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Firsk.bsky.social

@firsk.bsky.social
805 followers 730 following 3.6K posts

Sailor, entrepreneur (electronic instrumentation), designer, woodworker, boat builder, potter. Pacific Northwest resident, outdoorsy, classical liberal. Parent of an adult trans child. Date from the final days of the Truman administration.

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Firsk.bsky.social @firsk.bsky.social · 5h
I remember when "state's rights" was a reliable Republican principle often called on, especially in the South...
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Zoomer Antimillenarian @surcomplicated.bsky.social · 10h
It's astonishing just how committed this SCOTUS is to burning its own institutional legitimacy to the ground.
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Zoomer Antimillenarian @surcomplicated.bsky.social · 10h
This isn't a court at all. They're literally not even reading the fucking briefs before making "decisions".
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 5h
Ivy League-ology: -Princeton has long preened on being #1 in US News rankings -DAMHIK about those rankings, as former USN editor -Most prominent Tigers on current scene are this guy, Alito, Cruz -(Yeah, Harvard has J Roberts—but also Buttigieg, KBJackson etc) -History lectures from this clown???
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Firsk.bsky.social @firsk.bsky.social · 5h
Immigration is not just good, it's essential to our economic well being. It is foundational to the American experiment.
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Firsk.bsky.social @firsk.bsky.social · 5h
Hegseth "learned" history from comic books & propaganda, and didn't retain anything except a few words he doesn't understand. A shitload of performative ignorance in a too-tight suit.
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Firsk.bsky.social @firsk.bsky.social · 7h
This is what Trump created by refusing to supply air defense to protect Ukrainian civilians. All to placate his Russian boss, Putin. And to enable him to squander our stockpiles on a stupid, pointless war against Iran.
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Governor Newsom Press Office @govpressoffice.gov.ca.gov · 8h
We hear Stephen Miller is absolutely Führer-ious that Trump’s new AI chatbot isn’t racist enough to cook the books on this one.
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Firsk.bsky.social @firsk.bsky.social · 7h
Yes, and this has nothing to do with being in the "center"- to the contrary, it's standing up for individual rights and the collective good, and against a corrupt system that works only for the wealthiest.
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 10h
Shocker. The Trump admin’s story doesn’t match reality. not even close. Trump on Mesabi Metallics’ proposed $15 BILLION steel plant in Lee County, Iowa: “They’ve already started building.” REALITY: No permits, disclosed site, or major land purchase. Financial incentives still unresolved.
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Semper Supra @sempersupra.bsky.social · 11h
For those poo-pooing Talarico's use of Biblical terms, give me a fuck'n break! 1-This is who he is. It isn't an act like Oxford-educated Senator Foghorn Leghorn's accent. 2-Campaigns are abt striking a clear contrast btw you & your opponent. Contrasting Paxton to Biblical terms is a no-brainer!
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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 11h
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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kenofseattle @kenofseattle.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I've eaten these burgers my whole life. I was there 3 days ago! It's still a novel experience to go to a genuine DRIVE-IN restaurant! My sister met her husband when they were both working at the 45th Street location in Wallingford. Yes, the pay is great and no, the food didn't triple in price.
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Digital Brain @yourdigitalbrain.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sperm whale families sleep standing up in the water, huddled together for safety while their brains rest one half at a time.
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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 21h
A video of Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt looking visibly stunned during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing circulated on social media after her colleague, GOP Senator Eric Schmitt, stumbled badly in his questioning of former special counsel Jack Smith.
aol.com
Katie Britt’s reaction says it all as Jack Smith gotcha moment goes up in flames - AOL
The exchange unravelled after Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt mistook a Caitlin Clark college basketball game in Maryland for an NBA game in Atlanta
