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Bill Patrick

@ponderosatree.bsky.social
539 followers 106 following 867 posts

political scientist

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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
AI curious? Independent Lens presents an amazing history of its development while providing many clear definitions of the technology from a variety of angles. All from a broad selection of scholars, scientists and journalists who have been working on the topic for a long time. youtu.be/dLQzVLtvdv8
youtu.be
Ghost in the Machine | Full Documentary
YouTube video by PBS Documentaries
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
youtu.be/d6SPV4GZp-U
youtu.be
The Life of Death and the Ensh*ttificator
YouTube video by Forbrukerrådet - Norwegian Consumer Council
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Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
“A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men.” — Bertrand Russell
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 01/08/2026
We could've made this montage of liars an hour long but you get the point
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
“When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” —Martin Luther King Jr., Beyond Vietnam, 1967 Quote from this article. More powerful 1/
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
PayPal mafia revelations just keep coming. But only thanks to @jim-stewartson.bsky.social and a just few others. So many pro-democracy journos are failing to analyze today’s far-right movement—a movement that is in power! How many Platner oppo pieces do we need?
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Dave Troy @davetroy.com · 04/07/2026
EXCLUSIVE: Every week, Russia's Security Council reports what the Kremlin thinks. And they're not just fighting for territory in Ukraine — they are fighting to remake the world order by winning over hearts and minds globally. america2.news/what-russia-...
america2.news
What Russia Believes: Weekly Reports Reveal the Kremlin's Distorted Worldview
The Kremlin's internal security bulletins reveal a fight not over territory but a metaphysical contest — one waged, and slowly won, through information warfare the West largely ignores.
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Read this if you'd like to get beyond the old polarization on this Fourth. It may be the best article published so far by @thebulwark.com, given their Never Trump Conservative mission to educate right-of-center Americans. open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com
How Trumpism Betrays the Declaration of Independence
Cherry-picking Lincoln, the MAGA New Right tries to rewrite—or discard altogether—the promise of human equality.
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Angry Staff Officer @pptsapper.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Happy “liberal arts professor helps save the Union” day to all who celebrate
Charge of the 20th Maine at Little Round Top
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Re-posting a Jefferson quote, with a friendly reminder to Libertarians across the USA: Your freedom from government in your pursuits is entirely reliant on the rule of law in a democracy. Do you think a "Network State" will provide checks and balances on consolidated interests and monopolies?
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Important refresh on religious liberty in the US. The subtext of Dan Patrick’s (no r.) little voice speech is major Constitutional challenges are on the way in phase two of this administration’s “Project.” Phase two will be led by Vance, and it will be an awful attack on education & women esp.
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
"I contemplate with reverence that act of the American people which declared their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." -- Thomas Jefferson wapo.st/43YNcR4
wapo.st
Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission takes aim at church-state separation
The report recommends the Justice Department issue guidance to promote “an originalist understanding” of how the Constitution sees religion and government.
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Guardrails of Democracy @demguardrails.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Time to change that election fraud narrative! “The D@mn elections aren’t the problem” 🙏 ~Thomas Massie (R) Kentucky
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Another big-tech backed anti-democracy flavored conference series, Dialog, unraveled by @davetroy.com. Rather than bringing together left and right thought leaders, it sounds more like Dialog is about bringing together pseudo intellectuals and big business interests. Fun times in a seminar setting!
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 20/06/2026
Noticing a piece of the new “American flag blue” liner that was partially detached from the Reflecting Pool, David Hearn said he reached in to see what it felt like. Moments later, U.S. Park Police officers arrested him on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property. wapo.st/4xVNzcS
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” —Thomas Jefferson
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Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
“DOGE whistleblower's brake line was cut after Musk posted about him on X *** A police report confirms someone vandalized Dan Berulis’ car a day after Musk shared his identity online.” 6/15/26 … 1/ www.snopes.com/fact-check/m...
snopes.com
DOGE whistleblower's brake line was cut after Musk posted about him on X: Timeline of what we know
A police report confirms someone vandalized Dan Berulis’ car a day after Musk shared his identity online.
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Way to go San Francisco's Ocean Beach!
