Policy Wonk

Arizona AG Kris Mayes, New Mexico AG Raul Torrez, and Oregon AG Dan Rayfield will begin holding Community Impact Hearings — a national series of townhalls "to hear from the public about the impact of federal firings and DOGE funding freezes across the country."

The first will be in Phoenix March 5.

my superpower for predicting things? paying attention to what people with power say and do

“For whatever reason, people of color have a higher incidence of maternal mortality."

vance is lying and knows he’s lying but even if he weren’t, “separation of powers means the president is an elected despot” may be true in some other political system but it has never been true in the american political system

How a Canadian scientist and a venomous lizard helped pave the way for Ozempic - National | Globalnews.ca In 1984, Dr. Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist from the University of Toronto, discovered a hormone that helped pave the way for popular diabetes drugs such as Ozempic.

This is the most relevant article to NIH and research cuts I’ve seen.

Imagine if this was today , how many people would be saying “Why are we studying Gila Monsters and their impact on diabetes ? That’s wasted money !”

globalnews.ca/news/9793403...

Russell Vought, as Consumer Bureau’s Acting Director, Orders Its Headquarters Closed for a Week The order to shutter the agency’s headquarters follows another order issued Saturday by Mr. Vought, who also leads the Office of Management and Budget, telling agency employees to halt nearly all thei...

Employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau received an email on Sunday saying the bureau’s headquarters would be closed for the coming week. The move follows another directive telling agency employees to halt nearly all their work.

Trump II Punishes Fed Workers For Attending Trump I Diversity Training In an ironic twist, the Trump administration appears to be punishing Department...

The Trump administration appears to be punishing Department of Education employees for attending diversity training sessions that were held during his first term.
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-i...

If only there was a word for when an unelected oligarch moves quickly to take over control of the government.

The legacy media is failing us. Support independent media.
www.democracydocket.com

The market reaction to that Sheinbaum headline shows the hope still out there that this won't happen.

honestly think some of the hesitation here is that no one wants to sound like a crank. i was talking at an event last night and even i felt like a crank while i was speaking!

cannot be said enough that for a decade a critical number of americans have simply refused to accept that he means what he says

8/ the levels of illegality having a group of people who don’t even seem to be US government employees doing it.

7/ They’re not saying that last part explicitly but that’s certainly the logic of what they’re saying. (Go look at his tweets over thd last two days). So a group of Musk protégés seem to be overruling the US federal budget. Impoundment by the president is illegal. It’s hard to think through …

6/ It’s important to know what this means. This is simple his DOGE team reviewing the US federal budget, law of the land and deciding which parts aren’t necessary. It sounds like they’re saying they will unilaterally cut these funds with control over the check writing at Treasury.

Arguably the biggest national security breach in U.S. history. Private employees downloading personnel data on every federal employee and tax and social security data on every American onto private unsecured servers. Needless to say, completely illegal and subject to major prison sentences.

When I was a Hill staffer in 2009, a Dem trifecta was trying to pass universal healthcare. In response, Senate GOP released a memo detailing all of the tactics they in the minority could use to delay the effort as much as possible. I'm recirculating that 2009 GOP memo here. Take inspiration from it.

The History of the Button Industry's Impact on Freshwater Mussels | Great Lakes Now Discover how the button industry contributed to their decline, leaving these vital species critically endangered today.

The History of the Button Industry’s Impact on Freshwater Mussels www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/01/the-...

the best and the brightest

Plane Crash Near Reagan National Airport Halts All Takeoffs And Landings: Live Updates Officials said the plane went down in the Potomac River near Reagan Airport. The airport said emergency crews were responding to an “aircraft incident.”

Breaking News: A regional passenger jet collided midair with a helicopter while approaching Reagan National Airport, the authorities said.

Follow live updates.

remember stuff like this when they tell you that diversity means a lowering of standards

MURKOWSKI comes out against Hegseth for DOD, first GOP opponent. "The leader of the Department of Defense must demonstrate and model the standards of behavior and character we expect of all servicemembers, and Mr. Hegseth’s nomination to the role poses significant concerns that I cannot overlook."

If you're just coming by:

I'm (currently) the only full-time Milwaukee #Bucks journalist here.

Formerly #Bengals and #Packers beat writer - along with some #golf, #Brewers, #Cubs, #WhiteSox and Chicagoland high schools.

Lover of #hiphop & #coffee

I'll post about all. Let's have some fun

the resentment against the Biden white house for not leaking or generating scandals was *intense*

We all need to introduce the words “segregation” and “segregationist” into our daily vocabularies.

if there is one funny thing about yesterday’s blitzkrieg of executive orders is that it makes the “democratic opposition went too far last time” crowd look like total dipshits

-JFK, Clinton, Obama
-LBJ, Carter, Biden

Dem presidential popularity is obviously more complex than charisma and media-savvy but when you group Dem presidents in the TV/internet era it sure looks like a pattern.

these people really are the biggest piss babies on the planet

16 things spray-painted on (or stuck to) the frozen Milwaukee Boat Today, January 13, 2025, marks the three-month anniversary of the Milwaukee Boat. Three months!

Three months of the (now-frozen) Milwaukee Boat!

From the Broadway community on Reddit: Wicked just became the first Broadway show to surpass $5M in a single week! Check out this chart of which shows have topped the weekly grosses most often since t... Explore this post and more from the Broadway community

Did congestion pricing kill business? On the first week of congestion pricing, Wicked smashed the record for Broadway box office gross. www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/c...