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Vultures Aloft @thesleeperssleep.bsky.social · Jul 28

I'm sorry, but this may be the funniest Facebook AI slop I have ever seen. Bury me sideways in my coffin, brother. Let my dog see

Hulk Hogan, lying inexplicably sideways in his open coffin, being visited by a chihuahua dog, who looks distraught. The people behind the coffin do too

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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · Jul 22

On Capitol Hill, I joined Sen. Bill Nelson @gretchentg.bsky.social @adamconner.bsky.social @cdelawalla.bsky.social to sound the alarm about the systematic dismantling of the US research infrastructure. The question isn't whether we can afford to invest in research. It's whether we can afford not to.

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · Jul 21

Get on the phone. It's appropriations season in Congress. #StoptheCuts #ProtectScienceandInnovation.

Alt Text:

A graphic with a dark blue textured background features bold white text that reads:
“The future of American science and innovation is at risk, but there’s still time to prevent more devastating cuts.”

Below that, smaller white text says:
“The Trump Administration slashed billions in federal research grants to universities, attacked scientific journals, restricted legal immigration for highly-skilled scientists, and proposed billions in budget cuts to the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, NASA, and more.”

At the bottom, white text with a call to action reads:
“Go to ProtectScienceAndInnovation.org and tell Congress to reject these funding cuts.”

To the right is a stylized illustration of the torch from the Statue of Liberty with multicolored flames, overlaid by white atomic orbit lines.

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Jul 16

I didn’t start out thinking there was some genuinely incriminating info about Trump in the DOJ files on Epstein but I’m definitely changing my mind!

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Adam Conner @adamconner.bsky.social · Jul 4

After a brutal few weeks of work, of course I stayed up late writing about the afternoon before a three day weekend release of the TikTok Letters and my obsession with the TikTok ban non-enforcement for my new Substack, "The Fun's in the Fight."
thefunsinthefight.substack.com/p/the-tiktok...

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Alan Rozenshtein @alanrozenshtein.com · Jul 3

The FOIA releases are available here. Congratulations to Tony Tan for his dogged pursuit of these documents! www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

25-3980 (N.D. Cal.) Response 07.03.2025

www.documentcloud.org

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Jul 4

REQUEST: If anyone still at DOJ knows anything about where these TikTok nonenforcement letters came from, who vetted them, if OLC had anything to say, or anything else of note, please reach out on a non-work phone and contact me on Signal: crg.32

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Jul 3

NEW: In letters to companies with app stores, AG Pam Bondi purported to be "irrevocably relinquishing any claims" against them — Apple, plus Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and T-Mobile — for violating the TikTok ban. This is so, per Bondi, b/c Trump said it's OK, despite contrary language in the law.

The Department of Justice is also irrevocably relinquishing any claims the United States might have had against Apple Inc. for the conduct proscribed in the Act during the Covered Period and Extended Covered Period, with respect to TikTok and the larger family of ByteDance Ltd. and TikTok, Inc. applications covered under the Act. This is derived from the Attorney General's plenary authority over all litigation, civil and criminal, to which the United States, its agencies, or departments, are parties, as well as the Attorney General's authority to enter settlements limiting the future exercise of executive branch discretion.
Finally, because the Act vests authority for investigations and enforcement of the Act only in the Attorney General, the Department of Justice intends to take all necessary actions to implement the President's Executive Orders and guard the Attorney General's exclusive authority to enforce the Act, to include filing amicus briefs, statements of interest or intervening in litigation.
Regards, Da Bori
Pamela Bondi
Attorney General
United States Department of Justice

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Jul 4

The idea that "I am genuinely outraged by Mamdani's college application, and therefore will shift my allegiances to Cuomo or Adams" is pretty funny

Cas Piancey @cascoinfoundation.org · Jul 4

Hahahahahahahaha

Jordan Lasker: Betting markets have not reacted to today's information pertaining to the New York City mayoral election.

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Adam Conner @adamconner.bsky.social · Jul 4

Some people asked me why I, a guy who was indifferent about the TikTok ban, was so obsessed with it after Jan 19th. Because presidents can’t abdicate laws via EO and issue preemptive get out of jail cards.
www.americanprogress.org/article/publ...

techpolicy.press/apple-and-go...

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nilay patel @reckless.bsky.social · Jul 3

If I’m an Apple or Google shareholder I’m looking at this letter from Pam Bondi promising not to enforce the TikTok ban and saying this is nowhere close to good enough given the potential scope of damages. It’s basically a pinky swear based on nothing. www.theverge.com/tiktok/69798...