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Firsk.bsky.social @firsk.bsky.social · 21h
This sequence, from Jen Psaki, was the best, most comprehensive cut and analysis of today's Eric Schmitt debacle. Excellent editing- kudos to the team responsible. Worth watching for the sheer entertainment value. youtu.be/14p2RSonE0Y?...
youtu.be
Smug GOP senator faceplants with humiliating 'gotcha' failure
YouTube video by MS NOW
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A prominent election denier whom the Trump administration hired to pursue investigations into election-related conspiracy theories has resigned several months after he failed to find evidence that the 2020 presidential race was stolen. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
Election denier Kurt Olsen leaves DOJ after failing to find evidence of stolen election
A prominent election denier whom the Trump administration hired to pursue investigations into election-related conspiracy theories has resigned several months after he failed to find evidence that the...
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Joe Walsh @walshfreedom.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This. It has always been this. A sitting American president did this. And because he did this, he should have been convicted and put behind bars. And the fact that we never held him accountable for these crimes will forever stain this country. And we may never recover from it.👇
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Professa Murray @kalimurray.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The Democrats can put a rider into the Appropriations Bill that: (a) renames the Office; and (b) defunds its ability to engage in third-party deportations to other countries through defunding airplane contracts.
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Another way of making this point: The wheels may be coming off the Trump administration and the authoritarian movement energizing it. But a large tractor-trailer barreling down a highway at full speed whose wheels come loose is very dangerous to innocent people in the vicinity.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 29/09/2026
Schiff is up. Apologizes to Jack Smith. “My colleagues have attacked you, but NONE of them have tried to deny what happened on January 6th. They attack you because they don’t want to address the facts. The Barr DoJ sought toll records without a peep from my colleagues.” 1/
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Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Jack Smith: “it’s inconceivable to me how you can pardon people who beat police officers… and then vilify the officers”
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Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Klobuchar: “For a US senator to have false information and imply, based on a confusion about the name of a team … and imply that you were in another city, that you were somehow involved that day in what was happening in Georgia, and then call you a dirtbag, is something that deserves an apology.”
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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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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 29/09/2026
Jack Smith adopting the sort of bewildered deadpan affect of Coach Beard in 'Ted Lasso' throughout this clip might be the comic performance of the year
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The bond yield story just keeps getting starker.
Line chart titled "10-Year Treasury Note" showing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note from late 2025 through September 2026. Treasury yields surged dramatically to 5.29 percent on September 29, 2026, the highest level in the period shown. This represents a sharp 130 basis point increase from the October 2025 low of 3.96 percent and a particularly rapid 45 basis point climb over just the final month. After trading mostly between 4.00 and 4.75 percent for nearly a year, yields broke decisively above 5.00 percent in September 2026, signaling a fundamental shift in borrowing costs and market conditions.
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David Nir @davidnir.com · 28/09/2026
It's remarkable, as @gregsargent.bsky.social points out, that the very same areas that prompted grandiose talk of a Trump-driven realignment immediately following 2024 now represent turf where Trump's brand is at its weakest—and has put seats in play for Democrats. newrepublic.com/article/2158...
Trump carried North Carolina’s 11th by nearly 10 points, and he carried Texas’s 15th by nearly 18 points. The North Carolina district is in the western part of the state, deep in Appalachian Trump country. The Texas district is in one of the border areas that Trump dominated, prompting talk of a major realignment among Latino voters.

