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bertsy

@bertsy.bsky.social
247 followers 252 following 234 posts

Area man watching in bemused horror as a runaway freight train of stupidity smashes through a dozen "Bridge Out" signs and plummets into a ravine full of illegally-dumped toxic waste and killer bees.

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J. L. Westover @mrlovenstein.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Secret Panel HERE 🧠 patreon.com/mrlovenstein/posts/mind-body-84972760
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J. L. Westover @mrlovenstein.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
don't forget
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
SCOOP— FEMA essential functions are at "high risk" of not functioning properly just days before hurricane season because of staffing shortages, per a recent internal memo obtained by The Handbasket. These deficiencies "may disrupt life-saving and life-sustaining program delivery." Full story here:
thehandbasket.co
FEMA at 'high risk' of disrupting 'life-saving' disaster relief, per internal memo
The agency in charge of mitigating disasters is in the midst of its own.
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WIRED @wired.com · 01/04/2025
NEW: Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a reduction in force. Experts say people will die.
wired.com
The CDC Has Been Gutted
Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a reduction in force. Experts say people will die.
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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Breaking: RFK Jr. has forced out PETER MARKS, the nation’s top vaccine regulator. In his resignation letter, obtained by the Post, Marks said he was willing to work with RFK Jr on his vaccine concerns — but said Kennedy wishes “subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”
washingtonpost.com
RFK Jr. forces out Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine scientist
Marks, an architect of Operation Warp Speed, warned that a recent measles outbreak shows how confidence in science and public health is being “undermined.”
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 24/03/2025
Dozens more pregnant and postpartum women have died in Texas hospitals since the state banned abortion, our analysis shows. As the maternal mortality rate dropped nationally, it rose in Texas by 33%.
propub.li
Texas Banned Abortion. Then Sepsis Rates Soared.
ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis is the most detailed look yet into a rise in life-threatening complications for women experiencing pregnancy loss under Texas’ abortion ban.
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
I'm Kat Abughazaleh and I'm running for Congress.
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Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
The whole point is not just the state disappearing whoever they want, it's you being in the habit of accepting the state choosing whom to disappear, without question. It's submission to the state. Same as with Gitmo after 9/11. The state's judgment must not be questioned.
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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
NONE of this is normal
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Jon Rauch @jonrauch.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
A friend drove two hours today for her breast cancer chemotherapy only to learn it was canceled due to NIH cuts. Clinical trial ended midstream. No treatment, no restart, no plan, no information. Her bro-in-law's chemo was also canceled.
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 18/03/2025
INCREDIBLE Ruling! Judge Reyes just ruled that transgender people have served honorably in the military, judges Trumps trans military ban - which states trans people are inherently dishonorable - as unconstitutional and motivated by animus. Trans military members may continue to serve.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17/03/2025
Dictator shit
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 16/03/2025
Every person on Bluesky should know: * Every post on Bluesky is PUBLIC forever * Every post on Bluesky is archived by ICE, NSA, and many other agencies * Even if you delete a post, it’s already been captured * Judges don’t care if you were “kidding” or being ironic www.404media.co/the-200-site...
404media.co
The 200+ Sites an ICE Surveillance Contractor is Monitoring
404 Media has obtained the list of sites and services that ICE contractor ShadowDragon pulls data from. ShadowDragon sources data from all over the web and lets government analysts easily search it an...
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Among the material devastation to everyday people, Senate Dems have now blown a hole in their ability to work with the House. We had an agreed upon plan, House took immense risk, then Senate turned around midway and destroyed it w/ a fear-based, inexplicable abdication. They own what happens next.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
I think some in the Senate have convinced themselves that the backlash to folding will be limited to “the left” and therefore ignorable. Those people are deeply and profoundly misreading the moment and the stakes. Virtually every swing district House Dem walked the plank to vote NO for a reason.
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Ben Lorber @benlorber8.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Right now there is clear, overwhelming opposition to Mahmoud Khalil’s abduction across the moderate, liberal, progressive & left spectrum. This kind of loud unity is what authoritarians are afraid of. To keep it up we need every institution & public leader to join the chorus.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
A crowd has gathered for the NYC protest against the illegal ICE arrest of Columbia grad student Mahmoud Khalil. Protesters are chanting and calling for his immediate release. Multiple helicopters overhead.
a photo of a few hundred protesters gathered in NYC
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 10/03/2025
I need y'all to sit with this headline and understand what is being done to our community. They're trying to criminalize our very existence. This is a campaign of eradication. www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/rcna...
"A screenshot of an NBC News article headline. The headline reads: 'Texas bill would make identifying as transgender a felony punishable by jail.' Below the headline, a subtext states: 'The bill, while unlikely to pass, highlights the increasing extremism of legislation targeting trans people, especially in Texas, in recent years.' The NBC News logo is visible at the top, along with a navigation bar that includes a 'WATCH' button and a user profile icon."
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
“Trying to appeal to a voter who will congratulate you for scolding a member of your own party for peacefully protesting fascism is a losing game because that voter does not exist.”
thehandbasket.co
The time for a spine
Democrats who censured Rep. Al Green are as clueless as they are feckless.
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Stacey Burns @wentrogue.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
I got your waste, fraud, and abuse right here

