Jess
@mmebahorel.bsky.social
I have opinions on things, especially DC theatre, especially ones that got a major critic to block me on that other hellsite. They are mine, but you can borrow them. The politics ones are extremely mine, especially the ones with my name on them.
Unitary executive theory means everyone has to do this shit in the hopes of actually receiving their congressionally-appropriated funding.
Metro@wmata.com · 22h agoEven IndyCar knows Metro is the fastest way to travel throughout the region! After tomorrow’s morning rush, the Grand Prix IndyCar will be traveling through the system from King St-Old Town to Mt. Vernon Sq, making quick stops a Reagan Airport & L’Enfant Plaza stations. Catch a glimpse if you can…👀🏁
Natalie Harp is one of the most powerful people alive. I'm not joking or exaggerating. Controlling what information the US president gets and publicly communicating on behalf of the president give someone significant influence over policy of the world's most powerful country, all the way up to war.
GOLIKEHELLMACHINE@golikehellmachine.com · 2d agothink about how often this admin announces policy by social media post and then consider that trump may not even be the one posting it
not saying federal immigration enforcement in any form should disappear tomorrow but if you leave this entity intact, and tinker at the edges and give them a stern talking to, however well meaning you are, you’re leaving these weapons and this orgy of abuses and masked thuggery intact for the next…
David J. Bier@davidjbier.bsky.social · yesterdayThe videos can't capture the scope of what's happening. ICE is out of control. ICE accosted a man on his way to a medical appointment, handcuffed him, and forced him back to his house. Agents conducted a warrantless invasion of his home, where his 3 minor US citizen kids lived
So many jokes I want to make that really are for one person. So many "do I really want to engage with these people?" to back right out of. Cancel is a good friend on the internet.
John Scalzi@scalzi.com · 2d agoI just typed out a comment to a post, re-read it, thought "Oh, right, I'll look like a fucking creep if I post that" and then deleted it, which is a reminder that the reason I came up with "The failure mode of 'clever' is 'asshole'" is because I need the warning as much if not more than other folks
"Theatre kid" is tossed around by right-wingers, and I want to say: - I wasn't a theatre kid. - I have a theatre kid, they're great. So are their friends. - If you have a problem with theatre kids you should look into your heart to see why or crawl back into your hole and die. Either's fine by me.
Sylvie McNamara is back on her "I'm the only person interrogating this from the right perspective", but the actual interviews and material here are good. washingtonian.com/2026/08/18/i...
Is the NSO’s New Season Already in Trouble? - Washingtonian
The Kennedy Center has not set the orchestra up for success.
washingtonian.com
Every such article should trigger an automatic follow-up on the stated date, like the preregistration of a clinical trial
Dave Levitan@davelevitan.bsky.social · 3d agoThere are high-up editors at prestigious publications who wrote or greenlit like dozens of “Moon Base to Open Within Six Years” or “Space Hotel Slated for 2026” headlines. Nothing happened to them. They just get to keep doing it. Wild.
heh I just went into the union station Walgreens and there are national guard outside with what seems to be a govt content crew (had patches on sleeves) with cameras—guessing we’re in for some content reassuring us that this occupation is so great
An essential article. And interestingly I am not that surprised about Pence. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
The Wrong Kind of American
The Trump White House needed me—until the fact that I am trans became public.
theatlantic.com
Folks are understandably taking @mattyglesias.bsky.social to task for the 'HR training' focus, but I am struck by the inability here to recognize an educational failure. It is *your* (/our) job to explain to those voters that the collapse of democracy *will* have a greater impact on their lives.
Scott Lemieux@lemieuxlgm.bsky.social · 5d agoAs silly as the whole "the right has no cultural influence" argument is, the whole edifice is indeed a depressing look into the mind of a typical American swing voter
Ok, Joseph Nunn of the Brennan Center, what is the correct response you wish me to make when I walk out of a restaurant immediately into an armed military patrol? Or up the escalator on my commute? Clearly "oh fuck, there they are again" is not enough for you, so what is?
NPR@npr.org · 5d agoThe deployment is expected to cost in the billions after it was quietly extended until Inauguration Day of 2029.
i don't like this take of people basically ignoring the guard or going on with their lives equals people have accepted them. What exactly is it you want me to do when i see them every ten seconds and i still have to finish walking to work?
NPR@npr.org · 5d agoThe deployment is expected to cost in the billions after it was quietly extended until Inauguration Day of 2029.
There could not be a more blatant violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits any executive branch employee from "Using his or her official title while participating in political activity." Unlikely to be prosecuted, however. Will any news org even mention this? www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/5/7...
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6d agoNewly confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche is speaking at a Trump rally to endorse Bruce Blakeman
I think this gets to the heart of liberal-left complaints about the press. Political reporters think we're criticizing them for not being on "our" side. We're not. We're criticizing them for not being on journalism's side. Unplug from the DC celebrity access system and do honest independent work.
Joshua Foust 🪖🎮@joshuafoust.com · 6d agoContrary to AGS’s insulting straw man, few people are demanding reporters become liberal warriors, we just want the profession to take its own existence and our fundamental rights — and the truth — seriously. No need to shill. Just take the stakes of the job seriously.
