Author | Lightnews

Reposted by theiconoclast

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 1d

JD Vance claims that diversity weakens unions, as people end up distrusting each other and not organizing.

Let me tell you two menswear stories related to this claim. 🧵

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 5d

Seems like killing DEI could be thought of in religious terms as functionally equivalent to killing God.

Yet finding new uses for existing components is precisely what evolution does. Feathers did not evolve for flight, for example. This repurposing reflects how biological evolution is jerry-rigged, making use of what’s available.

Kauffman argues that biological evolution is thus constantly creating not just new types of organisms but new possibilities for organisms, ones that not only did not exist at an earlier stage of evolution but could not possibly have existed. From the soup of single-celled organisms that constituted life on Earth 3 billion years ago, no elephant could have suddenly emerged — this required a whole host of preceding, contingent but specific innovations.

theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 5d

"a bit of a reputation at being a hothead...."
The ironically ludicrous absurdity of such a statement should haunt this guy to his grave.

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 5d

The secondary educational social studies curriculums based on Cold War views of economic systems that boomers and Gen Xers grew up with have impacted modern life like a toxic landfill.

Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 5d

I’ve been writing for a long time about contested and evolving meaning of economic terms like “free enterprise,” and I’m struck that pollsters can ask people whether they have a “positive or negative” image of “capitalism“ or “socialism,” without defining the terms.
news.gallup.com/poll/694835/...

Image of Capitalism Slips to 54% in U.S.

Fifty-four percent of Americans, down from 60% in 2021, have a positive opinion of capitalism, while a steady 39% view socialism positively.

news.gallup.com

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 5d

Perhaps your next book should be a textbook for middle school social studies

U.S. state standards for teaching economic systems can be grouped into three broad categories:

The Neoclassical/Free Enterprise Model: Presents market capitalism as the normative model, with other systems defined by their deviation from it. (Most Common)

The Comparative Systems Model: Aims for a more neutral, descriptive comparison of systems based on their core features. (Growing in Prevalence)

The Critical Analysis Model: Encourages students to evaluate all systems, including capitalism, based on historical outcomes and moral/philosophical arguments. (Least Common, found in specific districts or frameworks)

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 6d

Nancy Pelosi would be the first in line to call FDR a communist if he were running on these policies today.

Labor rights — legal recognition of unions (Wagner Act, 1935), collective bargaining, and protection from unfair labor practices.

Social insurance — the Social Security Act (1935), unemployment insurance, and public assistance.

Public works and jobs programs — WPA, CCC, and TVA, which directly employed millions of workers.

Banking and market regulation — FDIC, SEC, and Glass–Steagall, designed to protect ordinary depositors and restore trust.

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 7d

the unspeakable truth....

Natalie Ash (she/her) @thenatalieash.bsky.social · 7d

I think a “doomerism” is appropriate - in the context that hoping the systems that enabled a fascist takeover of the US government are the systems we can use to remove said fascists. Elections? Courts? These things will not be a salvation.
The way out of this mess is in a different direction.

Craig Calcaterra @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social · 7d

The dooming on this site is getting out of control. Every time you post anything about politics some rando condescendingly wonders how you can't possibly know that elections are over and all hope is lost. If you've completely lost hope, I'm sorry, but shut the fuck up, OK? You're not helping.

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 7d

This is worthy of in-depth investigative reporting. It's not really a question of what or why but rather a question of who. I don't believe Jefferies came to this decision on his own. Someone is forcing his hand. I smell party boss(es) at work here....

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 7d

The fucking GDP is already north of $80K a year for every single person in the country. For a family of four, that means their share, on average is over $320,000. We don't need an increase in GDP, we need a just distribution of the wealth we already create.

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 7d

Nazi Germany, hold my beer.
This is what the complete rejection of democracy looks like.

theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 8d

Imagine if Homo Erectus had rejected DEI in the way this administration is striving to do.

Reposted by theiconoclast

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 8d

California is readying a one-time 5% tax on billionaires for the 2026 ballot that would go toward compensating for Trump's Medicaid cuts. The architects see it as a national model.
It will be announced today.

