VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
@vtmoderate.bsky.social
Retired Social Worker, business partner, wife, mother, grandmother and friend. News junkie, avid gardener and bookworm.
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
As I argued yesterday:
www.pbump.net/o/its-worse-...
www.pbump.net/o/its-worse-...
January 31, 2026 at 8:33 PM
As I argued yesterday:
www.pbump.net/o/its-worse-...
www.pbump.net/o/its-worse-...
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
I wrote yesterday about Kevin Warsh, saying what everyone who really follows monetary debates knows: he's a bullshitter who uses big words to make incoherent arguments that always amount to stimulus for Republicans, austerity for Dems 1/
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-bad-heir...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-bad-heir...
A Bad Heir Day at the Fed
No, Kevin Warsh isn’t qualified
paulkrugman.substack.com
January 31, 2026 at 2:39 PM
I wrote yesterday about Kevin Warsh, saying what everyone who really follows monetary debates knows: he's a bullshitter who uses big words to make incoherent arguments that always amount to stimulus for Republicans, austerity for Dems 1/
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-bad-heir...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-bad-heir...
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
I’m not a doctor and can’t make a judgment about whether this is a product of dementia, cognitive decline, pharmaceutical abuse, or just Trump's incontinence.
But even in the court of the Mad Emperor Caligula, I suspect, they knew how to recognize insanity.
charliesykes.substack.com/p/lets-not-s...
But even in the court of the Mad Emperor Caligula, I suspect, they knew how to recognize insanity.
charliesykes.substack.com/p/lets-not-s...
Let's Not Sanewash This
Our mad king really is... mad.
charliesykes.substack.com
January 30, 2026 at 4:32 PM
I’m not a doctor and can’t make a judgment about whether this is a product of dementia, cognitive decline, pharmaceutical abuse, or just Trump's incontinence.
But even in the court of the Mad Emperor Caligula, I suspect, they knew how to recognize insanity.
charliesykes.substack.com/p/lets-not-s...
But even in the court of the Mad Emperor Caligula, I suspect, they knew how to recognize insanity.
charliesykes.substack.com/p/lets-not-s...
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
“They probably don’t have any expectation that this prosecution will stick. But they do know they will put Don Lemon through the grinder in the meantime.”
-legal expert Matt Seligman, quoted in this piece. That's what this is about: Using state power to chill journalistic scrutiny.
-legal expert Matt Seligman, quoted in this piece. That's what this is about: Using state power to chill journalistic scrutiny.
Trump's arrest of Don Lemon shows that his "pivot" is an utter farce. As legal experts tell me, this looks appallingly corrupt. Indeed, it's likely this is all about sending a message that Trump isn't deescalating in the slightest.
New piece with fresh details here:
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
New piece with fresh details here:
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
Trump’s ICE Agents Arrested Don Lemon. Then the Story Got Even Darker.
Trump has been raging about the former CNN journalist. Attorney General Pam Bondi just had him arrested, a move one legal expert slammed as “highly irregular.”
newrepublic.com
January 30, 2026 at 6:42 PM
“They probably don’t have any expectation that this prosecution will stick. But they do know they will put Don Lemon through the grinder in the meantime.”
-legal expert Matt Seligman, quoted in this piece. That's what this is about: Using state power to chill journalistic scrutiny.
-legal expert Matt Seligman, quoted in this piece. That's what this is about: Using state power to chill journalistic scrutiny.
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
In the U.S., “a mirror world has begun to form with the unleashing of multiple federal police forces that have already killed at least 3 citizens and many immigrants. They protect the bottom line of transnational corporations that surveil and jail us for profit.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/o...
Opinion | Trump Is Not a Nationalist. He’s Something Worse.
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 11:26 AM
In the U.S., “a mirror world has begun to form with the unleashing of multiple federal police forces that have already killed at least 3 citizens and many immigrants. They protect the bottom line of transnational corporations that surveil and jail us for profit.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/o...
