Seth D. Michaels
@sethdmichaels.bsky.social
Bert of the Intellect, Ernie of the Will
DC based, comms at @ucs.org (all opinions mine), ambivalently Online, generally polite, still People Magazine's Seth D-est Man Alive. please don't argue in my notifications
DC based, comms at @ucs.org (all opinions mine), ambivalently Online, generally polite, still People Magazine's Seth D-est Man Alive. please don't argue in my notifications
Pinned
It’s bad that Trump thinks he got elected Boss of America and the whole government is just his staff, but it’s much worse that a majority of the Supreme Court and the leaders of both chambers of Congress agree
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
inventing a crime to get mad at
Reading the Fulton County affidavit now, which seems to say more about “if” there was probable cause than establishing that there actually is. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/u...
February 10, 2026 at 9:28 PM
inventing a crime to get mad at
shouldn't have to be necessary, but it's necessary
The AMA, alarmed by CDC turmoil, is creating a parallel system to review vaccine safety independently—an extraordinary step reflecting how far institutional trust has eroded + how fast alternative institutions must rush to fill the void left by a govt retreating from its own public-health mission.
AMA joins effort to launch vaccine science review amid CDC turmoil
The American Medical Association and a partner group are taking on a new role in reviewing vaccine safety and effectiveness as the CDC’s review process faces criticism.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:26 PM
shouldn't have to be necessary, but it's necessary
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
The real news here is Peter Navarro saying lower jobs numbers *are good* because they (supposedly) indicate fewer immigrants are working in the US. Trump-MAGA ideology values sheer numbers of removals over pretty much all else because their top priority is ethnic reengineering.
Peter Navarro: "The jobs report comes out tomorrow. We have to revise our expectations down significantly for what a monthly job number should look like ... Wall Street has to adjust for the fact that we're deporting millions of illegals out of the job market."
February 10, 2026 at 3:04 PM
The real news here is Peter Navarro saying lower jobs numbers *are good* because they (supposedly) indicate fewer immigrants are working in the US. Trump-MAGA ideology values sheer numbers of removals over pretty much all else because their top priority is ethnic reengineering.
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
It occurs to me that being a billionaire must be an awful lot like having EVERY conversation with ChatGPT: Everything you say is a pearl of extraordinary insight, until you lose all realistic sense of your own capabilities.
This really is a very good piece. I think quite a lot lies behind it. First that the *actual* education of the likes of Musk etc is very superficial. Just enough Western Civ classes at elite universities for them to persuade themselves that they are talented intellects without any deep study.
One lesson of the Epstein emails is the total intellectual vacuousness of the international business elite
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
February 10, 2026 at 2:20 PM
It occurs to me that being a billionaire must be an awful lot like having EVERY conversation with ChatGPT: Everything you say is a pearl of extraordinary insight, until you lose all realistic sense of your own capabilities.
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
taken together, the Super Bowl ads were like one big negative spot against AI (the surveillance and automation technology that you're a silly fool for worrying about, actually) nymag.com/intelligence...
February 10, 2026 at 2:35 PM
taken together, the Super Bowl ads were like one big negative spot against AI (the surveillance and automation technology that you're a silly fool for worrying about, actually) nymag.com/intelligence...
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
"Trump set to gut U.S. climate change policy and environmental regulations" by Matthew Daly and @seungminkim1.bsky.social for the @apnews.com: apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump set to gut U.S. climate change policy and environmental regulations: White House official
The Trump administration is expected this week to revoke a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change accordi...
apnews.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:56 PM
"Trump set to gut U.S. climate change policy and environmental regulations" by Matthew Daly and @seungminkim1.bsky.social for the @apnews.com: apnews.com/article/trum...
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
shocked 2 learn there is not a fixed lump of labor in an economy and that people may have been lying when they said they were gonna fix the economy by getting rid of immigrants
February 10, 2026 at 2:28 PM
shocked 2 learn there is not a fixed lump of labor in an economy and that people may have been lying when they said they were gonna fix the economy by getting rid of immigrants
"That money helped entrench a political movement openly hostile to democratic norms. This was not an accident. Authoritarians are better for fossil fuel business...The fossil fuel industry...[i]s actively underwriting democratic decay." - @emorwee.bsky.social
heated.world/p/actually-i...
heated.world/p/actually-i...
