ScotM
@scotasports.bsky.social
Retired U.S. diplomat, Southeast Asia hand, sports fan.
The Foreign Service plays a critical role in our national security and overseas economic relations. The Trump Administration has purposefully done all it can to undermine this Service. Shame on Marco Rubio, who has allowed it to happen under his watch because he only cares about himself.
The report, based on a survey of foreign service members, found that a vast majority of respondents — 98% — said morale had declined since January, and a third were considering leaving the foreign service early.
Trump administration changes have left US diplomats demoralized and less able to do their jobs, report says | CNN Politics
The report, based on a survey of foreign service members, found that a vast majority of respondents — 98% — said morale had declined since January, and a third were considering leaving the foreign ser...
cnn.it
December 3, 2025 at 7:22 PM
The Foreign Service plays a critical role in our national security and overseas economic relations. The Trump Administration has purposefully done all it can to undermine this Service. Shame on Marco Rubio, who has allowed it to happen under his watch because he only cares about himself.
Trump has revoked Temporary Protected Status for Myanmar people who fled massive conflict and a brutal military regime, meaning those people will have to return to a very dangerous situation. Another act of pure cruelty.
November 26, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Trump has revoked Temporary Protected Status for Myanmar people who fled massive conflict and a brutal military regime, meaning those people will have to return to a very dangerous situation. Another act of pure cruelty.
The NYT interviewed 60 former DOJ lawyers for this damning portrait of how Trump, Bondi and Co. are destroying the Justice Department and severely undermining rule of law. Worth a read.
Thousands of attorneys have left the Trump Justice Department this year. We talked to 60 about what alarmed them most.
60 Attorneys on the Year of Chaos Inside Trump’s Justice Department
Sixty former staffers describe an environment of suspicion and intimidation within the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency.
nyti.ms
November 18, 2025 at 3:14 AM
The NYT interviewed 60 former DOJ lawyers for this damning portrait of how Trump, Bondi and Co. are destroying the Justice Department and severely undermining rule of law. Worth a read.
I hope people listen to @justinwolfers.bsky.social. He knows economics and explains things clearly. People often conflate “fighting inflation” with lowering prices, rather than keeping price increases low. Lowering overall prices is deflation, which is what happened during the Depression.
I think it's time for a real and mature conversation about what prices are, and what they tend to do. The reality is that inflation tends to be positive, and so prices tend to rise. The President's original sin was that he promised he would reverse this process. He hasn't and he shouldn't.
November 14, 2025 at 6:50 PM
I hope people listen to @justinwolfers.bsky.social. He knows economics and explains things clearly. People often conflate “fighting inflation” with lowering prices, rather than keeping price increases low. Lowering overall prices is deflation, which is what happened during the Depression.
This is or should be a big deal. I’m not saying Bessent broke the law. Rather, he uses legal loopholes to avoid taxes and thus has no interest in using his current position to close those loopholes. It’s a form of corruption that is endemic.
Like many firms on Wall Street, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's hedge fund used a limited partnership to avoid Medicare taxes. Unlike the others, he’s now overseeing the IRS.
The I.R.S. Tried to Stop This Tax Dodge. Scott Bessent Used It Anyway.
Like many on Wall Street, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent used a limited partnership to avoid Medicare taxes. Unlike the others, he’s now overseeing the I.R.S.
nyti.ms
November 12, 2025 at 4:52 PM
This is or should be a big deal. I’m not saying Bessent broke the law. Rather, he uses legal loopholes to avoid taxes and thus has no interest in using his current position to close those loopholes. It’s a form of corruption that is endemic.
I cannot stand watching Austin Reaves play basketball. He’s really talented but the constant flopping and foul-hunting makes him unwatchable to me. Luka is amazing but also constantly foul-hunting.
November 1, 2025 at 2:20 AM
I cannot stand watching Austin Reaves play basketball. He’s really talented but the constant flopping and foul-hunting makes him unwatchable to me. Luka is amazing but also constantly foul-hunting.
Good turnout in very centrist Livermore CA.
October 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Good turnout in very centrist Livermore CA.
Reposted by ScotM
this is truly invaluable reporting
Extraordinary NEW story: We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. @nicolefoy.bsky.social w/ photos by @sbmaneyphoto.bsky.social
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 16, 2025 at 10:56 PM
this is truly invaluable reporting
Reposted by ScotM
Some of us do.
September 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Some of us do.
Reposted by ScotM
AP: “When Trump awarded a contract for $1.2 billion for 🇺🇸’s largest immigration detention complex, it handed it to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a small biz with no experience… its address a modest home in suburban Virginia.”🤔
Golden Age of Corruption.
apnews.com/article/trum...
Golden Age of Corruption.
apnews.com/article/trum...
August 31, 2025 at 12:07 AM
AP: “When Trump awarded a contract for $1.2 billion for 🇺🇸’s largest immigration detention complex, it handed it to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a small biz with no experience… its address a modest home in suburban Virginia.”🤔
Golden Age of Corruption.
apnews.com/article/trum...
Golden Age of Corruption.
apnews.com/article/trum...
Reposted by ScotM
The US Administration has decided to destroy a top network for clinical trials to test new treatments for children with brain cancer.
This is another atrocity that will harm Conservative and Liberal Americans, long after the politicians responsible are gone.
This is another atrocity that will harm Conservative and Liberal Americans, long after the politicians responsible are gone.
Pediatric Brain Cancer Group to Lose Federal Funding
www.nytimes.com
August 30, 2025 at 1:23 PM
The US Administration has decided to destroy a top network for clinical trials to test new treatments for children with brain cancer.