CDC plans to study autism, vaccines
Move comes despite strong evidence finding no link between them.
By LENA H. SUN and LAUREN WEBER • The Washington Post
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
They want federal employees to suffer psychological abuse and not speak to press about it. It’s not difficult to imagine them coming after members of the media next. Scary shit, but silence is not an option.
nbcnews.com
DHS has begun performing polygraph tests on employees to find leakers
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and border czar Tom Homan have blamed lower-than-expected ICE arrest numbers on recent leaks about planned operations.
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Yes, my economic plan will cause short term pain. But after that you won't feel the pain anymore because you'll be dead
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 07/03/2025
1. Today, powerful speeches from trans representatives in Montana SJ Howell and Zooey Zephyr flipped 29 Republicans, killing anti-trans bills. While some Dems like Newsom abandon trans people, these reps show the power of representation. Watch their speech. Subscribe to support our journalism.
erininthemorning.com
Powerful Speeches From Trans Dems Flip 29 Republicans, Anti-Trans Bills Die In Montana
Transgender Reps Zooey Zephyr and SJ Howell delivered powerful speeches on the Montana House floor on Thursday. Republicans defected en masse to join them in voting against anti-trans bills.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 06/03/2025
REPORTER: Are you considering revoking the TPS status for the more than 20,000 Ukrainians who live here in the US? TRUMP: What are you saying? REPORTER: TPS status. TRUMP: On GPS?
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
SCOOP: FEMA's top lawyer was forced out yesterday after less than a week on the job—and sources tell me it was because of his unwillingness to write a memo providing legal cover for the agency's impoundment of $80 million from NYC migrant shelters. Full story:
thehandbasket.co
FEMA’s top lawyer placed on leave after less than one week in role
It may be tied to a lawsuit about funding for migrant shelters.
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U.S. Representative Al Green @algreen.house.gov · 06/03/2025
Last night I stood up for those who need Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. Democrats will never abandon the fight to make sure every American has a safe, healthy, and financially secure life. #ISaidWhatISaid
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Vittoria Elliott @telliotter.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
I spent last week in Taipei with hundreds of human rights organizations, many of which had been impacted by the US aid freeze. While we were there, news came down that even more grants had been canceled, some of which were then reinstated. "Total chaos." @wired.com www.wired.com/story/rights...
wired.com
DOGE’s Foreign Aid Cuts Have Sparked ‘Total Chaos’ Around the World
Human rights organizations say the cuts have undermined years of global democracy-building and free-speech initiatives and put the lives of their staff at risk.
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bertsy @bertsy.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
To any future author writing the book on this, hear me out: "Atlas Rugged"
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Trump thinks anyone protesting must be from another country when the right and will to protest our own government is a foundational American value.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonald Trump
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All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 04/03/2025
The final vote: 51-45, with 4 people absent. CLOTURE FAILS, A CONGRESSIONAL SPORTS BAN WILL NOT HAPPEN. Democrats hold firm, not a single dem voted for cloture. MAJOR victory for everyone who called in today and this week in support of trans people.
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Andrea Woo @andreawoo.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
NEW: Trudeau says if US tariffs come into effect tonight, Canada will, effective 12:01 am EST tmrw, respond w/ 25% tariffs against $155 billion of US goods starting w/ $30 billion worth immediately, $125 billion in 21 days’ time. Canada's tariffs will remain in place until US trade action withdrawn
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Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · 04/03/2025
Added alt text
ABA

