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John McTague

@johnmctague.bsky.social

Interested in local DC urbanism, MLB, rescue dogs, political science, and LGBTQ history πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆ

268 Followers  |  1,529 Following  |  9 Posts  |  Joined: 19.10.2023  |  1.7778

Latest posts by johnmctague.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Help us hire Martin Austermuhle! The 51st is growing β€” but we can’t do it without you.

The 51st recently hired our first salaried employee (!) by bringing Christina on full-time as Executive Editor. Now, we need to hire Martin as our full-time reporter!!! You can help us get there by tossing a few dollars (or more...) to our fundraiser. πŸ₯³ 51st.news/help-us-hire...

14.07.2025 20:41 β€” πŸ‘ 109    πŸ” 34    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 12

If you're a member of the Democratic gerontocracy, the chances of you catching a primary challenger just went up 1000%.

25.06.2025 01:55 β€” πŸ‘ 21589    πŸ” 3242    πŸ’¬ 418    πŸ“Œ 328

It's 2015. President Barack Obama has accepted a "sky palace" jumbo jet from the Qatari government, which he'll own after he leaves office. "Everybody relax," he says in an interview with the New York Times. Everyone does. The networks then televise the military parade in his honor on his birthday.

11.05.2025 18:43 β€” πŸ‘ 42573    πŸ” 8786    πŸ’¬ 936    πŸ“Œ 399

35+ years of peer-reviewed studies confirm that publicly financed stadiums, especially publicly financed football stadiums, are a horrendous deal for taxpayers & for cities. Any public official proposing to invest in a stadium should be challenged to respond to those research findings directly.

28.04.2025 12:24 β€” πŸ‘ 144    πŸ” 42    πŸ’¬ 11    πŸ“Œ 6

Sounds crazy right? Now imagine this is *always* the situation for 700,000 District of Columbia residents

03.04.2025 17:09 β€” πŸ‘ 58    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Txt STOP to opt out of updates on war plans

24.03.2025 20:39 β€” πŸ‘ 14210    πŸ” 2932    πŸ’¬ 216    πŸ“Œ 172
Post image 05.02.2025 00:52 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Chart of cumulative protests reported from Jan 22 - Feb 28, 2017 vs 2025:

19.03.2025 18:02 β€” πŸ‘ 6278    πŸ” 2741    πŸ’¬ 112    πŸ“Œ 327
Title: Both Liberal and Conservative Judges Rule Against Trump
Description: A scatter plot showing the rulings of judges against or in favor of Trump, categorized by ideology using the DIME score. The x-axis represents Judge Ideology (DIME Score), ranging from liberal (-1) to conservative (1), and the y-axis represents the case outcome (against or for Trump).
	β€’	Blue dots represent liberal judges, purple dots represent moderate judges, and red dots represent conservative judges.
	β€’	Some judges are labeled, including Rudolph Contreras, Lauren King, John Coughenour, and James Emanuel Boasberg on the liberal to moderate side, and Carl Nichols, Richard J. Leon, and Joseph N. Laplante on the conservative side.
	β€’	A note mentions that Boasberg, though slightly right-leaning, was initially appointed by George W. Bush.
	β€’	The visualization suggests that judges from both ideological backgrounds ruled against Trump.

Title: Both Liberal and Conservative Judges Rule Against Trump Description: A scatter plot showing the rulings of judges against or in favor of Trump, categorized by ideology using the DIME score. The x-axis represents Judge Ideology (DIME Score), ranging from liberal (-1) to conservative (1), and the y-axis represents the case outcome (against or for Trump). β€’ Blue dots represent liberal judges, purple dots represent moderate judges, and red dots represent conservative judges. β€’ Some judges are labeled, including Rudolph Contreras, Lauren King, John Coughenour, and James Emanuel Boasberg on the liberal to moderate side, and Carl Nichols, Richard J. Leon, and Joseph N. Laplante on the conservative side. β€’ A note mentions that Boasberg, though slightly right-leaning, was initially appointed by George W. Bush. β€’ The visualization suggests that judges from both ideological backgrounds ruled against Trump.

1/🧡 Judges across ideological lines are ruling against Trump at strikingly similar rates (84% liberal, 86% centrist, 82% conservative). This isn't partisan opposition to Trumpβ€”it's the judiciary functioning as intended by cutting across partisan lines to uphold the Constitution.

18.03.2025 21:32 β€” πŸ‘ 11692    πŸ” 3893    πŸ’¬ 196    πŸ“Œ 306
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Democratic Leaders Stand Real Still In Hopes No One Notices Them WASHINGTONβ€”With the elected officials trying their hardest not to move a muscle, reports confirmed Monday that top Democratic leaders in Congress were standing real still in hopes that the American pe...

Democratic Leaders Stand Real Still In Hopes No One Notices Them

14.03.2025 02:25 β€” πŸ‘ 36676    πŸ” 7418    πŸ’¬ 700    πŸ“Œ 564
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Ocasio-Cortez mobilizes Democrats against Schumer plan as colleagues privately urge her to consider primary challenge | CNN Politics Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday that she plans to mobilize her massive base of followers to oppose what she described as an β€œacquiesce” by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to accept th...

There are many Democrats who don’t agree with some or many of AOC’s policy ideas. But what she gets and more conventional Democrats do not is that political fight can be catalyzing and transformative. You can change the shape of the playing board in ways … www.cnn.com/2025/03/13/p...

