Sign in

thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social

@thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
20 followers 15 following 3 posts
PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez @gluesenkampperez.house.gov · 05/07/2025
I live in unincorporated Skamania Co. – so I know how difficult it can be to access care when you need it. Rural hospitals are a lifeline, and when they suffer, the health of our rural communities suffer. This bill is a mess of party favors for special interests, while we're left holding the bag.
74213 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
5. Wars are easy to start and hard to stop
595739848 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
In over 99.5 percent of protest events in April and May, we recorded no injuries, arrests, or property damage — an unprecedentedly tiny fraction for a movement of this size and geographic dispersion.
111445355 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Philly local tv station reporting that a man allegedly posed as an ICE agent in order to rob a car repair business office. How many other criminals might be getting this idea right now, given that actual ICE agents are refusing to show IDs, warrants, badges?
438120684740 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
It’s too early to declare a constitutional crisis, and debating the label we attach to any new event can distract us from focusing on the event itself. But each day brings us fresh evidence of a deeply troubling trend: America is no longer a stable country, and it is growing less stable by the day.
nytimes.com
Opinion | America Is No Longer a Stable Country
70425110 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 06/06/2025
not enough said about how, by turning the national government against states on the basis of ordinary political disagreement, trump is undermining the idea that the union is worthwhile. www.cnn.com/2025/06/06/p...
cnn.com
Trump preparing large-scale cancellation of federal funding for California, sources say | CNN Politics
The Trump administration is preparing to cancel a large swath of federal funding to California, an effort which could begin as soon as Friday, according to multiple sources.
31973921850 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Ezra Klein @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Last week, @rhodesben.bsky.social and I did a Munk Debates against Kevin Roberts and Kellyanne Conway on whether Trump is leading America into a new golden age. We won. This is from my closing statement. There’s nothing golden about a movement that bathes in gratuitous cruelty.
741243275 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 05/06/2025
There’s been a 17% reduction in weather balloon launches that help predict weather patterns.
oregonlive.com
TV meteorologist says he can’t accurately predict the weather because of federal cuts
There’s been a 17% reduction in weather balloon launches that help predict weather patterns.
313248 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
The New York Times has found at least two more fake citations in the MAHA report. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/w...
nytimes.com
White House Health Report Included Fake Citations
33756521977 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Can't help but feel we're living through an increasingly existential war between spectacle and substance with spectacle winning battle after battle after battle.
1057212932740 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
More Than a Dozen U.S. Officials Sold Stocks Before Trump’s Tariffs Sent the Market Plunging www.propublica.org/article/us-o...
propublica.org
More Than a Dozen U.S. Officials Sold Stocks Before Trump’s Tariffs Sent the Market Plunging
Records show well-timed trades by executive branch employees and congressional aides. Even if they had no insider information, ethics experts say such trading undermines faith in government and the ma...
862070926 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
If you want a sneak peak into our future imagine the politicization of everything. Whether the government performs a function entirely dependent on whether the government likes you. You want your social security check? Small business loan? Let's have a look at your facebook posts first
282894716 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Evan Osnos @eosnos.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Around D.C., the new going rate is well-known: $5 million for a one-on-one dinner with Trump, but gov-affairs execs have “no clue where the money is eventually going,” one said. Another told me it’s “outer-borough Mafia sh*t.” My new piece is out @newyorker.com www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
Donald Trump’s Politics of Plunder
The greed of the new Administration has galvanized America’s aspiring oligarchs—and their opponents.
13135381450 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Ken Vogel @kenvogel.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
“It’s absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency,” @PressSec said, before Trump headed to his golf club to dine with 220 people who bought his memecoin, which generates fees for a Trump business entity.
nytimes.com
Winners of Trump’s Memecoin Contest Begin to Gather for Dinner
761118290 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
The country with the most sophisticated intelligence capabilities in the world, and the president is holding up "a months-old blog post" from an obscure, conspiracy-mongering site "featuring a photo from the Democratic Republic of Congo" while making allegations against South Africa to its president
21335171234 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 08/05/2025
Weird how "making America great again" consists of dismantling all America's soft power and also future source of hard power
948094 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
The fascist spectacle is the point.
1461791449 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
