Brian Cook
@2ndadminstate.bsky.social
Tinkering with the Constitution has failed. The American commercial republic must be reconstructed.
Professor Emeritus of Public Administration & Policy, Virginia Tech.
"Speech is silver, silence is gold. Self is universe."
--Ursula Le Guin
Professor Emeritus of Public Administration & Policy, Virginia Tech.
"Speech is silver, silence is gold. Self is universe."
--Ursula Le Guin
Pinned
Brian Cook
@2ndadminstate.bsky.social
· Feb 25
Here is the essence of the American republic’s dilemma. Those with considerable wealth and control over productive assets do not necessarily need a regime of self-government to sustain their lifestyle and wealth-generating pursuits. But the republic needed them if was to prosper over time.
Reposted by Brian Cook
There has never been this little sea ice in the Arctic during December.
We are in a climate emergency.
(graphic by @zacklabe.com)
We are in a climate emergency.
(graphic by @zacklabe.com)
December 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
There has never been this little sea ice in the Arctic during December.
We are in a climate emergency.
(graphic by @zacklabe.com)
We are in a climate emergency.
(graphic by @zacklabe.com)
Reposted by Brian Cook
2. This totally violates the long-standing norms in procurement that protect public dollars. We're calling on state governments to ban algorithm-driving dynamic pricing in procurement contracts. Learn more about what Amazon is up to and check out our guide to taking action: ilsr.org/article/inde...
Turning Public Money into Amazon’s Profits | Independent Business
Amazon has quietly captured a growing share of government purchasing. This major report explains how, and what to do about it.
ilsr.org
December 5, 2025 at 2:13 PM
2. This totally violates the long-standing norms in procurement that protect public dollars. We're calling on state governments to ban algorithm-driving dynamic pricing in procurement contracts. Learn more about what Amazon is up to and check out our guide to taking action: ilsr.org/article/inde...
Reposted by Brian Cook
Just a reminder DOGE stole just about every government database. Perhaps we’re starting to see the fruits of their theft
I wrote this for the @nytimes.com: Scammers are calling seniors more than 50 times a day. Some who get scammed wind up with weird charges on their Medicare and mysterious packages on their porches
Medicare Scammers Are Calling Seniors 50 Times a Day, Trying to Trap Them
www.nytimes.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Just a reminder DOGE stole just about every government database. Perhaps we’re starting to see the fruits of their theft
Reposted by Brian Cook
Dec. 5, 1775: Col. Henry Knox arrives at Ticonderoga to begin his mammoth task of taking possession of the fort’s guns and moving them to outside Boston. He notes that on winter roads, transport “will depend entirely on sleding.” He records 25 cannons, 17 mortars, two howitzers and 25 boxes of lead.
December 5, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Dec. 5, 1775: Col. Henry Knox arrives at Ticonderoga to begin his mammoth task of taking possession of the fort’s guns and moving them to outside Boston. He notes that on winter roads, transport “will depend entirely on sleding.” He records 25 cannons, 17 mortars, two howitzers and 25 boxes of lead.
Reposted by Brian Cook
Maybe, but we’re less than a year into this regime and it’s already staggering badly. All these pronouncements that Trump has irrevocably destroyed this or doomed our grandchildren to that feel like a needless concession to fascism. “Hey, everyone, let’s look on Ozymandias’s works and despair”
The headline, the main takeaway from a European viewpoint is this:
The transatlantic relationship as we know it is over. Yes, we kinda knew this. But this is now official US White House policy. Not a sppech, not a statement. The West as it used to be no longer exists.
The transatlantic relationship as we know it is over. Yes, we kinda knew this. But this is now official US White House policy. Not a sppech, not a statement. The West as it used to be no longer exists.
December 5, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Maybe, but we’re less than a year into this regime and it’s already staggering badly. All these pronouncements that Trump has irrevocably destroyed this or doomed our grandchildren to that feel like a needless concession to fascism. “Hey, everyone, let’s look on Ozymandias’s works and despair”
Get off social media, @edmarkey.bsky.social, and start using your position as one of the 100 most powerful legislators in the world to actually act against ICE. Don't agree to unanimous consent. Don't vote for any appointments. Hold your own field hearings. Stop collaborating with your GOP buddies.
December 5, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Get off social media, @edmarkey.bsky.social, and start using your position as one of the 100 most powerful legislators in the world to actually act against ICE. Don't agree to unanimous consent. Don't vote for any appointments. Hold your own field hearings. Stop collaborating with your GOP buddies.
