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tedkiwi

@tedkiwi.bsky.social
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Reposted by tedkiwi
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 46m
WOW. Kristi Noem and Elon Musk, among others, "chose to turn the power of the federal government against a singular employee with an impeccable record of public service. ... The attacks against Ms. Comans were based entirely on false information" and many officials "knew [they] were untrue."
In conducting this hearing, the Court is not called upon to resolve factual disputes between
the parties. The facts set forth in this Memorandum Opinion and Order were proposed by the
Plaintiff, unobjected to by the Government, and then deemed admitted by the Court. Dkts. 74, 75,
77.2 These facts establish that high-ranking government officials, including then Secretary of DHS
Kristi Noem and Elon Musk, engaged in a coordinated public relations campaign to impugn the
personal and professional integrity of Ms. Comans. For reasons unfathomable to this Court,
officials chose to turn the power of the federal government against a singular employee with an
impeccable record of public service. In short, Ms. Comans was professionally targeted and
personally attacked by government officials for no legitimate reason. The attacks against Ms.
Comans were based entirely on false information, and many government officials knew the
accusations were untrue at the time they were made. With no regard for the truth and with no
consideration for the personal and professional effect on Ms. Comans, government officials
exploited their access to mass media outlets to broadcast false information. These false
statements reached hundreds of millions of people. The purpose of this Order is, to the best of
this Court’s ability, to correct the public record and establish as a matter of law that the
statements made by these officials about Ms. Comans were objectively and demonstrably false.
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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
When Ukraine destroys Russian data centers, hoards of aggressive right-wing bots disappear & the internet becomes friendlier. So much of politics is driven by the internet & so much of the internet is driven by Russians who want to hurt us. Shouldn’t we do something about that, given that we know it
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
"For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law"
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
To give a sense of scale, Musk is spending more on the midterms than he was on the 2024 election, and he was the biggest donor in that election. In 2025 he promised to pull back from politics and do much less political spending. Another lie.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The DOJ has never been perfect. There has always been plenty to criticize. But the DOJ today, after not even two years of Trump, is a rotten shell of what it once was; untrusted by sizeable portions of the federal judiciary, hollowed out at the core, and run without principle.
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Fox is garbage.
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854
Taxing Entrepreneurial Wealth: Evidence from
Norway, 2021-2025
Marius A. K. Ring
WORKING PAPER 35854|
DOl 10.3386/w35854
ISSUE DATE October 2026
Whether imposing higher taxes on business owners adversely affects business activity by constraining investment and inducing capitalist flight is a central question in the ongoing debate on how to tax the ultra wealthy. To shed new light, I exploit a series of related Norwegian reforms during 2021-2024 that increased dividend tax rates, removed migration-related capital gains tax loopholes, and nearly doubled the effective marginal tax rate on business wealth. These reforms spurred international debate and, allegedly, an "exodus" of Norwegian billionaires (Financial Times,
2023). While I document clear effects on migration, these responses are concentrated among the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution and mostly confined to 2022 and 2023. My results indicate that at most 100 individuals left due to the reforms. I find no evidence of significant outmigration or reduced inflows of startup founders or inventors. I estimate that absent any outmigration, wealth tax revenues would have increased by 75% from 2021 to 2024. Reform-driven outmigration lowers the revenue gain to 71.5%. My findings further show that outmigrating owners' firms remain economically active and do not reduce investment. In a broader set of analyses, I examine whether business outcomes are affected, regardless of whether owners outmigrate, since firms may reduce investment both due to liquidity constraints or distortions to owners' savings decisions. I compare firms owned by Norwegian individuals subject to the wealth tax with firms owned by foreigners and other tax-exempt entities. By merging historical ownership data from Orbis with the Norwegian shareholder register, I perform these analyses on both Norwegian and foreign-domiciled firms.
