Dude Sweet

NASA is sinking its flagship science center during the government shutdown — and may be breaking the law in the process, critics say "There is just a general acknowledgement that a lot of what is happening is illegal…"

The destruction of Goddard Space Flight Center by Secretary Sean "Road Rules" Duffy is unforgivable

NASA contributes to the advancement of science, stimulates the economy, develops technology & inspires humanity

There is no benefit to America if Goddard is shuttered

www.space.com/space-explor...

Armed Guards and Muscle Milk: Senate Investigation Reveals DOGE Takeover Details A new Senate report claims DOGE put every American's Social Security number at risk—and that officials at federal agencies essentially obstructed an investigation, all but denying DOGE even exists.

A new senate report is full of *shocking* details about DOGE activities inside the federal government. Including, unfortunately, the disturbing access that DOGE affiliates had to our SSNs:

"One whistleblower noted the possibility that the agency may need to re-issue SSNs to all who possess one."

Yam Tits' voice is only tolerable when channeled by Bransen Gates (1/2)

🎩 @amoneyresists.bsky.social

By charging Americans 15% tax to buy Toyota, but charging GM 50+% tax to import their raw materials, Trump is *crushing US manufacturing*

with alt text

Yet another seismic decision fundamentally reshaping our system of government issued on the shadow docket with not even a single word of explanation.

Lifting the District Court’s injunction will unleash untold harm, delaying or denying educational opportunities and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual assault, and other civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended. The majority apparently deems it more important to free the Government from paying employees it had no right to fire than to avert these very real harms while the litigation continues. Equity does not support such an inequitable result. * * * The President must take care that the laws are faithfully executed, not set out to dismantle them. That basic rule undergirds our Constitution’s separation of powers. Yet today, the majority rewards clear defiance of that core principle with emergency relief. Because I cannot condone such abuse of our equitable authority, I respectfully dissent.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to move forward with the abolition of the Department of Education. It gives no explanation for its order. All three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

From Sotomayor's dissent:

clear shift from unimodal poor with just a long tail into wealth in 1800; to bipolar poor and rich 1975 (poor mostly African and and Asian, rich mostly Europe); to unimodal again less poor, though still a lot of poverty in Africa in 2015. Note log scale on wealth.

there's a specific definition and rational for the measure – I too was skeptical but learnt about it from Joe Devine @uniofbath.bsky.social researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/j... But what's most convincing is this figure, again from @ourworldindata.org ourworldindata.org/the-history-...

Still of Last Week Tonight. John Oliver is talking about an Oct. 8, 2021 ProPublica/WPLN investigation titled "Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn't Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge."

The new @lastweektonight.com piece on juvenile incarceration featured several @ProPublica stories.

First up was our 2021 investigation with @wpln.bsky.social about young Black kids in Tennessee jailed for a crime that doesn't exist:

www.propublica.org/article/blac...

Opinion | We Saw Medicaid Work Requirements Up Close. You Don’t Want This Chaos.

“Ninety-two percent of the targeted Medicaid recipients already work, are in school, have family caregiving responsibilities or have disabilities.” The proposed work requirements have nothing to do with waste, they are designed to cut enrollment through paperwork. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/o...

If this is an accurate description of what is happening, the administration is unambiguously violating the law. The statute they’re citing does not allow the exec to ignore the governor like this.

Surprised Pikachu

But what about the Golden Age that was promised?

This guy is like one of 4 Americans who actually went and got their REAL ID and immediately they said it was a fake.

Just so everyone knows when they toss your ass in a truck it won't matter what passport or identification you have they'll throw it in the street and you're gone

Yes, 100%. Setting aside the sheer human impact, it's bad as a matter of public policy; it undermines the rule of law by discouraging compliance.

Again, why do they dress like a band of highwaymen instead of a properly constituted police force? They’re inside the security envelope of a public courthouse.

A mother's urgent plea to stop ICE from deporting her daughters’ birth father tomorrow He served his time in the US. He deserves to heal here, too.

NEW — Kelvin Membreño will be deported to El Salvador by ICE tomorrow. He’s the birth father of three US citizen daughters and has become an important part of their lives.