We speak today on behalf of the legal profession and its members who seek to live by the oath each took upon admission to the bar. This is not something we do lightly nor is it the first time we have spoken in opposition to actions against an administration, regardless of political party. We sued or opposed policy proposals of the last few administrations when they failed to adhere to the rule of law or interfered with access to justice, and we are doing the same with the current administration. We are nonpartisan. We stand for the rule of law. We stand for the vital role of our courts and the essential job that lawyers do every day throughout our country. We have stood on this ground for many years.  

We reject efforts to undermine the courts and the profession. We will not stay silent in the face of efforts to remake the legal profession into something that rewards those who agree with the government and punishes those who do not. Words and actions matter. And the intimidating words and actions we have heard must end. They are designed to cow our country’s judges, our country’s courts and our legal profession. Consistent with the chief justice’s report, these efforts cannot be sanctioned or normalized.  

There are clear choices facing our profession. We can choose to remain silent and allow these acts to continue or we can stand for the rule of law and the values we hold dear. We call upon the entire profession, including lawyers who serve in elected positions, to speak out against intimidation. We acknowledge that there are risks to standing up and addressing these important issues. But if the ABA and lawyers do not speak, who will speak for the organized bar? Who will speak for the judiciary? Who will protect our system of justice? If we don’t speak now, when will we speak?  

The American Bar Association has chosen to stand and speak. Now is the time for all of us to speak with one voice. We invite you to stand with us.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 04/03/2025
Friday's Oval Office betrayal was to create a pretext for this move. As long as Trump is in office, America will be on Putin's side.
NEW: The Trump administration is suspending all U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
SCOOP: Now that Linda McMahon is confirmed/sworn in as secretary, Trump will be imminently issuing an executive order eliminating the Department of Education. I’ve obtained a draft of an email that McMahon will be sending to staff re: the EO and the department’s “final mission”. Here is a portion:
After President Trump's inauguration last month, he has steadily signed a slate of executive orders to keep these education promises: combatting critical race theory, DEl, gender ideology extremism, and discrimination in admissions. President Trump has also been focused on eliminating wasteful bureaucracy and harmful programs in the federal government. To that end, today he signed [Executive Order XYZ, entitled "Eliminating the Department of Education,] which has given us a clear and final mission.

We are to identify which of the Department's functions, programs, and offices are not mandated by statute, and eliminate them. This reorganization will impact staff, budgets, reporting, and more —and in coming months, we will determine how it can be accomplished with minimal delay and disruption. The President further tasked us with creating a plan to reallocate and reassign functions of the Department of Education that would be more effectively managed by other agencies. This plan will offer Congress a road map toward fulfilling the expectations of the President and the American people.

