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

Something is shifting. They are still breaking things and stealing things. And they will keep trying to break and to steal. But the propaganda magic around the oligarchical coup is fading. (1/2)

submitted 20 hours ago • 1349 comments

Gift link. A small unelected, secretive crew now has free access to sensitive private data of everyone. And Musk is already publicly targeting family members of judges who rule against the administration. If this isn’t ringing alarm bells, I don’t know what would. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/o...

submitted 1 day ago • 32 comments

"Big changes at the top happen when the ground shifts at the bottom."

submitted 9 hours ago • 0 comments

Over 1,000 people showed up in Framingham to make clear that we’re fired up and ready to fight back against every terrible policy Donald Trump and Elon Musk throw at us. 📸 John Walker

submitted 10 hours ago • 140 comments

This is in one of the most conservative districts in Wisconsin ⤵️

submitted 18 hours ago • 45 comments

Good to see Pete clearly laying this at the feet of all Republicans, instead of using the “extreme MAGA Republican” messaging of Jeffries, Schumer and company.

submitted 19 hours ago • 5 comments

say it with me: voters hate this

submitted 21 hours ago • 22 comments

“it is impossible for them to carry out their program without isolating more of their base and become more of a minority.” Yes, and this creates opportunity to persuade, organize, and build power for democracy. It won’t be automatic, it will take work, but there are rolling opportunities.

submitted 20 hours ago • 0 comments

Yeah, this is on target.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

A defining policy battle is about to come to a head in this country. The Republican budget will force everyone - especially Congress and the White House - to make plain whether they are prepared to harm the rest of us in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest.

submitted 1 day ago • 731 comments

A [fired] constituent confronted Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) [who replied] he was only in Congress and couldn’t do anything...Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) got grilled about the massive firings at CDC and responded that “a lot of the work they do is duplicitous with AI,” [leading] to a new round of boos.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

It's happening INFLECTION: The Backlash Begins As Elon Goes Wild talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/infle...

submitted 1 day ago • 83 comments

"We have a long and glorious history of renewing the American idea." Yes, and we need much more focus on what democratic renewal means today. We can't defeat Trumpism by defending the status quo, we need something more just and exciting to fight for.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Standing up to the authoritarian wave requires more than cheerleading for democracy; it demands making democratic societies more participatory, responsive, and adaptable at all levels, from local to national, in response to the societal shifts driven by the Internet over the past 15 years.

submitted 1 day ago • 35 comments

Predictably self-serving without regard for societal risk. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/t...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

BREAKING: The Trump administration has announced that it will kill Medicare coverage of most telehealth services on April 1st.

submitted 2 days ago • 167 comments

Agree. I've been trying to rescue "populism" as a concept by distinguishing "authoritarian" from "democratic" versions. We live in a populist moment & SOME kind of populism will be a major factor driving transformative change. The question is what kind of populism and change will it be?

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

well said:

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Yes. We can’t defend democracy without renewing democracy.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Worth a try, I think.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Alert from EducationCounsel legal analysis of the Dept. of Ed DEI letter. No, maintaining diversity is not illegal. Must read for anyone in education. educationcounsel.com/our_work/pub...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

If you read between the lines, look for the subtle signals and tease out the subtext, it appears we have a power mad numnut on our hands. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/u...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

DOGE recommended firing workers at: -FDA, which oversees Neuralink -FAA, which oversees SpaceX -USAID, which probed Starlink -CFPB, which oversees Tesla's financing arm and a potential payment platform on X. "Conflict of interest" is a severe understatement.

submitted 3 days ago • 1215 comments

Incredible stuff in here: They ID'ed him, in part, by going to court hearings and watching him post

submitted 3 days ago • 129 comments

Many legal experts say we're on the CUSP of a constitutional crisis, & cautious (or cowed) media outlets rely on that frame. But many historians, political scientists & regular citizens know we're already hip-deep in one and had better start acting like it. The time for silence is well past.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

We have brand-new-vacuum-wrapped-for-freshness "longstanding norms" now!

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

I understand why these stories exist but it’s important to be clear that he’s not “saving” 16 billion, he’s choosing, personally, without oversight, to wipe out 16 billion dollars of government services to veterans and the disabled and food safety etc etc

submitted 3 days ago • 518 comments

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are messing with your Medicare benefits. Democrats passed a law to finally let Medicare negotiate with Big Pharma for lower prices. Now Trump and Musk laid off the negotiators. That means higher drug costs for you. Nothing efficient about that.

submitted 4 days ago • 270 comments

I'm skeptical about studies of economic benefits/costs of immigration, but it is good to see at least one article on the (economic) benefits.

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Yet more talk about how the law can’t touch him, no matter what. I don’t know, seems like a bad sign…

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

“Re-establishes the longstanding norm that only the president or the Attorney General can speak for the United States when stating what the law is.” That was NEVER a longstanding norm. EVER. Don’t let them rewrite history and civics like that.

submitted 4 days ago • 13 comments

submitted 4 days ago • 855 comments

Agree we're in a framing war re Trump/Musk actions (responsible cost cutting vs destroying checks on hyper- imperial presidency & insatiable corporate greed). But even more important is telling the story of the just, exciting, meaningful future we aim to build & the actions we will take to build it.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

I am not making this up: Republicans have introduced legislation… to increase your bank fees.

submitted 4 days ago • 1218 comments

“U.S. Food and Drug Administration employees reviewing Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink were fired over the weekend as part of a broader purge of the federal workforce”

submitted 5 days ago • 85 comments

Want to go visit the national parks this year? Sorry. The reservation system is shut down, EMT personnel are gone, so don't get hurt or lost. No one can clean the bathrooms or cabins, so they'll be closed. Rangers are fired. www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

submitted 5 days ago • 845 comments

Finally saw Nolan's Interstellar & it pissed me off. The best & brightest have given up on our ailing Earth & focus all their wits instead on interstellar wormhole travel to find a new home planet. Screw such elitist techno-escapist fantasies. How about we care for our planet and each other instead.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Please don't say that no one is doing anything. We're waiting for @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social and @schumer.senate.gov to catch up with their constituents.

submitted 5 days ago • 67 comments

Union Square NYC.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

“Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service is seeking access to a heavily-guarded Internal Revenue Service system that includes detailed financial information about every taxpayer, business and nonprofit in the country, according to two people familiar with the activities, sparking alarm within the tax agency.”

submitted 6 days ago • 82 comments

Interesting way to put it

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

If you wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, you would empower the inspectors general. If you wanted more waste, fraud, and abuse, you would fire them.

submitted 5 days ago • 2287 comments

In the coming weeks, a lot of slow-on-the uptake folks are going to begin belatedly realizing Trump is both an inept moron and a dangerous autocrat. Our great civic challenge in these trying times will be calmly welcoming them aboard instead of primal-screaming in their faces.

submitted 17 days ago • 415 comments

The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?

submitted 5 days ago • 2403 comments