Matt Secoske

Our 3yo had like a hundred fuckin questions about the rules & logistics & moral implications of how mogwais become gremlins, but ZERO questions about "sometimes people change from girl to boy" or "sometimes boys marry other boys" or whatever, kids dgaf, the problem has ALWAYS been bigot ass parents

I've been using @anthropic.com's Max 20x plan for a couple months now - just re-upped a few days ago - and it's pretty great.

But it's just now dawning on me how much of a scam it is that they stop telling you your usage. They should be /showing/ you the value you are getting instead of hiding it.

Live your life so millions of your fellow citizens don't take to the streets to tell you to go fuck yourself on your birthday.

Periodic reminder that every day is STFU Friday

Also, sharing the location of cops in the public performance of their jobs is ironclad First Amendment-protected expression

If you're concerned something you've said has you on the Government's radar, call your lawyer instead of posting through it

Well, the AI is. And then deleting them when the context window runs out and they can't get them to work.

I mean, if it didn't rewrite your entire code base to change a variable name, are you even prompting, bro?

AI is the new regex.

What do I mean?

"I've got this problem.... I know! I'll use AI to solve it!"

Now you have two problems.

When a leader is an inveterate liar, their priority is destroying trust wherever it exists, because institutions with trust are potential competing power centers

Exclusive | Elite Universities Form Private Collective to Resist Trump Administration Separate from the public dissent, a group of school leaders are strategizing behind the scenes about how to respond and push back against the White House.

BREAKING

Some of the most prestigious universities in the country have formed a private collective to counter the Trump administration’s attacks on research funding and academic independence.

The group’s aim is to avoid the fate of some top law firms, where one deal led to others following suit.

Have any DOGE team affiliates installed any software on any DOL systems? Yes. Okay. Who -- who installed Page 113 1 software on DOL systems? 2 So Marko Elez did install some 3 software. 4 And is that Visual Studio Code 5 and PYTHON? A Yes. 7 Why did he install those on DoL 8 systems? 9 A To analyze data in the course 10 of his work. 11 Okay. Did he receive 12 permission to install those programs 13 before he installed them? 14 No, he did not. 15 Was -- has he removed those 16 programs from DOL systems? 17 A Those are approved software 18 packages, and so the software has not 19 been removed. 20 Okay. When you say they're 21 approved software packages, what does 22 that mean? 23 A They've -- they've been 24 previously approved for use at the 25 Department of Labor, and so there was no

UH WHAT

Anyone who internalizes this line of bullshit will absolutely always be outflanked by people who know how to actually do things

There are a lot of layers to this and I think the attention to detail is spot on. Lucky for us Ken is so ... you know.

Donald Trump wants to increase the spending on ICE to arrest and detain brown people by an order of magnitude, but wants to spend zero money expanding the system's capability to give them due process.

👇🎯

They. Are. Breaking. Signed. Contracts. For. No. Legal. Reason.

You want to pass legislation not funding this stuff going forward? Fine. Epically idiotic, but legal.

This is something else. Shredding the basic foundations of the rule of law. Textbook authoritarianism.

I care less about Signal chats and more about the blacksite offshore concentration camps we're sending random people to without any semblance of a trial, so I'll be interested to see if the national media can rub their bellies and pat their heads at the same time this week. Historically they can't.

Costco is a really popular subject for business-success case studies but I feel like business guys kinda lose interest when the upshot of the study is like "just operate with scrupulous integrity in all facets and levels of your business for four decades" and not some easy-to-fix gimmick

Two photos. In the first, deep in a conifer forest a man in winter clothes holds a reindeer and sprays something from an aerosol can on the antlers. The second photo is of a small town street in the dead of night. Little shops and dim street lights. A deer stands in the middle of the road. It's barely visible, just a feint silhouette. But, its eyes and antlers glow like something ancient and supernatural.

To prevent deer from being hit by cars Finland has tried using reflective paint. (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/avoid-deer-strikes-finland-painting-deer-antlers-reflective-paint-180949792/)

File this under "solutions to modern problems that summon the old gods."

i will remark again on this hallmark of maga politics, which is that trump embodies the organic will of the voters and this imbues him with sovereign power that cannot be checked or limited by any other institution in the society.

Kamala Harris: “he’s a fascist”

Gen. Milley: “he’s a fascist”

John Kelly: “he’s a fascist”

Historians of fascism: “he’s a fascist”

The NY/DC political media: “how did we all fail to see that Donald Trump was a fascist?”