JPMORGAN: “.. The trade war shock is still material. .. we now estimate an effective ex-ante tariff rate of 14.4%. This is akin to a $475bn tax hike on US households and businesses, worth 1.6% of GDP (still sitting close to the largest tax hike in the post WWII period).”
6426741072 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
It’s especially galling that AG Pam Bondi personally wrote the memo approving the gift of the Qatari airplane. Her last job was as a lobbyist for Qatar! efile.fara.gov/docs/6415-Ex...
Received by NSD/FARA Registration Unit 07/23/2019 2:45:32 PM
062719
CONSULTING SERVICES AGREEMENT
AMENDMENT ONE
THIS AMENDMENT ONE shall amend that certain Consulting Services Agreement dated June 28, 2018 by and between the Embassy of the State of Qatar (Embassy') and Ballard Partners ("Consultant").
In consideration of the mutual promises set forth herein, the Embassy and Consultant agree to amend the Consulting Services Agreement, as follows:
The Term of the Agreement shall commence on July 1. 2019 (the "Effective Date"), ar all expire on COB June 30, 2020, unless earlier terminated in accordance with t!
Agreement.
2. Appendix A is amended by adding the following:
"Additionally, the Consultant shall provide consulting and advocacy services regarding matters involving anti-human trafficking
The following Consultant personnel shall be designated "Key Personnel": Ms. Pam Bondi and Mr. James Rubin. Key Personnel shall be personally and substantially engaged in the delivery of the Services."
3. Appendix B is amended to modify the consulting fee to US $ 115.000 per month.
Except as expressly stated herein. nothing in this Amendment One shall alter or amend the terms of the Consulting Services Agreement.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Embassy and Consultant have executed this Agreement by their duly authorized representatives.
By Embassy
By:
BBI
Consultant
Date:
July 17, 2019
.."''"
1040210288269 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 11/05/2025
Administration officials are prepared to argue the massive gift from the ruling family of Qatar is legal, ABC news reports. Trump would use the plane as Air Force One.
oregonlive.com
Trump reportedly set to accept luxury jet from Qatar, prompting questions about presidential gifts
Administration officials are prepared to argue the massive gift from the ruling family of Qatar is legal, ABC news reports. Trump would use the plane as Air Force One.
51911 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
David Frum @davidfrum.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
Donald Trump is about to accept a gift of a jet from Qatar. This is a gift to him personally. He wants to transfer the jet to his presidential "library" - meaning to his personal use and that of his heirs. More analysis of Trump corruption here www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpU2...
781079352 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
STUNNING story: 25-year-old DOGE aide was warned about his conflicts of interest at CFPB but participated in mass layoffs at the agency anyway, including the firings of the ethics lawyers who had warned him.
propublica.org
DOGE Aide Who Helped Gut CFPB Was Warned About Potential Conflicts of Interest
Before he helped fire most Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staffers, DOGE’s Gavin Kliger was warned about his investments and advised to not take any actions that could benefit him personally, ac...
48731275 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
Gee wonder who that would benefit!
14869501512 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Yes. We keep writing headlines that assign powers to the president that he does not have.
682427766 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Jamie Gangel @jamiegangel.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
New- Chris Krebs’ “membership in Global Entry has been revoked. Krebs, who has repeatedly attested to the security of the 2020 election, told CNN he finds it hard to believe this isn’t another act of retribution…” @jaketapper.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2025/04/30/p...
cnn.com
Chris Krebs kicked off CBP’s Global Entry program | CNN Politics
Chris Krebs’, President Donald Trump’s former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, membership in Global Entry has been revoked. Krebs, who has repeatedly attested to the s...
1392496775 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Hard to overstate what censorious bullshit this is. CBS would have 1A protection even if it had edited the interview in a "biased" way. But there was nothing biased or misleading about it. This is about intimidation -- and forcing future compliance with Trump's demands.
541417398 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
what will stay with me the most is this quote. institutions are based on trust. if this data is continually used against the ppl who trusted the govt enough to comply & give it to them, the contract is breached. if you were creating a program to further hurt trust in govt it would look like this.
9352100 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
David Frum @davidfrum.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Putin-Orban move www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Directs Justice Dept. to Investigate ActBlue, Democrats’ Cash Engine
The president ordered an inquiry into ActBlue, the main Democratic fund-raising platform, in his latest move using the government to target political opponents.
26507134 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Daniel Radosh @radosh.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
The entire transcript of Time's interview with Trump is insane. Just to pick one moment: Trump says Biden would never do an interview with Time, then when told that he had asks how it went, then when told he can read it himself says that he had read it and it didn't go well time.com/7280114/dona...
Well, sure, but you wouldn’t be—if this were Biden, well, first of all, he wouldn't do an interview because he was grossly incompetent.

