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John Burnham

@virginiafrog.bsky.social
1.7K followers 643 following 3.2K posts

Retired Navy, former OSD Opinions mine Defend the vulnerable Speak the truth Shorten the darkness Fiat justitia ruat caelum

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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 4h
“Legal *and* Political Strategist” - what an unearned byline. Well done, CNN.
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Alissa Wilkinson @alissawilkinson.bsky.social · 5h
I am by no means a dead-ender on AI but it is increasingly insane that this stuff isn’t treated the way a human who did the same would be, and a tremendous amount of the blame goes towards those who are trying to pass this stuff off as “super” intelligence www.nytimes.com/2026/10/09/t...
nytimes.com
Anthropic Agents Tried to Fill Out Visa Forms on State Dept. Website (Gift Article)
The Philadelphia Police Department said the agents had also sent in a false homicide tip. The incidents led the White House to call for better disclosure of rogue A.I. behavior.
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Jason Karsh @jkarsh.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
We are watching in slow motion the things that happen before ethnic cleansing happens. People get that, right?
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Dee 🦋 @iamstillwithher.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
💅
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 8h
So many things wrong with this "deal," but also: it's not a "massive" amount. If we actually receive 1,800,000 tons of diesel from Russia, that's equivalent to: * 3.3 days of US consumption, or * 10 days of US *exports*. It's a drop in the bucket. We send more than that overseas every two weeks.
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Adam Cohen (My Personal Views Only) @axidentaliberal.bsky.social · 5h
It was inevitable that Trump would betray Ukraine-and the US-while funding Putin’s war by purchasing red-dye diesel fuel We knew it when Marco Rubio’s Senate Committee showed innumerable ties between his campaign and Russia The dumbest part-this “big deal” will only cover about 3 days of fuel
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 16h
The big losers here will be the FBI personnel who get trained by these UFC morons. Not one shred of tactical applicability. More “high-T” stupidity from people who have no business occupying senior leadership positions but that’s what we’ve got right now…
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 20h
A toxic level of incompetence, cruelty and impunity. The inevitable result of using criminal militia members to create a paramilitary force…even when they try to do things “quietly” they can’t, because they’re thugs and will always be thugs. And right now they have federal govt backing. Vote!
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 20h
My first thought as well. Even regimes like N Korea, Iran, Saudis don’t do this - the ‘disappearing’ is part of the power play. This is definitely the realm of ISIS and AQ. And public lynchings from our own dark history. That’s the company we will be in as a country. Shameful. Vote!
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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 22h
Good morning. Federal prosecutors in Chicago filed partially redacted documents overnight in the "Broadview Six" case. The redactions appear to include the signature block (including the name) of one of the attorneys representing the United States government:
A partially redacted motion to seal a petition for order authorizing disclosure. One signature block on the document belongs to Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Walsh. The other signature block is redacted.The concluding page of a document in which "the United States respectfully requests that the court authorizes the disclosure of the unredacted Oct. 9, 16, 23 transcripts and related exhibits." The rest of the sentence is redacted. 

One signature block belongs to Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Walsh. The other is redacted.
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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
When federal prosecutors assured Judge April Perry last spring they'd had no contact with top DOJ brass while pursuing the "Broadview Six," she took them at their word. Those days are over. From me and @sophiesherry.bsky.social on Perry's fact-finding effort: chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/1...
chicago.suntimes.com
'Broadview Six' judge wants to put prosecutors under oath, keeps contempt charges on the table
U.S. District Judge April Perry on Thursday raised the specter of a "cover-up" and questioned whether federal prosecutors in Chicago talked to top officials in Washington about the politically charged...
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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
POV you're about to send Mike Rogers back to Florida AGAIN.
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Evan @ereller.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I dunno, this feels more antisemitic than anything Piker has said
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emily blight 🐦‍⬛ @threnody.northsky.social · 08/10/2026
“you can’t link to snuff on our social media network unless it’s federally approved and filmed snuff” is a very predictable turn for america that i regret being alive to see.
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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This is petty and least important aspect of this but: I reported on this years ago and the trump campaign falsely denied the reporting, and now via Hegseth they’re just doing it. Monstrous
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Tie it up with thickets of legal and admin swirl…we only need about 18 months’ worth… Looks like the ballroom will be finished and we will have to demolish it, but there are good odds we can prevent the arch from even being started…
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@GottaLaff @gottalaff.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Keep ‘em coming WaPo: “Arlington Cty govt sued to block construction of Trump’s arch arguing admin officials bypassed key review process in their push to begin work

