Sherrilyn Ifill

Imagine a group of 5-year-olds playing a board game. The rules are clear, the goal is fair, and one child edges ahead — until, suddenly, another child starts losing. That’s when the trouble begins. “He cheated!” the losing child yells. “I’m the winner anyway!” he declares. And then, like clockwork, he flips the board. In the world of kindergarten conflict resolution, we expect this kind of behavior. We chalk it up to development. We teach better sportsmanship. What do we do when the president of the United States behaves this way? On Friday, President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics — the nation’s workaday scorekeeper of employment, wages and productivity. Why? Because the data didn’t make Mr. Trump look good. The statistics were inconvenient. So the president didn’t just challenge the findings; he fired the statistician. That’s not governing. That’s board flipping.

Janet Yellen's husband & Econ Nobel Laureate George Akerlof:

"...when presidents flip the board, it’s not just a game that ends. It’s the pieces of democracy that get scattered to the floor."
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/o...

How a man who partially decapitated someone last year is out and about and able to make social media posts threatening mass murder this year is beyond me.
Also he’s racist.

Ugh.

“Garber, in a conversation with one faculty member, said that the suggestion that Harvard was open to paying $500 million is ‘false’ and claimed that the figure was apparently leaked to the press by White House officials...”

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

And the MeToo.

'I don't care about Direct File': IRS chief says agency plans to end free filing program Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Bill Long said the agency will end its Direct File program.

"Nearly 300,000 filers used Direct File for the 2025 tax season, and 94% of users who completed an IRS survey rated their experience as 'excellent' or 'above average.'"

NOTABLY the Paxton opinion that Abbott cites doesn’t actually say lawmakers who break quorum are removable — in fact it says this is a fact-specific question only resolvable by a court.

The opinion also does not say it’s unconstitutional to break quorum.
www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/defaul...

JUST IN: Abbott says he may treat fleeing lawmakers as having “forfeited” their offices and move to replace them. He also suggests they could be subject to felony charges if they accept payments to cover impending fines gov.texas.gov/uploads/file...

FBI Arrests Dayton Man for Making Social Media Post Threatening to Kill Tens of Thousands | Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI agents this morning arrested a Dayton man who is charged with making an interstate communication with a threat to injure.

www.fbi.gov/contact-us/f...

So then he pushed him? Idk Kenny.

A few weeks ago we might have speculated that this is probably the work of Project 2025, Stephen Miller, and Mango Mussolini. After the GOP Congress lined up behind the recision bill though, it’s now clear that this is indeed what our government did, and what MAGA voted for.

Trump And Miller Compel Colleges Not To Enroll International Students Trump officials are using rules, policies and agreements to compel and discourage U.S. universities from enrolling international students.

Wow. Had not realized that Columbia’s settlement with Trump admin included a commitment to decrease international student enrollment. In what way does this help “combat antisemitism,” which is supposedly the administration’s objective?
www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

Can’t tax tips that don’t exist

Every media reporter who wrote headlines about this fantasy without much as a hint of skepticism should resign in shame.

We told you he was lying.

Trump canceled the research grant for America’s — perhaps the world’s? — top mathematician (via @weakinstrument.bsky.social)

Unbearable.

I would like to lodge a complaint. Can streaming movies and series stop showing text conversations on cell phones as if we can see and read those images?

Yes.

Is that fmr AG Daniel Cameron? Mitch McConnell’s protege? The guy who found nothing wrong w/ofcrs who killed Breonna Taylor?

Officers the DOJ found conspired to fabricate the basis for the warrant that brought them to her home? Ofcrs who pled guilty to some charges & were found guilty of others?

Now That They’re Free, Venezuelan Men Want the World to Know What They Endured in CECOT Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration say they endured months of physical and mental abuse inside a Salvadoran prison. Though happy to be home, they say the fact that they were released…

Leonardo José Colmenares Solórzano, a 31-year-old Venezuelan, wants the world to know that he was tortured over four months in a Salvadoran prison.

He said guards stomped on his hands, poured filthy water into his ears and threatened to beat him.

Barren, hard, dismal.

More on Trump’s nominee to lead the office investigating Jack Smith:

➡️ He said that the descendants of slaves should pay reparations to the descendants of slave owners

➡️ He urged Congress to make J6 a national holiday

➡️ He called for Trump’s birthday to be made a national holiday (“MAGA Day”)

This THREAD. @dieworkwear.bsky.social may well be the most brilliant guy on social media.

Truth. Who’s her deputy? Cause I don’t think she’s gonna be on top of things…..

@mehdirhasan.bsky.social, I thank you. Wow-sa. The cowardice of Mulvaney.

Y’all chose this over Sherrod Brown. Come on, Ohio. Really?

The murder rate in Tampa, where Benny lives, is nearly triple that of New York City

This guy.