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Gaff

@goodgaff.bsky.social
2.1K followers 1.7K following 129 posts

IP Attorney interested in legal news, civil rights, justice, environment, science, astronomy, & dogs

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Reposted by Gaff
emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 6h
If you didn't already hate Meta, Mark Zuckerburg, and data centers, Meta is using the latter to cheat on their taxes. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...
nytimes.com
How Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes
Meta is exploiting a lucrative tax break intended to support research and experimentation. Its own accountants say the gambit is risky.
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 23h
It's inconceivable to me how someone who lost in a free & fair election can incite an angry mob to attack his own government, (the very definition of treason) & be allowed to run for any office ever again.
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Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 16h
Proud of the CDCers who fought to get this vital info out! 30% of our workforce is gone. Heartbroken by the loss of brilliant scientists, institutional knowledge, & frankly my friends, colleagues, & mentors. An understaffed CDC harms the public & leaves the US vulnerable. Rebuilding will take years
nytimes.com
‘Zombified’ C.D.C., Hobbled by Cuts, Struggles to Fulfill Scientific Mission (Gift Article)
The agency has lost its independence and nearly a third of its staff, as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and associates have tightened control.
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 14h
The White House accord on AI that was signed by all the big tech oligarchs today misspells United States as “Unites States.”
Document signed by Trump, Sundar Pichai
Google
Dario Amodei
Anthropic
Mark Zuckerberg
Meta