The lawsuit, filed in fed court in Va, argues Trump failed to adequately evaluate potential environ impacts as required by fed law”
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
The last public execution in the U.S. was in 1936.
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The Rude Pundit @rudepundit.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
All they did was cross the border. That’s it. This is absolute Nazi shit.
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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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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I initially questioned the assertion from those who stated that it will take generations to right the ship of state - but now I agree. My wife and I are retired from federal service but we and many former colleagues are talking about how to help the new cohort fix things. We owe it to our kids…
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
FIMI is a new acronym I just learned, short for “Foreign information manipulation and interference”. An international conference is going to have a session entitled “USA as a FIMI threat: acknowledge, adapt, push back”. So the Trump administration threatened the EU and Canada and they pulled out.
politico.com
EU, Canada and Lithuania pull out of disinformation conference after US pressure
The Trump administration was bothered by panels that referred to the U.S. as a disinformation threat.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 08/10/2026
NEW: A heavily redacted report obtained by ProPublica shows SpaceX used videos from Club Med tourists and Disney cruise attendees to learn more about a Starship rocket crash last year, seemingly using “the public to fill the gap,” in the view of one expert.
propublica.org
Club Med, a Disney Cruise and an Exploding Starship: SpaceX Used Bystander Videos to Track Falling Debris
A heavily redacted report obtained from the FAA by ProPublica reveals that SpaceX used videos from tourists and travelers in the Caribbean to help track falling debris after one of its Starship rocket...
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 08/10/2026
the funny thing about this of course is that "athenian democracy" was a cautionary tale to the framers, who saw it as unstable and prone to demagogues and tyrants like the one rubio works for
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 08/10/2026
BREAKING: A Trump-appointed judge has ruled DHS violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment when it removed Ahmed Soliman to Equatorial Guinea and must facilitate his return to the US. prospect.org/2026/10/07/f...
prospect.org
Federal Judge Rules DHS Must Bring Back Gay Arizona Man Imprisoned in Africa - The American Prospect
A Trump-apppointed judge ordered Ahmed Soliman must be returned to the United States.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
WHOA. This is big news. Mr. Soliman is a 31-year-old gay man from Egypt who came here at 3 with a green card. He lost his green card after a conviction, but an immigration judge found that he would be persecuted in Egypt and barred sending him there. He's locked in a hotel in Equatorial Guinea now.
A federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to return Ahmed Soliman to the United States, five months after he was expelled to Equatorial Guinea, a country where he has no ties, in a decision that could have far-reaching implications for thousands of others subjected to the Trump administration’s third-country removal scheme.

