Don
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thedon.bsky.social
Don
@thedon.bsky.social
Skier. Engineer. Cocktailist. @SinDexBand trombone player. He/him.

@TheDon@Twitter
@TheDon@macaw.social
Reposted by Don
This is exactly why this piece is so important. The national conversation has largely flattened the effects of the VRA -- and it's potential demise -- to which party controls Congress. There's so much more to the VRA than that, and so much more on the line
I, for one, have only really thought about the VRA through the prism of federal elections, not local elections.

But this well-reported piece reminds us that ending the VRA will have an impact on ALL levels of representative government.

Via @pascalsabino.bsky.social.

boltsmag.org/voting-right...
Black Residents in West Tennessee Just Won Fairer Districts. Now Comes SCOTUS. - Bolts
The Supreme Court may further erode the Voting Rights Act in an upcoming decision. Beyond affecting Congress, that would reverberate across local governments nationwide.
boltsmag.org
November 22, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by Don
If you’re a journalist who’s still on Twitter, from now on in your writing you have to replace “the American people want” with “troll bots in Eastern Europe demand”

Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
November 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Don
13k comments on one tweet is a massive payout. All of the tweets follow a certain formula, so the content is likely automated using AI technology (e.g., AI generated images and text). Basically running it as a money printing machine. But for those in the US, it translates to low simmering rage.
November 23, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Reposted by Don
After reporting by ProPublica and other publications, the administration is dropping an effort that could have led 830,000 people to lose eligibility for Social Security disability payments.
How the Trump Administration Abandoned Plans for a Major Cut in Disability Benefits for Older Workers
After meeting with advocates, the Trump administration confirmed it has scrapped a controversial regulation that would have cut disability benefits for older workers.
www.propublica.org
November 22, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Don
This is a story about how America’s world-leading cancer and dementia research system was destroyed by frauds and naifs who broke the law.

There must be consequences.
Some incredible details in this piece
*one DOGE faction was planning the future of the US government at a venture capital firm
*illegally communicating on Signal to avoid transparency laws was deeply embedded into organizational culture to be taken for granted
November 22, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Don
I saw a lot of people send the original article my way, which i did not share because it seemed like obvious bullshit. Now that has been shown to be true. I know people are worried about AI stuff, but try to be a bit more careful about what's real and what's not.
If you have been sharing that Malwarebytes article on the Gmail thing, you should note the giant correction up top.

www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
November 22, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Reposted by Don
Lawyer up, you little shits.

“Current and former DOGE staffers are growing increasingly concerned that the work they did slashing government programs and eliminating jobs will come back to haunt them with the possibility of criminal prosecutions.“
'Suddenly exposed' DOGE employees fear prosecution after Musk abandoned them: report
Current and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers are growing increasingly concerned that the work they did slashing government programs and eliminating jobs will come back to hau...
www.rawstory.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Don
What a goddamn legend. Every big tough conservative masculinity guy has been crying about how terrifying cities are to live in for the past two years and now Trump wants to move back to NYC
Reporter to Trump: Would you feel comfortable living in NYC under a Mamdani mayoralty?

Trump: "I would. I really would. Especially after the meeting, absolutely."
November 21, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Reposted by Don
1) @washingtonpost.com reported Thursday on a controversial policy downgrading how nooses and swastikas are labeled in the Coast Guard.

2) Admin officials attacked The Post, falsely alleging the reporting of "fake crap."

3) The CG said it would review policy language.

4) The CG reversed course.
November 21, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Don
Hey, I bet you didn't hear that Zork 1, 2, and 3 were open-sourced today!

…Oh, you have heard. Yeah. Way ahead of me. :)

Here's my comments, and some details that you might not have seen.

blog.zarfhome.com/2025/11/zork...
Zork is now open source
Two years ago, I wrote: Microsoft-the-company does not care about Infocom. But a lot of people in Microsoft must care. Microsoft is heavily populated by greying GenX nerds just like me. Folks who grew...
blog.zarfhome.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Reposted by Don
EPSTEIN BOMBSHELL: my staff is releasing a new report showing JPMorgan Chase executives – all the way to the top – enabled Epstein's sex trafficking operation. You're going to want to read this.
Wyden Presses for Investigation Into JPMorgan Chase and Epstein
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by Don
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
November 20, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Reposted by Don
I really can't stress how important it is for progressive and leftists to contend for school, library, water, etc etc boards. Hyper local involvement in our communities where we can actually influence lives.
November 20, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Reposted by Don
Roman helmet guy is the Hiroo Onoda of the Roman Empire
November 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
😂
I can't believe this is real. It's like someone is throwing darts at my brain
It needs to be emphasized that this paragraph is about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
November 17, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Don
Remember the recent middle-of-the-night apartment building raid where children were dragged outside naked & zip-tied in the street while black & Latino residents were _sorted by race_ and piled into separate vans while their apartments were ransacked & robbed? That raid? So it resulted in 0 arrests.
November 16, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Reposted by Don
Marjorie Taylor Greene picking up on which way the wind is blowing is like watching a cat use the toilet. I always knew it was theoretically possible but it’s still unsettling to watch
November 16, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Don
Pretty complete summary of how we got into this mess.
November 16, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Don
Jamelle was cooking.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
November 14, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Don
If you know age of consent on a state by state basis you need to be isolated from polite society forever
November 14, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Don
If you need me, tap me on the shoulder. I’ll be happily working all day listening to this on a loop.
November 13, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Don
I just called the Center for American Progress and told them I will have nothing to do with their org until they get rid of Larry Summers. A VERY NICE person answered the phone - if you call, BE NICE TO WHOEVER ANSWERS THEY PERSONALLY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. (202) 682-1611
“Despite shocking new emails detailing the close friendship between Epstein and Summers released by the House Oversight Committee this week, the CAP employee said they had heard of no plans to remove Summers from the organization, or the policy planning around Project 2029.”

Cancel culture is dead!
November 14, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Don
Missouri voters have the power to veto the state’s new GOP congressional gerrymander at the ballot box – but national Republicans are ramping up their efforts to stop them from having the final word. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Republicans in ‘Bare-Knuckle Brawl’ to Stop Missourians From Voting on Gerrymander
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Don
And we knew this. This wasn't speculation. We studied it, we had the talking points. We trained volunteers to explain this to people. It's not a surprise. Rich people don't flee places with good quality of life when we increase the quality of life. They might try to cheat us, but they don't leave.
NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected.

And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*

Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts
A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...
www.bloomberg.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:16 AM