plinythemiddle.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Musing: one side effect of constantly defending (eg an institution or a political party) against disinformation and bad faith criticism is that you can become habituated to ignoring all criticism (as bad faith), which makes it difficult to learn, adapt, grow, and address your actual weaknesses.

submitted 44 minutes ago • 6 comments

* MAJOR AIRLINE CEOS SAY AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM IS "FAILING AMERICANS", URGE CONGRESS TO ACT QUICKLY ON FUNDING NEW SYSTEM -- LETTER @reuters.com $XAL

submitted 3 hours ago • 128 comments

30 year Treasury above 5%. Also, I successfully used AI to do a Trump/Truss crossover, putting a Trump wig on a lettuce paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-liz-trus...

submitted 2 hours ago • 28 comments

Pedro Pascowl

submitted 17 hours ago • 229 comments

My latest @nytopinion.nytimes.com evaluates the House tax plan & finds it wanting. In addition to issues w/ revenue, growth & simplicity there is distribution: it gives more to the 1m households making >$1m than it does to the 127m households making <$100K. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/o...

submitted 1 day ago • 5 comments

You'll notice that each of the major dailies has now run a "Musk is pulling back" ... "Musk won't be spending more on campaigns" article in just the last few days. But look closer and US diplos keep working to rack up Starlink contracts for him overseas and more USG contracts keep piling up.

submitted 3 hours ago • 41 comments

In an interview pegged to the publication of his memoir, billionaire Barry Diller and I talked about the nine law firms that settled with President Trump. “I would never employ one of those law firms that did that, that essentially folded under these circumstances,” he said.

submitted 1 day ago • 13 comments

Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) says he has recordings of business associates of President Trump’s pick to lead the IRS, Billy Long, saying they expect to get favors from him once he is in office thehill.com/business/530...

submitted 15 hours ago • 33 comments

Offered a dozen chances to say that it’s illegal for the president to “conduct or terminate an audit on a taxpayer” (the exact wording in the statute), Trump’s nominee for IRS declines to do so. youtu.be/4Dtuf3AdMfg?...

submitted 15 hours ago • 31 comments

🚨UPDATE: In a late-night court hearing, the Trump admin says that it deported the Burmese man to Burma, but is REFUSING to say where they deported the Vietnamese man, claiming it’s classified! The judge ordered ICE to tell everyone involved they may face criminal contempt.

submitted 15 hours ago • 69 comments

House budget bill would lead bottom income quintile to lose ~4% of their income on average ($800), but top percentile would see their incomes rise 4% (nearly $70,000). If tariffs remain in place, the overall impact on families would be even more regressive. budgetlab.yale.edu/research/dis...

submitted 1 day ago • 22 comments

One of the free state of Florida's biggest counties just blocked schoolkids from reading "The Handmaid‘s Tale," "Beloved" and "Anne Frank’s Diary" www.tampabay.com/news/educati...

submitted 2 hours ago • 23 comments

Economists in a May 14-21 Reuters poll were unanimous the Trump administration's policies have hurt the economy, with over 55% saying "significantly hurt" www.reuters.com/world/china/...

submitted 2 hours ago • 12 comments

Thanks for playing, tho.

submitted 1 day ago • 82 comments

They are so dumb. So very, very dumb.

submitted 1 day ago • 1046 comments

someone’s taking this mafia state transition really seriously

submitted 18 hours ago • 2 comments

God bless you @markleibovich.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

submitted 19 hours ago • 61 comments

submitted 1 day ago • 66 comments

The Trump tariffs are "stackable," and so average tariff rates are higher than you're seeing in most media reports. Lemme 'splain.

submitted 2 days ago • 37 comments

submitted 1 day ago • 66 comments

Incredible chart work. 🙏🏼 #90dealsIn90days

submitted 22 hours ago • 109 comments

The Rules Committee meets at 1 AM on Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning to ram through this disastrous bill. Why? Because they don't want you to see them ripping healthcare from millions of Americans. You do not hold a hearing for a bill at 1 AM unless you're completely ashamed of it.