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
* US JUDGE INDEFINITELY BLOCKS TRUMP'S ANTI-WEAPONIZATION FUND * US JUDGE SAYS WILL GIVE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ONE WEEK TO GIVE SWORN STATEMENT THAT FUND WILL NOT GO FROWARD @reuters.com
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Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Responses from Trump's lawyers are due on FRIDAY in federal court in Florida... where a group of retired federal judges are urging the court to investigate if there was "fraud" and "collusion" in Trump's lawsuit vs. his own I.R.S.
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Great summary of Blanche's Anti-Weaponization Fund and its many flaws. This case is a stunning challenge to the Federal Courts and the Constitution. And by rejecting Senate amendments that would have blocked it, R's may have helped the Court reopen the case and investigate potential fraud.
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
web.archive.org/web/20170131...
web.archive.org
Ur-Fascism
I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism. These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contra...
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
It’s time for libertarians to see, esp given big tech’s reach, that democracies provide the only legitimate checks and balances on consolidated interests and monopolies that have plans to take your liberty and drug you with ketamine to keep you compliant. Literally. @davetroy.com
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
A precise and much needed retrospective from Mona Charen at The Bulwark. This is how pro-democracy conservatives and Never Trumpers can best help reverse this slide toward authoritarianism, and this deep cultural decay. Restate the facts clearly and regularly so the MAGA GOP can't hide.
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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 07/05/2026
"This is not just the most corrupt presidency in American history, it is among the most corrupt regimes on earth." And abject corruption on a mass scale, it turns out, is not politically popular. New from @monacharen.bsky.social:
lnk.thebulwark.com
Trump’s Corruption Is Going to Sink Him
Conditions are right for voters to stop turning a blind eye to his greed, grift, and gold leaf.
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
The inevitable crisis for the American right is here. They can never rally around and vote for Trump again and the results of just one year of their ham-fisted Gov tear-down are in: Radically higher prices, morally indefensible scandals and policies, self-dealing corruption, and warmongering.
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Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 03/05/2026
Today, on World Press Freedom Day, we reaffirm our duty to support and protect journalists so they can do their work free from pressure, intimidation, or harm.
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
@radiofreetom.bsky.social Tom, I haven't seen anything on the Joint Targeting Cycle from military policy experts like you or Mark Hertling. Did Trump's threats of mass destruction, recently tripled down on, actually prevent a large strike that Hegseth and Netanyahu may have been pushing for?
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Dave Troy @davetroy.com · 21/04/2026
Are we witnessing the final unraveling of Donald Trump and the fragile coalition that brought him to power? His choice to pursue war in Iran has all but sealed his fate. My latest. america2.news/the-unraveli...
america2.news
The Unraveling of Donald Trump
Donald Trump has seemingly permanently fractured the fragile coalition that brought him into power. Is MAGA effectively dead?
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Jim Stewartson, Antifascist @jim-stewartson.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
With Donald Trump’s presidency on the brink, we need to consider what President Vance brings along with him. Between Palantir, Tesla & SpaceX, the PayPal Mafia control a Death Star valued at nearly $4 trillion. “That’s no moon.” —Obi Wan Kenobi www.mind-war.com/p/death-star...
mind-war.com
Death Star: The Multi-Trillion Dollar Bet on American Technocracy
Palantir’s Manifesto provides a road map for the plans of the post-Trump regime
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Elizabeth Warren @elizabeth-warren.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Ending Direct File will cost taxpayers billions of dollars—money that will flow into tax prep companies. It's time to stop giant companies from profiting off a process the government once made free. I have a bill to get Congress to reverse Trump’s decision to cancel Direct File.
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
@crow.house.gov The ceasefire is likely only a brief opportunity for Congress to stop crimes against humanity. Dems can make it clear that the GOP led Congress is choosing to ignore its responsibility to stop threatened war crimes. Impeachment or removal of POTUS is warranted,
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
We’ve been warned. When this administration repeatedly threatened the very civilization of 90M Iranians, it threatened the civilization of the USA. We now have a small window for Congress to prevent these war crimes from occurring. Whatever stopped this is only temporary without an act of Congress.
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
We now know why Trump was so desperate to win the Nobel Peace Prize. It was an Orwellian plan to claim “war is peace” as he kills civilians running small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific and as he threatens to end civilization in Iran. The GOP owns this 1984, I mean Project 2025, madness.
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
We've been warned that war crimes are imminent. Congress has no choice but to vote to stop this war before that happens. Faced with irrational communications, we cannot assume ending a civilization is hyperbole and we cannot assume military commanders can simply refuse "illegal orders".