(b) 6)
Appetire ent of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled
Dear Ms. Adams:
Article Il of the United States Constitution vests in the President the responsibility ove ational security and the conduct of foreign policy. The President previously determined that a abrupt shutdown of the TikTok platform would interfere with the execution of the President's constitutional duties to take care of the national security and foreign affairs of the United States.
See Executive Order 14166 (E.O. 14166). The Attorney General has concluded that the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the "Act") is properly read not to infringe upon such core Presidential national security and foreign affairs
Executive Order 14166 instructed the Department of Justice not to take any action on behalf of the United States to enforce the Act for any conduct that occurred during the period of time from January 19, 2025 through April 5, 2025 (the "Covered Period"). Pursuant to the President's responsibility to protect national security and to conduct foreign policy, the President determined that a 75-day extension of the Covered Period to June 19, 2025 is appropriate and has signed a subsequent Executive Order to effectuate that determination (the "Extended Covered Period"). See Executive Order, Extending The TikTok Enforcement Delay (April 4, 2025).
In the Executive Order signed on April 4, the President directed "the Attorney General to issue a letter to each provider stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct that occurred during" the Extended Covered Period as well as for any conduct from the effective date of the Act. Based on the Attorney General's review of the
Katherine Adams
Senior Vice President & General Counsel
Apple Inc.
Page 2
facts and circumstances, Apple Inc. has committed no violation of the Act and Apple Inc. has incurred no liability under the Act during the Covered…

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Adam Conner @adamconner.bsky.social · Jul 4

Have you seen the insane disclosure Akamai had to make in their February SEC filings @reckless.bsky.social? It’s insane.

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Adam Conner @adamconner.bsky.social · Jul 4

PREACH.
Me in April. www.americanprogress.org/article/publ...

Public Companies Should Be Transparent About Not Complying With TikTok Ban

Public companies’ reliance on Trump’s questionable executive orders allowing them to not comply with the TikTok ban raises questions about their potential liability and whether they should disclose th...

www.americanprogress.org

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David Brody @dbrody.bsky.social · Jun 30

Red alert for the big bill blocking state tech laws!

There’s a new draft of the AI moratorium and it’s WORSE. The exceptions narrowed so “generally applicable” laws only survive if they do not create an “undue OR disproportionate burden” on AI. This creates huge uncertainty for which laws survive.

www.blackburn.senate.gov

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Adam Conner @adamconner.bsky.social · Jun 26

Voting on the reconciliation bill could start as soon as tomorrow so it’s important for all senators to know how the AI Pause would impact the BEAD funding that every single state has requested. Read more here:

www.americanprogress.org/article/the-...

The Senate’s AI Pause May Take Billions in State Broadband Funds Hostage

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s proposal to ban state and local regulation of AI could result in the loss of tens of billions of dollars in state broadband funds unless states comply with the AI pause.

www.americanprogress.org

Adam Conner @adamconner.bsky.social · Jun 26

New from @nicole-alvarez.bsky.social and I, a new @americanprogress.bsky.social analysis of the Senate Commerce reconciliation bill’s rebranded “AI Pause,” & how contrary to the claim it’s optional for the new $500M in funding, the text implicates the entire $42.45B in BEAD broadband funding.

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Center for American Progress @americanprogress.bsky.social · Jun 18

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law barring lifesaving medical care for transgender minors. In response, @calebllsmith.bsky.social, director of LGBTQI+ Policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement: www.americanprogress.org/press/statem...

STATEMENT: Supreme Court Ruled Against Bodily Autonomy in Skrmetti Case

www.americanprogress.org

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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · Jun 17

i'm developing a heuristic for interpreting republican governance

Flow chart: Does this own the libs > No Is it a handout for a rich sociopath? > No Does it reward an influential conspiracy theorist? No > Love of the game

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skelly @iid.bsky.social · Jun 17

Workshopping a take about how National Treasure, a movie about a conspiracy theorist who proves all those sneering academics wrong and also uncovers the true, dark origins of the US, is a proto-QAnon movie

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George Pearkes @peark.es · Jun 16

They’re chaosmaxing.

GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · Jun 16

who knows

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Kyle Clark @kylec.bsky.social · Jun 16

NEW: MyPillowGuy Mike Lindell found liable for defamation for his statements about Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer. Federal jury orders Lindell to pay $2.3M, far less than the $62.7M requested by Coomer’s attorneys.

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · Jun 16

I wrote about Democrats' obsession with calling Trump's actions a "distraction," and how it reflects their failure to understand the modern media ecosystem.

The Politics of Eternal Distraction

To some Democrats, everything Trump does is designed to distract you

stringinamaze.net

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · Jun 16

Finance Committee text is out - this has the Medicaid cuts and the tax cuts. Will go through it in this thread.

But what we can say for certain is that, like the House version, this would be BY FAR the largest Medicaid cuts in history, kicking many millions of people off their health insurance.

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Cal Smith @calebllsmith.bsky.social · Jun 16

Today's Something Censored - The VA used to have a comprehensive resource page for providing medical care to LGBTQI+ veterans. The page included resources everything from serving trans and non-binary vets - to details on suicide prevention services. All have been wiped from the VA site.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · Jun 16

"Personalist" is key. Trump foreign policy doesn't have a coherent vision; "isolationist" springs to mind because he's dismantling alliances, but he's also imperialist, routinely threatening and meddling abroad on a whim. It's all less an ideology than a reactionary's emotional urge to cause damage.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · Jun 16

America now has the foreign policy of a personalist dictator. New piece from me in @foreignaffairs.com

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Imperial President at Home, Emperor Abroad

American foreign policy in an age of unrestrained executive power.

www.foreignaffairs.com

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PC @pcfromnyc.bsky.social · Jun 15

"To everyone who pulls me aside to whisper with the best intentions 'You have already won', I am sorry, but the days of moral victories are over. And as my father told me years ago, 'When the Right wins power, the Left writes a great book.' Those days are over too."

-Zohran Mamdani

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