/gerrymandering-us-democracy-danger-poll/
🆓

Americans worry democracy is in danger amid gerrymandering fights, poll finds
As Texas Republicans redraw the state's congressional maps to benefit their party, California Democrats threaten to respond in kind.

People in Moldova, choose for Europe, democracy and prosperity. Not for Russia, corruption and destruction.
#moldova #elections #europe

Russia uses new range extender to deploy glide bombs against Ukrainian civilians.
Another day, another litany of war crimes and cruelty as Russia wages its genocide against the Ukrainian people.
Corporate media will downplay or distort what is happening in Ukraine, and they don't even bother to go see the truth - they just lie and support the evil.
Why? Go ask Trump - he knows, but doesn't dare say.
Meanwhile, Georgio reports from the trenches of democracy in …

Mud On Blood
Live from Ukraine 🇺🇦

I remember a time when at least folks in the West tried to pretend they were civilised and cared about things like human rights and democracy. Now even that pretense is gone. Now it’s “might makes right, motherfucker!” And “yeah we’re douchebags and barbarians, what’re you going to do about it?”

In Late, Obscure Notice, DHS Turbocharges Trump's Voter Purge Database, Evading Privacy Protections (Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/in-late-obscure-notice-dhs-turbocharges-trumps-voter-purge-database-evading-privacy-protections/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251031/p88#a251031p88

The past week has revealed Trump’s road map to one-party rule.
https://www.vox.com/politics/462076/trump-democracy-jimmy-kimmel-charlie-kirk

This is how Trump ends democracy
The past week has revealed Trump’s policy road map to veto one-party rule. Will Americans let him follow it?

🗷 Gerrymandering erodes confidence in democracy
#politics

Gerrymandering erodes confidence in democracy
When politicians redraw congressional district maps to favor their party, they may secure short-term victories. But those wins can come at a steep price—a loss of public faith in elections and, ultimately, in democracy itself.

The growth of print culture in the eighteenth century was associated with the growing prestige of reason,
hostility to superstition, the birth of capitalism, and the rapid development of science.
Other historians have linked the eighteenth century explosion of literacy to the Enlightenment, the birth of human rights, the arrival of democracy and even the beginnings of the industrial revolution.
The world as we know it was forged in the reading revolution.
🔥Now, we ar…

The dawn of the post-literate society
And the end of civilisation

Virginia House Advances Democratic Plan to Counter GOP Gerrymandering (Jen Rice/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/virginia-house-advances-democratic-plan-to-counter-gop-gerrymandering/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251029/p124#a251029p124

Exclusive: Trump Administration Threatened Lawsuit Over Ohio Mail-In Ballot Deadline (Matt Cohen/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/exclusive-trump-administration-threatened-lawsuit-over-ohio-mail-in-ballot-deadline/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251029/p125#a251029p125

What Can I Do Right Now to Defend Democracy and Fight Fascism?
https://www.peoplefor.org/what-can-i-do-right-now-defend-democracy-and-fight-fascism

What Can I Do Right Now to Defend Democracy and Fight Fascism?
Learn about ways you can take action right now to combat the spread of fascism in the United States.

Texas GOPer Who Blocked Filibuster Shared Approach to Immigrants: 'Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up' (Jen Rice/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/texas-goper-who-blocked-filibuster-shared-approach-to-immigrants-shoot-shovel-and-shut-up/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250829/p63#a250829p63

Trump’s plan to rig the 2026 midterm election
by pressuring states to create more Republican congressional seats
will face a major test in a federal courtroom in El Paso, Texas
starting Wednesday,
as a panel of judges considers whether to block the state’s new gerrymandered map.
At stake in the hearing,
scheduled for ten days,
are as many as five congressional seats
— perhaps enough to determine control of Congress in next year’s midterms

Texas Gerrymander Goes to Court, With 5 Congressional Seats, and Minority Representation, at Stake
Read about the fight for democracy from activists, elected officials, legal experts and others.

Block on Trump's Chicago Military Deployment Stands As SCOTUS Takes Up National Guard Question (Jacob Knutson/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-chicago-military-deployment-supreme-court-national-guard-question/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251029/p130#a251029p130

You Can Kill a Democracy Without a Dictator (Will Freeman/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/opinion/peru-dictator-democracy-boluarte.html?unlocked_article_code=1.v08.gQZf.dfBOA57dClXS&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
http://www.memeorandum.com/251024/p43#a251024p43

David Sirota says that while the United States is now
“immersed in corruption” in a way that seems like an inevitable part of politics,
it is the result of a decades long agenda by the wealthy to deregulate the campaign finance system
and to essentially make anti-bribery laws unenforceable.
“This is all part of a plan by a corporate movement that sees democracy — the government providing what people want — sees that as a threat.”

