Yoshiko Herrera

SCOOP: Trump Swaps Decorated Admiral With 33-Year-Old DOGEr The highly unorthodox personnel change affects a critical government research role.

SCOOP: The decorated rear admiral who was heading the critically important Office of Naval Research, and who brought lengthy experience in Navy tech-leadership to the job, "is being replaced by a 33-year-old former DOGE employee with no apparent naval experience."

www.thebulwark.com/p/scoop-trum...

Just inconceivable grift. Before the pardon, CZ had pleaded guilty to failing to maintain anti-money laundering checks as CEO of Binance (world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange). Binance itself had pled guilty & agreed to pay +$4bil for apparent violations of multiple anti-corruption laws.

POLITICO Pro: Senate Democrats urge Export-Import Bank to address Trump’s OIG firing A letter led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the firing "undermines the independence and effectiveness" of the government-run export credit agency.

And naturally EXIM bank fired its inspector general Parisa Salehi earlier this month: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

Trump nominee at U.S. export bank withdraws amid scrutiny of Russia ties Bryce McFerran is a senior executive at a steel-trading business co-owned by one of Russia’s richest oligarchs and is married to a member of a Russian family with extensive ties to the Kremlin.

More corruption, incompetence & national security threats! Guy with very close Kremlin family ties, no govt. experience, who donated $1M to Trump campaign (guess were that came from) was to head an agency dealing with sensitive info and billions in financing for US exports: wapo.st/4nzNvZV

Winnipeg, by Lost Wax Process track by Lost Wax Process

A new song, "Winnipeg," from my side project, the Lost Wax Process. Check it & more of our music out at lostwaxprocess.bandcamp.com/music.

Behind every seemingly blue sky
I just can’t hide all the clues
Another departure, another memory

Another flight away from you

Ta-Nehisi Coates continues to inspire. Don't be a coward. Live your life doing the right thing.

The authoritarianism is all around us

“Americans for Tax Fairness” shows the explosive growth in billionaire wealth in the United States from December 30, 2017, to October 27, 2025. It reports that the number of billionaires increased from 551 to 916, and their total wealth grew from $2.9 trillion to $8.0 trillion—an increase of $5.1 trillion or 176%. The table lists the top 20 billionaires, including Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and others, with each person’s net worth in 2017, their net worth in 2025, and the dollar and percentage growth over the period. Elon Musk’s wealth grew the most in dollar terms (from $20 billion to $490 billion, a 2,305% increase). At the bottom, a highlighted row shows the top 20 billionaires gained $2.45 trillion (a 286.6% increase), while all other billionaires combined gained $2.7 trillion (a 133.2% increase).

New analysis from Americans for Tax Fairness: US Billionaires added $5.1 trillion to their fortunes since 2017. To put that in perspective, if that money went to the American people instead, every household would get $37,800.

Chatbots Are Pushing Sanctioned Russian Propaganda ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok are serving users propaganda from Russian-backed media when asked about the invasion of Ukraine, new research finds.

New with @natashabernal.bsky.social:

ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok have all been founding citing Russian sources—including Russian media sanctioned by the EU—in response to queries about the war in Ukraine

well, we're still above Monaco so there's that

Looking to speed up building network of migrant detention centers, Trump administration turns to the US Navy | CNN Politics The Department of Homeland Security is funneling $10 billion through the Navy to help facilitate the construction of a sprawling network of migrant detention centers across the US in an arrangement ai...

they’ve made it easier to build concentration camps.

Yup, starting with age limits, but also PR and other changes which might seem radical, but have been tested in many places/settings.

Acknowledging your point about the need for change is the first step.

Keeping the House Absent, Johnson Marginalizes Congress and Himself

Autocrats, at times, use the military to shut down their parliaments and rule by executive orders. That Johnson chooses to shut down Congress so willingly is just a breathtaking abdication of responsibility to represent the body politic.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...

Please also look into national security issues. What national security precautions are in place for rebuilding the Presidential Emergency Operations Center? How might foreign espionage efforts work with or through these corporate interests to compromise future White House communications?

Exactly what I was thinking. And obviously the technology and potential for spying has only been ramped up since then, and especially when you look at the donor list and who’s involved in this construction project

YouTube video by Reagan Library President Reagan's Radio Address on Free and Fair Trade on April 25, 1987

So they didn’t like the ad. Let’s just post Reagan’s 5 min speech against tariffs as it appears on YouTube.

Over and over. On all platforms (some of y’all are still on X).

*1981 Sherrilyn horrified by 2025 Sherrilyn saying “let’s post Reagan’s speech.”

youtu.be/5t5QK03KXPc

A Mystery in Trinidad as Bodies Wash Ashore After U.S. Strikes

"The bodies have fueled a mystery that is gripping parts of Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean nation that is within sight of Venezuela’s coast: Who were they? Did a U.S. strike kill them? Will more bodies appear on Trinidad’s beaches?"

Do you know what's under the East Wing? Trump is full of himself and a tasteless decorator. I’m sure he sincerely wants a new ballroom. But is anyone double checking if he is making some kind of super bunker to hide in… in case his own nigh...

Beyond the lawless destruction of the East Wing, I have no confidence that the Trump admin has taken national security precautions seriously in rebuilding the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. But, Russia & China meanwhile are surely paying close attention
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...

This WH meeting today with advisors is some Russian/North Korea level sycophancy, but a large ornate room with columns would make the Dear Leader motif really pop:

October planet imagery showing the east wing demolished

September planet imagery showing the east wing before work took place

New satellite images show the scale of demolition that has occurred on the East Wing of the White House in less than a month.

surely just a coincidence.

The huge amount of money (> $40B) with no accountability, the incentives to hire anyone quickly, and need to find people with no qualms about morality/legality of actions will lead to hiring the worst of the worst

There are laws about how to interdict suspected criminals on the high seas.

There are laws about how to renovate federal buildings.

There are laws about how not to monetize the presidency.

There are laws. We should enforce them. And not normalize the flagrant violation of them in the newspapers.

Senator Merkley is on hour 20 of reading How Democracies Die, mixed w commentary, on u.s. senate floor

Adelita Grijalva won her election to Congress 28 days ago with 70% of the vote yet Mike Johnson refuses to swear in. This is a continuation of the GOP's Jan 6 attack and their rejection of democracy.

it's dizzying to me that stories like this -- a corrupt grift built on democracy-wrecking lies that culminated in a coup attempt -- barely breakthrough anymore. they're just daily background noise now.

Russia continues to terrorize Chernihiv and the region, where energy infrastructure lies in ruins and electricity is gone.

Today in Novhorod-Siverskyi, four civilians were killed and ten injured — including a child — as russia launched more than 20 attacks with drones and MLRS.

Don’t. Print. Lies. In. The. Newspapers.

Don’t host lying liars on the teevee shows to performatively lie in public.

If you’ve screwed up & done that anyway, end the interviews immediately & don’t invite the lying liars back again.

See above. Repeat.