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Heading Down South

@landofthepines.bsky.social
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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
3. Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, has issued a fatwa instructing Iranians to avoid social and economic interaction with the Baháʼí, a directive reminiscent of the measures imposed by the Nazi regime in the years leading up to the Holocaust.
bit.ly
Iran’s Baha’is informed by text government is seizing their homes
Authorities in the central Iranian city of Isfahan have begun seizing homes and assets from members of the Bahá’í religious minority by text message—an unprecedented move a community spokesperson call...
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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
2. The Baháʼís have long been persecuted by the Islamic Republic through unjust seizures of property and imprisonment, solely on the basis of their religious beliefs.
bit.ly
Iran’s Baha’is informed by text government is seizing their homes
Authorities in the central Iranian city of Isfahan have begun seizing homes and assets from members of the Bahá’í religious minority by text message—an unprecedented move a community spokesperson call...
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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
1. NEWS Authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran have begun ordering the confiscation of property and bank accounts belonging to members of the Baháʼí community in the city of Isfahan, informing them of the action via text message.
bit.ly
Iran’s Baha’is informed by text government is seizing their homes
Authorities in the central Iranian city of Isfahan have begun seizing homes and assets from members of the Bahá’í religious minority by text message—an unprecedented move a community spokesperson call...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
14/ For Halimi and his family, those actions would have far-reaching consequences. Read the full story by @chrisbing.bsky.social and Avi Asher-Schapiro:
propublica.org
DOGE Targeted Him on Social Media. Then the Taliban Took His Family.
Afghan scholar Mohammad Halimi, who fled the Taliban in 2021, had worked to help U.S. diplomats understand his homeland. Then DOGE put his family’s lives at risk by exposing his sensitive work for a U...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
13/ Neither the White House nor Musk responded to reporters’ requests for comment.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
12/ “DOGE was completely indifferent to the effect their actions had on human beings,” said Barnett Rubin, an Afghanistan expert who has served as a senior advisor for the United Nations and State Department. All it cared about, he said, was making “its enemies look bad.”
The front desk at USIP headquarters. The desk sits empty. Behind it, the institute's insignia has been vandalized so that it now reads: "UNITED STATES IN T T TE OF  EACE"

The missing letters — U, S, I and P — form the group’s acronym.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
11/ Cavanaugh did not respond to questions about his access to these records or how they appeared to conflict with his statements on Fox News. But Cavanaugh defended cuts at the agency as needed and aligning with President Trump's agenda.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
10/ But documents obtained by ProPublica show that four weeks earlier, Cavanaugh had received detailed records from USIP outlining Halimi’s work. These records included invoices, project descriptions, and dates and times showing what Halimi was supposed to be doing on specific days.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
9/ On TV, Cavanaugh called the United States Institute of Peace “the least peaceful agency we worked with.” He told Watters he’d uncovered documents showing USIP was making payments to a contractor associated with the Taliban and that DOGE was unable to find any justification for those payments.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
8/ Then came Cavanaugh’s turn. The United States Institute of Peace, he told the assembled men, was making payments to a contractor associated with the Taliban. As he spoke, the chyron at the bottom of the screen read: “THE TALIBAN GETS DOGED.”
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
7/ One by one, each of the DOGE members one-upped each other with outrageous — yet often inaccurate — examples of government waste. With each story, host Jesse Watters egged them on, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. Every so often, the team would burst into laughter.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
6/ Halimi and his family were on their own. Maybe, they hoped, this would all blow over if they stayed quiet and laid low. That’s when Cavanaugh, Musk and other DOGE members made an appearance on Fox News.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
5/ Halimi tried his best not to show his panic. He turned to his bosses in Washington to ask for help in clearing his name, but everyone he knew was gone. DOGE had axed them all. Now USIP was firmly in the hands of someone he’d never heard of: Cavanaugh, who'd been installed as interim president.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
4/ First came the flurry of threatening messages. A week later, the realization of his worst fears: Taliban agents blindfolded his relatives and held them for several days in a remote prison, where they were repeatedly beaten and questioned about Halimi’s work.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
3/ Halimi initially wonders if Musk’s accusation is an April Fool’s joke. After all, the decades of work he had done consulting for U.S. diplomats wasn’t in service of the Taliban; it was the opposite. Little did he know his nightmare was just beginning.
propublica.org
DOGE Targeted Him on Social Media. Then the Taliban Took His Family.
Afghan scholar Mohammad Halimi, who fled the Taliban in 2021, had worked to help U.S. diplomats understand his homeland. Then DOGE put his family’s lives at risk by exposing his sensitive work for a U...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2025
2/ It starts with a viral Elon Musk post. “United States Institute of Peace Funded Taliban,” the graphic read, falsely claiming that USIP was funding the terrorist group through Halimi, whose work with the independent nonprofit involved providing advice to help US diplomats understand Afghanistan.
An Elon Musk X post dated April 1, 2025. Musk is quote-tweeting a post from user @amuse that reads: "DOGE: The DOGE team fought for days to gain access to the United States Institute of Peace. Eventually, with help from the FBI and Metro Police DOGE was able to access the agency and discovered massive fraud, waste and abuse-including payments to Taliban and Iraq." And includes a photo of the US Institute of Peace with a text that reads "US Institute of Peace Funded Taliban and Iraqi Leaders. The now-cancelled USIP contracts included $132,000 for Mohammad Qasem Halimi - Afghanistan's former Chief of Protocol and a former Taliban member - and a staggering $1.3 million to the Al Tadhamun Iraqi League for Youth.

