"In a personalist dictatorship, the tyrant usually tries to destroy as many institutions as possible because they’re constraints on his power."
Marcel Dirsus on the rise and fall of tyrants
"The tyrant usually tries to destroy as many institutions as possible because they’re constraints on his power."
www.publicnotice.co
March 4, 2025 at 3:53 AM
"In a personalist dictatorship, the tyrant usually tries to destroy as many institutions as possible because they’re constraints on his power."
“Trump promises that you don’t have to think about other people.” (Gift article)
Opinion | This Is the Dark, Unspoken Promise of Trump’s Return
Liberal democracy offers moral constraints without problem-solving. Populism offers problem-solving without moral constraints.
www.nytimes.com
November 16, 2024 at 7:58 PM
“Trump promises that you don’t have to think about other people.” (Gift article)
Sinners is a horror film in which almost all of the key events are driven by the constraints of the Jim Crow economy (spoilery) www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
The Real Horror of 'Sinners' Isn’t Supernatural
The constraints of the Jim Crow economy drive every event in the film.
www.theatlantic.com
May 2, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Sinners is a horror film in which almost all of the key events are driven by the constraints of the Jim Crow economy (spoilery) www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
Mayor Pete describes Chump's
Campaign of Revenge,with No
Limits and No Constraints.......
Campaign of Revenge,with No
Limits and No Constraints.......
September 25, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Mayor Pete describes Chump's
Campaign of Revenge,with No
Limits and No Constraints.......
Campaign of Revenge,with No
Limits and No Constraints.......
any burrito can be a breakfast burrito, freedom is total and eludes the flimsy bonds of our constraints
August 2, 2024 at 3:03 PM
any burrito can be a breakfast burrito, freedom is total and eludes the flimsy bonds of our constraints
He hates American values and principles. He hates democracy. He despises the Constitution and its constraints. He hates most Americans. All he desires is money, power and staying out of jail. Am I missing something?
October 20, 2025 at 9:07 PM
He hates American values and principles. He hates democracy. He despises the Constitution and its constraints. He hates most Americans. All he desires is money, power and staying out of jail. Am I missing something?
We're mad about the universe's physical constraints again I guess
December 24, 2024 at 6:45 PM
We're mad about the universe's physical constraints again I guess
/2
4. Their goals are an authoritarian uniparty system, free from the constraints of the rule of law.
5. This is their Reichstag fire.
4. Their goals are an authoritarian uniparty system, free from the constraints of the rule of law.
5. This is their Reichstag fire.
June 9, 2025 at 6:11 AM
/2
4. Their goals are an authoritarian uniparty system, free from the constraints of the rule of law.
5. This is their Reichstag fire.
4. Their goals are an authoritarian uniparty system, free from the constraints of the rule of law.
5. This is their Reichstag fire.
true to form, i have a quote post from someone insisting that gentrification has nothing to do with housing constraints
July 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM
true to form, i have a quote post from someone insisting that gentrification has nothing to do with housing constraints
Amyloid plaques have liberated the president of the United States from the constraints of chronological time.
April 2, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Amyloid plaques have liberated the president of the United States from the constraints of chronological time.
The GOP just voted to gut any constraints on his War Powers.
March 5, 2026 at 9:57 PM
The GOP just voted to gut any constraints on his War Powers.
americans simply do not believe material constraints are real.
April 28, 2026 at 1:40 AM
americans simply do not believe material constraints are real.
Entirely personalized and with no constraints.
Trump's threat to bomb Iran made something clear to me in a way I hadn't yet formulated: His conception of US military force, like his conception of the federal govt, is now entirely personalized. It is a power to be wielded not on behalf of US interests but on behalf of his personal whims.
January 2, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Entirely personalized and with no constraints.
"Guy operating under chronic munitions constraints shocked to find forces not operating under those constraints utilizing a shoot-shoot-shoot-maybe look-shoot some more-shoot doctrine"
A senior Ukrainian air force officer sent to the Gulf said he was shocked to see forces firing up to 8 Patriot missiles at a single target—even cheap drones.
