Jay Harper
banner
j-harper.bsky.social
Jay Harper
@j-harper.bsky.social
Trying to navigate this hell we call the US. I don’t exist 👻 31 - they/them
Pinned
New to bluesky, never used the bird platform. Trying to find an outlet for my rage while I’m a fed worker. Also here’s my cat
Reposted by Jay Harper
most people are not bigots. they might not understand but they know meanness when they see it.
August 10, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
trump take forest
The Trump administration said that it would open up 58 million acres of back country in national forests to road construction and development, removing protections that had been in place for a quarter century.
Trump Administration to End Protections for 58 Million Acres of National Forests
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the Clinton-era rule barring road construction and logging was outdated and “absurd.”
trib.al
June 24, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Reposted by Jay Harper
National parks enter their busiest season understaffed and underfunded. Morning Edition visited Joshua Tree to speak with local business owners and a park ranger feeling the impact. By @amartinezla.bsky.social and Iman Maani
As visitors flock to parks, deep cuts leave rangers and wildlife at risk
National parks enter their busiest season understaffed and underfunded. Morning Edition visited Joshua Tree to speak with local business owners and a park ranger feeling the impact.
n.pr
June 23, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
Wernher von Braun, who was famously born in the United States.
May 30, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
Kristi Noem, Trump’s secretary of Homeland Security, came under fire last week for her department’s eleventh-hour request for a new luxury jet: $50 million for a Gulfstream 5 for Noem’s personal use, paid for out of the budget of the Coast Guard.
The Questionable Case of Kristi Noem's $50 Million Luxury Jet
DHS argues Noem needs a new jet for safety reasons — while taking the budget from the aging Coast Guard rescue and interdiction fleet.
theintercept.com
May 22, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
Reposted by Jay Harper
The Trump administration is set to garnish the wages of the 5.3 million federal student loan borrowers in default in just a few months.
Trump administration to garnish wages of 5.3 million defaulted student loan borrowers this summer
The Trump administration is set to garnish the wages of the 5.3 million federal student loan borrowers in default in just a few months.
www.cnbc.com
May 6, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
I can’t believe what I’m reading. Really. I can’t. The level of incandescent rage I feel can’t be, adequately, articulated. Give these people no peace.

"The Houston office has lost all three of its senior meteorologists”

www.cbsnews.com/news/former-...
Former National Weather Service leaders warn about "loss of life" from NOAA cuts
In an open letter, all the living former NWS directors warned about the impact of staffing and program cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
www.cbsnews.com
May 5, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
ICYMI, last week WIRED broke the news that DOGE has put a college student in charge of using AI to rewrite regulations at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Because who needs experts when you’ve got ChatGPT?
DOGE Put a College Student in Charge of Using AI to Rewrite Regulations
A DOGE operative has been tasked with using AI to propose rewrites to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s regulations—an effort sources are told will roll out across government.
wrd.cm
May 4, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
Reposted by Jay Harper
Woman Worried Student Loans Could Prevent Her From One Day Owning Entirely Different Kind Of Crippling Debt theonion.com/woman-w...
Woman Worried Student Loans Could Prevent Her From One Day Owning Entirely Different Kind Of Crippling Debt
PHILADELPHIA—Lamenting that she will spend the foreseeable future paying off her college expenses, local 23-year-old digital marketing assistant Ashley Orlinsky expressed concern Wednesday that her student loans will prevent her from ever owning an entirely different type of utterly crippling debt. “Realistically, it’ll take years or even decades to fully repay $50,000 of loans, which makes me worried that I’ll never qualify for a backbreaking mortgage on a house that I can in no way afford,” said Orlinsky, adding that with $350 in monthly student loan payments, she will likely struggle to even borrow money to purchase a new car that will destroy her credit rating and may one day be repossessed by the bank. “I have dreams of starting my own company at some point in the future, but I just don’t see how I’ll have the opportunity to be saddled for my entire adult life with a suffocating high-interest small business loan if my student debt is following me wherever I go. It’s awful.” Orlinsky was reportedly encouraged, however, after coming to the mistaken conclusion that she could just default on her student loans and have them discharged in a bankruptcy filing.
theonion.com
April 22, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
"So don’t post your favorite trail photo this week and pretend everything’s fine. Don’t act like this is just another National Park Week. It’s not."
April 22, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
Reposted by Jay Harper
The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday.
Student loans in default to be referred to debt collection, Education Department says
The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday.
apnews.com
April 21, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
NOAA to decommission 14 datasets related to earthquakes, oceans, satellites, agency announces
nesdis.noaa.gov/about/docume...
Notice of Changes
Notices of changes are formal public announcements of planned services changes to applications and other products.
nesdis.noaa.gov
April 17, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
only one of those was his actual goal
April 18, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Jay Harper
NEW: we’re less than 2 months away from the start of hurricane season - is FEMA ready? i talked to workers about what’s going on inside the agency as it prepares for fires, floods, and other disasters:
FEMA Isn't Ready for Disaster Season, Workers Say
Instability, cuts, and a looming sense of dread have FEMA employees unsure the agency is ready for hurricanes, fires, and floods. “We are being set up for a really, really bad situation," says one.
www.wired.com
April 18, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
The Census Bureau collects/funds all sorts of data collection researches rely on including the American Community Survey, the Current Population Survey, and Survey of Income and Program Participation. It will be considerably harder to say anything substantive about policy without those.
April 17, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
The Trump administration's dramatic staffing cuts at federal lands agencies like the Forest Service are causing anxiety in tinder dry New Mexico, where the wildfire threat is already severe this Spring.
Trump's Forest Service cuts have people in tinder dry New Mexico on edge
The Trump administration's dramatic staffing cuts at federal lands agencies like the Forest Service are causing anxiety in tinder dry New Mexico, where the wildfire threat is already severe this Sprin...
www.npr.org
April 17, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
"People don’t travel from around the world to visit national parks only to see oil rigs on the horizon. Without the public lands rule in place, poorly sited energy development could degrade the very experiences that make these places unforgettable." www.npca.org/articles/813...
Public Lands Rule Reversal Would Abandon Progress for National Park Protection
"This expected rescission is not just a bureaucratic rollback but a fundamental rejection of the idea that our public lands should serve all people, not just the extractive industry."—Beau Kiklis, NPC...
www.npca.org
April 17, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
NEW: The CFPB has been gutted. More than 1,400 workers received RIF notices this afternoon, agency sources tell me. Around 200 employees are left. www.wired.com/story/cfpb-h...
The CFPB Has Been Gutted
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau terminated the positions of 1,406 employees at the congressionally-mandated agency.
www.wired.com
April 17, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Jay Harper
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA said that a narrower interpretation of harm — to mean intentionally killing or hurting a particular animal rather than degrading a habitat a species needs to find food, breed and thrive — reflects “the single, best meaning” of the Endangered Species Act
Trump officials say destroying endangered species’ habitats isn’t ‘harm’
A proposed rule would narrow the definition of harm under the Endangered Species Act and could open the door to more mining, construction and other activities.
www.washingtonpost.com
April 17, 2025 at 1:57 AM