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Tom Richardson Ph.D.

@cascadetommy.bsky.social
545 followers 340 following 2K posts

Runner, mathematician, invented Filbert matrix. Founding member of Kado Brothers Band. Third Coastal Elite. Reliable data guy. Inappropriately concerned. AI luddite. Build housing not data centers. c.im/@CascadeTommy on Mastadon

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Reposted by Tom Richardson Ph.D.
Whitney Curry Wimbish @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This is a crisis. ICE is disappearing and murdering people with impunity. Where the fuck is Oscar Belgal?
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Six months ago:
theonion.com
DOJ To Bring Back Firing Squad As Means Of Entertainment
WASHINGTON—In an effort to provide some joy to the nation and boost overall well-being, Justice Department officials announced plans Monday to bring back firing squads as a means of entertainment. “Fo...
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 09/10/2026
I might end up going Reverse Birther in 2028
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Pam Spaulding @pamspaulding.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
👀 Uh oh, fElon, they are on to you. “I regularly present to large groups of clients and ask the room: ‘Who here owns [SpaceX] shares?’ Last night, when I did that in front of 40 clients, not a single hand went up.” — Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, skeptical about fElon's goals. 🧾 t2m.co/5Uxq6GL
ft.com
SpaceX credit risk jumps on worries over its borrowing spree
Leap in credit default swaps tracking Elon Musk’s aerospace group follows an FT report that it is seeking to raise $40bn to buy Nvidia chips
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Kyle Clark @kylec.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
NEW: As Colorado’s Tina Peters reportedly meets with President Trump to discuss an election “plan,” her attorney says the plan involves seizing ballots nationwide and discusses strategy for a potential civil war
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Julia Raifman, ScD @juliaraifman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
As California considers a wealth tax on billionaires, how does $1 Billion in wealth compare to median wealth in Californian? $1B is 3300x the median wealth in California, based on wealth estimates from the Public Policy Institute of California @ppicnotes.bsky.social www.ppic.org/publication/...
$1 billion relative to median wealth in California. The median wealth of Californians is not visible on the graph except for a value label because $1 billion is so much higher.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 08/10/2026
It’s really remarkable to me that 10 years into this people feel compelled to “clarify” Trump’s homicidal and often genocidal fantasies. It is deranged for the president to daydream about American cities in states he hates getting blown up. Full stop.
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Reuters @reuters.com · 07/10/2026
Attacks on tankers in Hormuz hit highest of any week since start of Iran war, sources say reut.rs/4yFrqiS
reut.rs
Attacks on tankers in Hormuz hit highest of any week since start of Iran war, sources say
Attacks on tankers sailing through the Strait of Hormuz hit their highest last week of any week since the ​Iran war began, according to maritime security sources tracking incidents, amid ‌a bigger export push by Gulf producers.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
“.. defense companies backed by the president's sons, including Anduril, have now raked in more than $6 billion dollars in active or promised government contracts since those investments were made, according to the government's official contract reporting. abcnews.com/Politics/tru...
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Trump is about to sell out Ukraine, basically the culmination of the 2016 influence operation, but that history has been memory holed. www.youtube.com/shorts/yDK-8...
youtube.com
Trump's Team Sells Out the US
YouTube video by emptywheel
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Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I bulldozed a 200 year old tree today.
Duty
I bulldozed a 200 year old tree today. To clear the way for the border wall. It gave in like any tree does when you drive a big enough machine into it. The sound it made though. It was like the earth cracking in half. They call it a grandmother tree I guess is what they were saying. People screamed when it fell. That sounded like the earth cracking in half too.
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The Big Picture @readthebigpicture.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The algorithm doesn't want you calm, informed, or connected. It wants you angry, addicted, and isolated. Because that's what lines the pockets of folks like Musk and Zuckerberg.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 06/10/2026
I LOVE how @propublica.org dealt with official comment here, editorially and stylistically.
The Trump administration says none of this is happening. 

"DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake." "There are no 'indiscriminate' stops." Allegations of "racial profiling are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE." "The pattern is NOT of law enforcement using force." "ICE does not zip tie or restrain children." 