submitted 1 day ago • 706 comments

“I’m saddened to hear about the former president’s diagnosis and Usha and I hope and pray for an effective treatment and recovery.” There, I fixed it

submitted 1 day ago • 140 comments

This is where I am. The truth is more dispiriting than the wacky theories.

submitted 1 day ago • 53 comments

The call between Putin and Trump was a painful reminder that Trump is the junior partner in the Russian-American relationship and that Putin will continue his mass-murder campaign in Ukraine for as long as he can get away with it. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

submitted 1 day ago • 61 comments

Irony is dead

submitted 1 day ago • 13 comments

I’m on the Senate floor right now urging my colleagues to vote no on the GENIUS Act. There is no excuse for Congress to pass a crypto bill that will turbocharge Trump’s corruption and undermine national security, consumer protection, and our financial stability.

submitted 1 day ago • 102 comments

insurreciton welfare. probably first of many examples

submitted 1 day ago • 83 comments

This is HUGE. For those wondering why due process is essential for EVERYONE. This is why!

submitted 1 day ago • 72 comments

We blame Biden because he’s in eclipse. And because we don’t want to face the reality: That 2024 was a total, systemic failure of America, its people, and its institutions. www.thebulwark.com/p/joe-biden-...

submitted 1 day ago • 75 comments

They keep using this stupid comparison, so if you’re a reporter and don’t have ready the reply “did Grover Cleveland take the statue home with him?” that’s on you

submitted 3 days ago • 309 comments

“Putin is tired of this whole thing,” Trump said on Fox News. “He’s not looking good. And he wants to look good.” In reality, it is Trump who is tired of “this whole thing,” Trump who’s not looking good, and Trump who wants to look good. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

submitted 1 day ago • 79 comments

B of A: “.. the timing of the downgrade isn’t a coincidence. Moody’s appears to be sending a message that it thinks these policy changes will, on net, put the US on an even worse fiscal trajectory. That is, tariff revenues won’t fully offset the cost of the proposed tax bill. We agree.”

submitted 2 days ago • 46 comments

Big time fan and supporter of TeamUSA

submitted 2 days ago • 349 comments

“In case after case, a legal bottom line is emerging: Immigrants should at least be given the opportunity to challenge their deportations, especially as Trump officials have claimed novel and extraordinary powers to remove them.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/u...

submitted 3 days ago • 24 comments

Trump’s strategy to “flood the zone” may be working to keep his approval rating from sinking even lower. Voters who have not heard much about some of the many major news events from the first 100 days have a higher opinion of the job he is doing www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

submitted 3 days ago • 45 comments

This is nonsense

submitted 3 days ago • 111 comments

If I were the owner of the @washingtonpost.com, I would not do a deal with the people who dismembered my columnist. Seems like a low bar, but Bezos managed to not clear yet another one. The world is awash in capital and that this is the choice should tell you all. He’s so poor, all he has is money.

submitted 3 days ago • 219 comments

Who would have guessed that would happen? Well @pivotpod.bsky.social for months now.

submitted 4 days ago • 80 comments

✌🏼💙🇺🇸

submitted 4 days ago • 11 comments

Since SSA installed new anti-fraud checks on claims made over the phone, only two claims out of over 110,000 were found to likely be fraudulent (0.0018%) Meanwhile the new DOGE-implemented system slowed retirement claim processing by 25% www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...

submitted 4 days ago • 19 comments

Aww. That is SO thoughtful! 🥰 abcnews.go.com/Business/wir...

submitted 4 days ago • 191 comments

🎯

submitted 5 days ago • 288 comments

Yeah, that tracks. @nbcnews.com

submitted 6 days ago • 846 comments

There's always a tweet.

submitted 7 days ago • 744 comments

www.the-downballot.com/p/democrats-...

submitted 7 days ago • 374 comments

By exactly whom John? www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

submitted 8 days ago • 1083 comments

If there's a masculinity crisis in America, Ground Zero is the cowardly wusses who work for ICE and HSI, covering their faces with masks, fearful of an 80-year-old congresswoman, and reeking of panic What are the consequences for a U.S. secret police? My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...

submitted 8 days ago • 56 comments