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

Demolition of foreign aid funding hits evangelical Christian charities that view Trump as an ally www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

submitted 9 hours ago • 42 comments

Trump on his cabinet members: "We're gonna be watching them. And Elon and the group are gonna be watching them. And if they can cut, it's better. And if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting."

submitted 11 hours ago • 376 comments

Full article: Future Directions of Public Administration Research—Addressing Fundamental Issues and Questions www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

submitted 8 hours ago • 0 comments

y’all this is absolutely wild. trying to ban lawyers from federal buildings lol. this man is so cooked.

submitted 7 hours ago • 11 comments

Judith Butler: "Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic, because that means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice, and a third, a fourth, and then what happens?"

submitted 13 days ago • 62 comments

A Presidential Executive Order, entirely focused on using the full power of the US government to punish a law firm for engaging in entirely legal actions that the President dislikes

submitted 6 hours ago • 10 comments

Civil servant source says DOGE has made agencies much less efficient: "Work has ground down to a stunning degree and management is spending a significant amount of time responding & preparing to respond to the chaos incited by the never ending barrage of EOs & accompanying memos" Many make no sense🧵

submitted 12 hours ago • 217 comments

Read this. Trump is claiming inherent power to name an acting head of a Senate confirmed board, where the Vacancies Act doesn’t apply (and there’s no agency succession provision). Forget removal. This is Appointments Clause madness. Means he could name folks to MSPB and NLRB without the Senate.

submitted 7 hours ago • 15 comments

Make America Healthy Again www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/c...

submitted 5 hours ago • 9 comments

For those who wanted to share this video off platform. Here it is on YouTube youtu.be/OiPa9VY9PH8?...

submitted 1 day ago • 610 comments

Amidst the tumult, Congressional Rs are working on a budget bill to deliver huge tax cuts to the wealthy & corporations, cut benefits from people who need them, & massively increase deficits & debt. One of the proposed cuts is to low-income disabled kids: www.cbpp.org/blog/propose...

submitted 1 day ago • 5 comments

I’m on the BBC Radio 4 Today podcast in a long form interview explaining why Trump is an existential threat to American democracy—and why the second term is already so much more dangerous than the first: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

WSJ: “.. Fully unwinding the department would require a filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority in the Senate, legal experts have said. .. The draft order doesn't mention Congress.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

submitted 21 hours ago • 106 comments

🔥🔥Harvard professors of government @ryanenos.bsky.social and Steven Levitsky (experts in democracy) urge Harvard to come to defense of American democracy, highlighting how “The defense of democracy transcends partisan or policy debates.” www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

submitted 20 hours ago • 12 comments

Texas is using “harmful materials” panic as a justification to allow conservative parents to seize libraries from librarians — and effectively banning books they don’t like.

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/u...

submitted 20 hours ago • 7 comments

President Andrew Jackson almost certainly never said “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” Today’s bonus “One First” takes a deep dive into the background to Worcester v. Georgia—which helps to make clear why he wouldn’t have: www.stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-129-...

submitted 20 hours ago • 5 comments

Republicans in Congress are reportedly asking Musk’s permission to hold votes

submitted 20 hours ago • 529 comments

Want to read more about public administration in an era of populism & state fragility? Read chapters by @donmoyn.bsky.social @alasdairroberts.bsky.social @gabilotta.bsky.social Michael Bauer and Norma Riccucci in "Futures for the Public Sector" lup.be/book/futures... (open access)

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

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

submitted 19 hours ago • 10 comments

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.

submitted 19 hours ago • 8 comments

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

submitted 18 hours ago • 21 comments

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.

submitted 1 day ago • 16 comments

“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...

submitted 18 hours ago • 15 comments

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

submitted 1 day ago • 58 comments

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:

submitted 19 hours ago • 49 comments

“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.”

submitted 1 day ago • 835 comments

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...

submitted 18 hours ago • 133 comments

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...

submitted 18 hours ago • 30 comments

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.]

submitted 19 hours ago • 67 comments

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.

submitted 17 hours ago • 13 comments

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.

submitted 17 hours ago • 0 comments

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.

submitted 1 day ago • 36 comments

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...

submitted 17 hours ago • 3 comments

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

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

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...

submitted 1 day ago • 18 comments

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.

submitted 1 day ago • 57 comments

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.

submitted 1 day ago • 704 comments

This is perfect. No notes

submitted 1 day ago • 64 comments

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

submitted 1 day ago • 49 comments

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

submitted 1 day ago • 67 comments

"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...

submitted 1 day ago • 137 comments

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

submitted 1 day ago • 44 comments

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

submitted 1 day ago • 134 comments

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

submitted 1 day ago • 132 comments

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...

submitted 1 day ago • 29 comments

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