𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙪𝙖𝙡: 𝙍𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝘽𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙚𝙘𝙝'𝙨 '𝘾𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙀𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚'

How a 1997 Book Predicted Tech’s War on Democracy…

https://www.thenerdreich.com/the-sovereign-individual-radical-bible-of-techs-cognitive-elite/

《STATE CAPTURE》Now that's a term everyone should start using.

#StateCapture #Coup #SelfCoup #US #America #Friday #KingOfAmerica #Autocracy #Tyranny #DemocracyIsDead #DirtyPoliticians #Dictatorship #Corruption #Capitalism #Tesla #Greed

https://theconversation.com/is-elon-musk-taking-over-the-us-government-heres-how-state-capture-works-and-why-we-should-be-concerned-249471

Tip: ChatGPT 4.0 is excellent at quickly drafting letters to senators.

I'm not surprised Schumer caved, I know nobody is coming to save us. I guess I find it helpful to vent directly to the source rather than into the ether.

For example, here's what I was able to quickly send to Chuck:

"I write to you not just as a constituent, but as a fellow American deeply concerned about the trajectory of our democracy. Your recent decision to support the Republican funding bill to avert a government shutdown has profound implications that extend beyond immediate political calculations.

While the specter of a government shutdown is daunting, we must recognize the broader context in which this decision resides. President Trump's administration has consistently employed tactics that many scholars and observers liken to authoritarian regimes. His rhetoric has grown increasingly dehumanizing and violent, targeting political adversaries, immigrants, and even dissenting voices within his own party . Moreover, initiatives like Project 2025 aim to centralize power within the executive branch, undermining the checks and balances that are the bedrock of our republic .

Your legacy, Senator, is intertwined with the preservation of our democratic institutions. History will judge not just our actions, but our courage in moments when the very essence of our nation is at stake. By acquiescing to this funding bill, especially one that potentially grants the executive branch undue discretion over spending , we risk enabling a slide towards autocracy. It is in these moments that true leadership demands standing firm against encroachments on our democratic principles.

I implore you to reconsider your position. Align with colleagues who recognize the gravity of this moment and are willing to oppose measures that could further erode our democratic norms. Let your legacy be one of unwavering commitment to the ideals upon which this nation was founded."

#senate #schumer #democracy #democrats #autocracy #warning #Civilrights #HumanRights #cowardice

https://www.schumer.senate.gov/contact/message-chuck

Life in an Occupied Country
letter from a reader
From Anne Applebaum
#Autocracy
https://anneapplebaum.substack.com/p/life-in-an-occupied-country

Einfach nur Irre der Größenwahn. Range Rover vs microlino

Hey #americans, worried about the #trump #autocracy? Fear not for the #democrats have your back! With this strong response to the #politicalpersecution of #mahmoudkhalil you know they’re a force to be reckoned with!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-dm60GFIqWQ

No wait, it was utterly pathetic. Are you for fucking real? Way to make it clear they’re #controlledopposition and enjoy the old #fascism as much as #republicans.

The #usempire is falling.

#iamblakeley
#fromtherivertothesea
#punchazionist

“Why is Starmer’s ‘national security adviser’ and arch Blairite trying to avoid scrutiny?”

by Ed Sykes in The Canary @thecanaryuk @UKLabour

“Considering Powell’s role in ‘coordinating all UK foreign policy [..]’, perhaps he doesn’t want to speak about Starmer’s #genocide apologism, his support for the Israeli war criminals responsible, or his crackdown on free speech and peaceful protest on behalf of those criminals”

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/03/11/jonathan-powell-starmer/?__s=1toyfummtp6bhspv4akg

SCOTUS Saves USAID – a little.

https://buff.ly/CAAnwHk

Fox: Autocracy, authoritarianism, dictatorship? No problem! But not the Dow!!!