Actually, I do know how to do this
In retrospect, paying attention to polluters may be one of the best ways to understand what’s currently happening in the United States.
heated.world
February 10, 2026 at 2:29 PM
"That money helped entrench a political movement openly hostile to democratic norms. This was not an accident. Authoritarians are better for fossil fuel business...The fossil fuel industry...[i]s actively underwriting democratic decay." - @emorwee.bsky.social
heated.world/p/actually-i...
heated.world/p/actually-i...
my late lamented Eagles-fan mom went out a Super Bowl champ, but i did root for the Seahawks in her honor, raptor solidarity
seahawks are birds go birds
February 10, 2026 at 2:24 PM
my late lamented Eagles-fan mom went out a Super Bowl champ, but i did root for the Seahawks in her honor, raptor solidarity
February 10, 2026 at 2:17 PM
the legally-required scientific justification for this rollback is basically “no, YOU shut up”
A group of conservative activists has worked for 16 years to stop all government efforts to fight climate change. Their efforts are now paying off.
The EPA is expected to revoke the endangerment finding, which has underpinned the government’s ability to fight global warming since 2009.
The EPA is expected to revoke the endangerment finding, which has underpinned the government’s ability to fight global warming since 2009.
A Campaign to Revoke the Endangerment Finding Appears Near ‘Total Victory’
A small group of conservative activists has worked for 16 years to stop all government efforts to fight climate change. Their efforts seem poised to pay off.
nyti.ms
February 10, 2026 at 1:54 PM
the legally-required scientific justification for this rollback is basically “no, YOU shut up”
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
BONUS RULING: Judge Thomas Johnston, a George W. Bush appoiintee in West Virginia, used a recent ruling to warn of the dangers of defying due process for immigrants because of what it could also mean for Americans. It's worth a read.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 10, 2026 at 11:48 AM
BONUS RULING: Judge Thomas Johnston, a George W. Bush appoiintee in West Virginia, used a recent ruling to warn of the dangers of defying due process for immigrants because of what it could also mean for Americans. It's worth a read.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Actively contemptuous of any obligation to abide by rules or be held accountable
NEW: Federal judges are increasingly furious at what they see as a pattern / playbook of defiance by the Trump administration to court orders in immigration cases — in Minnesota and around the country.
Here’s a look at what they’re seeing: www.politico.com/news/2026/02...
Here’s a look at what they’re seeing: www.politico.com/news/2026/02...
How the Trump administration skirts — and defies — court rulings on ICE detentions
A POLITICO review of hundreds of cases brought by ICE detainees shows a pattern of noncompliance that has frustrated judges across the country.
www.politico.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:32 PM
Actively contemptuous of any obligation to abide by rules or be held accountable
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
It's s also a generalized expression of resentment against the professional class, from the oligarchs who do not want to pay for skilled labor, to the rightwingers who resent the presumption of greater knowledge. "Oh you scientists/experts think you're so smart, we'll replace you with chatbots."
February 9, 2026 at 9:19 PM
It's s also a generalized expression of resentment against the professional class, from the oligarchs who do not want to pay for skilled labor, to the rightwingers who resent the presumption of greater knowledge. "Oh you scientists/experts think you're so smart, we'll replace you with chatbots."
