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jblumenthal.bsky.social

@jblumenthal.bsky.social
244 followers 328 following 331 posts

But to return, and view the cheerful skies… -Virgil So it goes. -Vonnegut

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Reposted by @jblumenthal.bsky.social
Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Pretty clear, I think.
Chart: Monthly job creation in the U.S.
January 2022-September 2026
September's 29,000 net jobs created missed expectations, and estimates for July and August were revised down by 60,000 combined.
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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 30/09/2026
To recap: three GOP-led states that wanted the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade in order to "send abortion back to the states" are now asking the Court to strike down abortion protections in blue states
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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is an absolute disaster from a national security perspective. Obviously, a lot on F-35s is classified, but a weapons-bay door and a canopy with radar-absorbing material are some of the most sensitive. Hard to describe how bad this is.
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 23/09/2026
Five cops in Indianapolis were just criminally charged with abusing Flock to spy on their ex-wives, their wives' ex-partners and women they met on duty. Audit was triggered by us at the @washingtonpost.com, the prosecutor said. From last month: wapo.st/4yfNHng
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Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
*counting back 19 years* Ah god damn it
Headline: 10-year Treasury yield rockets to 19-year high. Here’s what’s driving the spike
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
With Dem House, defunding Office of Remigration and defunding 3rd-country deportations are on the table. Also: Haul officials who oversee it all before Congress. “Removing individuals to countries where they have no ties is unconscionable,” Rep Lois Frankel says. 4/ newrepublic.com/article/2157...
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Collins needs to face the press. Answer questions.
open.substack.com
A Pay-for-Play Investigation Gets Unburied
Americans still hate tariffs, and Trump is unsurprisingly out of step with just about everyone.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
They also made him sleep on the floor of a holding cell. With the bullet in his back. And no pain medication. They also failed to provide medical care after they shot him. People need to go to prison for this.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This is APPALLING. The Trump administration is detaining multiple random Somali immigrants with no criminal record at Guantanamo Bay, seemingly because the White House ordered ICE specifically to detain Somalis at Gitmo as part of its effort to punish an ethnic group Trump has attacked.
According to Mohamed, guards at Guantanamo have said they are being held there because that's what officials in Washington, DC, want. "There's no other nation, only Somali people in Guantanamo Bay, in the prison," he told me. "And when we ask them why we are here, they tell us... Washington...ordered to keep Somali people in the Guantanamo Bay."
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MapQuest @mapquest.com · 27/08/2026
We're not changing the name of Lake Ontario. Name it whatever you want at your leisure: gulfof.mapquest.com/lakeontario (tag us so we can see your work 🙂)
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Between October 2025 and July 2026, the U.S. accepted 10,258 refugees. All but three (3!) were white South Africans. Regardless of your opinion of South Africa's laws and government, I don't know how you could call this anything other than an explicitly racist policy.
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Micah @rincewind.run · 28/08/2026
when even matt walsh is like "guys this is kind of embarrassing"
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David Slack @slack2thefuture.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
If you still have a Twitter account, today is a great day to delete it. Nothing you could possibly get out of that site is worth having your name associated with child pornography. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
arstechnica.com
Elon Musk’s xAI used child porn to train Grok models, lawsuit says
xAI accused of training Grok on real and AI-generated child pornography.
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Stephanie Carvin @stephaniecarvin.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Wake up, babe. The Prime Minister just dropped “hydronym”.
The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big”.

The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.

We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. 

Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.
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Big Cases Bot @bigcases.bots.law · 28/08/2026
New filing: "Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Department of War (Anthropic Supply Chain Risk Designation)" Doc #250: Order on Motion for Miscellaneous Relief AND Order on Motion for Summary Judgment AND Order on Motion for Summary Judgment Download PDF | View Full Case #CL72379655
Thumbnail of page 1 of the PDF linked above.Thumbnail of page 2 of the PDF linked above.Thumbnail of page 3 of the PDF linked above.Thumbnail of page 4 of the PDF linked above.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
We are a broken nation. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians were living and working legally, paying taxes, and contributing. Haiti remains wholly unsafe. But Trump hates Haitians, and the White House wanted videos of Black people in chains, so they stripped them of status and turned on the cameras.
Homeland Security 7
@DHSgov
X.com
Haiti TPS has been TERMINATED.
Those with terminated TPS are in our nation Illegally. They have two options: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or be DEPORTED.
DHS.GOV/CBРНОМЕ