The new vision—which I hope each of you will embrace going forward—can be expressed as four main convictions:
Parents are the primary decision makers in their children's education.
Students deserve to be protected from physical violence, racial discrimination, medical tyranny, and gender extremism ideology on campus.
Postsecondary education should be a path to a well-paying career aligned with workforce needs. 
Taxpayer-funded education should refocus on meaningful learning: proficiency in math, reading, and core subjects, and patriotism in American history and civics.
As we move to reduce the Department's middleman role in education, these four convictions must guide us toward conscientious and pragmatic action. The elimination of bureaucracy should free us, not limit us, in our pursuit of these goals

Removing red tape and bureaucratic barriers will empower parents to make th
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
It took a lot longer than I'd hoped, but I've finally made the move away from Substack and set up shop on Ghost instead. The newish and improvedish CAMPAIGN TRAILS: campaign-trails.ghost.io/post-to-the-...
campaign-trails.ghost.io
Post to the Ghost
I'm delighted to announce that, at long last, I've finally managed to move CAMPAIGN TRAILS away from Substack over to its new home at Ghost. This move has been a long time coming. More than a year ag...
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RogerEbert.com @ebertvoices.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Best Picture - ANORA Read @tomilaffly.bsky.social's review: www.rogerebert.com/reviews/anora #Oscars
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Isaac Feldberg @isaacfeldberg.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
"Our film has the power to change the hearts and minds of people. I hope it gets seen by millions of people in the US." NO OTHER LAND, an urgent, undistributed exposé of Israel's war crimes in the occupied West Bank, has won the Oscar for best documentary feature: www.rogerebert.com/interviews/b...
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RogerEbert.com @ebertvoices.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Best Documentary Feature Film - NO OTHER LAND Read @sheilakathleen.bsky.social's review: www.rogerebert.com/reviews/no-o... #Oscars
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Haus of Decline @hausofdecline.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
A man says "there's so much hate in my heart." He picks up a Flying V and says "my only instinct is to write incredibly hostile riffs." Another man comes in and says "I'd like to listen." They both have a wonderful time.
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Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · 01/03/2025
I went to the tesla protest for a thing I'm working on and I talked to several onlookers - not protesters - and asked them what they knew about Elon and Doge and I'm telling you people don't know
Group of protesters holding signs in front of tesla.  The signs say things like "no kings, no fascists" and "elon has a tiny penis" and  "musk is stealing from you"
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Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
As an offshoot of this thread, let’s talk about what happens if federal, state, or local officials text, email, call, or show up at your door wanting to talk to you about what you said about the President. I have a theme, a thesis, a throughline, a leitmotif, which is SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH. /1
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David Frum @davidfrum.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
No, the meeting did not go badly for Ukraine. It exposed in the most undeniable, unequivocal way possible the pro-Putin commitments of the president and vice president. That was information Americans and allies needed to have clear before them.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
This was a disgusting display by the soft, uninformed VP Vance trying to school Zelensky, the man who has led his country through the most surprisingly resilient and effective fight for sovereignty against a global superpower. Every negative stereotype about America is confirmed in this exchange.
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Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Part of the lesson here is that Trumpists, like many bullies, don’t handle it well if you stand up to them rather than caving. If Trump or Vance or their supporters had any character this petulant display and Zelenskyy’s defiance would be humiliating to them.
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Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Watching Putin’s little stooges try to bully Zelenskyy in our goddamned White House is pretty repulsive.
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WIRED @wired.com · 27/02/2025
"Cuts have no apparent regard for civil society or opportunity costs or long-term strategic thinking. Their targets are Elon Musk’s and Project 2025’s targets. They have found no fraud, just democracy at work. They’re apparently eager to see what happens when it no longer does." Brian Barrett:
wired.com
The DOGE Takeover Is Worse Than You Think
What’s happening to the US government right now is bad. What comes next is worse.
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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Per Dr Atul Gawande, ex USAID: “All malaria supplies protecting 53 million people, mostly children, including bed nets, diagnostics, preventive drugs, and treatments – terminated.” There are no words that sufficiently describe this level of cruelty and sadism.
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Tom Di Liberto @tdiliberto.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Please enjoy my last ever post at Climate.gov/ENSO Blog. This afternoon I was fired by the Trump Administration 15 days before my 2yr probationary period ended on March 13. I have worked at NOAA since 2010, and I'm so incredibly proud of the work I did. If anyone wants a quote, let me know.
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