Greg Brockman
OpenAl

Elon Musk
XAI

Jensen Huang
nvidia “Unites States”
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 16h
This is priceless. Check out how local news is reporting on Sen Eric Schmidt’s clown-show grilling of Jack Smith. They found Jack Smith at the game… “Top corner, section 109, row 1. In fact, that seat doesn’t even exist in Atlanta.”
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Scott Dworkin @dworkin.bsky.social · 21h
Trump pardoned Jack Abramoff's old business partner in July. We went through the federal filings and found the man's money in eight Republican Senate campaigns. Six belong to sitting senators.
dworkinsubstack.com
Trump Pardoned Abramoff’s Partner. We Found His Money In Eight Republican Senate Campaigns.
Also: a congressman on his way out files 26 impeachment charges against Trump, a carpenter beats ICE in Manhattan, and farm country picks a side.
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 29/09/2026
Wrote about the decline and fall of SCOTUSblog, which used to be the single best resource for Supreme Court stuff, and (thanks to some intervening crimes committed by its co-founder) is now a weird platform for conservative pundits to talk about what a good job the conservative justices are doing
slate.com
It Was the Essential Home of Supreme Court News. Now It’s a Joke. What Happened?
How high-stakes poker brought down a pillar of Supreme Court coverage.
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 23h
🚨 BREAKING: Texas Rep. Gina Hinojosa has filed an official request to inspect unredacted communications between Gov. Greg Abbott’s office and Elon Musk after roughly 1,400 pages released last year were heavily redacted as “intimate and embarrassing.”
Texas State Rep. Gina Hinojosa stands indoors wearing a burgundy blazer and dark top, with campaign signage bearing her name and the outline of Texas visible behind her.Official letter dated September 29, 2026, from Texas State Rep. Gina Hinojosa to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office requesting inspection of unredacted communications between Abbott’s office and Elon Musk and his companies. Hinojosa seeks records previously released with redactions for information deemed “embarrassing” or “intimate,” citing her legislative authority under the Texas Public Information Act.
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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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Senator Scott Wiener @scottwiener.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The Governor just signed my bill to allow people to sue ICE, Border Patrol, and other federal agents for violating people’s constitutional rights. Starting immediately, people can sue federal agents retroactive to abuse occurring in March 2025.
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The A.V. Club @avclub.com · 22h
Up-for-reelection Maine Senator Susan Collins took the brunt of The Daily Show host's frustration on Monday. www.avclub.com/daily-show-j...
avclub.com
Jon Stewart tells the face of Republican cowardice to stop pretending she'll ever defy Trump
Jon Stewart tells the face of Republican cowardice to stop pretending she'll ever defy Trump
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Reposted by Gaff
Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 22h
Meta's "Muse" launched with a nasty zero day flaw that gave hackers the ability to spy on Mac users, openly gives root access to people pretending to be Muse agents, and invited strangers over to another guy's house without telling him
karlbode.com
Meta's Latest AI Product Is A Terrifying And Hilarious Mess
Authoritarian-friendly mass surveillance has never been more adorable
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 29/09/2026
The senator who mistook the Atlanta Hawks for the Iowa Hawkeyes and tried to accuse Jack Smith of perjury? He could be the most dangerous man in the US Senate. What to know about Eric Schmitt:
motherjones.com
Is this the most dangerous man in the US Senate?
Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri is pushing a tribalistic ideology suggesting only descendants of white Christian pioneers are true Americans.
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Republicans Against Trumpism @rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Former special counsel Jack Smith: “Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation.”
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Kevin M. King @kevinmking.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is ridiculous. The only avenue for fellowships for international scholars has been the K99. It was already so hard to get, and now there is no way for them to come and train and build a career in the US. It will decimate our ability to recruit the best scholars around the world.
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Team Talarico @teamtalaricohq.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Ken Paxton: The only thing that really saves us is that the Supreme Court came along and allowed Super PACs. Otherwise... I would be sitting here and never have a chance...
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Texas Tribune @texastribune.org · 28/09/2026
Breaking: The Texas Tribune has identified the ICE agent who witnesses say fired through an open van window and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston nearly three months ago.
texastribune.org
ICE agent who shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston identified
The federal government has withheld his identification, even as major state and local law enforcement agencies across the country typically identify officers involved in shootings on the job soon afte...
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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Russell Brand, who's awaiting trial in London next month on rape and sexual assault charges, will moderate a panel at DC's MAHA summit tomorrow on reforming a U.S. health agency
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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
We're being told that if we sacrifice the rights of some people, then the rest of us get to keep our rights. We all know that's some BS.
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road.cc @roadcc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Zach Lahn, the Republican candidate for Governor of Iowa, has since deleted his profile. It's not the first time a politician has been caught out by the exercise app's tracking and mapping features. road.cc/news/cycling...
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 29/09/2026
Jonathan McKinsey, a transgender New Times executive who was head of engineering at NYT games, was murdered by his in laws over the weekend. This follows years of allegations that the in laws were abusive to him over his gender identity. edition.cnn.com/2026/09/28/u...
edition.cnn.com
New York Times executive killed by his elderly in-laws, police say | CNN
A couple in their late 70s gunned down their son-in-law in a California city park over the weekend, authorities said, and court documents showed the victim had been in a bitter custody dispute with th...
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 28/09/2026
Donald Trump’s rush to deport as many immigrants as possible is creating a new family-separation crisis, @caitlindickerson.bsky.social writes. She reports on the babies left behind in America:
bit.ly
The Babies Left Behind in America
The United States is deporting parents without their children, creating a whole new family-separation crisis.
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 28/09/2026
“We came up with some very astounding numbers,” Wellinghoff said. “If you knock out nine total substations among those three grids, you can black out the entire United States.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/m...
nytimes.com
What if America Went Completely Dark?
The power grid relies on thousands of aging, hand-built transformers. If enough fail, the blackout could last years.
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Techmeme @techmeme.com · 29/09/2026
IPO prospectus: Anthropic reports a net loss of $42B in 2025, with operating losses of $8B+; revenue grew 12x to ~$4.6B, ~25% of which came from two customers (Echo Wang/Reuters) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
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Imani Gandy @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 28/09/2026
fucking really
thehill.com
Education Department formally rescinds Title IX protections for LGBTQ students
The Education Department announced Monday it has formally rescinded the Biden-era Title IX interpretation that gave sex-based discrimination protections to students on the basis of sexual orientati…
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Trump White House official app is fraught with trackers. The White House app covertly collects excessive user data and shares it with third-party trackers while sidestepping federal security rules. For example, the app includes scripts to monitor a user's location several times per minute.
washingtonsun.com
White House Drove Users to Official App Fraught With Trackers
The White House app became the App Store’s most downloaded news app after the president barred three news outlets.
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Headquarters @headquartersnews.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ken Paxton: The criticism has been that I let a child predator out after one day. Well guess what? They served 60 days.
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 29/09/2026
The Trump administration is rolling back federal fuel economy standards for new vehicles. The move reverses policies meant to increase fuel efficiency to encourage greater use of electric vehicles. to.pbs.org/3VEA8iB
