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John Gaffney

@jfpgaffney.bsky.social
494 followers 734 following 2K posts

Old guy. Seems that I am busy doing something close to nothing. Incredibly unfazed by immobile escalators.

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Reposted by John Gaffney
Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 12h
Just a reminder: Tillis persuaded the woman Hegseth allegedly raped to come forward with her story, and told her that if she did, it would sink the nomination. She did. At great risk to herself. Tillis then cast the deciding vote for Hegseth. Because he’s a goddamned coward.
ms.now
Outgoing Sen. Tillis regrets pivotal vote for Hegseth: ‘He’s an actor. He’s not a manager’
Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis spoke to MS NOW about regretting his vote to confirm Pete Hegseth and his strained relationship with Trump.
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Pissedoffpundit @pissedoffpundant.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
No shit🤔💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
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Elizabeth Anne, PhD @lacksauthority.bsky.social · 13h
never the wrong time for this classic
Screenshot of a tweet by @RobbtKraft reading “scientist: "does everyone here know what Watson and Crick discovered?" 
me from back of room: "Rosalind Franklin's notes"”
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Ernest 🇺🇸 @earnestlib.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
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kobenhavn-kbh.bsky.social @kobenhavn-kbh.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
bsky.app/profile/gill...
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Gail Simone @gailsimone.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
You guys want to hear a short but adorable story that happened right in front of me at the baggage claim in NYC yesterday? I wasn't part of it and there are bits I didn't catch but holy crap, I can't stop thinking about it.
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
For a long time I've wanted a sense of how trump has or hasn't interacted with chatbots (we know he posts a lot of slop sure). And this TIME anecdote about Grok arguably leading Trump into war is just extremely bracing
Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him. In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S. He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious.
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Robert Borden Stan Account @bordenstan.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
This scathing article in New Lines is a pretty good summation of McGurk and his rotten legacy. “Brett only meets people who speak English. … There are like four people in the government who speak English. And somehow he’s now the person who should decide the fate of Iraq? How did this happen?”
newlinesmag.com
Brett McGurk: A Hero of Our Time
Every generation of American diplomats has a figure who becomes the face of the era in foreign policy, a Dean Acheson, Henry Kissinger, or Richard Holbrooke. The years of pain and sorrow otherwise kno...
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Kyra Dempsey - Admiral Cloudberg @kyracloudy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Passenger says he pulled FlyDubai plane out of its dive after struggle with suicidal pilot: "I watch Air Crash Investigation" (BBC News)
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I hope everyone reads this, thinks about it and then shares it. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
A few hundred noncitizen votes are a national scandal. But when states reject hundreds of thousands of ballots from eligible voters, it’s business as usual
One state rejected ballots because some voters failed to include their mother’s maiden name on the back of the return envelope.
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
JUST IN: A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction upbraiding ICE for mass arrests that have strained detention facilities and forced detainees all over the country into "overcrowded, squalid, and degrading rooms for excessive periods of time" www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/defaul...
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Stephen Miller’s Office of Remigration was deliberately named to announce to the world that white nationalism is now the basis for US immigration policy. If Dems win power, they should defund it. They should also defund third-country deportations. New from me: newrepublic.com/article/2157...
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tweety fish oh wow like a chimera or something spoooky @sifu.tweety.fish · 24/09/2026
(if you read the Gyges post, you'll know precisely where *koff*yudkowsky*koff* this dumbass shit came from, fyi)
verysane.ai
AI Safety Is Mostly A Sex Cult In Berkeley, California
We might some day have “AI Safety”, as a science or policy area, that is not primarily a sex cult in Berkeley, California, but it does not currently exist.
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Chinese media allowed at WH. American media banned in defiance of a court order.
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The Onion @theonion.com · 24/09/2026
Dog Can’t Believe Guy She Hooked Up With 10 Years Ago Now Head Of FBI theonion.com/dog-cant-believe-guy-s…
Dog Can’t Believe Guy She Hooked Up With 10 Years Ago Now Head Of FBI
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Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Learned yesterday that there's a vast swath of rural counties in New Mexico with a total population of 247,000ish people, covering an area id 53,259 square miles, without a pediatrician www.instagram.com/p/DdoegYHjFw...
15 New Mexico counties have zero pediatricians NM county map, revevant counties without pediatricians are:

Catron
Cibola
De Baca
Guadalupe 
Harding 
Hidalgo
Lincoln
Luna
Mora
Quay
Rio Arriba
Sierra
Torrance
Union
Valencia