HT Xitter @DeborahMeaden

Limits of autocratisation: actors and institutions of democratic resistance and opposition https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2025.2462248 #democracy #autocracy

The Home of Lords, replacing (partial) autocrats with appointed ones. They are more interested in how they can subvert British political processes to earn money than Britain (or the rest of the world)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/10/foreign-states-repressive-regimes-pay-peers-over-3m-two-years

#Ukraine, #UkraineWar, #UkraineRussiaWar, #RussiaUkraineWar, #UkraineBetrayal, #Zelensky, #Zelenskyy, #ZelenskyWarHero, #Putin, #PutinAndTrump, #TrumpAndPutin, #democracy, #autocracy, #authoritarian, #PoliticalCartoon, #EditorialCartoon, @Rattoons1776

https://crooksandliars.com/2025/03/squeezing-ukraine?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=99857

“Washington today can be understood only as a product of show business, not of law or policy.” #USA #Trump #Musk #Vance #Thiel #Yarvin #TechBros #BatshitCrazy #TrumpCrimeFamily #autocracy #kleptocracy #Fascism https://qoshe.com/the-guardian/julianne-schultz/donald-trump-is-a-bully-not-a-strongman-and-australia-will-pay-for-his-destruction-as-he-panders-t/181221439

"In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it." – Syme to Winston, "1984" by George Orwell

Screenshot from NYTimes

via bsky @lizstokoe

#Orwellian #1984 #Fascism #Dictatorship #Autocracy #Authoritarian #Project2025 #Politics #Democracy #Justice #Trump #NoMandate #AntiTrump #AntiGOP #AntiMAGA #Republicans #HalfHeartedFanatic

"The United States is now an active enemy of democracy not just in Ukraine, but in all of Europe." – Phillips P. OBrien

Substack @phillipspobrien

Airing TV ads lauding the leader (using tax dollars of course)

Firing senior #military officers

Firing career #prosecutors

Firing the person responsible for the security of American #infrastructure from attack

Refusing to defend our NATO allies from attack

Cutting off military aid to #Ukraine

The only possible explanation for these actions is that President Fragile Ego Tiny Hands is creating a #dictatorship in which he can act freely to make this country a #Russian vassal state

Autocracy Fast, Slow, and on the Fence

From Orban to Trump, Part II
Finishing my conversation with Kim Lane Scheppele
by Paul Krugman

There's Autocracy Fast, which is like the Orban takeover capture. It all happens very quickly. For instance Venezuela, it almost happened in Ecuador, Turkey…I'll put Turkey in the second box. That was fast. Then there was what I call Autocracy Slow, where autocrats start to look like good guys. Remember Turkey wanted to join the EU and Putin actually looked like he was just organizing things at the beginning. And then they make a pivot and people don't realize they've made the pivot. But then there's a group of countries in which I put India, Brazil, and the US that I call Autocracy on the Fence. And what happens in these countries is you get these aspirational autocrats who come to power. They capture some pieces of the system, but these are big, complicated, large federal systems, India, Brazil, and the US....
And the autocrats are eventually voted out of office because they can't capture everything. They don't fully capture the election system. But they captured some things. And those some things prevent the pro-democrats who come back to power from being able to actually really restore things. And then because the pro-democrats can't fully govern, they lose popularity because they look ineffective. And then the autocrats come back and they capture more things.

And then this cycle continues. So essentially what you've got is, you don't fully go into autocratic capture, but you're going up and down around a declining line. So that, you know, each time you get this autocratic episode, it means that you've lost some ability of the next pro-democratic government to come in and actually fully restore a functioning democratic government.

And so that's kind of a halfway house between autocracy and democracy. And you already saw it because Trump captured the Supreme Court in his first term.

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/from-orban-to-trump-part-ii

When the leader surrounds himself with Yes Men and none dare tell him the truth, the country is doomed. It's only a matter of time.

"China-based academics have previously told the Guardian of a growing fear among their profession of reporting or discussing negative assessments of China’s economic, social, or political situation for fear of reprisals."

#china #autocracy

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/25/china-economist-zhu-hengpeng-disappearance-xi-jinping-wechat-comments?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other