14.03.2025 02:47 β€” πŸ‘ 6244    πŸ” 1028    πŸ’¬ 149    πŸ“Œ 88

The Star Ledger: Opinion: Pizza and bagels are delicious. And that Bruce Springsteen

12.03.2025 23:45 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Firefighter David Smith:

β€œAbout 5 of the members in this picture are probationary firefighters. Who were in freezing cold conditions for 13 hours without hesitation facing a major disaster. Now, they’re facing uncertainty they will keep their jobs because congress is punishing DC.”

Photo of DC firefighters saluting the victims of the deadly airline crash as their bodies are transported.

Firefighter David Smith: β€œAbout 5 of the members in this picture are probationary firefighters. Who were in freezing cold conditions for 13 hours without hesitation facing a major disaster. Now, they’re facing uncertainty they will keep their jobs because congress is punishing DC.” Photo of DC firefighters saluting the victims of the deadly airline crash as their bodies are transported.

DC firefighters who rushed into the freezing Potomac after the deadly American Airlines Flight 5342 crash could lose their jobs if Congress does not fix the DC budget issue in the CR.

12.03.2025 21:19 β€” πŸ‘ 23    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2
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Senate Democrats’ Choice: Block the Republican Spending Bill or Dissolve Congress The House’s continuing resolution would effectively hand over spending decisions to Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

NEW from me: With House Republicans passing a partisan, damaging continuing resolution that gives Donald Trump and Elon Musk free rein to continue to strangle appropriated spending, Senate Democrats have to decide whether they will actively participate in their institution's own destruction.

12.03.2025 00:11 β€” πŸ‘ 1437    πŸ” 435    πŸ’¬ 50    πŸ“Œ 55
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Urge Congress to Restore Vital International Education and Exchange Funding! NAFSA: Association of International Educators is the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange.

www.nafsa.org/SaveECAFunding

Write to your members of Congress

08.03.2025 21:51 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Ongoing Funding Freeze of ECA Programs at Department of State NAFSA: Association of International Educators is the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange.

Help thousands of students and scholars *in the middle of their academic experiences abroad* resume receiving the funding legally appropriated to them.

www.nafsa.org/ECAFundingFr...

08.03.2025 21:50 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Pitch perfect response from Georgetown Law reminding Ed Martin that it’s wildly inappropriate on both religious liberty and free speech grounds for him to attempt to use the power of his (interim) office to dictate what curriculum is β€œunacceptable” at the university.

06.03.2025 20:32 β€” πŸ‘ 754    πŸ” 162    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 3

Trump is trying to do two separate things: 1.) become an authoritarian leader, and 2.) implement a massively unpopular policy program. These goals conflict with each other and are hopefully self sabotaging in the end. 1x

23.02.2025 18:54 β€” πŸ‘ 858    πŸ” 152    πŸ’¬ 13    πŸ“Œ 24
Support Us – Wanda Alston Foundation

Shoutout to supporting local organizations doing important work in this political environment

www.wandaalstonfoundation.org/support-us/

06.02.2025 21:59 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image 05.02.2025 00:52 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Laurie Anderson, Four Talks, Hirshhorn Museum

30.12.2024 19:54 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Jimmy Carter outlived one of his obituary writers:

29.12.2024 21:47 β€” πŸ‘ 926    πŸ” 264    πŸ’¬ 24    πŸ“Œ 20

Undergrads these days are really good, actually

03.12.2024 23:27 β€” πŸ‘ 41    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 2
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Help The 51st Growβ€”for Free! We’ve been publishing for almost two months (!) and growing The 51st with you has been thrilling.Β Our progress has been heartening, and each day this dream of growing a sustainable worker-led newsroom...

If you think independent local journalism is important, here are some free ways you can help The 51st grow 🌱

25.11.2024 21:51 β€” πŸ‘ 78    πŸ” 38    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 7

Rachel Pollack's 1995 TransSisters interview reads like it came out yesterday

22.11.2024 00:59 β€” πŸ‘ 2248    πŸ” 851    πŸ’¬ 12    πŸ“Œ 12
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Rep. Mace introduces measure to ban trans women from Capitol’s female bathrooms The South Carolina Republican’s resolution comes two weeks after the historic election of Democrat Sarah McBride, a trans woman, to Congress.

Carol Moseley Braun was the first Black woman elected to the Senate in 1993. Jesse Helms once followed her into the Senate elevator singing "Dixie." He told fellow Senator Orrin Hatch, "I'm going to sing Dixie until she cries."

Thinking about that today.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

19.11.2024 18:52 β€” πŸ‘ 3331    πŸ” 1184    πŸ’¬ 80    πŸ“Œ 57
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The share of Republicans who say that they’re worse off financially than they were a year ago is already down 15-points since the election.

20.11.2024 15:55 β€” πŸ‘ 2341    πŸ” 672    πŸ’¬ 183    πŸ“Œ 261

Whoever moves here from Twitter should pay for an expensive,time-consuming impact study, followed by a 4 year community engagement session with long-term Bluesky accounts.

12.11.2024 00:19 β€” πŸ‘ 176    πŸ” 32    πŸ’¬ 9    πŸ“Œ 2

basically, to assume that harris is cooked you have to assume that nothing pollsters have done to try to capture the trump effect has been effective

26.10.2024 16:43 β€” πŸ‘ 1118    πŸ” 62    πŸ’¬ 31    πŸ“Œ 1

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