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
@abenewman.bsky.social to the Neo-Royalist courtesy telephone
LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT: Kevin Warsh—expected to be Trump's Fed chair pick—is the son-in-law of Trump donor Ronald Lauder (billionaire Estée Lauder heir), who convinced Trump in 2018 of the need to annex Greenland (and then invested heavily there), and who benefits from the Ukraine rare-earth deal?
Trump Administration Prepares for Warsh Fed Chair Nomination
The Trump administration is preparing for the president to nominate Kevin Warsh to be the next Federal Reserve chair, according to people familiar with the matter.
www.bloomberg.com
January 30, 2026 at 2:23 PM
@abenewman.bsky.social to the Neo-Royalist courtesy telephone
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
Maybe I’m weird, but I feel like some intrepid political party could probably assemble a coalition comprised of the -90% of Americans who would support banning these sorts of liberty-destroying government tactics.
“Agents can identify people on the street through facial recognition, trace their movements through license-plate readers and, in some cases, use commercially available phone-location data to reconstruct daily routines and associations.” All surveillance tools people have pushed back on for ages…
DHS ramps up surveillance in immigration raids, sweeping in citizens
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis is providing insights into the surveillance technologies the government is using in its mass deportation campaign.
apnews.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:34 PM
Maybe I’m weird, but I feel like some intrepid political party could probably assemble a coalition comprised of the -90% of Americans who would support banning these sorts of liberty-destroying government tactics.
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
Pretty stunning poll.
What's morale like at CBP & ICE right now? New survey data are damning.
*21% of CBP respondents (9% of ICE respondents) believe their agencies' political leaders maintain high standards of integrity.
*Only 23% at CBP (18% at ICE) feel confident they could report illegal acts without retribution
*21% of CBP respondents (9% of ICE respondents) believe their agencies' political leaders maintain high standards of integrity.
*Only 23% at CBP (18% at ICE) feel confident they could report illegal acts without retribution
January 29, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Pretty stunning poll.
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
Biden and Obama deported more people but they did it in a more humane manner by allowing the courts to follow the law. Unlike the current administration, they didn't demand self-deportation, or send people to third countries. They also didn't terrorize cities and states. See the difference.
January 29, 2026 at 10:47 PM
Biden and Obama deported more people but they did it in a more humane manner by allowing the courts to follow the law. Unlike the current administration, they didn't demand self-deportation, or send people to third countries. They also didn't terrorize cities and states. See the difference.
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
"Deportations under Trump are lower than deportations under Biden and Obama"
Trump 2025: 605,000
Biden 2024: 778,000
Except Biden did it humanely and lawfully.
One thing that returned a mad man to the White House was misrepresenting Biden's record, as you and Colby have.
www.wlrn.org/immigration/...
Trump 2025: 605,000
Biden 2024: 778,000
Except Biden did it humanely and lawfully.
One thing that returned a mad man to the White House was misrepresenting Biden's record, as you and Colby have.
www.wlrn.org/immigration/...
Spot on. I say this as a new Democrat - Biden & Dems utterly dropped the ball on immigration enforcement, that failure put the madman in the White House, and the madman has now taken immigration enforcement to a dark, cruel, lawless, extreme, un-American place.👇 www.mediaite.com/opinion/an-i...
An Inconvenient Truth: Biden’s Border Failures Directly Led to the Minneapolis Crisis
National anger over the crisis unfolding in Minneapolis is intense. Trump is getting most of the deserved blame, but Joe Biden's directly led to this.
www.mediaite.com
January 29, 2026 at 10:35 PM
"Deportations under Trump are lower than deportations under Biden and Obama"
Trump 2025: 605,000
Biden 2024: 778,000
Except Biden did it humanely and lawfully.
One thing that returned a mad man to the White House was misrepresenting Biden's record, as you and Colby have.
www.wlrn.org/immigration/...
Trump 2025: 605,000
Biden 2024: 778,000
Except Biden did it humanely and lawfully.
One thing that returned a mad man to the White House was misrepresenting Biden's record, as you and Colby have.
www.wlrn.org/immigration/...
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
Apple & Google removed ICE tracking apps in their app stores.
TikTok reportedly suppressed videos criticizing ICE & the shooting of Alex Pretti.
