Kindler
@kindler.bsky.social
After decades working in public policy on sustainability, gaining advanced degrees in Poli Sci & Environmental Policy, blogging on Virginia politics at Blue Virginia and more, I’ve launched my own journal on Substack (https://kindler.substack.com)
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Kindler
@kindler.bsky.social
· Aug 21
Trump’s “Smash Sparrows” Campaigns
Because Dictatorships are Really, Really Stupid
open.substack.com
"Trump’s 'Smash Sparrows' Campaigns: Because Dictatorships are Really, Really Stupid." My latest on Substack:
Reposted by Kindler
Hakeem Jeffries is out with a new Dear Colleague letter, saying there are "just 13 legislative days left" before ACA tax credits expire, and that House Dems are planning to introduce a discharge petition to force an up-or-down vote on a three-year extension of ACA tax credits.
December 1, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Hakeem Jeffries is out with a new Dear Colleague letter, saying there are "just 13 legislative days left" before ACA tax credits expire, and that House Dems are planning to introduce a discharge petition to force an up-or-down vote on a three-year extension of ACA tax credits.
Reposted by Kindler
This year has made it so blindingly obvious that news medias "the presidency is too important to be left in the hands of an elderly elected official" crusade wasnt about any sort of actual merits and was instead entirely about aesthetics and furthering personal vendettas
Still funny the trump presidency is exactly what republicans and the press claimed the Biden presidency was
Trump’s echo chamber:
Very little U.S travel
No rallies or contact with supporters
Right-wing media
Dinners with rich donors and billionaires
Truth Social
Lack of staff to tell him no www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Very little U.S travel
No rallies or contact with supporters
Right-wing media
Dinners with rich donors and billionaires
Truth Social
Lack of staff to tell him no www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
December 1, 2025 at 4:41 PM
This year has made it so blindingly obvious that news medias "the presidency is too important to be left in the hands of an elderly elected official" crusade wasnt about any sort of actual merits and was instead entirely about aesthetics and furthering personal vendettas
Reposted by Kindler
conservatives basically want to implement the caricature of affirmative action for conservative students. acceptance without meeting qualifications, good grades and degrees without having to do the work.
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
December 1, 2025 at 1:29 AM
conservatives basically want to implement the caricature of affirmative action for conservative students. acceptance without meeting qualifications, good grades and degrees without having to do the work.
Reposted by Kindler
Senator Kelly is correct.
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
November 30, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Senator Kelly is correct.
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
Reposted by Kindler
If the Venezuelan sailors were enemy combatants, then the 2nd strike is a war crime.
If the Venezuelan sailors weren’t enemy combatants, then both strikes are criminal murder.
It’s that simple.
If the Venezuelan sailors weren’t enemy combatants, then both strikes are criminal murder.
It’s that simple.
November 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM
If the Venezuelan sailors were enemy combatants, then the 2nd strike is a war crime.
If the Venezuelan sailors weren’t enemy combatants, then both strikes are criminal murder.
It’s that simple.
If the Venezuelan sailors weren’t enemy combatants, then both strikes are criminal murder.
It’s that simple.
Reposted by Kindler
Number of states where average gas prices are below $2:
Zero.
Number of states where average gas prices are anywhere NEAR $2:
Zero.
Zero.
Number of states where average gas prices are anywhere NEAR $2:
Zero.
HASSETT: Gas prices dropped below $2 a gallon in a lot of places
CORDES: Gas prices on average are still at $3 a galloon
HASSETT: For a few states they got below $2
CORDES: Gas prices on average are still at $3 a galloon
HASSETT: For a few states they got below $2
November 30, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Number of states where average gas prices are below $2:
Zero.
Number of states where average gas prices are anywhere NEAR $2:
Zero.
Zero.
Number of states where average gas prices are anywhere NEAR $2:
Zero.
Reposted by Kindler
November 30, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Kindler
This is the Republican majority in Congress. Completely disinterested in looking into anything Trump is doing. Whatever he decides to do is fine with them and they won’t investigate or question anything. bsky.app/profile/atru...
Markwayne Mullin defends Trump pardoning Honduran president who was convicted of drug trafficking: "What the president is doing is always calculated. I haven't had a direct conversation with the president about it, but I do trust his natural reaction and his approach to foreign affairs."
November 30, 2025 at 2:52 PM
This is the Republican majority in Congress. Completely disinterested in looking into anything Trump is doing. Whatever he decides to do is fine with them and they won’t investigate or question anything. bsky.app/profile/atru...
Reposted by Kindler
Both taken this weekend:
November 30, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Both taken this weekend:
Reposted by Kindler
Just hear me out: maybe the Democratic Party’s problem is that the party leadership is full of people incapable of realizing that Matt Yglesias has terrible political instincts.
November 30, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Just hear me out: maybe the Democratic Party’s problem is that the party leadership is full of people incapable of realizing that Matt Yglesias has terrible political instincts.
Reposted by Kindler
In 2025, #ACA enrollees earning less than 150% FPL (barely over Medicaid level) can get the *benchmark Silver plan* for $0 in premiums (or $1 in some states) (They'll still have nominal deductibles & co-pays).
STARTING JANUARY 1st, they'll have to pay 2.1% - 4.19% of their income in premiums.
STARTING JANUARY 1st, they'll have to pay 2.1% - 4.19% of their income in premiums.
November 30, 2025 at 3:08 PM
In 2025, #ACA enrollees earning less than 150% FPL (barely over Medicaid level) can get the *benchmark Silver plan* for $0 in premiums (or $1 in some states) (They'll still have nominal deductibles & co-pays).
STARTING JANUARY 1st, they'll have to pay 2.1% - 4.19% of their income in premiums.
STARTING JANUARY 1st, they'll have to pay 2.1% - 4.19% of their income in premiums.
