Tootfinder

"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

We are barely 6 months into #TheAmericanFascist Presidency and we already find ourselves with fundamental rights in the American Constitution under direct threat and the power of the judiciary to enforce and check the power of the President being pulled back.
And Democratic Party members seem to be all talk and very very little action or leadership to counter this.
Are they waiting for the midterms to take back Congress?
At this pace, surely they see the risk that there may not BE midterms. Or that the results are negated, disputed or invalidated.
I can’t fathom how they are not removing themselves from Congress now in protest and calling for a general protest/strike of all freedom loving Americans to restore the constitution, force the Trump appointed fascist enabling judges to resign, and force Trump and his Administration to go.
July 4th is coming. Independence Day? Or not? Democracy or not?
#usa

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

The lesson of Hungary is this:
We cannot claim to care about democracy only when it costs nothing.
Trump, like Orban, no doubt believes that everyone can be bought.
America’s elites are proving him right.
There is a Hungarian phrase I heard often: “Van az a penz” — “There’s always a price.”
If we’re serious about defending democracy, it’s not enough to hold our government accountable in court.
Lawsuits against the Trump administration are fine,
b…

Opinion | I Watched It Happen in Hungary. Now It’s Happening Here.
The real danger of a strongman isn’t his tactics; it’s how others, especially those with power, justify their acquiescence.

📣 Thu, Jul 17 @ 7 PM ET: Join our Good Local News Panel—4 outlets thriving in a hostile environment. Learn how strong local journalism drives civic engagement. 🎥 Virtual/anywhere.
Free! Sign up now: #Press #Journalism #LocalNews

Editorial: Zelensky is one signature away from betraying Ukraine’s democracy: https://benborges.xyz/2025/07/22/editorial-zelensky-is-one-signature.html

I respect a principled stand.
“Public Broadcasting, the FCC, and Why I Turned Down the FCC Chairman’s Award for Advancement in Accessibility (by Larry Goldberg)”
https://www.lflegal.com/2025/07/larry-goldberg-fcc-award/

Attacks on Public Broadcasting Lead US Accessibility Champion to Reject Prestigious Award
Lainey's Introduction As the republican attacks on rights, benefits and democracy continue in the United States, resistance takes many forms. One problem in the country right now is that main stream media normalizes trump and republican activity, as if we are not creeping toward fascism with ever

https://www.impeachtrumpagain.org/ reminder to please sign this if you haven’t already

IMPEACH TRUMP. AGAIN.
Impeach Trump. Sign the petition NOW to defend democracy and demand accountability! He is disqualified from office, and has violated the U.S. Constitution.

“A majority of the country now knows that he’s the old man behind the curtain and not the wizard,” he said. “He still has control over Maga and Republicans in Congress but he doesn’t have the persuasive capacity any longer to keep his hold on the broad majority of the country.
“This is a sign of his weakness and that he’s not as strong as he believes he is. It’s one of the reasons why he’s looking for these avenues to re-establish his strength and power and have there be a perception that people are bending the knee.
“Every time he tries to do this, it fails and he grows more distant to the American people. That has to give us hope we have the tools in the coming months to start winning elections and building a more successful pro-democracy movement that can contain the damage that Trump and Maga are doing to the country in the coming years.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/10/donald-trump-authoritarian-democracy

Speculative politics
As an anarchist (okay, maybe not in practice), I'm tired of hearing why we have to suffer X and Y indignity to "preserve the rule of law" or "maintain Democratic norms." So here's an example of what representative democracy (a form of government that I believe is inherently flawed) could look like if its proponents had even an ounce of imagination, and/or weren't actively trying to rig it to favor a rich donor class:
1. Unicameral legislature, where representatives pass laws directly. Each state elects 3 statewide representatives: the three most-popular candidates in a statewide race where each person votes for one candidate (ranked preference voting would be even better but might not be necessary, and is not a solution by itself). Instead of each representative getting one vote in the chamber, they get N votes, where N is the number of people who voted for them. This means that in a close race, instead of the winner getting all the power, the power is split. Having 3 representatives trades off between leisure size and ensuring that two parties can't dominate together.
2. Any individual citizen can contact their local election office to switch or withdraw their vote at any time (maybe with a 3-day delay or something). Voting power of representatives can thus shift even without an election. They are limited to choosing one of the three elected representatives, or "none of the above." If the "none of the above" fraction exceeds 20% of eligible voters, a new election is triggered for that state. If turnout is less than 80%, a second election happens immediately, with results being final even at lower turnout until 6 months later (some better mechanism for turnout management might be needed).
3. All elections allow mail-in ballots, and in-person voting happens Sunday-Tuesday with the Monday being a mandatory holiday. (Yes, election integrity is not better in this system and that's a big weakness.)
4. Separate nationwide elections elect three positions for head-of-state: one with diplomatic/administrative powers, another with military powers, and a third with veto power. For each position, the top three candidates serve together, with only the first-place winner having actual power until vote switches or withdrawals change who that is. Once one of these heads loses their first-place status, they cannot get it again until another election, even if voters switch preferences back (to avoid dithering). An election for one of these positions is triggered when 20% have withdrawn their votes, or if all three people initially elected have been disqualified by losing their lead in the vote count.
5. Laws that involve spending money are packaged with specific taxes to pay for them, and may only be paid for by those specific revenues. Each tax may be opted into or out of by each taxpayer; where possible opting out of the tax also opts you out of the service. (I'm well aware of a lot of the drawbacks of this, but also feel like they'd not necessarily be worse than the drawbacks of our current system.) A small mandatory tax would cover election expenses.
6. I'm running out of attention, but similar multi-winner elections could elect panels of judges from which a subset is chosen randomly to preside in each case.
Now I'll point out once again that this system, in not directly confronting capitalism, racism, patriarchy, etc., is probably doomed to the same failures as our current system. But if you profess to want a "representative democracy" as opposed to something more libratory, I hope you'll at least advocate for something like this that actually includes meaningful representation as opposed to the current US system that's engineered to quash it.
Key questions: "Why should we have winner-take-all elections when winners-take-proportionately-to-votes is right there?" and "Why should elected officials get to ignore their constituents' approval except during elections, when vote-withdrawal or -switching is possible?"
2/2
#Democracy

By-the-way, it is clear that we are experiencing the end of Democracy and rise of Dictatorship in the US.
We have long observed the rise of large corporations as a class of privileged nobility.
And now we are watching the onset of governance by artificial "intelligence".
Perhaps we will resume democracy, but unless we change our ground rules - such as our Constitution - the power of corporations and, now, AI's will remain a serious problem.
So I will men…

Making a Gil Scott-Heron mix tape for some friends. "Winter in America" really hits hard.
The Constitution, a noble piece of paper
Would free society. It struggled but then died in vain
And now Democracy is ragtime on the corner
Hoping for some rain
It's winter in America
And all of the healers have been killed or betrayed
It's winter in America
Ain't nobody fighting
‘Cause nobody knows what to save
Save your soul

"The question of whether we’re in a constitutional crisis or whether authoritarianism has arrived is kind of an academic one. It’s either here or it’s going to be here very soon. **We’re still short of them openly defying a supreme court ruling or intentionally deporting US citizens or attempting to shut down a news media operation. But we’re not very far short.**"
Trump promised to be a dictator on day one. We’re now past day 200 | Donald Trump | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/10/donald-trump-authoritarian-democracy

The Barents Observer gets reporting done inside #Russia, even now
https://www.thebarentsobserver.com/democra

Police arrested over 40 people outside the Trump International Hotel in New York City
as hundreds gathered for a peaceful action led by Jewish leaders
calling for the end to Israel’s starvation and ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
Democracy Now! was at the demonstration and spoke to some of the protesters,
including Motaz Azaiza, renowned photojournalist from Gaza,
and Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari, who was arrested.
“We’re here to say, ‘Let Gaza live,’ to risk everyt…

“End the Starvation”: Jewish Rabbis & Allies Outside NY Trump Hotel Call for U.S. to Stop Arming Israel
Police arrested over 40 people outside the Trump International Hotel in New York City as hundreds gathered for a peaceful action led by Jewish leaders calling for the end to Israel’s starvation and ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Democracy Now! was at the demonstration and spoke to some of the protesters, including Motaz Azaiza, renowned photojournalist from Gaza, and Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari, who was arrested. “We’re here to say, 'Let Gaza live,' to risk everything to say, 'Never again,'” says …

🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBCRadio3:
#20thCenturyRadicals
- Cardew: Democracy and U-turns
Kate Molleson and Gillian Moore shine new light on the 'modern' music of the 20th century. This week, Kate explores the highly-charged political music of Cornelius Cardew.
Relisten now 👇
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002dcdn

How the US democracy is designed to avoid representation
Right now in the US, a system which proclaims to give each citizen representation, my interests are not represented very well by most of my so-called representatives at any level of government. This is true for a majority of Americans across the political spectrum, and it happens by design. The "founding fathers" were explicit about wanting a system of government that would appear Democratic but which would keep power in the hands of rich white landowners, and they successfully designed exactly that. But how does disenfranchisement work in this system?
First, a two-party system locked in by first-post-the-post winner-takes-all elections immediately destroys representation for everyone who didn't vote for the winner, including those who didn't vote or weren't eligible to vote. Single-day non-holiday elections and prisoner disenfranchisement go a long way towards ensuring working-class people get no say, but much larger is the winner-takes all system. In fact, even people who vote for the winning candidate don't get effective representation if they're really just voting against the opponent as the greater of two evils. In a 51/49 election with 50% turnout, you've immediately ensured that ~75% of eligible voters don't get represented, and with lesser-of-two-evils voting, you create an even wider gap to wedge corporate interests into. Politicians need money to saturate their lesser-of-two-evils message far more than they need to convince any individual voter to support their policies. It's even okay if they get caught lying, cheating, or worse (cough Epstein cough) as long as the other side is also doing those things and you can freeze out new parties.
Second, by design the Senate ensures uneven representation, allowing control of the least-populous half of states to control or at least shut down the legislative process. A rough count suggests 284.6 million live in the 25 most-populous states, while only 54.8 million live in the rest. Currently, counting states with divided representation as two half-states with half as much population, 157.8 million people are represented by 53 Republican sensors, while 180.5 million people get only 45 seats of Democratic representation. This isn't an anti-Democrat bias, it's a bias towards less-populous states, whose residents get more than their share it political power.
I haven't even talked about gerrymandering yet, or family/faith-based "party loyalty," etc. Overall, the effect is that the number of people whose elected representatives meaningfully represent their interests on any given issue is vanishingly small (like, 10% of people tops), unless you happen to be rich enough to purchase lobbying power or direct access.
If we look at polls, we can see how lack of representation lets congress & the president enact many policies that go against what a majority of the population wants. Things like abortion restrictions, the current ICE raids, and Medicare cuts are deeply unpopular, but they benefit the political class and those who can buy access. These are possible because the system ensures at every step of the way that ordinary people do NOT get the one thing the system promises them: representation in the halls of power.
Okay, but is this a feature of all democracies, inherent in the nature of a majority-decides system? Not exactly...
1/2
#uspol #democracy

Trump is working on regime change in Europe — fact, not conspiracy theory - @…
https://euobserver.com/eu-and-the-world/ar0ec480cc

A democracy is – how Pratchett puts it in Small Gods – a system where everyone distrusts the government, so everyone is somehow (un-)happy about it. And this is how it is meant to be and where checks and balances comes in.
And now there is a Trump administration where a alarming number of people just trust everything done by them regardless of what it is.¹ If we needed another sign² of Trumpism being far from being democratic: here it is.
I really hope people in Germany continue …

Our Revolution here.
It's crunch time in Congress
- Trump's budget, Iran, & oligarch money in politics.
Join the Virtual Lobby Training this Sun 6/22
at 7pm ET (4pm PT).
Our Revolution's DC team is facilitating virtual lobby visits with Capitol Hill offices
and we need your help.
Join and get trained up to speak directly with DC offices via Zoom.
RSVP now
👉

Our Revolution Virtual Lobby Training
Our Revolution Virtual Lobby Training Your elected officials in Congress need to hear from you to build support for progressive policies and make democracy work for the many! Come learn about Our Revolution’s virtual lobby model, how you can get involved, and opportunities to join your neighbors to meet with your Senators and Representatives. Event Details: Date: Sunday, June 22, 2025 Time: 7pm ET (4pm PT) Location: Virtual Training - Zoom Link

We lost.
We lost because this is what our elected Representatives & Senators voted for.
We lost because we voted for this #Congress.
We said forget morality & democracy. We like dictatorship & Authoritarianism.
This is who we are now. This is our failure.
We'll see who we vote for 2026.