But that is precisely what is happening, and at a far larger scale than previously reported.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 05/10/2026
Holy shit.
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Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Pennsylvania surpasses 1,000 reported cases of measles this year. www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/n...
cbsnews.com
First Allegheny County resident tests positive for measles
An unvaccinated minor in Allegheny County tested positive for measles, the health department confirmed on Monday.
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Corporations and billionaires don’t want you to know what political messages they are funding. That’s why they make the info so difficult to find. PaidForBy.info changes the game. It’s 100% free to use. Please check it out and spread the word!
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Micah @rincewind.run · 05/10/2026
the reason these people need to be stripped of almost all of their money is so that they stop thinking that it gives them the right to nominate themselves for the "benevolent dictator" position
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Jonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Don’t worry. If this makes it to the USA, the guys who “would have” perfectly handled Covid will be at the helm.
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Tom Richardson Ph.D. @cascadetommy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Tim Apple sucked up to Trump and is using tariffs as an excuse to screw his customers. Annual revenue up $75 billion (19%) and costs up $29 billion (14%) while profits are up $35 billion (37%), compared to before tariffs
Screenshot of Apple financials showing revenue increased from $391 billion to $467 billion from 2024 to now, while costs went from $210 billion to $240 billion and profit from $94 billion to $129 billion.
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Tom Richardson Ph.D. @cascadetommy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Jean-Marc Côté envisioned feeding books into the AI hopper in a postcard from the year 1900
Jean-Marc Côté postcard of a schoolroom with students wearing hats connected to a machine with wires and a teacher feeding books into the machine.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I don't really know what to do with these pieces, because: 1. They refuse to used "illegal" & "unconstitutional" & "corruption" in the heds, deks, ledes, or body text 2. They disappear from the front page/headlines within 36 hours & never become THE NARRATIVE, contra EMAILS & BIDEN IS OLD, etc.
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🗽LOLGOP🗽 @lolgop.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Not fair to call it treason but absolutely accurate to call it treachery.
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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Hitler would have murdered every Jewish person in Germany, every queer person, every person on the left. Tucker doesn't care because he wants to murder all those people as well.
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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
They're holding up a major escalation in Iran and a crackdown on abortion until after the midterms to limit political damage. To the extent that the last two years have been a right-wing smash-and-grab operation, the next two will be worse.
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NEW EPISODE: Weeks before the midterms, election deniers on Georgia's election board quietly asked Trump's DOJ to intervene. I break down the excuses in the letter and why it fits Trump's long obsession with controlling how Georgia's votes are counted. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwoR...
youtube.com
Trump is Coming for Georgia's Vote Count
YouTube video by Democracy Docket
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In two years we've gone from a standard where the President's budget proposal was a set of suggestions Congress would ignore to where Congressional appropriations are now a set of suggestions the President ignores.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
WaPo reports that Trump is stealing money again, this time money appropriated for (among others) Eastern Europe and sending it to Latin America. But I think stealing $$ from Iraq is just as important. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Late Wednesday, the administration quietly notified Congress it was defying the hold and moving ahead, diverting to Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia $52 million that had been approved for Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq, the officials said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.
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Adam Cohen (My Personal Views Only) @axidentaliberal.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Only in America could we have a so-called conservative thought leader and a lawyer who thinks torturing prisoners is acceptable commenting on how to kill Christa Pike after her botched execution And the state of Tennessee now providing critical care while deciding whether to try to kill her again
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Americans need to understand the stakes of the upcoming elections. Too many news orgs rely on “horse race coverage”, “sanewashing”, “false equivalence”, “euphemism” and other inadequacies. Endorse our pro-democracy election coverage guidelines. www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/2026-electio...
Ahead of the midterms, journalists must:
• Make threats to democracy clear.
Protect Americans from disinformation.
I Cover elections like they matter more than sports scores.
MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY
PROJECT
Sign our open letter asking for pro-democracy coverage by visiting mediaanddemocracyproject.org
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
🔥JACK SMITH: "Trump engaged in serious crimes against 🇺🇸- a criminal scheme to prevent a lawful transfer of power... the rule of law faces challenges unlike any we've experienced. I won't be silenced by threats of prosecution. While fear may be contagious, courage is as well."
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Sherrod Brown @sherrodbrownoh.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
NEW AD: Listen to this sh*t.
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Tom Richardson Ph.D. @cascadetommy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
muse, why does zuck coddle neo-nazis
New York Times headline "I Gave My Life Over to Meta's A.I. Agent and Was Blown Away"
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Reposted by Tom Richardson Ph.D.
Urvi @theurv.com · 28/09/2026
There were more men in a single documented gang rape at one school than the number of competitive trans athletes nationally. But I’ve heard a lot more politicians being asked about protecting girls from one of these scenarios and not another… I’ll let you guess which is which.
