So sure, USAID was a tool of US soft power and political influence, and also, I sometimes get the sense that people saying this don’t quite comprehend the torrent of death, horror, and pain that is currently unfolding from the genuinely evil decision to suddenly destroy it.

In the midst of an awful lot of ever-so-sophisticated equivocating and oh-so-thoughtful-chin-stroking and too-clever-by-half-over-thinking, I just want to say, simply and unequivocally and for the record: The Resistance Libs Were Right.

Current system is tbqh designed with basically this exact dude in mind, they put in a bunch of stuff to use in case of Trump, it would work we just aren't using it because the problem is us

a lot of the lessons from the Trump era are "don't elect Donald Trump"

The more I think about it, “is fair to expect a senior military leader to stand up to or refuse to accept an immoral, unethical or illegal order from the president or the secretary of defense” is an utterly embarrassing quote and such an indictment of the American officer corps

Caroline Baxter@convergingriskslab.bsky.social · 2d ago

"I have been asked by some retired officers if it is fair to expect a senior military leader to stand up to or refuse to accept an immoral, unethical or illegal order from the president or the secretary of defense... But fairness is irrelevant." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/o...

Every single article on the incoming health team makes me think of the Ralph Wiggum I’m-in-danger clip. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/23/h...

Trump’s Choices for Health Agencies Suggest a Shake-Up Is Coming

The picks to oversee public health have all pushed back against Covid policies or supported ideas that are outside the medical mainstream.

nytimes.com

Today's @xkcd.com

This (from @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social's introduction to the Iliad) is also the message of the new Avatar Aang movie.

it is in fact just the media, which has devoted more attention to this than it has to the fact that multiple republican lawmakers are dealing with “we hired nazis” scandals and that the “we hired nazis” problem extends to the white house

Justin Baragona@justinbaragona.bsky.social · 5d ago

Tur: It’s not just the media, and I reject that framing. 6 in 10 Americans don’t know who he is. I’m not saying he’s the most important person in the world, but...is it worth losing votes you need to win? AES: 10 in 10 Americans agree that they can’t afford the things that they need in their lives.

The main Democratic strategy for the next 6 months needs to be to let Trump be the main character. Resist allowing Gavin Newsom or Graham Platner or Hasan Piker or whomever from being placed in that role. The election needs to be a referendum on the least popular president of the century

“Why don’t corporations stand up to Trump?!”

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 6d ago

Pre-tax earnings in the US have hit the highest level since the aftermath of the second world war, while workers’ slice of the pie has sunk to historic lows, fuelling discontent and a widening political backlash. ft.trib.al/ThPVQhN

It is not a "grim choice" to support either a psychotic Republican or a mainstream center-left politician.

The only possible solution is to create a durable politics that recognizes the pain but also names the right enemies. You can't only do the first part. FDR gave you the playbook, use it, or it's only a matter of time before it's over for all our asses

i think wikipedia is the only organization i'm at peace with sending me endless fundraising spam emails. not a perfect org by any means of course but unlike most groups begging for money, they give me access to wikipedia

I don't agree with arsonists but firefighters are too aggressive for me. I wish there was a... third way

Hey everyone, I've followed cryptocurrencies since 2010. I owned bitcoin back then (spent it on weed, sorry present-day me), and this literally means nothing. Cryptocurrency is a grift, and it's all stupid. 🤷‍♂️

It is ultimately good the president is doing lots of damage that can be felt before the midterms, because I do not trust the short-sighted voters who elected him just how much he is trying to kill our future.

Prof Dynarski@dynarski.bsky.social · last wk.

Now with alt text! 23% drop in student visas to US in 2025 57% drop from India alone catastrophic for research and learning, here and abroad www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

that's a yes man, we count those

Editing the Blue-Gray Lady@nytdiff.bsky.social · last wk.

Change in Headline

It's about chasing people from public life, threatening them and harassing. The right always looks for new places to do spectacles of harassment like the ones at abortion clinics. It's a recruitment technique and narrative prop (that the media helps them do--the media enables them to harass people).

don’t repurpose it or turn it into a museum or anything like that. destroy it. youtu.be/pkFNAd1DaaA

No matter what, we have to tear down that ballroom

YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie

youtu.be

Russell Vought has been deleting some of your comments on the proposed OMB rule to politicize grantmaking. Particularly ones that mention him by name and that his daughter was treated for CF with an NIH-funded therapeutic.

Comments on OMB research rule mysteriously removed from federal website

Some comments on a proposed OMB research rule have been mysteriously removed from a public-facing government webpage.

statnews.com

I really don’t think the press should be acting like vindictively renaming water is an inherent power of the presidency.

Scripps News@scrippsnews.bsky.social · last wk.

Trump says he is considering renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America” as trade tensions and tariff disputes between the U.S. and Canada escalate.

The fix is in, but they can't beat us if we just show up

The Associated Press@apnews.com · last wk.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has cleared the way for President Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting ahead of midterms.

“It’s impossible that Jason Arday could have got his post without DEI,” say people about an industry which can find 200 academics willing to sign a letter in support of David Miller and another 200 academics willing to support Nathan Cofnas.

BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 2w ago

I'm sorry, but if you think Nathan Cofnas being suspended for being a racist is an 'academic freedom' issue you are the dumbest fucking mark alive.

When Trump is finally defeated, remember that the hangers-on and the ghouls surrounding him, the JD Vances of the world, will all claim that they were trying to moderate his evil and they should be thanked. And we need to remember that this is a lie. They were willing to do anything for power.

6 Supreme Court Justices should be impeached and made to stand on the court steps in barrels while passerbys are offered a wide variety of fruits and canned soups to pelt them with.

Even if what he wants to do is plainly illegal, the greater harm would be in not letting him do it, at least for a little bit.

Hansi Lo Wang (he/him)@hansilowang.bsky.social · last wk.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has paused a lower court’s ruling that blocked key parts of President Trump’s order to restrict mail-in voting for this fall’s midterms in 23 states and Washington, D.C. U.S. Postal Service work on Trump’s order remains blocked nationwide

Think about it: every visit from a foreign leader, every press conference, every news shot is going to take place underneath a massive structure that is the literal manifestation of Trump’s corruption seizing the American government. The symbolism is too wretched to endure; it has to come down.

I do not want Democrats to figure out how they can work together to help Donald Trump enact his agenda. I want Democrats to win power and then act as a wrench in the gears of government for the rest of Trump's term. www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...