Underneath is a screenshot of a video showing two Haitian men in chains being led to the aircraft. I didn’t post the video, but it’s vile.
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Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
These people had protected status. They lived here legally. They worked, they paid taxes. They made lives. Raised families. Now we’ve dehumanized them. Ripped away that protection and told them to get out. This is a stain on the soul of this Nation.
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 21/08/2026
NEWS: The nation’s largest cattle industry group is blasting Donald Trump’s plan to flood the U.S. market with cheaper foreign beef, warning it is already hurting American farmers and ranchers.
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
They lie about the progress of the war. They lie about the conditions of the troops. They suppress independent reporting. Welcome to Trump's and Hegseth's military. wapo.st/3UsenSA
wapo.st
Pentagon fires Stars and Stripes leaders who criticized DOD’s interference
The Defense Department earlier this year railed against the publication, which has long enjoyed editorial independence, as “woke.”
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
The president is threatening to sue a think tank for $5 billion unless they retract a report stating that his National Guard deployments to American cities under the guise of fake emergencies didn't make those cities safer. It's like a Con Law exam question about executive abuse of power.
nytimes.com
Trump Threatens Defamation Suit Over National Guard Report, Aiming to Intimidate a Critic
It was the latest example of President Trump’s bid to use the legal system against those who voice unflattering facts and opinions generally protected by the First Amendment.
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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 21/08/2026
New at FiftyPlusOne: Rural and suburban voters haven’t looked this Democratic since 2018 blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/rural-and-...
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I see we are continuing the majority's pattern of "SCOTUS nominally defers judgement in a way that, for every practical purpose, gives Trump what he wants."
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
This by CNN is genuinely reprehensible. Everyone involved should be embarrassed. -The 'new pain' case vs Mamdani is *solely* his religion. -He was in NYC on 9/11, at grade school -Soon after attack GWB himself gave famous speech warning against blaming all Muslims for terrorism -25 yrs later, this.
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Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
A Senate candidate talking about the Powell memo???? Pinch me, am I dreaming????
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Yep
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Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"If my opponents win, more Americans could get full representation in our participatory democracy, and that would be bad for me" may be the most honest campaign pitch he's ever delivered
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23/07/2026
Leavitt confirms that Trump is unilaterally changing the terms of the Saudi nuclear deal via Truth Social posts without even contacting any Saudi officials
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
News outlets that covered the US-Saudi nuclear deal without mentioning that Jared Kushner, Trump’s top foreign policy advisor, is getting paid by the Saudi government: WSJ NYT AP Reuters CNN NBC ABC CBS The Guardian Semafor Washington Post Fox News New York Post BBC Newsweek MS NOW
popular.info
A nuclear deal for the Saudis. A media blackout for Kushner’s corruption.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration signed a 30-year nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that paves the way for the kingdom to enrich its own uranium.
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Ken Vogel @kenvogel.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
SCOOP: After pardoning hundreds of allies over the course of his 1st 18 months back in the White House, Trump this month quietly rejected clemency applications from nearly 6,000 people who mostly lacked connections & had been waiting in a queue at the Justice Department.
nytimes.com
Trump Rejected Nearly 6,000 Clemency Applications Amid Hope of Pardon Wave (Gift Article)
Expectations were raised for a raft of pardons in connection with the country’s 250th birthday but the president granted fewer than 20 on July 3.
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Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 20/07/2026
James Talarico likes to say that Ken Paxton “now owns 11 homes, while most Texans can’t afford one.” Talarico is going to need to update his stump speech — because he understated matters: Paxton actually owns 15 properties (including a lot in Hawaii). www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
ms.now
The list of homes owned by Texas’ Ken Paxton grows, adding to his political problems
James Talarico accused his Republican rival of owning 11 homes. As it turns out, he was understating matters.
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Christopher Mims @mims.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
OpenAI (unprofitable) is burning investor cash to prop up Oracle (down 35% with debt at nearly “junk” status) while Anthropic (profitable but possibly because of sweetheart deals on compute) is doing the same for SpaceX (no earnings, PE ratio ♾️) — have I got all this right?
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Statement from Annie Farmer on meeting with Todd Blanche: "After meeting with Todd Blanche, I feel even more confident in urging senators to vote against his confirmation as the United States' Attorney General. "I found him abrasive, condescending, and intentionally noncommittal to survivors."
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Wow. The ICE shooter in Maine asked his ex-wife to "to lie for him and to cover for his character." She said he was abusive and had previously reported concerns about him to his military superiors. He was also a volunteer firefighter, but was removed after several spats with department leadership.
pressherald.com
ICE agent who killed man in Biddeford identified as former Maine law enforcement officer
An ex-wife told the Press Herald that David Brouillette called her and admitted he was the ICE agent who shot Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero.
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Epstein survivor Dani Bensky on meeting with Blanche:   "Todd Blanche treated the meeting as a mere 'check-the-box' exercise intended to secure votes for his confirmation. He danced around his wording, repeatedly interrupted us and could not commit to anything that would demonstrate good faith."
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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I’d like to have been a fly on the wall in newsroom management meetings where they decided to air this
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
So this is so far not a primetime address to the nation it’s just the same lies he repeats every day on Fox and in the Oval Office.
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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
This is a good barometer of the truthiness of the rest of the speech.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Now @apnews.com has a deeply reported story confirming the recently-hired ICE officer who shot a man in Maine had serious mental health issues and a long history of violence against women. This comes after ICE slashed hiring standards and rushed some into the field before background checks cleared.
By  JACK BROOK, MICHAEL R. SISAK, AMANDA SWINHART and CLAIRE GALOFARO
Updated 7:59 PM EDT, July 16, 2026
Comments 115
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told The Associated Press.