NEW MEXICO
VOICES
FOR CHILDREN
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Next door in Silicon Valley @nextdoorsv.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Job opening! You could make $1000-$1500 per day! **MUST HAVE GENUINE, EXPERT-LEVEL DUMPLING/RAMEN/PHO SKILLS **MUST HAVE MICHELIN EXPERIENCE www.estatejobs.com/job/5ztstu/p...
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
You have to at least read until this part.
Hours after the story published, DHS spokesman Micah Bock sent another email, writing: "When you fail to provide us with the necessary information to verify your claims, you're wasting our time, which is ironic considering we at DHS can't think of a bigger waste of time than writing for the American Prospect."As a matter of logic, a writer wasting time at the Prospect and also wasting DHS's time would have been fitting, not
ironic.
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Terry Buckalew @terrybuckalew.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
youtu.be/c9XdwDK2Btk?...
youtu.be
Bumble Bee by Charles Tuberville
YouTube video by TheSQUEEZEINN Thomas
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 19/09/2026
Tallinn, who led Anthropic's series A, funds METR, the "auditing institute" people took seriously 🙄 After criticism that METR was laughably NOT independent, Anthropic announces they'll pay Accenture to "audit" Accenture had acquired Tallinn firm which will be doing the "auditing" Full circle 🙄
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Paul Avey @paulcavey.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
DHS "sent Nevada a list of 185 names ... it claimed identified noncitizens who had been improperly allowed to register to vote...On Tuesday, the state sent a strongly worded rebuke...: 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 (Gift Article)
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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David Kaye @davidakaye.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
the @forbidden-stories.bsky.social investigation is so deeply important. put the illegality to one side. the trump admin is brazenly sending ppl to third countries, lacking any cxn, without any guarantee they won't be sent on for torture, abuse, persecution... it's horrible.
forbiddenstories.org
The Deportation Project: Inside the Trump administration's secret deals to expel people worldwide - Forbidden Stories
72 journalists, 26 news organizations, 15 countries: a global investigation into the Trump administration’s secret third-country deportation system
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David Kaye @davidakaye.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
ppl like to dump on lawyers and journalists but the heroic ones are working their asses off for the public interest and human rights 👇
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Splinter @splinternews.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Debate an empty chair if you have to, James. Do it repeatedly. Let Texans watch as Paxton slinks away. Story: www.jezebel.com/ken-paxton-c... #KenPaxton #JamesTalarico #Senate #Texas #debate
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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 23/09/2026
Coward shit Newsom vetoed “a bill that would have extended California’s abortion shield laws and expanded legal protections for gender-affirming care”
sfchronicle.com
A California bill sought to shore up Newsom’s abortion access plan. He vetoed it
One of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s most reliable allies, abortion rights advocacy groups, are issuing a rebuke after he vetoed a bill that would have extended California’s abortion shield laws.
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Tim Carvell @timcarvell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The nice thing about making panzanella is realizing that your frequently-thwarted childhood desire to fill a bowl with croutons and dressing at the salad bar was actually Correct, and Fancy, and Italian, Actually.
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Joe Sudbay @joesudbay.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
should be day 2 stories if Maine/national media pick up on fact Collins' lobbyist husband, Tom Daffron, worked closely - for years - with Scott Reed, a key player in the corruption scandal @andrewperez.bsky.social & @martinpengelly.bsky.social wrote about that in June zeteo.com/p/susan-coll...
zeteo.com
Susan Collins’s Husband Worked for the Lobbyist Running Her Super PAC
The Maine senator's husband apparently consulted last year for the lobbyist leading Pine Tree Results PAC, documents show.
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Schrödinger's Sneetch Belly @rtodkelly.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Please know that this is one of my few legitimate areas of actual, high-level professional expertise: Kicking the healthiest people off of a health insurance program will bankrupt it. Not 'could;' not 'might,' not 'probably," but absolutely will, with mathematical certainty.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A great evisceration of WaPo's DOGE propaganda, from Lambert Strether. thejackpot.blog/node/NewTyle...
thejackpot.blog
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
One of the people who bribed Trump w/a bunker-ballroom bribe, Konstantin Sokolov, got permission to do business with VTB. www.icij.org/news/2026/09...
icij.org
Trump administration gave firm with ties to ballroom donor the green light to do business with a sanctioned Russian bank - ICIJ
Private equity investor Konstantin Sokolov was also appointed to run a government enterprise fund.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
So in addition to being a former clerk to SCOTUS Justice Neil Gorsuch, Mike Davis’ lobbying clients include Hewlett Packard and Walmart. Have the CEOs of those companies been asked to “disavow” and “sever their relationships” with Mike Davis?? He is a grotesque racist.
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*it* is happening here @realworldrj.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
A reminder that Davis called the DOJ anti-trust head and threatened to destroy her life (and she was his friend!) www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · 16/09/2026
according to politico, since Jan. 2025, Trump admin has deported 170+ people “in violation of court orders,” “in defiance of legally mandated due process protections,” or “to countries from which they had sought or received protection from torture and persecution” ballsandstrikes.org/ethics-accou...
ballsandstrikes.org
The Trump Justice Department Is Way Too Comfortable Violating Court Orders
Judges have tools for responding to noncompliance. They just have to use them.
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
