Michael Derby
@michaelsderby.bsky.social
Fed and economy reporter with @reuters.com, ex-Wall Street Journal. Failed musician, guitar holdout, I really like pedals.
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Reposted by Michael Derby
So, like, are the QAnon folks reacting at all to discovering that Trump’s inner circle is basically just Jeffrey Epstein’s rolodex, or have they found some delusional way to explain it all away? (The question is largely rhetorical.)
Dr Oz inviting ol Jeffrey to his V Day bash in 2016
February 12, 2026 at 12:24 AM
So, like, are the QAnon folks reacting at all to discovering that Trump’s inner circle is basically just Jeffrey Epstein’s rolodex, or have they found some delusional way to explain it all away? (The question is largely rhetorical.)
Reposted by Michael Derby
When you have made a terrible mistake
February 11, 2026 at 11:41 PM
When you have made a terrible mistake
Reposted by Michael Derby
AOC: We all saw the performance Bondi had. She was screaming and crashing, and I think it’s because she knows she is implicated in a massive cover-up to protect a ring of pedophiles through:
February 12, 2026 at 12:10 AM
AOC: We all saw the performance Bondi had. She was screaming and crashing, and I think it’s because she knows she is implicated in a massive cover-up to protect a ring of pedophiles through:
Reposted by Michael Derby
wait, Pete Hegseth shut down El Paso's airspace for ten days over four party balloons?
February 12, 2026 at 12:32 AM
wait, Pete Hegseth shut down El Paso's airspace for ten days over four party balloons?
Reposted by Michael Derby
Apple News is an enormous driver of traffic for many publishers that have seen link referrals crater with the rise of AI Overviews/LLMs. If Apple News responds to this by promoting a fever swamp of far-right partisan outlets, many news sites are gonna get utterly walloped
February 12, 2026 at 12:26 AM
Apple News is an enormous driver of traffic for many publishers that have seen link referrals crater with the rise of AI Overviews/LLMs. If Apple News responds to this by promoting a fever swamp of far-right partisan outlets, many news sites are gonna get utterly walloped
Reposted by Michael Derby
Dr Oz inviting ol Jeffrey to his V Day bash in 2016
February 12, 2026 at 12:12 AM
Dr Oz inviting ol Jeffrey to his V Day bash in 2016
Reposted by Michael Derby
the US coal mining industry employees ~50k people. For some perspective, The Gap has about 82,000 employees
February 12, 2026 at 12:01 AM
the US coal mining industry employees ~50k people. For some perspective, The Gap has about 82,000 employees
Reposted by Michael Derby
US lawmakers learned Trump wanted to indict them through the press reut.rs/4rRq2WJ
US lawmakers learned Trump wanted to indict them through the press
Members of the U.S. Congress learned only through press reports that President Donald Trump's administration had tried - and failed - to have them charged and arrested, and some said on Wednesday they were considering legal action in response.
reut.rs
February 12, 2026 at 12:01 AM
US lawmakers learned Trump wanted to indict them through the press reut.rs/4rRq2WJ
Reposted by Michael Derby
A Reuters photographer captured this image of a page from Pam Bondi's "burn book," which she used to counter any questions from Democratic lawmakers during an unhinged hearing today.
It looks like the DOJ monitored members of Congress’s searches of the unredacted Epstein files.
Just wow.
It looks like the DOJ monitored members of Congress’s searches of the unredacted Epstein files.
Just wow.
February 11, 2026 at 11:06 PM
A Reuters photographer captured this image of a page from Pam Bondi's "burn book," which she used to counter any questions from Democratic lawmakers during an unhinged hearing today.
It looks like the DOJ monitored members of Congress’s searches of the unredacted Epstein files.
Just wow.
It looks like the DOJ monitored members of Congress’s searches of the unredacted Epstein files.
Just wow.