to.pbs.org
What Trump's rollback of fuel economy standards means for drivers
The Trump administration is rolling back federal fuel economy standards for new vehicles. The move reverses policies meant to increase fuel efficiency to encourage greater use of electric vehicles. Th...
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Rep. Mike Levin @levin.house.gov · 28/09/2026
Just in case it wasn’t clear, when they say the U.S. Government’s paying for this, that’s YOUR taxpayer dollars they’re using. I’ll say this as many times as I need to: it is ILLEGAL to use American taxpayer dollars from the government to pay for candidates’ or parties’ political ads.
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SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) @covid19disease.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
www.bcm.edu/news/care-st...
bcm.edu
CARE study reports complete regression of liver cancer in a child treated with novel immunotherapy
A new report in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital and Seattle Children’s...
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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 27/09/2026
Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/kQdKbY1
trib.al
Trump Moves to Cut Off Student Loans for Tons of Degrees
Under a new rule, if your degree doesn’t make enough money, you won’t be able to get a student loan.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder of that time you were all over the news just because you were horribly incompetent in your national security job
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 27/09/2026
BLANCHE: AI has a lot of benefits. The fact that AI is able to understand what you want, where you want to shop -- you don't know it, but you actually benefit from that CAMPOS DUFFY: I don't want that! BLANCHE: I know you think you don't, but it's not all bad CD: I don't want my govt spying on me
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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.
Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites
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Alex Gibney @alexgibneyfilm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The trailer for my new film, "Musk," has just been released.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 26/09/2026
This is an entirely new phenomenon because before the vaccine, most women who survived measles were immune because they had it when they were young. But now, idiots who refuse to get vaccinated are giving birth to babies with measles. Two babies have died. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
nbcnews.com
America had wiped out measles. Now babies are infected at birth.
Congenital measles has rarely been seen in the U.S. That’s changing as vaccination declines and more pregnant women become infected.
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 26/09/2026
ICE BEHIND THE MASKS HAVE NAMES 2 masked agents threatened to arrest Robert Peck for legally observing them. He sued. “And now, because of a lawsuit, the (ICE) agents have names.” A Hylton 📌Nicholas Lapointe 📌Christopher Semler I hope more people take ICE to court when their rights are violated.
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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The major platforms—Facebook, YouTube, and X—are all refusing to show the trailer for the upcoming documentary that eviscerates the ridiculous pest Elon Musk. So I guess we have to do our part to make sure it is seen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY_8...
youtube.com
Musk | Official Trailer | Bleecker Street
YouTube video by Musk
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 26/09/2026
amazing -- Karl Rove lists Paxton's scandals: "The corrupt business guy gives him a fake Uber account and the records of that are now in his impeachment proceedings, so we know how often he went to have sex with Laura Olsen. I mean, can you make this shit up?"
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026
Hey, ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson here. I’m taking over the account to tell you about my new story. For months, I posed as a problem gambler on DraftKings to test the company's "responsible gaming" safeguards. Spoiler alert: They made me a VIP — and I lost $10K. Here's how it all went down. 🧵
Selfie taken by ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson, a man wearing a backwards baseball cap and an orange T-shirt.
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Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I’ve been reporting on the CDC for years, and have written about many of its troubles over the past year. I was still shocked by the extent of the staff losses and political interference I found when reporting this one. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/h...
nytimes.com
‘Zombified’ C.D.C., Hobbled by Cuts, Struggles to Fulfill Scientific Mission (Gift Article)
The agency has lost its independence and nearly a third of its staff, as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and associates have tightened control.
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Chris Conaton @conatonc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A familiar story for anyone who follows @volts.wtf. “The Chronicle spoke to more than half a dozen grid experts…to try to understand why Texas’s notoriously unreliable grid had a remarkably reliable summer. The answer was unanimous: solar panels and batteries.”
houstonchronicle.com
Texas shattered energy demand records this summer. Here's why the grid held up.
Texas repeatedly broke electricity demand records this summer, but ERCOT avoided emergencies as booming solar and battery capacity helped keep the grid stable.
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Great Uncle Bob @greatunclebob.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
From 16,000 to 185 to Zero. The Trump admin claimed as many as 16,000 noncitizens had been registered to vote in Nevada. Then DHS came back and said the number was actually 185. This week, Nevada told the admin every single person on the list was a lawful citizen. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/u...
nytimes.com
From 15,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle
It was the Trump administration’s latest stumble in its effort to find proof of widespread noncitizen voting, despite decades of evidence that it is extremely rare.
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Luca Migo @victinibcn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Every stitch tells a story of love, community, and remembrance. Volunteers across MN created the "Stolen Neighbors Quilt" with 11,000 squares to honor Minnesotans detained by ICE. Each fabric square represents a neighbor, a family member, and a life impacted by deportation. We stand for Justice!
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Nevada election officials said Thursday that 185 voters in the state who the Department of Homeland Security identified as noncitizens were all, in fact, citizens — the latest snafu in the department’s attempts to uncover illegal voters across the country. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
DHS noncitizen voter claims unravel in Nevada as state confirms flagged voters are citizens
Nevada election officials said Thursday that 185 voters in the state who the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified as noncitizens were all, in fact, citizens.
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Wild stuff. Sheri Mecklenberg, career prosecutor accused of misconduct in Broadview 6 case, resigns from DOJ. The NYT obtained her scathing resignation letter, in which she says the U.S. attorney directed her to bring felony charges over her objection. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Read the document (Gift Article)
Sheri H. Mecklenburg resignation letter
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Clay Bennett @claybennett.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
9/26/2026- SCOTUS www.timesfreepress.com/news/2026/se...
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🚨BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court GRANTS People Not Politicians stay application, ordering the 2022 map to be in effect for the midterms! A victory for Elias Law Group, our clients People Not Politicians and Richard von Glahn, and the people of Missouri. www.democracydocket.com/cases/missou...
democracydocket.com
🚨Onder v. Missouri
Learn more here.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
DoorDash spent $1.4M trying to stop Zohran Mamdani from becoming mayor. This week's historic $131.5M enforcement action against DoorDash for underpaying NYC delivery workers shows why. Yet another reminder that the only thing that can beat organized money is organized people.
theintercept.com
DoorDash Spent $1.4 Million Trying to Stop Mamdani From Becoming Mayor. Now We Know Why.
In a wage-theft settlement, DoorDash now has to pay its workers around 100 times what it spent trying to beat Zohran Mam
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 25/09/2026
The ruling also deals a blow to voting and privacy groups challenging DHS' overhaul of the database as a violation of federal privacy laws and an unconstitutional attempt to usurp states' authority over elections. Read the full story:
democracydocket.com
Supreme Court revives DHS use of flawed immigration database for voter purges
The decision lets the administration move forward with a key provision of President Trump’s first anti-voting executive order.
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