(ORDER LIST: 604 U.S.) SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2025 24A1007 ORDER IN PENDING CASE A.A.R.P., ET AL. V. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF U.S., ET AL. There is before the Court an application on behalf of a putative class of detainees seeking an injunction against their removal under the Alien Enemies Act. The matter is currently pending before the Fifth Circuit. Upon action by the Fifth Circuit, the Solicitor General is invited to file a response to the application before this Court as soon as possible. The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court. See 28 U. S. C. §1651(a). Justice Thomas and Justice Alito dissent from the Court's order. Statement from Justice Alito to follow.

BREAKING: SCOTUS orders the government not to remove anyone from the United States under Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation who is a part of the potential class in the Northern District of Texas case until further order of the court.

Only Thomas and Alito note their dissent.

144. The Supreme Court's Late-Night Alien Enemy Act Intervention Just before 1:00 a.m., the justices (aggressively) stepped back into the Alien Enemy Act litigation—in a decision suggesting that a majority understands that these are no longer normal circumstances.

Just before 1 a.m., #SCOTUS stepped back into the Alien Enemy Act litigation with a (remarkable) ruling that suggests, among other things, that a majority of the justices is tiring of the Trump administration’s Calvinball.

For more, see the latest “One First”:

www.stevevladeck.com/p/144-the-su...

Always great when the agency in “turmoil” is … {checks notes} … the United States Department of Defense.

Shit like this is why I’m a Platonist

Shorter L'il Marco: Deporting grad students for writing a tepid op-ed is much easier than convincing Putin to do something he obviously refuses to do, so I'm going to take my toys and go home and capitulate to Putin.

Trump redefines "emergency" to impose his will Powers originally crafted to give the president flexibility in rare moments of crisis now form the backbone of Trump's agenda.

“In his first 100 days, President Trump has declared more national emergencies — more creatively and more aggressively — than any president in modern American history.” www.axios.com/2025/04/18/t...

Now that judgment has been entered, the parties agree and jointly stipulate that a modification to the Protective Order is appropriate. Specifically, the parties agree that defendant should be able to share discovery subj ect to the Protective Order with other officials in the Executive Branch, provided that counsel for the Government consents to the disclosure.

Alexander Smirnov seeking permission to share discovery from his criminal case w/other people in Executive Branch.

👀

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Ed Whelan tweet quoting his own tweet. The original tweet notes "Fourth Circuit Resoundingly Rejects DOJ’s Emergency Motion for Stay in Abrego Garcia. The quote tweet says: Next big question is whether Solicitor General John Sauer can explain to Stephen Miller that it would be foolish to seek emergency relief in the Supreme Court. Stated somewhat differently, will a non-lawyer in the White House who knows vastly less than he thinks he does be dictating Supreme Court strategy to the Solicitor General?

I've been thinking of the import of focusing more attention on how central Stephen Miller's stupidity is to all of Trump's immigration abuse and Ed Whelan (of Brett Kavanaugh defense fame) is already there.

Trump’s threat today to “terminate” Powell comes as SCOTUS is deliberating on a case that could potentially empower him to do that.

March 24: Excerpts of the Signal chat appear in The Atlantic.1 March 25: American Oversight files this action. On the same day, Defendant Ratcliffe testifies before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence regarding his use of Signal.2 March 26: American Oversight files a motion for temporary restraining order. ECF No. 6. The same day, changes occur in the Signal chat “participants’ administrative settings . . . such as profile names and message settings.” Suppl. Blankenship Decl. ¶ 4, ECF No. 15-3. Also on the same day, The Atlantic publishes further excerpts from the Signal chat.3 March 27: This Court orders Defendants to “promptly make best efforts to preserve all Signal communications from March 11–15, 2025.” Min. Order, Mar. 27, 2025. The same day, the CIA’s Office of General Counsel reportedly issued a litigation hold notice. Blankenship Decl. ¶ 4, ECF No. 10-3. March 28: Changes occur again in the Signal chat participants’ profile names and message settings. Suppl. Blankenship Decl. ¶ 4, ECF No. 15-3. March 31: Defendant Ratcliffe’s Signal account is “reviewed” for the first time and found to contain no substantive messages from the Signal chat. Suppl. Blankenship Decl. ¶ 4, ECF No. 15-3.

American Oversight put together a timeline showing how participants in the Waltz/Hegseth Signal chat continued to make changes AFTER Judge Boasberg ordered them to preserve the chat.

But that's ALSO after Wicker and Reed asked DOD IG to investigate.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...