Across settings, I find no evidence that Norwegian-owned firms pay out more dividends or invest less after the reforms,…
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David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
No doubt this has occurred to other bystanders as well, but it would seem that a handful of billionaires dropping $150 million into a single state's election in an attempt to defeat a wealth-tax initiative just about makes the entire case for a wealth-tax initiative.
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James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
AHHHHHHH THE ONLY REASON HE EVEN STAYS TO DIE AT TROY IN THE ILIAD IS TO AVENGE PATROCLUS. IT'S A POEM ABOUT HIS RAGE. THE OPENING LINES ARE PRETTY CLEAR WHY CAN'T A SINGLE DEFENDER OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION READ A SINGLE THING FROM THE WESTERN CANON AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 09/10/2026
Ossoff: "I think Pete Hegseth is frankly a deeply unwell person who seems to relish this kind of brutality all the while he's running a department that is falling into chaos. The guy cannot run the military competently and is spending his time with this kind of obscene medieval spectacle."
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 09/10/2026
NEW: Records show Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has taken nearly 1,000 trips during his tenure, costing $3.3 million in security. We could only connect 138 of those trips and $553,000 in security costs to state business. with @texastribune.org
propublica.org
Ken Paxton’s Security for Travel Cost Taxpayers Millions. Just 1 in 6 of His Trips Had a Stated Business Purpose.
Records show the Texas attorney general has taken nearly 1,000 trips during his tenure, costing $3.3 million in security. We could only connect 138 of those trips and $553,000 in security costs to sta...
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 08/10/2026
Trump tries to start a race war: "The once Great State of Minnesota is being taken over by Somali Immigrants ... The Somalians should not be allowed to get away with what they are doing. They view you as weak and stupid people. Fight back Minnesota, fight back!"
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
The head of the Fraud Task Force unaware of corruption inside the Trump administration, despite it being widely covered in the media. All by design: The Public Integrity unit in DOJ was gutted and has been told to focus on welfare fraud in blue states. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/stop-paper...
The unit is hiring again to focus on “how politicians and state officials facilitate the misuse of taxpayer dollars.” That sounds good — until you realize what this actually means is they plan to go after blue state officials for allegations of welfare fraud. Trump’s circle will remain safe. After all, his former defense lawyer runs the DOJ now.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 08/10/2026
Q: Do you have any reaction to a US ambassador asking someone to pay off debt in exchange for access to other government officials? VANCE: Well, so -- with that hypothetical, obviously I don't love that, but I, you know, I don't know exactly who you're talking about, I don't know the full details
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Butlerian Jihadist of House Dornick @shimminykricket.blacksky.app · 08/10/2026
Harvard just dropped a study AI productivity in software engineering and it found the average increase in productivity from using Claude code is.....zero and for exactly the reasons you'd think fion.ac/jellyfish.pdf
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Cameron 🇺🇸🗽🦅 @cameroncorduroy.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
the Vice President of the United States has gone on record citing this man as one of his biggest intellectual influences if you didn't know this, it's probably because for some reason literally no mainstream political media outlets think it's worth mentioning
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Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Damn. What an icon. RIP
news.mit.edu
Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90
Margaret H. Hamilton, a profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program, died at age 90.
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Rick Claypool @rickclaypool.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Since Trump took office, @publiccitizen.bsky.social has tracked the admin's retreat from enforcement against corporate lawbreaking. Today, our new report documents the admin's cancellation of investigations, lawsuits, & penalties against more than *200* corporations. www.citizen.org/article/trum...
citizen.org
Trump’s Cascade of Canceled Corporate Enforcement Against Over 200 Corporations - Public Citizen
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Imagine if the national media covered American politics through the lens of which party actually competently staffed & governed the country when it was in power, instead of covering it as horse races, theater, & grading on a curve for the One Special Boy & the far right authoritarian party.
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Law360 @law360.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A former FBI agent has come forward with a claim that when U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove was at the U.S. Department of Justice, he directed the Los Angeles field office to illegally investigate protesters. www.law360.com/artic...
