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Robyn Eckhardt

@robyneckhardt.bsky.social

1.5K followers 2.1K following 1.4K posts

Former food journalist with past lives in Asia and Italy. Author, “Istanbul & Beyond”, about Turkey’s lesser known eastern cuisines. Dogs/cats/nature. The Pacific Northwest is best. 🌧️

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Robyn Eckhardt @robyneckhardt.bsky.social · May 4

The state of our country sucks but spring in the PNW does not. What a spectacularly beautiful day in Portland.

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Robyn Eckhardt @robyneckhardt.bsky.social · 6h

Is the FDIC next, then?

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Reuters @reuters.com · 1d

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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Beau Baumann 🍏 @beaubaumann.bsky.social · 1d

I really think we need to reconceptualize this shutdown as the last stand for the rule of law and Art I. Bring it to default if that’s what it takes. If Congress can’t assert the power of the purse, we are in “move to Portugal” territory of screwed.

Beau Baumann 🍏 @beaubaumann.bsky.social · 1d

This cannot just be about healthcare. The existing constitutional system hangs in the balance. The rule of law is now baked into this shutdown in a huge way.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 1d

President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.

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Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 8h

BREAKING from PP

We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*

The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:

Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer

More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado

www.propublica.org/article/immi...

by @nicolefoy.bsky.social

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.

The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

www.propublica.org

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GlentheFossa 🌲 Banned in all Red States + UK @glenthefossa.bsky.social · 22h

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 22h

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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Robyn Eckhardt @robyneckhardt.bsky.social · 21h

How is he so damned good ?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

MacCALLUM: Margaret Thatcher said socialism is great until you run out of other people's money

MAMDANI: Well, what Andrew Cuomo said is that if you have $957m you give it to Elon Musk in tax credits

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

this ballroom is the best evidence that trump doesn’t intend to leave

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 1d

Exclusive: More than three dozen organizations and individuals are expected to attend a dinner with Trump on Wednesday after opening their checkbooks to support a $250 million White House ballroom.

Trump Invites Ballroom Donors to Glitzy White House Dinner

The dinner is set to include representatives from Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Alphabet’s Google, Amazon and Palantir Technologies.

on.wsj.com

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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 1d

Ezra Klein: I worked on that book pitch for 3 days and she just said it out loud

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Brooke Rollins: "Charlie Kirk is in a way the modern day Thomas Jefferson."

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Osaka: None/bun - A sack of nuns @osakanone.bsky.social · 2d

remigrate is not a dog whistle, and is open nazi language

Remigration

Not to be confused with Return migration.
Remigration is an originally European far-right proposal of ethnic cleansing[1] via the mass deportation of non-white immigrants and their descendants, sometimes including those born in Europe, to their place of racial ancestry.[2][3] It is popular especially within the Identitarian movement.[4][5] Some proponents of remigration suggest excluding some persons with non-European background from such a mass deportation, based on a varyingly defined degree of assimilation into European culture.[6][7][8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remigration

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cattales.bsky.social @cattales.bsky.social · 2d

Our electric bills are up 30% so AI porn can be produced?

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Tim Squirrell @tmsqrll.bsky.social · 2d

i feel like i’m going mad

“now that we have mitigated the serious mental health problems”

sam it is under two months since parents filed a lawsuit claiming your product killed their son and there is a novel form of psychosis that has been named after your product

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 2d

i don't have the words to emphasise how seriously bad things are gonna get

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 2d

X post today from Homeland Security @DHSgov that says "Remigrate."
3:06 PM · Oct 14, 2025

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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 2d

I'm sorry, is the Trump Administration talking to a tech platform?

Is it...requesting content moderation?

Today following outreach from @thejusticedept, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago.
The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.

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Vintage Obscura Radio @vintageobscura.net · 2d

Pedro Santos - Dual - [Brazil, Psychedelic Folk/Tropicalia/Exotica] (1968)
https://redd.it/nunv86
https://youtu.be/1c3pmzDX9_I

Pedro Santos - Dual - [Brazil, Psychedelic Folk/Tropicalia/Exotica] (1968)

youtu.be

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Qasim Rashid, Esq. @qasimrashid.com · 3d

Presenting the plague of frogs on Portland. And yes, I choose to believe God has a sense of humor & is laughing at this too.

There’s no better way to show how absurd a bully is than to ridicule their absurdity. Kudos to Portlanders! Stand United & keep exercising your 1A right to protest tyranny!❤️✊🏽

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50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 3d

The Portland Frog army has now infiltrated Tulsa, OK and they’ve made an unlikely alliance with the T-Rex infantry and Sharks on Hoverboards mercenary forces.

This is truly terrifying.

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 4d

The deportation order is based on Vedam’s conviction for murder—a crime he did not actually commit and for which he’s now been wholly exonerated. He entered the US at 9 months old and was a legal permanent resident before his conviction. We are so, so, so far from the light of justice.

Lynn Becker @cmgiulini.bsky.social · 4d

After spending 43 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, evidence hidden by the prosecution reversed his conviction. Rather than finally enjoying freedom, ICE abducted him for deportation

Depraved.

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him

Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam now faces deportation.

www.miamiherald.com

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karl rove knausgård @uhactually.bsky.social · 3d

Lmao WaPo has fewer than 100K circulation now. It turns out “alienate your liberal subscriber base” is not a good strategy when the Republicans also hate you. www.forbes.com/sites/andyme...

The Washington Post Is Running Out Of Readers Willing To Pay

Once a titan of American journalism, The Washington Post now struggles to reach even 100,000 print subscribers most days.

www.forbes.com

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Robyn Eckhardt @robyneckhardt.bsky.social · 2d

I wonder if Black American civil rights activists felt that they were confronting fascists as they were attacked by mobs and “law enforcement” with dogs and guns and nooses and surveillance…
I wouldn’t say we *can’t* lose, but the history of non-violent protests succeeding suggests that we could win

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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 2d

Millions came out for the last #NoKings protests.

These will be even bigger.

They want to scare people into not showing up.

Show up. Exercise your Constitutional rights. Be in community with all those who believe in democracy.

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Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 3d

The longest federal government shutdown so far came during Trump’s first term - lasting 35 days.

As the Republicans continue to blame Democrats for the shutdown, remember that.

Shutting down the federal government is one of the Trump Party’s favorite moves.

www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

Shutdown 'barreling toward' one of the longest ever, GOP leader says

Lawmakers on both sides braced for a longer shutdown as the Senate prepares for another vote Tuesday to reopen the government.

www.usatoday.com

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 5d

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 3d

I think this from @donmoyn.bsky.social is essential reading for the moment. I’d emphasize that the staggering process he describes doesn’t end with the assault on immigrants. It’s about creating an armed force loyal to nobody but Trump. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...

Purge, Merge, and Surge

Trump is creating a omniforce of armed loyalists to establish his police state

donmoynihan.substack.com

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