Jim Saksa
@jimsaksa.com
Reporter at Democracy Docket. Formerly: Roll Call, WHYY, Philly City Paper, Big Law attorney. DC is my residence but Philly is my home. Signal: https://signal.me/#eu/mIicLoRfHtXzNhg1AFxApfhAIErtSNegujNmob8e3mtnivM_XjJEQIQJ3JPuH6WB
Tip of the hat to mainstream media, who credulously gave us those "Musk is getting out of politics" headlines last year and those "Musk has regrets" headlines last week, and will give us those "regretful Musk is getting out of politics" headlines next spring.
George Pearkes@peark.es · 6d agoNYT: Musk preparing 9 figure spending campaign in support of Republicans in "swing" states like Ohio, Iowa, Alaska, and Texas.
I still think a lot of people inside the DC bubble don't appreciate how absolutely enraged normie Dems are. I've heard similar things from Dads who volunteer at park clean ups and work in the sciences.
Jay Willis@jaywillis.net · 5d agoChaperoning a preschool trip to the aquarium and one of the other dads who is vaguely familiar with what I do comes up to me and goes “man I sure hope we get some Nuremberg-style trials at the end of all this”
Needing to bribe the president to get regulatory approvals is NOT how free markets are supposed to work! And this same president has overseen taxpayer investments in 30 favored companies! Someone please alert Heritage about this communist threat! www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Exclusive | ‘The Boss Wants This Money’: Inside Trump’s Unprecedented Fundraising Operation
Meredith O’Rourke, nicknamed ‘princess of darkness,’ carries out the president’s desire to wring hundreds of millions from companies for his projects.
wsj.com
This is obviously correct. My only hope is that some pioneering EU politician decides to campaign on reforming FIFA (and the IOC while we are at it) so they are true stewards of sport instead of a horrendously corrupt money making scheme newrepublic.com/article/2137...
Abolish FIFA
Gianni Infantino’s latest grifty scheme should begin the conversation about replacing an organization that cannot be reformed with something better.
newrepublic.com
I am not a U.S. citizen. I got jury duty notice from Philly a couple times. The postcard instructs you to take an online questionnaire, which asks if you are a U.S. citizen. After you say “no” you are told you are ineligible for jury duty. That’s why it’s in the “non-juror” records.
Jim Saksa@jimsaksa.com · 6d agoLots of non-citizens are on the jury pool in Philly because they use DMV records and local tax payments to build their master list. (They get out of jury duty by simply notifying the court they aren't citizens.) This man isn't dumb. He's a con artist.
Here's a post on the stuff pre-WI referral. Based on the shit Harmeet Dhillon claims is a crime, Elon Musk should be caged. emptywheel.net/2026/06/15/e...
Elon Musk Is the Election Cheat Harmeet Dhillon and Bill Essayli Claim to Be Hunting - emptywheel
Bill Essayli says that paying people to register to vote is a crime that justifies seizing state election rolls and conducting federal "audits" that don't exist. Yet that's what Elon Musk keeps doing ...
emptywheel.net
Comrade Trump has done more to nationalize the means of production than any DSA member
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 6d agoUSA Asset Mgmt: 🇺🇸 > @scottlincicome.bsky.social
Lots of non-citizens are on the jury pool in Philly because they use DMV records and local tax payments to build their master list. (They get out of jury duty by simply notifying the court they aren't citizens.) This man isn't dumb. He's a con artist.
Headline: How Diamonds, Paprika and Fertilizer Won Relief From Trump’s Tariffs Answer: Blatant bribery
Trump’s Tariff Exemptions Include Diamonds, Oil and Gas, Copper and Other Items
A new round of tariff carve-outs has raised familiar questions about who should receive the lucrative exceptions, and why.
nytimes.com
Colorado GOP Gov candidate Victor Marx's campaign did not respond to our questions about his self-described demon hunting. Our report was based on 100+ hours of his public comments over 20 years. Marx has now posted a statement saying the report was biased and mocked his faith.
writing these words in this order made me feel like i was having a stroke, i am pleased to share it with all of you
Robert Downen@robertdownen.bsky.social · 6d agowww.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
Again, the only credible position on this is automatic universal voter registration and free national ID cards. If you don't believe in these things - as no one, including John McGuire, in the far right authoritarian party does - then the <entire point> of this is mass disenfranchisement.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6d agoRep. John McGuire on need for the SAVE America Act: "You can't go anywhere, you can't get medicine, you can't go to the Obama museum without a photo ID."
not exaggerating: it is actually hard to see the past couple weeks - in which trump almost approved a “massive” new expansion of the Iran war that advisers thought would blow up the global economy and worsen the bloodbath significantly — playing out exactly as it did…. zeteo.com/p/trump-advi...