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Roger Sollenberger @sollenbergerrc.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
DOJ hired these prosecutors: -A gambling exec turned conspiracy theorist podcaster -A guy found liable for selling fraudulent insurance leads -A guy who violated attorney-client privilege in a high-profile murder trial -A guy currently facing animal neglect charges www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/u...
nytimes.com
Justice Dept. Turns to Partisans and Conspiracists to Fill Depleted Ranks
The civil rights unit has recruited people whose questionable work histories and dearth of education and experience might have disqualified them in the past, former officials said.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Remember: Wealth cannot be separated from power. We're seeing in real time how the extreme concentration of wealth is distorting our politics, rigging markets, and granting unprecedented power to a handful of people. Taxing the rich isn't just an economic issue, it's a defense of our democracy.
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Solomon @solomonrmissouri.com · 07/10/2026
And this is why she should have stayed in jail www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
Election deniers Cleta Mitchell and Tina Peters want Trump’s commerce secretary to seize voting machines
The problem? No federal official can seize control of election administration from the states and counties, who hold the power run elections under the U.S. Constitution.
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Gasoline prices were briefly sky-high under Biden, in the immediate aftermath of Putin's Ukraine invasion. Then they came down, well before his term ended. Gas is up +39.4% from a year ago. Diesel it at ALL TIME high prices, up +67.0% from a year ago.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 06/10/2026
The government *still* isn’t tracking how often immigration agents detain U.S. citizens. We are. 500+ Americans have been handcuffed, held at gunpoint or held against their will in Trump’s second term. Our tally is almost certainly an undercount. THREAD (content warning: violence) ⬇️
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 06/10/2026
4/ Fernando Vasquez, an 18-year-old citizen, was on break from work when agents chased and handcuffed him, then put him in their truck. After realizing their mistake, the agents left the teen alone in the woods, with no way to get home. Then they threw his ID out of the truck.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Updated this piece about abuses in grants/contracts: Noem gave $900 million in no-bid contracts to the company of a donor, Salus, which in turn was telling other contractors they had to pay her boyfriend tens of millions if they wanted to get govt contracts. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/governing-...
donmoynihan.substack.com
Governing without Accountability
Trump only wants to be President of some of America, not all of America
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A 10K contribution and a $900 million return. The scale of the graft in Homeland Security is a) off the charts and b) possible because no-one believes they will face any accountability
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WuTangIsForTheChildren @wutangforchildren.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Jack Smith….man of the people at the Power to the People concert hanging out on the lawn….no fancy pavilion seats or backstage laminate pass
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 02/10/2026
not that you should expect anything more than rank idiocy from this pair of racists, but the idea that whiteness means a "high trust" society of "social cohesion" is some of the stupidest shit i have ever heard. these people live in a fantasy land that you could dispel by simply opening a book.
talkingpointsmemo.com
Chris Rufo — Known For ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ Panics — Tries to Make ‘the Indian Question’ a Thing
To the degree that a “respectable” or “moderate” right exists today in...
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Mr. Dan Zak @mrdanzak.com · 04/10/2026
A Haitian man legally immigrated to Ohio, then was given an ankle monitor bc Trump withdrew his status. He threw himself in front of truck. The trucker, who voted for Trump, is haunted. “Pierre was doing what he was supposed to do. We did not do right by him.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
theatlantic.com
A Reckoning in Springfield
A truck driver out on his route confronts what the country has become.
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Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This is why I get pissed off when anyone accuses me of being an elitist when I say young people should go to college if they can. I say that because my dad was a local lineman and contractor who did heavy physical labor for years and has had chronic back pain since his early 30s
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Just a reminder that these Haitian immigrants in Springfield -- who came here legally, did everything they were asked to do and more -- became a target of federal crackdowns because the white nationalist vice president shamelessly spread racist lies about them.
rollingstone.com
J.D. Vance Defends False Claims Against Haitians: 'If I Have to Create Stories… That's What I'm Going to Do'
J.D. Vance defended his debunked claims that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
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Semafor @semafor.com · 30/09/2026
Visitors to the US are on track to drop by almost two million year-on-year. “We’re the only major country in the world losing visitation,” the head of the US Travel Association said. “It’s mind-boggling.” www.semafor.com/article/09/2...
