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Alan Hartley

@alanhartley.bsky.social
2.3K followers 3.4K following 1.8K posts

Recovering prescriptivist, Taoist pedant, union member, survivor.

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Reposted by Alan Hartley
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 23h
I don’t think everyone realizes how bad things are for US science: For the fiscal year that just ended, the Trump regime withheld $1.4 billion from the National Science Foundation’s research budget, which is about 1/5 of its primary research budget.
nytimes.com
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress (Gift Article)
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 8h
Obviously he has reached some pretty impressively low polling numbers, but I am pretty sure there are STILL just millions of people out there who literally don't know things like "he is running ads about how great he is paid for by taxpayer money intended for line-of-duty death memorials"
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Duncan Jones @manmademoon.bsky.social · 12h
It’s crazy how our expectations have evaporated over the last few years. We used to see something like this as a crisis that would require international action. Create a humanitarian corridor. Negotiate a temporary ceasefire to evacuate non-combatants. All that’s over now. Cruelty reigns.
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Our coalition released a statement last night. If you want talking point inspiration please read save-the-academy.org/statement.html
save-the-academy.org
Save the Academy Coalition statement, October 1, 2026
We refuse closure. Secure a year of bridge funding, appoint an independent commission, and give the public a real role in the Academy’s future.
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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Don’t get complacent. They’re still going to try to cheat. Check your registration. Vote early if at all possible.
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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Some “viewpoints” are just wrong and don’t belong anywhere near the table
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Joaquin Castro @joaquincastrotx.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Last month, I motioned to subpoena the Trump Administration for records regarding its deal with Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt for Venezuelan oil. This week, we were able to secure a limited set of documents from the administration regarding this shady deal.
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stevelevitsky.bsky.social @stevelevitsky.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Lucan Way and I have been writing about competitive authoritarianism for more than 25 years. We never thought we'd write this piece. www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/com...
journalofdemocracy.org
Competitive Authoritarianism in America | Journal of Democracy
The United States has slid into competitive authoritarianism. The slide has been modest and remains reversible—but it is real. Even after Donald Trump, American democracy will remain fragile.
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"The current level of political animosity is exactly what one would expect to see if an extremist faction attempted to rescind the hard-earned rights of the vast majority of the country’s citizens." There are not enough exclamation points to convey how I felt reading this paragraph
Screenshot of article which reads: From this perspective, the “both sides” frame falls apart. The prob-
lem is not that the parties are divided. The problem is the existential 
threat that a reempowered ethnonationalist strain poses to pluralistic 
U.S. democracy writ large. The current level of political animosity is 
exactly what one would expect to see if an extremist faction attempted 
to rescind the hard-earned rights of the vast majority of the country’s 
citizens. The only way to re-oppress most of a country is to use anti-
democratic and authoritarian tactics. And the only way to oppose those 
tactics is to push back as a population and clearly reject them. This is 
the argument happening in the United States, and its pathology is not 
anger—it is the movement to undermine a generation of rights.
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🚨BREAKING: The Trump administration illegally changed a form used by overseas voters to register and request mail ballots just weeks before the midterms, Democrats argue in a new lawsuit filed Thursday. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
Trump admin quietly changed overseas voter form at 11th hour to disenfranchise Democrats, lawsuit says
The change is part of a Republican plan to make it more difficult to vote or outright disenfranchise a bloc of voters viewed as more inclined to vote Democratic, the DNC lawsuit argues.
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The techno-dystopia I actually fear is a future where most people think truth is whatever Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Grok say, and the very small number of people who control those systems use that to manipulate for their own ends, making our current epistemic crisis seem small in comparison.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It's not even funny what kind of loss I will absorb if I have to create an account to do business with you. I will walk away from a winning lottery ticket, I promise you.
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Kyiv Post @kyivpost.com · 01/10/2026
A Russian drone struck the grounds of Kyiv's Institute for Nuclear Research, home to a research reactor, Ukraine’s nuclear regulator said. The facility was undamaged and radiation levels remain normal, with officials calling the attack a war crime. www.kyivpost.com/post/85849
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Are they really saying Flock can’t sell their cameras to the cartels too?
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
'An update to Google Maps has revealed the extent of devastation during the three-year Gaza war and the severity of the continuing humanitarian crisis faced by the territory’s 2.3 million inhabitants.'
theguardian.com
New Google Maps images reveal massive scale of devastation in Gaza
Satellite imagery shows further destruction of homes, businesses and places of worship since fragile ceasefire
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Alan Hartley @alanhartley.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Marc Elias continues to deserve lots of credit and support.
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Reposted by Alan Hartley
Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Tomorrow, on October 1, the biggest transfer of wealth from the working class to the wealthy hits a critical milestone. Many of the provisions from the Big Ugly Bill will go into effect, harming hundreds of thousands of Michiganders in order to create tax cuts for the richest people in America.
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TPM @talkingpointsmemo.com · 30/09/2026
The proposed bill would also prevent the president from attempting to use a pocket rescission in the future.
talkingpointsmemo.com
Senate Dems Will Attempt to Stop Trump White House’s Latest Illegal Pocket Rescission 
Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) and Senate Budget Committee...
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Alan Hartley @alanhartley.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Watch out for the ratfuckers.
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Reposted by Alan Hartley
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam @repsuhas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Trump should come out to Loudoun County and hear what voters really think about data centers. Our utility bills have doubled. Power lines are being built in backyards and through schools. We are paying for data centers in more ways than one.