"They misguidedly thought disabled people would again be an easy target, but this time they totally miscalculated the deep-seated adherence of Labour members to the principle and tradition of standing up for the poorest in our society."
Poorly led, strategically inept and shorn of democracy. Now I truly fear for this Labour government | John McDonnell | The Guardian

Elon Musk, JD Vance, and Peter Thiel are executing a long-planned agenda to take over the government.
Donald Trump is a dementia-addled old man along for the ride.
Hopefully, the chaos makes a little more sense now.
I told you you weren't gonna like it.

Democracy Is Done: The Rise of Corporate Monarchy
The Real Agenda Behind Elon's Coup & Trump's Chaotic First Weeks

History shows that once a vanguard of rogues and lawless individuals gets a hold on government, it is difficult to eject them.
Rather, the changes in government applied with force by this vanguard become normalized.
And that is what is happening here.
https://

“The Whole Government is DOGE Now”: The Coup's Second Wave Begins
A lawless vanguard infiltrated the U.S. government; now they are being institutionalized and will work with Project 2025's own democracy destroyers

31 Days of Action – All August!
Funding cuts. Banned words. Fired public servants.
Trump & his cronies are dismantling America’s greatest experiment - our democracy - & with it, science.
Between now & Sept 30th we decide: Are we a democracy… or an oligarchy?
https://

Although many hoped otherwise, we do not seem to be returning to a world in which the center left and the center right compete over tax rates or budgets. Economic and policy arguments just don’t matter as much to people right now as these deeper cultural divides. That’s why all elections are now existential: Small numbers of voters swinging one way or the next will decide the nature of the state, the future of democracy, the independence of the courts.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/existential-election-poland-nationalism/683051/

"Nice fireworks"
#resist #tyranny #fireworks #July4th

"The immigration detention system has become a testing ground for authoritarianism." - @silkys13.bsky.social
https://bsky.app/profile/democracynow.org/post/3lqpltpcg522i

Newspapers let the fox in and now they dead... Canada too. Even after FB banned news orgs on their platform here in Canada those news orgs STILL used it slavishly.
Like some weird media-version of Stockholm Syndrome.
#canpoli #journalism #media #canada #truth #posttruth #democracy
https://games.ngo/@crecente/114696097895857405

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan,
who previously presided over Trump’s federal election interference case,
will now oversee a new lawsuit from Democracy Forward Foundation,
a D.C.-based nonprofit,
requesting the Department of Justice and the FBI release any communications between Trump officials on the Epstein matter,
any communication between Trump and Epstein himself,
and Epstein’s so-called client list that Attorney General Pam Bondi previously acknowl…

Judge Detested by Trump Will Oversee Epstein Files Case
Welcome back, Judge Tanya Chutkan.

Fellow citizens: What are you going to do between now and July 4, 2026, to protect and preserve our independence from a tinpot dictator❓
So, fellow citizens, I ask you:
Bow down to authoritarianism and normalize anti-democratic behavior.
Or
Reflect on the challenges facing the nation and become an advocate for policies that align with liberty, freedom, sovereignty, democracy, and the principles enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
This is your America. The choice …

Give Me Liberty or a Tinpot Dictator
Peggy Noonan has been a voice of conservative reflection for The Wall Street Journal since leaving the Ronald Reagan administration as his primary speechwriter. Five of Noonan’s books have been New York Times bestsellers. Consuming every word of her weekly column keeps me politically balanced.In her...

Antiwar activists led by @jvp.bsky.social occupied the lobby of the New York offices of
Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand on Friday
to denounce their votes against halting arms shipments to Israel.
Banging pots and pans, they chanted
"Stop starving Gaza!" and
"Never again for anyone!"

Earlier this year, Elon Musk poured tens of millions of dollars into the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, after spending hundreds of millions to elect Donald Trump.
It looked like our democracy was truly over. 
But Blue Future's young organizers pounded the pavement.
We out-organized Musk.
And we defeated his MAGA candidate on a shoestring budget!
Now, Trump has lost confidence in Musk, who's slinking away from the White House!
What's next? …

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Show your support with a contribution.

🗓️ 31 Days of Action Start TODAY
https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:x7irsqqhp64woalar7obnnft/post/3lve3vwydqs22
This month, Congress is home
- meaning we have access.
We’re launching daily bite-sized actions to defend federal R…