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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 3h

It’s less than the bare minimum for Democrats to say that anyone everyone still employed in IRS enforcement when this starts should expect to go to prison if they take power.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 4h

Again, it is a full-blown federal felony crime for anyone in the White House or Executive Office of the President to order tax investigations into anyone.

And it's not just a crime to DO it, it's even a federal crime for an employee not to REPORT such an order to the Treasury Inspector General.

26 U.S. Code § 7217 - Prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations
U.S. Code
Notes
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(a)Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for any applicable person to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.

(b)Reporting requirement
Any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service receiving any request prohibited by subsection (a) shall report the receipt of such request to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

(c)Exceptions
Subsection (a) shall not apply to any written request made—
(1)to an applicable person by or on behalf of the taxpayer and forwarded by such applicable person to the Internal Revenue Service;
(2)by an applicable person for disclosure of return or return information under section 6103 if such request is made in accordance with the requirements of such section; or
(3)by the Secretary of the Treasury as a consequence of the implementation of a change in tax policy.
(d)Penalty
Any person who willfully violates subsection (a) or fails to report under subsection (b) shall be punished upon conviction by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

(e)Applicable person
For purposes of this section, the term “applicable person” means—
(1)the President, the Vice President, any employee of the executive office of the President, and any employee of the executive office of the Vice President; and
(2)any individual (other than the Attorney General of the United States) serving in a position specified in section 5312 of title 5, United States Code.

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 6h

To whoever found a black “9” sticker somewhere out in the world and realized the place it belonged was on the blank MTS bus stop for the Balboa Ave TC bus bay that’s used as route 8/43 overflow, I want you to know that it might be one of the only things I laugh at this month and I appreciate you.

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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 12h

the days when these guys worried about hiding their "power level" are far behind us

Santiago Mayer @santiagomayer.com · 12h

Holy shit. This is Angelo Elia, a legislative correspondent for Congressman Dave Taylor.

According to @rooster.info, during a Zoom meeting today, he had an American nazi flag displayed in the background.

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 9h

Or it might’ve been the staffer who was on the call. Politico is now paywalling me, I can’t open the article to double check.

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 9h

Politico is underselling their own reporting with this headline. Politico themselves noticed it in the background of a Zoom/webex meeting that Taylor was in. He or his staff obviously put it there.

Politico @politico.com · 12h

EXCLUSIVE: Capitol Police are investigating a swastika found in GOP Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.

“The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff, or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms," Taylor said in a statement.

Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office

An American flag altered to include an image of a swastika was found in Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.

www.politico.com

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 13h

“The video is very short, making it clear that the choice of lyrics was the intentional focus. Viewers are obviously meant to hear the antisemitic aspects, since it’s more or less the only audio in the 13 seconds being presented. “

Gizmodo @gizmodo.com · 13h

Border Patrol Posts Instagram Propaganda Video Featuring Antisemitic Slurs

The video was pinned to Border Patrol's Instagram Reels.

gizmodo.com

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 12h

The third option is to build roads and cities that restrict car movement in favor of transit priority and pedestrian safety. But if the current bipartisan opposition to that is permanent, then people coming to CA for an abortion should be very careful which cities they drive through.

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newadrian.bsky.social @newadrian.bsky.social · 15h

This is why driverless cabs are not in fact going to be the answer for urban traffic. Sufficient Waymos just to move the passengers using the 38 Geary in SF (for example) would create total gridlock.

Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

A standard MTS 40ft bus seats around 30-35 people (60 with standing). Next time you’re completely stuck in traffic in San Diego, try to count how far ahead 35 cars is - if you can see that far.

Gordon Padelford @gordonofseattle.bsky.social · 1d

👀 "An entire lane of solo drivers on Denny Way between Seattle Center and I-4 can fit into one articulated Route 8 bus, and a dedicated transit lane would allow that bus to be over four times faster than driving along this section"

Cars just don't scale well, especially in dense cities.

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

A standard MTS 40ft bus seats around 30-35 people (60 with standing). Next time you’re completely stuck in traffic in San Diego, try to count how far ahead 35 cars is - if you can see that far.

Gordon Padelford @gordonofseattle.bsky.social · 1d

👀 "An entire lane of solo drivers on Denny Way between Seattle Center and I-4 can fit into one articulated Route 8 bus, and a dedicated transit lane would allow that bus to be over four times faster than driving along this section"

Cars just don't scale well, especially in dense cities.

200 people in different modes on 2nd ave demonstration

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

A standard MTS 40ft bus seats around 30-35 people (60 with standing). Next time you’re completely stuck in traffic in San Diego, try to count how far ahead 35 cars is - if you can see that far.

Gordon Padelford @gordonofseattle.bsky.social · 1d

👀 "An entire lane of solo drivers on Denny Way between Seattle Center and I-4 can fit into one articulated Route 8 bus, and a dedicated transit lane would allow that bus to be over four times faster than driving along this section"

Cars just don't scale well, especially in dense cities.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, that is a tear gas canister being fired toward the retreating couple holding the baby

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 1d

The official government account for DHS appears to be run by far-right trolls deliberately trying to provoke a response by using a term openly associated with ethnic cleansing. They will attack anyone who points this out and express faux outrage at the suggestion. They know what they are doing.

Remigration Wikipedia Page.

