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msmaureen.bsky.social

@msmaureen.bsky.social
449 followers 478 following 355 posts

Today: mosaic artist, cat-lover, hiker, kayaker, guide at local historic site Past lives: history, civics, social justice teacher, nonprofit leader. Substack: maureenbcostello.substack.com

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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Looking forward to this book, but found the historical evidence sufficient. This piece looks at a newly identified descendant who (to me) resembles both TJ and his daughter Martha. Sorry it's behind a paywall. The New Yorker doesn't have a gift option. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
newyorker.com
The Lost Descendants of Thomas Jefferson
Scientists have new proof that Thomas Jefferson had children with his enslaved chambermaid Sally Hemings—and that their bloodline endures across the country.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
That’s the ticket! Trump Says His Contested Arch Would House Drones and Snipers www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Says His D.C. Arch Would Be a ‘Military Complex’ Housing Drones and Snipers
The president’s announcement on Sunday echoed his justification for the White House ballroom: that the project was necessary for national security.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Because AI will kill us first? E.P.A. Expected to Erase Limits on Climate Pollution From Power Plants www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/c...
nytimes.com
E.P.A. Will Erase Limits on Climate Pollution From Power Plants
Generation of electricity is the second largest source of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gases in the United States.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
bsky.app/profile/mluc...
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
AI + Fossil Fuel. Let's destroy the planet even faster, shall we? Amazon Is Creating the Biggest Pollution Source in the Entire Country newrepublic.com/post/214111/... via @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com
Amazon Is Creating the Biggest Pollution Source in the Entire Country
Amazon has bought a site in Texas where it plans to build a data center campus.
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Reposted by @msmaureen.bsky.social
laura olin @lauraolin.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Abdul El-Sayed on capitalism: “I’m capitalist who just knows about capitalism. I have a bad habit of reading, I’m so sorry.”
We’ve spoken about capitalism versus socialism.