BREAKING NYT: Investigators may have broken state laws under the direction of top Trump Homeland Security leaders by posing as voters as part of an expansive effort to find noncitizens on the nation's voter rolls, according to a federal whistleblower's account just released.
nytimes.com
Whistle-Blower: Federal Agents May Have Broken State Laws in Search For Voter Fraud
Agents expressed concern about being directed by top Homeland Security leaders to use private information to look up voter records in state databases.
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Freethinkers United For Change @freethinkersunite.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
National Jewish Survey, Sep 1, 2026 Generic congressional ballot: 67% D, 26% R Approvals JD Vance: -68 MAGA: -59 Donald Trump: -53 ICE: -50 Benjamin Netanyahu: -40 Marco Rubio: -33 "Israeli policy in Gaza": -30 Barack Obama +32 jewishvoters.org/wp-content/u...
jewishvoters.org
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Please say this 1000 times for the people in the back.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Here is the full Georgetown response to the piece. ccf.georgetown.edu/2026/09/09/r...
ccf.georgetown.edu
Right Wing “Data” Arguing for Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements is Fatally Flawed
We don’t usually write a blog like this that dissects the flawed methodology of the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) – a right-wing group that is well known for promoting work reporting ...
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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 13/09/2026
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, DHS posted a contract notice most people will never see. ERO ONE would give ICE the military intelligence apparatus that ran the war on terror, aimed at people in the U.S. I did this job for 20 years. Here's why it could be the next chapter of the deportation engine.
projectsaltbox.com
OP-ED: The $100 Million Hole in ICE's Deportation Machine
A procurement notice describes the one capability ICE doesn't have yet: a standing near-real-time intelligence enterprise to turn its surveillance into target lists.
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PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Each Year Worldwide @tkovach.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This Husted staffer is not to be confused with the Husted staffer who resigned in July after they learned he sexually abused a minor. Also not to be confused with that man's brother, who tried to kill Amy Acton on Labor Day
nbcnews.com
Ohio man who was jailed following accusations of sexual misconduct with a minor resigns from GOP Senate campaign
Ohio Sen. Jon Husted’s campaign said that Andrew Havas “did not disclose” his criminal history before being brought on as a volunteer county chair.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Here's a gift link to my 9/11 essay in the NYT. Civil libertarians long warned that before giving government new powers, we should consider how an administration with authoritarian ambition might abuse them. We were told that America was too exceptional to elect such a person. Well here we are.
nytimes.com
Opinion | Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. (Gift Article)
The civil libertarians’ warnings have come true.
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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 09/09/2026
Insurance Commissioner is a hard but important job that demands a serious policy person to deal with a very real crisis that affects nearly every Californian. Do not vote for Jane Kim.
sfstandard.com
Opinion: Jane Kim’s California insurance plan is built on a myth
The candidate for insurance commissioner has campaigned on a platform of smoke and mirrors: big talk, little respect for the facts, and at times outright falsehoods.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Nailed it
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Since becoming president again, Trump has promised: -$5000 stimulus checks via "DOGE dividend" -$2000 stimulus checks via "tariff dividend" -$1000+ checks via "savings" from expiring ACA subsidies -$5000 "dividend" if Rs win midterms No checks have been issued www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-magi...
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Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 09/09/2026
Elon Musk is sowing 'deliberate division' via his social media platform X that will be catastrophic unless regulated, the mother of one of the 14 confirmed children fathered by the world’s richest man has warned.
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 09/09/2026
Really rare to spot something like this in the wild, but The Wall Street Journal ran a "Supreme Court Expansion Is Secretly Unconstitutional Actually" column that directly refutes its thesis in the paragraph that immediately follows. Beautiful stuff. www.wsj.com/opinion/is-c...
Last week only one House Democrat, North Carolina’s Don Davis, voted for a measure to propose a constitutional amendment fixing the court’s size at nine. But it’s unclear that such an amendment is necessary. Democrats cite several precedents from the 19th century in which Congress voted to increase the number of justices. But there are no clear precedents that support a partisan court-packing plan and a strong argument that it would be an unconstitutional assault on judicial independence and the separation of powers.

Article III establishes “one Supreme Court,” and Article I mentions “the Chief Justice,” but otherwise the Constitution leaves to Congress the authority to establish the structure of the federal judiciary, including the number of justices. In the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress created the Supreme Court with six justices.
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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 07/09/2026
This is absolutely about punishing mothers who work outside the home
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Brett Hamil @bretthamil.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
"Passion for History" #doomloop #seattle
[middleaged guy in front of vacant, boarded up building]
-I’m a volunteer landmark historian and I'm here to document this building
-In the mid-1980s it was Ned's Diner, the very first restaurant in the region to serve loaded potato skins
-a vital part of the foodways of Wallingfordian culture in the late 20th century
-if the city grants my historic landmark designation we can preserve this important piece of culinary heritage 
-honoring our forebears and their innovations in casual family dining
-oh and also they won’t be able to put a 64-unit apartment building here
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