We spoke to him last year, Mr. President. 

Huh?

We spoke to him a year ago. 

How did he do?

You can read the interview yourself. 

Not too good. I did read the interview. He didn't do well. He didn't do well at all. He didn't do well at anything. And he cut that interview off to being a matter of minutes, and you weren't asking him questions like you're asking me.
62400759 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
“He is one of the top five, probably, most targeted people in the world for espionage.” That seems accurate!
1386253456685 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
The guys in the White House talk all day about how soft the Europeans are. But when there is an actual war in the actual world, the Trump people immediately submit to what they think is the stronger side and complain that everyone else doesn’t do the same.
482217503 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
To put a finer point on it. Trump’s contention isn’t just that he can deport people without them appearing before a judge, but that he can render them into a life sentence in a foreign dungeon with no process whatsoever.
52287922778 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Congress literally created an Alien Terrorist Removal Court for the expeditious removal of aliens who are designated as terrorists, under a preponderance of evidence standard. I think problem isn’t the time it would take, but the fact that the government would have to produce actual evidence
21358961412 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
This is an obvious point, but cannot overstated. There is an enormous difference between deporting someone - where they get off a plane as a free citizen in their home country AND FUNNELING THEM INTO A BRUTAL PRISON FROM WHICH THEY HAVE NO CHANCE OF EVER EMERGING!!!
16728587020065 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
"If people who are covered by the Bill of Rights can now be whisked away from the United States of America, dumped into an inhumane prison, and then an American government just washes their hands of it you’ve just hacked the Bill of Rights. There’s just no other way around it."
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Trump Administration Is Disappearing People Like the Soviet Union
The courts can only do so much to protect us. Will more people be doomed to the fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
1019152 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Yet those of us who live in the heart of MAGA country knew all about the malice and incompetence. We knew that they scorned the Constitution and enforced their own version of cancel culture, one that can be even more virulent and threatening than the worst moments on campus. We're not surprised.
721927 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
A thought . . . Lots of the "anti-woke" folks who came over to Trump were living in deep blue areas cut off almost entirely from MAGA culture. They felt burned by the up-close encounters with the "woke." But they had no close contact with MAGA at all. Now some of them are shocked at what they see.
1420023 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 18/04/2025
Still worth reading @cwarzel.bsky.social on the gleeful cruelty of the White House X account—"the sociopathic, fascistic tone of ironic detachment and glee of the internet’s darkest corners and most malignant trolls." www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
49824 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 16/04/2025
Thirty-eight of 43 experts cut last month from the boards that review the science and research that happens in laboratories at the National Institutes of Health are female, Black or Hispanic, according to an analysis by the chairs of a dozen of the boards.
washingtonpost.com
Women, minorities fired in purge of NIH science review boards
Scientists, with expertise in fields that include mental health, cancer and infectious disease, typically serve five-year terms and were not given a reason for their dismissal.
641101895222 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Van Hollen says that he asked the VP of El Salvador why his government continues to hold Abrego Garcia even though he’s not charged with any crime and there’s no evidence that he’s MS-13. “His answer was that the Trump administration is paying the government of El Salvador to keep him at CECOT”
32273903112 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
The ones who support dictatorship abroad support dictatorship here. The ones who lie for Putin lie for Trump.
391566479 0
thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Americans yearn for the mines
010 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
David Frum @davidfrum.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
The Supreme Court granted Trump de facto impunity for his personal crimes ... and then expected him to obey their judicial orders? Impunity is impunity.
411377251 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez @gluesenkampperez.house.gov · 10/04/2025
Adding insult to injury, Republican Leadership disrespects the intelligence of my community by using cheap accounting gimmicks to hide the real cost of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, while at the same time, raiding programs that advance our national health, like Medicaid & food programs. ⬇️
12194 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
okay now that you all have gotten a taste of America's rational and predictable new trade policy, everyone who wants to build your new factories here just form an orderly line
404233174589 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
The Trump administration is comfortable disappearing people to foreign gulags partially because the Trumpis Justices on the Roberts Court have enabled him at every turn, rewriting the Constitution when necessary to accommodate Trump's lawlessness www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
this lawlessness is happening precisely because the nation’s highest court condoned it in advance. The right-wing justices on the Roberts Court have repeatedly rewritten the Constitution to Donald Trump’s benefit, first by nullifying the anti-insurrection clause in the Fourteenth Amendment, and then by inventing an imperial presidential immunity that is nowhere in the text of the document. It is no surprise that Trump is now acting as though he is above the law. After all, the Roberts Court all but granted him permission.
843249937 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Petabytes of critical government research that is marked for possible deletion cannot be archived because of technical and legal restrictions, meaning it is very likely to be lost forever: www.404media.co/nih-archives...
404media.co
Massive, Unarchivable Datasets of Cancer, Covid, and Alzheimer's Research Could Be Lost Forever
Days before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that 10,000 HHS staffers would lose their jobs, a message appeared on NIH research repository sites saying they were "under review."
18843472757 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die. Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
10706252512918 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
60 Minutes @60minutes.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
60 Minutes found no criminal record for 75% of the Venezuelan migrants the U.S. sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador. cbsn.ws/4lC4Vp5
10522771212822 0
Reposted by @thetrunkmonkey.bsky.social
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Tonight we learned that it was indeed Andry, the gay man sent to El Salvador because of his “mom” and “dad” tattoos, who an American journalist saw sobbing as guards slapped him repeatedly and shaved his head. He is an innocent. And Trump sent him to a torture prison. Bring them back!
Jenny Cohn
@jennycohn.bsky.social
"One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, I'm not a gang member. I'm gay. I'm a barber.' I believed him. *** He "began to whimper," as his head was roughly shaved, "folding his hands in prayer as his hair fell." He
"asked for his mother & cried as he was slapped again."Photo of Andry featured on MSNBC. Chyron reads: 
IMMIGRATION ATTY. SAYS ASYLUM-SEEKING CLIENT WAS DEPORTED BECAUSE OF MISREADING OF TATTOOSA photo of Andry’s wrists showing his “mom” and “dad” tattoos. Each has a crown above them, which ICE thought made him a gang member. A photo of Andry having his head shaved in El Salvador, his hands clasped together in prayer.
24596343735 0