Please consider joining me as a volunteer scholarship application reader for FEEA. We need professionals from all fields to review applications and help award scholarships to deserving students in the federal community.
More information at: feea.org/our-programs...
More information at: feea.org/our-programs...
Scholarship Selection Reader - Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund
FEEA's scholarship program relies on scholarship selection reader volunteers to help make the program possible. Learn how to volunteer.
feea.org
December 5, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Please consider joining me as a volunteer scholarship application reader for FEEA. We need professionals from all fields to review applications and help award scholarships to deserving students in the federal community.
More information at: feea.org/our-programs...
More information at: feea.org/our-programs...
Reposted by Brian Cook
Posting this every day for the next three years
Democrats should commit now to disregarding any presidential pardons issued before charges have been filed. Whether or not Trump tries to sign blanket pardons for officials like Hegseth, they should be arrested as soon as Trump leaves office.
December 5, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Posting this every day for the next three years
Reposted by Brian Cook
Sick of Trump? OK, well, we just saw Congress hates anything that mucks with air travel, so stop buying plane tickets for a few months and tell Congress you’ll start again once they dump Trump.
We’ve got call scripts for you and everything:
groundtheplanes.com
We’ve got call scripts for you and everything:
groundtheplanes.com
Ground the Planes
Boycott all air travel until Congress fires Trump.
groundtheplanes.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Sick of Trump? OK, well, we just saw Congress hates anything that mucks with air travel, so stop buying plane tickets for a few months and tell Congress you’ll start again once they dump Trump.
We’ve got call scripts for you and everything:
groundtheplanes.com
We’ve got call scripts for you and everything:
groundtheplanes.com
Reposted by Brian Cook
I am so sick of this sycophantic dictator bullshit
December 5, 2025 at 4:34 AM
I am so sick of this sycophantic dictator bullshit
Trying to imagine what experiences the 26% answering ‘better’ have had. Maybe hearing the latest racist screed of the illegitimate POTUS.
New Poll: Most Americans feel cuts to the federal workforce are harmful: bit.ly/48SUrNp
December 4, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Trying to imagine what experiences the 26% answering ‘better’ have had. Maybe hearing the latest racist screed of the illegitimate POTUS.
Reposted by Brian Cook
My understanding has been that Hegseth gave the 'kill em all' order...which Bradley took to mean no quarter...for the FIRST strike and this all just copout word games to make you think the first, accurate story wasn't what you heard.
BREAKING: A Navy admiral tells lawmakers there was no "kill them all" order from Hegseth in the Sept. 2 attack that killed two drug boat survivors.
Live updates: Navy admiral tells lawmakers there was no ‘kill all’ order in attack that killed drug boat survivors
Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who reportedly issued orders for the U.S. military to fire upon survivors of an attack, told lawmakers there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
bit.ly
December 4, 2025 at 7:06 PM
My understanding has been that Hegseth gave the 'kill em all' order...which Bradley took to mean no quarter...for the FIRST strike and this all just copout word games to make you think the first, accurate story wasn't what you heard.
Reposted by Brian Cook
Nor could that boat, before it was bombed, reach the United States. That’s important because it refutes the laughable claim of “imminence” necessary to wrap the strikes under the auspices of a lawful armed conflict.
I cannot imagine the level of moral bankruptcy to describe the actions of people whose boat has just been hit by a missile from nowhere (this was the FIRST such strike) and who were most likely making a desperate attempt not to drown in the ocean as trying to "stay in the fight."
Q: What did you see in the second strike?
Cotton: "I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat -- loaded with drugs, bound for the United States -- back over, so they could stay in the fight."
Cotton: "I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat -- loaded with drugs, bound for the United States -- back over, so they could stay in the fight."
December 4, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Nor could that boat, before it was bombed, reach the United States. That’s important because it refutes the laughable claim of “imminence” necessary to wrap the strikes under the auspices of a lawful armed conflict.
Please no. This is not only ridiculous but extremely dangerous.
www.404media.co/nuclear-rian...
www.404media.co/nuclear-rian...