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L @lbligh.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Wednesday, September 30, 2026. It's mostly just the security guards and I on the Plaza today, plus some spotted lanternflies. If you don't understand today's sign, use this gift link - "The Kennedy Center was solvent when Trump took over. Then its finances collapsed." wapo.st/4dg5MJj
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Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A phenomenal moment in the Senate. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., claims he has evidence Jack Smith went to a HAWKS game in Atlanta. Smith denies it. Schmitt declares he has busted Jack Smith for perjury. Smith, vexed, says he went to HAWKEYES game in Maryland. WATCH IN FULL, UNINTERRUPTED
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Gobsmacked by the elite levels of not knowing ball in the Senate today, thinking an NBA team is called the Hawkeyes then, refusing to Google it, then accusing a guy of treason because you didn’t know the Iowa Lady Hawkeyes aren’t in the NBA. Somehow I don’t trust these people to Save Girls Sports.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
Warren: "This has been their argument every time -- they cut taxes and say, 'Ultimately it's really going to pay off for you.' What's happened every time? The academics study it very carefully and say, 'What really happened is the richest people got richer and everybody else got left behind.'"
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
Jack Smith: "History teaches that the rule of law is rarely destroyed all at once. It's often weakened by attacks on the institutions and the public servants sworn to uphold it. Since January 2025, we have witnessed precisely such an effort."
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sen. Amy Klobuchar just confirmed: Iowa played Maryland in College Park, MD. That's the basketball game Jack Smith seems to have attended. Atlanta was not involved. Republican Eric Schmitt claimed Smith went to a game in Atlanta so he could also meet with Fani Willis' team. It appears Schmitt lied.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
🤡 Schmitt beclowns himself 🤡 Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atl for a Hawks game and to collude with Fani Willis, & flashed his "evidence" before accusing Smith of perjury. There's just one problem -- his facts were totally wrong. Here's the whole sequence:
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David A. Graham @dgraham.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I am once again reminded of the joke about the man who, upon being convicted for the murder of his parents, throws himself at the judge’s feet and begs for mercy on a poor orphan. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
theatlantic.com
Trump Is Asking to Be Bailed Out Again
The president’s eagerness to act keeps getting him into difficult spots—which he then demands that legislators and the public help him escape.
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Alan Hartley @alanhartley.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It pisses me off, the idea of voting for candidates who don't get that you can't win by agreeing with all your Nazi opponents' tropes and then promising to abuse the non-persons 50% less. I still would, because I think things are actually that bad. But this strategy is dumb.
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Alan Hartley @alanhartley.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
WWII, but with the U.S. helping Germany
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Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 23/09/2026
I’m not clear on why this isn’t a major disciplinary crisis. Both for statistics (which seems unable to distinguish slop from real work), for UChicago (this seems to violate their rules), and for his peers (salami slicing studies is unethical), to say nothing of Polson‘s own ethical stance.
washingtonpost.com
One professor’s AI-assisted output: 200 papers and 14 books this year
An online platform removed 257 papers written or co-written by the University of Chicago’s Nicholas Polson after other academics raised questions.
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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I mean whether they call themselves "trans humanists" or are just garden variety anti-social greedy little fucks it hardly matters. They have god complexes and no love for the broad tapestry of humanity.
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David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
With regard to the overt and jaw-dropping use of public money to manufacture and broadcast Trump politicals ads, I'm just spitballing here, but maybe, perhaps, if the U.S. Supreme Court didn't give the president blanket immunity from prosecution for crimes he wouldn't feel so comfortable criming.
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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
🚨🗳️ Texas voters need to familiarize themselves with provisional ballots. It's a way to vote if the state has bungled your paperwork. But it is also a homework assignment. In most places, after you vote a provisional ballot, you have to provide more information to the state later. #texas #voters
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laurageorgi.bsky.social @laurageorgi.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
kamlager-dove.house.gov/media/press-...
kamlager-dove.house.gov
Kamlager-Dove Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against OMB Director Russell Vought
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37)introduced articles of impeachment against Office of Management and Budget (OMB)Director Russell Vought after the administration
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Vought is breaking the law but he is not “going rogue.” At his confirmation hearings, Vought told Republicans he would do this and they voted for him anyway. If they want to stop him, they still can via impeachment. They won’t.
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Hope For The Planet @h4tp.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We now have rigorous pooled data showing that even without active restoration efforts, cleared rainforest can rebound to 75% of their former species composition and 90% of species diversity within just thirty years. #goodnews
optimistdaily.com
Rainforest biodiversity rebounds within a single generation | The Optimist Daily
A major Ecuador study finds cleared rainforests can recover 90 percent of their species diversity in just 30 years, as long as humans leave the land alone.
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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 27/09/2026
Yes. The feared death spiral except they caused the death spiral intentionally
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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
We’ve now reached the point of “black site” hearings – secret, illegal hearings as part of Trump & Stephen Miller’s wretched crusade to detain & deport our immigrant neighbors. Quite literally: hidden tribunals that disappear people.
thecityreporter.nyc
DHS Opens ‘Black Site Docket’ for Immigrants Without Lawyers at 26 Federal Plaza
A reporter from The City Reporter was threatened with arrest while attempting to observe comings and goings from the new courtrooms, which have left advocates mystified and fearing the worst.
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Alan Hartley @alanhartley.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The media can save the world--the environment, the economy, everything--from Trump and allied authoritarians. Remember, the trials and convictions will make great TV.
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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
We should try having some group of people who get to vote on approving agency heads like OMB director.