Not to be confused with Return migration.
Remigration is an originally European far-right proposal of ethnic cleansing via the mass deportation of non-white immigrants and their descendants, sometimes including those born in Europe, to their place of racial ancestry.
It is popular especially within the Identitarian movement. Some proponents of remigration suggest excluding some persons with non-European background from such a mass deportation, based on a varyingly defined degree of assimilation into European culture.

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RoseMarie @rosesbloom24.bsky.social · 1d

The E.P.A. canceled a $20 million flood protection grant to Alaska months before a remote village was inundated.

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

To put things in terms an economist like Bhattacharya would understand, if the change of Presidents is immediately followed by more workers in one industry being laid off each subsequent month than in the entire previous Presidency, is the President pro- or anti- that industry?

Jonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 1d

Anyone who normalized or defended this guy was normalizing and defending a MAGA propagandist.

Bravo. 🧵

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

This is the shift into a general purpose secret police. Their goal here is to feed their base’s racist fantasies of subjugating cities. There is no amount of economic harm the regime can cause that will prevent those people from voting for them as long as they get to see this every day.

The TRiiBE @thetriibe.com · 1d

UPDATE — Multiple witness videos today show an older white federal agent straddling a young Black man on the ground outside of a Walgreens on Chicago’s Southeast Side.

This is a developing story.

thetriibe.com/2025/10/fede...

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not joking or exaggerating, that database of chat logs tied to photo IDs will eventually leak or be hacked, and it will change the course of history for the worse in horrific ways we can't even imagine.

Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 1d

Great business model! They have to turn a profit somewhere, right? Get the audience (of lonely and poorly socialized males) addicted on an investor-subsidized product (of personalized porn) and then, slowly but inevitably, turn up the cost.

The Verge @theverge.com · 1d

Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon sext with verified adults

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

Just saying that GenA/GenZ didn't invent this form of brainrot.

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

No room for me to criticize, I spent my first four years as an adult in a college marching band where 90% of our culture involved finding meaning in appearances of the number 49 in random places. Eight years later, my random seed is always 49 and server ports are always 49494.

Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 1d

Middle school teachers should be paid a heck of a lot more.

The Numbers Six and Seven Are Making Life Hell for Math Teachers

‘Six seven’ sends teens into a frenzy that schools have been powerless to stop. ‘It’s like throwing catnip at cats.’

www.wsj.com

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

Don't know how much it says or doesn't say that the White House allowed this, but worth noting.

Atlanta News First @atlantanewsfirst.com · 1d

DeKalb County police officer killed in CDC shooting awarded Purple Heart, Medal of Honor

The Purple Heart is awarded to those hurt or killed in action, while the Medal of Honor is the country’s highest award for military valor.

www.atlantanewsfirst.com

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

College Young Republican groups have been like this for a long time. College Republicans invited Charles Murray when I was an undergrad in 2016. It worked because liberal media repeatedly came to their defense when college admins or communities pushed back even slightly against their overt racism.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

POLITICO: “.. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies .. and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

POLITICO: “.. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies .. and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

Two current principles of concern-troll fascism:

1. RFK Jr just wants to get rid of all the sugary processed food.

2. We should all start drinking energy drinks to help Trump win his trade war.

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 1d

Tariffs have rapidly increased the price of coffee—a drink with almost no nutritional value and lots of functional substitutes. Yet coffee may also be the one thing Americans can’t live without, @elcush.bsky.social writes:

The Drink That Americans Won’t Give Up Without a Fight

Coffee has almost no nutritional value and lots of substitutes. It’s also, apparently, too important to lose.

bit.ly

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

It’s important to understand what someone like Russel Vought is saying when he terminates the entire CDC IRB. It’s a statement that there should be no limits on the ways a marginalized person’s bodily integrity can be violated, and he knows that.

Formal review procedures for institutional human subject studies were originally developed in direct response to research abuses in the 20th century.
Among the most notorious of these abuses were the experiments of Nazi physicians, which became a focus of the post-World War II Doctors' Trial, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a long-term project conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S.
Public Health Service, and numerous human radiation experiments conducted during the Cold War. Other controversial U.S. projects undertaken during this era include the Milgram obedience experiment, the Stanford prison experiment, and Project MKULTRA, a series of classified mind control studies organized by the CIA.
The result of these abuses was the National Research Act of 1974 and the development of the Belmont Report, which outlined the primary ethical principles in human subjects review; these include
"respect for persons", "beneficence", and "justice".
An IRB may approve only research for which the risks to subjects are balanced by potential benefits to society, and for which the selection of subjects presents a fair or just distribution of risks and benefits to eligible participants. A bona fide process for obtaining informed consent from participants is also generally needed. However, this requirement may be waived in certain circumstances - for example, when the risk of harm to participants is clearlv minimal.

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

The NIH is arguably the only good thing America has done for humanity in its entire existence, and according to its current leadership, government actions like this are the reason it has to be destroyed.

Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 1d

I'm sorry, is the Trump Administration talking to a tech platform?

Is it...requesting content moderation?

Today following outreach from @thejusticedept, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago.
The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 1d

Build decentralized human networks using encrypted channels. Your social media page will be taken down if it is effective. Your app will be taken down if it is effective. There is no path to safety via the clear corporate internet.

Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 1d

I'm sorry, is the Trump Administration talking to a tech platform?

Is it...requesting content moderation?

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