Master Plan: David Sirota on Trump & the Decadeslong “Plot to Legalize Corruption in America”
We speak with journalist David Sirota about his new book, Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. Co-authored with Jared Jacang Maher, the book is based on their award-winning investigative podcast of the same name for The Lever. Sirota says that while the United States is now “immersed in corruption” in a way that seems like an inevitable part of politics, it is the result of a decadeslong agenda by the wealthy to deregulate the campaign finance system and to essent…

ICE purposefully rammed their vehicle into a protestor’s truck in California.
In Chicago, federal agents tear gassed local police during a protest.
This is what happens when a wannabe dictator is running the country.
This is why millions of Americans peacefully stood up to defend our rights in the No Kings protests.
Peaceful protest is not a crime. It’s the foundation of our democracy.
I’m Fred Wellman
—Army combat veteran, entrepreneur, dad, MeidasTouch …

15 More Ways You Can Fight for Democracy (Gabriel Lezra/The Contrarian)
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/15-more-ways-you-can-fight-for-democracy
http://www.memeorandum.com/251021/p121#a251021p121

Another Trump-Appointed U.S. Attorney Found to be Serving Unlawfully, Federal Judge Rules (Yunior Rivas/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/another-trump-appointed-u-s-attorney-found-to-be-serving-unlawfully-federal-judge-rules/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251028/p156#a251028p156

This is democracy — the American people are getting what they voted for.
AND: This is authoritarianism — Not Trump cleaning up crisis or disorder but Trump creating crisis and disorder so he can build what he has wanted to build:
an authoritarian state, a military or a paramilitary that answers only to him
— that puts him in total control.
I can see the picture of a president doing what he was elected to do.
Donald Trump ran unquestionably on mass deportations. …

Opinion | Trump Is Building His Own Paramilitary Force
The journalist Radley Balko explains the mechanisms Trump is using to create a personal army.

Democracy Noir, the 90-minute documentary
– opening in the US this week and portraying Orbšn’s creeping authoritarian takeover of an erstwhile liberal democracy through the eyes of three women;
Timea Szabó, an opposition politician,
Babette Oroszi, a television journalist,
and Niko Antal, a nurse
– has universal resonance and urgent relevance for American audiences grappling with the consequences of Trump.
“I’d say this is the most ‘hitting the zeitgeist’…

These Corporations Stopped Worrying About Democracy and Bought Trump a Ballroom (Popular Information)
https://popular.info/p/these-corporations-stopped-worrying
http://www.memeorandum.com/251028/p31#a251028p31

The Rot Creeping Into Our Minds (David Brooks/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/opinion/shutdown-democracy-democrats.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/251024/p4#a251024p4

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings
https://bsky.app/profile/indivisible.org/post/3m3iwjohoxc2e

Indivisible ❌👑 (@indivisible.org)
This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

Saturday, March 15, 2025, may have seemed unremarkable to most Americans.
But in time, history will remember it as Black Saturday
—the moment the United States ceased to function as a constitutional democracy.
For the first time in modern American history, a sitting president openly defied a direct federal court order
—and nothing happened.
No intervention. No enforcement. No consequences.
A legal ruling was issued, and the White House simply ignored it

Black Saturday: The Day the United States Ceased to Be a Constitutional Democracy
Black Saturday, March 15, 2025, will be remembered as the day the U.S. ceased to function as a constitutional democracy. A sitting president defied a federal court order, proving that judicial authority no longer constrains executive power. This is not a warning—it is confirmation that democracy has already collapsed.

'We Deeply Regret These Errors': DOJ Walks Back Key Evidence In Defense of Trump's Portland Deployment (Jacob Knutson/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/justice-department-corrects-evidence-trump-portland-deployment/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251028/p87#a251028p87

California to Monitor Trump's DOJ Poll Watchers Amid Concerns of Voter Intimidation, Election Interference (Yunior Rivas/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/california-to-monitor-trumps-doj-poll-watchers-amid-concerns-of-voter-intimidation-and-election-interference/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251027/p124#a251027p124

Robert Reich keeps getting emails and running into people in the street who say they went to their local theater and were thrilled to find a sense of hope and community they hadn’t expected,
and were desperate for.
Several people said they stayed in the lobby afterwards to speak with people they just met to talk about the importance of education and democracy,
and even to plan political protests and other forms of community engagement.
While the film is still playing…

YOU can bring The Last Class to a movie theater near you
A way to build hope and community

Prosecuting the Powerful -- Historical data shows putting leaders on trial is a healthy democratic practice. (Foreign Policy)
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/28/democracy-prosecution-crimes-sarkozy-trump-berlusconi/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251028/p82#a251028p82

We are witnessing an unprecedented government assault on First Amendment freedoms in America.
To address the state of our Constitutional liberties, we will be convening an emergency Zoom call with Garry Kasparov next Thursday, September 25 at 12pm ET/9am PT.
Let’s have a real conversation about the future of this country’s democracy, face-to-face.

Emergency Zoom Call: The First Amendment Under Attack
Let’s have a real conversation about the future of this country’s democracy, face-to-face

Exclusive: Government shutdown signals weakness to foes, ex-Defense Secretary says (April Rubin/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2025/10/22/government-shutdown-democracy-failure-defense-leon-panetta
http://www.memeorandum.com/251022/p150#a251022p150

Democracy watchdog sues for files on Trump-Epstein relationship (Josephine Walker/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2025/08/26/trump-epstein-relationship-probed-watchdog-lawsuit
http://www.memeorandum.com/250826/p128#a250826p128

DHS to 'Soft Launch' New Tool to Hunt for Noncitizens on Rolls (Jim Saksa/Democracy Docket)
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/dhs-to-soft-launch-new-tool-to-hunt-for-noncitizens-on-rolls/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250827/p103#a250827p103