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

If you’re an 80’s kid,it is so hard to wrap your brain around the Russia loving GOP

submitted 9 hours ago • 6 comments

Russian hackers infiltrate our system every day. They are constantly looking for persistence (long term access) in our critical infrastructure. If Hegseth thinks that they’re going to stop just because we do, he’s even more out of his depth than I thought.

submitted 11 hours ago • 236 comments

I’ve been thinking about the political weakness of the Ukrainian American lobby (I am Ukrainian American). Small numbers, and not concentrated in a single state like Cubans.

submitted 11 hours ago • 2 comments

A fundamental problem is the Democrats are utterly committed to the fallacy that public opinion polls are politics. This has destroyed their ability to actually do politics. 1/

submitted 1 day ago • 44 comments

Short thread on why the strategy of Democrats waiting for the midterms and conducting ordinary pluralist politics of opposition against the Trump-Musk coup in the meantime is self-defeating:

submitted 18 hours ago • 2 comments

Corruption is as corruption does. "These internal directives [to find $ for Starlink] have mostly, if not entirely, been delivered verbally." The functioning of the federal government does not happen as a series of furtive conversations. It's all documentation, paperwork, memos, frameworks.

submitted 18 hours ago • 1 comment

I believe Musk and DOGE disbanded 18F because we stood in the way of their "procurement capture" operation. We get the government out of wasteful contracts. Musk wants that money back for himself. Explanation by @anildash.com of procurement capture: www.anildash.com/2025/01/04/D...

submitted 1 day ago • 69 comments

It’s obvious that Republicans fear a Musk-funded primary challenger more than their own voters. We need serious campaign finance reform in this country.

submitted 20 hours ago • 0 comments

Over the long term DOGE will cost a fortune because contractors and workers will price in the risk of contracting and not getting paid and working and getting fired, which were very low prior to this.

submitted 20 hours ago • 0 comments

Some scattered thoughts after the most shocking and horrible moment of US diplomacy most of us have ever seen. Not even sure what the point of writing anything about this is, but here goes. 1/

submitted 2 days ago • 22 comments

It’s insane to think that the Trump administration was more welcoming this week to the Tate brothers than to the President of Ukraine.

submitted 1 day ago • 652 comments

It’s beyond insane that a single individual can CREDIBLY threaten the entire republican Caucasus to bankroll a primary opponent if they don’t fall in line. A Total failure of both our electoral laws and tax code.

submitted 1 day ago • 5 comments

"The spectacle of the president and vice president of the United States tag-teaming to bully the leader of a U.S.-allied democracy fighting for its life against an autocratic aggressor has appalled observers around the world." www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-vanc...

submitted 1 day ago • 174 comments

In an extraordinary display of public support, heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers from all over Europe and Canada are posting in support of Ukraine in response to the Oval Office meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy, and Vance.

submitted 2 days ago • 390 comments

Again, the richest man in human history personally individually directed this

submitted 2 days ago • 158 comments

i was just complaining about this to a friend a few days ago. the punditry is obsessed with this retreat to discourse, where there is an inability to examine the actual phenomenon itself. instead, they engage in language games or treat politics as a question of definitions

submitted 2 days ago • 78 comments

Ohio’s J.D. Vance rebuked by the Pope, denounced by NATO allies, ridiculed for bizarre rant ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/02/25/o...

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

"Trump and Vance have revealed to Americans and to America’s allies their alignment with Russia, and their animosity toward Ukraine in general and its president in particular...The national-security system of the West is led by 2 men...who deeply sympathize with the world’s most aggressive dictator"

submitted 2 days ago • 12 comments

Zelenskyy showed more courage and intestinal fortitude today than the entire Republican Party since 2016. It's shocking to see someone refuse to bend the knee and become a supplicant.

submitted 2 days ago • 18 comments

Trump and Vance are shamefully doing Putin’s bidding right from the Oval Office. It’s an absolute disgrace. I’m filled with rage as I watch this. I stand with all of you who believe deeply in the ideals of freedom and democracy. I’m disgusted by our president bending a knee to Putin.

submitted 2 days ago • 373 comments

I can't think of anything like that obscene spectacle in the history of modern diplomacy, not just a snide remark or even mutual hostility, but openly belittling and insulting a visiting head of state in public like that? Astonishingly beyond the pale to treat any country's representative like that.

submitted 2 days ago • 46 comments

We’ve tried to shelter our minds but tonight we’re preparing for the genocide of Science. Entire NIH departments will have no leaders. World renowned Scientists kicked to the curb without cause, & grants will loose their lead investigators. Is this what they want? Chaos? Destruction?

submitted 3 days ago • 883 comments

DOGE is not about efficiency it is old fashioned corruption. In terms of dollars Boss Tweed was an amateur.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Great, detailed breakdown of the Musk takeover of government. *Amy Gleason, the official DOGE administrator, had worked as chief product officer in one of the companies of Brad Smith, who helped Musk plan DOGE. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/u...

submitted 2 days ago • 20 comments

How it started/How it's going

submitted 2 days ago • 368 comments

If your bank suddenly cut half of its staff would you trust it with your money? Social Security is 40% of the federal budget and Musk is planning on axing half of the staff responsible for managing those funds.

submitted 2 days ago • 28 comments

Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts. Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressionally mandated. They’ve saved millions of lives. 🧵

submitted 3 days ago • 437 comments

Wild to live in a country committing national suicide both literally and figuratively.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

It is really hard to watch people willfully tear down an infrastructure that allowed us to double lifespans, drastically reduce poverty, and become one of the richest countries in the world.

submitted 4 days ago • 184 comments

Well that's my cue. ✨NEW WP✨ What happens when SSA downsizes field office staff, even if the offices stay open? Fewer people end up enrolled for benefits. 🧵

submitted 4 days ago • 6 comments

I enjoyed presenting some research today on the politicization of working class identity @purduepolsci.bsky.social Great department, great people.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Libertarianism is the ideational useful idiot of fascism, so it makes sense.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

How did Southern white elites react after Reconstruction? They cut taxes and weakened bureaucratic capacity. Sadly, very relevant research from @pavisuri.bsky.social and @notstevenwhite.bsky.social.

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

The effects of the House’s proposed “Medicaid cuts to pay for tax cuts” in one graph: a 3.9% boost in income for the top 1% of households and a 7.4% reduction in income for the bottom fifth of households. In two words: class warfare. www.epi.org/blog/the-hou...

submitted 5 days ago • 34 comments

Being a good manager is not about terrorizing other human beings

submitted 5 days ago • 67 comments

Nice to be featured, along with @dellavolpe.bsky.social, in this new AP piece on the appeal of the young DOGE bros to young men. apnews.com/article/doge...

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

This is potentially a huge deal, since it is an internal appeals board laying out criteria saying some probationary firings were illegal, e.g. for citing performance rationales with no evidence. Could rippled out to include many more employees. www.govexec.com/workforce/20...

submitted 6 days ago • 24 comments

New Bright Line Watch report brightlinewatch.org/accelerated-... -Expert ratings of US democracy at post-2016 low -55% of Trump-aligned Rs approve of "strong leader who does not have to bother w/Congress" -Jan 6 pardons, exec branch firings, Musk influence rated as grave threats 🧵 of results below

submitted 6 days ago • 7 comments

This is the first movement from Sen. Fetterman, please fill out immediately if you have been impacted. Please circulate Penn, Pitt, PSU, Temple etc @cbartman.bsky.social

submitted 8 days ago • 4 comments