This is another atrocity that will harm Conservative and Liberal Americans, long after the politicians responsible are gone.
This is another atrocity that will harm Conservative and Liberal Americans, long after the politicians responsible are gone.
Reposted by ScotM
Breaking News: DOGE put the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans at risk by uploading Social Security data to a vulnerable cloud server, a whistle-blower complaint said.
DOGE Put Critical Social Security Data at Risk, Whistle-Blower Says
DOGE team members uploaded a database with the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans to a vulnerable cloud server, according to the agency’s chief data officer.
nyti.ms
August 26, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Breaking News: DOGE put the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans at risk by uploading Social Security data to a vulnerable cloud server, a whistle-blower complaint said.
Reposted by ScotM
Please repost, Californians depend on you!! 🙏💕🦋
August 25, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Please repost, Californians depend on you!! 🙏💕🦋
Reposted by ScotM
Virginia Giuffre’s family denounces “DAG Todd Blanche’s bizarre interview” of Ghislaine Maxwell in a statement. www.allrisenews.com/p/maxwell-tr...
August 23, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Virginia Giuffre’s family denounces “DAG Todd Blanche’s bizarre interview” of Ghislaine Maxwell in a statement. www.allrisenews.com/p/maxwell-tr...
So it turns out the Republicans are the ones pursuing socialism.
Trump Says Intel Has Agreed to Give U.S. a 10% Stake in Its Business
www.nytimes.com
August 22, 2025 at 7:11 PM
So it turns out the Republicans are the ones pursuing socialism.
Key European leader refers to the Trump collapse” in Alaska. Pretty much sums it up.
Co-chair European Council on Foreign Relations Carl Bildt: “The level of deep concern in Europe over the consequences of the Trump collapse in Alaska is expressed by the numbers of leaders rushing to Washington to support Zelenskyy. We have never seen anything even resembling this.”
August 18, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Key European leader refers to the Trump collapse” in Alaska. Pretty much sums it up.
Why is it so quiet on the Epstein front? We can’t let this guy get away with the cover-up by shifting our attention to his love for Putin or his effort to turn Washington DC into a testing ground for his Brown Shirts.
August 17, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Why is it so quiet on the Epstein front? We can’t let this guy get away with the cover-up by shifting our attention to his love for Putin or his effort to turn Washington DC into a testing ground for his Brown Shirts.
This seems like a minor matter for most Americans but it reflects Trump’s rapid surrender of U.S. influence globally along with his narrow, ignorant and deeply harmful view of the world and of the things that have truly made America great.
President Trump’s decision Tuesday to withdraw the U.S. from UNESCO removes a powerful check on China’s efforts to use to use the organization to influence education, historical designations and even A.I.
As Trump Quits UNESCO, China Expands Influence
Washington had been a buffer against China’s efforts to use UNESCO to influence education, historical designations and even artificial intelligence.
trib.al
July 23, 2025 at 3:47 PM
This seems like a minor matter for most Americans but it reflects Trump’s rapid surrender of U.S. influence globally along with his narrow, ignorant and deeply harmful view of the world and of the things that have truly made America great.
Reposted by ScotM
Republicans just unanimously voted to BLOCK the release of the Epstein files.
July 15, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Republicans just unanimously voted to BLOCK the release of the Epstein files.
Reposted by ScotM
A top staffer to Sen. Tina Smith emailed Sen. Mike Lee’s top staffers on Monday about “how much additional pain you’ve caused on an unspeakably horrific weekend”
Full emails below
Full emails below
June 16, 2025 at 10:44 PM
A top staffer to Sen. Tina Smith emailed Sen. Mike Lee’s top staffers on Monday about “how much additional pain you’ve caused on an unspeakably horrific weekend”
Full emails below
Full emails below
No Kings rally in Dublin, CA
June 14, 2025 at 8:26 PM
No Kings rally in Dublin, CA
I actually teach a lot of foreign students. I want them to speak up, ask questions. That’s part of the American experience, and is what many overseas have admired US freedoms.
The Rector of Moscow State, circa 1965
Rep. Randy Fine: "We should not be bringing people into America to get an education who hate us. They should be coming here to get an education, and frankly they should keep their mouths shut beyond that."
May 23, 2025 at 3:21 PM
I actually teach a lot of foreign students. I want them to speak up, ask questions. That’s part of the American experience, and is what many overseas have admired US freedoms.
Reposted by ScotM
That should alarm anyone who cares about government transparency. Taxpayers have a right to know how the government spends their money. Period.
CREW sues Trump administration for hiding federal spending information from the public - CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
OMB took offline information that shows how OMB directs agencies to spend taxpayer money—information that OMB is required by law to post.
www.citizensforethics.org
May 8, 2025 at 8:21 PM
That should alarm anyone who cares about government transparency. Taxpayers have a right to know how the government spends their money. Period.
Democrats need to start talking about how they will make the economy more competitive/productive in a way that benefits working folks. Emphasize research, education, skills, making govt more efficient and housing more affordable (nod to “Abundance.”).
Trump is destroying America’s key economic edge - that the smartest people in the world want to come here to innovate and start businesses.
May 5, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Democrats need to start talking about how they will make the economy more competitive/productive in a way that benefits working folks. Emphasize research, education, skills, making govt more efficient and housing more affordable (nod to “Abundance.”).
Reposted by ScotM
The U.S. measles outbreak has now topped over 900 people.
Bravo, MAGA.
🤦♀️
Bravo, MAGA.
🤦♀️
May 3, 2025 at 10:26 PM
The U.S. measles outbreak has now topped over 900 people.
Bravo, MAGA.
🤦♀️
Bravo, MAGA.
🤦♀️