@astrobrass.bsky.social
Reposted
After they get done firing everyone and shrinking government, they're going to create impossible levels of bureaucracy. Imagine trying to manage the collection and return of thousands of dollars for every single tourist and business visitor from more than 100 countries. Very smart.
"The State Department is proposing requiring applicants for business and tourist visas to post a bond of up to $15,000 to enter the United States, a move that may make the process unaffordable for many."
"For many."
apnews.com/article/stat...
"For many."
apnews.com/article/stat...
State Department may require visa applicants to post bond of up to $15,000 to enter the US
The State Department is proposing requiring applicants for business and tourist visas to post a bond of up to $15,000 to apply to enter the United States.
apnews.com
August 4, 2025 at 10:17 PM
After they get done firing everyone and shrinking government, they're going to create impossible levels of bureaucracy. Imagine trying to manage the collection and return of thousands of dollars for every single tourist and business visitor from more than 100 countries. Very smart.
Reposted
damn
I'm sorry, nine HUNDRED former DOJ lawyers all signed this letter opposing Emil Bove's nomination to be an appellate federal judge?
900?!
900?!
July 16, 2025 at 6:12 PM
damn
Reposted
This is not the act of a legitimate government.
I'm stunned. ICE attorneys not identifying themselves in COURT?
July 15, 2025 at 4:57 PM
This is not the act of a legitimate government.
Reposted
I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
July 3, 2025 at 6:58 PM
I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
Reposted
I am grieving the barbarism that is going to unfurl from all this. People are going to die. Livelihoods gone. All to feed a corrupt kleptocracy.
I see every day up close how different it is from the first time around. There are no guardrails. A disaster. I’m sorry we have to live through this.
I see every day up close how different it is from the first time around. There are no guardrails. A disaster. I’m sorry we have to live through this.
July 3, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I am grieving the barbarism that is going to unfurl from all this. People are going to die. Livelihoods gone. All to feed a corrupt kleptocracy.
I see every day up close how different it is from the first time around. There are no guardrails. A disaster. I’m sorry we have to live through this.
I see every day up close how different it is from the first time around. There are no guardrails. A disaster. I’m sorry we have to live through this.
Reposted
The Senators that voted 'yes' on this disastrous bill represent more than 30 million FEWER Americans than the Senators that voted 'no.'
July 1, 2025 at 7:10 PM
The Senators that voted 'yes' on this disastrous bill represent more than 30 million FEWER Americans than the Senators that voted 'no.'
Reposted
July 2, 2025 at 6:44 PM
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AOC: "On this point of tax on tips, as one of the only people in this body who has lived off of tips, I want to tell you a little bit about the scam ... the cap on that is $25,000 while you're jacking up taxes on people who make less than $50,000 across the US ... while kicking them off the ACA."
July 2, 2025 at 3:37 PM
AOC: "On this point of tax on tips, as one of the only people in this body who has lived off of tips, I want to tell you a little bit about the scam ... the cap on that is $25,000 while you're jacking up taxes on people who make less than $50,000 across the US ... while kicking them off the ACA."
Reposted
They do this cause they know the bill is terrible for their states & districts. So they post a tweet opposing it, then fold right after. That way, come election time, they can claim they “fought it.”
99% of the time, that fight was complete BS.
99% of the time, that fight was complete BS.
June 28, 2025 at 8:13 PM
They do this cause they know the bill is terrible for their states & districts. So they post a tweet opposing it, then fold right after. That way, come election time, they can claim they “fought it.”
99% of the time, that fight was complete BS.
99% of the time, that fight was complete BS.
Reposted
This is a shockingly racist call by a House Republican for Zohran Mamdani to be denaturalized and deported. But instead of being viewed as unserious, it's now being promoted and circulated by LibsOfTikTok, Benny Johnson and MAGA regulars.
Democrats need to understand that Republicans are serious.
Democrats need to understand that Republicans are serious.
June 26, 2025 at 8:02 PM
This is a shockingly racist call by a House Republican for Zohran Mamdani to be denaturalized and deported. But instead of being viewed as unserious, it's now being promoted and circulated by LibsOfTikTok, Benny Johnson and MAGA regulars.
Democrats need to understand that Republicans are serious.