He’s now deeply underwater in places just like these. Indeed, in a statement, the Democratic-aligned House Majority PAC says its polling is showing Trump’s approval sinking “especially in districts Trump won by over 10 percent.” But you don’t have to take Democrats’ word for it: Note that Trump’s own Super PAC and its affiliates are sinking money into shoring up both the North Carolina and Texas districts.

For these to be serious toss-ups suggests extraordinary deterioration in Trump’s standing among many different demographics, from noncollege and rural whites to the Hispanic voters that defected to Trump in 2024. And there’s other evidence that Trump’s collapse is a big factor in these districts, too.

The Cook Political Report, for instance, also shifted Florida’s 27th district from Likely Republican to Lean Republican—hard for Democrats to win, but not impossible.  Recall that the GOP congresswoman who represents it, Maria Elvira Salazar, just ran a direct-to-camera ad denouncing Trump for his “betrayal” of Latinos who supported him. This wouldn’t be happening unless he’s cratering in this district as well—after Trump carried it by nearly 15 points. It’s now at least within reach for Democrats on a very, very good election night.
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nancabell.bsky.social @nancabell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
💙 This is a company with integrity 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
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LAFAYETTE @lastudiolafayette.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
How Russia is attacking the midterms with a Mother Jones deepfake. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
How Russia is attacking the midterms with a Mother Jones deepfake.
Putin's trolls are again looking to help Donald Trump and the GOP.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I know Rahm Emanuel. I worked with him for years in the Clinton administration, and then when he was Obama’s chief of staff. Rahm Emanuel represents everything that’s been wrong about the Democratic Party for the last 30+ years. Be warned. robertreich.substack.com/p/the-rahm…
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Outspoken™️ @out5p0ken.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Black folks don’t hang themselves from trees.
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Putin’s reward for bombing hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, public parks and museums and killing children is to get invited to the G20 Summit by Marco Rubio.
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Firsk.bsky.social @firsk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I hope (but don't expect) that this election shows money doesn't matter as much in politics as it did. But I know that people are more powerful than money.
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Someone should ask Trump, just as a lark, how far Iran is from closest point in the US—and what the range of their missiles is. He won't know the answer to either. (During Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK pointed out that Soviet missiles had range of 1,000+ miles, so from Cuba could hit DC etc)
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Lots of talk about defending "Western civilization" these days, so here's Richard Wright on what it means to be Western:
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Theresa Marie @tree-05.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
JFC. And magats believe him
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Captain Mark Kelly @captmarkkelly.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China, why was Trump even suggesting it?? We need answers immediately.
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Michelle @michelleroy78.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Imagine being the wealthiest person on the planet and the biggest loser concurrently.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The response when progressive policies that help millions of people are proposed... "How will you pay for it?" The response when the richest 1% ask for tax cuts, or banks ask for bailouts, or defense contractors ask for more contracts... "How much do you need?" It doesn't have to be this way.
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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Donald Trump is not himself the disease of our politics. He’s just the worst symptom. The disease is the system that allows corporations to buy and sell politicians so they can rig it against the rest of us. Money out of politics. Money in your pocket. Medicare for All.
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Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I know it’s hard to imagine but before Trump came on the scene and wrecked government folks in these roles didn’t jump ship after a year. They often were long time Bureau officials who served without media attention for years.
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Maria Drutska @mariadrutska.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
‼️ GOD, THIS IS HORRIFIC. Russia struck a building of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv. People are climbing out of the windows of the burning building, trying to escape the flames and smoke. There are dead and injured.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Trump tax is real. We’re all paying for his pointless war.
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Rusni_pizda @rusni-pizda.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Europe spent decades outsourcing its security to Washington. Now the bill comes due and the army actually holding the line against moscovia wears Ukrainian patches. Arming Kyiv faster is how the EU finally pays for its defense.
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Rusni_pizda @rusni-pizda.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A hundred NATO and Gulf generals in one room, and Ukraine still has to explain that air defense is a fighting need. Boiev put it plainly: how fast Patriots and interceptors arrive will decide whether Ukraine exits this winter stronger or weaker. The policy debate stated plainly.
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Oh look, as expected, mini-influencers on the right (on X) are working to frame the Texas voter registration delay as a conspiracy from the left. Here's the latest: alleging that non-citizens at the company who creates TX voting systems are to blame.
Screenshot of a post on X from a verified account whose name and handle have been blacked out. The post reads:

"Texas DPS has confirmed a technical issue caused an unknown number of voter registrations to not be processed.

Civix, a company you've probably never heard of, received a $36M contract for the Texas Election Administration Management system, happens to be a steady employer of H-1Bs. How many of these foreigners are working on critical election infrastructure?

Assuming Civix points fingers at DPS, lets look at that side of the data handoff...

LCA files show Wise Equation Solutions, LLC, claim H-1Bs are placed directly at Texas DPS, on a remote work arrangement, in Quality Assurance roles.

Oh the irony...

So much for Tax Payer funded opportunities going to Texans.

@GregAbbott_TX - It's going to keep getting worse until you address this."
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Firsk.bsky.social @firsk.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Markets need rules in order to work for the larger population rather than ultimately just concentrating wealth in a few hands. And, iIn the long run, the rich are better off (in absolute terms) when the bulk of the population shares significantly in the wealth. They get a better society also.
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Firsk.bsky.social @firsk.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Replace "aiding" with "distracting" or "screwing" and we might have an accurate headline. Reason 10,000 for having cancelled my subscription.
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My belief: This election isn’t about the economy in 2027. It’s about the economy in 2060. Prosperity comes from institutions like the rule of law, markets, a free press, and capitalism (not crony capitalism) newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/…
newsletter.platypuseconomics.com
We Spend So Much Time Talking About Gas Prices
But is that what we really want to focus on? Also: Is the U.S. economy really the envy of the world?
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Last week, we saw two cases where real election issues in UT and TX catalyzed legitimate criticism along with false rumors and misleading political narratives. Our team wrote up a "rumor rundown" for each case. uwcip.substack.com/p/recent-uta...
uwcip.substack.com
Recent Utah, Texas incidents fuel rumors and political narratives undermining trust in election integrity
A CIP Election Rumor Rundown
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