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 01/10/2026
yes there is a very useful book about this. www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
press.uillinois.edu
Presidential Campaigns and Presidential Accountability
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stevelevitsky.bsky.social @stevelevitsky.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Lucan Way and I have been writing about competitive authoritarianism for more than 25 years. We never thought we'd write this piece. www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/com...
journalofdemocracy.org
Competitive Authoritarianism in America | Journal of Democracy
The United States has slid into competitive authoritarianism. The slide has been modest and remains reversible—but it is real. Even after Donald Trump, American democracy will remain fragile.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 01/10/2026
Trump: "We have inflation totally in control and we've done a great job. The thing I haven't done a good job with is explaining it to people. We have the most successful period of time for a president in the history of our country."
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 01/10/2026
i think cox should spend less time weeping about polarization and more time working to convince his co-partisans not to abandon pluralism and liberal democracy
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 30/09/2026
Trump's brain is just flitting from topic to topic without him finishing a thought or speaking coherently. Get a load of this.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This aligns exactly with what we know about noncitizen voting; it is extremely rare (9 noncitizen votes in MN out of 3,253,920 in the 2024 election, or 0.0002%), and when it occurs it’s most often green card holders who were mistakenly told they could vote (none of these people are undocumented).
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Nute @nutedawn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I mean we saw this in the first term where people were doing “oh he would have won if not for COVID” - COVID was good for incumbents everywhere else! The issue wasn’t COVID, it was the admin response to COVID, which was the entirely natural result of how Trump operates
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
this really is impeachable for any president, but really grotesque coming from a regime that cut life-saving development aid because they said it was not efficient
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ArtButMakeItSports @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Circus Performers, by Walt Kuhn, 1978, 📸 via @marisakabas.bsky.social
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Chris⚖️Justice @chrisjustice01.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
MAGA candidate Gaea Powell convicted on 9 counts of election fraud 9/28/26 www.sfgate.com/politics/art...
sfgate.com
MAGA candidate in small Calif. town convicted on 9 counts of election fraud
It turns out this conservative candidate wasn't following election laws herself.
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Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Jack Smith: “it’s inconceivable to me how you can pardon people who beat police officers… and then vilify the officers”
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
this gaffe should follow Eric Schmitt around for the rest of his political life (Jack Smith was actually in Maryland at a HAWKEYES game, not in Atlanta colluding with Fani Willis as Schmitt alleged) (Win McNamee/Getty)
photo of Schmitt's team holding up a poster board that made false claims about Jack Smith's whereabouts in February 2024
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I know this is shocking, but it never seems to work out for them when Republicans bring right-wing internet conspiracies into courtrooms or committee hearings where the opposition actually gets to see their “evidence” and respond to it. They fare much better with the cultists on X.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
🤡 Schmitt beclowns himself 🤡 Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atl for a Hawks game and to collude with Fani Willis, & flashed his "evidence" before accusing Smith of perjury. There's just one problem -- his facts were totally wrong. Here's the whole sequence:
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A prominent election denier whom the Trump administration hired to pursue investigations into election-related conspiracy theories has resigned several months after he failed to find evidence that the 2020 presidential race was stolen. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
Election denier Kurt Olsen leaves DOJ after failing to find evidence of stolen election
A prominent election denier whom the Trump administration hired to pursue investigations into election-related conspiracy theories has resigned several months after he failed to find evidence that the...
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Jack Smith: Donald Trump preyed on party loyalty and fear. One of the reasons he [failed] is bc Republicans stood up. I personally find it hard to understand how our investigation could be viewed as partisan when our strongest witnesses were Republicans. [Names Rusty Bowers and Mike Pence.]
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