Seth D. Michaels

@sethdmichaels.bsky.social

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Bert of the Intellect, Ernie of the Will

he/him, DC based, comms at @ucsusa.bsky.social, ambivalently Online, still People Magazine's Seth D-est Man Alive. please don't argue in my notifications

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“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. But now is the time, the important time.” www.blackpast.org/african-amer...

(1852) Frederick Douglass, "What, To The Slave, Is The Fourth Of July" •www.blackpast.org On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass was invited to address the citizens of his hometown, Rochester, New York. Whatever the expectations of his audience on that 76th anniversary of the signing of the D...

(slams proverbial laptop shut for four to five days)

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Seth D. Michaels

I would like to once again remind everyone that the DNC is a bureaucratic services organization and keeper of the rules for nominating processes, not a shadowy back room strategy organization. They don’t decide who’s running or what the message is.

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Seth D. Michaels

this is one of my least favorite tropes and it is especially ridiculous when the heroes have just shot their way through an army of mooks to get to the villain oh, you can kill 475 henchmen but the guy who is actually responsible for ordering them around is a step too far? do you hear yourself?

the whole ‘actually, killing the villain makes us just as bad as him’ trope had done incomprehensible damage to society and i’m not kidding

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Seth D. Michaels

kind of amazed at how confident people are at predicting which candidates and what political moves will win after the past decade. humans are resilient

every goggle-eyed God-and-Man-at-Yale-pilled evangelical apparatchik on the federal bench is going to have a free hand to say “mmmm no, the law is too ambiguous, because Loper” about any of their hobbyhorses

The Biden administration cannot enforce new anti-discrimination rules in health care for transgender Americans, a Mississippi federal judge ruled, citing a recent landmark Supreme Court ruling that weakened the power of federal agencies.

Judge cites new Supreme Court ruling in blocking health care anti-discrimination protections for transgender Americans | CNN Politicswww.cnn.com The Biden administration cannot enforce new anti-discrimination rules in health care for transgender Americans, a federal judge in Mississippi ruled Wednesday, citing a recent landmark Supreme Court r...

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Seth D. Michaels

One of the biggest frustrations with the ongoing “Biden’s too old” story is that there are so many damn things to hit Trump on and none of them can get any oxygen

The Biden Campaign needs to blare this constantly. Trump is a pedophile who openly associated with Epstein.

this, and: if we take as a given that mainstream national Dems aren’t proving themselves up to the challenge of beating him (which I’m inclined to agree with), that’s an argument for engaging *more*, not less

I'm just like... not even remotely prepared to concede that Donald Trump winning in November is a foregone conclusion.

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Seth D. Michaels

"Politics would be interesting again" is such a telling phrase, a sign that you're so insulated by money and power that it's all just entertainment for you.

Wild to watch horserace journalists suggest the most politically suicidal shit and pretend it's savvy. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

supporting your local abortion fund is a good way to help people in immediate need, god bless my friends who routinely raise funds for them

So if a caller needs $2,000, they can only get $600 from the national groups—and local funds will scramble for the remaining $1,400. Abortion funds make a legal right a reality. Without resources, people don't get their abortions. abortionfunds.org/find-a-fund/ secure.actblue.com/donate/funda...

Join me!secure.actblue.com Make a donation today.

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Seth D. Michaels

Just unfollowed someone so fast on the other site after they shared a post talmbout people being selfish for 'fearmongering' about Project 2025 in order to get people to vote Republicans' stated intentions are scary, but providing accurate info about them is not fearmongering! It's just the stakes!

Mitch McConnell saying “hmmm I disapprove of his ‘military tribunal for me’ position but I approve of his ‘military tribunal for Chuck Schumer’ position”

Presidential candidate who the far-right members of the Supreme Court just placed above the law tells voters how he will exercise his new powers.

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Seth D. Michaels

Orange Man Bad explains far more than many comparative politics PhDs care to admit

"viewing Trump as something like a fascist leader foresaw the violence of January 6th as a live possibility, while its critics mocked the notion as mere hysteria. Whatever its shortcomings, “Trump as fascist” remains the best guide to what Trump will try to do next"

What's In a Wordwww.unpopularfront.news A Canned Post

there’s the substance here (bad) but also the method (also bad), which makes it easier for lawsuits to pre-emptively derail policies

ICYMI (i did): Between the gratuities case (Snyder v U.S.) and the homelessness case (Grants Pass v. Johnson) was this case where far right attorneys general blocked EPA rules limiting ozone pollution (Ohio v. EPA) saying EPA used a “dictatorial approach”: www.scotusblog.com/2024/06/supr...

Supreme Court blocks EPA’s ‘Good Neighbor’ air pollution rule - SCOTUSblogwww.scotusblog.com The Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily blocked a rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce air pollution from power plants and other industrial facilities in 23 states. By a vote...

