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michaelmodal.bsky.social
I am an American who cares about democracy, opportunity, and fighting autocracy in all its forms. By day, I work to make IT usable and empowering. I love jazz, America's art of collaboration, improvisation, and self-expression.
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Prolific Poster

I'm finally starting to figure out Bluesky

Voice of American staff, guardians of the truth, sue Kari Lake, election-denying promoter of censorship. Let's cheer on the VOA staff as they fight censorship and disinformation by the Trump administration. www.npr.org/2025/03/21/n...

"The use of the technology is nefarious in these contexts for a number of reasons, not least of all because it can be used to take the blame off Trump's anti-woke enforcers when they get caught doing something beyond the pale even by their standards." futurism.com/pentagon-ai-...

So many federal employees have guts by exposing the illegal actions of DOGE and Trump. "disclosing the chaos caused by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, for many, outweighs the risks that come with leaking." www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

It turns out Amazon also wants to decide what's constitutional. Dangerous goods aren't their problem (though they are happy to see them to you.) The only freedom they care about is freedom for oligarchy.

Democrats aren't gaining popularity from Trump's chaos. They are suffering because of their own chaos.

Columbia agrees to surrender autonomy and be micromanaged by the Trump administration. Columbia has done plenty of things wrong it should have correct before now. But they can't correct mistakes if they surrender control. They are now just a tool of the administration.

The Trump administration is now saying a Recession is a good thing. And some more good news about the rising price of eggs.... www.axios.com/2025/03/20/e...

One of the many reasons Google needs to be broken up: they are now trying to force users to save passwords with them, whether or not individuals want to do so.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick: "Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month, my mother-in-law wouldn't call and complain. She just wouldn't."

Tesla showroom From the new Private Eye, out now.

Musk is a bona fide panda-hugger. His loyalties are suspect, and he's easily blackmailed because of his financial vulnerability in China.

Maybe giving this guy access to the top-secret U.S.-China war plans isn’t the best idea in the world.

More evidence, as if we needed it, that Tim Walz is clueless. "Trump might be doing us a favor. He stripped it down, he blew the motor up. We’re going to put a new motor in it and take off. " Walz's argument: Blowing up the government is a favor to us. Thank you, Republicans.

Courage - let's acknowledge when we need to own our words and make conversations more precise.

Smart money is making billions by shorting Telsa. $TSLA is a burning platform www.ft.com/content/2f48...

Spring is here -- even in DC. Cherry blossoms coming soon. At least they can't take that away, this year at least. www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-n...

There's way too much mind reading happening in political matters. The only thing that does matter is what you say and do, not what you hope others think you want to do but haven't figured out how to do effectively.

Turns out that Secretary of Commerce Lutnik is a lousy pitchman, in addition to be criminal for promoting a private company's stock. www.axios.com/2025/03/20/t...

Telsa trucks: unsafe any any speed. apnews.com/article/cybe...

The NYT invites its readers to "meet" the new neighbor and have coffee with him.

Trump's assault on #Columbia is more sweeping than Joseph McCarthy's. But Columbia's board is ready to a hostile takeover, and is not even guaranteed that they'll get back their funding or that there won't be further demands. It's becoming obvious they are limousine liberals after all.

This is what "Trump Derangement Syndrome" looks like: journalists trying to understand the motivations of a psychopath. Writers at the Atlantic and elsewhere should report on what Trump says and does, not why he might do these things. We don't care why is a broken person.

"Columbia University is getting close to yielding to President Trump’s demands in negotiations to restore $400 million in federal funding." Columbia is enabling authoritarian to save its endowment. It has so many billions, which it should use to challenge Trump. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Seriously folks, the US has been upended, and that unpleasant news is meeting strong denial. What's happening now is much more profound than Covid, which shut down all kinds of activity. When folks say things aren't "normal", they downplay how dramatically the baseline has shifted.

Most famous American medical malpractice lawyer, RFK Jr, espouses malpractice. Let the bird virus spread. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/h...

Pam Bondi says destroying #Tesla assets is "terrorism." Is this what she's talking about: The missing $1.4 billion from Tesla's books? Financial Times reports: "Compare Tesla’s capital expenditure ... $1.4bn appears to have gone astray."

Ok, the criticism crushed this for now, but let's not forget it was said. US DOD officials sounding like they are employed by the North Korean government. www.snopes.com/fact-check/d...

The artless of the deal www.semafor.com/article/03/1...

Go Czechia! Go Ukraine! www.dw.com/en/why-czech...

Russia demands to keep captured territory The new Private Eye is out now

TikTok is driving protests at Republican Town Halls. What happens when Trumpy Larry Ellison buys it?

Schumer: "I don't think we have an authenticity problem" "We have a real direction now. I feel good about it." Seriously? What do you stand for these days as our democracy is under assault? Where's the Red Line?

Democrats need to reboot - just 11 percent of independents have positive views of Democrats - the vast majority of voters — 69 percent — say Democrats were "too focused on being politically correct," while 51 percent said the party is "elitist." via Politico

Nixon directed the Watergate break-in. Trump directed the Capitol break-in on January 6. Again today, Trump directed a DOGE to break into an independent agency. Criminals are on the streets of DC. www.wusa9.com/article/news...

"If a president doesn’t want to counter Russian disinformation, there is no reason to broadcast high-quality news in Russian. In fact, doing so is counterproductive. People might believe it." www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

Why does Trump and his bagman, Mark Green, want to abolish the Wilson Center? Because it tells the truth about Russia. www.wilsoncenter.org/program/kenn...

The Mellon Foundation’s recent $35 million commitment to jazz preservation celebrates the many ways #jazz is shaping American society events.mellon.org/americanjazz...

Wall St. Journal calls out an awkward fact for Democrats. The monster of Elon Musk has fed off of the Democrat's "Build Back Better" subsidies. The Green New Deal turned into green money for plutocrat who hates democracy. Small wonder Musk wanted to feed off even more easy government money now.

Musk is sick. If any other government employee posted such things, they'd have their security clearance pulled and placed under administrative leave pending a full investigation.

The #Trumpcession is already hitting metropolitan Washington DC. Your town is next. www.cnn.com/2025/03/16/b...