Bette Bono
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bettebono.bsky.social
Bette Bono
@bettebono.bsky.social
I’m the author of historical fiction, time travel novels and short stories about everything under the sun. I’ve worked as a writer, public school teacher, teachers’ union steward, Harvard-trained lawyer, and political analyst.
Usually I just throw on whatever. I’m a writer who works from home and doesn’t need to worry about being fashionable. But tonight I picked out a shirt to wear PROUDLY tomorrow. (I’m HLS Class of 1985.)
April 15, 2025 at 6:02 PM
April 5, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Bette Bono
April 2, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Bette Bono
“This is private, confidential data including Social Security numbers and earnings of virtually all people in the country...”

"Federal law restricts access 'to authorized persons and... authorized purposes' such as child support enforcement..."

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
DOGE targets child support database full of income data
The U.S. DOGE Service’s attempt to access a federal database with sensitive information has provoked yet another internal disagreement.
www.washingtonpost.com
March 6, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Bette Bono
If you wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, you would empower the inspectors general.

If you wanted more waste, fraud, and abuse, you would fire them.
February 17, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Match a headline with a quote from literature.

Headline:
“RFK Jr. confirmed, elevating anti-vaccine activist to nation’s top health post.” (WaPo)

Quote from literature:
“And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all." (“The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe)
February 14, 2025 at 3:44 AM
The drawing is from today’s local paper.

Somewhere, out of sight of the cameras, a parent is holding a child who will die of hunger. Needlessly. Because Trump and Musk wanted to put on a show and assert their power. But it’s not a show for that child or the parent who must bury the child.
February 13, 2025 at 4:28 AM
Reposted by Bette Bono
Reposted by Bette Bono
Sec 4 of the 14th Amendment, requiring the US to pay ALL the debts incurred by Congress, both renders the so-called “debt ceiling” unconstitutional and reinforces the ban on Executive Branch usurpation of Congress’s power of the purse — which is now underway as the White House defies a court’s TRO.
February 11, 2025 at 2:34 PM
With the Trump-Musk cuts to USAID in the news, this old Dr. Seuss cartoon came to mind.
February 11, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Reposted by Bette Bono
Vance and Vermeule beg the question when they say federal judges can’t block legitimate acts of state : the point of having unelected judges is so that *whether* acts of state are ‘legitimate’ “can be decided by someone other than the people who are undertaking them.”
www.forbes.com/sites/alison...
JD Vance Suggests Judges ‘Aren't Allowed’ To Control Trump After Courts Block His Policies
A slew of court rulings in recent weeks have hampered the Trump administration’s moves on issues like birthright citizenship and shutting down USAID.
www.forbes.com
February 10, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Reposted by Bette Bono
Marbury v Madison is a seminal case from 1803 that holds that the federal courts must determine the constitutionality of the actions of the other two branches of government. Hope that helps, Stephen.
February 9, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Bette Bono
Representation without taxation for a handful of billionaires, taxation without representation for the rest of us.
February 7, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Bette Bono
Reposted by Bette Bono
Protest at the Treasury Department
February 5, 2025 at 2:31 AM
How do you find a moment of cheer in hard times? I grow things.
February 5, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Without Diversity you have Uniformity.

Without Equity you have Prejudice.

Without Inclusion you have
Exclusion.
February 4, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Reposted by Bette Bono
BREAKING NEWS:

In a massive lawsuit, the AFL-CIO has SUED the Treasury Department:

“for their unlawful…disclosure of personal and financial information…to Elon Musk and other members of the so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (DOGE).”
February 4, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Reposted by Bette Bono
"A letter submitted to the Senate sent by 'physicians' in support of Kennedy's nomination includes names of doctors who have had their licenses revoked, suspended or faced other discipline, the AP has found..."

www.huffpost.com/entry/rfk-jr...
Doctors Whose Licenses Were Revoked, Suspended Named In Pro-RFK Jr. Letter To Senate
The letter was meant to lend credibility to Kennedy’s nomination, which has faced strenuous opposition from experts due to his decades of anti-vaccine activism.
www.huffpost.com
February 2, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Reposted by Bette Bono
Happy Black History Month, and yeah, we're still doing that.
a drawing of a fist with a purple bracelet around it
ALT: a drawing of a fist with a purple bracelet around it
media.tenor.com
February 1, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Bette Bono
the point is not that it's fast -- the point it that it's systematic.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/o...
February 2, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Reposted by Bette Bono
“For the typical U.S. household, the tariffs will mean a loss of about $1,200 in annual purchasing power, according to the Budget Lab at Yale, a nonpartisan research center.” Trump is gambling with your money that the 3 countries will cave to his demands.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Trump imposes tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China
American importers will pay a new 25 percent tax on goods from Canada and Mexico and a 10 percent levy on products from China.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 2, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Bette Bono
This is a hostile takeover of the federal government by a private citizen of unlimited means with no restrictions and no transparency. Welcome to the Deep State www.reuters.com/world/us/mus...
Exclusive: Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say
Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.
www.reuters.com
January 31, 2025 at 8:43 PM