Rodger Payne
@rodgerp.bsky.social
Prof of international relations at U of Louisville and co-director, Center for Asian Democracy. SABR member, Jayhawk hoops fan, film buff, & beer snob. Pictured: Committee meeting in the Netherlands as depicted by Rembrandt.
Yeah, this is a big time impeachment abuse of power.
Michael Froomkin@mfroomkin.bsky.social · 2d agoRelative got a $500 check from US Treasury and a shocking letter full of lies signed by Trump and ending with "May God bless you". Basically a pre-electoral bribe. News reports say they're sending almost a million of these. Full text in alt below. (I told him to cash it quick before it bounces.)
![Dear [name],
For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov. That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now, I am returning it to you!
With this Historic Action, my Administration is taking the surplus funds that accumulated from the Obamacare ''Premium Tax" and issuing a one-time $500 REFUND to Americans who use the HealthCare.gov platform to purchase their health insurance, but who do not receive Taxpayer Subsidies to help pay for their Coverage. You have paid into this flawed System, and now you are finally getting something back.
Healthcare Dollars should benefit Patients, not Insurance Companies or Government Bureaucrats. Since returning to office, I have fought to lower Healthcare Costs, increase Accountability, and Put Patients First. Through TrumpRx, we are delivering massive discounts on Household Prescription Drugs, and my Most-Favored-Nation Pricing Agreements have already saved Americans more than 1 Billion Dollars on much-needed Medications. We also secured an unprecedented 50 Billion Dollar investment to transform Rural Healthcare, expanded access to Health Saving Accounts for millions of people on Obamacare, and restored Pnce Transparency, all while roofing out the Waste, Fraud, and abuse across our Healthcare System.
I am proud to return your money to you, and I will never stop fighting to put the American People FIRST, restore Affordability, protect your hard-earned money, and lower the Cost of Healthcare.
May God bless you, and may He continue to bless the United States of America!
Sincerely,
[signed]
DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nnffk6m46cmabw3e6cxo2fhj/bafkreidnkmkq4exjng37i7mvp4oqyjftbfleykhwke4k22lsnpntgmxpla)
This is such a good and important idea from @andycraig.bsky.social.
Walter Olson@walterolson.bsky.social · 2d ago"South Korea has already run the experiment. Its law requires the National Assembly to vote on presidential impeachment by anonymous ballot, and that rule has now removed two presidents." [@andycraig.bsky.social]
@osinttechnical.bsky.social The White House is "monitoring" reports of a suspected plague outbreak in the Russian city of Irkutsk after a worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute died Friday -Axios Multiple hospitals in the area have been quarantined, with local censorship reported.
Health authorities in Siberia have placed nearly 200 people under medical observation after a laboratory worker died from plague. She accidentally broke a test tube containing live bacteria. She was hospitalized with symptoms of severe pneumonia and died. www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/10/02/n...
Nearly 200 People Under Observation After Irkutsk Lab Worker Dies From Plague - The Moscow Times
Health authorities in Siberia’s Irkutsk region have placed nearly 200 people under medical observation after a laboratory worker died from plague, according to media reports and a statement by a regio...
themoscowtimes.com
Every Republican, including Trump, who tries to fall back on “stopping Iran from having a bomb” should be reminded that intelligence assessments, both before and after the war began, were that Iran was "not building a nuclear weapon” and the program had been suspended since 2003. …
Vance defends Gabbard as 'critical part' of Trump team after president dismissed Iran nuke threat comments
Vice President JD Vance expressed support for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard after President Donald Trump claimed he "didn't care" about her previous Iran comments.
foxnews.com
Counter: Are we certain that the ideological clowns are out?
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.Hegseth: "The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top."
He just had that convention in Texas urging people to vote for Republicans as if he was personally on the ballot.
Andrew Perez@andrewperez.bsky.social · last wk.Trump at the White House today: “The ads are, you know, given by me, but I’m not running for office... I’m not promoting myself because I’m not running for office. I’m promoting the country.” x.com/Acyn/status/...
South Bend Cub Pete Crow-Armstrong, June 2022. I basically attended this game just to see him.
Guessing that someone saw the data that the UK is now about as wealthy as Mississippi, America's poorest state.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · last wk.No 10 gathering evidence on public support for rejoining the EU
when your country's new accord on “super intelligence” misspells the country's name
Pakistan shuts down roads into the capital in preparation for the PTI’s protest march. The march will demand the freedom of the party’s former leader, Imran Khan, from prison. Khan remains Pakistan’s most prominent opposition leader despite his imprisonment. www.aljazeera.com/news-analysi...
