Brigitte
@bptt.bsky.social
660 followers 530 following 550 posts
Volcanologist interested in eruption dynamics, feedback between tectonics and magmatism, and volcanic hazard mapping. Using python (badly) to understand volcanic systems. She/Her. All opinions my own. ⚒️ 🌋
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
bptt.bsky.social
I think this picture from the article says a LOT about the kind of people the Federal government has brought in to brutalize protesters. More than a little excited to stop on people’s rights
bptt.bsky.social
I’m now officially a licensed guest teacher! Colorado makes the substitute license sound fancy!
bptt.bsky.social
Vought is threatening to fire us again, must be Friday...
bptt.bsky.social
We weren’t bottom feeders, although we had to constantly deal with bottom feeders firms trying to undercut us. But regional mid-tier engineering firms is exactly where most of the industry is, and what I described is the kind of work most environmental geologists spend their careers doing.
bptt.bsky.social
Also, pretty arrogant for someone who doesn’t live or presumably practice in the same country that I do to suggest I lack an understanding of a field that I worked in.
bptt.bsky.social
I worked for a mid-tier regional engineering firm as a staff geologist. Clients ranged from local governments to small businesses to multinational agribusinesses. Work included phase 1-3 ESAs, soil and groundwater remediation, to a lot of compliance monitoring. Lots of LUST sites.
bptt.bsky.social
OMB director and Project 2025 architect Russ Vought announced that he intends to flaunt the 2019 Government Employees Fair Treatment Act, which Donald Trump signed into law, that requires that all Federal employees receive back pay at the end of a shutdown.

www.govexec.com/pay-benefits...
OMB deletes reference to law guaranteeing backpay to furloughed feds from shutdown guidance
An Office of Management and Budget FAQ document now states that only excepted employees forced to work without pay are guaranteed backpay at the conclusion of a lapse in appropriations.
www.govexec.com
bptt.bsky.social
Thinking back to the podcast Alphabet Boys, the FBI informant/agitator Michael Windecker checked most of those boxes.

Another flag is someone who pressures others to plot/carry out serious crimes. Particularly when they don’t engage in those types of crimes themselves.
Reposted by Brigitte
jaredlholt.bsky.social
This really makes it sound like a Border Patrol agent tried to kill an anti-ICE activist in Chicago and DHS lied to cover for him
bptt.bsky.social
I think I only had two clients who had any interest in going above the bare minimum. Ironically one of them is a massive corporation that has a bad reputation for other environmental practices, but with the projects I did for them went well beyond what the regs asked of them.
bptt.bsky.social
Again, I’ve worked as an environmental geology consultant. You’re right that the interests of the client and the regulators rarely align, but your job is to represent the interests of your client, who in turn is almost always primarily interested in their bottom line. Public benefit is ancillary.
bptt.bsky.social
I may have sampled a few to many landfill and waste water treatment plant wells (particularly leachate) on hot Valley summer days. Those are some ungodly smells.
bptt.bsky.social
I’ve worked as an environmental consultant for a while. At the end of the day your job is to the bare minimum you can get the regulators to sign off on, while minimizing cost to the polluter and maximizing profit for the owner. The work sucks, and you’re still lining a rich persons pockets.
bptt.bsky.social
Yeah, not a great time to be a Fed scientist. I hope you’re leaving on your own terms. I’ve been struggling to think of ways to use my geoscience background to serve the public when my term position expires. I look forward to seeing what you figure out.
bptt.bsky.social
Tom seemed fine enough?
Reposted by Brigitte
equality.house.gov
First, Republicans created a healthcare crisis.

Then, they caused a total government shutdown.

Now, Speaker Johnson has extended their vacation and canceled this week's votes while Americans are hurting.

This isn't leadership—it's cowardice.
bptt.bsky.social
2018 era Twitter brain is too deeply baked into Bluesky’s DNA.
bptt.bsky.social
I mean, Trump’s goal seems to be getting active duty military to shoot anti-ICE protesters in Portland. That’s the escalation.
bptt.bsky.social
Really want to get on it, but my pcp wants to wait until my levels are stabilized. Makes sense, but I’m still jealous.
bptt.bsky.social
I understand that deeply. I’m a furloughed Fed and former USFS. But unlike NPS, most USFS lands don’t have amenities that need to be as actively managed. If you went to most parts of a Forest when the government is open you probably wouldn’t even see any USFS staff.
Reposted by Brigitte
npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 14d
Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere.

Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself.

Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj