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Middle-aged Muppet Mama

@middleagedmuppetma.bsky.social
1.6K followers 994 following 1.8K posts

Here; trying to do what little I can. Politics, Animals, & Humor. "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." ~George Orwell, 1984

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Reposted by Middle-aged Muppet Mama
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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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 11h
Incredible. The 11th Circuit, in a 3-0 opinion (two Obama appointees and one Trump 1.0 appointee), agrees that Trump and his lawyers have failed to rebut the judge's finding that the entire IRS settlement was collusive, highlighting that no other explanation for their conduct was even offered.
IV
The appellants mount two main attacks on the district
court’s speech-related sanction. First, they argue that the court
lacked a sufficient basis to find that the lawsuit and the settlement
were collusive and that Messrs. Brito and Epstein acted in bad faith.
Second, they contend that the sanction is a broad and impermissible gag order which constitutes a prior restraint and violates the
First Amendment. We conclude that the appellants have not made
a strong showing that they will succeed on either of these grounds.The appellants did not submit or offer any evidence to explain their litigation conduct or demonstrate that the lawsuit and the settlement were not collusive. Given the record before us, the
appellants have not made a strong showing that the district court
committed clear error in its collusion and bad faith findings
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Middle-aged Muppet Mama @middleagedmuppetma.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Per an April 23, 2026 announcement, the Giant Pandas were already en route to Zoo Atlanta, due to a previously established partnership with the China Wildlife Conservation Association. zooatlanta.org/two-new-gian...
zooatlanta.org
Two new giant pandas are expected to arrive at Zoo Atlanta - Zoo Atlanta
Zoo Atlanta is thrilled to announce that a new International Cooperative Research Agreement on Giant Panda Conservation was initiated between Zoo Atlanta and
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
JUST IN: A federal judge (Trump-appointed Stephanie Gallagher) has held the Trump administration in contempt for deporting a man to El Salvador in violation of three court orders. She's ordering the government to return him. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The system combines citizenship information with Americans’ Social Security data, and eligible voters (including naturalized citizens) have already been wrongly flagged as noncitizens. With the midterms just weeks away, the consequences of this are huge.
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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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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“Do you support silencing the black vote? What would you say to MLK?” Sen John Kennedy (R-Louisiana): *Threatens to have @getfree-mvmt.bsky.social arrested*🤔 Racism is a helluva drug
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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Room empties out at the UN as Netanyahu begins his speech.
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Adam A. Marshall @a-marshall-plan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Just in: Judge Kelly has ordered the government to respond to CNN, Politico, MS Now's notice of noncompliance by 12:30 today:
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 24/09/2026
CNN pulled a clip of Michele Tafoya recently saying "I've never said I was embarrassed to be from Minnesota" and then displays an unearthed and deleted tweet of her saying "I am embarrassed to be from Minnesota" 🥴
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
ANOTHER death in ICE detention which appears likely to be the result of medical neglect. A diabetic who told his family members he wasn't receiving regular insulin shots OR getting diabetic-appropriate meals just died in custody. The U.S. prison-ICE detention-industrial complex kills.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 20/09/2026
KARL: Do you support Trump banning news organizations because he doesn't like what they're reporting? SCALISE: Look, Biden removed the press credentials from 400 agencies KARL: That's not true. 400 reporters who had credentials didn't reapply. They weren't banned from the WH. That did not happen.
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Bloomberg reports that officials directly involved in an internal Pentagon investigation found that Peter Thiel’s Palantir Maven Smart System played a significant role in the February 28 U.S. strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 09/09/2026
NEW: Our analysis found that from 2020 to 2025, the rate of deaths involving ectopic pregnancies nearly doubled compared with the previous six-year period. The uptick was steeper in states with abortion bans.
propublica.org
Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.
With prompt and appropriate medical care, experts say, people shouldn’t die from an ectopic pregnancy. Women in Texas and Oklahoma have sued over delays in care, which, coupled with our new analysis, ...
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George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Haaretz: A week and a half before October 7, 2023 UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Abu Dhabi and spoke with him for 45 minutes.

In that conversation, bin Zayed warned that Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was planning a major operation against Israel.

Bin Zayed urged Netanyahu to take the situation seriously. To his surprise, however, the prime minister reacted with relative calm. Netanyahu said that, in his assessment, Hamas intended to operate in the West Bank area, and he reassured bin Zayed that Israel was prepared for any scenario.
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Middle-aged Muppet Mama @middleagedmuppetma.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Anyone else recall the Orbitz version of Clearly Canadian? It had little floating flavor beads in the water; they were just ahead of their time given how popular boba is now. www.snackhistory.com/orbitz-drink/
snackhistory.com
Orbitz Drink History: Flavors & Facts | SnackHistory
The Orbitz Drink was a 90s cult classic with floating gel orbs and fruity flavors. Explore its quirky history, unique flavors & where to find it today.
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Nancy Levine Stearns @nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
🧵 The White House has appropriated the logo of SEGA® to promote its new hateful ICE video game "arcade." SEGA® Corporations is owned by Japanese company SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS: "The entertainment business we engage in is a 'peace industry,' as it requires the world to be at peace for us to be needed."
🧵 The White House has appropriated the logo of SEGA® to promote its new hateful ICE video game "arcade."

SEGA® Corporations is owned by Japanese company SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS: "The entertainment business we engage in is a 'peace industry,' as it requires the world to be at peace for us to be needed."🧵 The White House has appropriated the logo of SEGA® to promote its new hateful ICE video game "arcade."

SEGA® Corporations is owned by Japanese company SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS: "The entertainment business we engage in is a 'peace industry,' as it requires the world to be at peace for us to be needed."
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Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
A January 6 rioters who filmed himself drinking Fireball in Nancy Pelosi's office visited another government office this week: Todd Blanche's. It sure doesn't sound like the payout fund for insurrectionists is dead.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The DOJ will probably argue that the lawyer was fired for communicating to victims that he was trying to bring justice and this was somehow unprofessional, but this is just one more instance of government lawyers being told that agents of the state are above the law www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-min...
cbsnews.com
Federal prosecutor fired after investigating ICE officer for civil rights offenses in Minnesota shooting, sources say
A federal prosecutor in Minnesota who was investigating an ICE officer for possible civil rights crimes has been fired, four sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The prosecutor who wrote the lawyers for Castro‘s victim about the upcoming charges — and told them he tried hard to supplement to include assault —has now been fired, and the department apparently looking into charging him with obstruction of a grand jury probe.
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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Photo caption: “Rodrigo, a 58-year-old Los Angeles green-card holder, was detained for 10 months and denied access to medical care as a tumor in his throat grew to the size of a lemon.”
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
It's like a parody, but it's deadly serious; the Commerce Department (which includes Census, NOAA, and others) has outright deleted "don't alter or suppress scientific findings for political reasons" from its scientific integrity rules. Seriously.
Protecting against "inappropriate influence" is no longer a "hallmark" of scientific integrity

The Commerce Department updated its policy for promoting a "culture of scientific integrity" in January 2025, days before Trump's second inauguration.

A new Trump administration order bans the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis from using statistical “noise,” or data for fuzzing survey results, to protect people’s privacy in their statistics.

The 2025 version included bans on attempts to shape or interfere in data collection, statistical analysis and other scientific activities "against well-accepted scientific methods and theories or without scientific justification."

The department's policy, the 2025 version said, involves ensuring scientific findings at its agencies "are not suppressed, delayed, or altered for political purposes and are not subjected to inappropriate influence," as well as making sure there's "independent review of facilities, methodologies, and other scientific activities as appropriate to ensure scientific integrity."

That language is missing, however, in the Trump administration's revision of the policy, according to an NPR analysis of text posted on the Commerce Department's website.

