Eric Smith
@ericsmith25.bsky.social
Nerdy New Englander turned nerdy DC Gay.
Hi Bluesky! I’m thrilled to announce the release of my new podcast, Deep Cuts. This labor of love features fellow colleagues who worked with or for #USAID before it’s illegal dismantling, talking about the work they did and their journey as humanitarians.
Please check it out and subscribe!
Please check it out and subscribe!
Deep Cuts | Podcast on RSS.com
Deep Cuts is a podcast about the deep, sudden cuts made by the U.S. Federal Government in 2025 told by the people most affected by them.The first series will feature interviews with people who worked ...
rss.com
July 1, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Hi Bluesky! I’m thrilled to announce the release of my new podcast, Deep Cuts. This labor of love features fellow colleagues who worked with or for #USAID before it’s illegal dismantling, talking about the work they did and their journey as humanitarians.
Please check it out and subscribe!
Please check it out and subscribe!
Reposted by Eric Smith
It’s somehow still more controversial to be against this than to be for it
"Israeli soldiers in Gaza told Haaretz that the army has deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites..."
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
IDF soldiers ordered to shoot deliberately at unarmed Gazans waiting for humanitarian aid
***
www.haaretz.com
June 27, 2025 at 11:31 AM
It’s somehow still more controversial to be against this than to be for it
Reposted by Eric Smith
Our current Director of National Intelligence:
June 22, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Our current Director of National Intelligence:
Cannot tell if she’s totally brain dead or just cynically parroting her dear leader… genuinely jarring either way.
HASSAN: What is habeas corpus?
NOEM: Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country
HASSAN: That's incorrect
NOEM: Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country
HASSAN: That's incorrect
May 20, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Cannot tell if she’s totally brain dead or just cynically parroting her dear leader… genuinely jarring either way.
Reposted by Eric Smith
Revenue at Duolingo in 2024 was up 41% on 23 to $748M. Net income was up by 451% for same period and yet they're firing workers. We've long been at "insatiable greed" point of late stage capitalism. People may feel helpless but there's a very easy way to kick companies like this. Delete their apps.
I have completely deleted my Duolingo. I was informed by one of my kids that the company has removed most of its employees and 70% of the company is run by AI.
I urge everyone to delete their app.
I urge everyone to delete their app.
Duolingo CEO says he's getting rid of contract employees and replacing them with AI
Duolingo employees can also expect their AI use to be graded in their performance reviews.
fortune.com
May 4, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Revenue at Duolingo in 2024 was up 41% on 23 to $748M. Net income was up by 451% for same period and yet they're firing workers. We've long been at "insatiable greed" point of late stage capitalism. People may feel helpless but there's a very easy way to kick companies like this. Delete their apps.
Reposted by Eric Smith
they want you sick and preferably dead www.reuters.com/business/hea...
US FDA suspends milk quality tests amid workforce cuts
The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for testing of fluid milk and other dairy products due to reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.
www.reuters.com
April 22, 2025 at 12:41 PM
they want you sick and preferably dead www.reuters.com/business/hea...
Reposted by Eric Smith
It's genuinely hard to express to sort of normal not politically plugged in non-lawyers *how* lawless the Trump administration is, and I think that's some part of the problem.
You sound like you're hyperventilating, but it's just a flat description of what is going on.
You sound like you're hyperventilating, but it's just a flat description of what is going on.
April 15, 2025 at 4:41 PM
It's genuinely hard to express to sort of normal not politically plugged in non-lawyers *how* lawless the Trump administration is, and I think that's some part of the problem.
You sound like you're hyperventilating, but it's just a flat description of what is going on.
You sound like you're hyperventilating, but it's just a flat description of what is going on.
Reposted by Eric Smith
weird, what could explain this
Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” is still on U.S. Naval Academy shelves. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and “Memorializing the Holocaust” are not.
An order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office led to a purge of books that are critical of racism — but preserved volumes defending white power.
An order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office led to a purge of books that are critical of racism — but preserved volumes defending white power.
Who’s In and Who’s Out at the Naval Academy’s Library?
An order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office resulted in a purge of books critical of racism but preserved volumes defending white power.
www.nytimes.com
April 11, 2025 at 7:09 PM
weird, what could explain this
Reposted by Eric Smith
they are segregationists, it has been obvious from the jump, and i think that pundits who dismissed the charge as hyperbolic should explain why they couldn’t see the fact pattern
“Tubman’s photograph is now gone. In its place are images of Postal Service stamps that highlight “Black/White cooperation” in the secret network and that feature Tubman among abolitionists of both races.”
wapo.st/4jdXL8m
wapo.st/4jdXL8m
Amid anti-DEI push, National Park Service rewrites history of Underground Railroad
Since Trump took office, the park service, an agency charged with preserving American history, has changed how its website describes key moments from slavery to Jim Crow
wapo.st
April 6, 2025 at 2:14 PM
they are segregationists, it has been obvious from the jump, and i think that pundits who dismissed the charge as hyperbolic should explain why they couldn’t see the fact pattern
After seeing and feeling pain from the chaotic cuts this administration is making, I decided to put together a podcast to share some of the many stories from the people most affected. If you lost a job or have had your livelihood impacted, please consider joining me! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Deep Cuts Podcast Interest Form
Thank you for your interest in joining my podcast - Deep Cuts (Name open to change)
This podcast is meant to be a conversational interview style program 20-30 minutes long showcasing the different way...
docs.google.com
March 27, 2025 at 9:05 PM
After seeing and feeling pain from the chaotic cuts this administration is making, I decided to put together a podcast to share some of the many stories from the people most affected. If you lost a job or have had your livelihood impacted, please consider joining me! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Eric Smith
This guy is in one of the worst prisons in the world with no way out and may spend the rest of his life there because, it appears, he has an autism awareness tattoo in honor of his little brother.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
March 26, 2025 at 11:46 PM
This guy is in one of the worst prisons in the world with no way out and may spend the rest of his life there because, it appears, he has an autism awareness tattoo in honor of his little brother.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Eric Smith
This seems like a good time to remind folks of what Hannah Arendt once wrote:
March 25, 2025 at 1:32 AM
This seems like a good time to remind folks of what Hannah Arendt once wrote:
Reposted by Eric Smith
Antisemitism is structurally necessary to Elon Musk's politics, because his identity is rooted in being an underdog fighting against the real power, but as the world's wealthiest person, who is deeply politically connected, he needs a definition of elite not rooted in wealth or corporate ownership.
Once again, Musk claims that George Soros controls the government. A classic antisemitic trope, as well as hilariously ironic considering his buying his way into the government.
March 18, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Antisemitism is structurally necessary to Elon Musk's politics, because his identity is rooted in being an underdog fighting against the real power, but as the world's wealthiest person, who is deeply politically connected, he needs a definition of elite not rooted in wealth or corporate ownership.
Reposted by Eric Smith
these are our party leaders now, ignore all other opinions
March 15, 2025 at 1:54 PM
these are our party leaders now, ignore all other opinions
Reposted by Eric Smith
one thing I've become very convinced of is the need for the civil service to do waaayyyy more propaganda. like you should know about how NOAA makes the weather app on your phone work. you should know that Uncle Sam runs GPS. you should know how impressive the US census data collection effort is, etc
March 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
one thing I've become very convinced of is the need for the civil service to do waaayyyy more propaganda. like you should know about how NOAA makes the weather app on your phone work. you should know that Uncle Sam runs GPS. you should know how impressive the US census data collection effort is, etc
Reposted by Eric Smith
The Trump administration’s rewrite of decades of U.S. foreign policy on Russia, laid bare in the Oval Office confrontation between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is bringing Washington into alignment with Moscow, the Kremlin said Sunday. wapo.st/4kopHrh
March 3, 2025 at 6:05 PM
The Trump administration’s rewrite of decades of U.S. foreign policy on Russia, laid bare in the Oval Office confrontation between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is bringing Washington into alignment with Moscow, the Kremlin said Sunday. wapo.st/4kopHrh
Couldn’t agree with this article more. @democrats.org cede the narrative by constantly triangulating and equivocating to appeal to an imaginary bloc of reasonable centrist Trump voters, leaving voters legitimately wondering what the party actually stands for.
Wokeness Is Not to Blame for Trump
How a misdiagnosis of the 2024 election has calcified into self-defeating conventional wisdom.
nymag.com
February 18, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Couldn’t agree with this article more. @democrats.org cede the narrative by constantly triangulating and equivocating to appeal to an imaginary bloc of reasonable centrist Trump voters, leaving voters legitimately wondering what the party actually stands for.
Reposted by Eric Smith
the single most un-american and anti-constitutional statement ever uttered by an american president
February 15, 2025 at 6:39 PM
the single most un-american and anti-constitutional statement ever uttered by an american president
Reposted by Eric Smith
Neither the mainstream press nor our political system seem to have digested the fact that the U.S. president is trying to illegally annex a NATO ally using economic coercion.
Trump on what Trudeau could offer him to change his mind on tariffs: "What I'd like to see -- Canada become our 51st state."
February 3, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Neither the mainstream press nor our political system seem to have digested the fact that the U.S. president is trying to illegally annex a NATO ally using economic coercion.
Reposted by Eric Smith
USAID official tells me that in addition to DEI materials, the agency’s anti-corruption webpage has been taken down
See for yourself: usaid.gov/anti-corrupt...
See for yourself: usaid.gov/anti-corrupt...
January 29, 2025 at 5:16 AM
USAID official tells me that in addition to DEI materials, the agency’s anti-corruption webpage has been taken down
See for yourself: usaid.gov/anti-corrupt...
See for yourself: usaid.gov/anti-corrupt...
Reposted by Eric Smith
remember stuff like this when they tell you that diversity means a lowering of standards
robert f. kennedy jr. submits his application to harvard university. his application is, in its entirety, a single page with his name "Robert F. Kennedy Jr."
he is accepted immediately.
he is accepted immediately.
January 29, 2025 at 4:32 PM
remember stuff like this when they tell you that diversity means a lowering of standards
This included my new job 🥲
The cruelty is the point.
The cruelty is the point.
All departments were affected, including offices that address HIV and AIDS, infectious disease and child health.
Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
All departments were affected, including the Office of HIV and AIDs, the Office of Infectious Disease and the Child Health and Immunization Division.
www.npr.org
January 29, 2025 at 2:10 AM
This included my new job 🥲
The cruelty is the point.
The cruelty is the point.