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The Onion

@theonion.com

Trump Says Recession Unfortunate But Necessary Step To Get To Depression

WASHINGTON—Warning that Americans should brace themselves for an economic “period of transition,” President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that a recession would be an unfortunate but necessary st...

theonion.com

April 2, 2025 at 9:26 PM

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Brooke Jarvis

@brookejarvis.bsky.social

ProPublica looked into science grants that Ted Cruz's team flagged as "radical" and "neo-Marxist" and, uh.

This would be good comedy if it didn't matter so much www.propublica.org/article/ted-...

"Developing a device that could treat severe bleeding. It seems to have caught the committee’s attention for using the words “victims” — as in gunshot victims — and “trauma.”
Creating biosensors to detect infectious diseases. The grant appears to have been tagged for the repeated use of “POC,” an acronym often used for “people of color” but in this context meaning “point of care” — that is, the place where people receive medical treatment — and “barrier,” referring to a part of the biosensor itself.
Designing eye-tracking technology for diagnosing and treating concussions. It appears to have gotten flagged for referencing “traumatic” brain injuries and the “status,” meaning the condition, of patients."

March 3, 2025 at 3:45 AM

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Rebecca Solnit

@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

Such a striking combination of extremely decent people facing an extremely indecent situation....

Chris Muravez @chrismuravez.bsky.social · Feb 15

Yesterday many thousands of federal employees were terminated. This is a Reddit thread for federal employees that got laid off.

From the fednews community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the fednews community

www.reddit.com

February 16, 2025 at 3:23 AM

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Rebecca Solnit

@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

"Meanwhile the difference between reducing and eliminating all the leased space seems more or less like the difference between a haircut and the guillotine." meditations-in-an-emergency.ghost.io/maybe-you-sh...

Maybe You Should Shout Fire in a Crowded Theater (If It's On Fire): The Coup Continues
Rebecca Solnit
Rebecca Solnit
05 Feb 2025 — 8 min read
Yesterday the Associated Press ran a story with this sentence in it: "Last week, regional managers for the General Services Administration, or GSA, received a message from the agency’s Washington headquarters to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide, according to an email shared with The Associated Press by a GSA employee." That sentence came a little after after the opening sentence which declared that Musk and Trump were moving "to cut down on office space." So far as I can tell this means largely eliminating the federal government--for example the federal government has in my region (California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, some Pacific US territories) 170 government-owned buildings and leased space in 827 buildings. Meanwhile the difference between reducing and eliminating all the leased space seems more or less like the difference between a haircut and the guillotine. And the story, which seemed clear to me if not the AP, clarifies that Musk's apparent goal isn't to reduce the size of the federal government; it's to eliminate it. Especially if you relate it to all the other stories out there about what Musk is doing, though there's often a notion in mainstream journalism that connecting things to other things is editorializing, that the audience should be delivered facts stripped of context in the name of objectivity.

February 5, 2025 at 7:15 PM

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Rebecca Solnit

@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

I'd like to note the outrage of overediting a Nobel laureate in his area of expertise, and that a lot of writers (including me) have had horrible experiences of overediting in the legacy media: not just changing language but meaning and often values. Making your voice and views into theirs.

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · Jan 24

Krugman says the editors at the Times editorial page were increasingly trying to water down his columns and arguments www.cjr.org/analysis/pau...

Paul Krugman on Leaving the New York Times

The paper wanted to take away his newsletter or make him write less frequently, he says.

www.cjr.org

January 25, 2025 at 11:00 PM

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Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline.com

I’m telling everyone: Do not open the door or say a word unless you’re expecting someone and know exactly who it is.

Know your rights. Pass these around…

January 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM

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Brian Schatz

@schatz.bsky.social

The story of this first week is corruption. Billionaires seated on the inaugural stage in front of the cabinet, crypto pump and dump, and the illegal firing of IGs. The media is acting like this is too chaotic and bewildering to interpret, but they are just afraid of sounding shrill. It’s corrupt.

January 26, 2025 at 3:15 AM

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Katie Mack

@astrokatie.com

The price of eggs in the US is spiking, mostly due to #H5N1 bird flu. Solving the problem requires urgent, important communications from the CDC & FDA* and rapid development of research by the NIH**

* Currently paused by Executive Order
** Grant reviews now all canceled
www.kcur.org/news/2025-01...