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davidjhouston.bsky.social
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Extraordinary piece with video of Trump fired inspector generals from @nytimes.com Gift Article www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

For as long as I’ve been doing this, Republicans, the conservative legal movement, and judges friendly to their goals have been warning about unelected bureaucrats wielding unchecked executive power. You won’t believe what they’ve said about Elon Musk so far. (Hint: Nothing.) That could change.

DOGE is driving Social Security cuts and will make mistakes, acting head says privately www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The underfunding of public education, and the diversion of funds into the two failing private systems, has driven property taxes skyrocketing throughout the state. That’s because local governments are forced to make up the gap left by the lower share of state support.

“Every appointment I've had the last 2 weeks, I've been begging my nurses and doctors and other medical workers who work at the Cincinnati VA to please not leave. We vets need you. You are essential for us to live.” A Veteran’s Plea: open.substack.com/pub/davidpep...

NEW: Nearly 70% of Americans aren’t buying Trump’s bullshit on tariffs—an overwhelming majority believe they’ll drive prices up, not down.

1/ With WSJ reporting: "President Trump is expected to issue an executive order as soon as Thursday aimed at abolishing the Education Department." Expert analysis by former Senior Counsel at the U.S. Department of Education, Laura Booth:

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”

Martin has repeatedly violated the oath he took to uphold the Constitution—not just the parts of it he likes—and should be removed from office. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

1/ Federal Judge in Rhode Island says no to Trump imposing spending freezes, affirming Congress still has the power of the purse (whether it’s doing anything about executive overreach or not) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

What Putin would do. "Trump to revoke legal status for 240,000 Ukrainians as US steps up deportations" [Finer point: Yes, this appears to be part of a broader effort that sweeps in Ukrainians, but it would be simple to make an exception/keep their temporary protected status.]

I wrote about how Trump is destroying American democracy, along with eight crucial lessons about how to counteract it, drawing on my 14 years of studying brave pro-democracy opposition movements in authoritarian regimes across the globe. We’re in serious trouble, but there’s still hope.

In response to member questions for the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform... I provide arguments against hasty workforce reductions, the need to carefully approach AI's impact on government jobs, and concerns about private interests' influence on government operations and policy-making.

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from firing Cathy Harris, the chair of an independent board that protects government workers from political discrimination and unfair labor practices, including wrongful termination.

To be clear, the Trump administration isn't shutting down HUD office *leases* in 34 states. It's shutting down HUD *offices* and reassigning or terminating staff — despite federal law that requires offices in every state to underwrite mortgages www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

ditto canada: for the minuscule amounts of fentanyl...these are american smugglers at the american border, which is the responsibility of america

Gift Article: An insightful analysis of Trump's campaign revenge promise -- he is delivering on this one by attacking EVERYONE! The piece includes a nice and telling comparison with Nixon. :-) www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/o...

Gvmt services aren't meant to make profits! Our taxes fund community services (fire/police/mail etc). Elon wants a world where your house is on fire but the private FD won't come because you don't qualify or haven't paid your bill. Like private health insurance! And Elon wants to own the company.

Musk states "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy". Charles Darwin, who actually researched this stuff, showed it was empathy, specifically, that enabled humanity to flourish.

This is perfect. No notes

The Trump administration is setting out to destroy biomedical research in America www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...

The existing private companies often rely on the USPS for the last leg of rural deliveries so this would just be the end of mail for them entirely. But remember, it’s the Democrats who have contempt for rural Americans

"several federal judges in the Washington D.C. area had received pizzas sent anonymously to their homes, which is being interpreted by law enforcement as a form of intimidation meant to convey that a target’s address is known." www.reuters.com/world/us/jud...

serious question. in U.S. history, has there been a more brazen or more consequential violation of the Appointments Clause than Musk?

Republican support for same-sex marriage down 31pts, from 55% to 24%, in four years according to new poll from YouGov. Yikes.

It’s about: the t̶r̶a̶d̶e̶ ̶d̶e̶f̶i̶c̶i̶t̶ ̶U̶S̶M̶C̶A̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶i̶a̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶i̶n̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶u̶f̶a̶c̶t̶u̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶r̶e̶p̶l̶a̶c̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶c̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶t̶a̶x̶ f̶u̶n̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶o̶v̶e̶r̶e̶i̶g̶n̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶l̶t̶h̶ ̶f̶u̶n̶d̶ drug cartels in Canada 🇨🇦

NEW: The NIH has begun terminating grants for active projects studying gender identity, DEI, environmental justice, climate change, among other topics. At least 16 termination letters have already been sent — and hundreds more are coming, people inside NIH tell me. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Like huh it’s almost as if this information is inconsistent with the government’s representations in court that Amy Gleason, not Musk, is in charge of DOGE, and that agency heads, not DOGE, are responsible for the cuts

Can I have that number, too?

This is what I said last week to look out for them doing.

This basically kills one promising route that federal employees could seek relief from. Now Judges who tell workers fired by Trump appointees to go through an internal process before going to the courts are telling them to appeal to another set of Trump appointees. No expectation of a fair hearing.

This new complaint against DOGE is truly cranked up to 11 from start to finish. What a way to start a lawsuit storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... h/t @mikesacks.bsky.social

This is how it is done.

Trump is acting the way he is because he knows the GOP will not impeach him, and the Roberts court gave him broad immunity. The party and SCOTUS removed constraints.

As a professor of English, allow me to try, humbly and with the proper respect, to offer an appropriate response to the President’s address: Fuck you, you fucked-up fuck, and fuck all the fuckers who willingly fuck with you, especially. You can all fuck all the way off, and then fuck off some more.

The question we must now ask: How much damage does the US want to do to Ukrainians? on.ft.com/4bpsI6T

The education of the officer class of the US military has helped to protect democracy in the US. Now, perspectives not approved by the Trump administration will be removed as part of its effort to construct a partisan military leadership.

“a large portion (70% is generally the number in states throughout the country) of voucher recipients are families who were already attending private schools, and could already afford the tuition of that school. That means most vouchers are paying… 1/

My God: they are selling off federal buildings and no longer planning on collecting revenues. Again, none of this is about efficiency. I know the IRS is not popular, but for every dollar invested it generates about $7 in returns. The goal is not to save money but to stop collecting it.

"The proposal would establish a 100% tax credit, up from 70%, and a $50,000 annual cap per taxpayer. The result: Nearly all Missouri households... could fully satisfy their state tax bill by redirecting their payment from the state to pregnancy centers." www.propublica.org/article/miss...

Russia is not winning www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

The kid’s parents emailed the school about it, they were already aware. It was not a surprise or a secret. Trump’s story is a gross misrepresentation of facts to scare you into hating people you don’t care to understand. Don’t fall for it.

Per NYFed regional business survey, firms' inflation expectations have picked up. On average, service firms expect costs to rise at a 5.7% pace, while manufacturing firms expect cost increases to rise 7.3%. Tariffs a big factor here. libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2025/03/firm...

"In just a few minutes, the behavior of Donald Trump and J. D. Vance created a brand new stereotype for America: not the quiet American, not the ugly American, but the brutal American" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Europeans are mystified, disappointed and frightened by a country they thought they knew www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...