Joe
twitskeptic.sirvin.com
Joe
@twitskeptic.sirvin.com
Unprofessional data wrangler and Bluesky’s official fact checker. Older and crankier than you are.
Reposted by Joe
Not sure I understand why the Trump administration cares about Christians in Nigeria and not Christians in Ukraine
December 26, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Almost every thing David Brooks writes is cringe, but he’s really outdone himself today with this physics and religion “lesson”. Not even wrong.
December 26, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Joe
‘South Park’ writer Toby Morton owns Trump–Kennedy Center websites

A “South Park” writer anticipated President Donald Trump would rename the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts after himself, so he bought domain names connected to the Trump-Kennedy Center.
(NewsNation)
December 25, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Saved once again by the stupidity of the Trump administration. No competent prosecutor would ever try and bring these cases to trial.
The case Pam Bondi brought against Rep McIver in New Jersey isn't going well for DOJ. In discovery, a DHS employee gloats over having assaulted McIver, while other messages show DHS officers using racist slurs against the New Jersey congresswoman.
December 24, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Reposted by Joe
“In DOGE’s published list of canceled contracts and grants, the 13 largest were all incorrect.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Joe
Today is a big win for Illinois and American democracy.

I am glad the Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump did not have the authority to deploy the federalized guard in Illinois.
December 23, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Reposted by Joe
Here's a good book on the skills I think will be useful to journalists and citizen-researchers of the future, written by my colleague @micahflee.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:28 AM
Reposted by Joe
“The bottom line is that Donald Trump’s Social Security chief lied about call wait times to cover up his customer service mess,” said @warren.senate.gov. “This new watchdog report reveals that true wait times were more than three times higher than what Commissioner Bisignano claimed."
December 23, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Reposted by Joe
The CBS reporter who led the story calls pulling it a "political" decision.
"The decision was made after Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief of CBS News, requested numerous changes to the segment."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
December 22, 2025 at 3:10 AM
Reposted by Joe
HASSETT: If the Supreme Court doesn't find with us, refunds would go to whoever cut the check for the tariff

BRENNAN: Doesn't the administration claim it was the country that paid that?

HASSETT: Uhh --
December 21, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Joe
NOAA has started terminating grants to UCAR under the UCAR/NOAA Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program (CAMP).
December 21, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Joe
Physicist Leo Szilard, in a short science fiction story from 1948, describing how to retard science by making the funding application longer and harder than the proposed research - now called the ‘Szilard point’
December 19, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Joe
Given all the recent buzz about how great ChatGPT has gotten, including its prowess with images, I figured I'd check in on its anatomical skills. Nope.
December 19, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Trump/doge move to AI is going great!
I guess Epstein isn’t in the Epstein files.
December 19, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Joe
To all the young people in New York and across our country who count on gender-affirming care:

I won't let this administration come for you, your doctors, or your lifesaving health care. 

Your health care is still legal and protected. 

I'll always fight for you.
December 18, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Joe
“A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress - though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known"
- Bertrand Russell, 1976.

Time-lapse video of Vampyrella lateritia eating Spirogyra algae from Science Source/Oliver Skibbe. 🦠
December 17, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Joe
Open Enrollment in Idaho ended Monday—our first look at the very real damage caused by Republican health care sabotage.
 
Twice as many people dropped coverage. New enrollments dropped 24%.
 
Idaho is the canary in the coal mine.
Thousands of Idahoans cancel health insurance plans on exchange ahead of subsidies ending • Idaho Capital Sun
Idaho’s health insurance exchange ended open enrollment with thousands canceling plans ahead of expiring government subsidies.
idahocapitalsun.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Reposted by Joe
Karoline No

I know there’s an answer , but what on earth was lovely Leavitt thinking when she posed for photographs that made her look older than the sloop Don T? God only knows.

by Maureen Dowd
December 18, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Reposted by Joe
Trump officials were warned repeatedly that cutting off food aid to refugees in Kenya would lead to violence and death. They did so anyway, and thousands starved. @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/keny...
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
“Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.
www.propublica.org
December 17, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Joe
Hearing this is payback for Colorado not honoring Trump/Peters ‘pardon’
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Reposted by Joe
NCAR is quite literally our global mothership.

Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources.

Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.

Unbelievable.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
www.usatoday.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Reposted by Joe
Michael C. Rockefeller got shipwrecked in 1963, washed up on an island, and was promptly eaten by cannibals.
December 13, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Joe
MAGAZINER: How many veterans have you deported?

NOEM: We haven't deported veterans

MAGAZINER: We are now joined on Zoom by a combat veteran you deported to Korea
December 11, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Joe
Days after FIFA awarded Trump a fake peace prize, DOJ moves to drop charges in FIFA corruption case www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/n...
U.S. Moves to Drop Charges in International Soccer Corruption Case
www.nytimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Reposted by Joe
ICE detain U.S. citizen for looking Somali—use illegal chokehold to tackle him to ground.

Man repeatedly begs agents to look at his digital passport ID—they refuse.

Drove him 7 miles away before releasing him alone into Minnesota snow storm—told him to "walk home" in freezing weather advisory.
December 10, 2025 at 7:36 PM