iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Child: This is my first time meeting a mayor. Mamdani: Wow, have you ever met a prime minister? Child: No Norway PM Jonas Gahr Støre: *walks over*

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

The political self-dealing of the Trump admin knows no bounds!

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buntze.bsky.social @buntze.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Would be fitting that another Alito decision got leaked www.npr.org/2026/06/30/n...

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

As someone who came from other academic areas before, one of my favorite features of legal writing is that it uses the most extensive standards for citation.

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4th wave emo survivor @qclstridium.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

The thing is when a doctor does this they probably lose their job and their license as opposed to having qualified immunity

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Texas Observer @texasobserver.org · 31/03/2026

New from @sandywestreporter.bsky.social: Of the 4,389 gun deaths in Texas in 2024, more than 63 percent—or 2,779—were suicides. But talking about mental health and guns here's tough, especially in deep East Texas ...

texasobserver.org

East Texas Hit Hard by Gun-Related Suicides

Scarcity of mental health resources, prevalence of guns, and stigma all contribute to the region's high suicide rates.

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

SSA is changing the word “gender” to “sex” in the impairment-specific disability criteria. This useless change is for “Restoring Biological Truth.” I can’t overstate how much this annoys me. My job is to prove biological facts to SSA!

This final rule makes limited nomenclature changes to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to conform with Executive Order (E.O.) 14168, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. This change will remove and replace the term "gender" with the term "sex" in the regulatory text of the Listing of Impairments that we use to evaluate disability claims under titles Il and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act).

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

The Geniuses of the Supreme Court have made 2nd Amendment law a matter of, e.g., a 14th cent. English statue. In other words, it is by the grace of English lawmakers long dead that Texas today is permitted to regulate firearm safety in bars and restaurants.

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

There are many grim things in this world. But consider this positive: Keri Blakinger, one of the best journalists in the country, is at ProPublica, one of the best investigatory newsrooms in the country. You should donate: propublica.org/donate

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

“they call him ‘the mayor’”

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Honesty demonstrated by witty dialogue. What a beautiful scene. Can you imagine your government doing something good? That kind of reality is possible!

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

One of these days I want to share what I witness inside one of the largest and most complex bureaucratic systems. Medical mysteries, administrative absurdities, terrible tragedies: the disability determination process of the Social Security Administration touches so many extremes. It’s a lot!

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4th wave emo survivor @qclstridium.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

happy Groundhog Day to one of north americas greatest rodents 🎉

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Stephen aka Spike Stonehand @spikestonehand.com · 29/01/2026

In 2008 America voted for change. 18 years later America is getting rid of the penny. No more change.

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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Not only is this bad management and counterproductive, it's all for show: The agency has known for MANY years that the overwhelming amount of contraband is brought into prison by guards. They can't fire them all, bc they're so understaffed they then cdnt run the units, so we get this garbage policy.

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Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him. White. Hot. Rage.

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ceej @ceej.online · 23/01/2026

hold on, these are the REGULAR expressions??

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pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” @pixelatedboat.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

The NYT reports that Air Force One has turned around due to a situation officials are describing as “creature on the wing”

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

The mayor of Houston posted this photo and I’m laughing at this guy in the background

Houston mayor John Whitmire and Washington Ho in a diner.

Zoomed in crop of man in the background, smiling and looking at the camera.

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

There’s a certain feeling of relief that may come when starting with a drawn out, irrational bureaucratic process but then getting resolution with a clear and even compassionate bureaucratic process: it’s the feeling of being saved from trauma. This can happen in social security disability appeals.

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Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Aware that he only had a few months left to live the great Mike Davis gave one of his final interviews to the Guardian in 202. "You’ve been organizing for social change your whole life. How do you deal with a future that feels so bleak?" Lois Beckett asked.

"For someone my age who was in the civil rights movement, and in other struggles of the 1960s, I’ve seen miracles happen," the revolutionary and historian responded.

"I’ve seen ordinary people do the most heroic things. When you’ve had the privilege of knowing so many great fighters and resisters, you can’t lay down the sword, even if things seem objectively hopeless."

"I’ve always been influenced by the poems Brecht wrote in the late 30s, during the second world war, after everything had been incinerated, all the dreams and values of an entire generation destroyed, and Brecht said, well, it’s a new dark ages … how do people resist in the dark ages?"

"What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight."

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Which types of welfare fraud are politely litigated between white collar lawyers, and which types of welfare fraud are used to justify an immigration purge and shutting off resources to the poor?

