this is legitimately a huge problem that i don’t know how they will resolve, either from an executive or legislative standpoint, and it’s going to be the case across a lot more than just defense

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 14m ago

I fundamentally do not know how to square the politics whereby Democrats will essentially have to tell the American people that because they (the voters) made an extremely stupid decision, they need to lower their expectations substantially for the foreseeable future, but here we are.

like, imagine everything you’d need for a city — power, water, waste, infrastructure — and then you get a clearer picture of just how staggeringly full of shit this is.

GOLIKEHELLMACHINE@golikehellmachine.com · 3h ago

i would feel bad for the planner trying to figure out PM schedules for factories on the moon except i know they’re not paying anyone to do that because none of this is real

i would feel bad for the planner trying to figure out PM schedules for factories on the moon except i know they’re not paying anyone to do that because none of this is real

FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · 4h ago

$SPCX - SPACEX PLANS MOON FACTORIES POWERED BY HUMANOID ROBOTS

tired: living in portland and regularly oiling boots because of the rain wired: living in portland and oiling boots because of the dry and smoke

lol, a friend of ours just struck the most theatrical pose ever, looked up, and said “what if it happened on birthday?” and i will let you guess what *it* means

he is more than welcome to join them

Adam Kinzinger@adamkinzinger.substack.com · 17h ago

This is a man who has a hard time looking in the mirror

this is also kind of a bullshit framing. the rule kicks a test off in 2027, but that is just when they will start collecting data theoretically. the soonest action could happen is maybe 2028. and this is extremely hand-waiving away level of stuff.

i am not sure there has been a person in history who enjoys campy theater as much as trump and who will end up more hated by every single person who has ever participated in it

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d ago

President Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v

bessent trying to do on-air retail politics is like watching me trying to explain offsides to my cat

GOLIKEHELLMACHINE@golikehellmachine.com · 16h ago

what an absolutely baffling response

what an absolutely baffling response

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 17h ago

Bessent: "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."

i saw this in isolation and thought “there’s no fucking possible way they mean electronic dance music, no fucking way” and then scrolled up, and, welp

Current Affairs@currentaffairs.bsky.social · 2d ago

cassidy is going to be the one to eat this bullet, i would bet on it if i didn’t loathe prediction markets

Todd Blanche is one vote away from confirmation

Utah Sen. John Curtis is the latest Republican to back the attorney general nominee.

politico.com

Good luck. The police are already in the group chat. 😉

reiterating my stance that if you add me to a group chat i am calling the police

Bluesky@bsky.app · 22h ago

Update: group chats can now host up to 100 members.

One more interesting point: this spring I sat down with Sharyn Alfonsi of 60 Minutes for an extensive interview about my Epstein investigation. Subsequently, CBS pulled the segment and fired the reporter. The MAGA buyout of media has unquestionably aided the Trump administration’s cover up here.

Senator Ron Wyden@wyden.senate.gov · yesterday

Bombshell new report out from my investigators this morning spanning our four year investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s financial records. This report shows exactly how Wall Street protected Epstein and enabled his sex trafficking for decades. Mega thread following with some key points:

not a big fan of the trimet schedule changes that mean i need to be out of the house by five after six to get to work by 7:30.

My Children's Safe Welcome Act would shut down Dilley and end family detention. I'm fighting to get it passed and end the Trump Administration's cruel and inhumane family detention policies.

Also: Robert's Rules of Order are the most boring goddamned thing on the planet and I never again want to have a vote to see if we can have a vote to extend a meeting by ten entire godforsaken minutes, so we can vote to have a meeting to determine a committee which will vote on another meeting.

Yes, there are people coming up who can (and will) take Jeff & Ron's place, they're in the state legislature now, and more power to them because I spent two+ years doing all the things necessary to throw my hat in the ring & then peaced out when I saw what it would do to my family.

As someone who considered being a "replacement" & started but quit the process let me tell you: it fucking sucks, it's grueling & thankless & hard as shit on your family & state legislators in OR make dick for shit so they have to be wealthy or have wealthy spouses but that's where the bench starts.

yes, this, too, and i am remiss for having said that at first. it’s ghoulish as fucking shit to heap blame on an older rep for being old because they got injured in a fucking car wreck.

Belle Tur@jasoncheathawks.bsky.social · yesterday

doing this about kaptur, who was IN THE PASSENGER SEAT, is such astonishingly bad faith.

I think the language of succession, and ideals of it, is kind of a byproduct of gauzy politico journalism and shorthands. in reality, strong curating and succession in politics are the product of machines that no longer exist, and media/tech ecosystems that faded decades ago.

GOLIKEHELLMACHINE@golikehellmachine.com · yesterday

i originally had a very nasty response to this that i deleted, and what i would rather say is that my experience in working both in government and in a place where the olds are the only people that know anything is that this is so much harder than anyone thinks, even for people who try

i originally had a very nasty response to this that i deleted, and what i would rather say is that my experience in working both in government and in a place where the olds are the only people that know anything is that this is so much harder than anyone thinks, even for people who try

Wandering Hoo@wanderlib.bsky.social · yesterday

That there's no possible replacement that would meet his value is a failure on Wyden's part! He's served for 30 years, and hasn't cultivated a successor? That's just poor leadership and worse planning.

no, we shouldn’t, because that violates the entire fucking spirit of democracy. i think we should strongly discourage it — i think it should be seen as embarrassing to hold onto a job like this at advanced age and it should be treated as such socially — but, no, we should not enshrine limits in law

Clara Jeffery@clarajeffery.bsky.social · yesterday

Pilots have to retire at 65. FEderal law enforcement officers, 57 (with some extensions to 60.) Surely we can agree that people over the age of—70? 75?—should not be allowed to run for federal office.

wait when did will graham end up on law and order

like, i am not a marxist — but i am not *not* a marxist, because it’s completely insane to fully commit yourself to the ideology of someone who has been dead since long before the first computer came into existence. but you can learn a lot by reading thinkers if you don’t decide to put on a jersey!

Irate Historian (Pride Edition)@riceandsalt97.bsky.social · yesterday

Like a lot of academic ideas, Marxism, when transmuted outside of the academy, got clipped of any nuance and intelligence and just became slop. “Economists are often constrained by their thinking and are shaped to prefer certain things” became “THE ENTIRE FIELD IS BUNK, DON’T BELIEVE THEIR LIES”.

spoken like a coward who is afraid of 145

Warren Terra@warrenterra.bsky.social · 2d ago

I mean, everybody *does* die. There isn't a chicken temperature that makes you immortal.

this is a real thing that happens a lot and it’s a total misunderstanding of capitalism and i really wish that more loud and online anti-capitalists would take the time to understand what it is they think they’re against, most of them are wrong about what they think they’re fighting

Amanda Mull@amandamull.bsky.social · 2d ago

there is a strain of lefty discourse where you can’t come to any unflattering conclusions about the populace—those must be explained away by how they are being acted upon by capital—but I think you’ll understand things better if you understand capital can also exploit weaknesses it didn’t create