Democrats need to understand that Republicans are serious.
Reposted
this was my reaction too when I walked into cardiac surgery and started unplugging things.
turns out that perhaps the hospital should've chosen someone who knew anything at all about cardiac surgery before making me the Cardiac Surgery Efficiency Boss With Unchecked Arbitrary Power.
turns out that perhaps the hospital should've chosen someone who knew anything at all about cardiac surgery before making me the Cardiac Surgery Efficiency Boss With Unchecked Arbitrary Power.
“I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was,” Sahil Lavingia told NPR's Juana Summers.
Former DOGE engineer says federal waste and fraud were 'relatively nonexistent'
NPR's Juana Summers talks with Sahil Lavingia, who worked for the Department of Government Efficiency as a software engineer assigned to the Department of Veterans Affairs, about his experience.
www.npr.org
June 26, 2025 at 3:27 AM
this was my reaction too when I walked into cardiac surgery and started unplugging things.
turns out that perhaps the hospital should've chosen someone who knew anything at all about cardiac surgery before making me the Cardiac Surgery Efficiency Boss With Unchecked Arbitrary Power.
turns out that perhaps the hospital should've chosen someone who knew anything at all about cardiac surgery before making me the Cardiac Surgery Efficiency Boss With Unchecked Arbitrary Power.
Reposted
A breakthrough preventive drug that offers total protection from HIV was to be rolled out across parts of Africa this year. But the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts derailed those plans.
Promise of Victory Over H.I.V. Fades as U.S. Withdraws Support
A new drug that gives almost complete protection against the virus was to be administered across Africa this year. Now, much of the funding for that effort is gone.
trib.al
June 25, 2025 at 1:55 PM
A breakthrough preventive drug that offers total protection from HIV was to be rolled out across parts of Africa this year. But the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts derailed those plans.
Reposted
To be really clear: The reason members of Congress can't just walk right in is because of the guns. Armed DHS personnel won't allow entry. In other words, DHS is using armed force to *break* laws.
Democrats need to wrap their minds around that. Accept that the frog is boiled.
Democrats need to wrap their minds around that. Accept that the frog is boiled.
June 19, 2025 at 8:49 PM
To be really clear: The reason members of Congress can't just walk right in is because of the guns. Armed DHS personnel won't allow entry. In other words, DHS is using armed force to *break* laws.
Democrats need to wrap their minds around that. Accept that the frog is boiled.
Democrats need to wrap their minds around that. Accept that the frog is boiled.
Reposted
The repression of trans people is not, by and large, a grassroots outpouring of hatred from the American people. It's something that's been carefully planted and tended over years by a handful of media people and their pet reporters.
Heightened Scrutiny, a very good doc about the Supreme Court case that was just ruled on, does an impeccable and infuriating job laying out just how culpable the NYT and Atlantic are for the nation’s transphobia www.avclub.com/sundance-202...
June 18, 2025 at 3:33 PM
The repression of trans people is not, by and large, a grassroots outpouring of hatred from the American people. It's something that's been carefully planted and tended over years by a handful of media people and their pet reporters.
Reposted
This was never about science or proper medical care.
Here's a list of major medical authorities supporting gender-affirming care for trans youth:
(thread)
Here's a list of major medical authorities supporting gender-affirming care for trans youth:
(thread)
June 18, 2025 at 7:06 PM
This was never about science or proper medical care.
Here's a list of major medical authorities supporting gender-affirming care for trans youth:
(thread)
Here's a list of major medical authorities supporting gender-affirming care for trans youth:
(thread)
Reposted
Like everything else in American politics today, “President Trump” as
imagined by the public is mostly a hallucination sustained through media and social media accounts, while the actual reality of what Trump is, horrifying and absurd almost beyond description, is kept from us
imagined by the public is mostly a hallucination sustained through media and social media accounts, while the actual reality of what Trump is, horrifying and absurd almost beyond description, is kept from us
I still think back to how they stopped the COVID briefings because seeing Trump live and unfiltered was so politically damaging to him. He is by any measure much worse today but no one in the news media feels any obligation to convey that reality to the electorate.
