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Reposted by Chris McLaren

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 1h

‼️ this is one of the reasons why the Musk shutdown of USAID broke me, like

Congress said 'we're allocating these funds to save lives'

a random asshole with too much money and unresolved bitterness about the end of Apartheid said 'no you're not'

so the funding disappeared??

and people are dying??

Hunter @hunterub.bsky.social · 4h

There's literally no reason for Congress to exist if any random freak in the presidential orbit can nullify laws and seize federal funds. All of this is plainly illegal, but Mike Johnson leads the most corrupt Congress in US history (and by a wide margin.)

Reuters @reuters.com · 9h

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers reut.rs/4qjMIyT

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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 6h

the president using the office to punish americans that didnt vote for him should really be one of the biggest scandals in americas history

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 13h

Trump is upfront in saying he will use the shutdown to punish Democrats, and here are the receipts. About $27.2 billion cut from Dem districts compared to about $0.7 billion in GOP districts.
We all complain about the media, but need this type of in-depth journalism.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Trump Halts Billions in Grants for Democratic Districts During Shutdown (Gift Article)

The Trump administration has frozen or canceled nearly $28 billion primarily located in Democratic-led districts, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

www.nytimes.com

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Hunter @hunterub.bsky.social · 4h

There's literally no reason for Congress to exist if any random freak in the presidential orbit can nullify laws and seize federal funds. All of this is plainly illegal, but Mike Johnson leads the most corrupt Congress in US history (and by a wide margin.)

Reuters @reuters.com · 9h

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers reut.rs/4qjMIyT

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers

White House budget director Russell Vought said he wants to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and expects to do so within the next two to three months.

reut.rs

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Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 5h

I once lost a bet and had to read all the volumes of L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth series.

At least it was only -ten- books.

This seems... masochistic.

KINDAFREE | IRI @denofsin.bsky.social · 11h

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Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 5h

Weird (complimentary).

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Breen Ouellette (he/him) @breeno.bsky.social · 13h

Carney has quietly put his elbows down.

David Pugliese @davidpugliese.bsky.social · 14h

canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Canada flying in lockstep with the United States

Promises of Canadian independence from US influence are unravelling as the Carney government moves forward with the costly F-35 fighter jet purchase. Amid rising global tensions and domestic crises, O...

canadiandimension.com

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Sandi Bachom 📹🎥🎬 @sandibachom.bsky.social · 1d

🔥🔥🔥 Today at immigration court 26 Federal Plaza this woman went ballistic to the masked ICE agents who detained her family member. Where are the people standing up to the Gestapo? I never saw this in 4 months I’ve been filming. 👏👏👏👏

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LOWρUF🐸 🇵🇦🇬🇱🇨🇦🇲🇽 @lowrhoufo.bsky.social · 8h

I feel like Ben Gvir personally being in the room when Greta Thunberg was being tortured should be bigger news

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Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 7h

tl;dr this is, as I've been screaming into the wind about for a week now, not just illegal as shit but fundamentally means the Constitution as written is no longer in effect

That said if you want an even deeper dive on the subject than I've done, this is a very good thread

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 8h

Trump's mechanism to pay the troops during the shutdown is by far the most illegal budgetary action he's taken as POTUS, potentially setting the stage to break everything.

It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.

Long thread.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/10/national-security-presidential-memorandum-nspm-8/

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Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 6h

Tempted. It'd never make it to the table, but just for nostalgia...

Chaosium @chaosium.bsky.social · 6h

Pendragon Classic is live on Kickstarter!

40 years after its original publication, we are proud to recreate the original edition of this classic RPG, as pure and raw as it was back then, with bonus content from the archives.

Back now -> www.kickstarter.com/projects/cha...

Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 6h

Not crow.

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Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 6h

This story is wild. Seems more like a movie plot than something that might result in a death in the real world.

Meth disguised as Canadian beer kills 21-year-old in New Zealand

On March 2, 2023, Aiden Sagala did what many people do after a long, hot day at work. He cracked open a cold one. Little did he know, that swig of beer would kill him. Aiden didn’t realize that the ca...

www.ctvnews.ca

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Jeff Yang @originalsp.in · 10h

ICE arrested comedian Robby Roadsteamer for singing a parody of Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” in a Jeffrey Epstein the Giraffe costume outside their facility.

He sings “If you hate brown people / and you are a Nazi” and ICE thugs grab him and drag him into detention. No violence—just speech.

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Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 10h

Or, if we have to endure lil' PeePee calling for this, can we at least call it what it is, and not allow him this nano-thin veneer of being within acceptable parameters for debate in a decent society?

Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 10h

You know, when I look back at 10-years ago Chris, 20-years ago Chris, 30-years ago Chris, the things that motivate me try to be better are the things that I am embarrassed of.

