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   Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Friday, 14-Aug-2026 23:53:17 JST Nonilex

   #Trump’s attack on a #ThinkTank is an affront to the #FirstAmendment

   #Republicans would be rightly irate if a Democratic president threatened to sue a conservative think tank & punish its corporate #donors over #research the White House didn’t like, but Trump’s attack this week on the Center for American Progress [ #CAP ] & its funders has been met with shrugs & silence.

   #law #Constitution #ThoughtPolice #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/08/14/trump-legal-threat-against-cap-risks-chilling-think-tank-research/?utm_medium=referral_home&utm_source=webview&no_nav=true&utm_campaign=pb_2607:variant;rct:0:0:2:20260701

   • HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴 repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Friday, 14-Aug-2026 23:53:16 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     Think tanks are as American as baseball, jazz & apple pie. They perform an unsung role in holding governments accountable at all levels. They incubate ideas & employ people, especially from whichever party is out of power, who will staff future White Houses.

     Such organizations & their supporters should not fear legal harassment when elected officials dislike their work. Freedom of speech & association are foundational pillars of the #FirstAmendment.

     #law #Constitution #Trump #fascism

     HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴 repeated this.
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     HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴 (histopol@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 15-Aug-2026 00:12:12 JST HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴

     in reply to

     @Nonilex

     #USpol

     "Think tanks are as American as baseball, jazz & apple pie. They perform an unsung role in holding governments accountable at all levels."

     *Many* probably are perfoming that useful function.

     And then, there are the rotton apples like the #HeritageFoundation and the #FederalistSociety (less think tank), that have been working on what I call the #CounterReconstruction since their founding.

     Also, there is the institutionalized "initial economic sin:"

     https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/112598555451884508

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Saturday, 15-Aug-2026 00:13:53 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     What set #Trump off was a #CAP report that found #NationalGuard deployments in DC have not contributed to the decline of violent crime. Trump said on social media that he’s drawing up a lawsuit against the liberal #ThinkTank & suggested that he might include some of its contributors. Trump named Google, Apple, Visa, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Walmart, Toyota, T-Mobile & NBC Universal.

     #law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #authoritarianism #autocracy #fascism #tyranny

     HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴 repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Saturday, 15-Aug-2026 00:36:52 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     Observers can compare the quality & depth of the research & come to their own conclusions. That’s the beauty of America’s large & diverse community of think tanks.

     According to the University of Pennsylvania’s last count, in 2020, the #US had 2,203 think tanks, nearly 800 more than any other country—about 4% of the world’s people but about 20% of its think tanks. More than 90% were headquartered outside DC. Massachusetts was the leader with 168 think tanks. That’s more than Italy or Japan.
     #law

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Saturday, 15-Aug-2026 00:36:53 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     If a more #Trump - friendly #ThinkTank … wants to publish research showing the deployment has reduced violent crime, it’s free to do so. The America First Policy Institute published a fact sheet last year touting a positive economic impact from the Guard’s presence. The Center for Renewing America, in an article defending the legality of Trump’s actions last year, noted a decline in violent crime. Neither attempted to demonstrate a causal link between the deployment & the reduction.

     #law

     HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴 repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Saturday, 15-Aug-2026 00:36:55 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     #CAP is led by #NeeraTanden [💕], one of the Democratic Party’s most influential power players & a veteran of the past three Democratic admins. But a less partisan #ThinkTank, the #NiskanenCenter, published its own report in May that also found no effect on violent crime in DC attributable to the #NationalGuard deployment. (It did find a reduction in property crime, which CAP did not analyze.)

     #law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #Trump #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

   • Embed this notice
     HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴 (histopol@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 15-Aug-2026 01:13:03 JST HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴

     in reply to

     @Nonilex

     #Econometrics /#Statistics /#CiuntryComparisons

     Comparing figures across countries is problematic per se (e. g. different jurisdictions/definitions).
     It is even more problematic, when comparing entirely different countries, in particular population sizes.
     I had therefore the figures recalculated per 1m inhabitants, a much more objective figure than mere nationality.

     The whole bottom line changes:
     Despite all its billionaires, the US ranks 👉a mere 7th👈, behind even Belgium :

   • Embed this notice
     HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴 (histopol@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 15-Aug-2026 01:14:23 JST HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴

     in reply to

     @Nonilex

     PS
     Sorry, there is no way I can zoom i to this table on my Smartphone, so first column with rank is missing, last column is truncated.

   • Embed this notice
     Dodo (dodo_sipping@cupoftea.social)'s status on Saturday, 15-Aug-2026 01:21:26 JST Dodo

     in reply to

     @Nonilex he only sues them for money. He will ask for a huge amount of compensation (for what? Facts are facts.)
     If you look at the donors he's just calculating they will pay something to stop him. His new daily parole when he doesn't like sth is "sue them". He doesn't pay for it, it's taxpayers money.