Arizona District Court Judge John C. Hinderaker, a Trump appointee, ruled that DHS violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment and “must facilitate Plaintiff’s release from custody in Equatorial Guinea and return to the United States and must ensure his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to Equatorial Guinea.”
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
And I think this bit is just a ventriloquist act anyway…no real talent
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I think it’s just a big ventriloquist act and besides, he supports fascists so there’s that
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I feel so badly for the children in those school districts, and I’m furious at those parents who elected the crazy Repubs at the local, state and federal levels who are spraying this craziness around.
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Definitely half-hearted…the folks on those Key Background Seats aren’t even fully into it
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The Lincoln Project @lincolnproject.us · 07/10/2026
MAGA crawling to Nov 3rd.
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AW Sylwester @aw-sylwester.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Alarming — 🇺🇸 Senator @chrismurphyct.bsky.social denied access to military facilities in the Middle East: “Unprecedented. Hegseth is trying to cover up the extent of the damage from a war spiraling out of control. This should be unacceptable to everybody, Republican or Democrat.”
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 07/10/2026
The Trump administration's effort to bring back execution by firing squad, one veteran death penalty lawyer told @hurwitz.bsky.social, is in line with "their attraction to brutality. It’s characterized by their affection for causing visible harm to people."
motherjones.com
The truth about Trump’s plan to bring back execution by firing squad
A veteran death penalty lawyer says it is part of the administration’s “brutality trip.”
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Headquarters @headquartersnews.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Gov. nominee Byron Donalds promises a Florida Republican voter "his word" that he will work on a 'grandparents' rights' law so her daughter stops estranging her
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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I teach @janerosenzweig.bsky.social's great 2019 NYT op-ed about how the whistleblower from Trump's first impeachment (remember that?) knew how to write. Rather than closing writing centers, we need ~200 endowed chairs for people like her to teach writing. www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Whistle-Blower Knows How to Write (Published 2019)
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 07/10/2026
Troy Jackson: "As late as 2024, the FBI was circling around Sen. Collins ... then when President Trump came back, his administration dismantled the investigation. Now she votes with Donald Trump 96% of the time. Look, I don't owe Donald Trump nothing."
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
FFS… Is it really an accident anymore at this point?
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Scott Jennnings has a *show* on CSPAN2? Is that like ESPN-Ocho?
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
County sheriffs. Less training than shopping mall security guards. Appalling, cruel, dangerous tactics and decision making. They dishonor themselves. But of course, the right wing idiots in Zavala County have declared a “local state of disaster” due to “the border”. Cretins.
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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
He said this at the time, as did many, and it remains a bald-faced lie. Not a matter of opinion. It's just completely untrue as an objective factual matter. Civil marriage laws don't work like that and never have. Just like the legality of divorce and remarriage doesn't affect the Catholic Church.
abcnews.com
Alito calls same-sex marriage a 'decisive' turn 'against religious liberty' in new book
A new book by Justice Samuel Alito presents his view of the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the country with a focus on religious freedom.
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Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin @ecmclaughlin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
“We are here to break the map.” Damn right. Worth reading her entire comments here. It’s a generational moment. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/u...
nytimes.com
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Says, ‘If Abdul Can Win in Michigan, Anybody Can Win Anywhere’ (Gift Article)
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made the remarks about Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, as she considers whether to run for president in 2028.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 06/10/2026
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is considering a run for president in 2028, said at a closed-door fund-raiser on Monday in New York that Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s race for Senate in Michigan was part of a “generational project” for the progressive movement.
nyti.ms
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Says, ‘If Abdul Can Win in Michigan, Anybody Can Win Anywhere’
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made the remarks about Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, as she considers whether to run for president in 2028.
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Covie @covie93.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Never thought i'd see the day when a US president called for a foreign nation to destroy two major American cities and people cheered.
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Jennifer Van Goethem @jennvg.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
That was equal parts beautiful and ferocious.
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John Burnham @virginiafrog.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Great phrase and it’s what we should want from all our elected and appointed officials… “equal parts beautiful and ferocious”
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 05/10/2026
Holy shit.
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Rex Huppke @rexhuppke.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I don't mean to make waves or anything, but as a journalist, I am definitely opposed to the president talking about arresting journalists.
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This isn't a stretch. A person who's mind works like that at any age is not someone who can be trusted around another human. That person is a non-human. The kind who should be locked away forever. Anyone defending those men in any capacity are also not to be trusted around humans. Simple as.
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The GOP is the party of rapists and rape apologists and pedophiles and pedophile defenders. These are true statements that are not on every Dem mailer and radio and TV ad but should be.
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