Do you want to talk about capitalism? Let’s talk about capitalism. Are you recording? Capitalism is about leveraging the laws of supply and demand to efficiently allocate capital expenditure to maximize value. When capitalism works, it’s because you have free entry and exit into markets. So if you believe in capitalism, you have to believe in government regulation to protect markets. In fact, right now, we have exactly the opposite. You don’t have to be a socialist to believe that you should be taxing billionaires their wealth. In fact, if you are a capitalist, you should believe in that. So, I’m capitalist who just knows about capitalism. I have a bad habit of reading, I’m so sorry.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
What could possibly explain this?
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
What the pool now reflects is a fatal combo of incompetence, venality, and dishonesty. “'It’s like asking the museum guard to restore a painting in the Met,' said Charles Birnbaum, the president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a nonprofit that has sued unsuccessfully to stop the work."
nytimes.com
How the Reflecting Pool Came to Mirror Trump’s Washington (Gift Article)
A hospitality manager for the Trump Organization traveled to Las Vegas to find a solution to problems at a national landmark. This is the untold back story of the fallout.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Looks like ICE doesn't even do minimal vetting before hiring and arming agents. apnews.com/article/ice-... Exclusive: ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of violent behavior, family and records say
apnews.com
AP Exclusive: ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of violent behavior, family and records say
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, according to c...
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Ona Judge Didn't Run Away From a House open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...
open.substack.com
Ona Judge Didn't Run Away From a House
She ran away from George Washington. The new exhibit on Independence Mall would rather you not think about that.
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Reposted by @msmaureen.bsky.social
Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 30/06/2026
The legal arguments for Trump's birthright citizenship executive order are vapid and embarrassing. Multiple lower court judges legit laughed DOJ lawyers out of the room. The fact that four Supreme Court justices twisted themselves into logical pretzels to buy it is a constitutional emergency.
ballsandstrikes.org
The Constitution Is On Life Support
Four justices are prepared to stuff the Fourteenth Amendment’s promises in the garbage because Mister Trump demands it.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Jackson's concurrence marshals facts to rebuke Thomas's dissent, showing that knowing history beats imagining it. Read the majority opinion too. It traces the English common law, the practice in the early Republic, and the Congressional understanding during the debate for the 14th Amendment.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
A nod to professional historians from Justice Jackson!
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
1/ Birthright citizenship affirmed. Whew. But not 9-0, which is horrifying. I've read the opinion and now on Jackson's concurrence and noticing historians cited. Roberts cites works prior to 1965. Jackson, cites recent work -- Isabel Wilkerson's Caste, and David Blight's Frederick Douglass book.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Hallelujah!
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
When this is all over, every federal judge who stood up to him should get the Medal of Freedom and a ticker tape parade. Trump Administration Live Updates: Judge Freezes Efforts to Create $1.8 Billion Fund www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Live Updates: Judge Freezes Efforts to Create $1.8 Billion Fund
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Reposted by @msmaureen.bsky.social
I support Somali-Americans @adamrothman.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
I guess Todd is big mad that Maurene Comey's wrongful termination suit is going forward.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
And they wonder why "No Kings?"
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
When Trump was elected in 2016, donors poured money into the SPLC. Now, the Trump II DOJ has just crafted a massive free fundraising campaign for SPLC. Ironic?
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Leila Brillson @leilza.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
It’s finally happened. After 18 months. Finally, a media merger you can root for.
Infowars/Onion combo logo in rainbow saying “I support the onion’s hostile media takeover.”
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
This is nuts.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
DOGE did exactly what it was intended to do ... kneecap the federal government.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Wikipedia is now a better source than the White House.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Uh oh. Answered yes to all of them. Does Your Country Need Regime Change? A Quiz www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/doe...
mcsweeneys.net
Does Your Country Need Regime Change? A Quiz
“In announcing the U.S. military strike on Iran, President Donald Trump went significantly beyond his previous justification of destroying the coun...
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Here's a diagram of ICE's plan for housing detainees in warehouses. They plan to create space to hold 92,000 people. Remind you of anything?
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
I cannot adequately express how delighted I am that a small, family-owned educational toy company brought this case. You don't have to be a giant to take on Goliath. But you do need nerves of steel.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Make this make sense. After leaving WHO, Trump officials propose more expensive replacement to duplicate it
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
The President doesn't have the power to erase the history he doesn't like. A Presidents' Day lesson from Philadelphia open.substack.com/pub/chrisgei...
open.substack.com
A Presidents' Day lesson from Philadelphia
“Each person who visits the President’s House and does not learn of the realities of founding-era slavery receives a false account of this country’s history,“ Judge Cynthia Rufe wrote.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Yes to the Philly Trib Page A1 www.phillytrib.com/eedition/phi...
phillytrib.com
Page A1
View the The Philadelphia Tribune for Sunday, February 8, 2026
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Dont underestimate the power of music to focus and unite us open.substack.com/pub/maureenb...
open.substack.com
This Machine Kills Fascists
Art, especially music, has power
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
The spirit of Woody Guthrie lives ...
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
What I see is respect and love.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Has this man ever met an actual American?
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
"There are no written documents ..."
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
"We reviewed footage with a panel of eight former police officers and law enforcement experts. They were appalled." www.propublica.org/article/vide...
propublica.org
We Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing
Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken. “I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold. The government ...
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
“My deepest fear is not that we fail to survive this moment—it’s that we survive it only to return to the status quo that made it possible.” Mine too. We need a reformation. open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...
open.substack.com
The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls
On the optimism of preparation in a time of democratic decay.
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Reposted by @msmaureen.bsky.social
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 03/01/2026
Trump: "We're going to have our very large United States oil companies go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure and start making money for the country. And we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so."
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Reposted by @msmaureen.bsky.social
Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Here’s the scathing statement from @markwarner.bsky.social, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
No, Marco. This was not "basically a law enforcement" mission.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Just as we were thinking that 2026 might give us a shot at getting back to sanity.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
He lives in an alternate universe.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Rubio wants him to stop talking. He's sighing, glancing to his left, looking for someone to pull Trump away from the podium.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
He's riffing now ... all the cities we "saved."
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
The last confirmed murder (homicide) in Washington D.C. occurred on Wednesday, December 31, 2025.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
"We're gonna run it" ... three times. And now, the oil. Yeah, narcoterrorism, right.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Of course.
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msmaureen.bsky.social @msmaureen.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the texts are “eloquently written descriptions of each president” and that “many were written directly by the President himself.” No shit.
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