Robert Rutledge
@rerutled.bsky.social
1K followers 1.5K following 2.1K posts
Associate Professor, Astrophysicist. Founder, Publisher @astronomerstel. Opinions here are my own. @[email protected] @rerutled at Threads. he/him
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rerutled.bsky.social
I’m only there because the majority of Congressional reporters aren’t here yet.

So I’m there mostly to throw verbal rocks at public officials who are failing the country.
rerutled.bsky.social
This is the weirdest illegal thing, ever.

If Speaker Johnson called the House back into session, majorities of Democrats and Republicans would vote to pay the troops. And Trump wouldn't be making illegal use of Congressionally allocated funds.

Johnson refuses to do it.
rerutled.bsky.social
CASSANDRA WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING
rerutled.bsky.social
It's amazing what people will do for a little more money.
clarajeffery.bsky.social
Marc Benihoff, who has barely been in San Francisco since the pandemic, is just a red-pilled asshole like the rest of them. What a fucking disgrace. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...
Marc Benioff Says Trump Should Send Guard Troops to San Francisco
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Robert Rutledge
adamkeiper.com
You would not fire these people—including the staff of the hugely, HUGELY important 'Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report'—if you cared at all about public health, if you wanted people to live.

And you would not let your thuggish henchmen fire people like this if you were a responsible president.
sherylnyt.bsky.social
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
Reposted by Robert Rutledge
sherylnyt.bsky.social
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
Reposted by Robert Rutledge
adamkinzinger.substack.com
Just a reminder, the layoffs in govt were just done out of spite, not necessity
rerutled.bsky.social
I spent six years at each.

As far as the institutions go - I would never ascribe anger to them. They can be presented with a challenge. They think about it, fully. The make a decision. Act on it. And then move on.
rerutled.bsky.social
I’m especially proud to be an MIT graduate, today.

Course 8 (physics) PhD ‘96
Reposted by Robert Rutledge
heartlandsignal.bsky.social
BREAKING: Masked Border Patrol agents aggressively arrested WGN video producer Debbie Brockman in Lincoln Square Friday morning, supposedly for "obstructing justice." (Video via Josh Thomas on Facebook)

Follow @heartlandsignal for more.
rerutled.bsky.social
Young people (and I am not young) can't be naive about the impact of that network, and have to figure out strategies to win out over it.

Again, RCV helps.
rerutled.bsky.social
Hear, hear.

Or even risking slowing down, in office.

As you know they keep winning because expectations are low - because requirements are also low. And they are supported by the enormous network they built. It's hard to fight that. Diane Feinstein. Strom Thurmond.

RCV can help.
rerutled.bsky.social
I do know that.

At the end of the election, it's about votes. Politics interferes, politics supports. It's political.

I still think running in both candidates in the primary and the general is the winning strategy for all. Long term, Dems should support multiple candidates on an RCV ballot.
rerutled.bsky.social
I agree DNC backing and resources can make a difference.

I want progressive victories. If Platner can't beat Mills in a primary, I don't see him winning in Nov.

But I think he should still try - it's the advantage of RCV. & It's better for Dems if both Platner and Mills are on the Nov ballot.
rerutled.bsky.social
Have you considered that all Maine races are Ranked Choice Voting (Single Transferrable Vote), and so there is no "spoiler" effect.

If Planter is more popular than Mills, having both on the November ballot is a strategy helping a Planter win.
rerutled.bsky.social
Right, although doesn't this approach also broadcast "I have a fragile ego - spar with it, and you will receive punishments galore", thus putting the employee in a fear position?

Which, for her, is probably what she wants.
rerutled.bsky.social
Also, some sweet classic asics.
Reposted by Robert Rutledge
newyorkstateag.bsky.social
This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.

I am not fearful — I am fearless.

We will fight these baseless charges aggressively, and my office will continue to fiercely protect New Yorkers and their rights..
Reposted by Robert Rutledge
govpritzker.illinois.gov
I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?
Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.
rerutled.bsky.social
Bonkers.
atrupar.com
Sen. Daines: "I'm reminded, those words of 'blessed are the peacemakers,' those are the words spoken by Christ in northern Israel over 2,000 years ago. And President Trump has blessed the world with his peacemaking ability."
Reposted by Robert Rutledge
motherjones.com
Masked agents snatching people at work, church, their child’s daycare. A return of family separations. States are lining up to run their own detention centers.

Anti-immigrant animus is now being paired with unprecedented funding, manpower, and technology.

We report from inside the American gulag.
American Gulag
The brutal rollout of Trump's police state.
www.motherjones.com
rerutled.bsky.social
That's sweet of you! Thank you.

We've collected all the messages we sent each other from when we met on Twitter, to the moment we, at last, met a month later in NYC. All texts, and emails, over 1000, all private, one of us in Cairo, the other in Montreal, and are thinking about publishing.
rerutled.bsky.social
For a short while, I strained to think of a worse person who was not a felon for this job, but then I remembered that the President is a felon.

So I'm taking off the bridles.
rerutled.bsky.social
In retrospect, it may have not been the best idea to put the person who ran professional wrestling in charge of all learning in the US.
sivav.bsky.social
The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously.

newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down
How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education
newrepublic.com
rerutled.bsky.social
I met my Beloved on Twitter in 2015.
conradhackett.bsky.social
Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?