Trump’s trade war on Canada might be in flames: “Lawmakers voted 219 to 211 in favor of a resolution to terminate Trump's use of a national emergency to put punitive trade measures on Canadian goods, sending the measure to the Senate where it stands a good chance of passage.” Via Reuters
US House backs bid to end Canada tariffs in rare rebuke to Trump
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly backed a measure disapproving of President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, a rare rebuke of the president and leaders of his party in the Repu...
www.reuters.com
February 11, 2026 at 11:38 PM
Trump’s trade war on Canada might be in flames: “Lawmakers voted 219 to 211 in favor of a resolution to terminate Trump's use of a national emergency to put punitive trade measures on Canadian goods, sending the measure to the Senate where it stands a good chance of passage.” Via Reuters
Reposted by Michael Derby
February 11, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Michael Derby
PASSED: the House just passed the resolution to end Trump's tariffs on Canada.
Not many crosses from Republicans, a lot of vulnerable incumbents took a dumb vote here to stick with Trump and GOP leadership. Goes to the Senate, which is likely to pass it.
Will share the vote sheet when I have it!
Not many crosses from Republicans, a lot of vulnerable incumbents took a dumb vote here to stick with Trump and GOP leadership. Goes to the Senate, which is likely to pass it.
Will share the vote sheet when I have it!
February 11, 2026 at 11:18 PM
PASSED: the House just passed the resolution to end Trump's tariffs on Canada.
Not many crosses from Republicans, a lot of vulnerable incumbents took a dumb vote here to stick with Trump and GOP leadership. Goes to the Senate, which is likely to pass it.
Will share the vote sheet when I have it!
Not many crosses from Republicans, a lot of vulnerable incumbents took a dumb vote here to stick with Trump and GOP leadership. Goes to the Senate, which is likely to pass it.
Will share the vote sheet when I have it!
Reposted by Michael Derby
Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick
February 11, 2026 at 7:56 PM
Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick
Has any president celebrated raising taxes on Americans the way Trump has?
February 11, 2026 at 11:26 PM
Has any president celebrated raising taxes on Americans the way Trump has?
Serious business going on at the DoJ right now.
“.. Pirro tapped a dance photographer who worked for her decades ago as one of the prosecutors who tried—and failed—to convince a grand jury to indict six Democratic lawmakers ..”
@bloomberg.com
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
@bloomberg.com
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
February 11, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Serious business going on at the DoJ right now.
So Google's AI can't reliably add up numbers: "In my previous response, I typed $2,887.67 (a $200 typo), but the actual math on those lines equals $2,687.67."
February 11, 2026 at 11:06 PM
So Google's AI can't reliably add up numbers: "In my previous response, I typed $2,887.67 (a $200 typo), but the actual math on those lines equals $2,687.67."
Reposted by Michael Derby
insane to be reporting this stuff with a straight face. like what are we doing here man
February 11, 2026 at 10:59 PM
insane to be reporting this stuff with a straight face. like what are we doing here man
Reposted by Michael Derby
CNN: "Another photograph - these are notes AG Bondi brought to the hearing today. This shows a list of Rep. Jayapal's search history. Lawmakers are allowed to go to a DOJ facility to search unredacted files. We learned from this photo that the searches are apparently being tracked & read by the DOJ"
February 11, 2026 at 9:27 PM
CNN: "Another photograph - these are notes AG Bondi brought to the hearing today. This shows a list of Rep. Jayapal's search history. Lawmakers are allowed to go to a DOJ facility to search unredacted files. We learned from this photo that the searches are apparently being tracked & read by the DOJ"
Reposted by Michael Derby
I can't think of an attorney general ever showing this much open contempt for Congress before.
Not only would most of them think this kind of conduct was beneath them, they'd have known that the Judiciary Committee chair, whatever the party, would never stand for clownish antics like this.
Not only would most of them think this kind of conduct was beneath them, they'd have known that the Judiciary Committee chair, whatever the party, would never stand for clownish antics like this.
