Treisch

We’re giving $40 billion to Argentina.

This is $5 billion MORE that the entire USAID budget that DOGE cut.

Proud papa moment: my son J published a letter in the @nytimes.com today (in print tomorrow) on the need to think our definitions of autism.

Help ProPublica Report on Education ProPublica needs your help to track how the upheaval of public education is affecting schools and colleges in your community. Take a few minutes to join our source network and help guide our coverage.

Current and former Department of Education employees: We want to hear from you.

Use Signal to contact our reporters @jsmithrichards.bsky.social at jsmithrichards.93, @jodiscohen.bsky.social at jodireporter.88 or @megomatz.bsky.social at 414-207-6225.

Trump just used the shutdown to wipe out the special ed department. www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

The Senate Just Voted To Break Public Lands Every permit written on public lands since 1996 may have be rendered invalid

The Senate just voted to invalidate every permit written on public land since 1996. wessiler.substack.com/p/the-senate...

Once they wanted to dismantle the Dept of Education.

Now these activists want to use it for their own goals.

One of those? Eliminating public schooling.

@megomatz.bsky.social & @jsmithrichards.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/educ...

A Benediction for Chicago on the Eve of Occupation | dansinker.com

My friend @dansinker.com wrote a wonder piece on the eve of the occupation of Chicago.

dansinker.com/posts/2025-0...

The print edition of The Onion-the only newspaper not owned by an international cabal of pedophiles-is getting 50% bigger! the ONION

More news! More sports! More entertainment!

"The Non-Pedophile's Choice." Subscribe today. membership.theonion.com

Breaking: The Onion newspaper is getting 50% bigger. Non-pedophiles can subscribe at membership.theonion.com today.

‘Big, beautiful bill’ scraps conservation projects in northwest Michigan | Bridge Michigan Congress withdrew $20 million that was earmarked for stream restoration and farmland preservation across northwest Michigan after groups already spent $450,000 getting ready for the projects.

www.bridgemi.com/michigan-env...

FCC blocks ban on prison phone price gouging, benefiting top Trump donors The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will no longer enforce a rule capping the price of prison phone calls, according to an announcement made Monday by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.

1. The FCC has suspended a rule, schedule to go in effect this year, that would have banned prisons from price gouging on phone calls.

Right now, at some jails, a 15-minute phone call can cost over $11.

The decision benefits some of Trump's top donors.

June 30, 2025 "This is the most deeply immoral piece of legislation I have ever voted on in my entire time in Congress,” said Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT).

June 30, 2025

Dude, you are hilarious. Keep on keeping on.

Top Trump allies hold secret talks with Zelenskyy’s Ukrainian opponents As Washington ramps up its pressure on Zelenskyy to step aside, his rivals are talking to Trump’s team.

“Four senior members of Donald Trump’s entourage have held secret discussions with some of Kyiv’s top political opponents to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just as Washington aligns with Moscow in seeking to lever the Ukrainian president out of his job.” www.politico.eu/article/dona...

Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not) While political reporters are still doing their view-from-nowhere “Democrats say this, Republicans say that” dance, tech and legal journalists have been watching an unfortunately recogn…

Wrote up something about Techdirt's recent coverage, and why (whether we like it or not) we need to be a "democracy blog" now, rather than just a "tech" blog (not that we've ever been just a tech blog).

This story is *the* story and it impacts everything else.

www.techdirt.com/2025/03/04/w...

The American Weather Forecast Is in Trouble — The Atlantic Planet Layoffs at NOAA will only make weather reports less reliable. February 28, 2025 If you have tips about the remaking of American climate science, environmental policy, or disaster response, you ...

This isn’t going to help. apple.news/A2fs7T25eSSq...

The American Weather Forecast Is in Trouble — The Atlantic Planet Layoffs at NOAA will only make weather reports less reliable. February 28, 2025 If you have tips about the remaking of American climate science, environmental policy, or disaster response, you ...

“It costs the public roughly $4 per year per person to keep the National Weather Service functioning.”

I’ll totally pay $4 a year so I can take care of my gardens and be safe in severe weather.

apple.news/A2fs7T25eSSq...

Federal firings could wreak havoc on Great Lakes fishery — Ars Technica Populations of sea lampreys likely to run amok with US Fish and Wildlife Service cuts.

apple.news/At6Y0acXVRHG...

RFK Jr. moves to eliminate public comment in HHS decisions HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moved to rescind the longtime practice of giving the public a chance to comment on the health agency’s plans.

Breaking: RFK Jr. moves to quietly eliminate public comment from HHS's decision making: www.statnews.com/2025/02/28/r...

USDA Layoffs Derail Projects Benefiting American Farmers The blanket firing of Department of Agriculture scientists has thrown a host of climate science and crop projects into chaos.

The blanket firing of Department of Agriculture scientists has thrown a host of climate science and crop projects into chaos.

Yep, project manager for #NSF Small Business Innovation Research grants was let go. These grants are the gap between founding and #venturecapital so vital to #innovation and US competitiveness

"Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office."
www.ap.org/the-definiti...

How about this? @scholten.house.gov

Crucial research halted as DOGE abruptly terminates Education Department contracts — Chalkbeat Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative has terminated Education Department contracts worth $881 million. Many were for research efforts schools rely on to help students.

These are the guys that study education best practices...which helps govt/schools know what’s worth spending money on. They also are researching the impact of the pandemic on students.

The Courts Blocked Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze. Agencies Are Withholding Money Anyway. Agencies continue to suspend funding, despite multiple court orders blocking the federal freeze. Experts say the Trump administration’s actions set the stage for challenges to Congress’ authority — an...

Courts *ordered* the Trump admin to stop its spending freeze

Yet ProPublica found place after place where $ is still frozen

-hot meals for elderly and disabled
-groceries for those in need
-maternal & child health services
-a clinic that serves the poor

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

NOAA Employees Told to Pause Work With ‘Foreign Nationals’ An internal email obtained by WIRED shows that NOAA workers received orders to pause all “ALL INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS.”

Our latest scoop: An internal email obtained by WIRED shows that NOAA workers received orders to pause all work with 'foreign nationals.'

bsky.app/profile/gell...

WTF

February 1, 2025 Throughout now-president Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, it was clear that his support was coming from three very different factions whose only shared ideology was a determination to destroy the federal...

If you have been unable to keep up with Trump's destruction of democracy and the US government in the last two weeks, here is a summary (with citations) by @hcrichardson.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...