Michael Oberg

There isn't even front range bus rapid transit yet! I think the RTD light rail and then bus taxes were paid when I started college like 30 years ago.

It's the whole debate in a nutshell: R's can't let government do things successfully to help people, because then wooo boy ppl start to expect it

Then Denver to Albuquerque, Phoenix, Las Vegas then CA.

The hundreds of billions we waste on ICE, military, other Republican grift could have done US high speed rail already

Somebody filled a listings box with insane shit, this is the least of its I love it

Ding Dongs from the freezer (the chocolate hockey puck things, sooo good)

The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents | Fortune Neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath said older generations “screwed up” giving students access to so much technology: “I genuinely hope Gen Z quickly figures that out and gets mad.”

Now THAT's a headline.

"The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents"

fortune.com/2026/02/21/l...

Grok @grok Howard Lutnick, US Commerce Secretary and architect of Trump's tariff plans, stepped down from Cantor Fitzgerald (now run by his sons) before taking office. Reports from Wired and Newsweek indicate Cantor bought tariff refund rights from importers in 2025 at 20-30 cents on the dollar, positioning for profits if tariffs were invalidated. Today's Supreme Court ruling struck down most tariffs, potentially enabling $175B+ in refunds. This could yield billions for Cantor, though they deny betting against policy. A Senate probe examines conflicts.

Howard Lutnik, the mastermind behind Trump’s tariff plan, bought the tariff refund rights through his bank at $0.25 on the dollar last year. Actively betting on his own policy to not work.

Lutnik and his bank now stand to make billions.

"The architect of the current Court — the Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo — was behind the litigation that undid the tariffs. That tells you all you need to know."

The National Science Foundation’s entire budget is $10 billion.

A tariff “refund” mostly goes to whoever wrote the tariff check: the importer of record. That’s not the same person who paid more at the register. So refunds -- if they're offered -- might sound like consumer relief, but in reality, they're corporate windfalls.

Once again demonstrating that understanding tax incidence is one of the more important things you get from studying economics.

I stopped playing when I kept coming up with great words that it wouldn't accept. Turns out it's just a pruned list of words that they select, so it completely ruined it for me :/

Les Wexner's attorney during his House Oversight deposition on Epstein:

"I will fucking kill you if you answer another question with more than five words, OK?"

How Trump Put Veteran Care in Crisis Thousands of staff have left the health care side of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and those who remain are approaching burnout.

Thousands of workers have left the VA in the first year of Trump’s second term, leaving core veterans’ care initiatives hobbled.

Opinion | "In communities like Commerce City, the warming climate is exacerbating existing issues of poor air quality, heat islands and limited tree canopies." westword.com/opinion/colorado-record-heat-and-low-snowpack-an-environmental-justice-problem-40844275/

Incompetent lying bully goes on to continue lying, bullying

How can the two people on the left actually be incompetent about holding up a sign? Just bonkers. Go Kat!

Trump raises global tariff to 15% shortly after implementing reworked 10% levy On Friday, most of Trump's tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision.

Just randomly changing tariffs on a whim....

www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...

*abused.

When you have that sick feeling that something isn't right when interacting with a company (Ticketmaster, for-profit power companies but especially Xcel here in the Midwest/West, Facebook, etc) it's just your body's natural reaction to dealing with monopolies

Trump aides struggle with how to spend $500 billion more on military Some senior officials resisted the decision to approve the major military spending increase, people familiar with the matter say.

Reading this story—about how the Pentagon has been given so much extra money it's struggling to spend it all—while thinking about the formerly homeless tenants I've spoken with in recent weeks whose housing vouchers are being discontinued for "lack of funds."

They can’t figure out how to spend the extra $500 billion they gave themselves for the military, but cut our healthcare and food assistance because they said they couldn’t afford it.

"Why aren't reporters asking whether the president has the legal right to launch another Middle Eastern war?"

From my Zeteo piece/newsletter today:
zeteo.com/p/an-illegal...

Attorney General Bonta Issues Statement on Proposed Warner Bros. Mergers: California is Taking a Close Look OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following statement regarding the proposed purchase of Warner Bros. by either Paramount or Netflix — all three are among the top mass m...

This is precisely what we needed: a strong statement from CA AG Rob Bonta on all proposed Warner Bros. mergers, whether Netflix or Paramount.
Because Paramount is trying to speedrun the merger process, this advance warning is, well, paramount.
oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...

6-3

Bridge Owner Donated $1 Million to MAGA Inc. PAC Before Trump Blasted New Span

SCOOP: Less than 1 month before Trump came out against a new bridge connecting Michigan with Canada, the billionaire owner of an existing bridge donated $1M to the Trump-backed super PAC, MAGA Inc.

with @matinastevis.bsky.social

Oh that's funny I completely forgot about Barrett

Great time to give money to ProPublica and re-up subscriptions to The American Prospect and Mother Jones

Jeffrey Epstein Was Vladimir Putin's Wealth Manager, FBI Source Claimed in Newly Released Epstein Files Jeffrey Epstein managed money for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, among other powerful world leaders, one confidential source claimed in FBI testimony

As I keep saying, the Epstein story is an offshore finance story.

And offshore finance is about elite impunity: insistence on their wealth and their persons being protected by the law, but never being subject to the law.

It's the "Every man a King" fantasy made real.

people.com/jeffrey-epst...

Supreme Court gave Trump: immunity from civil & criminal crimes against US (which he has used to steal $10's of billions), power to choose where to spend our money, unchecked ability to start & wage war, choice of which laws to enforce & who to enforce them on. They have functionally made him king.

“.. Trump has come close to exploding one of the great myths of the investment world, namely that sovereign bonds are safe, risk-free assets. .. undermining the role of US Treasuries as the world’s ultimate capital market hedge.”

@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/33df...