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Agreed. The government’s escalation is kicking the hornets nest given that we are otherwise in a country known for perverse gun obsessions and school shootings. Dangerous is putting it mildly.

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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 09/01/2026

This morning, Ms. Rachel and I visited District 2 Pre-K Center, where we sang and read with the wonderful students and educators. We also discussed universal childcare - and how we're making it happen for NYC!

Mayor Mamdani and Ms. Rachel sitting together in an early childhood education center.

Mayor Mamdani and Ms. Rachel crossing their arms while singing with a group of children.

A little girl hugs an orange fuzzy stuffed animal.

Mayor Mamdani and Ms. Rachel stand with a group of kids.

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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

not saying it can't get worse but this week really feels like a straightforward depiction of what worst-case 'post truth' information apocalypse ppl were warning of in the late 2010s

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

The FBI sniper at Ruby Ridge was prosecuted by Idaho. The federal district court initially dismissed the charges but was overruled by the Ninth Circuit, allowing it to proceed. The case only ended when a new district attorney was elected and decided to drop it.

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

This is a common tragedy in our disability system: you meet SSA’s definition of “disabled” but you must choose to divorce your spouse before you can receive <$1K/month and Medicaid. This terrible scenario is more likely to happen to women. What a horrible creation of law.

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

My heart breaks witnessing how the GOP’s ACA premium spikes are affecting my poor, disabled clients.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

The Trump administration's key changes have been a) to add more burdens to SSA clients, increasing frictions and b) to expect that SSA clients will be able to manage those burdens via online processes without help. Recipe for failure.

DOGE officials, citing fraud concerns, also required direct-deposit changes to be done in person or online — but getting online now calls for new identity verification measures that do not come easily to many elderly or disabled customers. Immigrants approved for green cards to work in the U.S. are now required to get Social Security cards in person under a Trump anti-fraud policy, producing a flood of new field office visits.

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Natalie Alms @almsnatalie.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

SSA recently released a FOIA confirming this scoop of mine from May. www.ssa.gov/foia/resourc...

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Dan Walters @profdanwalters.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Originalism is and always was a convenient litigating position for the conservative legal movement. That we've come full circle, where the ascendant theory is observationally equivalent to Warren Court style moral reasoning, right at this moment speaks volumes. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

papers.ssrn.com

Originalism's General-Law Turn

Originalists are increasingly turning to a general-law theory of constitutional rights. Under this theory, constitutional enactment declared but did not create

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

For the left, it has long been a valid critique that the legal system and courts are not the means to ameliorate our country’s problems. But it’s a quite different matter to be under a pretext of a legal system that openly serves partisan goals in spite of the law. We live under a juristocracy!

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David Froomkin @dfroomkin.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

In predicting Roberts Court decisions, one needs to ask only two questions: (1) what result aligns with the policy preferences of the Republican Party? (2) What result will help the Republican Party electorally? Only if there is cross-pressure between those objectives is there ever really any doubt.

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Texas land is a favorite subject of mine. Texas was the only state to join the union with all of its public lands: 175 million acres. Vast majority was granted away in the 19th century to, e.g., compensate veterans and build infrastructure. What could have been if we retained our public lands?

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

This is great news. This change would have joined the continuous stream of legal embarrassments of this administration: it would have likely violated Section 223(d) of the Social Security Act, which requires the consideration of age.

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Non-zero probability that Texas' gerrymander for the midterms doesn't work because it was racially motivated, while the California gerrymander holds because it was expressly politically motivated. If this is how it plays out, it will be one of the most incredible unforced errors by the GOP.

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

I want to see the Don Draper pitch for this pamphlet. “Websites are the future. So is Star Trek. Also, we’re going to put a giant SSA logo on the moon.”

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

The leader of the LFI caucus in the French National Assembly says that Zohran's election is a lesson in mass politics and transformative political programs, giving hope to the US and the entire world in the battle against the far right.

youtu.be

Mamdani élu à New-York : "Une leçon qui donne beaucoup d'espoir" (Panot) | AFP Extrait

YouTube video by AFP

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

There's a cruel catch-22 in social security disability law. 1. Disabled and unemployed? Apply for benefits so you can get Medicare/Medicaid. 2. Judges heavily rely on medical records in determining "disability." Hard to produce medical records when you can't afford health care to begin with!

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

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.

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Bryan LaVergne @bryanlavergne.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

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...

law360.com

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...

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Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

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.

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AFP News Agency @en.afp.com · 08/10/2025

"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

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