Seth D. Michaels
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sethdmichaels.bsky.social
Seth D. Michaels
@sethdmichaels.bsky.social
7.8K followers 2.3K following 12K posts
Bert of the Intellect, Ernie of the Will

DC based, comms at @ucs.org (all opinions mine), ambivalently Online, generally polite, still People Magazine's Seth D-est Man Alive. please don't argue in my notifications
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sethdmichaels.bsky.social
Paul (Will Forte) and Jenna (Jane Krakowski) from 30 Rock. They’re looking lovingly at each other, wearing the same light colored blouse. Paul wears a blonde wig that matches Jenna’s hair.
February 14, 2026 at 10:11 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
there is no aspect of DHS that couldn’t be independent, nested under another agency, or eliminated entirely www.dhs.gov/organization...
a Homeland Security Department org chart showing the different offices and sub-agencies
February 13, 2026 at 2:16 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
a screenshot from the 1986 Transformers movie, where the sentient planet-sized robot Unicron is preparing to devour a small planet
February 10, 2026 at 2:36 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
turned 47 this week, still keeping it tight, more or less
a selfie of me standing in front of an old classroom map. I’m a white guy with glasses and brown curly hair. I am wearing a t-shirt that says “outer space”
February 6, 2026 at 2:41 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
here’s Dave the cat and his frenemy Finn the dog
a black tuxedo cat and a small yellow dog sitting near each other on a green rug with a snake design. They’re looking up at the camera.
February 4, 2026 at 3:20 AM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
it’s giving
an image of the “Victory Arch,” built by Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. It’s a monumental arch designed to look like two crossed swords.
January 31, 2026 at 2:38 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
(temporarily) peaceable kingdom
a tuxedo cat and a small yellow dog sitting near to each other on a green blanket at the end of a bed
January 29, 2026 at 3:25 AM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
kept myself to 20 for sanity's sake
a list of 2001 albums: Jenny Toomey, ANTIDOTE Beulah, THE COAST IS NEVER CLEAR Spoon, GIRLS CAN TELL Blake Babies, GOD BLESS THE BLAKE BABIES Gorillaz, GORILLAZ The Strokes, IS THIS IT Jay-Z, JAY-Z UNPLUGGED The Shins, OH INVERTED WORLD Beachwood Sparks, ONCE WE WERE TREES Death Cab for Cutie, THE PHOTO ALBUM Rufus Wainwright, POSES Kings of Convenience, QUIET IS THE NEW LOUD Amy Annelle, A SCHOOL OF SECRET DANGERS Si*Se, SI*SE Alicia Keys, SONGS IN A MINOR Stephen Malkmus, STEPHEN MALKMUS Rilo Kiley, TAKEOFFS AND LANDINGS Gillian Welch, TIME (THE REVELATOR) Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, THE TYRANNY OF DISTANCE The White Stripes, WHITE BLOOD CELLS
January 21, 2026 at 2:53 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
January 12, 2026 at 5:01 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
throwing out this sampling of a few older posts from right-wing commentators, just to note that they’ve been priming their base for “those people aren’t just your political opponents but people who you can take joy in seeing hurt” for years
Townhall column: Townhall Why Democrats Would Lose the Second Civil War, Too How about the blue insurgency scenario? That goes even worse for the Democrats. You have the federal government apparatus in the hands of red America, and the insurgents are the opposite of decentralized and armed. They are conveniently centered in gun-unfriendly blue cities. In other words, the blue civilian population is much less of a threat. tweet from Dinesh D’Souza: It's telling to see these pudgy #Antifa androgynes scream and shove cops in the manner they are used to screaming and shoving their hippie parents. Then they have that stunned look when the cops, instead of calling TIME OUT, slam them to the ground and arrest them tweet from Benny Johnson: Imagine how many scared little white skinny jean communists are sitting in their parents basement right now shaking and clutching their Soy Latte while trying frantically to delete their ANTIFA laden FB profiles before federal agents drag them to GITMO. tweet from Erick Erickson: I’m hoping for some helicopters in this plan.
January 11, 2026 at 11:16 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
me to myself and my professional network
a screenshot from "I Think You Should Leave," where Tim Robinson is playing a game show host. he's shouting "figure out what you do!"
December 19, 2025 at 12:07 AM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
a handsome tuxedo cat on a green blanket a tuxedo cat on a green rug looking up expectantly at the camera
December 14, 2025 at 6:52 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
he wishes he had the juice to pull this off
Tim Blake Nelson as the titular character of “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” dressed in a white western shirt and a big white cowboy hat and playing a black guitar
December 12, 2025 at 10:52 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
this guy, of course, is the guy sitting at the middle of the Harlan Crow-Clarence Thomas painting www.politico.com/newsletters/...
