vanessabee.bsky.social

The Post killing its Books section (one of the best around) is so fucking bleak

Nathan J Robinson criticizing Ezra Klein’s coverage of Epstein while he’s still shilling his book with Chomsky.

A temporary restraining order is appropriate because plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claims under the APA. OMB's September 24, 2025 "Lapse Memorandum" and subsequent documents from the Office of Personnel Management ("OPM") represent "final agency action" within the meaning of the APA. See OMB Lapse Mem.; see also Am. Compl., Ex. B ("OPM Special Instructions"); Dkt. No. 17-3 ("Huddleston Decl."), Ex. C at 50-51 ("OPM Guidance"). If what plaintiffs allege is true, then the agencies' actions in laying off thousands of public employees during a government shutdown and in targeting for RIFs those programs that are perceived as favored by a particular political party— is the epitome of hasty, arbitrary and capricious decisionmaking. The many snafus that plaintiffs detail in their papers, some of which are outlined above, are testament to this. In addition, plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that OPM and OMB's direction that agencies consider RIFs during a shutdown rests on illegal grounds. In particular, OMB's Lapse Memorandum announces: "With respect to those Federal programs whose funding would lapse and which are otherwise unfunded, such programs are no longer statutorily required to be carried out." OMB Lapse Mem. at 1. The memorandum thus essentially seeks to overturn mandates that Congress has put in place. Neither the OMB/OPM documents themselves, nor defendants in their opposition papers, make any attempt to justify this position. At the hearing, counsel for defendants refused to answer the question of whether or not defendants' action are legal, instead saying that defendants were "not prepared" to address the merits today.

So ... do we have insight into why the "defendants [DOJ, representing the Trump admin] were 'not prepared' to address the merits today"?

a principle they never forget when the victims are palestinian!

imo dems should simply say "we're not voting for any of this, trump is not a reliable negotiation partner, if the GOP wants to pass the budget they should just change the senate rules, which is within their power." but if they are gonna deal, this approach is miles better than ACA subsidies imo

Just to be clear, the competing theory is that someone else forged his signature, long before he was a political figure, and before Epstein was a pariah, in a book signed by dozens of Trump’s rich friends?

Protestors chant
FREE DC
FREE PALESTINE
TRUMP IS THE HITLER OF OUR TIME

To Trump, Vance, and Hegseth

ICE supporter tries to assault an ICE protester with pepper spray, maces herself instead, and then demands an ambulance. 🤦‍♂️

There needs to be a congressional investigation into ICE and its practices. The agency needs to be completely dissolved and its agents and officers need to be prosecuted for any and all crimes committed.

Seizure medication, wheelchairs, Social Security cards, dentures, urns of ashes, work uniforms — just some of what's been thrown away during cruel, degrading, utterly counterproductive homeless sweeps.

A good time to revisit this gutting @propublica.org story:

incredible that smart, committed people are still doing “the norms will save us” in the midst of an authoritarian assault on our entire way of life, during which thus far the norms have not even been a speed bump

Yet another helpful explainer to counter the ignorant disinformation spouted by the unqualified extremist who is currently destroying the HHS

The Germans finally figured out how to stop committing a Holocaust

from a spiteful perspective, cfpb workers have already won

NEW: I spoke with a woman named Andrea about her experience being detained by ICE after calling the cops for help during a domestic violence incident.

She was recently postpartum, breastfeeding & put in an all-male facility. She was detained for 2.5 months.

Here’s the online post by Ben Schrader, ex Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s office in NASHVILLE — who ABC says resigned because their decision to charge Kilmar Abrego Garcia is politically motivated.

Hope @chrislhayes.bsky.social or someone interviews him!

this is like drake and kendrick lamar but they're both drake

YouGov poll: “If you had to choose, who would you side with more between the following? Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Neither"

YouGov poll | 6/5

“If you had to choose, who would you side with more between the following?”

ok Mr. Hall Monitor, they are the billionaires so are we supposed to be talking about them or not

If you’re struggling today, take a moment to remember that the worst people you know, the racists, the transphobes and incels, are currently losing their minds on twitter as their overlords fight. Let that comfort you 🙏🏽

it’s we’re-supposedly-not-shutting-down-the-cfpb-but-everyone-has-to-clear-their-office week and i just boxed up the last 8.5 years of my professional life. i will miss fighting for consumers in this particular way but look forward to sharing my next thing soon.

EXCLUSIVE: Alex Jones Responds To The Palantir Hysteria & Lays Out What's Really Happening

Alex Jones, who spent years ranting about shadowy government mass surveillance technology, is now stanning for Palantir

I think we’ve reached a boiling point when it comes to ICE.

Today in Minneapolis, a militarized task force raided the beloved Lake Street taqueria, Las Cuatro Milpas—and the community was not having it.

Agents from ICE, the DEA, FBI, ATF, IRS and HHS rolled up looking like they were ready for war.

Musk Adviser May Make as Much as $1 Million a Year While Helping to Dismantle Agency that Regulates Tesla and X Records show that Chris Young is simultaneously working as a political adviser to Musk while serving in the Department of Government Efficiency, helping to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...

NEW from @propublica.org: Records show that Chris Young is simultaneously working as a political adviser to Elon Musk while helping DOGE gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which regulates Musk's businesses. www.propublica.org/article/doge...

60% of Americans have a chronic condition. Among people over 65, it's 95%.

Saying most of our health care spending goes to chronic conditions is just another way of saying it goes to health care.

You do not need to be a lawyer to read this sentence: "No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

(In FDR's words, the Constitution is a layman's document - it's not (just) for the lawyers!)

Ironically, this is Big Pharma's wet dream. Rather than a preventative vaccine that costs a few dollars a dose twice a lifetime, they can sell expensive new in-patent drugs for hundreds a dose that you need to keep taking.

for the people in the driver's seat of the right wing cultural movement, an end to "DEI" always meant doing things like sending free money to a white lady who called a child the n word. sorry if you thought it was about a slightly annoying HR webinar you once had to watch or whatever.

L.A. federal prosecutors resign over plea deal for convicted sheriff's deputy, sources say Multiple federal prosecutors in Los Angeles submitted resignations after U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli offered a plea agreement to an L.A. County sheriff's deputy who had already been convicted of using ...

NEW: Sources says several federal prosecutors have resigned after Trump's new U.S. Atty in Los Angeles offered a misdemeanor plea deal to a sheriff's deputy -- after a jury had already convicted him of a felony: www.latimes.com/california/s...

NEW: By a 5–4 vote, the Supreme Court HALTS a district court order requiring the Education Department to pay out more than 100 grants to public schools and universities that the Trump administration canceled.

Roberts and the three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...