Above all this, Musk writes:
"Any government institution is most likely to be the opposite of its name"
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 22/08/2025
i'll say it again, my loud and vigorous support for any democrat who calls for televised hearings and criminal charges for everyone involved in DOGE. this guy should never be able to live in peace again.
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🇨🇦Luigi Palazzini 🇨🇦 @meextra.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
What's going to happen when iCE kidnaps soccer players from African and South American nations competing at the World Cup simply because ICE has a habit of profiling. Simply put, if the teams decide to go for a walk in between games, will they be picked up? Mark my words, this will be a reality.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22/08/2025
REPORTER: In Israel, the families of hostages are opposed to the reoccupying of Gaza. Why does the US support it? TRUMP: Well not all of them
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Tulsi Gabbard stripped the clearance of NSA's top math whiz based on a conspiracy theory. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbdY...
youtube.com
The Conspiracy Theory that Got NSA's Top Math Whiz Purged
YouTube video by emptywheel
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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Pritzker has been one of the few Democratic voices who has not really deviated on supporting transgender people.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22/08/2025
asked about Jay Powell, Trump's brain flits from the stock market to the US military to Afghanistan to Putin to Biden -- all within a minute. He never answers the question about Powell.
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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Trump touts a photo of him with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Donald Trump, an older white man in a blue blazer, white dress shirt and red hat that says "Trump was right about everything" holding up a photo of him with Vladimir Putin. Behind him, Kristi Noem, a white woman with long brown hair, hoop earrings and a heavy amount of makeup, looks over his shoulder.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22/08/2025
That was one of the most batshit press conferences of Trump's public life. He brandished a photo of Putin and promised to deploy the US military to occupy Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. A sane country would be moving toward impeachment and removal right now.
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Billie Wahlstrom @bwahlstrom.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
California legislature approves first of 3 redistricting bills in response to Texas - The Guardian Whatever it takes for a level playing ground.
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Cannaman @midem.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
The Attorney General is supposed to uphold the law, not break it for personal gain. $70,000+ in gifts from insiders & lobbyists isn’t just a violation, it’s a betrayal of the American people. #PublicCorruption #PamBondi
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Nate Blouin @nateforutah.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Utah is about to take center stage in the redistricting battle. www.abc4.com/news/politic...
abc4.com
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Micah @rincewind.run · 22/08/2025
I deeply resent having to defend John Bolton but “the president sends his goons on a fishing expedition to raid anyone who criticizes him” is in fact very alarming
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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
You do not have to like John Bolton to see this for what it is.
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amy brown 👻 @amybrown.xyz · 22/08/2025
this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like
Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me?
Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Masked raids are tools of fear, not freedom. Despite what this administration wants you to believe, they are not about “safety.” They are about letting ICE agents hide from accountability while carrying out inhumane acts.
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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
A THIRD federal judge has refused the Trump DOJ’s request to unseal Epstein grand jury records and slammed the DOJ for a “diversion,” noting they have voluminous files in their possession which they are declining to release.
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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Newsom responds to Trump.
Governor Newsom Press...
@GovPressOffice quote tweets with snowflake emojis 
X.com
Yashar Ali Sa & @yashar • 23m
President Trump's first Truth Social post since California Governor Gavin Newsom has started to actively troll him on social media, especially through his @GovPressOffice account.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonald Trump
+
Gavin Newscum is way down in the polls. He is viewed as the man who is destroying the once Great State of California. I will save California!!!
President DJT
5 ReTruths 26 Likes
8/20/25, 9:02 PMGavin Newsom v @GavinNewsom
X.com
Triggered?
Donald J. Trump
@realDonald Trump
Gavin Newscum is way down in the polls. He is viewed as the man who is destroying the once Great State of California. I will save California!!!
President DJT
5 ReTruths 26 Likes
8/20/25, 9:02 PM
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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
This was posted on Bolton’s account while the raid was in progress.
John Bolton &
@AmbJohnBolton
X.com
Russia has not changed its goal: drag Ukraine into a new Russian Empire. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede territory it already holds and the remainder of Donetsk, which it has been unable to conquer. Zelensky will never do so. Meanwhile, meetings will continue because Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize, but I don't see these talks making any progress.
npr.org/2025/08/20/nx-...
4:32 AM • 8/22/25 • 11K Views
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Kate Ross @kateross.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
White woman puts Mexican flag on her truck to waste ICE’s time.
Scooby
I am as white as a hotel towel, and the closest thing to Mexican I am was a single all inclusive resort stay in Cancun. I put a Mexican flag sticker on my old Tacoma abd was promptly pulled over by ICE in San Antonio. I'm happy to waste their time
1d