Reposted by Kindler
Nobody with in demand educational credentials are going to a place where 1.) women cannot get medical care, and 2.) are actively cutting educational spending when there are other options. Minnesota and Illinois are right across the state line.
November 30, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Nobody with in demand educational credentials are going to a place where 1.) women cannot get medical care, and 2.) are actively cutting educational spending when there are other options. Minnesota and Illinois are right across the state line.
Reposted by Kindler
When i lived in IA, it was a purple state. In the last 20 years, IA took a hard right turn and its politics are indistinguishable from Alabama's, complete with abortion ban and regressive taxes. Now they have horrible brain drain and credulously wonder what caused it.
tinyurl.com/2fyah23c
tinyurl.com/2fyah23c
Iowa needs more doctors. Here's what physicians say must change.
New policy wins — including $150 million for residency expansion and new prior-authorization rules — are giving Iowa physicians hope, but health leaders warns real improvements will take years.
www.thegazette.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:50 PM
When i lived in IA, it was a purple state. In the last 20 years, IA took a hard right turn and its politics are indistinguishable from Alabama's, complete with abortion ban and regressive taxes. Now they have horrible brain drain and credulously wonder what caused it.
tinyurl.com/2fyah23c
tinyurl.com/2fyah23c
Reposted by Kindler
How much money did he pay Trump Family for this release? $1 million has been the going rate.
He scammed over 1,000 people, most of whom were not wealthy - veterans, farmers, teachers, nurses, small businesses owners. Some lost everything. But he’s a rich Republican, so Trump let him get away with it. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
Trump Frees Fraudster Just Days Into Seven-Year Prison Sentence
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:51 PM
How much money did he pay Trump Family for this release? $1 million has been the going rate.
Reposted by Kindler
"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
News media has to do better with headlines that present false and unverified public health claims.
November 30, 2025 at 1:10 AM
"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Reposted by Kindler
Good. Fuck Robert Moses.
Mamdani hires car-hating activist Ben Furnas to transportation team: ‘war on drivers’
Mamdani hires car-hating activist Ben Furnas to transportation team: ‘war on drivers’
Car-hating Transportation Alternatives boss Ben Furnas has been appointed to Mamdani's transition team for transportation, climate and infrastructure – and his agenda is a nightmare for the city's drivers.
nypost.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Good. Fuck Robert Moses.
Reposted by Kindler
To Eck with Hagueseth!
Exactly 80 years ago this precise moment (8:40am Hamburg time, Nov. 30, 1945), German submarine commander Heinz-Wilhelm Eck and two of his former subordinates on the U-852 were shot by Allies in Hamburg for killing the survivors of a ship they had sunk. Pete Hagueseth needs to lawyer up immediately.
The Peleus War Crimes Trial
After sinking the Greek steamer Peleus in 1944, the captain ordered his crew to attack the survivors, three sailors survived and faced their attackers in a war crime trial.
www.usni.org
November 30, 2025 at 1:34 PM
To Eck with Hagueseth!
Reposted by Kindler
This is amazing!!
October 24, 2025 at 12:59 AM
This is amazing!!
Reposted by Kindler
New Yorkers BLOCK ICE from leaving their parking garage ahead of a flopped mass raid attempt on Canal Street
November 29, 2025 at 4:39 PM
New Yorkers BLOCK ICE from leaving their parking garage ahead of a flopped mass raid attempt on Canal Street
Reposted by Kindler
Reposted by Kindler
Everyone should read this terrifying thread about Hegseth’s published views wrt war crimes. It’s pretty fucking radical …. We needed to hear about this in his confirmation hearing.
A chapter in Hegseth’s book is literally titled “More Lethality, Less Lawyers.”
It’s almost as if there were signs!
It’s almost as if there were signs!
November 29, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Everyone should read this terrifying thread about Hegseth’s published views wrt war crimes. It’s pretty fucking radical …. We needed to hear about this in his confirmation hearing.
Reposted by Kindler
Thing is, we DID hear about it at his confirmation hearing.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Everyone should read this terrifying thread about Hegseth’s published views wrt war crimes. It’s pretty fucking radical …. We needed to hear about this in his confirmation hearing.
A chapter in Hegseth’s book is literally titled “More Lethality, Less Lawyers.”
It’s almost as if there were signs!
It’s almost as if there were signs!
November 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Thing is, we DID hear about it at his confirmation hearing.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Reposted by Kindler
Pete Hegseth is a war criminal and should be fired immediately.
November 30, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Pete Hegseth is a war criminal and should be fired immediately.
Reposted by Kindler
The White House’s new anti-media website includes denunciations of:
-ABC, which bribed the president
-CBS, which bribed the president and moved away from fact-based journalism trying to appeal to him and his fans
-WaPo, which spiked a Harris endorsement and tilts coverage in Trump’s favor
Fools.
-ABC, which bribed the president
-CBS, which bribed the president and moved away from fact-based journalism trying to appeal to him and his fans
-WaPo, which spiked a Harris endorsement and tilts coverage in Trump’s favor
Fools.
November 30, 2025 at 3:15 AM
The White House’s new anti-media website includes denunciations of:
-ABC, which bribed the president
-CBS, which bribed the president and moved away from fact-based journalism trying to appeal to him and his fans
-WaPo, which spiked a Harris endorsement and tilts coverage in Trump’s favor
Fools.
-ABC, which bribed the president
-CBS, which bribed the president and moved away from fact-based journalism trying to appeal to him and his fans
-WaPo, which spiked a Harris endorsement and tilts coverage in Trump’s favor
Fools.
Reposted by Kindler
Vivek’s latest video is so bad, his supporters thought it was an AI deepfake…
November 28, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Vivek’s latest video is so bad, his supporters thought it was an AI deepfake…