markbenl.bsky.social
@markbenl.bsky.social
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So look at that. DOGE has cost the US Treasury fucking half a trillion dollars. HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS. This is your cost savings.
To review what we from @washingtonpost.com are reporting out of the IRS today:

- Projected tax revenue this year is down 10% ($500 billion) as Trump's downsizing is emboldening tax cheats

- IRS is nearing an agreement with ICE to assist on mass deportations
March 22, 2025 at 9:20 PM
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I dug into the only US source cited by Randy Barnett & Ilan Wurman for their theory - against birthright citizenship - in @nytimes @nytopinion:
Edward Bates in 1862.
He doubly contradicted their argument:

"Birthright Citizenship: The Bates Backfire"
shugerblogcom.wordpress.com/2025/02/16/b...
Birthright Citizenship: Barnett & Wurman’s NY Times Essay and their Bates Backfire
Randy Barnett & Ilan Wurman had a guest essay in the N.Y. Times on Feb. 15th: “Trump Might Have a Case on Birthright Citizenship.” The bottom line is that their essay backfires, bec…
shugerblogcom.wordpress.com
February 16, 2025 at 9:02 PM
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i need a 52 year old man with $800 billion to impregnate my wife . i am worried our offspring wont be sufficiently feeble and/or annoying
February 15, 2025 at 4:27 PM
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This comment on r/fednews really stood out to me. Trump and Musk want people to think they're firing do-nothing "bureaucrats," but they're really getting rid of people dedicated to serving this country and keeping it operational. I hope these stories get told.
February 14, 2025 at 1:52 PM
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What is happening under Trump? Exactly what we said would happen. Higher prices, chaos, trade wars, resegregation, incompetence, flagrant lawbreaking, corruption, and the world's richest man being the shadow president and illegally killing entire agencies.
February 12, 2025 at 2:10 PM
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lol elon musk's dealer is running DOE
February 8, 2025 at 10:04 PM
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A bit of professional disappointment that Wired beat me to it. But glad the info is out. I can confirm the key details of this report based on my own reporting -the name of the DOGE operative and that yes the reports about read only access is categorically false. Not only does Marko have full …
February 4, 2025 at 11:33 AM
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Kendrick had no plan to win any of this shit. He was just hatin and look where it got him.

There’s a lesson there!
February 3, 2025 at 4:34 AM
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Trump last July: These guys are the radical Right - Project 2025 - I don’t know what the hell it is. They read some of the things in that and it’s some pretty extreme stuff. But I don’t know anything about it.
February 1, 2025 at 3:52 AM
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So instead of Democrats pointing out that Trump gutted the FAA and tried to mass-fire them the day before the crash, we have Trump flooding the airwaves with the idea that it's DEI's fault. Dems are simply not cut out for this media environment. Too slow, too cautious, too boring, too staid.
You've got to be fucking kidding me.
January 30, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Absolute nonsense. He’s probably going to steal this joke and claim it as his own in a few days.
January 26, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Sure we’re less than seven days into the new administration, but maybe now is a good time for @washingtonpost.com to review its public justifications for withholding an endorsement.
January 26, 2025 at 3:02 AM
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TL;DR: There’s no new intelligence. A China hawk lab leaker took over the agency and decided to make this the position, with “low confidence.”

How unexpected.
The CIA has said for years that it did not have enough information to conclude how the Covid pandemic originated. The agency has issued a new assessment this week, with analysts saying they now favor the theory that it emerged from an accidental leak at a research lab in Wuhan, China.
C.I.A. Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid’s Origins
A new analysis that began under the Biden administration is released by the C.I.A.’s new director, John Ratcliffe, who wants the agency to get “off the sidelines” in the debate.
nyti.ms
January 25, 2025 at 9:59 PM
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If you are
1) a federal civil servant/contractor ordered not to release scheduled data or reports, or
2) an academic who has lost access to government data in the past week
...please get in touch. I'm happy to keep our conversations confidential.
crampell[@]washpost[dot]com
January 25, 2025 at 10:44 PM
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The govt is not a company. Companies seek their own expansion in pursuit of profit for a relatively small number of shareholders.

By winning a presidential election, someone becomes a public servant. They do not "acquire" the country.

DOGE's goal is not efficiency. Pretending it is doesn't help.
Trump is doing what you do after you acquire a company. Crazy I know. But reality. The Dir of NIH should reach out to DOGE and offer to bring them in to remove inefficiencies.

There are always some and the Director know what they are.

DOGE gets a win. NIH gets back to work.
Hi Mark, how do you feel about cancer research being canceled.
January 25, 2025 at 6:36 PM
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I also replaced my discover feed with popular with friends. Really tampered down the awful shit.

bsky.app/profile/did:...

If you click on the hashtag in the top right on the home page you can change the feeds and their order.
January 25, 2025 at 5:40 PM
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Kentucky convicted child predator & January 6th defendant, Andrew Grisby, has been pardoned by Donald Trump.
January 23, 2025 at 7:14 PM
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Trump enrages cops by extending privilege to indulge in lawless violence with impunity to non-cops
The Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police union in the country, just released a statement rescinding their endorsement of President Trump due to his pardoning of Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
Police union that endorsed Trump condemns Jan 6 pardons—"Dangerous message"
The Fraternal Order of Police union said those who assaulted officers during the 2021 Capitol riot should serve their full sentences.
t.co
January 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM
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Going to war with reality is nuts.
January 13, 2025 at 3:24 PM
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i hate when people call it soccer, just call it American football.
January 11, 2025 at 6:42 AM
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January 9, 2025 at 3:07 PM
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Still wild to me that so many "savvy" folks on left and right have bought into the idea that online misinformation is overblown and doesn't really matter. From lies about migrants to transgender people to crime to election denial to climate denial, it's literally driving our country's politics.
January 9, 2025 at 3:34 PM
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Most succinct fact-check I've read of how LA Fire Dept's budget wasn't recently cut -- in fact, the opposite -- from @politico.com. But that misinformation spread anyway. www.politico.com/news/2025/01...
January 9, 2025 at 12:59 PM