David Brouillette has a history of terrifying and violent behavior, according to those relatives. They accuse him of attacking women in his life over the years, and one shared a voicemail with the AP from last winter in which he told her that he thought someone should slit her throat.

Brouillette’s troubling past further challenges how thoroughly the Department of Homeland Security has vetted recruits as it went on a hiring spree to help carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched the crackdown after retaking office, including 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national who was shot and killed by Brouillette on Monday while in his car near his home in the coastal Maine city of Biddeford.

DHS, which hasn’t released the name of the officer who killed Durán Guerrero, has said the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17/07/2026
damn, who was the president when China punked us like this?
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 16/07/2026
Oyer: "2 days after Blanche was confirmed as deputy AG, he fired me from my position as DOJ's career pardon attorney. I declined to rubber stamp a favor for a friend of the president, and it cost me my job. Mr Blanche's office had asked me to restore the gun rights of a convicted domestic abuser..."
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WIRED @wired.com · 17/07/2026
A statement from WIRED leadership.
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Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Another "unprecedented" moment in the Trump 2.0 era A US Attorney General nominee has taken the oath for confirmation hearings at the Senate, 36 hours after a judge referred that nominee to the New York bar for disciplinary review
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Revenge = Comedy + Time
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
It's very likely that Trump purchased a block of Micron stock (MU), which is why he's now pumping it feverishly. Moves like this and his Iran War are the hallmarks of his presidency.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
New black kid stole my spot at harvard just dropped bsky.app/profile/atru...
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jblumenthal.bsky.social @jblumenthal.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
More Nehls, probably: A bedsheet. A nice bright white one. Just to sleep. But she’s gotta wake up sometimes to check things out. So cut eye holes in it. And it should drape beautifully. So make it come to a point at the top. She’ll be a sleeping dragon for a bit. A grand dragon. Waiting to rally.
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 30/06/2026
Nehls: You have to love our country. This is what we gotta do. We gotta put a big bed sheet over the Statue of Liberty. She gotta go to sleep for a while. I'm not saying she's dead. Instead of having a torch, maybe it needs a stop sign.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 01/07/2026
NEW: Most Supreme Court Rulings Are Secretive Votes With Little Justification ProPublica conducted a new analysis that shows the court is deciding more consequential rulings than ever before in largely unsigned orders with little to no explanation.
propublica.org
A Troubling Milestone: Most Supreme Court Rulings Are Secretive Votes With Little Justification
ProPublica conducted a new analysis that shows the court is deciding more consequential rulings than ever before in largely unsigned orders with little to no explanation.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
if you have feelings about SCOTUS after today, and after the last week, and after the last months and years, remember that at least you can vote for state supreme courts in many places this year, and those matter a ton too my state-by-state guide to every state supreme court contest:
boltsmag.org
Your State-by-State Guide to the 2026 Supreme Court Elections - Bolts
Abortion, redistricting, and ballot access remain heated issues as voters face dozens of supreme court races across 32 states this year.
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