PlayfulPiano
@playfulpiano.bsky.social
150 followers 330 following 1.8K posts
he/him, Musician/Arranger, Applied Statistics and Data Analytics B.S. @ RIT, Social Democrat, Black Lives Matter, Jewish Atheist, Best SSF2 Mega Man https://allmylinks.com/playfulpiano
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Reposted by PlayfulPiano
sharonk.bsky.social
50 years of history, and axed by Elon Musk without Congress
sharonk.bsky.social
Still find it wild how they shut down USAID with no Congressional approval
jamellebouie.net
would love to know where vought got the authority to shutdown a government agency established by statute
playfulpiano.bsky.social
is the shutdown "fun zone" still around 35 days like last time (due to pilots using sick leave and shutting down airports)? Or do we have a different timeline here?
Reposted by PlayfulPiano
augustjpollak.bsky.social
Some safe Dem in a +45 district needs to challenge this in court because if we don't get an actual declaration from the Court "sure, here's another way the president is actually king" then Republicans will immediately get a favorable, opposite ruling the minute a Democrat thinks they can do this too
nytimes.com
President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.
Trump Signs Memo Expanding His Authority to Spend Federal Money
The president gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wide authority to repurpose funds to pay members of the military without approval from Congress, which has the sole constitutional authority to decide federal spending.
nyti.ms
Reposted by PlayfulPiano
uticaeric.bsky.social
The president can’t abrogate the anti-deficiency act via EO, what the hell is this?
nytimes.com
President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.
Trump Signs Memo Expanding His Authority to Spend Federal Money
The president gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wide authority to repurpose funds to pay members of the military without approval from Congress, which has the sole constitutional authority to decide federal spending.
nyti.ms
playfulpiano.bsky.social
So there's potential for Chicago to have changed their tune? That and the budget fights going on.

Eh nah.
playfulpiano.bsky.social
How long ago was that to be fair
Reposted by PlayfulPiano
esqueer.net
I can't stress enough how young staffers working for Republicans are basically all groyper Nazis now. The leaked texts yesterday saying "I love Hitler" and now swastikas on congressional offices.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office
An American flag altered to include an image of a swastika was found in Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.
www.politico.com
Reposted by PlayfulPiano
marisakabas.bsky.social
Update— DHS Asst. Secretary Tricia McLaughlin just doxed the 13-year-old who was taken by ICE, sharing a copy of a police report on X with his full name and photo visible.

She’s trying to prove the disputed claim that he had a gun. I’ve reached out to the city. I will not be sharing the post here.
Reposted by PlayfulPiano
johnpfaff.bsky.social
White House budget director Vought SAYS HE WANTS TO shut down the CFPB within months, EVEN THO HE HAS NO AUTHORITY TO SHUT DOWN A CONGRESSIONALLY-CREATED AGENCY, saying, LIKELY WITH ZERO EVIDENCE, it’s no longer protecting customers.

How are we STILL doing such terrible headlines 10 months in.
playfulpiano.bsky.social
Nah it would definitely affect the 26 elections. Look at how quick Texas decided to gerrymander.
playfulpiano.bsky.social
what's funny in my case is that I genuinely see "piano" as my second name, as I've gone by it online for roughly 18 of my 26 years now.
playfulpiano.bsky.social
tbh I just call you recon since it's short and sort of a proper noun
playfulpiano.bsky.social
tbf it's hard to parse names with non name names, and not everyone focuses on handles either.
Reposted by PlayfulPiano
stano.bsky.social
Someone dumb enough to hang a swastika in his cubicle probably also has the most heinous Nazi social media account. What's more, I bet he has friends who work in other Congressional offices who are also Nazis.

If I were a reporter covering Congress, I would probably look into this.
politico.com
EXCLUSIVE: Capitol Police are investigating a swastika found in GOP Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.

“The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff, or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms," Taylor said in a statement.
Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office
An American flag altered to include an image of a swastika was found in Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.
www.politico.com
Reposted by PlayfulPiano
utopia-defer.red
absolutely unthinkable to help pass a budget as long as he feels comfortable saying this
atrupar.com
Trump: "We're just at the start. We're going to go into other cities that we're not talking about purposely. We're getting ready to go in."
playfulpiano.bsky.social
what is necessary if the VRA gets overturned
zacparkerwny.bsky.social
Very glad my governor is willing to fight fire with fire when it comes to redistricting. I've been tinkering with my congressional map. Here is a map that sends 25 Democrats to Washington, is VRA compliant, and has some pretty fun shapes. Maybe I should send it over to some folks I know in Albany?
New York with 25 solidly Democratic districts and 1 solidly Republican district. The previous map but with clearer borders. A close up of NYC and Long Island. Map shows minority-majority districts, of which there are 10. This includes 2 that are majority Hispanic, 1 that is majority Black, and 1 that is majority Asian along with 6 "minority coalition" districts.
Reposted by PlayfulPiano
khartsun.bsky.social
here's a 25-1 VRA compliant map
bsky.app/profile/zacp...
zacparkerwny.bsky.social
Very glad my governor is willing to fight fire with fire when it comes to redistricting. I've been tinkering with my congressional map. Here is a map that sends 25 Democrats to Washington, is VRA compliant, and has some pretty fun shapes. Maybe I should send it over to some folks I know in Albany?
New York with 25 solidly Democratic districts and 1 solidly Republican district. The previous map but with clearer borders. A close up of NYC and Long Island. Map shows minority-majority districts, of which there are 10. This includes 2 that are majority Hispanic, 1 that is majority Black, and 1 that is majority Asian along with 6 "minority coalition" districts.
Reposted by PlayfulPiano
golikehellmachine.com
i have to be honest, gang, i have some questions about this republican strategy of telling everyone to tune in and pay attention to what’s likely to be one of the largest days of political protest in american history directed at the republican party
atrupar.com
Johnson: "We call it the Hate America Rally that will happen Saturday. Let's see who shows up for that. I bet you you'll see Hamas supporters, I bet you'll see antifa types, I bet you'll see Marxists on full display, people who don't want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic"
playfulpiano.bsky.social
Funny how two reps from similar ideological groups are leading to a substantial delta in local campaign competency.

Also shows how ideology is not an end all be all for electoral success.
playfulpiano.bsky.social
Yeah the VA NJ gap is gonna be massive
playfulpiano.bsky.social
Also the CGB is showing a +3D environment rn, but by this point in 2017, it was at +7.3D.
playfulpiano.bsky.social
My fear is that even after all of what happens, partisan polarization will still enforce a 40% floor.
playfulpiano.bsky.social
What frustrates me more is the fact that it's above 40% when his first term low point was 37%. Said low point was during the ACA appeal attempt too, not J6.

This was also when he had better economy numbers than he does now. Like why is every issue supposedly worse but he's still > 40%??
Reposted by PlayfulPiano
rincewind.run
“the constitution not only prohibits addressing racial discrimination, it requires it” seems about where we’re going to end up here and it is the most unbelievably depressing thing in the world

dismantle this court
elienyc.bsky.social
The fight here with Gorsuch and Kav vs Nelson is whether the "use" of race automatically means "discrimination" on the basis of race.

That's interesting to me, because it's basically the white folks telling on themselves. They cannot see a "use" of race that isn't synonymous with discrimination.