Bryan LaVergne

The contrast with SNAP is deafening.

The White House is stretching well beyond what anyone could claim is legal in order to pay the troops — while simultaneously stretching beyond what’s legal to NOT pay SNAP benefits.

Griner v. King for Congress, No. 23-2117 (8th Cir. 2024) The case revolves around a copyright infringement claim brought by Laney Griner, the owner of the copyright to a popular internet meme template known as "Success Kid." The meme was used by the King fo...

Yeah I agree. It is commercial use of creative work.

Meme law may be somewhat informative: Rep. Steve King failed to make a fair use defense when sued by the author of the "Success Kid" meme. The 8th Circuit's opinion at Parts I and II.B give good background info and relevant law re: fair use.

Trump Administration Plans Deep Cuts to Social Security Disability Insurance, Particularly for Older Workers Despite repeatedly promising not to cut Social Security, the Trump Administration is reportedly preparing a proposed rule that could reduce the share of applicants who qualify for Social Security...

Like always @kathleenromig.bsky.social gives important perspective, this time on the current admin's upcoming changes to social security disability.

The White House preaches manufacturing jobs, but they want it to be harder for those workers to get benefits after 50.

cul de sacks

BREAKING: USPTO Director Takes Over AIA Institution Decisions - Law360 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires said Friday he will now make all decisions on whether to institute America Invents Act reviews of patents, including on the merits of the challen...

So the director is taking significant authority away from their ALJs? Not an agency I’m intimately familiar with, but this seems like another instance of this admin’s tendency to consolidate its power. Will have to see what the patent community says!

www.law360.com/articles/240...

One big difference between Mamdani and Cuomo and Sliwa is that one of these people is running seriously, and full time, and always out talking to people. Cuomo’s insane sense of entitlement means he doesn’t think he should have to, and Sliwa always runs for the same reason Trump did for years.

NYC mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa at the debate raising his hands in the air. Caption reads: the bureaucracy.

"Where do you work?"

that’s so many zinis, at night no less

"It is going to be disastrous if this continues"

Nobel Prize physics laureate John Clarke says Trump cuts will 'cripple' US scientific research

u.afp.com/SmAy

“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty”

-Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)

Sure, waiting for you to godot. to. the. polls.

Some years ago, a former cartoonist for the Thresher made a very strong case to me why I should donate monthly to the Wikimedia Foundation. I’ve been doing ever since.

On the flip side, divorces to achieve SSI eligibility (i.e., Medicaid eligibility)

Do you think unbending Clippy until he was a long piece of metal would be painful for him. Or do you think it would cause him to feel a great sense of relief

“The United Nations has historically resettled more refugees in Houston than any other U.S. city. If we were a country, we’d rank fourth in the world for refugees resettlement. That’s because we’re good at it.”

You can only get one good marg at the baseball game for the only MLB team that doesn’t offer a direct-to-consumer streaming option: the American dream!

“Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible.” – Carl Jung

A line chart titled “Support for Medicaid Work Requirements Rises Sharply Near Age 65”. The chart shows the percent of respondents supporting Medicaid work requirements by single year of age, with lines broken down by party identification: Democrat (blue), Independent (orange), and Republican (red). The y-axis represents percent support (ranging from 30% to 80%), and the x-axis represents age of respondent (from ~20 to ~85). All three lines show a sharp upward inflection around age 65, marked with a vertical dashed line labeled “Medicare Eligibility Age (65).” Support increases most sharply among Independents and Republicans after age 65. The note at the bottom clarifies the question wording: “Require able-bodied adults under 64 years of age who do not have dependents to have a job in order to receive Medicaid.” Data source: 2024 CES Pre-Election Wave, calculations by Adam Bonica.

Support for Medicaid work requirements spikes at 65—right when Medicare kicks in.

At 65, people stop needing Medicaid and suddenly start supporting cuts to it.

go back to your free jazz program in amherst

retvrn 2 japanese n64 composers making acid jazz dnb

I enjoy thinking about the stories of people who take pay cuts to work for the government because they believe in an agency's mission. It's nice to think we can still believe in something bigger than ourselves. We too often lose sight of the immense potential of what a civil workforce can be.

Silhouette of a tree line in the foreground with the sun on the horizon. Text: surrounded by a complex and chaotic world they couldn’t understand.

adam curtis releases his documentaries at the right moments

I close my eyes and whisper to myself,

“Please give me the patience of a CSPAN host fielding call-ins.”

To compel my friends to watch the show, I showed them the clip of the scientist saying “deep substrate foliated kalkite” as a demonstration of the level of acting.

I wonder how long it will stay. Really puts in a deeper meaning to “the only free boat is the one tied to someone else’s dock.”

Pope Leo being an American is overshadowing his mathematics education. There exists a large cardinal!

Profiles in Courage: Michelle King Refused to Hand Over Your Data to DOGE. Then She Lost Her Job. Profiles in Courage is a new series honoring the extraordinary women and men who have transformed American institutions through principled public service. At a time when trust in government is fragile...

Beautiful tribute to former Acting Social Commissioner Michelle King:

“Michelle King did not just administer benefits; she protected the foundation of Social Security itself. And for that, every American—whether they realize it or not—owes her a debt of gratitude.”

msmagazine.com/2025/05/05/p...

Agreed it’s recycled anti-ACA rhetoric. It’s also cynically short-sighted on their own terms. Without expanded Medicaid, you funnel more ppl into lengthy disability claims for SSI and precautions to keep SSI (thru little/no earnings). Goes against their ideal of making more compulsions to work.

To add another important consideration: workers considering early retirement often neglect a potential social security disability claim, which provides 100% of the benefit amount. Depending on work history, medical conditions frequently characterized as "getting old" can be found disabling.