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Hunter @hunterub.bsky.social · 12h

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 · 17h

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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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 13h

“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said

Oct. 15, 2025
PENTAGON PRESS ASSOCIATION
STATEMENT
Today, the Defense Department confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America. It did this because reporters would not sign onto a new media policy over its implicit threat of criminalizing national security reporting and exposing those who sign it to potential prosecution.
The Pentagon Press Association's members are still committed to reporting on the U.S. military. But make no mistake, today, Oct. 15, 2025 is a dark day for press freedom that raises concerns about a weakening U.S. commitment to transparency in governance, to public accountability at the Pentagon and to free speech for all.
PPA

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 8h

You know what tool existed when I was in high school that no one ever taught me how to use? Excel. A thing I use all the time now, mostly self-taught, existed in the late 1990s and no one was upending the curriculum to make sure I knew how to use it.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 8h

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
prev | next
(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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Mike Stucka @mikestucka.bsky.social · 9h

FWIW, I looked earlier and possibly all but one of the comments on a certain Congresscritter's last tweet were excoriating him for the swastika American flag in his office.

Granted, that's a pretty low bar, but ...

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Mike Stucka @mikestucka.bsky.social · 9h

I'd love to see a breakdown by science speciality. A whole bunch of scientists have moved here, but unfortunately hurricane Twitter is still very much a thing. =(

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 15h

WOW! Our survey of scientists who stopped using Twitter and started using Bluesky is now the #1 most-shared on social media article in the history of the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology! Thanks for reading it, everyone! @sicbjournals.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1093/icb/... 🧪

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky

Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

doi.org

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Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 9h

In 2013, one of the biggest political scandals involved claims from right-leaning groups that the IRS was discriminating against them. (Read about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_tar...)

Now, Trump is preparing to weaponize the IRS to pursue left-leaning groups:
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Exclusive | Trump Team Plans IRS Overhaul to Enable Pursuit of Left-Leaning Groups

The effort would install a Trump ally at the IRS’s criminal unit who has drawn up a list of investigative targets.

www.wsj.com

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Mike Stucka @mikestucka.bsky.social · 9h

Kind of on a related note, if you have Netflix there's an anthology series called Love Death + Robots. Some are superb; some not. But I'd highly recommend Season 2's "All Through The House," as written by @jheijndermans.bsky.social .

"Lucky 13", 3 Robots, Yogurt are also by enjoyable authors.

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 1d

Impeachable acts every day

tony romm @tonyromm.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: The Trump administration has blocked or slowed almost $28 billion in federal aid since the shutdown began, largely harming Democratic-led cities, congressional districts and states, underscoring how the president has weaponized a fiscal stalemate

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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Mike Stucka @mikestucka.bsky.social · 12h

Obligatory

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Mike Stucka @mikestucka.bsky.social · 12h

It's amazing how different the first two Alien movies are from each other, and yet they're among the best in their genres.

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Emissary Of Night | ليلى @diplomatofnight.com · 18h

Greta Thunberg: “Israeli soldiers hit, kicked, starved, and tortured me”

• They placed a flag next to me, and anytime the flag touched me, they kicked me
• Whenever I raised my head to look at Ben-Gvir, I was kicked
• She was filmed while stripped naked

Aftonbladet: tinyurl.com/a33vxatc

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Nekrởtzar @nekrotzar.bsky.social · 18h

“If you want my body…” puts habeas corpus in a new light.

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Mike Stucka @mikestucka.bsky.social · 17h

You know what? That's a follow.

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 20h

HOLY

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 20h

Q: This has been reported for a while. Cory Mills was accused of beating a girlfriend in his DC apt. Are you concerned about these allegations?

JOHNSON: You have to ask Rep. Mills about that. He's been a faithful colleague. I don't know the details. Let's talk about things that are really serious

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Craig Pittman @craigtimes.bsky.social · 20h

For decades, the U.S. military properly treated climate change as a threat. Now, under President Convicted Felon, it’s backing away from plans to protect people and bases from extreme weather, even as heat & storms slam the troops. floodlightnews.org/pentagon-rol... h/t @sejorg.bsky.social

Pentagon retreats from climate fight even as heat and storms slam troops

For decades, the military treated climate change as a threat. Now it’s backing away from plans to protect people and bases from extreme weather.

floodlightnews.org

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Mike Stucka @mikestucka.bsky.social · 20h

This sounds a lot like the stupidity the politicians created for the U.S. Postal Service.

(See the section on Act 44)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsyl...

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 20h

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

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

Bessent: "No kings equals no paychecks"

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Rebecca Fachner @rebeccafachner.bsky.social · 21h

Wednesday in your Nations Capital
Shutdown Day 15

Things continue to unravel.
The House is presumably enjoying their PAID VACATION thanks to the Speaker.

Meanwhile thousands of federal employees aren’t getting paychecks. And can’t talk to the media about it

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

New in PN: The 1,287,923 defects in the Comey case ... so far

"Dismissal is probably the best result for the government, since it would spare the DOJ having its dirty laundry aired in court before getting spanked for having brought such a garbage case. But even so, it'd be very, very funny."

The 1,287,923 defects in the Comey case ... so far

Welcome to the Rocket Docket, Lindsey Halligan!

www.publicnotice.co

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Mike Stucka @mikestucka.bsky.social · 21h

"Oh, Dolly Mae, how can you hang me up this way?
On the phone you said you wanted to run off with me today
Now I'm standing here like some turned-down serenading fool
Hearing strange words stutter from the mixed-up mind of you ..."

-- Jimi Hendrix

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John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 1d

To be clear:

LA County has declared a state of emergency BECAUSE OF the federal government.

The Feds, LA County is (correctly) saying, have CAUSED the emergency.

This is a striking political moment of internal collapse. Local govts feeling compelled to protect their ppl from … their own govt.

Los Angeles County declares state of emergency over immigration raids

Los Angeles County officials voted on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency over ongoing federal immigration raids.

abcnews.go.com

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Politico @politico.com · 1d

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 1d

Unbelievable story of Afghan refugee, a highly vetted fluent English speaker who helped the US against the Taliban and now lives here with his US citizen kids, declared “illegal” and perhaps about to be shipped home by the Trump admin to his likely death

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 1d

He supported America’s war, escaped Afghanistan and started a family in the U.S.

Then ICE arrested him.

If he is deported, he expects the Taliban to kill him.

America saved him from the Taliban. Trump wants to send him back.

He supported America’s war, escaped Afghanistan and started a family in the U.S. Then ICE arrested him. If he is deported, he expects the Taliban to kill him.

www.washingtonpost.com

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