Here their adoptive mother makes a last ditch plea to let him stay in the same country as the girls. A gutting guest essay:

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 24A966 DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ET AL. U. GWYNNE A. WILCOX, ET AL. ON APPLICATION FOR STAY [May 22, 2025] The Government has applied for a stay of orders from the District Court for the District of Columbia enjoining the President's removal of a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), respectively. The President is prohibited by statute from removing these officers except for cause, and no qualifying cause was given. See 29 U.S. C. §153(a); 5 U. S. C. §1202(d). The application for stay presented to THE CHIEF JUSTICE and by him referred to the Court is granted. Because the Constitution vests the executive power in the President, see Art. I1, §1, cl. 1, he may remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf, subject to narrow exceptions recognized by our precedents, see Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 591 U.S. 197, 215-218 (2020). The stay reflects our judgment that the Government is likely to show that both the NLRB and MSPB exercise considerable executive power. But we do not ultimately decide in this posture whether the NLRB or MSPB falls within such a recognized exception; that question is better left for resolution after full briefing and argu-ment. The stay also reflects our judgment that the Government faces greater risk of harm from an order allowing a removed officer to continue exercising the executive power than a wrongfully removed officer faces from being unable to perform her statutory duty. See Trump v. International

BREAKING: The Supreme Court’s conservatives allow Trump’s firing of members of multi-member boards to remain in effect during litigation, effectively overruling a 90-year-old precedent.

The liberal justices, in an opinion by Kagan, dissents.

More to come: www.lawdork.com

Where does your weather forecast come from? Whether you get your forecast from an app on your phone, a website or a meteorologist on TV, most of the underlying information comes from the federal government.

Whether you get your forecast from an app on your phone, a website or a meteorologist on TV, most of the underlying information comes from the federal government.
By @rhersher.bsky.social

Helene’s Unheard Warnings As Hurricane Helene barreled toward Yancey County in North Carolina, communities along the Cane River in the Black Mountains were particularly vulnerable. But there were no evacuation orders, and few ...

Standing in awe of the @propublica.org team helmed by @jenniferberryhawes.bsky.social that pulled off this journalistic feat: a stunning narrative that painstakingly captures Helene’s tragedies and NC’s missed opportunities. www.propublica.org/article/hurr.... www.propublica.org/article/hurr...

Pages 2-4 of link

Judge Howell's actual order is unusually long—she not only reinstates the true board members but also boots DOGE's imposter board members and nullifies all of the illegal actions they took during their illegitimate takeover of the Institute of Peace. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

It's remarkable how much of this administration's agenda has been laser focused on simply making life worse for ordinary Americans.

wife: how was guarding the two paths today, honey?

guard: [looking away] fine

wife: did something happen?

guard: [tearing up] no

wife: would the other guard tell me something happened?

Title: How to focus on writing your book There follow eleven tiny images telling a story. The captions read: Turn your devices off (a writer with a phone and laptop. The screens are dark). Put them in a drawer. Lock the drawer. Throw away the key. Leave the house. Do not look back. Keep to backroads and hedgerows. Feel your old life slip away. (the writer has shed his clothes) Sleep by day. Forage in the evening. Write by the light of the moon When you have a passable first draft, commit a minor crime and use your phone call to contact your agent. (the naked writer is in a prison holding a phone while an unamused police officer looks on).

My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com Books

"Democrats" don't say that. The Constitution says that, and for 150 years, everyone agreed the Constitution says that.

Russians Seek Trump Properties to Give Birth to U.S. Kids While the president rails against children of undocumented immigrants, wealthy Russians rent his condos—at huge costs—so they can have American kids.

Trump's agents are in the halls of Washington working to end birthright citizenship. Apparently he was profiting from selling such citizenships to Russians for years. In case you missed it in 2017. www.thedailybeast.com/russians-flo...

Trump’s actions are pushing thousands of experts to flee government The U.S. DOGE Service’s push for early retirement and deferred resignation is leading to a federal brain drain, longtime staffers fear.

This story has a dozen or so nice anecdotes on why institutional competence matters and exactly what we've lost by this administration's hackneyed "reforms."

wapo.st/43fc1aw

Promises made, promises… I dunno

Language policing by the Trump-oligarch regime should be a bigger story.

Now would be a good time for us all - esp. journalists and editors - to learn and use the words “Ausschaltung”
&
“Gleichschaltung”.

Powerful pro-democracy action by @riseandresist.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/rise...