Meta blocked Facebook groups tracking ICE & links to a database of agents that the government wants to keep secret.
Big Tech is enabling Trump's regime.
TikTok reportedly suppressed videos criticizing ICE & the shooting of Alex Pretti.
Meta blocked Facebook groups tracking ICE & links to a database of agents that the government wants to keep secret.
Big Tech is enabling Trump's regime.
January 29, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Apple & Google removed ICE tracking apps in their app stores.
TikTok reportedly suppressed videos criticizing ICE & the shooting of Alex Pretti.
Meta blocked Facebook groups tracking ICE & links to a database of agents that the government wants to keep secret.
Big Tech is enabling Trump's regime.
TikTok reportedly suppressed videos criticizing ICE & the shooting of Alex Pretti.
Meta blocked Facebook groups tracking ICE & links to a database of agents that the government wants to keep secret.
Big Tech is enabling Trump's regime.
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
Video shows ICE leaving behind an infant and broken glass after arresting a man with no criminal history.
“There was a car seat in the back... There were broken glass shards all over it... There was just this tiny peanut of a baby. He was crying.”
My latest: www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/i...
“There was a car seat in the back... There were broken glass shards all over it... There was just this tiny peanut of a baby. He was crying.”
My latest: www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/i...
ICE agents shatter window, leave 1-month-old baby, mother in car after Portland arrest
Video shows federal immigration agents leaving behind an infant and broken glass after detaining a Guinean immigrant with no known criminal history.
www.pressherald.com
January 29, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Video shows ICE leaving behind an infant and broken glass after arresting a man with no criminal history.
“There was a car seat in the back... There were broken glass shards all over it... There was just this tiny peanut of a baby. He was crying.”
My latest: www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/i...
“There was a car seat in the back... There were broken glass shards all over it... There was just this tiny peanut of a baby. He was crying.”
My latest: www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/i...
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
I assume George Soros isn't paying for this?
January 29, 2026 at 9:26 PM
I assume George Soros isn't paying for this?
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
What if 10,000 people with whistles and iPhones showed up the same day?
I know all eyes are on Minneapolis, but there's a fast-approaching nightmare in Springfield, Ohio.
Trump is revoking protected status for tens of thousands of Haitians living there on Feb. 3.
Reportedly, on Feb. 4, 1000 ICE agents are arriving to remove this population. Ethnic cleansing.
Trump is revoking protected status for tens of thousands of Haitians living there on Feb. 3.
Reportedly, on Feb. 4, 1000 ICE agents are arriving to remove this population. Ethnic cleansing.
January 29, 2026 at 1:51 AM
What if 10,000 people with whistles and iPhones showed up the same day?
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
January 28, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
The operation in Washington, D.C. alone is projected to cost upwards of $660 million if it runs through the end of this year as expected, according to new data released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. n.pr/45FbxN0
Trump's National Guard deployments could cost over $1 billion this year, CBO projects
The operation in Washington, D.C. alone is projected to cost upwards of $660 million if it runs through the end of this year as expected, according to new data released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
n.pr
January 28, 2026 at 7:21 PM
The operation in Washington, D.C. alone is projected to cost upwards of $660 million if it runs through the end of this year as expected, according to new data released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. n.pr/45FbxN0
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
ICE agent barges into a consulate in Minneapolis (against U.S. treaty obligations) and when confronted says “If you touch me, I’ll grab you.”
This is a big part of what Congress must rein in: the agency’s sense of entitlement and unlimited power, coupled with its pursuit of physical escalation.
This is a big part of what Congress must rein in: the agency’s sense of entitlement and unlimited power, coupled with its pursuit of physical escalation.
January 28, 2026 at 1:05 PM
ICE agent barges into a consulate in Minneapolis (against U.S. treaty obligations) and when confronted says “If you touch me, I’ll grab you.”
This is a big part of what Congress must rein in: the agency’s sense of entitlement and unlimited power, coupled with its pursuit of physical escalation.
This is a big part of what Congress must rein in: the agency’s sense of entitlement and unlimited power, coupled with its pursuit of physical escalation.
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
just limitless depravity
Maher Tarabishi, who has been detained by ICE since October, was the primary caretaker of his disabled adult child, Wael.
