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Brian Cook

@2ndadminstate.bsky.social
651 followers 264 following 2.6K posts

Tinkering with the Constitution has failed. The American commercial republic must be reconstructed. Professor Emeritus, Public Administration & Policy, Virginia Tech. "Democracy is for friends and citizens, not masters and slaves" Wilson Carey McWilliams

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Reposted by Brian Cook
Steven Beschloss @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Donald Trump incited a violent insurrection to reject the peaceful transfer of power & deny the people's will. He never should have been able to run again. GOP senators condemning Jack Smith for conducting a fact-based investigation as politics & worse are engaged in treachery of the worst order.
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Josh Zingher @zingherpolisci.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
People's ability to hallucinate a version of Trump that has never existed will never cease to amaze me. His political ability, which no one in my lived experience can replicate, is he gets people to project whatever *they* want to see onto him, evidence be damned. It's really quite something.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Super resource for seeing the probable impacts of the record-setting El Nino. Includes an interactive map. www.theclimatebrink.com/p/the-impact...
theclimatebrink.com
The impacts of this year’s record-shattering El Niño
El Niño will drive severe drought from Indonesia to the Southern Africa and northern South America, with wetter winters from the US Gulf Coast to Southern South America.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
On this stormy morning in New England, there is a much bigger storm intensifying in general purpose AI. "[T]here is a very real chance that American AI will become the scourge of the planet, and that nobody will ever trust American AI, ever again." garymarcus.substack.com/p/breaking-a...
garymarcus.substack.com
BREAKING: AI agent incident toll has risen to tens of thousands
Meanwhile, the US government appears to be paralyzed
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Even the 1970 Clean Air Act passed at the height of the environmental movement did not include such an aggressive enforcement mechanism. Reliance on the states and 3rd parties, so-called citizen attorneys general, was politically necessary. It couldn’t be achieved now without broad business buy in.
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Norm Eisen @normeisen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The headlines on the SCOTUS SAVE ruling are doing Trump's PR for him. 2 things they skip No mass voter purges before the midterms. The law bars them 90 days out & we're in that window Noncitizen voting? FL, IN, IA & OH ran voters through SAVE & found almost NOTHING -TN
democracydefendersaction.org
The Big Lie aka La Gran Mentira
This analysis exposes Donald Trump and his allies’ disinformation campaign around immigrants and voting.
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Ryan Enos @ryanenos.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Governing" in the United States has devolved into the President doing stuff and then the country holding its breath to see how the Supreme Court reacts.
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Norm Eisen @normeisen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
@democracydefendersfund.org & partners just helped secure an important win against Trump's shutdown mass firings The settlement kills the memo behind them & pulls layoffs out of agency shutdown plans AFGE, AFSCME & their unions never blinked. We are proud to have been a part of their fight👇 -TN
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Josh Zingher @zingherpolisci.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Daddy's Special Boy" is a parsimonious theory with tremendous explanatory power.
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Norm Ornstein @normornstein.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
There is no low too low for this partisan, lawless Supreme Court majority. Using the underhanded emergency docket to give Trump a power the Constitution does not allow, a fat thumb on the scale of elections. Disgraceful, six people who would be better on the Russian Supreme Court than in a democracy
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
IIRIRA remains one of the most authoritarian anti-freedom, pro-mass surveillance laws passed by the U.S. Congress in the last 50 years. A legacy of the height of "tough on crime" in the 1990s that is still shaping governance and freedoms today.
he Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsi- bility Act (IIRIRA). The relevant IIRIRA provision, 8 U. S. C. §1373, contains two notwithstanding clauses. The first, section 1373(a), provides: “Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal, State, or local law, a Federal, State, or local govern- ment entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the [DHS] information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlaw- ful, of any individual.” The second, section 1373(b), which is captioned “Additional authority of government entities,” similarly provides: “Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal, State, or local law, no person or agency may prohibit, or in any way restrict, a Federal, State, or local govern- ment entity from doing any of the following with re- spect to information regarding the immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.” Th
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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Incumbents who refuse to oppose this illegal war should be made to own the disastrous consequences
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
No one against impeaching Trump officials for egregious lawbreaking and Constitutional violations points out a downside. Gets the House additional investigatory powers. That alone makes it worth it. Do you not want power or do you want the full account to stay hidden from the public? Which is it?