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Reposted by theiconoclast

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 9d

Lots of US companies have done lots of dreadful things to Americans. But the symbolism of paying to destroy the White House is hard to top.

Aozora @aozorasf.bsky.social · 11d

This is who is paying for the destruction of the White House East Wing, per @wsj.com

Altria Group Inc.
Amazon
Apple Inc.
Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp.
Caterpillar Inc.
Coinbase Global
Comcast Corp.
Hard Rock International
Google
HP Inc.
Lockheed Martin Corp.
Meta Platforms Inc.
1/3

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 9d

wait, he was elected to serve as the senior executive steward of America's well-being and he's taking personal control of the American tax payer money and privately doling it out where he decides and people are stupid enough to accept that? Really?

theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 9d

So IOW, 87% of Republicans have no respect for the law. Understood....

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 10d

Direct cause and effect or just a haunting correlation?
www.wral.com/news/state/n...

What we know about the man charged with the mass shooting at a Southport bar that killed 3 people

An Oak Island man accused of killing three people in a mass shooting at a Southport bar over the weekend is a combat veteran who says he suffers from PTSD, according to Southport police.

www.wral.com

theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 11d

Hasn't replication been a factor in human life throughout time? We reproduce all types of art across various formats, many of which have a valued yet deceptively authentic character. Every experience we have is based on our sensory perception of sound and light waves.

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 11d

A profound moment in the American story.
How do we as American's want to be defined? Are we a free and diverse people free to peacefully commune with our neighbors and make our voices heard? Or are we machoistic society who takes pleasure from shitting on those who dare to voice opposition?

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Reposted by theiconoclast

David Sirota @davidsirota.com · 13d

This is the best political news I’ve seen in a very long time — so please pass it on👇

Each state can limit Citizens United in their own state & they don’t have to wait for other states to do it.

Our new @rollingstone.com piece based on our new book MASTER PLAN. Get the book at LeverNews.com/book

Rolling Stone excerpt about Montana’s ballot initiative to combat Citizens United

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 12d

Perfect encapsulation of the question now facing everyone of us. - What do we want it to mean to be an American?

Do we want it to stand for everyday people peacefully making their voices heard or for a masochist shitting on innocent people.

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 12d

@nytimes.com dare you to cover this....

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 13d

Dutch intelligence suspends sharing arrangements with the US after concluding that high level intel was routinely being shared by the White House with their friends in the Kremlin. www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/n...

Nederlandse diensten delen minder informatie met de VS: ‘Soms vertellen we dingen niet meer’

Het aantal dreigingen dat op Nederland afkomt is groot, zien de hoofden van de AIVD en de MIVD elke dag: niet alleen Russische agressie, maar ook de opmars van China als digitale macht en binnenlands ...

www.volkskrant.nl

theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 12d

It's quickly becoming undeniably clear that only weirdos, racists, masochists and a few oligarchs are still clinging to this modern, disgraced Republican party. I don't think they'll be able to gerrymander their way out of the loss of trust they've produced. Question is, what will they try next?

theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 12d

Imagine if we stood up a CSO, Congressional Science Office, to work like the CBO, Congressional Budget Office to score all proposed legislation according to its alignment with the scientific method.

Nils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 12d

Back in the late 1960s, Mondale proposed creating a national Council of Social Advisers, which would draw on social science to support a liberal reform agenda. This initiative's failure symbolized the collapsing faith in the possibility of well-informed progressive state muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...

Project MUSE - Closing the Domestic Intelligence Gap: Walter Mondale’s Proposal for a National Council of Social Advisers and the Uneasy Partnership between Social Science and the Federal Government

muse.jhu.edu

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theiconoclast @theiconoclast.bsky.social · 12d

It's becoming increasingly obvious that only weirdos, racists, masochists and a few oligarchs are still propping up the Republican party. I don't think they'll be able gerrymander their way out of the electoral curse they've brought onto themselves.

Reposted by theiconoclast

Silky @silkyweineck.bsky.social · 13d

this rocks. when indiana edu killed the student newspaper, Purdue stepped up, printed the forbidden issue, drove it to Bloomington and stocked the boxes.

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