RookaTX
This is the way

Scooby • RookaTX
Their big question was like, "why the sticker" I told them it was on the truck when I bought it-and they suggested I remove it. Obnoxious creatures.
1d
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
I don’t know who needs to hear this But “citizen science” does not mean random untrained people guessing what to do and reinventing the wheel poorly It means trained volunteers under the supervision of a credentialed professional who designs the study and analyzes the data.
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David Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Sometimes the sheer idiocy of this moment overwhelms me. The idea that our convicted felon POTUS who incited an attack on DC police then pardoned the attackers & who's the most corrupt official in US history is going on an "anti-crime" ride-along in a city w/falling crime rate is...(brain explodes)
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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Meet Shakira. Ten years ago, she was living in a shelter with her three kids, working at a non-union hotel. Now she's a member of HTC. Unions are how working people can build a dignified life. But in a city as expensive as ours, they need local government on their side.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21/08/2025
just thinking about it makes me so angry. the worst kind of open race baiting in american politics since george wallace.
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
JUST IN: A federal judge has barred the Trump admin and FL from bringing new detainees into “Alligator Alcatraz” and to dismantle some aspects of the facility as current detainees are moved out. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
BREAKING: A new experiment in Philly shows cash rental assistance slashed homelessness rates by 57–67%.
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
NEWS: Federal judge finds that Alina Habba is NOT lawfully performing functions and duties of U.S. Attorney in New Jersey. Judge Matthew Brann disqualifies Habba from prosecution of two criminal defendants who challenged her appointment
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Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett @crockett.house.gov · 21/08/2025
Here, fixed it.
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
I urge all Californians to vote to redistrict our maps in response.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 21/08/2025
"Here legally, engaged in a sanctioned process to determine their eligibility for asylum, they have committed no crime. They are arrested anyway, and the lives they’ve risked to come to the United States are thrown into chaos."
motherjones.com
A photographer’s view of ICE’s relentless courthouse arrests
The shattering of faith in America's goodness is the hardest part to watch.
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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
I’m so sorry! The tightening of the paylines is specifically the result of the multiyear or upfront funding policy. A top down requirement I believe comes directly from Russ Vought. open.substack.com/pub/sciencea...
open.substack.com
A Quiet Policy Shift That Could Devastate American Science
Why NIH’s sudden move to multi-year grant funding should alarm every principal investigator and university
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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
We are seeing the death of American biomedicine happening right before our eyes. Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget is the culprit. www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/ni...
fiercehealthcare.com
NIH grant cuts have pulled $2B from medical schools, academic hospitals: AAMC
National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant terminations have pulled almost $2 billion in funding away from U.S. | In a new analysis and policy article, Association of American Medical Colleges warns th...
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