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@schaffermichael.bsky.social

194 Followers  |  953 Following  |  30 Posts  |  Joined: 03.12.2024  |  1.7232

Latest posts by schaffermichael.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Trump’s Effort to Quash DC’s NFL Team Has Some Lefties Celebrating ‘They’re destroying the chance of bringing the stadium.’

Just about the only group I could find who are happy about Trump's demand to bring back "Redskins": The activists who want to nix the plan to build them a stadium. politi.co/46WdW7g

22.07.2025 16:14 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Event Planners Are Cancelling on Trump-Era Washington. Is This a Sign of Things to Come? DC has lost millions of dollars in events since Trump 2.0 began.

People are canceling conferences in Trump era DC thanks to politics. So the city has a new, unlikely, visitor come-on: We're nice! Really! www.politico.com/news/magazin...

15.07.2025 18:40 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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What Does an Obscure Urban Planning Board Have to Do With Trump’s Campaign Against Jerome Powell? The White House's pressure campaign against the Federal Reserve has taken a bizarre turn.

What does the wonky panel that oversees Washington's urban planning have to do with Trump's fight against Jerome Powell? It's a wild story. politi.co/3GujqeN

11.07.2025 19:16 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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An Elderly Lawmaker’s Staff Keeps Walking Back Things She Tells Reporters. Should They Keep Quoting Her? A media conundrum for the age of gerontocracy.

I wrote about a very 2025 DC dillemma: An Elderly Lawmaker’s Staff Keeps Walking Back Things She Tells Reporters. Should They Keep Quoting Her? politi.co/4eHIHPq

07.07.2025 14:41 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1
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The Trump Administration Is Shutting Down a Gay Landmark Ahead of WorldPride Thanks to a quirk of local rules that puts the federal government in charge of city parks, Dupont Circle has been fenced off just as people around the world come to DC for pride.

I wrote about the decision to shut down Dupont Circle ahead of Pride — a sign of changing life in Trump-era DC (and the absurdity of Uncle Sam owning so much local land) politico.com/news/magazin...

06.06.2025 19:06 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Trump Is Planning a 'Garden of American Heroes' For the Country's Anniversary. Sculpture Experts Say It'll Never Happen. Actual sculptors who’ve seen the specs for Trump’s signature project say it’s in deep trouble.

Ooof. Actual sculptors tell me Trump's $34 million "Gaden of American heroes" will actually be a collection of Chinese mannequins. "Totally unworkable" by USA 250th — unless it is 3D-printed schlock. politi.co/43RUKpg

31.05.2025 13:53 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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‘I Did Not Have a Security Detail’: Killings Pierce the Diplomatic Bubble When two Israeli embassy staffers were gunned down outside the Jewish Museum, Washington’s entire diplomatic world felt the effects.

The history of Americans committing violence against foreign embassies in Washington is very very short. Will it stay that way? www.politico.com/news/magazin...

23.05.2025 15:26 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Ed Martin Called Jan. 6 ‘Mardi Gras.’ Now He’s Trying to Put a Guy in Jail for a Nonviolent Protest. Jan. 6 looms large in a case against a nonviolent demonstrator.

“I find it ironic that the guy who made the same argument on behalf of so many people is now pursuing the case against me.”

08.05.2025 12:47 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Ed Martin Called Jan. 6 ‘Mardi Gras.’ Now He’s Trying to Put a Guy in Jail for a Nonviolent Protest. Jan. 6 looms large in a case against a nonviolent demonstrator.

I wrote about a guy being facing jail for a nonviolent version of what Jan 6 mob got pardoned for. Trial will be a test of whatr Trump's pardons mean for future DC protest arrests. Easy to see defense playing up the hypocrisy, getting jury to acquit. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

08.05.2025 14:22 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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It sure looks like Trump’s controversial US Attorney is coming for medical marijuana politi.co/42EzWRD

02.05.2025 17:19 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Trump’s Controversial US Attorney Is Coming for Medical Marijuana The Trump-allied prosecutor has threatened Wikipedia, medical journals and Congressional Democrats. Now he’s putting a medical-marijuana dispensary on notice, too.

Trump hasn't messed with legal pot. His lightning-rod US Attorney in DC may have other ideas. If you think DC's deep-blue electorate should be free to choose blue-state rules for itself, this ought to worry you: www.politico.com/news/magazin...

02.05.2025 15:34 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Notable cartoon on WaPo editorial page today

25.04.2025 12:48 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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How Donald Trump Revealed Jeff Bezos’ True Self Not long ago, Washington dreamed that Jeff Bezos would become the king of the Beltway. Then the rules changed.

I wrote about DC, Bezos, and the end of the affair. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

24.04.2025 14:26 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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DC Isn’t Becoming a State. But It Could Become Maryland. Washingtonians may be aghast at the thought of reconnecting with their northern neighbor, but some think it’s preferable to appeasing Trump.

Oh man driving around with Maryland tags would make me cringe. But maybe it's worth it?

www.politico.com/news/magazin...

18.04.2025 18:09 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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The Mystery Buyer of That $23 Million DC Mansion? Mark Zuckerberg. The Meta chief is the latest mogul to have a personal embassy in Donald Trump’s Washington.

“The benefits they can reap from relationships with the government can make up for any loss from a bad real estate deal.”

www.politico.com/news/magazin...