‘Source of anxiety’: Pakistan cracks down before march to free Imran Khan
The government has blocked highways to the capital and set up container barriers in preparation for the PTI protest.
aljazeera.com
Yesterday Schmitt was at least quite misleading if not outright lying. The false gotcha is always a bad look.
Politico@politico.com · last wk.Sen. Eric Schmitt expressed no remorse for falsely accusing Jack Smith of lying to Congress about attending a basketball game as a guise to investigate Trump. “He has lied before to Congress,” the Missouri Republican said.
This is probably well-known by now but Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since the 1930s.
Rachel Maddow@maddow.bsky.social · 2w ago“'You don’t live here,' the crowd shouted like they were in a basketball arena...” kansasreflector.com/2026/09/18/u...
70% of Canadians defined national security and defence, as including climate and pandemic preparedness People don't have a narrow idea of defence. It isn't just guns and ammo. They think security means more than just countering terrorist threats progressdevelopment.substack.com/p/sovereignt...
Sovereignty is the means not the end
What can we learn from a unique exercise that listens to Canadians talk about foreign policy?
progressdevelopment.substack.com
This is tone deafness. www.yahoo.com/news/politic...
Obama: Government is ‘so much less corrupt than probably it’s ever been’
Former President Obama says in his just-launched literary-focused podcast that the federal government is “so much less corrupt” than it was in the past. “People are always surprised when I tell them t...
yahoo.com
Once more: Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since the 1930s
Jack Jenkins@jackjenkins.me · 2w agoNEW: Last month, I flew to Kansas to speak with Rev. Adam Hamilton, the megachurch pastor running for Senate — as a Democrat. He talked to me about "progressive evangelicalism," and I talked to his congregants. And here's the thing: he has a real chance of winning. religionnews.com/2026/09/23/h...
"Presidential Executive Orders" have no force outside of the Executive branch. Someone teaching at Hawaii can't be "non-compliant with them." This is jibberish capitulation BS.
David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 2w agoWtaf is this question my university just asked me about my project?
Informative thread on blowback consequences of Trump's media bans.
Kathleen Bachynski@bachynski.bsky.social · 2w ago“He was left almost literally shouting into the wind on Monday as he cut the ribbon on his new helipad on the South Lawn… recorded only by a second-tier news broadcaster that could not capture his voice over the roar of Marine One. There was Mr. Trump moving his mouth, and no one could hear him.”
Big shot: That Pete Alonso homer probably ended Yordan Alvarez triple crown hopes and may have ended Blue Jays playoff hopes too.
If any of these guys spent 1 hour with someone outside of their ideological bubble they might have learned something. For example, if you think you can cut the deficit via personnel cuts, you are a fucking clown who does not deserve to be listened to. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/a-year-on-...
Executive Director of The Steady State, Steven Cash, breaks down NSPM-7, which he calls the scariest government document he's ever seen, and how it repurposes the intelligence community to treat Americans as potential domestic terrorists.
Wrote it with Rob Smigel. And yes, it was pulled from reruns.
Michael Warburton@michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 2w agoThis aired just the once in 1998 on the live SNL show for which McKay wrote it. It was effectively banned as it never aired again. I wonder why. MEDIA-OPOLY
The phrase they're looking for is "evil lair."
The Atlantic@theatlantic.com · 2w agoDonald Trump’s Sunday-morning Truth Social post “suggests a president who is now lost in a fantasy city in his mind—a capital where the buildings are festooned with his name, drenched in glitz, and bristling with weapons,” @radiofreetom.bsky.social argues:
somehow the greatest anecdote that explains all politics
Inbound Ike@inboundike.bsky.social · 3w agothe week of the MI senate primary, a group of river tubers on the Muskegon went missing for three days after they got in the water not realizing the river only flows in one direction and doesn’t just take you back to your car. They’re more representative of voters than anyone on here.
An entirely reasonable organizational response from CNN would be that they will no longer host members of the administration as long as the administration bars them from the White House
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agoBASH: The Wall Street Journal reports the president's top advisers are warning the Iran war could continue the rest of his term, until 2029. Is that what you think? UN AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: I think time is on the president's side (Not a no!)