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Mike Davis

@politeopinions.bsky.social

190 followers 140 following 440 posts

"I don't know how to explain to you why you should care about other people." - Lauren Morrill

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Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · Jan 21

I'm going to start a thread, beginning today, of all the things President Trump says or does that I strongly disagree with.

Ongoing list, so I don't forget:

Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · Jan 21

BREAKING

As expected, President Trump just signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization.

The United States provides around 16% of WHO’s annual budget…over $200 million.

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Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 1d

The act of being brazenly, publicly corrupt has prevented the media from covering any action as scandalous, because a scandal requires a cover-up plus journalism.

The media won't say "The president said X, which is wrong." And they won't linger on any topic for long enough for it to become salient.

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Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 1d

I appreciate the generosity of thought that this might be an artisanal, laboriously hand-crafted video of a shitting airplane.

Reposted by Mike Davis

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 6d

AOC: And they are able to radicalize a generation of young boys in particular, away from healthy masculinity and into an insecure masculinity that requires the domination of others who are poorer, browner, darker, or a different gender than them.

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Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 5d

This is the perfect encapsulation of the state of the Democratic Party. Can't risk taking a position that might offend someone. Offering transparent and empty platitudes instead.

It's calorie-free b.s., and voters know what calories taste like. This satisfies nobody.

I’ve Had It Podcast @ivehaditpodcast.bsky.social · 7d

It’s a simple yes or no question.

Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 5d

This is the thing that distinguishes politicians that connect with voters (ranging from Mamdani to Trump) to those that don't (most Democrats):

If you believe the answer is "no," then just say "no"! Defend yourself! Make an argument!

Using media training 101 to avoid a question? It's weak.

Reposted by Mike Davis

Joe Walsh @walshfreedom.bsky.social · 6d

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Reposted by Mike Davis

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 10d

“We can give $20 billion to Argentina but we can’t afford the CDC’s measles experts” is a hell of an argument

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Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 10d

Heartless and thoughtless

Sara Partridge, PhD @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 10d

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 11d

Even assuming the Democrats regain power at some point, I don't know how you rebuild a government that has been this comprehensively hollowed out.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 11d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

Reposted by Mike Davis

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 13d

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."

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Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 14d

Air Traffic Controllers have been chronically overworked and understaffed, in a highly stressful job that demands a high standard of perfection.

Threatening not to pay them retroactively for work performed during the shutdown?

The government is begging for an air traffic disaster.

Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 14d

CNN: “Nashville’s air traffic approach control will go dark for five hours tonight due to short staffing—the second FAA facility in as many days to shut down over shortages.”

Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 14d

The idea that a government would:

A) Believe citizen happiness matters,

B) Subsidize creative work to increase that happiness,

C) Account for the increase in happiness in the net valuation of a program, and

D) Choose to extend the program on that basis

...is, to an American, mind-blowing.

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Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 14d

One major difference between the US government and other developed Western countries is America's complete inability to conceive of citizen happiness as an intrinsic goal.

Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 14d

Most critically, this: bsky.app/profile/clar...

Clara Murray @claradoodle.bsky.social · 14d

Societal benefits: €100mn, of which almost €80mn is from wellbeing improvements - i.e. participants reporting more life satisfaction

They used the WELLBY framework which values "a one-point increase in life satisfaction sustained over
one year" at €15,000 www.worldhappiness.report/ed/2021/livi...

Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 15d

Nobody asked for this. Nobody wants this.

Tom Warren @tomwarren.co.uk · 15d

Microsoft’s new Office icons are now available in TestFlight versions of Excel, Word, and PowerPoint on iOS

Reposted by Mike Davis

DrStraingStrange @drstraingstrange.bsky.social · 15d

god he was so right

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Reposted by Mike Davis

Jeremiah Johnson @jeremiahdjohns.bsky.social · 22d

Last week I read The Sirens' Call from @chrislhayes.bsky.social. It made me think about the relationships between social media platforms, attention, and choice, and how much of our lives we unconsciously surrender to algorithms.

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Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 16d

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 16d

Nobody cares and nothing will happen but this is classically, paradigmatically fascist language. Comparing opponents to vermin and pests is straight out of the textbook.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 16d

Trump to the Navy: "We have to take care of this little gnat that's on our shoulder called the Democrats."

Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 16d

There was a period where most of the "Neoliberal Shill" bracket participants were semi-heterodox but socially liberal, YIMBY, center-left economists. Now so many are well off the reservation.

Reposted by Mike Davis

MaxWatching @maxwatching.bsky.social · 16d

And Ben Gvir, one of the real terrorists, wants to keep them for months in a bedbug infested terrorist facility

While the world stands by

The Israel experiment has failed. Dismantle it and replace it with something that respects humanity

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Reposted by Mike Davis

Kaitlin Is Just Getting Started @gothamgirlblue.com · 17d

The regime is acting this way because there are no consequences so it is clear that consequences—the development of them, the advocacy for them, the imposition on bad behavior—are the answer to our crisis.

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Reposted by Mike Davis

Machine Pun Kelly @kellyscaletta.bsky.social · 17d

About 125,000 transgender people are assaulted in the restroom every year.

No transgender woman has ever been convicted of assaulting a woman in a public restroom.

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Reposted by Mike Davis

mariewalsh18.bsky.social @mariewalsh18.bsky.social · 18d

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Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 17d

This is critical reading for Democratic politicians. Poll-testing won't suffice. They need to have principles, grow a spine, and find a visceral topic that people will actually care about enough to talk about it with the other people in their lives...

Like, say, the establishment of a police state.

Mike Davis @politeopinions.bsky.social · 17d

Every one of these jackboot gestapo thugs should be prosecuted. I don't imagine that anything about this behavior is remotely within standard guidelines of engagement.

Reposted by Mike Davis

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 18d

"The length of our analysis should not be mistaken for a sign that the fundamental question these cases raise about the scope of birthright citizenship is a difficult one. It is not."

Our shitbag SCOTUS may end up reversing this, but there's life, and respect for democracy, in the US judiciary yet.

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 18d

BREAKING: The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 100-page opinion -- says it is unequivocally, lopsidedly easy to determine that the Trump administration's view of birthright citizenship is wrong.

www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

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