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alexkn.bsky.social
@alexkn.bsky.social
380 followers 3.7K following 0 posts
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mjsdc.bsky.social
16 Democratic senators recently voted to confirm the Trump-appointed Treasury Secretary who just gave Musk’s team access to a Treasury payment system that disburses trillions and holds mass quantities of personal information. Food for thought. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
February 1, 2025 at 9:25 PM
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mjsdc.bsky.social
Musk and his allies are ransacking the federal treasury, gaining access to closely guarded payment systems that disburse trillions of dollars and hold massive amounts of incredibly sensitive information—including Social Security numbers. Just a terrifying development. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave representatives of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency full access to the federal payment system late on Friday, according to three people familiar with the change, handing Elon Musk and the team he is leading a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending. The new authority follows a standoff this week with a top Treasury official who had resisted allowing Mr. Musk’s lieutenants into the department’s payment system, which sends out money on behalf of the entire federal government. The official, a career civil servant named David Lebryk, was put on leave and then suddenly retired on Friday after the dispute, according to people familiar with his exit.
February 1, 2025 at 9:20 PM
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joshgondelman.bsky.social
It’s really frustrating how even as so many people are working so hard for the rights of immigrants and trans people and everyone else this administration is endangering, Democratic politicians are like: “If they don’t knock it off, we will be forced to ask permission to tell them to knock it off!”
January 29, 2025 at 1:36 AM
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katelynburns.com
This order will kill kids, there's no other way to say it. It's the government forcibly taking control of the bodies of thousands of children.
mjsdc.bsky.social Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · Jan 28
Trump issues a sweeping executive order purporting to (a) defund medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care to patients under 19 and (b) revoke coverage for such care under federal insurance plans. This is illegal and will be challenged. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Sec. 4. Defunding Chemical and Surgical Mutilation. The head of each executive department or agency (agency) that provides research or education grants to medical institutions, including medical schools and hospitals, shall, consistent with applicable law and in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, immediately take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children. Sec. 5. Additional Directives to the Secretary of HHS. (a) The Secretary of HHS shall, consistent with applicable law, take all appropriate actions to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children, including regulatory and sub-regulatory actions, which may involve the following laws, programs, issues, or documents: (i) Medicare or Medicaid conditions of participation or conditions for coverage; (ii) clinical-abuse or inappropriate-use assessments relevant to State Medicaid programs; (iii) mandatory drug use reviews; (iv) section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; (v) quality, safety, and oversight memoranda; (vi) essential health benefits requirements; and Sec. 6. TRICARE. The Department of Defense provides health insurance, through TRICARE, to nearly 2 million individuals under the age of 18. As appropriate and consistent with applicable law, the Secretary of Defense shall commence a rulemaking or sub-regulatory action to exclude chemical and surgical mutilation of children from TRICARE coverage and amend the TRICARE provider handbook to exclude chemical and surgical mutilation of children. Sec. 7. Requirements for Insurance Carriers. The Director of the Office of Personnel Management, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, shall: (a) include provisions in the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) and Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) programs call letter for the 2026 Plan Year specifying that eligible carriers, including the Foreign Service Benefit Plan, will exclude coverage for pediatric transgender surgeries or hormone treatments; and (b) negotiate to obtain appropriate corresponding reductions in FEHB and PSHB premiums.
January 28, 2025 at 11:19 PM
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nytpitchbot.bsky.social
Sorry, America. We can feed the elderly with Meals on Wheels or we can let billionaires cheat on their taxes. We can't do both.
January 28, 2025 at 11:08 PM
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internethippo.bsky.social
We're finally dismantling the federal government! Sure hope it doesn't serve essential functions that I've taken for granted my whole life
January 29, 2025 at 12:04 AM
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chrisgeidner.bsky.social
BREAKING, via The Seattle Times: Trump's executive order to restrict birthright citizenship is blocked for at least the next two weeks by a Reagan appointee in Seattle who eviscerated the Trump lawyers present defending the order. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
Senior U.S. District Judge John Coughenour on Thursday was blistering in his criticism of Trump’s action as he granted a temporary restraining order that blocks Trump’s executive order from taking effect nationwide. “I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” Coughenour, an appointee of Ronald Reagan, said from the bench. “There are other times in world history where we look back and people of goodwill can say where were the judges, where were the lawyers?” Coughenour interrupted before Brett Shumate, a Justice Department attorney, could even complete his first sentence. “In your opinion Is this executive order constitutional?” he asked. Shumate said, “it absolutely is.” “Frankly I have difficulty understanding how a member of the Bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order,” Coughenour said. “It just boggles my mind.”
January 23, 2025 at 6:39 PM
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maladroithe.bsky.social
More imperative than ever: don’t cross picket lines
Costco's unionized workers vote to authorize nationwide strike
The Teamsters union released the results of the strike vote on Sunday evening.
abcnews.go.com
January 21, 2025 at 3:30 AM
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phillewis.bsky.social
With literally minutes left in his presidency, Joe Biden has granted clemency to Leonard Peltier
Joe Biden Frees Leonard Peltier
The ailing Native American rights activist has been in prison for nearly 50 years after the U.S. government lied to put him there.
www.huffpost.com
January 20, 2025 at 4:42 PM
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kn8.bsky.social
January 19
January 19, 2025 at 11:12 PM
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elivalley.bsky.social
Lots of clarity today
Alex press tweet w/pic of cops locking arms adjacent to striking workers: "NYPD literally locking arms to protect Amazon’s operations lol" https://x.com/alexnpress/status/1869764581360619628 Luis Feliz Leon tweet w/pic of cops escorting handcuffed Amazon driver: "Breaking: Amazon driver attempted to stop his delivery van in support of ULP strike NYC in the warehouse entrance. The cops swarmed him, and he was arrested. Workers surrounded the van, and cops flung them off." https://x.com/Lfelizleon/status/1869748494250152071
December 19, 2024 at 9:34 PM
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thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social
Libraries. Healthcare. Universities. Public goods should be insulated from markets
kathbarbadoro.bsky.social Kath Barbadoro @kathbarbadoro.bsky.social · Dec 16
sesame street isn't supposed to make money. the post office isn't supposed to make money. not everything is supposed to MAKE MONEY
December 16, 2024 at 4:41 PM
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gwillow.me
We are so far up the ass of late-stage capitalism that people have forgotten the difference between a business and a public service.
kathbarbadoro.bsky.social Kath Barbadoro @kathbarbadoro.bsky.social · Dec 16
sesame street isn't supposed to make money. the post office isn't supposed to make money. not everything is supposed to MAKE MONEY
December 16, 2024 at 5:42 PM
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joshgondelman.bsky.social
We've all seen the picture of the UnitedHealth shooter. If the cops were serious about catching him they would have staged an M. Night Shyamalan "Trap" situation at an Arctic Monkeys concert by now.
December 6, 2024 at 11:18 PM