Tom Zinnen
Tom Zinnen
@tmzinnen.bsky.social
240 followers 200 following 2.2K posts
Retired outreacher, formerly at UW-Madison Biotech Center
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Reposted by Tom Zinnen
Today in life under competitive authoritarianism
The US government: Well, we might have zip-tied children and/or shot them with rubber bullets, but not the young ones! (not a joke or an exaggeration)
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
Chris Murphy: "There's a lot of history that has taken place in the East Wing & it was just destroyed without any conversation in the public, without any consent of Congress. It's absolutely illegal. That visual is powerful b/c you're watching destruction of the rule of law as those walls come down"
Invoke, or trigger?

One doesn’t “attempt to invoke” anything: one merely speaks and the invoking has already happened
Then they came for the automotive locksmith.

They really did come for us all.
23 October 1907 | A Czech, Gottlieb Lada, was born in Senohraby. A automotive locksmith.

In #Auschwitz from 29 April 1942.
No. 33909
He perished in the camp on 25 June 1942.
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A podcast about registration photos: https://youtu.be/c2l9hDA5MZc
Trumpoline Diplomacy:

He never worries about how to stick the landing
🇺🇦President Zelenskyy is arriving now at the #EUCO summit in Brussels.

He was first invited as a show of support after the telling off he got from 🇺🇸President Trump last week. But breaking news overnight that Trump has cancelled his Putin meeting and sanctioned Russia has changed the context.
Then there's Eau Galle. 🥂
So weird because they are so wired.
Independents are so weird
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
The level of lying is staggering. And this is after a decade of off-the-charts lying.
A terrific AFP fact check uses reverse image searches to expose how a White House video took scenes from Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska and lied that they showed "Chicago is in chaos."
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....
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New, from me: until recently there was strong bipartisan consensus that a nonpartisan civil service was good and that politicization was bad. Now views are more divided, with Republicans aligning with the pro-politicization actions of Trump. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trump-has-...
Trump has polarized how the public views politicization
His supporters are coming to accept his way of governing
donmoynihan.substack.com
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
A masked federal police force accountable only to the president which can now readily smash into your car, shoot you, and call you a domestic terrorist because you are watching them

time.com/7326794/ice-...
DHS Accused of ‘Propaganda’ for Shifting Story in Shooting
The DHS is facing questions over differing accounts of the shooting of a U.S. citizen in Chicago, as protests continue.
time.com
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
As a private citizen, Trump claimed he was entitled to money from the U.S. government.

Now as president, he could authorize a taxpayer-funded payout to himself, possibly over $100 million, with no obligation to disclose it if structured as a settlement.
Trump has claimed millions from the government. He has power to order payment.
President has claimed he was damaged by investigations and wants compensation. “It sort of looks bad. I’m suing myself,” he acknowledged.
www.washingtonpost.com
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
This is among the most corrupt things a president has ever suggested, and I hope the press treats it that way. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
Trump Said to Demand Justice Dept. Pay Him $230 Million for Past Cases
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
In 2023, a jury found Trump guilty of 34 criminal felony counts of falsifying business records, hiding from the voters that he paid hush money to Stormy Daniels not to reveal that he also paid her for sex. He should have been imprisoned for up to 4 years.
Support our campaign to oppose MAGA extremists
dlvr.it
Really? Some nations have sovereign wealth funds and also receive royalties from leasing national lands. The USA could have had a sovereign wealth fund, but no.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
1. UPDATE

President Trump has confirmed that he is seeking a huge settlement from the Justice Department he controls for the various investigations and prosecutions against him.

The New York Times reports he is seeking around $230 million.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
Mike Johnson is presiding over the decline of Congressional power, devoting his energies into avoiding duly elected representatives into office.
If he is Speaker after the 2028 election, very easy to see him push to throw a close race to the Republican candidate.
This lawsuit, which demands that the House of Representatives finally seat Rep. Adelita Grijalva, has, um, fairly major implications for our democracy's survival in 2026 and beyond. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
there are good & worthwhile historical & legal arguments for why the unitary executive is nonsense but to my mind the most straightforward argument is that it makes no logical sense that the president has absolute removal power over the people whose job it is to keep the executive branch accountable
The Inspector General system is basically broken now. Most IGs have been fired, most positions remain vacant. Those who remain or would take the job pose no risk to holding the regime accountable.
Congress added more barriers to Trump firing IGs after his first term. He just ignored them.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
Important to note that it's New York STATE that brought charges against the J6er that threatened Hakeem Jeffries. Not the DOJ.
Coulda had Harris, Nebraska.

You know, the former prosecutor.

But you favored the pussy-grabbing rapist & 34x convicted felon.
Farm state Republicans are appalled by President Trump's plan to import beef from Argentina, saying it will punish U.S. cattle ranchers. This is from Sen. Deb Fischer R-Nebraska.
Reposted by Tom Zinnen
“.. They are the asylum seekers, the rule followers. They go into the federal building holding papers .. hoping for a measure of due process. Some leave the courthouse with a hearing date set months or years from now. Others disappear into ICE’s prison system.”

@nymag.com
nymag.com/intelligence...