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Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 28/09/2026
The food people need is in grocery stores. They just need the permission slips (cash) to access it. Food banks should not exist. They are a symptom of failed policy. They exist because universal basic income doesn't. We need UBI and it's a fight because the people doing this are doing it on purpose:
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Bayliss Wagner @baylisswagner.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
New: The Trump administration has spent more than $1M in public funds so far to boost the president on the airwaves. Experts including a Bush WH ethics lawyer said it likely violates federal laws against propaganda & political activity by gov’t staff. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...
nytimes.com
A Trump 2024 Campaign Ad Returns, Now Brought to You by The Government (Gift Article)
The ad, which ethics experts said could violate federal law, shows Mr. Trump vowing to “expel warmongers” from the government and fight the “deep state,” even as he wages a war with Iran.
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Noel Healy @drnoelhealy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The assault on US universities didn't start in 2025. Our new paper traces the decades of corporate capture that made it possible, and why climate research is a primary target. Open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Dean Baker @deanbaker13.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Remember, they prosecuted Aaron Swartz and drove him to suicide for hacking one system with the goal of making academic articles freely available to the public. Sam Altman hacked 1000s of sites with the goal of being a trillionaire.
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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It's amazing how many competent and good civil servants we're losing for no other reason than they are faithfully doing their job, and that happens to be very inconvenient for the criminals we put in charge.
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Victor Pickard @victorpickard.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
A major structural hazard with extreme media ownership concentration is that oligarchs impose their ideological agendas--which almost always skew to the far right--on everyone. This capture of core info and communication infrastructures must be dismantled if we're to have any semblance of democracy.
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This was the 28th time #SCOTUS has granted emergency relief to the Trump administration since 1/20/25. That matches the total number of grants during the entirety of the first Trump administration. And both of those totals dwarf the *four* grants of relief (two each) during the Bush & Obama admins.
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Tom Richardson Ph.D. @cascadetommy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The war on Iran went so well he wants to start another one right offshore, what could go wrong www.rawstory.com/donald-trump...
rawstory.com
Leaked Army plans show another military invasion likely by end of year: report
The U.S. Army Reserve is looking into whether it can supply military police, medical teams and other support units to U.S. Southern Command within the next four months in an apparent buildup to milita...
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Brok Windsor 🇨🇦 @brokwindsor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Cuba is next. America is a dangerous rogue nation lead by a lunatic. Leaked Army plans show another military invasion likely by end of year: report www.rawstory.com/donald-trump...
rawstory.com
Leaked Army plans show another military invasion likely by end of year: report
The U.S. Army Reserve is looking into whether it can supply military police, medical teams and other support units to U.S. Southern Command within the next four months in an apparent buildup to milita...
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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Every taxpayer, no matter your party, should be outraged by this. Your money is being used to fund campaign ads for Trump. It’s totally completely illegally. He’s stealing your money for his campaign. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/u...
nytimes.com
‘Love Me’ Ad Promotes Trump With Public Money Ahead of the Midterms
A disclaimer says the ad was paid for by the U.S. government, which could violate federal law.
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Yes, it’s propaganda, and good for WaPo putting the word in the headline, which almost nobody else did. They should remove the damn quote marks though. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
Trump ad airing with government funding despite law against ‘propaganda’
A TV ad boosting President Trump and saying that it was paid for by the U.S. government is airing in two major markets despite a federal law against using tax funds for "propaganda."
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Saudi Arabia is in big trouble, with their oil industry under attack from multiple directions. The Saudis spent years bribing Trump and Kushner. At first, it seemed like a good investment. But the Iran war screwed them, now they really need help, and the US can't/won't. Me, in @foreignpolicy.com:
foreignpolicy.com
Saudi Arabia Bribed the Wrong People
Riyadh’s bet on Trumpism has failed.
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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 24/09/2026
Americans may not be able to afford to buy a home, but at least they also can’t afford gas or groceries
nytimes.com
Mortgage Rates Hit 7% as Iran War Fallout Crushes a Weak Housing Market (Gift Article)
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the United States jumped to 7.03 percent, putting pressure on housing affordability.
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Arieh Kovler @ariehkovler.com · 24/09/2026
Some interesting choices made in the production of this illegal taxpayer-funded GOP campaign ad:
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Remember when legal eminences scolded everyone saying “Constitutional crisis” to settle down because it’s not a Constitutional crisis without the government blatantly violating court orders, then the White House blatantly violated more and more court orders, and those prominent lawyers said nothing?
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Steven Beschloss @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Donald Trump hates democracy. He hates free speech & a free press. He hates free & fair elections. He hates an independent judiciary & its duty to justice & the law. Yet he adores murderous dictators, particularly Putin. Who exactly is the enemy of the people? American voters have one more chance.
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