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christopherrourke.bsky.social
writer and public sector worker. opera and r+b freak (once a singer.) šŸŽ¾ crusher. sometimes šŸ“˜academic. tiramisĆ¹, coffee and chocolate cake expert. teacht ar ais, āœØFrankie. for my thoughts on šŸŽ­šŸŽ¬šŸŽžļøāœØ please check https://letterboxd.com/christopher1998
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Over at @justsecurity.org, I have a really short post discussing the latest OPM email. Two takeaways: (1) Musk continues to use private-sector tactics to manage the civil service. Those tactics don't work. (2) No. It's not a resignation. www.justsecurity.org/108229/what-...

#Emails2DOGE cc: [email protected] 1. Mocked Trump & his boss Elon on TV and online 2. Got my kidā€™s Corgi fixed so she wonā€™t have babies (Elon you should get fixed 2) 3. Looked up why ketamine abusers need šŸ˜Ž indoors 4. Read court decisions saying Trump & his boss Elon violated laws 5. Made this list

Nigel Farage & Liz Truss happy at an event too fascistic even for the political heir to the Le Pensā€¦ www.bbc.com/news/article...

a reminder of Kamala Harrisā€™ warning to the world. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

As Trump was bullying the awesome Governor of Maine, he claimed that he is the Federal Law. He is NOT !!! This is the moment in American history when we the people must save our country from a dictator & his stooges & oligarchs. We all need to push back while we still can. .

I guess people are tired of hearing about how these guys are in Putin's pocket etc, maybe they don't really care. But isn't it just weird how much they just fvcking hate Ukraine? Like they want to see them humiliated & killed. Isn't that demented?

Chicago area music lovers! Come see our bandura ensemble in Elgin, Sunday, Feb. 23 at 3:00. Details: www.elginsymphony.org/concert-and-...

(šŸ“¢) MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: The Daily Beast publishes a sourced allegation that Trump has been a Russian spy since 1987 and thenā€”possibly under some form of threatā€”deletes it. But in an act of unusual heroism, it left it up long enough for Wayback Machine to capture it text. Here it is (please share):

Musk Says All Federal Workers Must Justify Job or Risk Dismissal www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Somebody somewhere Needs flowers today

If any of our former NATO or Five Eyes allies have intelligence data and assessments, which surely they must, about the background of the leader of their new strategic adversary, the United States, now is as good a time as any to release them, subject to protection of methods and sources, of course.

The resignation of a federal employee must be voluntary. I highly doubt failure to respond to this email---sent on a Saturday---would be understood by any court to be a voluntary resignation.

80% of Britons and 56% of Americans don't like Elon Musk. If you don't like Elon Musk, Like this Post. Lets see if we can make it the most liked one on Bluesky.

Letā€™s go!!! šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡¦ Pro-Ukraine protest outside the Russian embassy. āœŠ

For those at the backā€¦

The world is watching Donald Trump abandon Ukraine and our European allies to curry favor with the Kremlin. All of us ā€” Democrats, Republicans, elected officials and ordinary citizens ā€” must push back with every tool we have if we are to save our own democracy and others.

šŸ’°

Remember to follow Newsnight šŸ‘‡

Last night's Pentagon massacre is much more than realized. Not just firing the black CJCS and first woman CNO but all the senior JAG officers and hiring a man who just joined 3 different crypto firms tied to Kushner and Thiel as Chairman. I did a deep dive into it open.substack.com/pub/fpwellma...

This is so good.

I am writing about what is happening to federal personnel policy. One difficulty is that it's hard to observe and verify what is actually happening. I am particularly interested in information about the employment status of individuals working with/in DOGE. Anonymous tips welcome. Signal: Nbednar.46

ā€œShould Trump enact his tariffs, they will be paid for by American consumers through higher prices on everyday goods. Americans went to the polls with the intention of defeating inflation, not to facilitate its return through bad trade policy.ā€ Me in Newsweek www.newsweek.com/donald-trump...

ā€œI want you to thank me.ā€ šŸ’°Kristi Noem says Trump told her to spend $200 MILLION (taxpayer dollars) running ads thanking him for his immigration crackdown. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Kremlin Message to Trump: Thereā€™s Money to Be Made in Russia - NYT www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/w...

He nails it.

Measles Outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico Sicken Nearly 100 People: A majority of the cases have been in a Texas county where vaccination rates have lagged behind the rest of the state. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/u...

Extortion, pure and simple.

"No matter how many times Donald Trump openly parrots the Kremlin line, itā€™s never not going to sound wrong coming from the President of the United States." from @sbg1.bsky.social www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...

The level of derangement, my God. He's going to blow up his already fake/broken "factchecking" scam because he's angry that he's being called out for his Kremlin disinformation. Don't be surprised if Community Notes goes away altogether. Musk has no intention of being factchecked on his platform.

Happy Black History Month

Meanwhile, ā€œRussia believes it is in conflict with what it calls ā€˜the collective West,ā€™ and is acting accordingly, up to and including threatening us with nuclear attack and building up its militaryā€ from @wsj.com www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Letā€™s get kids off social media and into playgrounds šŸ› Iā€™ve written for @thehousemag.bsky.social about the dangers of doomscrolling and the positives of play. Childrenā€™s wellbeing comes first. www.politicshome.com/thehouse/art...

The country singer started the ā€œImagination Libraryā€ nearly 30 years ago to encourage early literacy. www.thedailybeast.com/dolly-parton...

Elon and other unvetted Trump enablers shouldn't have access to the entire nation's personal and financial data. Can my Republican colleagues acknowledge that? We're forcing a vote to block that access. Let's see where they land.