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markwylie001.bsky.social
Community college econ faculty, old fashioned New Deal/Keynesian liberal, lover of history, film, music.
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As of today, a new term has entered our language. A “rubio” is a spineless lump of nothing. Example: Don’t be such a rubio.

This is the DOJ’s introduction in a case about the fact that the Trump admin literally took $80 million out of New York City’s bank account, after it had already been paid out by FEMA under an approved grant. Basically, they did a chargeback. This is how Trump’s lawyers start the defense.

The chaos of Trump’s first month looks disturbingly coherent if you suppose he’s deliberately set on a collision course with the courts—and restructuring the federal bureaucracy to enable him to ignore them. open.substack.com/pub/juliansa...

Literally all he did was quote someone. Defining criticism of the government as treason is what authoritarians do. Turning a publicly funded news outlet into a state media propaganda machine is what authoritarians do.

Reminder that the literal Founders of the nation debated this and decided not to do it.

When you're suddenly desperate to convince people it's a good thing you drove the economy into recession.

A member of Russia’s state-owned news agency gained access to the Oval Office on Friday to cover President Trump’s sit-down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – even as the AP and Reuters were barred from the high-level meeting www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/m...

reality show host president, podcast host vice president

You are in deep, deep trouble when *Stephen Miller* is the voice of reason in your policy debates

It's be really nice if boilerplate repeating Elon Musk's thus far unsubstantiated claim to be cutting costs included reference to the value of contracts he receives and mention of the tax cuts he stands to receive. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/u...

In the last days of the Biden administration, Montgomery County, Pa., was awarded $5 million by HUD to help about 200 families avoid homelessness Then Trump came and no one knows what happened to the money. Another human tragedy. Story by @jessebunch.bsky.social www.inquirer.com/politics/mon...

This is a bigger scandal than people realize. It really makes it look as though this entire meeting was a setup by Trump that was planned in advance. If you watch the video it is clear that they are deliberately and almost derangedly blindsiding Zelenskyy. Now we know who the audience was. Putin.

Think about it: Trump & Vance lecture & bully the leader of the country that was invaded 3yrs ago and has been valiantly fighting to defend its freedom & sovereignty. Imagine it was Putin, the invader/dictator, visiting the White House today. Trump & Vance would be on their knees kissing his feet.

No more work-from-home, government workers, except for Kash Patel, who will run the FBI from Las Vegas www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

The goal is to terrorize federal workers into quitting. That’s it. Constant changes. Canceling work from home then closing offices. Laying off probationary employees. It’s designed to break the government. Then privatize it for profit. It’s not efficiency. It’s collapse. Only peasants will suffer.

Here's the memo that went out short time ago from SSA HR announcing "organizational restructuring" of Social Security admin. essentially one last chance to quit before you're all fired. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/memo-...

The pro-Russia toughs who tried to intimidate Ukrainians were known as Titushky. Today, the United States has a homegrown version of its own Titushky: the Proud Boys and other far-right groups: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Ted Cruz said he’d found $2 billion in “woke” science grants, but his team used keyword searches that flagged things out of context, like a grant to develop a device to treat severe bleeding that mentioned “victims” and “trauma.” www.propublica.org/article/ted-...

I’ve lost track of how many times they’ve broken something and then gamely tried to at least pretend to glue it back together.

Tate is like Trump in this sense: the most grotesque thing is not that he exists, but that he’s hugely popular, and what that says about us as a species.

Ready Fire Aim is a lousy way to govern.

this degenerate clown's micro-bros have spent the last month sending emails to the PRESENT air traffic controllers begging, pestering, and trying to threaten them into resigning their jobs. and now this ...

Who needs vaccines or Medicaid when you can just pray? gizmodo.com/rfk-jr-touts...

I'd call this penny-wise and pound-foolish, except that it doesn't really seem penny-wise.

It’s not cute to accidentally cancel Ebola prevention — a virus with a 50% fatality rate.   It’s even less acceptable when it turns out you didn’t “restore” the prevention for Ebola like you claimed.

Please enjoy my last ever post at Climate.gov/ENSO Blog. This afternoon I was fired by the Trump Administration 15 days before my 2yr probationary period ended on March 13. I have worked at NOAA since 2010, and I'm so incredibly proud of the work I did. If anyone wants a quote, let me know.

With heavy heart, we say goodbye to Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa. Married since 1990, the incredibly talented couple had left us all on Feb 26, 2025. With respect and appreciation, we thank them both for the talent they shared with us in their time.

The fact that Byron York, out of the loudest shouters about the dangers of a “deep state,” can suggest it’s illegitimate to identify the people who have been given unprecedented power to change the government shows how utterly lost to nonsensical fascist propaganda some “conservatives” are.

Just a reminder that Trump’s DOJ just dropped a criminal fraud investigation into Ogles, including allegations that he used a photo of his stillborn child to raise tens of thousands of dollars for a burial garden for children that was never built. He has never accounted for that money.

Air traffic controllers are required by law to retire at 56. It is a high-stress, high-intensity job that requires intense focus. The retirement rules are there to keep us all safe. This fucking guy has no clue what's he's doing.

The “how dare you name DOGE employees” thing reminds me of the way the turds running The Federalist would respond when you asked who funded them. YOU JUST WANT TO VICTIMIZE OUR BACKERS, they’d shriek.

www.serioustrouble.show/p/the-new-ge...

📌You know Gene Hackman was one of the finest actors who ever lived. There wasn't a part he couldn't play convincingly ... But did you also know he was a lifelong Democrat who "was proud" to be on Nixon's enemies list? RIP, my good man, I will be teeing up your movies the next few nights ...

People laughed a few days ago when @jamellebouie.net said we might not have flu shots next year, but:

Among the relevant questions in the litigation alleging that Musk unconstitutionally wields the power of a “principal officer”: 1. Does Musk have the power to hire and fire people? 2. Is Musk supervised by someone other than the president and is that person a Senate-confirmed officer?

I genuinely think some of this ends with judges finding Trump admin declarants liable for perjury.

"If you were Dawn’s age, you related to her; if you were older, you felt, as Buffy did, protective of her. That was the magic of Michelle Trachtenberg"

It doesn’t even say government credit cards, these sloppy morons can’t even get the basics right.

Elon Musk said DOGE made a mistake by cutting USAID’s Ebola prevention but it had been “restored.” That’s not true, current and former officials told me and @johnphudson.bsky.social. “There have been no efforts to ‘turn on’” Ebola prevention, said Nidhi Bouri, who oversaw team until January.