Michael Gauger
@mtgauger.bsky.social
Writer/editor focused on American history (especially the Progressive Era and World War I) and political science, funding for youth music education. Proud University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee alumnus. Opinions mine. A repost isn’t necessarily an endorsement.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
December 8, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Reposted by Michael Gauger
A review by Mother Jones and the Project On Government Oversight shows that a number of Tom Homan’s former clients from his time in the private sector have been awarded lucrative border and immigration-related contracts during the second Trump administration.
Border czar’s former clients cash in on Trump’s immigration crackdown
“So we’ve been trying to get access to Tom Homan…”
www.motherjones.com
December 7, 2025 at 9:00 PM
A review by Mother Jones and the Project On Government Oversight shows that a number of Tom Homan’s former clients from his time in the private sector have been awarded lucrative border and immigration-related contracts during the second Trump administration.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
bad actors like wurman are why i think it is important to place the birthright clause in the full context of section 1 and section 1 in the context of both dred scott and the two decades of antislavery and abolitionist agitation and political thinking that proceeded it
The evidence is the text. All you have to do is read the Constitution.
December 7, 2025 at 7:09 PM
bad actors like wurman are why i think it is important to place the birthright clause in the full context of section 1 and section 1 in the context of both dred scott and the two decades of antislavery and abolitionist agitation and political thinking that proceeded it
Reposted by Michael Gauger
The presence of intellectual zambonis in the MAGA movement doesn’t change the fact that MAGA is a fundamentally anti-principle project of grabbing power for right-wing special interests in defiance of the people’s will and the best interests of the nation as a whole
The evidence is the text. All you have to do is read the Constitution.
December 8, 2025 at 2:14 AM
The presence of intellectual zambonis in the MAGA movement doesn’t change the fact that MAGA is a fundamentally anti-principle project of grabbing power for right-wing special interests in defiance of the people’s will and the best interests of the nation as a whole
Reposted by Michael Gauger
Amicus brief from the Cato Institute, Dale Carpenter and Eugene Volokh urges full Fifth Circuit to affirm panel ruling that president of West Texas A&M violated the First Amendment when he ordered a drag show canceled, citing the show's purportedly "objectionable message." @cato.org
Geese, Ganders, and Pterodactyls: Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit En Banc Rehearing of West Texas A&M Drag Ban Case
From a brief filed yesterday by Joshua J. Bennett (Baker & Hostetler LLP) on behalf of Dale Carpenter, the Cato...
reason.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Amicus brief from the Cato Institute, Dale Carpenter and Eugene Volokh urges full Fifth Circuit to affirm panel ruling that president of West Texas A&M violated the First Amendment when he ordered a drag show canceled, citing the show's purportedly "objectionable message." @cato.org
Reposted by Michael Gauger
To be very clear: Kennedy's team is messing with a vaccine which has led to a 99 percent drop in the incidence of hepatitis B, which kills, early and painfully, 25 percent of the children who get it.
RFK’s Anti-Vax Team Readies Its Next Moves
“Their game is, let’s really destabilize trust in the vaccine, and make people really anxious about it.”
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM
To be very clear: Kennedy's team is messing with a vaccine which has led to a 99 percent drop in the incidence of hepatitis B, which kills, early and painfully, 25 percent of the children who get it.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
The president who watched Jan. 6 violence on TV and responded to Kevin McCarthy's desperate call from inside the Capitol with "well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you" doesn't think death threats against anyone even a little in his way is a bad thing?
Huh.
Huh.
Marjorie Taylor Greene claims she shared with Trump death threat she received that he incited, and his response was "extremely unkind"
December 8, 2025 at 12:39 AM
The president who watched Jan. 6 violence on TV and responded to Kevin McCarthy's desperate call from inside the Capitol with "well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you" doesn't think death threats against anyone even a little in his way is a bad thing?
Huh.
Huh.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
Very open-minded of Putin to have hired a nearly 80–year-old intern to help out with this and that.
President Donald Trump said he’s disappointed in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s handling of a US proposal to end the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Trump Says He’s Disappointed With Zelenskiy as Peace Talks Drag
President Donald Trump said he’s disappointed in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s handling of a US proposal to end the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion.
bloom.bg
December 8, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Very open-minded of Putin to have hired a nearly 80–year-old intern to help out with this and that.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
You don’t say.