03.04.2025 01:11 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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The Mystery Buyer of That $23 Million DC Mansion? Mark Zuckerberg. The Meta chief is the latest mogul to have a personal embassy in Donald Trump’s Washington.

New constituent.

03.04.2025 01:45 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 1
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That $23 million mystery house sale? The buyer was Mark Zuckerberg. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

A local high-end real estate agent on why a mogul would want to buy a house in DC, where he doesn’t live:

03.04.2025 00:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1
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The Mystery Buyer of That $23 Million DC Mansion? Mark Zuckerberg. The Meta chief is the latest mogul to have a personal embassy in Donald Trump’s Washington.

Rose: Elon is soon leaving DC where I live
Thorn: www.politico.com/news/magazin...

02.04.2025 23:58 — 👍 493    🔁 90    💬 55    📌 9
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Mark Zuckerberg Is the Mystery Buyer of a $23 Million DC Mansion The Meta chief is the latest mogul to have a personal embassy in Donald Trump’s Washington.

The mystery buyer of that $23 million DC mansion? Mark Zuckerberg. He's the latest mogul to set up an outpost in Trump's DC. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

02.04.2025 21:04 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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It’s Now a Hate Crime to Vandalize Teslas in DC A splashy manhunt over anti-Musk graffiti shows just how far the capital will go to placate the Trump administration.

I wrote about local DC's latest bizarre Trump-pleasing move: Cops are hunting for people who wrote anti-Elon graffiti on Tesla windshields — and say they may be charged with hate crimes. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

27.03.2025 14:51 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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They Were Raised to Serve America. MAGA Sees Them as Its Enemies. The latest Trump targets feel like a metaphor for the capital’s travails.

“A sense that there’s a class war on against the people and professions that represent Washington’s highest ideals” www.politico.com/news/magazin...

20.03.2025 10:53 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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A Congresswoman with Dementia Stopped Coming to Work. The DC Press Corps Never Noticed. Here’s the story behind how the media missed the story.

How did the Washington press corps miss the Kay Granger story while a small Dallas site got it? It's an outrage — but not necessarily the outrage you might think. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

14.03.2025 16:46 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Dying in Darkness: Jeff Bezos Turns Out the Lights in the Washington Post’s Opinion Section The tech mogul’s decision to revamp the editorial pages around his own views threatens not only independent journalism, but the Post’s business future.

Michael Schaffer points out that the Washington Post editpage ALREADY favors the free market. Free speech, too. Always has. So what Bezos must crave is a radical anti-regulatory and anti-tax agenda well outside the mainstream that indulges hateful rhetoric.

www.politico.com/news/magazin...

27.02.2025 15:25 — 👍 7    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0
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www.politico.com/news/magazin...

27.02.2025 13:08 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Dying in Darkness: Jeff Bezos Turns Out the Lights in the Washington Post’s Opinion Section The tech mogul’s decision to revamp the editorial pages around his own views threatens not only independent journalism, but the Post’s business future.

I wrote about Jeff Bezos, who has gotten one of his well developed pectoral muscles caught in a big fat wringer. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

27.02.2025 00:31 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Dying in Darkness: Jeff Bezos Turns Out the Lights in the Washington Post’s Opinion Section The tech mogul’s decision to revamp the editorial pages around his own views threatens not only independent journalism, but the Post’s business future.

I wrote about Jeff Bezos, who has gotten one of his well developed pectoral muscles caught in a big fat wringer. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

27.02.2025 00:30 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Think Trump’s Kennedy Center Will Be All Kid Rock and MMA? You Haven’t Met Paolo Zampolli. Paolo Zampolli, a modeling agency honcho turned real estate player, has spent years pushing for Trumpian upgrades to DC's marble temple of high culture.

People sneer that Trump's Kennedy Center takeover will mean monster trucks in the opera house. His close friend the trustee has other ideas: Fashion catwalks, a Cipriani restaurant, boat parking, an Abu Dhabi franchise. Populism! www.politico.com/news/magazin...

21.02.2025 18:46 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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A Top Federal Contractor Won’t Support a Pride Gathering — Because It’s Afraid of Trump’s DEI Rules Booz Allen’s decision to cancel a sponsorship ought to worry anyone who cares about Washington culture.

A year ago, this top federal contractor had a Pride parade float. This year, it yanked its corporate sponsorship. A look at how Trump's DEI push has moved way beyond HR offices — and could reshape parts of DC culture that are far outside government. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

14.02.2025 15:33 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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‘Are We Detroit Now?’: Trump’s Cuts Panic Washington In a town built on the predictability of federal work, people are facing an unfamiliar sense of existential uncertainty.

I wrote about the Musk jihad against federal workers and what they mean for hometown DC, which has never had to deal with this kind of economic uncertainty. It's a wild, vertiginous moment. Are we Detroit now? politi.co/3CSIM3Y

07.02.2025 15:44 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Sources: Snyder 'hates' Commanders success Sources close to the ex-Commanders owner say he remains in denial over what led to his ouster from the NFL.

The piece I always wanted to assign: A version of The Final Days, but for Dan Snyder’s ownership instead of Nixon’s presidency. A lot of it is in here, deliciously.

25.01.2025 16:58 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1

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