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"[W]e should...temporarily shut OpenAI down, perhaps put them into receivership until they clean up their act, and charge them with computer crimes. That’s what we do with humans who do this kind of thing[;]it’s what we should with companies that do the same." garymarcus.substack.com/p/i-think-th...
garymarcus.substack.com
“I think the answer is we have to shut the labs down” - Jensen Huang
OpenAI hacks a foreign government — and the US faces its most critical AI test yet.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
When you teach burglary skills, they will be used…
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Stage Six of civilizational collapse… johnwalter25.substack.com/p/the-eight-...
johnwalter25.substack.com
The Eight Stages of Civilizational Collapse
I’ve been watching things fall apart for a while now.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Don’t force education and transportation in Massachusetts to suffer for Trump’s disaster, Governor Healy @massgovernor.bsky.social
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
If we are going to steel ourselves for what may be a harsh transition, or collapse, of civilization, we might consider taking the perspective of Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com and David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social in their terrific book The Bright Ages, "paths taken were not foreordained."
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 23/09/2026
This is obviously absurd, and really whistling past the graveyard, but also there are huge EXXON MOBIL and STATE OF QATAR donor acknowledgements on the wall in there.
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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The media assignment is very straightforward and clear: Can you find, in the coming months, some of these 750,000 people and interview them? According to Vance, they're probably all "fake" because anyone who buys a health plan and then doesn't file claims is obviously not someone who really exists.
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Environmental Protection Network @enviroprotnet.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
What if the biggest cost of AI isn’t on your electric bill? Coal, gas and diesel used to power data centers releases pollution linked to asthma, heart and lung disease and early death. As demand grows, strong safeguards matter more, not less. Read the report at the link in bio.
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Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
College is a battleground for these families. They want their kid to go, but they don’t want their kid to be changed by the experience or abandon their values. This is why they attack higher ed so much.
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Flying Pace @flyingpace.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Why is anyone still talking about this guy in any context besides calling for his removal and prosecution
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Dr. William Horne @wihorne.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
That man really uses our tax dollars to sit around all day thinking of ways to torture & murder Americans & we inexplicably allow him to tell us this ad nauseam without consequence.
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Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) @lawyers4goodgov.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
⚖️ A federal court just ruled EPA's termination of the $7 billion Solar for All program unlawful. L4GG fought to make this happen, & today, billions in clean energy funding can finally reach the low-income families and Tribal communities it was meant to serve. Read the statement: L4GG.org/SolarWin
l4gg.org
Lawyers for Good Government Responds to Federal Court Ruling Declaring EPA’s Termination of $7 Billion Solar for All Program Unlawful — Lawyers for Good Government
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Paul Gowder @gowder.io · 18/09/2026
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project was one of the supreme court’s worst decisions in its history, probably just on the tier below its most notorious infamies (Dred Scott, korematsu, trump v us, etc.); it was a gift-wrapped recipe for exactly the sort of repression we’re now seeing.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
What’s he going to be doing? Walking around stuffing Trump coins in everybody’s pockets?
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Michael McDonald @electproject.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
If your news organization is not banned that says something about you
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"EPA’s Repeal of Carbon Pollution Standards Will Dismantle Health Safeguards and Increase Deadly Air Pollution" Lee Zeldin and his cronies will eventually maim or kill almost as many people as that Nazi and his DOGE wrecking crew. www.environmentalprotectionnetwork.org/20260914_pow...
environmentalprotectionnetwork.org
EPA’s Repeal of Carbon Pollution Standards Will Dismantle Health Safeguards and Increase Deadly Air Pollution
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 14, 2026   CONTACT: Aaron Bharucha, Public Relations Associate (509) 429-1699 and epn-press@environmentalprotectionnetwork.org EPA’s Repeal of Carbon Pollution Standard...