Marjorie Taylor Greene claims she shared with Trump death threat she received that he incited, and his response was "extremely unkind"
December 8, 2025 at 12:40 AM
You don’t say.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
Fancy that.
Russian official praises 'strong' Trump's strategy: 'Largely consistent with our vision'
www.rawstory.com
Russian official praises 'strong' Trump's strategy: 'Largely consistent with our vision'
twp.ai
December 8, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Fancy that.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
The EU has slapped a fine on Musk's X because it is untransparent and supports deceptive practices. Nothing to do with "censorship."
December 7, 2025 at 8:28 PM
The EU has slapped a fine on Musk's X because it is untransparent and supports deceptive practices. Nothing to do with "censorship."
Reposted by Michael Gauger
“Records reviewed by the AP identify only nine of the 38 people arrested in the first days as having criminal histories that rose beyond traffic violations — information the intelligence bulletins warn “should not be distributed to the media.” www.nola.com/news/catahou...
Records reviewed by AP detail online monitoring, arrests in New Orleans immigration crackdown
Records reviewed by the AP show that few of those arrested have criminal histories beyond traffic violations.
www.nola.com
December 7, 2025 at 8:29 PM
“Records reviewed by the AP identify only nine of the 38 people arrested in the first days as having criminal histories that rose beyond traffic violations — information the intelligence bulletins warn “should not be distributed to the media.” www.nola.com/news/catahou...
Reposted by Michael Gauger
Here's a better headline for Axios: "How Trump has normalized racism and racist slurs." Why can't some journalists just call a thing what it is? https://loom.ly/hiKWr58
How Trump flipped America's race conversation
Language that once was disqualifying is now a fixture of national political discourse.
www.axios.com
December 6, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Here's a better headline for Axios: "How Trump has normalized racism and racist slurs." Why can't some journalists just call a thing what it is? https://loom.ly/hiKWr58
Reposted by Michael Gauger
Freudian slip from Tom Cotton: "I think President Bush has every power under the Constitution to strike boats in international waters"
December 7, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Freudian slip from Tom Cotton: "I think President Bush has every power under the Constitution to strike boats in international waters"
Reposted by Michael Gauger
All of this could have been prevented but since this is the route voters chose perhaps the consequences are starting to wake people up
There are glimmers of a post-Trump world. JP Morgan CEO saying he wasn't going to bribe Trump was a big deal cepr.net/publications...
Trump Crazy #54,278 and Glimmers of a Post-Trump World
Trump’s latest abuses, collapsing conspiracies, GOP defections, and signs of a post-Trump political landscape.
cepr.net
December 7, 2025 at 3:14 PM
All of this could have been prevented but since this is the route voters chose perhaps the consequences are starting to wake people up
Reposted by Michael Gauger
It could take decades to recover from where we are.
My teen, who had dreamt of being an astrophysicist, just told me he wants to go to law school because, “Science isn’t going to be a priority in the US in the future…I don’t want a job where I’ll be constantly worried my funding will be taken away.”
Gutting. How many future scientists have we lost?
Gutting. How many future scientists have we lost?
December 7, 2025 at 5:49 AM
It could take decades to recover from where we are.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
By the way this is why I know they’re lying when they say they knew who was on the boats and they’re all on a military list. The US military had somehow built a dossier on Robert Sanchez, the boat pilot living in a cinderblock house and earning $100 a month? He was next on the kill list after Osama?
Everyone seems to have forgotten but the AP actually went to Venezuela and found some of these men. They aren’t terminator-like cartel warriors, ready to give their life to ship kilos. They’re random dudes from small towns - bus drivers, fishermen - recruited for a payday. apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump has accused boat crews of being narco-terrorists. The truth, AP found, is more nuanced
One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet.
apnews.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:48 PM
By the way this is why I know they’re lying when they say they knew who was on the boats and they’re all on a military list. The US military had somehow built a dossier on Robert Sanchez, the boat pilot living in a cinderblock house and earning $100 a month? He was next on the kill list after Osama?
Reposted by Michael Gauger
The Trump regime's assault on immigrants does not really target "the worst of the worst." Its aim: to make America whiter.
The crackdown on colleges does not really target antisemitism. Its aim: to crush dissent.
The murders of boat crews is not really about drugs. Its aim: to grab Venezuela's oil.
The crackdown on colleges does not really target antisemitism. Its aim: to crush dissent.
The murders of boat crews is not really about drugs. Its aim: to grab Venezuela's oil.