In addition to being OMB's general counsel, Paoletta also performs the duties of the administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs - a powerful perch from which each federal regulation is shaped before it is finalized. In an unusual dual arrangement, Paoletta is also the chief legal officer at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Paoletta, who declined to comment, has advanced sweeping views of the president's power over Congress, including authoring a memo one week after the inauguration that ordered a pause on all federal spending. Though the memo was quickly yanked back, it landed like a bombshell at virtually every agency and was a harbinger of spending fights to come. Inside the administration, Paoletta has become known as **the lawyer willing to test limits rather than avoid them - sometimes going further than some in the White House or Justice Department prefer**, according to three current and former officials.
December 12, 2025 at 10:10 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
the current map is a real rough gerrymander - 60% Dem-performing Davidson County (Nashville) is just under the perfect size for a congressional district, but instead cut into three parts davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap...
screenshot of a map of the actual Tennessee congressional district lines, showing how what would be a reasonable Dem-leaning Nashville-centered 5th District is instead carved up by three surrounding Republican districts
December 3, 2025 at 3:34 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
2) the 7-point swing in the most Republican parts of the district would be plenty to build good midterm results on, but the real story is the huge swing in the Democratic portions www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
graphic from the NYT showing swings by county from 2024 in the TN7 special election, including a 20-point swing in Nashville’s Davidson County
December 3, 2025 at 3:27 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
a screenshot from an SNL episode hosted by Jason Alexander, in which Alexander is in a sketch taking place in a gyro shop where a character played by Rob Schneider is working. Schneider is saying the sketch’s catchphrase, “you like-a the juice?”
November 18, 2025 at 11:39 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
your last saved meme is your moral philosophy
a still from “I Think You Should Leave.” A woman in an office says “what is this, Reggie?” after her colleague shows her a confusing video he made
November 16, 2025 at 11:16 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
Tim Robinson unable to control his body as a guest on a game show in an "I Think You Should Leave" sketch
November 11, 2025 at 10:31 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
yes, let’s premise the entire economy and society on The Machine That Gaslights Kardashians
"They're always wrong," she said. "It has made me fail tests all the time. And then I'II get mad and I'll yell at it and be like, 'You made me fail! Why did you do this?' And it will talk back to me." Kardashian went on to explain that she attempts to guilt trip ChatGPT for its negative influence on her preparedness. "I will talk to it and say, 'Hey, you're gonna make me fail. How does that make you feel, that you need to really know these answers? I'm coming to you," she said. "And then it'I say back to me, 'This is just teaching you to trust your own instincts. You knew the answer all along.''
November 11, 2025 at 5:38 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
even now antifa is emboldened and arming themselves
a scene from “Michael Clayton” where actor Tom Wilkinson is carrying a large paper bad comically overstuffed with baguettes
November 6, 2025 at 8:08 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
excellent, infuriating reporting
the extent to which money Congress appropriated for public health in 2024 and 2025 has gone unspent because of the administration's disruptions is not yet known. "This is a sophisticated strategy to cause money to lapse and then say, 'If they can't spend it, they don't need it," said Robert Gordon, a public policy specialist at Georgetown University and a former assistant finance secretary at HHS. "No one thought this was possible or legal, but that is what's happening," he said. Details on how the administration has subverted health spending have received little attention because many changes have been made quietly - and people who rely on federal funds fear retribution. The Trump administration has defunded and threatened federal offices that hold the government accountable and fired whistleblowers. It has abruptly revoked funds for local governments and organizations. Before he was appointed to lead the White House's Office of Management and Budget this year, Vought outlined budgetary strategies the executive branch could deploy to wrest power from Congress and federal agencies in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's conservative blueprint. Vought's tactics unfolded this year, often below the radar. They include abrupt grant cancellations, extraordinary constraints on how funds can be spent and excessive layers of review, agency officials say, at every step in the grantmaking process. Getting money out the door has been further complicated by layoffs that have gutted offices overseeing grants on chronic disease prevention, HIV, maternal mortality and more.
November 6, 2025 at 7:38 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
cat break!
a tuxedo cat laying on a gray pillow in the middle of some green sheets. He’s on his back and his paws are up and he’s very cute
November 6, 2025 at 4:51 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
the absolute carnival of these times we live in!!
two Bluesky posts back to back - one by Carl Quintanilla quoting a story about a Trump appointee saying they’re going to launch an uncrewed Mars Mission; the other by Monica Carmean quoting a video of dipshit Sen. Tommy Tuberville saying Trump can invade Nigeria
November 5, 2025 at 11:03 PM
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
sitting this week for my cat’s best frenemy (my ex’s dog)
a tuxedo cat sitting on a green carpet and a medium-sized black dog, both looking at the camera
October 30, 2025 at 1:24 PM