Bondi is now just straight up ignoring questions from Democratic members
February 11, 2026 at 7:56 PM
I can't think of an attorney general ever showing this much open contempt for Congress before.
Not only would most of them think this kind of conduct was beneath them, they'd have known that the Judiciary Committee chair, whatever the party, would never stand for clownish antics like this.
Not only would most of them think this kind of conduct was beneath them, they'd have known that the Judiciary Committee chair, whatever the party, would never stand for clownish antics like this.
Reposted by Michael Derby
I know I’m fixating, but “shooting down party balloons and using it as a pretext for war” is literally the “99 Luftballons” story arc. 🎈🤯 (Even “Miami 2017” didn’t map this closely.)
![Wikipedia entry describing the story arc of “99 Luftballons”:
The lyrics of the original German version tell a story:
99 balloons are mistaken for UFOs, causing a military general to send pilots to investigate. Finding nothing but balloons, the pilots put on a large show of firepower. The display of force worries the nations along the borders and the defence ministers on each side encourage conflict to grab power for themselves.
In the end, a cataclysmic war results from the otherwise harmless flight of balloons and causes devastation on all sides without a victor, as indicated in the denouement of the song: "99 Jahre Krieg ließen keinen Platz für Sieger," which means "99 years of war left no room for victors." The anti-war song finishes with the singer walking through the devastated ruins of the world and finding a single balloon. The description of what happens in the final line of the piece is the same in German and English:
'''Denk' an dich und lass' ihn fliegen," or "Think of you and let it go."[11]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4dp4culto5csbqs5m6ge22fw/bafkreie4ga5vudhvz4e25t5oducxifde6sf2zgal7wugci2bv5ee2qfcoe@jpeg)
February 11, 2026 at 9:20 PM
I know I’m fixating, but “shooting down party balloons and using it as a pretext for war” is literally the “99 Luftballons” story arc. 🎈🤯 (Even “Miami 2017” didn’t map this closely.)
Reposted by Michael Derby
NEW: The US court system is already breaking down under the weight of a mass deportation campaign it is in no way equipped to process. @regret.bsky.social has the alarming details:
ICE Is Crashing the US Court System in Minnesota
Petitions demanding people get the chance to be released from ICE custody have overwhelmed courts throughout the US.
www.wired.com
February 11, 2026 at 9:32 PM
NEW: The US court system is already breaking down under the weight of a mass deportation campaign it is in no way equipped to process. @regret.bsky.social has the alarming details:
Cleveland Fed's Hammack with an FOMC meeting anecdote: "Now, the chair is a man, and he keeps the room at like a good 65 degrees. So my first meeting I was quite cold." Personal note: I'd be cold too!
February 11, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Cleveland Fed's Hammack with an FOMC meeting anecdote: "Now, the chair is a man, and he keeps the room at like a good 65 degrees. So my first meeting I was quite cold." Personal note: I'd be cold too!
Trump stopped aiding Ukraine to Russia's military benefit.
February 11, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Trump stopped aiding Ukraine to Russia's military benefit.
Umm, what?
Gallup will no longer measure presidential approval after 88 years thehill.com/homenews/med...
February 11, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Umm, what?
Reposted by Michael Derby
🚨 NEW NY Times: Trump admin DHS has appointed a 21-year-old as Digital Communications Director. Peyton Rollins' posts for the Department of Labor have promoted "white-supremacist rhetoric, Nazi imagery and QAnon conspiracy theories."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/u...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/u...
Homeland Security Hires Labor Dept. Aide Whose Posts Raised Alarms
www.nytimes.com
February 11, 2026 at 7:01 PM
🚨 NEW NY Times: Trump admin DHS has appointed a 21-year-old as Digital Communications Director. Peyton Rollins' posts for the Department of Labor have promoted "white-supremacist rhetoric, Nazi imagery and QAnon conspiracy theories."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/u...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/u...