On Jan. 23, Wael died from complications related to Pompe disease, a rare genetic condition.
ICE has now denied Maher’s request to attend his funeral, his attorney says.
On Jan. 23, Wael died from complications related to Pompe disease, a rare genetic condition.
ICE has now denied Maher’s request to attend his funeral, his attorney says.
ICE Denies Detainee's Request to Attend His Son's Funeral, Attorney Says
Maher Tarabishi was the primary caretaker of his son, Wael Tarabishi, 30, who died on Friday, Jan. 23, from complications related to Pompe disease.
people.com
January 28, 2026 at 12:22 AM
just limitless depravity
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
The guy genuinely gave a shit.
And the empathy vampires murdered him for it.
And the empathy vampires murdered him for it.
CNN reporting that a week before Alex Pretti was killed, 5 agents tackled him and he suffered a broken rib. CNN says he stopped his car after he saw ICE agents interacting with a family on foot and began to blow his whistle. Source tells CNN Pretti believed “That day he thought he was going to die”
January 27, 2026 at 5:32 PM
The guy genuinely gave a shit.
And the empathy vampires murdered him for it.
And the empathy vampires murdered him for it.
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
New: @avindman.bsky.social is running for Senate in Florida.
The retired Lt. Col. and key witness in Trump’s first impeachment launched his Democratic bid today with a video touting his testimony. "I'm not done serving," he says. #FLPol
The retired Lt. Col. and key witness in Trump’s first impeachment launched his Democratic bid today with a video touting his testimony. "I'm not done serving," he says. #FLPol
January 27, 2026 at 3:49 PM
New: @avindman.bsky.social is running for Senate in Florida.
The retired Lt. Col. and key witness in Trump’s first impeachment launched his Democratic bid today with a video touting his testimony. "I'm not done serving," he says. #FLPol
The retired Lt. Col. and key witness in Trump’s first impeachment launched his Democratic bid today with a video touting his testimony. "I'm not done serving," he says. #FLPol
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
This five year old is still in jail
January 27, 2026 at 1:38 PM
This five year old is still in jail
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
One armed goon loses his shit at an observer who's backing up, and then several more armed goons tackle the observer to the ground, and then even more armed goons form a protective shield around the armed goons handcuffing the observer for hurting an armed goon's feelings.
This can't be "reformed"
This can't be "reformed"
January 27, 2026 at 3:20 PM
One armed goon loses his shit at an observer who's backing up, and then several more armed goons tackle the observer to the ground, and then even more armed goons form a protective shield around the armed goons handcuffing the observer for hurting an armed goon's feelings.
This can't be "reformed"
This can't be "reformed"
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
What people need to understand is that the fascist GOP is an extension of the moneyed class. Its policies of repression are an outgrowth of the way this group preys upon society. This is the reason it feels like every institution is “failing” rn, bc in fact they operate at our collective expense.
Amazon Web Services hosts massive surveillance systems for both ICE and DHS.
Citizens Bank provides nearly $1 trillion in credit & bonds to private prison companies.
AT&T has a $147 million contract to provide communications services to DHS.
Know who is profiting from ICE’s cruelty.
Citizens Bank provides nearly $1 trillion in credit & bonds to private prison companies.
AT&T has a $147 million contract to provide communications services to DHS.
Know who is profiting from ICE’s cruelty.
January 26, 2026 at 6:15 PM
What people need to understand is that the fascist GOP is an extension of the moneyed class. Its policies of repression are an outgrowth of the way this group preys upon society. This is the reason it feels like every institution is “failing” rn, bc in fact they operate at our collective expense.
Reposted by VT Moderate 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇺🇦
Aisha Chughtai, who represents the district where Alex Pretti was fatally shot, speaks on the ‘despair’ caused by federal immigration enforcement
‘Our spirit can’t be broken’: Minneapolis city council member on resisting Trump’s immigration crackdown
www.theguardian.com
January 26, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Aisha Chughtai, who represents the district where Alex Pretti was fatally shot, speaks on the ‘despair’ caused by federal immigration enforcement