December 7, 2025 at 3:52 PM
The Trump regime's assault on immigrants does not really target "the worst of the worst." Its aim: to make America whiter.
The crackdown on colleges does not really target antisemitism. Its aim: to crush dissent.
The murders of boat crews is not really about drugs. Its aim: to grab Venezuela's oil.
The crackdown on colleges does not really target antisemitism. Its aim: to crush dissent.
The murders of boat crews is not really about drugs. Its aim: to grab Venezuela's oil.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
BESSENT: When you come to this country, you gotta learn which side to drive on, you've gotta learn to stop at stop signs, and you gotta learn not to defraud the American people
BRENNAN: Well, there is plenty of criminal behavior from communities well beyond the immigrant community
BRENNAN: Well, there is plenty of criminal behavior from communities well beyond the immigrant community
December 7, 2025 at 3:53 PM
BESSENT: When you come to this country, you gotta learn which side to drive on, you've gotta learn to stop at stop signs, and you gotta learn not to defraud the American people
BRENNAN: Well, there is plenty of criminal behavior from communities well beyond the immigrant community
BRENNAN: Well, there is plenty of criminal behavior from communities well beyond the immigrant community
Reposted by Michael Gauger
"sitting or standing on top of a capsized boat"
What did you think they were able to do at that point? Launch their Iron Man gear?
What did you think they were able to do at that point? Launch their Iron Man gear?
WELKER: Lawmakers say the 2 men appeared to raise their arms potentially to surrender. Why did Admiral Bradley interpret these actions as anything other than them trying to survive?
TOM COTTON: They were sitting or standing on top of a capsized boat. They weren't floating helplessly in the water
TOM COTTON: They were sitting or standing on top of a capsized boat. They weren't floating helplessly in the water
December 7, 2025 at 3:51 PM
"sitting or standing on top of a capsized boat"
What did you think they were able to do at that point? Launch their Iron Man gear?
What did you think they were able to do at that point? Launch their Iron Man gear?
Reposted by Michael Gauger
In the era of slavery, free black people had to carry their "free papers" with them so they could prove to the authorities that they were free, or else they would be thrown in jail and sold.
BASH: If ICE says it doesn't arrest US citizens, why do we keep seeing incidents of them aggressively pursuing citizens?
HOMAN: I can't tell you how many times an illegal alien claims to be a US citizen. It happens all the time.
HOMAN: I can't tell you how many times an illegal alien claims to be a US citizen. It happens all the time.
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 PM
In the era of slavery, free black people had to carry their "free papers" with them so they could prove to the authorities that they were free, or else they would be thrown in jail and sold.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department.
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
It's over.
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
BREAKING: ‘This hurts’: UNL eliminates 4 programs despite faculty, student pleas
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln eliminates the Earth and atmospheric sciences 8-0, educational administration 7-1, statistics 7-1, textiles, merchandising and fashion design 7-1 programs.
www.dailynebraskan.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department.
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
Reposted by Michael Gauger
So, to all the "RFK's got some good ideas" folks (Rachael Bedard, Leana Wen) and Jay Bhattacharya is "an excellent choice for NIH" (Steven Macedo, Frances Lee) and Vinay Prasad "will bring a breath of fresh air to FDA" (Adam Cifu, John Mandrola) groupies--you own this now too.
I think the *speed* at which RFK Jr and his Great Barrington Declaration/anti-vaxx/Brownstone wrecking crew have been dismantling the US public health system has been really astonishing
Well, Senators Bill Cassidy and Thom Tillis, you wanted RFK Jr. to “go wild” at HHS.
Congratulations. You’ve achieved your goal. He is well on his way to completely destroying the US vaccine program.
Congratulations. You’ve achieved your goal. He is well on his way to completely destroying the US vaccine program.
December 7, 2025 at 11:15 AM
So, to all the "RFK's got some good ideas" folks (Rachael Bedard, Leana Wen) and Jay Bhattacharya is "an excellent choice for NIH" (Steven Macedo, Frances Lee) and Vinay Prasad "will bring a breath of fresh air to FDA" (Adam Cifu, John Mandrola) groupies--you own this now too.
Reposted by Michael Gauger
Over at the bad place the dumbest people are learning about libertarianism
December 7, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Over at the bad place the dumbest people are learning about libertarianism
Reposted by Michael Gauger
Honestly, if I was married to Stephen Miller I would also want to die.
December 7, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Honestly, if I was married to Stephen Miller I would also want to die.