"You said I'm the God Emperor, make everyone stop being mean to me!"
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 6d agoBreaking news: The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for it to complete the White House ballroom, escalating the months-long legal fight over the president’s controversial project.
Very, very good look from inside the decisions, recognizing clear impacts of those decisions. Something continually missing (here too) on Amy Sherald is that revocation was also a limiting of audience, making a free exhibition into a paid one. There's no way to win. (FYI: Dumbarton Oaks = Harvard.)
Steven Nelson@snelsonus.bsky.social · last wk.Here’s a link to the October essay: direct.mit.edu/octo/article...
Something there hasn't been nearly enough of is promises of specific consequences like this, as a way of deterring present corrupt behavior. Let's at least make them consider the possibility that we might have a real government again someday
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · last wk.Former DOJ anti-trust chief Jonathan Kanter, on CNBC, says firms purchasing the Truth Social API could find themselves -- four years from now -- being "investigated for insider trading. .. Traders who use this service need to be careful." @cnbc.com $DJT
Ah yes, the Restored and Renovated by Donald J. Trump Performing Arts Center. Classy name. Guys, that's still against federal law, not that you care about any of the other federal laws, either. The current legal strategy appears to be "tell the court, 'bite me'". www.cbsnews.com/news/kennedy...
Kennedy Center board votes to put Trump's name back on outside of building, House Democrat says
The Kennedy Center's board of trustees voted to add President Trump's name to the facade of the performing arts center, more than two months after a judge ordered its removal, according to a Democrat ...
cbsnews.com
"Basically indistinguishable from literal sabotage" is this administration's general vibe.
Andrew Facini@andrewfacini.com · 7d agoThis will reduce potential sortie capacity something like 40% and put unexpected cycling strain on reactors which were not designed for it. Basically indistinguishable from literal sabotage, if you care about such things as readiness or reliability or lethality or whatever
The serious look at finances is great. A lot of delusional projections between NSO and Vichy KenCen about FY27. It's 100% as bad as could clearly be predicted. Occupied city doesn't support occupiers, but Wolf Trap sales are solid while Burgum stays hands-off. www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...
Trump’s Kennedy Center takeover pushes National Symphony Orchestra into crisis
Individual donors and audience members have walked away from the National Symphony Orchestra, documents show, costing the Kennedy Center millions in additional losses.
washingtonpost.com
Incredible. When E—n M—k & his crew obliterated USAID in a weekend, they deleted a vast trove of publicly-funded knowledge: the Development Experience Clearinghouse. A Canadian high school student (!) happened to have downloaded the entire thing for a project. AidData has now posted it for all.
Before reimagining development data, remember what we’ve learned
Why we’re publishing a free, searchable, and ungated archive featuring a quarter-century of USAID evaluation reports.
aiddata.org
Of course it's cheaper to fuck over the NSO, so the union busting choice is likely to be the one approved by the Vichy board.
Charles T. Downey@ionarts.bsky.social · last wk.Axios has some info about the possible plans for the KC and NSO over next two years - the board is schedule to meet and make a decision tomorrow www.axios.com/local/washin...
And thus, a First Amendment space hosts a symbolic infringement of the Third Amendment (“No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner …”) in a city currently occupied by thousands of National Guard troops. www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Column | How an enslaver’s statue became the center of Trump’s exhibit at Freedom Plaza
A lesser-known semiquincentennial project occupies a central square in the nation’s capital.
washingtonpost.com
The President of the United States continuing to bring the full force of the federal government down on a guy *everyone knows is innocent*, just like he did with Kilmar Abrego Garcia and so many others, is absolutely 1,000% impeachable IMHO. This is just straight up tyranny
Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · last wk.BREAKING WSJ: Trump White House officials have asked the Trump Justice Department to consider a new prosecution of David Hearn, the man accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool — as Trump fumes over U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's decision to drop the case.
Munitions depleted. SPR run down. Naval procurement set back. Promising officers purged. That bill is going to come due. Maybe 23m Taiwanese losing their freedom to the PRC, maybe hundreds of thousands of Americans losing their lives in a war we're not ready for. The bill will come due.
"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@bretdevereaux.bsky.social · last wk.So my expectation is that the BBG(N) will never get built. Probably never even get a keel laid. It's a box to put R&D programs in. But that *also* means that a lot of desperately needed naval procurement priorities are basically on pause until 2028, which is a disaster.
Bottom line: Americans unwittingly became decoys because President Trump wanted to use his new toy in a way it wasn’t meant to be used. Taking the Qatari plane, which hasn’t been equipped for self-defense, to a country that borders Iran was careless and dangerous both to himself and others.
Joe Biden took an hours-long secret train ride into war-torn Ukraine, and Trump got hustled away in a catering truck to get out of a friendly nation. OK.
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · last wk.I'm sorry, they snuck President Trump off Air Force One in an airport catering truck? What?
jfc, I hadn't read the article yet when I posted this, and I thought (I hoped) I was exaggerating, but NYT:
Comfortably Numb@numb.comfortab.ly · last wk.So he left Air Force One with the press corp as a decoy to be shot down