You improve by acknowledging the ways you were wrong, and doing better.

If I couldn't feel bad about some of my history...

Michael Oberg @michaelleroyoberg.bsky.social · 14h

Let me state this as clearly as I can:

It is not the job of a historian to make you feel good about your nation’s past.

We need to print this on t-shirts and bumper stickers.

a close up of a man 's face with his mouth open and a very angry look on his face .

ALT: a close up of a man 's face with his mouth open and a very angry look on his face .

media.tenor.com

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Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 10h

Sure. And many should.

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Reposted by Chris McLaren

Troy Avevipart🍁 @privatevotary.bsky.social · 12h

Take the abstraction out of Poilievre's sloganeering — it hits different.

𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆.

𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆.

𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻.

They're saying it bluntly. It's up to each of us to choose to actually 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 it.

Pierce Poilievre
@PierrePoilievre

Sign here. End DEI.

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Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 10h

We've seen this play out in the States, where the mask is off, & it's clear that "anti-DEI" means full-on white supremacy, ableism to the level of eugenics, sexism that'll roll back generations of advances for women, not to mention prejudice against the LGBTQIA2S+ panoply.

Could we just not?

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Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 10h

The second-most punchable face in Canadian politics, who has never had an actual job outside Parliament, wants you to know he thinks that trying to address structural prejudice and the resulting uneven playing field and quality-of-life issues is "government waste".

The Beaverton @thebeaverton.com · 13h

“Restore merit, end DEI” says man who could only get elected in Canada’s safest Conservative stronghold

OTTAWA - Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has launched a petition to "end DEI programs and restore merit", just months after losing his own heavily-favoured seat before running in an even more hea...

www.thebeaverton.com

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Reposted by Chris McLaren

Andrew Karre @andrewkarre.bsky.social · 13h

🧵It has been clear for years that a key difference between past instances of book banning and the present censorship cataclysm is that the banning happening now targets not only books, but librarianship as a profession and libraries as an institution. 1/4

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Skyla Dawn Cameron @skyladawn.ca · 12h

Kobo boxset sale! Save 25% with the coupon code BOXSET at checkout CA/US/UK/AU/NZ kobo.com/p/october-bo...

Misanthropic. Obsessive. Manipulative. Talks to the hallucination of her dead sister. Save on Waverly Jones Mysteries Vol I and start your murder board... www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/...

A boxset of books with a young woman on the front cover looking down, trees running vertically behind her. She is serious and contemplative and the overall vibe is moody. The promo text says Waverly Jones Mysteries: Volume One. 25% off at Kobo until October 20, coupon code BOXSET at checkout. "Five stars. Fucking hell."

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Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 11h

Relevant in these days. (Really has never not been relevant somewhere every day since Milton wrote it.)

Anthony Oliveira @meakoopa.bsky.social · 12h

here's the full text from the opening of Book 9 of PARADISE LOST, wherein Milton (while invoking his muse) talks about the tacky jingoist trash of writing epics about homelands, and his disinterest in projects that incite war.

Not sedulous by Nature to indite
Warrs, hitherto the onely Argument
Heroic deem'd, chief maistrie to dissect
With long and tedious havoc fabl'd Knights [ 30 ]
In Battels feign'd; the better fortitude
Of Patience and Heroic Martyrdom
Unsung; or to describe Races and Games,
Or tilting Furniture, emblazon'd Shields,
Impreses quaint, Caparisons and Steeds; [ 35 ]
Bases and tinsel Trappings, gorgious Knights
At Joust and Torneament; then marshal'd Feast
Serv'd up in Hall with Sewers, and Seneshals;
The skill of Artifice or Office mean,
Not that which justly gives Heroic name [ 40 ]
To Person or to Poem. Mee of these
Nor skilld nor studious, higher Argument
Remaines, sufficient of it self to raise
That name, unless an age too late, or cold
Climat, or Years damp my intended wing [ 45 ]
Deprest, and much they may, if all be mine,
Not Hers who brings it nightly to my Ear.

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Chris McLaren @chrismclaren.com · 11h

Also, everything else aside: Angela Basset rocking this look? You know that's going to be a cool movie in at least some ways.

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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 12h

We have to penalize blatant lying, particularly by public figures. We’ve slid
into a post-truth world and nothing but sheer cultural gruntwork is going to get us out.

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 14h

NEW — I dug into the story of ICE abducting a 13-year-old boy in Massachusetts and moving him 500 miles across state lines without notifying his mother, local cop's complicity, and how the federal government's justification for such cruelty is already falling apart:

ICE took a 13-year-old they said had a gun. Local cops say he didn’t.

Now he's detained 500 miles away from his Massachusetts home.

www.thehandbasket.co

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 13h

Almost like we founded the entire country on opposing this exact sentence.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 14h

Bessent: "No kings equals no paychecks"

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