With all the crazy, nonstop headlines coming out of the Trump White House, is there a way to understand what’s happening without being buried by the flood? I think there is. My write-up: https://buff.ly/3Q7i62z

Here is the order by consent of the parties. Note that the DOGE programmer, who is now considered a Treasury employee bound by its privacy rules, also will only have “read only” access.

Great News! In response to our motion, the court has restricted access to the Treasury Department payment system, barring sharing of sensitive data with Elon Musk’s DOGE.

Fellow NSA - National Security Agency veterans. Look at what’s happened at the National Cryptologic Museum. They covered up with brown paper the photos of Women in American Cryptology. All in response to President Trump’s anti-diversity executive order.

What Do We Know Now, About the Airline Crash in DC? We're in a veil of ignorance. But that's nothing compared with the blindness and bigotry of the commander-in-chief.

Media friends: As you rev up for stories on possible light staffing at DCA tower on night of crash, pls also mention latest info that:

-Controllers twice cautioned helo crew about possible converging traffic.

-Helo crew twice replied, "traffic in sight."

fallows.substack.com/p/what-do-we...

Serious answer: Yes.

Sens. Fetterman, Gallego, and Kelly joined Republicans in voting to confirm Lee Zeldin, a guy with basically no relevant experience who will try and roll back any climate-friendly policy, to head the EPA.

Hear, hear!

💙 Realities🌐
@insuret.bsky.social

Now that Trump fired 17 Inspectors General, can we dispense with the notion that DOGE [sic] is about government efficiency?

Trump just told us -- he doesn't WANT efficiency, he wants graft.

Looks to me like Trump's declaring war on Christianity.

Trump Ends Fauci's Security Detail President says he would feel no responsibility if harm befell the infectious disease expert

Trump Ends Fauci's Security Detail www.medpagetoday.com/publichealth...

Trump demands apology after bishop asked him to 'have mercy' on LGBTQ+ people and migrants President Donald Trump is demanding an apology from the Episcopal bishop of Washington after she asked him to have mercy on the LGBTQ+ community and migrants in the United States illegally during a pr...

If nothing else, Bishop story and Trump now demanding an apology has provided a salutary reminder of Trump's militant snowflakery www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

Guys when Chris Rufo and Trump say "We're destroying DEI, we're salting the earth underneath it" and they're talking about regulations that reach back to 1965, they're not talking about corporate diversity trainings.

They are talking about civil rights

The Tariff Act of 1930 was designed for protectionist trade. It imposed high tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods which led to retaliatory tariffs from other countries.

Why am I telling you this?

In case you're ever asked "what were the key contributors to the Great Depression?"

The mo' you know

The editors @nature.com write a letter to Donald Trump on making US science thrive (unlikely to be read)
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Indiana Bill Would Require Rape Victims to Sign Affidavit to Get an Abortion Doctors say this will retraumatize sexual assault survivors

A new Indiana bill would require victims of rape to present doctors with a signed affidavit attesting to the truth of their assault in order to receive an abortion under the state's rape or incest abortion exception.

They've gone from projecting the idea that dems would withhold aid from gop areas to imagining it happened while actually doing that themselves bsky.app/profile/atru...

When my first boyfriend found out he had HIV in the 1990’s, I held him as he wept for two days. When a doctor told me I had HIV, I was very sick and just did a bunch of cocaine because I assumed I would get much worse and die anyway.

Look how far we’ve come…

Costco responded to shareholders requesting that it withdraw from DEI policies. The response was direct and to the point: Costco says, "Our board has considered this proposal and believes that our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect & inclusion is appropriate & necessary."

❤️COSTCO♥️

VA virtually solved the problem of veteran homelessness with a Housing First approach. Then the Trump administration abandoned HF and veteran homelessness started going up again. After which Biden reinstated HF, which again caused veteran homelessness to decline.

holy hell this is sad stuff from CNN

Trump signals plans to use all levers of power against the media Press freedom advocates say they fear that the second Trump administration will ramp up pressure on journalists, in keeping with the president-elect’s combative rhetoric.

“Disney (ABC’s parent) and many other media companies are already planning potential merger activity that executives hope passes muster with the antitrust division of the Justice Department, which is poised to be run by Trump loyalist Pam Bondi.” Get it?

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

I’m no fan of guilt by association, but it does seem worth noting that on the night of the 2024 presidential election, a notorious German neo-Nazi group, AfD, met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago and has since been warmly embraced by virtual co-president Elon Musk.

Birds of a feather . . . 🦅

A Quick Reminder on the Trump Organization’s Tax Evasion in Panama Donald Trump’s new threat against Panama should come with a reminder about how his family organization operated in the country.

Donald Trump has an outstanding tax evasion case in Panama, the same country he’s just publicly accused of financial wrongdoing.

EU imposes sanctions on Chinese companies, North Korean minister over Ukraine war The EU imposed fully fledged sanctions on Dec. 16, including asset freezes and visa bans, on Chinese firms for supplying Russia's military for the war against Ukraine.

⚡️EU imposes sanctions on Chinese companies, North Korean minister over Ukraine war.

The EU imposed fully fledged sanctions on Dec. 16, including asset freezes and visa bans, on Chinese firms for supplying Russia's military for the war against Ukraine.

pentagon: china expanded nuclear arsenal by 20% (!) from mid 2023-2024

on track to have 1,000 operational warheads by 2023

Americans Pass Judgment on Their Courts Between 2020 and 2024, Americans' confidence in the U.S. judicial system and courts declined by 24 percentage points, one of the largest country-level drops for the courts measured globally since 2006...

news.gallup.com/poll/653897/...

german chancellor olaf scholz responds to musk praising far right afd party

"freedom of expression also applies to multi-billionaires, but it also means that you're allowed to say things which aren't correct and aren't good political advice."