Source: The Times
Source: The Times
March 23, 2026 at 1:44 AM
"Guy operating under chronic munitions constraints shocked to find forces not operating under those constraints utilizing a shoot-shoot-shoot-maybe look-shoot some more-shoot doctrine"
New Bills HC Joe Brady did a good job given some of the constraints of the offense. But….the person who created those constraints promoted him!
Thoughts on the Bills moves…
🎧: apple.co/49YWAGR
📺: youtu.be/Rk_pbU4K9DA?...
Thoughts on the Bills moves…
🎧: apple.co/49YWAGR
📺: youtu.be/Rk_pbU4K9DA?...
January 27, 2026 at 11:53 PM
New Bills HC Joe Brady did a good job given some of the constraints of the offense. But….the person who created those constraints promoted him!
Thoughts on the Bills moves…
🎧: apple.co/49YWAGR
📺: youtu.be/Rk_pbU4K9DA?...
Thoughts on the Bills moves…
🎧: apple.co/49YWAGR
📺: youtu.be/Rk_pbU4K9DA?...
Without any constraints on the outward expression of their neurosis, they ran wild and became cringe
April 13, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Without any constraints on the outward expression of their neurosis, they ran wild and became cringe
Masha Gessen who knows the signs of authoritarianism and warns of its inception for our nation. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/o...
Opinion | This Is the Dark, Unspoken Promise of Trump’s Return
Liberal democracy offers moral constraints without problem-solving. Populism offers problem-solving without moral constraints.
www.nytimes.com
November 18, 2024 at 11:01 PM
Masha Gessen who knows the signs of authoritarianism and warns of its inception for our nation. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/o...
I feel like “any conception of aggregate resource constraints is woke” is getting pretty far away from the original brief
Mamdani is trying to prevent New York’s power grid from failing, you idiot.
78° by choice is a lot better than 100° without electricity.
78° by choice is a lot better than 100° without electricity.
July 2, 2026 at 3:46 PM
I feel like “any conception of aggregate resource constraints is woke” is getting pretty far away from the original brief
The foreign policy of a personalist dictatorship. There are no constraints.
Trump in a single gaggle on Air Force One just threatened:
-- a second strike against Venezuela
-- Cuba
-- Mexico
-- Colombia
-- Iran
-- Greenland (which in turn would be an attack on the EU and Denmark)
-- a second strike against Venezuela
-- Cuba
-- Mexico
-- Colombia
-- Iran
-- Greenland (which in turn would be an attack on the EU and Denmark)
January 5, 2026 at 2:08 AM
The foreign policy of a personalist dictatorship. There are no constraints.
Due to time constraints I will no longer be answering rhetorical questions.
January 14, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Due to time constraints I will no longer be answering rhetorical questions.
There is no ideology, writes Masha Gessen, but there is a playbook for "Autocratic breakthrough" www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/o...
Opinion | This Is the Dark, Unspoken Promise of Trump’s Return
Liberal democracy offers moral constraints without problem-solving. Populism offers problem-solving without moral constraints.
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2024 at 1:23 PM
There is no ideology, writes Masha Gessen, but there is a playbook for "Autocratic breakthrough" www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/o...
Incentives without constraints don’t end conflicts — they reshape them.
March 18, 2026 at 5:43 AM
Incentives without constraints don’t end conflicts — they reshape them.
the high point of my being denounced as a neoliberal shill on tiktok is when i insisted that gentrification is downstream of housing supply constraints, and isn’t a quality inherently possessed by people you don’t like
maybe I’ll get pilloried for like “not getting the joke” or whatever, but this is absolutely how, like, a comfortable percentage of Cool People think the dynamics of housing costs work and it fucking sucks
July 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
the high point of my being denounced as a neoliberal shill on tiktok is when i insisted that gentrification is downstream of housing supply constraints, and isn’t a quality inherently possessed by people you don’t like