And while the revision adopts a definition for "scientific integrity" that is similar to the previous version, it no longer says that "protection from inappropriate influence" is among the "hallmarks of scientific integrity."
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
They don’t even have to lie well anymore.
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Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Letting Trump’s WH Ballroom go forward, SCOTUS majority misleads from the 1st sentence, calling it a “federal govt” project. But it's not. It's a Trump project. That's why it’s illegal. He failed to get Congress’s permission. The 4 dissenters (at right) correct the record, also in 1st sentence. 1/3
PER CURIAM.
In October 2025, the federal government started a project to replace the East Wing of the White House.CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS,
with
whom JUSTICE
SOTOMAYOR, JUSTICE KAGAN, and JUSTICE JACKSON join, dissenting.
The President ordered the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for a new, privately funded state ballroom in its place.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Remarkable that Roberts couldn't get one of the 5 to join him. The 5 note that they haven't passed on legality of project--just likelihood of prevailing based on standing. But what other plaintiff is out there? And green light to now build pretty damn conclusive. An atrocious decision.
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Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
JUST IN: Unsurprisingly, Judge Talwani (Obama/MA) turns down Trump admin request to stay her latest ruling blocking Postal Service's mail-in voting plan. She calls 'cynical' DOJ arguments that it's now too late for courts to address the issue. Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
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Middle-aged Muppet Mama @middleagedmuppetma.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Keep record of the 5 great lakes as they are today.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 27/08/2026
Quite a community note here. Reminder that your taxpayer dollars are paying for these Nazi social media accounts.
Readers added context to this video: The clip is from the film Darkest Hour, and the “tiger” in this clip refers to Adolf Hitler
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Food companies wanted deregulation. Now there are dozens of recalls across the country. Mining companies wanted deregulation. Now the black lung rate is at a 45-year high. Financial companies wanted deregulation. Now financial losses to fraud are the highest on record. Noticing a pattern?
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
A judge in Oregon has enjoined the Trump administration from conditioning dissaster relief funding on policy demands: "It is hard to imagine the connection between the use of preferred pronouns and the fires currently burning through central Oregon" storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 15/08/2026
Tapper: What is your husband saying about conditions on the ship? Wife of Service Member Aboard USS Lincoln: My husband is appalled at the conditions on this ship. This is not his first deployment. And he is saying that it is the worst deployment that he's ever been on. His shipmates say the same.
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
A federal judge in Washington state has sanctioned ICE $5,000 in compensatory damages and $11,000 in attorneys fees for illegally transfering a man twice in violation of her orders. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Reuters @reuters.com · 13/08/2026
A federal judge dismissed a ‌lawsuit by President Trump’s administration that alleged Harvard University failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment reut.rs/4hystvq
reut.rs
Judge dismisses Trump administration lawsuit alleging Harvard failed to protect Jewish students
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on Thursday by the Trump administration ‌that alleged that Harvard University failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment.
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Here is the defense motion that this astonishing NYT article is about. And lots that the NYT left out, like: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... Still looking for the exhibits.
With no evidence, the government alleged to the grand jury that the conspiracy in this case extends far beyond the defendants to include the AFL-CIO, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, Monarca, Veterans for Peace, and the Grease Pit bicycle repair shop, among others.  These wild conspiracy allegations are born from the fantasies of political retribution that animate the Trump Administration.
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Middle-aged Muppet Mama @middleagedmuppetma.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The problem is that only one pair is supposed to be used on a person at a time. When have you seen HSI/ICE use that much coordination & communication in the field? The electric pulse is also only supposed to last up to 15 seconds, max. It's only a matter of time before they electrocute someone.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
This is an absurd argument. Multiple states vote almost entirely by mail, so Oldham is essentially arguing that those states are threats to democracy.
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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
MacFarlane: The park service records that I obtained show where the priorities are. $323 million allotted for the White House grounds alone, beautification and vanity projects…
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Middle-aged Muppet Mama @middleagedmuppetma.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
It seems to me, that these are men who would have never been hired under previous administrations. They're cosplaying.
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Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Taxpayer-Funded Torture: See ICE’s Brutal New Shock Gloves in Action
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
🚨BREAKING: Federal Court BLOCKS US Postal Service from implementing Section 3 of Trump’s anti voting EO. Has nationwide impact. A huge victory for voters and defeat for Trump and DOJ. www.democracydocket.com/cases/trump-...
democracydocket.com
🚨 League of Women Voters of Massachusetts et al v. Trump et al
Learn more here.
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Middle-aged Muppet Mama @middleagedmuppetma.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Back in the day, we had a bit of an issue with gamers at dispatch on overnights, playing games while working. What do you think will happen with this strategy targeting gamers for the FAA? What will they do when it's slow? Will they be distracted?
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 10/08/2026
America’s air safety is apparently now in the hands of gamers
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Middle-aged Muppet Mama @middleagedmuppetma.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Stopping to remember what it's all about, & being grateful to witness the kid get a literal leg up. 💗
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Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Rosenzweig's firing was part of a "wider campaign to conduct political firings" in violation of the First Amendment. Key hurdle now is that Trump—with SCOTUS's blessing—has politicized the Merits System Protection Board, which would ordinarily have handled his case. 5/5
Thus, DOJ's removal of Mr. Rosenzweig as a perceived political enemy of the
incumbent political party was neither isolated nor inadvertent, but rather part of a wider campaign to conduct political firings. His firing was executed like the other firings: pursuant to a publicly
announced program where DOJ has compiled records of the suspected political views,
associations, and protected expression of career prosecutors and agents, and has used those records to remove them from federal service. Worse still, his firing was based on core protected speech and prompted by an uninformed social media post that Defendant Quiñones openly admitted was connected to criminal defendants in an active case. DOJ did so knowingly and deliberately, and with knowledge that political affiliation and protected speech are not lawful grounds for removal.
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
DC Court of Appeals in a 2-1 vote halts construction on the east wing ballroom. A big deal. I’ll be up with an in depth youtube shortly.
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NPR @npr.org · 07/08/2026
U.S. employers cut 23,000 jobs in July, and job gains for the two previous months were weaker than initially reported, according to a report Friday from the Labor Department. n.pr/45RROJn
n.pr
Employers unexpectedly cut 23,000 jobs in a sign of a wilting labor market
U.S. employers cut 23,000 jobs in July, and job gains for the two previous months were weaker than initially reported, according to a report Friday from the Labor Department.
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JJ in DC @jjindc.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
🫵 You can reserve a “priority evac” from hurricanes hitting Florida on the *same planes* that ICE uses to traffic chained humans to Central America. All for just $1250 per year! 😬
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 03/08/2026
🚨NEW: Todd Blanche’s new order rescinds the May 18 Anti-Weaponization Fund—but quietly leaves the May 19 IRS immunity settlement intact. Instead of rescinding it, the accompanying memo reaffirms DOJ’s interpretation, arguing the immunity applies only retroactively and only to the parties involved.1/
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
CAN'T MAKE IT UP: ICE deported a man to Mexico in violation of a court order in Nov., acknowledged the error and returned him to the U.S. Then they deported him to El Salvador, in violation of court-ordered torture protection. He's currently imprisoned. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
After a grilling from Judge Subramanian, which revealed that DOJ had not followed its own policies for subpoenaing reporters, DOJ is voluntarily withdrawing the subpoenas. Good result, but why did they do it in the first place?
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