David Spitzley
@dspitzle.bsky.social
Economist, gamer, apparently a patriot…
The VA just terminated all union contracts, affecting about 360,000 workers, including the nursing staff who care for veterans nationwide. The stated intention is to cut the agency’s workforce by 30,000 by the end of the year. I suspect they may lose considerably more.
nurse.org/news/va-term...
nurse.org/news/va-term...
VA Just Terminated Most Federal Union Contracts, National Nurses United Included
The VA has terminated union contracts for over 360,000 healthcare workers, including nurses—raising urgent concerns about staffing, patient safety, and veteran care nationwide.
nurse.org
August 8, 2025 at 10:52 AM
The VA just terminated all union contracts, affecting about 360,000 workers, including the nursing staff who care for veterans nationwide. The stated intention is to cut the agency’s workforce by 30,000 by the end of the year. I suspect they may lose considerably more.
nurse.org/news/va-term...
nurse.org/news/va-term...
This column is an interesting read, as it gives an insight into what may be going on in Chief Justice Robert’s’ head. The author clerked for him, and while he’s fine with unitary executive, he still thinks Trump is doing illegal stuff the courts should and will stop www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/o...
Opinion | The Supreme Court Ruled in Favor of Trump, and That Is OK
www.nytimes.com
May 26, 2025 at 3:02 PM
This column is an interesting read, as it gives an insight into what may be going on in Chief Justice Robert’s’ head. The author clerked for him, and while he’s fine with unitary executive, he still thinks Trump is doing illegal stuff the courts should and will stop www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/o...
I find it… amusing that the NYT quoted John Yoo as their first source for this article while his role in the Bush administration devising legal rationales to normalize torture. Maybe the subtext is “Psst, remember this guy? Even he thinks this is off the rails.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/u...
At Supreme Court, a Once-Fringe Birthright Citizenship Theory Takes the Spotlight
www.nytimes.com
May 15, 2025 at 1:59 PM
I find it… amusing that the NYT quoted John Yoo as their first source for this article while his role in the Bush administration devising legal rationales to normalize torture. Maybe the subtext is “Psst, remember this guy? Even he thinks this is off the rails.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/u...
Here’s a mental exercise for you: envision this essay in a world where Friedman was enamored of high-tech Japanese toilets. Honestly, the argument might make more sense… www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/o...
Opinion | How I Describe Myself Politically These Days
America needs to figure out how to dominate the industries of the future. Call me a “Waymo Democrat.”
www.nytimes.com
April 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Here’s a mental exercise for you: envision this essay in a world where Friedman was enamored of high-tech Japanese toilets. Honestly, the argument might make more sense… www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/o...
Well, here’s a grain of good news at least… www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/u...
Supreme Court Sides With Migrant Trump Administration Wrongly Deported
A trial judge had ordered the Trump administration to take steps to return the migrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, from a notorious prison in El Salvador.
www.nytimes.com
April 11, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Well, here’s a grain of good news at least… www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/u...
Something to add to your bingo cards: “Trump Food Riots”
April 9, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Something to add to your bingo cards: “Trump Food Riots”
I’m impressed how deluded David Brooks was: “When I joined the conservative movement in the 1980s, there were two types of people: those who cared earnestly about ideas, and those who wanted only to shock the left.”
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
I Should Have Seen This Coming
When I joined the conservative movement in the 1980s, there were two types of people: those who cared earnestly about ideas, and those who wanted only to shock the left. The reactionary fringe has won...
www.theatlantic.com
April 7, 2025 at 11:44 PM
I’m impressed how deluded David Brooks was: “When I joined the conservative movement in the 1980s, there were two types of people: those who cared earnestly about ideas, and those who wanted only to shock the left.”
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Just a moment...
Verifying you are human. This may take a few seconds.
www.aei.org
April 5, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by David Spitzley
Alright, here’s an alt text that doesn’t send you there. Sorry.
March 30, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Alright, here’s an alt text that doesn’t send you there. Sorry.
/2 not to mention that the shotgun approach to tariffs the administration is using will undermine auto production here regardless of whatever impact cutting sales of foreign vehicles may have.
March 29, 2025 at 12:22 PM
/2 not to mention that the shotgun approach to tariffs the administration is using will undermine auto production here regardless of whatever impact cutting sales of foreign vehicles may have.
I have been trying to understand the UAW’s thinking in cheering on Trump’s tariffs when moves like this to kill the union movement were kind of inevitable: www.cbsnews.com/news/shawn-f...
UAW's Shawn Fain slams Trump executive order targeting federal unions
UAW president Shawn Fain said Trump's order to end collective bargaining for swath of federal workers would cost 700,000 people their union contracts.
www.cbsnews.com
March 29, 2025 at 12:13 PM
I have been trying to understand the UAW’s thinking in cheering on Trump’s tariffs when moves like this to kill the union movement were kind of inevitable: www.cbsnews.com/news/shawn-f...
I see statements about “the administration is claiming to be pursuing policy X, but that’s clearly contradicted by their most recent action Y”, and I’m getting to where I want to shake the reporters involved. The only policy being pursued by Trump is impunity for the rich, him in particular.
March 28, 2025 at 10:24 PM
I see statements about “the administration is claiming to be pursuing policy X, but that’s clearly contradicted by their most recent action Y”, and I’m getting to where I want to shake the reporters involved. The only policy being pursued by Trump is impunity for the rich, him in particular.
David Lat at “Original Jurisdiction” just posted an internal memo from Paul Weiss, the law firm that made a deal to get Trump to drop the EO pulling all the security clearances from their lawyers and banning them from Federal buildings. It’s interesting: davidlat.substack.com/p/brad-karp-...