Article III is worth reading just to clarify how limited it is. Outside of a limited set of cases, Congress can create rules and exceptions around what the judiciary can rule on. Congress explicitly gets to set the structure of the courts. Judicial review of laws isn’t really in there.

if the *most* compelling reason you can think of to engage in politics is that somebody might throw a parade that annoys you, maybe politics isn’t the hobby for you

When you're worried there might be a pride flag at semiquincentennial parade

I’m not a lawyer, but “Missouri’s right to have a specific candidate run a campaign outweighs New York’s right to enforce its own state anti-fraud laws” feels…stupid in a deep and novel way

There's no longer any ceiling to how wackadoodle Republican lawsuits can go. As @elliemargolis.bsky.social has flagged, the sovereign state of Missouri, being unable to invade or embargo New York, has instead sued it before SCOTUS to try to aid Trump, because ... reasons. ago.mo.gov/wp-content/u...

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Seth D. Michaels

Transit funding = antifascist praxis

two years old, but really embarrassing to read in retrospect as Roberts has continually joined the radicals in reshaping the republic

😃 www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | The tragedy of John Robertswww.washingtonpost.com As the chief justice begins his 18th term, he is at times an isolated and even tragic figure.

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Seth D. Michaels

IDK kind of feels like we should be paying more attention to a prominent conservative think tank saying we're in the midst of a second american revolution that will remain bloodless as long as long as the left lets it be, then whether or not Biden should step down.

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Seth D. Michaels

Loper-Bright already doing damage

E&E News: Supreme Court overturns FERC solar approval after Chevron’s demisesubscriber.politicopro.com The case is considered an important precedent for renewable energy under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA).

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Seth D. Michaels

I've been thinking about this post from the Claremont Institute, a Trumpist think tank, ever since the SCOTUS immunity ruling. Wonder what "unpleasant things" the Trumpists have in mind. open.substack.com/pub/joelmmat...

very true. it's the shrieking bathroom monitors and just-asking-questions fretters and "normal people hate this, definitely not me, i'm just worried for other people" are-we-going-too-far pundits who have put a target on trans people and put their existence and safety on the ballot

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Seth D. Michaels

John Roberts pretends not to know what Donald Trump will do with the immunity Roberts just gave him just like John Roberts pretended not to know what Republicans would do when John Roberts gutted the Voting Rights Act.

John Roberts must be the most neurotypical person in existence because the immunity ruling reads like someone who has never had a single “but what if…???” anxiety spiral in his life

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Seth D. Michaels

Luckily, when we hear the excuse "we were just following orders" there's nothing horrific that comes to mind.

Seems crazy! But just logical. If a President cannot commit a crime in the course of an official act, like giving an order to the military, how can you prosecute the person who follows the order? There’s a whole code of military conduct about “illegal orders.” All orders are legal now.

“The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and, upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law.” couldn’t be clearer!

if only Federalist 69 were just, in its entirely, Hamilton saying super clearly “sure, this constitution has one executive leader, but I can’t stress enough that it’s different from a king because a President is accountable, including to criminal law” avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century...

The Avalon Project : Federalist No 69avalon.law.yale.edu

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Seth D. Michaels

sam alito salivating at the chance to make this life for americans

Update: Cambodian court handed jail terms of up to 8-10 years to 10 activists of an environmental group on charges of plotting against the government and insulting the king www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/c...

www.hindustantimes.com

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Seth D. Michaels

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Coolbone Minoxidil

there are lots of good summary materials, like this one looking specifically at climate implications: blog.ucsusa.org/rachel-cleet... they talk, for instance, about the importance of completely discontinuing “alarmist” climate research

‘Project 2025’ Would Be Disastrous for Our Nation and Our Climateblog.ucsusa.org The plan is a threat that should be taken seriously.

the overall risk is that actual communication gets drowned out by language-esque word slurry, not because it’s “as good” as human communication but because it’s cheaper and easier to generate and “close enough” if you don’t care about the accuracy and quality of communication at all

“Generative AI could ‘distort collective understanding of socio-political reality or scientific consensus,’ and in many cases is already doing that,’” according to a new research paper from Google’s own DeepMind lab.

Google Says AI Could Break Realitywww.404media.co “While these uses of GenAI are often neither overtly malicious nor explicitly violate these tools’ content policies or terms of services, their potential for harm is significant.”

one other thing to note about Trump v US is that the majority doesn’t just think a president *can* intervene to thwart unfavorable election outcomes, but that they almost certainly think that President Trump *should* have done so in 2020-21, and the fact that he failed is a problem to be remedied

Trump v. United States is a legal earthquake that belongs alongside Shelby County v. Holder, Plessy v. Ferguson and Dred Scott. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme...

The Supreme Court Term That Fundamentally Changed Americatalkingpointsmemo.com As the dust settles from Trump v. United States, those paying attention...