📺 Trump Advisers Trash Fox for Nearly Convincing Him to Blow Up the World
Our TV-addled president took the world to the brink of calamity because a bunch of talking heads told him to do it. Their GOP allies, meanwhile, put Anthony Fauci through congressional torture.
zeteo.com
philly erasure (we did it first!)
mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · last wk.The reason NYC's consolidation of surrounding jurisdictions into one big city government was never copied was because *it worked* and the wealthy realized that municipal fragmentation served their interests much better bsky.app/profile/ones...
Bad news: The 30-year Treasury yield hit a 19-year high today. 🚨🚨🚨 America's going to have to pay more for its colossal debt, which will soon hit $40 trillion. Interest already tops $1T a year and is growing rapidly. Latest GOP/WH plans would increase the deficit. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Treasuries Jolted as Fed Hold Trims September Hike Bets
US bond traders lowered their expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its next meeting after officials kept their benchmark steady on Wednesday, while 30-year Treasury yield...
bloomberg.com
Also: it’s not going to work! No voter is asking for a hearing about Anthony Fauci and COVID-19 in 2026 when the war in Iran is increasing gas prices by 50%. Republicans have been pushing for this because it gets retweets from rabid MAGA users on social media. This is made-for-X governing.
Thing is, most House Democrats really don't like Thanedar
David Dayen@ddayen.bsky.social · last wk.The wild race for a Detroit House seat is a real test for the Congressional Black Caucus, and whether their role is to protect the status quo, even when it means supporting an incumbent over a Black challenger. Zachary Groz reports. prospect.org/2026/07/29/s...
NEW: Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's son Ronaldo just spoke at Houston City Council, telling Mayor John Whitmire & city council what they can do to help make sure someone else isn't killed by ICE: end the Houston Police Department's partnership with ICE
“Tariffs were pitched as the fix for America’s trade deficit. Instead… Last 18 Months: –$1.80 trillion deficit in Goods. 18 Months Prior: –$1.74 trillion deficit in Goods. The deficit didn’t shrink. It increased 4%.” - Bilello
As far as I can tell, the Trump admin's hope here is to unleash maximum chaos and confusion around mail ballots just as they're set to go out to voters
GOP states join DOJ in asking Supreme Court to let Trump block some mail ballots
The states essentially contend that it’s too soon to block a very likely illegal order because we don’t yet, less than 100 days before the midterms, have any idea how the administration might attempt ...
democracydocket.com
RIP Kavinsky. The DRIVE (2011) title sequence (and prologue) is just one of the most magnetic and successful sequences in movie history and it's impossible to imagine any track other than "Nightcall" in it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc_z...
Drive 4K HDR | Opening Credits Song - Nightcall
YouTube video by Apex Clips
youtube.com
I keep seeing crap like this on Xitter - old stuff being posted as if its new. I guess it's a testament to how broken, epistemologically, that platform is, or how inefficient our marketplace of ideas has become, that crap like this gets rewarded in anyway (or not punished)
Ken Burns Wants You To Watch America: Birth Of A Nation Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cTi_vTwwmU&t=599s
Evangelicals often justify all sorts of things that would obviously go against Jesus's exhortation to "do unto others..." by saying THEY would want someone to try to save their souls through evangelism. But even that logic fails here. You can assume some Christians onboard don't need saving...
Hemant Mehta@friendlyatheist.com · last wk.Evangelist Whitney Lynn says she preaches on planes because she loves “a captive audience.” She's not alone. It's becoming a trend. If spreading your message requires listeners who can't escape, maybe it's not as compelling as you think. www.friendlyatheist.com/p/christian-...
[guy who reportedly makes seven figures arguing for centrist positions]:
Surely the solution here is just *don't use AI tools* for your writing and research and continue to do your writing and research in ALL the ways you were doing it before you started using AI instead of doing the work??
my sister just sent this from the beach in wildwood
