THE $168 BILLION WAS TAKEN ILLEGALLY AND THE GOVERNMENT DIDN’T WANT TO GIVE IT BACK. Kill me I’ve wasted my life.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 19h agoBessent: "Here at the Treasury, I had $168 billion of tariff revenues that we're gonna have to refund. So when the Democrats scream, "Oh, the refunds should go back to the American people!', well, the American people had it, it was in the Treasury and it was paying down the debt."
Studying Taiwan from the ground and reading about its political economy has made me more in favor of so-called social housing, or, at least, public land trusts that decouple tenure stability from a vicious fight to appropriate the ground rent.
An amazing Haitian man I know was just sent a notice of deportation. He is supposed to turn himself in Tuesday. He is not a criminal. He's not the "worst of the worst." He's a gainfully employed taxpayer, a human being, grateful to live somewhere he isn't fearing for his life He's my neighbor.
This is an interesting read on why Canada is not a middle power, and how we should seek to inhabit the international system: thewalrus.ca/canada-middl...
Canada Keeps Calling Itself a Middle Power. It Isn’t | The Walrus
The idea once reflected geopolitical reality. Today it’s mostly a comforting illusion
thewalrus.ca
Cassic, years of war, hundreds of thousands dead, average russian eh 🤷♂️ Few weeks of higher gas prices and Wilberri underwear not arriving, the sky is falling russian anxiety levels highest since February 2022 with 57% feeling the pinch
Just imagine this: a President, having just left office after losing an election, has accounts with a major bank closed after a review that suggested money laundering. This would be a career-ending scandal in most democracies. A footnote to history in the US. apple.news/Ad-ypSGfPRdG...
Capital One says it closed Trump Organization’s accounts after anti-money-laundering review — Guardian US
Disclosure from 2021 investigation marks first time a bank has formally tied money-laundering concerns to Donald Trump
apple.news
I wrote about how much Americans wagered on sports betting in 2025 and how it’s more than they spent on movies, art, museums and music combined. Read my article @fortunemagazine.bsky.social fortune.com/2026/07/26/g...
Gambling becomes America's favorite pastime as Americans spend more on sports bets than movies, arts, museums, and music combined | Fortune
Americans wagered $166 billion on sports last year, more than Hollywood, the music industry, books, and museums combined.
fortune.com
what’s going on with the world man. why is the far right resurgent everywhere? it’s easy to blame whatever policy boogeyman (neoliberalism, housing shortage, immigration, etc etc) but I think it has to be something deeper. maybe lived memory is dying out of how evil fascism is
You have to understand, the median voter belongs in protective custody.
Polling USA@usapolling.bsky.social · last wk."Who's better on..." 🔵Women's Rights: D +18 🔵Environment: D +17 🔵Democratic Norms: D +10 🔵Cost of Living: D +4 🟣Political Violence: Even 🟣Wars/Terrorism: Even 🔴AI: R +1 🔴Corruption: R +1 🔴Guns Control: R +3 🔴Immigration: R +5 🔴Crime: R +14 Ipsos / July 26, 2026
The Flying Bribe from Qatar, being a new toy for the President, had to be rushed into service. Had to be. This meant hundreds of millions in added costs, which in turn had to be hidden from Congress. Reporting by @ericlipton.nytimes.com & colleagues.
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2w agoThree-byline alert: 🚨 “.. The Pentagon has tried to mask the total price tag — including from Congress — by taking the funds from a classified budget for nuclear modernization.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/u...
My “will never stand before the ICC” t-shirt is raising many questions already answered by the shirt. I can only hope it’s a monkey paw type of thing by Rubio et al: that they will face justice at home, somehow.
not leading with critical information like "...and that is illegal" is a great example of why I hate these newspapers lol
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2w agoThat is one surreal social-media slide. @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...
We make this even worse by making construction workers pay 2-4x what everyone else does in unemployment insurance taxes: www.searchlightinstitute.org/research/the...
The Hidden Tax on Blue-Collar Workers and Building in America
The unemployment insurance system has a design flaw that penalizes the construction industry, leading to fewer workers and lower productivity. Over time, that means less – and more expensive – housing...
searchlightinstitute.org
WildPartyInviteDecliner@ratelimitexceeder.bsky.social · 2w agoOne of those charts that is "watch the Great Recession destroy an industry that never recovers." Home-building drops until about the same employment recovers and then remains at that level.
A whole year as one of the hidden sentinels of “the kill zone” www.reuters.com/world/ukrain...
