Paul
@paulmarmstrong.bsky.social
Peggy Noonan writes the dumbest garbage. How does someone this dumb get paid to write opinions?
"Guys, I think we might be in trouble. We should really think about this!"
www.wsj.com/opinion/a-re...
"Guys, I think we might be in trouble. We should really think about this!"
www.wsj.com/opinion/a-re...
Opinion | A Republic, but Can We Keep It?
From the military and the Justice Department to the East Wing, there’s reason to wonder and worry.
www.wsj.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Peggy Noonan writes the dumbest garbage. How does someone this dumb get paid to write opinions?
"Guys, I think we might be in trouble. We should really think about this!"
www.wsj.com/opinion/a-re...
"Guys, I think we might be in trouble. We should really think about this!"
www.wsj.com/opinion/a-re...
When your right against arbitrary arrest no longer functions in practice, it should be taken as a leading indicator of the demise of constitutional order.
America is becoming an authoritarian nightmare right in front of our eyes.
shorturl.at/9BduK
America is becoming an authoritarian nightmare right in front of our eyes.
shorturl.at/9BduK
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
October 17, 2025 at 3:07 PM
When your right against arbitrary arrest no longer functions in practice, it should be taken as a leading indicator of the demise of constitutional order.
America is becoming an authoritarian nightmare right in front of our eyes.
shorturl.at/9BduK
America is becoming an authoritarian nightmare right in front of our eyes.
shorturl.at/9BduK
Counterpoint: boxes are useful, especially if you're moving. Please think carefully before you free yourself of boxes. You might need to move someday.
June 4, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Counterpoint: boxes are useful, especially if you're moving. Please think carefully before you free yourself of boxes. You might need to move someday.
Millennials / Zoomers: Uses portal. Always. For everything. Needs no help. No questions. Completely smooth experience for everyone.
Gen X & Boomers: "Why does it send me a code so I can login? What do I do? Can we have a call?"
Gen X & Boomers: "Why does it send me a code so I can login? What do I do? Can we have a call?"
March 21, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Millennials / Zoomers: Uses portal. Always. For everything. Needs no help. No questions. Completely smooth experience for everyone.
Gen X & Boomers: "Why does it send me a code so I can login? What do I do? Can we have a call?"
Gen X & Boomers: "Why does it send me a code so I can login? What do I do? Can we have a call?"
When that elderly, technology-challenged, $300 1040 client tells me they're using a different tax preparer this year.
a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a group of people in a church .
ALT: a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a group of people in a church .
media.tenor.com
March 15, 2025 at 3:46 PM
When that elderly, technology-challenged, $300 1040 client tells me they're using a different tax preparer this year.
Writing an email today, I literally left out like half of a sentence and just kept going and hit send. No subjects, no verbs, no coherence. Also today: a client accidentally emailed his tax information to his Porsche dealer instead of to me. Just stellar communication all around.
February 27, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Writing an email today, I literally left out like half of a sentence and just kept going and hit send. No subjects, no verbs, no coherence. Also today: a client accidentally emailed his tax information to his Porsche dealer instead of to me. Just stellar communication all around.
Trump didn't run on this, sure. But he could have. He still would've won. Does it matter what Trump actually ran on? I don't think so. No adult takes him at his word. The lies were all baked in. People wanted policy nihilism. The details were never important.
"Trump did not run on a promise to unleash an unelected billionaire to slash-and-burn through the government, firing tens of thousands of employees and arbitrarily canceling contracts and federal programs. And *even if he had*, that still wouldn’t make it legal." -- @lizdye.bsky.social
Unelected billionaire breaks laws to "restore" democracy
This is NOT what democracy looks like.
www.publicnotice.co
February 20, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Trump didn't run on this, sure. But he could have. He still would've won. Does it matter what Trump actually ran on? I don't think so. No adult takes him at his word. The lies were all baked in. People wanted policy nihilism. The details were never important.
Reposted by Paul
The IRS was a simple test for DOGE: was it really interested in efficiency and state capacity? If so, you support the tax enforcement, the biggest ROI in govt.
Or did it want to minimize parts of the state that bothered billionaires?
We have our answer.
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Or did it want to minimize parts of the state that bothered billionaires?
We have our answer.
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
🚨NEWS: Massive layoffs are about to hit the IRS -- around 10,000 employees -- potentially in the middle of filing season.
Of particular interest to the DOGE: Cutting IRS enforcement capabilities.
-- with @jeffstein.bsky.social + Hannah Natanson
Of particular interest to the DOGE: Cutting IRS enforcement capabilities.
-- with @jeffstein.bsky.social + Hannah Natanson
Layoffs to hit IRS as DOGE targets tax collections
Several people briefed on the matter said cuts to the IRS cuts numbering in the thousands. One target is tax collections.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 14, 2025 at 9:50 PM
The IRS was a simple test for DOGE: was it really interested in efficiency and state capacity? If so, you support the tax enforcement, the biggest ROI in govt.
Or did it want to minimize parts of the state that bothered billionaires?
We have our answer.
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Or did it want to minimize parts of the state that bothered billionaires?
We have our answer.
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Very effective answer.
All I ever ask of any politician is that they tell me the truth.
All I ever ask of any politician is that they tell me the truth.
Brianna Keilar: Do you think that calling Elon Musk a dick is effective messaging?
Congressman Robert Garcia: Well, he is a dick.
Congressman Robert Garcia: Well, he is a dick.
February 13, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Very effective answer.
All I ever ask of any politician is that they tell me the truth.
All I ever ask of any politician is that they tell me the truth.
She's good.