Brad Karp’s Message To Paul Weiss About Its Deal With The Trump Administration
Here’s what Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp sent to his colleagues on Sunday afternoon.
davidlat.substack.com
March 25, 2025 at 12:38 AM
David Lat at “Original Jurisdiction” just posted an internal memo from Paul Weiss, the law firm that made a deal to get Trump to drop the EO pulling all the security clearances from their lawyers and banning them from Federal buildings. It’s interesting: davidlat.substack.com/p/brad-karp-...
The original report is paywalled, but the coverage has been consistent. Basically GOP voters’ opinions on democracy, international cooperation etc. mirror those of Chinese and Russian respondents, in contrast with Democrats’ which resemble European citizens’ www.thebulwark.com/p/new-data-r...
New Data: Republican Voters Want Authoritarianism
Inside the World Values Survey.
www.thebulwark.com
March 10, 2025 at 11:23 PM
The original report is paywalled, but the coverage has been consistent. Basically GOP voters’ opinions on democracy, international cooperation etc. mirror those of Chinese and Russian respondents, in contrast with Democrats’ which resemble European citizens’ www.thebulwark.com/p/new-data-r...
I have a few friends who might find this worth printing and posting in their offices 😁
March 9, 2025 at 1:41 PM
I have a few friends who might find this worth printing and posting in their offices 😁
The eternal problem with this sort of analysis is that it doesn’t really give any suggestions for those of us who are pickled egg-averse. Still, not a bad essay.
www.greatpower.us/p/america-ne...
www.greatpower.us/p/america-ne...
America needs to stop cheering for the pickled egg
On madness, cynicism, absurdity, and the event horizon to the end of the republic
www.greatpower.us
March 9, 2025 at 1:18 PM
The eternal problem with this sort of analysis is that it doesn’t really give any suggestions for those of us who are pickled egg-averse. Still, not a bad essay.
www.greatpower.us/p/america-ne...
www.greatpower.us/p/america-ne...
Yep.
March 7, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Yep.
Krugman’s putting down his marker that the Strategic Crypto Reserve is going to be the mother of all scams - paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-is-p...
Trump Is Planning the Biggest Heist in History
The “strategic crypto reserve” will be a giant rug pull scam
paulkrugman.substack.com
March 6, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Krugman’s putting down his marker that the Strategic Crypto Reserve is going to be the mother of all scams - paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-is-p...
I get where the UAW is coming from, but this reads like “We think it was a mistake to move from a cooking on a grill to a stove, so we look forward to working with the new arsonist in town, who clearly would rather set our house on fire.”
uaw.org/uaw-statemen...
uaw.org/uaw-statemen...
UAW Statement on New Tariff Action - UAW | United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America
For 40 years, we’ve seen the devastating effects of so-called “free trade” on the working class. Corporations have been driving a non-stop race to the bottom by killing good blue-collar jobs in Americ...
uaw.org
March 5, 2025 at 11:57 AM
I get where the UAW is coming from, but this reads like “We think it was a mistake to move from a cooking on a grill to a stove, so we look forward to working with the new arsonist in town, who clearly would rather set our house on fire.”
uaw.org/uaw-statemen...
uaw.org/uaw-statemen...
Josh Marshall points out that Trump’s Feb. 11 Executive Order seems to imply they intend to eliminate the entirety of the Federal Government aside from security-related functions: talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump...
Trump Orders Permanent Govt Shutdown – No, Really …
It hasn’t gotten a lot of attention but Donald Trump’s February 11th...
talkingpointsmemo.com
March 4, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Josh Marshall points out that Trump’s Feb. 11 Executive Order seems to imply they intend to eliminate the entirety of the Federal Government aside from security-related functions: talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump...
“the key insight is this: The tech sector operates as a winner-take-all economy. But our political economy is based on perpetual competition. The tech oligarchs want American politics to… settle into the type of monopoly control that they created in Silicon Valley.
www.thebulwark.com/p/winner-tak...
www.thebulwark.com/p/winner-tak...
Winner Take All
Why the tech bros want authoritarian government.
www.thebulwark.com
March 3, 2025 at 2:49 AM
“the key insight is this: The tech sector operates as a winner-take-all economy. But our political economy is based on perpetual competition. The tech oligarchs want American politics to… settle into the type of monopoly control that they created in Silicon Valley.
www.thebulwark.com/p/winner-tak...
www.thebulwark.com/p/winner-tak...
Hey, @jeffmirwin.bsky.social, why is fingerprinting so fragmented and redundant? If a school hires me for their aftercare program, they have to pay for separate prints for school and childcare. And printing sites need licenses for each type, so foster parenting is a 3rd set at another location.
March 2, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Hey, @jeffmirwin.bsky.social, why is fingerprinting so fragmented and redundant? If a school hires me for their aftercare program, they have to pay for separate prints for school and childcare. And printing sites need licenses for each type, so foster parenting is a 3rd set at another location.
So, apparently Steak and Shake is switching to frying their french fries in beef tallow. And name checked RFK Jr. as part of the announcement. Ick.
February 27, 2025 at 11:46 PM
So, apparently Steak and Shake is switching to frying their french fries in beef tallow. And name checked RFK Jr. as part of the announcement. Ick.
So, I have no idea whether this will go anywhere, but after some poking around Byline Times appears to be on the up-and-up, so here it is: bylinetimes.com/2025/02/21/d...
Donald Trump Was Recruited by the KGB Under Codename 'Krasnov' Claims Former Soviet Spy Chief
A former senior KGB chief claims Trump was recruited by them in 1987 due to his role as a prominent US businessman
bylinetimes.com
February 22, 2025 at 7:16 PM
So, I have no idea whether this will go anywhere, but after some poking around Byline Times appears to be on the up-and-up, so here it is: bylinetimes.com/2025/02/21/d...