A year in a foxhole: How one Ukrainian soldier survived beneath the front lines
The drafted infantryman's video diaries chart his marathon ordeal hiding in a small, isolated dugout.
reuters.com
Hear me out: this is even wilder than it looks. Out in the ag world, Taylor Farms was THE instigator for a lot of the big food safety moves for lettuce over the last 20 years. That's a legacy that just should NOT have ended up like this.
public health guy@publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 2w agoit does actually sound like taylor farms and the white house teamed up to try and blame taco bell for the outbreak. unprecedented corruption
This is the first time I’ve ever seen a CA publication speak plainly about both the stakes (and the basic distributional politics involved) The FAIR plan is a ticking time bomb and the primary problem is it promises to insure uninsurable property for rich people. www.latimes.com/business/sto...
Californians are subsidizing mansion wildfire insurance as FAIR risk explodes
As commercial insurers have fled California in the wake of wildfires, FAIR has become the insurer of first resort for owners of multimillion-dollar properties in exclusive but fire-prone communities.
latimes.com
Thread. Data centers plus Elon Musk grabs a community’s throats and lungs more than its hearts and minds, via @lorak.bsky.social
Lora Kolodny@lorak.bsky.social · 2w agoIf you have time this weekend, please check out the doc (~30 min.) my team & I released this week on Musk’s push into Greater Memphis with xAI and its noisy, methane gas burning turbines, data centers, broken promises & impacts on majority Black communities next door. www.cnbc.com/2026/07/16/e...
www.reuters.com/world/us-hea...
US pauses $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California, Minnesota
The Trump administration is pausing $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota over "suspected fraud and noncompliance," U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Tuesday.
reuters.com
Wisconsin story. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley suspended his campaign for governor 10 days ago. After the front-runner dropped out unexpectedly, he is preparing to get back in, per @thehill.com. I’m sympathetic but skeptical. [short 🧵] thehill.com/homenews/cam...
David Crowley set to rejoin Wisconsin governor’s race after lieutenant governor exit
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley will rejoin the Democratic primary race for Wisconsin governor following the sudden exit of Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez (D), who ended her bid on Frid…
thehill.com
After this Iran water tank strike, I really think we need to figure out how to submit Our Guys to the ICC. I just don’t see justice being done inside the country, but I’m hope I’m wrong.
Preventing some Iranian villagers from getting drinking water does nothing to prevent the IRGC from firing missiles and drones. Water is a red line. I know those of you who hate the US military and US foreign policy won’t care about the difference, but it’s significant, with very bad implications.
Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 3w agoMore war crimes: In its fourth strike on water infrastructure, the US has destroyed two water tanks in Sirik, Iran, completely cutting off water distribution in all villages of the Bemani district and the city of Kohstak, the Hormozgan Water and Sanitation Authority says.
In what might prove to be a intuition inversion for some, in San Francisco, elementary school students take Muni for their field trips. Middle schoolers appear to use it traveling alone. I don’t have any hesitation using it with my children.
ex-Lethality Jane@lethalityjane.bsky.social · 3w agoI think you're going to have a difficult time convincing families with young children to give up car culture and take more public transit if you also refuse to police behavior on the public transit and in the transit centers. Yes, people doing drugs in those places is a turn-off.
This guy doesn’t sound like the voice of an aspiring dictator at all, no sir. This is his explanation of ICE agents blasting away at traffic stops. Via @atrupar.com
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agoTom Homan: "It all go backs to the Dems ... there's still gonna be more bloodshed unless they shut their mouth and let ICE enforce the laws that they enacted."
Between this and the national guard in Memphis it’s kind of disturbing me (yes I know I’m a member of the media) the degree to which these killings aren’t really breaking thru rn
Asawin Suebsaeng@swin24.bsky.social · 4w ago
Finally we can get a properly hinged headline about Mamdani in the New York Times.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agoMamdani: "I will continue to work with Morris Katz. He remains a top adviser of mine."
A privately owned mountaintop with panoramic views of the Bay Area, off-limits to the public for decades, will soon be set aside as open space and open to hikers eager to explore a new summit.
This coveted Bay Area mountaintop will open to the public for the first time in decades
A privately owned mountaintop with panoramic views of the Bay Area, off-limits to the public for decades, will soon be set aside as open space and open to hikers eager to explore a new summit.
bit.ly
Read/listen all about how a "land value tax" can discourage land speculation & encourage dense building on the highest value land, ie, land near urban cores. www.volts.wtf/p/want-less-...
Want less sprawl and more urban infill? Try a land value tax!
A conversation with Greg Miller of the Center for Land Economics and Kitty Klitzke of the Spokane City Council.
volts.wtf
Absolutely the correct energy to bring to the table
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 4w agoIn @nytopinion.nytimes.com “The eastern halves of the United States and Canada are experiencing a sea change in the public health threat posed by ticks,” Jonathan Mingle writes in a guest essay. “Humans are in retreat from this bloodthirsty enemy.”