‘Atoms for Algorithms:’ The Trump Administration’s Top Nuclear Scientists Think AI Can Replace Humans in Power Plants
A presentation at the International Atomic Energy Agency unveiled Big Tech’s vision of an AI and nuclear fueled future.
www.404media.co
December 4, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Please no. This is not only ridiculous but extremely dangerous.
www.404media.co/nuclear-rian...
www.404media.co/nuclear-rian...
Reposted by Brian Cook
Great example of vote dilution. Designed to destroy democracy by undermining ‘one person one vote.’ Keep up the fight; expose the corrupt politicians.
What we're rallying against in IN 😒
December 4, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Great example of vote dilution. Designed to destroy democracy by undermining ‘one person one vote.’ Keep up the fight; expose the corrupt politicians.
Reposted by Brian Cook
By refusing to stand with @algreen.house.gov in support of Trump's impeachment and removal from office, Members of Congress are as good as complicit in his lawless destruction of the Constitution and the rule of law. @jessicadenson07.bsky.social #ImpeachTrump
December 2, 2025 at 5:31 PM
By refusing to stand with @algreen.house.gov in support of Trump's impeachment and removal from office, Members of Congress are as good as complicit in his lawless destruction of the Constitution and the rule of law. @jessicadenson07.bsky.social #ImpeachTrump
Reposted by Brian Cook
Good impeachment morning folks!
Rep @shrithanedar.bsky.social has just called for the impeachment of Peter B. Hegseth for the crime of murder, and for his unlawful mishandling of classified information.
www.instagram.com/flare.usa/
Rep @shrithanedar.bsky.social has just called for the impeachment of Peter B. Hegseth for the crime of murder, and for his unlawful mishandling of classified information.
www.instagram.com/flare.usa/
December 4, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Good impeachment morning folks!
Rep @shrithanedar.bsky.social has just called for the impeachment of Peter B. Hegseth for the crime of murder, and for his unlawful mishandling of classified information.
www.instagram.com/flare.usa/
Rep @shrithanedar.bsky.social has just called for the impeachment of Peter B. Hegseth for the crime of murder, and for his unlawful mishandling of classified information.
www.instagram.com/flare.usa/
Time to interrogate vigorously your local city councils and school boards/commitees, folks.
1. Amazon has become a major force in how cities, counties & schools buy basic supplies. Our new report finds Amazon is using opaque pricing algorithms to drive up costs and eliminate transparency—while harming competition by pushing out better-performing independent suppliers.
Turning Public Money into Amazon’s Profits | Independent Business
Amazon has quietly captured a growing share of government purchasing. This major report explains how, and what to do about it.
ilsr.org
December 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Time to interrogate vigorously your local city councils and school boards/commitees, folks.
Reposted by Brian Cook
what's more, government officials don't have the "right" to take certain actions, and it's idiotic to say so. their authority is expressly or implicitly delegated by the constitution, applicable statutes, or presidential directives. their exercises of their power can (and often should) be contested.
Batya might be just fine with a dudetrustme basis for a terrorist designation, but Americans with a functioning moral compass actually expect a plausible public rationale for who is to be treated as a terrorist in our name.
December 4, 2025 at 2:04 PM
what's more, government officials don't have the "right" to take certain actions, and it's idiotic to say so. their authority is expressly or implicitly delegated by the constitution, applicable statutes, or presidential directives. their exercises of their power can (and often should) be contested.
Reposted by Brian Cook
We should ask of such massive, regressive tax cuts the same thing Hawley would ask if it were a subsidy proposal: How do you plan to pay for that?
Hawley is pitching his colleagues — and Trump — on a new health care plan that would allow all tax payers to deduct up to $25K/person in medical expenses.
Hawley told us he recently discussed the idea with Trump: “I said...'no taxes on tips, no taxes on health care’, and he goes ‘oh I like that."
Hawley told us he recently discussed the idea with Trump: “I said...'no taxes on tips, no taxes on health care’, and he goes ‘oh I like that."
Hawley pitches new health care tax plan
The Missouri Republican is proposing making it easier for more tax payers to deduct medical expenses — and has pitched Donald Trump on the idea.
www.politico.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:59 PM
We should ask of such massive, regressive tax cuts the same thing Hawley would ask if it were a subsidy proposal: How do you plan to pay for that?
A couple initial thoughts on @donmoyn.bsky.social’s excellent thread. 1) many procedural complexities derive from legislatures trying to protect or serve particular interests. 2) W. Wilson offered much more than the 1887 essay. What he sought was system structure that tied power to accountability.