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A lifetime appointment to the federal judiciary is contingent on good behavior. This is the opposite. Impeachment is the correct remedy, but that space is kind of crowded right now.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Oh no, I left out the word *save*. And I already have a cup of coffee! 🙃
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
If I just stop buying food at the grocery store, I can so much money every week!
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 17/09/2026
These people have too much money. They have all the personal stuff and experiences they want. All that's left for them is trying to seize control of public power to force their tastes and delusions on us.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The NTEU has also recently won in arbitration several times against the EPA. @nteunational.bsky.social
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This property comes with a sandbag kit!
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Dan Mitchell @danmitchell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I certainly separate myself from the people who did this to us (and to themselves). They are they and we are we. But this is still true, especially when you account for all the institutional and individual enablers who didn’t vote for Trump, but nevertheless made it possible for him to win.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In other words, they will continue lying, but with a new batch of lies.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Happy Constitution Day! (Looking into the bin under the shredder . . .) talkingpointsmemo.com/news/fbi-nsp... ". . .the disclosures suggest that the government’s financial investigators are starting to play a role in cases brought to serve partisan political ends."
talkingpointsmemo.com
Exclusive: FBI Builds Out National NSPM-7 Center to Track Dissent, Docs Show
The FBI has tapped employees from across federal law enforcement to crack...
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Royal court politics is how Americans do business now.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
When you train your AI agents to hack, don’t be surprised when they do what they are instructed. Especially if your ‘containment’ is inadequate, probably because you are lazy or just don’t care.
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Greg Olear @gregolear.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Ladies and gentlemen, the United States of America. 
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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A GAO investigation into how much Trump's various name changes and vanity monuments to himself cost the US taxpayer would be a worthy undertaking.
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Students of public administration should enjoy @doctorow.pluralistic.net's essay today invoking Frederick Taylor and scientific management in dissecting the AI bandwagon. pluralistic.net/2026/09/14/c... This in turn reminded me of Landau & Scott's "To Manage Is Not to Control" (PAR, Mar/Apr 1979).
pluralistic.net
Pluralistic: But do you use keyboard shortcuts? (14 Sep 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
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Environmental Protection Network @enviroprotnet.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
What could more data centers mean for your family’s health? Read The Hidden Health Costs of AI Data Centers: safernotsicker.org/ai
safernotsicker.org
The Hidden Costs of AI Data Centers - Safer Not Sicker
The Hidden Health Costs of AI Data Centers AI data center pollution can make people sick. Instead of protecting Americans’ health, the EPA is making the health risks worse. A new report finds the unpr...
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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Maybe the best way to prepare undergraduates for using AI is to...teach them stuff about the world and try as hard as you can to keep AI out of that stage of their learning? Graphing calculators are great...for calculus, after you've done a ton of math by hand.
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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
“To those who say, “Wait until next year” and “Buckle up” when the investigations start, I say: How many more lives must we lose, and how many more loved ones of victims have to plead for help before the self-evident evidence from videos and President Trump’s own words compel us to act?“
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Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
But, impeachment naysayers declare, "It's naive, we don't have the votes! It's a waste of time!" So I guess we can just repeal the Constitution whenever enough people don't want to do the hard, sustained work of defending it. Massive constitutional failure across the political spectrum.
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Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · 12/09/2026
So Trump and Hegseth have lost both the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea to Iran. That actually happened. Absolute scenes, and no one in the GOP seems to care at all
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/09/2026
When ChatGPT's chatbots deployed this tactic, they weren't "setting their own goals" or displaying worrying initiative. They were rolling out a tactic that has been understood by American middle-schoolers for about two decades.
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