June 17, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Like everything else in American politics today, “President Trump” as
imagined by the public is mostly a hallucination sustained through media and social media accounts, while the actual reality of what Trump is, horrifying and absurd almost beyond description, is kept from us
imagined by the public is mostly a hallucination sustained through media and social media accounts, while the actual reality of what Trump is, horrifying and absurd almost beyond description, is kept from us
Reposted
The claims that McIver, Padilla, and Lander were committing assault should make you question every other time LEOs claim assault or resisting arrest, if you weren’t already.
June 17, 2025 at 6:42 PM
The claims that McIver, Padilla, and Lander were committing assault should make you question every other time LEOs claim assault or resisting arrest, if you weren’t already.
Reposted
With the exception of a hint of a badge peeking out from beneath backwards hat guy’s untucked shirt, there’s no visual indication that any of these guys are law enforcement officers—much less authorized to use force inside a frickin courthouse.
Breaking News: Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller who is running for mayor, was detained by ICE agents at an immigration court as he tried to escort a migrant out of the courthouse to prevent his arrest. nyti.ms/4jWkANE
June 17, 2025 at 7:46 PM
With the exception of a hint of a badge peeking out from beneath backwards hat guy’s untucked shirt, there’s no visual indication that any of these guys are law enforcement officers—much less authorized to use force inside a frickin courthouse.
Reposted
On fascism from Timothy Snyder.
June 16, 2025 at 10:47 PM
On fascism from Timothy Snyder.
Reposted
ICE just arrested Brad Lander, the NYC Comptroller and one of the leading candidates for Mayor, without grounds.
He was conducting routine immigration court work, escorting individuals from hearings.
He asked ICE for their warrant - well within his legal rights.
This is political intimidation.
He was conducting routine immigration court work, escorting individuals from hearings.
He asked ICE for their warrant - well within his legal rights.
This is political intimidation.
Whoa! NYC mayoral candidate and current city Comptroller Brad Lander seemingly arrested at the NYC immigration court while attending to escort someone attending their hearing.
Lander just got detained by federal agents as he tried to escort a man out of the courtroom. Lander was taken in an elevator with masked agents, along with one member of his NYPD security detail.
June 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ICE just arrested Brad Lander, the NYC Comptroller and one of the leading candidates for Mayor, without grounds.
He was conducting routine immigration court work, escorting individuals from hearings.
He asked ICE for their warrant - well within his legal rights.
This is political intimidation.
He was conducting routine immigration court work, escorting individuals from hearings.
He asked ICE for their warrant - well within his legal rights.
This is political intimidation.
Reposted
Padilla: I was forced to the ground, first on my knees and then flat on my chest. And as I was handcuffed and marched down a hallway repeatedly asking, why am I being detained? Not once did they tell me why. I pray you never have a moment like this
June 17, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Padilla: I was forced to the ground, first on my knees and then flat on my chest. And as I was handcuffed and marched down a hallway repeatedly asking, why am I being detained? Not once did they tell me why. I pray you never have a moment like this
Reposted
California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla said today a National Guard member and an FBI agent escorted him into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's briefing last week before he was forcibly removed.
Padilla says FBI agent, Guard member escorted him to Noem's briefing before removal
"They opened the door for me," he said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday.
www.axios.com
June 15, 2025 at 9:36 PM
California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla said today a National Guard member and an FBI agent escorted him into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's briefing last week before he was forcibly removed.
Reposted
A friend just texted me from LA that this was happening at the park she was at
ICE is going to parks in Los Angeles and kidnapping nannies who are caring for small children
The children are witnessing these kidnappings and being held in custody until their parents are contacted
Women and children in parks
The children are witnessing these kidnappings and being held in custody until their parents are contacted
Women and children in parks
June 14, 2025 at 1:04 AM
A friend just texted me from LA that this was happening at the park she was at
Reposted
*whispers*
liberals and leftists making alliances to take power away from centrists is good, actually
liberals and leftists making alliances to take power away from centrists is good, actually
I love this! (gift link)
Mamdani and Lander Will Cross-Endorse Each Other in N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race
www.nytimes.com
June 13, 2025 at 3:34 PM
*whispers*
liberals and leftists making alliances to take power away from centrists is good, actually
liberals and leftists making alliances to take power away from centrists is good, actually