Sen. Susan Collins

@SenatorCollins
Without warning or consultation, Congress just received an $810 million package of pocket rescissions from the Administration.  This is the most recent attempt by this Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse. 
 
This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law.  
  
Not only is the delay itself an impoundment that was not reported to Congress, but also it is a usurpation of Congress’s appropriations powers.  OMB is an agency of the executive branch.  It does not get to decide which programs are worth funding.
 
The independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act. Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.
 
I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal and his government has committed genocide in Gaza. The United States should stop all military assistance to Israel. Saying this is not antisemitic. (I’m Jewish, by the way.)
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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Russ Vought just sent a rescissions request to Congress, signaling he intends to illegally impound funds. The $810 million highlighted in this “request” (but this is a pretext to just illegally impound the funds) is not the exhaustive list of many billions of dollars he’s impounding this year.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
lol holy shit I wouldn't talk about literally anything else if I was the guy running against him. —"What do you think about trans kids in sp-" —"Did you hear my opponent had his patient, who was 8 months pregnant, arrested in front of her son because she didn't pay a $50 medical bill?"
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Incredible. First Secretary Mullin claimed that DHS had identified 15,903 noncitizens on Nevada’s voter roll. Then DHS officials told a skeptical Nevada, no no no, that’s just people we flagged. Here are the names of 185 people we KNOW aren’t citizens. All 185 were citizens. DHS got 100% wrong.
When the Department of Homeland Security sent Nevada a list of 185 names last month that it claimed identified noncitizens who had been improperly allowed to register to vote, state election officials got to work.
On Tuesday, the state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government: Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen.
"As for the 185 individuals, our records indicate that they were citizens," Greg D. Ott, a deputy attorney general in Nevada, wrote, according to a copy of a letter sent to Department of Homeland Security officials obtained through open records requests.
"You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise."Following the meeting, Ms. Vogt sent a clarifying email to Nevada officials. "I also wanted to be sure I clarified that we did not reduce the 15,903 to 185," she wrote. "We've manually reviewed some of the 15,903 and confirmed 185 are not U.S. Citizens."
Now, Nevada officials are saying even that 185 number is wrong. They also took issue with a letter D.H.S. sent them in early September, in which the agency reiterated its initial claims about nearly 16,000 noncitizens on the rolls and pressured state officials to review each case in a letter to Nevada officials in early September.
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Alan Hartley @alanhartley.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I don't care what my wife says, it wasn't me.
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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 24/09/2026
No president has ever gone into a midterm election as unpopular as Trump is today. Not even George W. Bush in 2006. Trump's net approval is twice as low as it was at this point in 2018. blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/no-preside...
blog.fiftyplusone.news
Democrats hit midterm high as Trump approval reaches new low
No president has gone into a midterm election this unpopular. Not even George W. Bush in 2006.
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Simon Marks @simonmarksfsn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Trump doubling down. Via Politico: A POLITICO reporter was denied access to the White House Thursday and his press credentials confiscated after a judge ordered the Trump administration overnight to immediately restore access for news organizations that President Donald Trump banned...last week.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ten years of relentlessly hateful, comically elitist anti-democratic politics across the white people world, helpfully summarised. The wrong people are talking, the wrong people are deciding and it’s harming the careers of important people who actually matter. Smithers! Release the hounds
The incident fits a broader pattern in the discourse around 'free speech' and 'cancel culture': whatever comes from the top down is freedom; whatever comes from the bottom up is bullying and censorship. When Macklemore is dropped at the behest of the billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft, it's an exercise of the freedom of businesses to 'demonstrate their values' by deciding whom to platform. But when Ed Sheeran's fans decide not to buy tickets to his performances, or even demand refunds, it's bullying, mob behaviour. Since most people are not billionaires and do not own stadiums, they can exercise meaningful power only collectively. The collective exercise of power must therefore be demonised.
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Steve Bates @casengo791.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Error my ass, they're trying to steal the election. Check your registration now.
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