JD Vance - If you believe any of the multiple federal courts that have ruled against you so far are exceeding their statutory or Constitutional authority, your recourse is to appeal. You don’t get to rage-quit the Republic just because you are losing. That’s tyranny.
February 9, 2025 at 10:24 PM
She's good.
The thought of Elon Musk gleefully dismantling the organization that makes it possible for impoverished people to have access to clean water, for children to participate in literacy programs, for famine-vulnerable populations to have access to life-saving food, etc. - it's a moral obscenity.
February 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
The thought of Elon Musk gleefully dismantling the organization that makes it possible for impoverished people to have access to clean water, for children to participate in literacy programs, for famine-vulnerable populations to have access to life-saving food, etc. - it's a moral obscenity.
NYT published a list of programs identified by OMB for examination under the now-rescinded executive order. It included things like the child tax credit, the mortgage interest deduction, and many others. Those morons thought they could repeal the tax code through executive order. shorturl.at/pfXJ5
January 29, 2025 at 6:34 PM
NYT published a list of programs identified by OMB for examination under the now-rescinded executive order. It included things like the child tax credit, the mortgage interest deduction, and many others. Those morons thought they could repeal the tax code through executive order. shorturl.at/pfXJ5
US version of Pravda.
January 26, 2025 at 6:53 PM
US version of Pravda.
Here is the WSJ's editorial set to run the day after Trump pardoned 1,600 January 6th criminals. I'm not making this up.
January 21, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Here is the WSJ's editorial set to run the day after Trump pardoned 1,600 January 6th criminals. I'm not making this up.
In college, I took a class on Russian culture during the Soviet years. It was taught by a Ukrainian professor who, as a child, had fled the Nazi blitz in 1941. His description of how Soviet propaganda reinforced Stalin's personality cult is something that stayed with me... (1/5)
January 18, 2025 at 4:34 PM
In college, I took a class on Russian culture during the Soviet years. It was taught by a Ukrainian professor who, as a child, had fled the Nazi blitz in 1941. His description of how Soviet propaganda reinforced Stalin's personality cult is something that stayed with me... (1/5)
I'm going to miss living in a time when policy was made by experts and professionals rather than by random presidential tweets at 2 am that take entire branches of the civil service completely by surprise.
January 17, 2025 at 8:53 PM
I'm going to miss living in a time when policy was made by experts and professionals rather than by random presidential tweets at 2 am that take entire branches of the civil service completely by surprise.
They're really just going to roll with "Switch 2"? Kinda lame. "Super Switch" would've been awesome.
January 16, 2025 at 5:35 PM
They're really just going to roll with "Switch 2"? Kinda lame. "Super Switch" would've been awesome.
Fascinating reading and perhaps a handy guide to the next few months of news out of Washington.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days
He used the constitution to shatter the constitution.
www.theatlantic.com
January 8, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Fascinating reading and perhaps a handy guide to the next few months of news out of Washington.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
American foreign policy should promote democracy and self-determination and international law, not realpolitik and self-aggrandizement.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
January 8, 2025 at 3:49 PM
American foreign policy should promote democracy and self-determination and international law, not realpolitik and self-aggrandizement.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Presidential Medals of Freedom are a ridiculous excuse to confer yet more adulation on celebrities. Our government should be above this.
January 4, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Presidential Medals of Freedom are a ridiculous excuse to confer yet more adulation on celebrities. Our government should be above this.
I legit thought that "going Dutch" was a slang expression that meant something like "converting to lesbian." I asked my wife to confirm my understanding, and she told me what it really meant like 5 minutes later through tears of laughter after she recovered enough to talk.
January 3, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I legit thought that "going Dutch" was a slang expression that meant something like "converting to lesbian." I asked my wife to confirm my understanding, and she told me what it really meant like 5 minutes later through tears of laughter after she recovered enough to talk.
Android. Password manager.
Seek these things and inner peace shall be yours.
Seek these things and inner peace shall be yours.
I had to replace a damaged iPhone today and given the amount of emotional energy and time it takes to restore everything and log back in to a zillion accounts I sorta regret not just rolling with a broken camera
December 23, 2024 at 9:47 PM
Android. Password manager.
Seek these things and inner peace shall be yours.
Seek these things and inner peace shall be yours.
Elon Musk is the inspirational story of a man's rise from relative mediocrity to such extravagant wealth that he was able to buy and own the United States government. Just think: if you work hard enough, you, too, could buy the government someday.
December 20, 2024 at 3:06 PM
Elon Musk is the inspirational story of a man's rise from relative mediocrity to such extravagant wealth that he was able to buy and own the United States government. Just think: if you work hard enough, you, too, could buy the government someday.
My kids loved Sonic 3. I enjoyed it too. But it was way too much Jim Carrey. The "old man" jokes just weren't that funny, and they clashed badly with the serious and emotionally heavy story they were trying to tell with Shadow. Very uneven. Keanu Reeves was fantastic. They should have used him more.
December 20, 2024 at 2:52 PM
My kids loved Sonic 3. I enjoyed it too. But it was way too much Jim Carrey. The "old man" jokes just weren't that funny, and they clashed badly with the serious and emotionally heavy story they were trying to tell with Shadow. Very uneven. Keanu Reeves was fantastic. They should have used him more.
I love Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Star Wars is for 12-year-olds. Gritty, serious Star Wars content aimed primarily at adults is fundamentally a category error; and this outlook drives my view that the prequels were awesome and Andor sucks.
December 18, 2024 at 8:50 PM
I love Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Star Wars is for 12-year-olds. Gritty, serious Star Wars content aimed primarily at adults is fundamentally a category error; and this outlook drives my view that the prequels were awesome and Andor sucks.