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Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett @crockett.house.gov · 07/04/2026
Targeting civilians would, in fact, be a war crime. This man is deranged, unstable, and unfit to lead. He thinks this is a game. Republicans need to find their backbone, rein him in, and end this reckless war before more innocent lives are lost and this escalates into something far worse.
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Congress must act immediately and pass a concurrent resolution under the War Powers Act to stop all military action. STRATCOM, given all the recent firings, and given all of this admin’s irrational communications, cannot be relied upon to follow the law as intended. It’s up to Congress now.
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Governor Gavin Newsom @governor.ca.gov · 07/03/2026
For the bottom 40% of families, California taxes are LOWER than states like Florida and Texas. In fact, 16 other states tax LOW-WAGE earners MORE than California taxes our HIGH-WAGE earners. The evidence is clear, and the numbers don't lie.
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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 03/03/2026
A worldwide sell-off for stocks is slamming onto Wall Street Tuesday, and oil prices are leaping even higher as worries rise that the war with Iran is widening and may do more sustained damage to the global economy than feared.
bit.ly
Dow drops 900 as stocks sell off around the world and oil prices leap even higher on war worries
A worldwide sell-off for stocks is slamming onto Wall Street, and oil prices are leaping even higher as worries rise that the war with Iran is widening and may do more sustained damage to the global economy than feared.
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The Onion @theonion.com · 02/03/2026
Trump Boys Try Trading In George Washington Portrait At GameStop theonion.com/trump-boys-try-trading…
Trump Boys Try Trading In George Washington Portrait At GameStop
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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 28/02/2026
Trump’s war against Iran is illegal and a betrayal of the American people. Congress cannot allow Trump to drag yet another generation into a forever war.
youtube.com
Trump’s war against Iran is illegal and a betrayal of the American people.
YouTube video by Senator Elizabeth Warren
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Sen. Adam Schiff @schiff.senate.gov · 28/02/2026
Americans do not want another forever war in the Middle East. Congress must return to DC immediately to reassert its war powers.
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Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
“Bitcoin Suddenly Plunges As Markets Brace For Iran War Price Crash” 2/28/26
forbes.com
Bitcoin Suddenly Plunges As Markets Brace For Iran War Price Crash
The bitcoin price has dropped sharply, plunging toward $60,000 per bitcoin and losing almost 5% in a matter of minutes...
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Pearl Jam @pearljam.com · 28/02/2026
Today is #RareDiseaseDay Through EB Research Partnership, families, scientists, and supporters are pushing research forward, pioneering progress in EB and helping reshape what’s possible for rare diseases. It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of time. 🦋 Learn more: ebresearch.org
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Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
@wyden.senate.gov @johnlarsonct.bsky.social @ewarren.bsky.social @waysmeanscmte.bsky.social
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
New 15% global tariffs not only break several just made trade agreements, they’re also not legal under Section 122 as claimed. Even the Trump admin started this in August. MAJOR SCOOP and incredible reporting here: open.substack.com/pub/populari...
open.substack.com
Trump’s new tariffs are just as illegal as his old tariffs
Numerous media outlets are spreading false information about the law — and Trump is benefiting.
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
“Not only has Congress not authorized such a war, but it has barely even debated it. The administration has not bothered to explain, either to Congress or the American people, why it might bomb Iran or what it hopes to achieve…This is how an autocracy goes to war.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | This Is How an Autocrat Goes to War
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 18/02/2026
“Fuck the poor! Fuck the poor!” That’s how the March for Billionaires kicked off on February 7 in Pacific Heights, one of San Francisco’s wealthiest neighborhoods, near a stretch of mansions known as Billionaires’ Row. We went to see whether the event was satire or sincere. The answer was… yes.
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Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
BREAKING: I read the new version of the “Save America Act” (S. 1383) so u don’t have to. Here’s my summary. Point 1 is new. It requires that all 50 states send their voter rolls to the DHS to run thru DHS’s faulty “SAVE” voter purge program. Points 6 & 7 are new too. Tell ur Senators #NoOnSAVE 1/
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Bill Patrick @ponderosatree.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
This tracks. We are likely to see a lot of new Massies as the GOP plots a path for R’s in congress to find themselves on the right side of the Epstein-(insert powerful co-conspirator here) criminal enterprise.
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