There is such a thirst in some progressive centrist circles that they will look at the Trump administration as a model to get things done. I think its worth addressing the argument. This is from Mark Dunkelman, author of the widely praised "Why Nothing Works."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...
Opinion | What the Left Could Learn From Trump’s Brutal Efficiency
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:39 PM
A couple initial thoughts on @donmoyn.bsky.social’s excellent thread. 1) many procedural complexities derive from legislatures trying to protect or serve particular interests. 2) W. Wilson offered much more than the 1887 essay. What he sought was system structure that tied power to accountability.
This began at least as far back as the early 1990s. Some of its roots are in the property tax revolts, like Proposition 2-1/2 in Massachusetts. There is a deep-seated current among a portion of the populace that is anti-teacher, anti-public schools. I sure hope we are not in its end game.
It's really worth pausing for a moment to reflect on just how badly education has been fucked under capitalism, in which students are increasingly no longer being assigned books or meaningful reading & analysis of any kind. In which gamifying "outcomes" overshadows, well, education.
December 3, 2025 at 2:55 PM
This began at least as far back as the early 1990s. Some of its roots are in the property tax revolts, like Proposition 2-1/2 in Massachusetts. There is a deep-seated current among a portion of the populace that is anti-teacher, anti-public schools. I sure hope we are not in its end game.
Reposted by Brian Cook
It really isn’t said enough how much these people straight up hate America. People should say this a lot more frequently. They simply don’t like the good parts of modern American life.
"Sources in the Trump administration have previously told Zeteo that officials will at times intentionally use popular music from vocally anti-Trump performing artists, in order to trigger a negative response from a famous liberal and provide further amplification of their pervasive culture war,"
NEWS: The Trump-Vance White House is attacking Sabrina Carpenter.
In a new statement, the White House — led by Trump, a liable sexual abuser mired in scandal for ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — suggests Carpenter is "stupid" and is defending pedophiles and rapists.
@swin24.bsky.social reports:
In a new statement, the White House — led by Trump, a liable sexual abuser mired in scandal for ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — suggests Carpenter is "stupid" and is defending pedophiles and rapists.
@swin24.bsky.social reports:
December 2, 2025 at 7:36 PM
It really isn’t said enough how much these people straight up hate America. People should say this a lot more frequently. They simply don’t like the good parts of modern American life.
Reposted by Brian Cook
Read these words. This is your country doing this:
“Pregnant & postpartum women report starving in ICE custody, freezing cells, invasive procedures, miscarriages, their pleas for help going unanswered.”
Thank you @rfkhumanrights.bsky.social @the-independent.com for shining a light on these horrors
“Pregnant & postpartum women report starving in ICE custody, freezing cells, invasive procedures, miscarriages, their pleas for help going unanswered.”
Thank you @rfkhumanrights.bsky.social @the-independent.com for shining a light on these horrors
(1/4) ICE detention has become a black box. Oversight has been gutted. Families are being separated. Pregnant and postpartum women report starving in custody, freezing cells, invasive procedures, miscarriages, and their pleas for help going unanswered.
Miscarriages, infections, neglect: The pregnant women detained by ICE
Until last year, Congress required reports on the pregnant, postpartum or nursing women in ICE custody, including ‘detailed justification’ for their detention. This requirement no longer exists, Kelly...
www.independent.co.uk
December 2, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Read these words. This is your country doing this:
“Pregnant & postpartum women report starving in ICE custody, freezing cells, invasive procedures, miscarriages, their pleas for help going unanswered.”
Thank you @rfkhumanrights.bsky.social @the-independent.com for shining a light on these horrors
“Pregnant & postpartum women report starving in ICE custody, freezing cells, invasive procedures, miscarriages, their pleas for help going unanswered.”
Thank you @rfkhumanrights.bsky.social @the-independent.com for shining a light on these horrors
Reposted by Brian Cook
Wake me up when somebody with a modicum of power decides to do something meaningful to stop the wheels from falling off.
Democrats are feckless, moderates desperately want to play politics as usual. It’s pathetic.
Democrats are feckless, moderates desperately want to play politics as usual. It’s pathetic.
December 2, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Wake me up when somebody with a modicum of power decides to do something meaningful to stop the wheels from falling off.
Democrats are feckless, moderates desperately want to play politics as usual. It’s pathetic.
Democrats are feckless, moderates desperately want to play politics as usual. It’s pathetic.