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
The people who thought Bad Bunny was divisive are, if anything, more incensed by “we are america,” in their terms it’s the most offensive and outrageous thing he could have said
February 9, 2026 at 11:57 AM
The people who thought Bad Bunny was divisive are, if anything, more incensed by “we are america,” in their terms it’s the most offensive and outrageous thing he could have said
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
this is a subject that's near and dear to my heart
1. no you didn't, you retconning fucks
2. your decades of anti-governance "free market" "government never functions" propaganda paved the way for the complete authoritarian decimation of labor, consumer, environmental protections
1. no you didn't, you retconning fucks
2. your decades of anti-governance "free market" "government never functions" propaganda paved the way for the complete authoritarian decimation of labor, consumer, environmental protections
February 9, 2026 at 6:06 PM
this is a subject that's near and dear to my heart
1. no you didn't, you retconning fucks
2. your decades of anti-governance "free market" "government never functions" propaganda paved the way for the complete authoritarian decimation of labor, consumer, environmental protections
1. no you didn't, you retconning fucks
2. your decades of anti-governance "free market" "government never functions" propaganda paved the way for the complete authoritarian decimation of labor, consumer, environmental protections
"it’s impossible to tell from the disclosures how well used any of the thousands of tools are." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... it's profoundly anti-human: it removes humans and human values from both making decisions and why those decisions are made.
Trump set off a surge of AI in the federal government. See what happened.
The Trump administration is accelerating AI adoption across government, embedding the technology in policing, health care, defense and science.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:19 PM
"it’s impossible to tell from the disclosures how well used any of the thousands of tools are." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... it's profoundly anti-human: it removes humans and human values from both making decisions and why those decisions are made.
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
hard to understand how conservatives don’t get tired of being mad at dumb shit all the time
February 9, 2026 at 7:50 PM
hard to understand how conservatives don’t get tired of being mad at dumb shit all the time
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
it has long been my impression that libertarians are either liberals who find other liberals annoying or Republicans who find other Republicans embarrassing. to the libertarians who feel politically homeless, please come join us on the left. we also find each other annoying - you’ll fit right in
February 9, 2026 at 7:40 PM
it has long been my impression that libertarians are either liberals who find other liberals annoying or Republicans who find other Republicans embarrassing. to the libertarians who feel politically homeless, please come join us on the left. we also find each other annoying - you’ll fit right in
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
I truly think these people are just...the emptiest people. They want elite trappings without what goes with them.
I was thinking this when I read this: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...
And I think it's linked in a way.
I was thinking this when I read this: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...
And I think it's linked in a way.
Opinion | MAGA Elites Who Live on Their Phones Are Ruining the Outdoors
www.nytimes.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:16 PM
I truly think these people are just...the emptiest people. They want elite trappings without what goes with them.
I was thinking this when I read this: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...
And I think it's linked in a way.
I was thinking this when I read this: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...
And I think it's linked in a way.
the new Fairness Doctrine is that you're not allowed to be Very Unfair! to Trump
This is also a fake FCC investigation of media outlets deemed insufficiently deferent to unpopular and radical right wing ideology, something Reuters downplays as normal policy:
US agency investigating if ABC's 'The View' violated equal time rules for political candidates
The Federal Communications Commission is opening an investigation into whether ABC's "The View" daytime talk show violated equal time rules for interviews with political candidates after an appearance...
www.reuters.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:12 PM
the new Fairness Doctrine is that you're not allowed to be Very Unfair! to Trump
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
This game is just Oops All Kicks
February 9, 2026 at 2:17 AM
This game is just Oops All Kicks
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
I tell you what, Ring figured out exactly how to weaponize white people’s empathy in service to a corporately controlled surveillance state.
Tell them it will find your dog.
Tell them it will find your dog.
February 9, 2026 at 2:08 AM
I tell you what, Ring figured out exactly how to weaponize white people’s empathy in service to a corporately controlled surveillance state.
Tell them it will find your dog.
Tell them it will find your dog.
Reposted by Seth D. Michaels
after giving it a lot of thought….good bunny
February 9, 2026 at 2:12 AM
after giving it a lot of thought….good bunny
this man spent a few years as an actual political operative and three decades since play-acting as a political operative for cable news and fundraising emails
So someone (you'll probably see it) was saying they don't know who James Carville is and I am 100% serious when I say most of the population should not.
He was not important to Bill's election and they BARELY won and that is his ONE victory his ENTIRE career.
He was not important to Bill's election and they BARELY won and that is his ONE victory his ENTIRE career.
February 8, 2026 at 4:21 AM
this man spent a few years as an actual political operative and three decades since play-acting as a political operative for cable news and fundraising emails