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Posts by James Slattery

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My latest Substack is out! This week, I make the case that the killings in Minnesota make it clear that there is no longer a "risk free" way to express dissent, and that we must find the courage to do so anyway.

Link here: controlaltdemocracy.substack.com/p/only-our-c...

2 months ago 1 0 0 0
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My latest Substack is out! I examine how economic failure in Russia in the 90s fatally damaged democracy in that country -- and how the same thing has unfolded in America in recent decades. Please read and share if this sounds like your jam! Link: open.substack.com/pub/controla...

3 months ago 1 0 0 0

Haha yes, I have a similar version but worse because I read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and it caused that axis to go all the way back 2000 years to near the beginning of anno domini

3 months ago 2 0 1 0

How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.

5 months ago 15166 4080 258 200
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Why you should fight to save your country even when it keeps breaking your heart "This is our country and it’s the only one we have."

My latest Substack is out! Here I try to diagnose the malaise that has afflicted the anti-Trump resistance this time around, and how we can overcome it. I think it boils down to residual heartbreak over Trump winning a 2nd term, and a deep crisis of faith in ourselves, our values, and our leaders.

5 months ago 5 0 0 0
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My favorite part of Austin No Kings is this balloon of Elon Musk doing his Nazi salute

6 months ago 7 1 0 0
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You don't have to just live with it "The only thing we should fear is that we will surrender our homeland to be plundered by a gang of liars, thieves, and hypocrites."

My second Substack post is out! Here I introduce the main topic for the series over the next few months: lessons we can learn from Alexei Navalny and the Russian democratic opposition movement as we confront an authoritarian administration here at home.

6 months ago 1 0 0 0
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It’s time to pick ourselves up and get to work We have all the tools we need to save American democracy, if only we reach out and grasp them and use them

If this piece and project speak to you, please subscribe and share with others you think need this now, too.

open.substack.com/pub/controla...

6 months ago 1 0 0 0
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Patriot by Alexei Navalny: 9780593320969 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER, THE ATLANTIC, NPR • The powerful and moving memoir of a fearless political...

His book Patriot has a lot to say about how to think and feel and act when you live in a democracy that is actively backsliding into authoritarianism -- things that I think people really need to hear and will make the path ahead clearer and more hopeful. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/689896...

6 months ago 1 0 1 0
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The series will initially focus initially on the life and work of Alexei Navalny -- the leader of the Russian opposition movement who wrote a revelatory memoir while imprisoned in a gulag above the Arctic Circle.

6 months ago 0 0 1 0

I’ve been spending the months since the election asking myself and others what comes next. I came to realize that we have a lot we can learn from movements overseas, and that we need to make common cause with all those fighting for democracy wherever they may be.

6 months ago 0 0 1 0
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It’s time to pick ourselves up and get to work We have all the tools we need to save American democracy, if only we reach out and grasp them and use them

Hello friends! I'm excited to announce that I launched a new Substack last week. As we fight to save American democracy, we'll be exploring what we can learn from those who have been fighting similar authoritarian regimes overseas.

6 months ago 2 0 1 0
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Why not just save time and add Iran directly to the signal chat lmao

10 months ago 1 0 0 0

Not a coincidence that Trump “is the most dominant figure on the world stage” and the world is experiencing a level of upheaval it hasn’t in generations.

10 months ago 1 0 0 0

The Speaker of the House calls for violence against an elected official of the opposition party, and it somehow is second tier news. Unreal.

10 months ago 3 0 0 0

Honestly this is the kind of courage and defiance that we have been sorely lacking the last six months. Dems should do more of this, and stop being scared and poll testing things to death

10 months ago 1 0 0 0
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Opinion | How Did So Many Elected Democrats Miss Biden’s Infirmity?

“Too many Democrats were lying to themselves. The ‘original sin’ that party leaders now need to grapple with is their tendency toward groupthink, inertia and an extreme and wildly counterproductive risk aversion.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/o...

11 months ago 0 0 0 0

Donald Trump knows better than most that nothing is ever “free.” They’re buying influence, obviously.

11 months ago 0 0 0 0
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This obviously isn’t a quote from Ben Franklin. “Bad guy” is a term that originated in the 20th Century and is associated with the pop culture of that era, not the 1700s

11 months ago 8 0 0 0
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God he’s such an idiot. Yeah, why would a nuclear war in a region with billions of people have any impact on America?

11 months ago 0 0 0 0

This is what happens when you apply a Silicon Valley mindset — “break things and see what happens” — to government.

People will die unnecessarily during this Admin because Elon Musk was allowed to run the government.

11 months ago 0 0 0 0

Parolin: STOP THE COUNT

11 months ago 0 0 0 0
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Lawyers Are Quoting $1 Million in Fees to Get Pardons to Trump One pardon recipient recalls the president telling him, ‘You’re cleaner than a baby’s bottom.’

Wow, who knew that "Drain the Swamp" really means that Trump will pardon criminals if they give enough money to his friends and allies.

11 months ago 0 1 0 0

If the economy contracted in the first quarter of any Democrat’s presidency, as it did with Trump’s, the Republicans would be yelling about it every day until kingdom come — and they wouldn’t get bogged down in “but some of it was a surge in imports”

11 months ago 0 0 0 0

Honestly, if Dems aren’t reminding the public every single day for the rest of his presidency that Trump openly admitted that your kids will have fewer toys this Christmas because of his policies — then they should dissolve as a party and go on to do other things.

11 months ago 2 0 1 0

Wild how all those “constitutional conservatives” have disappeared now that Trump is in power. They would’ve roasted Obama or Biden alive if he’d said something like this.

11 months ago 1 0 0 0

I had to check and…this is real. There are literally no limits to how far Lindsey Graham will debase himself

11 months ago 0 0 0 0
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You know things are bad for Trump when even Texas business turns against him

11 months ago 1 0 0 0

The smug look of triumph on this evil asshole’s face

11 months ago 0 0 0 0
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That’s wild! I remember watching it on TV and people having all kinds of crazy feelings about it, both pro and con

11 months ago 0 0 0 0