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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 4d

Joining @aliciamenendez.bsky.social on @msnbc.com in the 7PM hour to talk about the White House assault on the US Attorneys’ Offices and the broader legal system.

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 5d

China is pushing the Trump administration to roll back national-security restrictions on Chinese deals in the US, dangling the prospect of a massive investment package as part of a proposal that would upend a decade of policy. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

China Pushes Trump to Drop Curbs as it Dangles Investment Pledge

China is pushing the Trump administration to roll back national-security restrictions on Chinese deals in the US, dangling the prospect of a massive investment package as part of a proposal that would...

www.bloomberg.com

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 5d

"About six in ten adults say they have heard “a little” (30%) or “nothing at all” (31%) about the expiring ACA subsidies, showing widespread lack of information on the cost of coverage for over 24 million people in the U.S." www.kff.org/affordable-c...

KFF Health Tracking Poll: Public Weighs Political Consequences of Health Policy Legislation | KFF

KFF's Health Tracking Poll finds that more than three-quarters of the public say they want Congress to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits that are set to expire at the end of this year. If th...

www.kff.org

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 5d

"The focus on voter fraud in Pennsylvania is particularly ironic because it sure looks like, and a trail of documentation suggests, that Posobiec is living in Maryland but voting in Pennsylvania. If so, that would be a violation of voting laws, experts say." slate.com/news-and-pol...

MAGA’s “Voter Fraud” Watchdog Votes in a Swing State. He Doesn’t Live There.

A long paper trail shows that Jack Posobiec casts a ballot in one state and lives in another.

slate.com

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 5d

The developer of ICEBlock, an app that lets people crowdsource sightings of ICE officials, has said he is determined to fight back after Apple removed the app from its App Store. www.404media.co/iceblock-own...

ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’

Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never t...

www.404media.co

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 5d

In an interview, Arrington expressed dismay that his refusal to provide an Eisenhower sword to Trump could have led to his forced resignation.

“I never imagined that I would be fired from almost 30 years of government service for this,” he said.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/a...

After Declining to Give Trump a Sword for King Charles, a Museum Leader Is Out

www.nytimes.com

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 7d

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 7d

"Democrats, by centering their demands on restoring funding for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, are deploying their strongest legislative weapon — the ability to shut down the government — behind what polls show is their strongest issue: health care."
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

This Shutdown May Help Democrats, But Not Democracy

It’s easy to understand why Democrats want to use the government shutdown that began today to focus on the choices by President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress that will deny health insurance...

www.bloomberg.com

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 7d

“We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” the president of the United States said.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/u...

Trump Gave the Military’s Brass a Rehashed Speech. Until Minute 44.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Tim O’Brien

Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 7d

Federal judge, appointed by Reagan, in 161-page opinion today in deportation matter:

"There’s the issue of masks... To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police"

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Barb McQuade @barbmcquade.bsky.social · 8d

Working on a new book, “The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government.” Drawing from my experience as a prosecutor, the book offers ideas to take back our democracy and a vision for the future. Available June 9, 2026. Here’s the cover. What do you think?

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 7d

“Shortly after the Senate failed to pass a measure to fund the federal government, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget issued a memo directing executive branch agencies to ‘execute their plans for an orderly shutdown.’”
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

Update from Michael Gold

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Tim O’Brien

Alexandra Petri @petridishes.bsky.social · 7d

if the Trump Hegseth address had been an email www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

To: Entire Military Leadership of the United States, Stationed All Over the World, Who Would Have to Be Flown In Very Disruptively and Expensively If This Weren't an Email but for Some Reason Were an Urgent In-Person Address
From: Pete Hegseth
CC: Donald J. Trump
Subject: WARFIGHTER ETHOS
PLEASE DROP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING TO READ THIS EMAIL AT ATTENTION. THIS IS NOT SPAM AND I AM EXTREMELY SOBER! YOU ARE TOO FAT TO FIGHT WARS!

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Reposted by Tim O’Brien

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 8d

great piece from the always-great @pastpunditry.bsky.social and a welcome antidote to vacuous commentators whose historical memories seem to go back no further than the first iron man movie

Opinion | The Right Didn’t Catch Cancel Culture From the Left

www.nytimes.com

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Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · 7d

Unions file suit over Trump's 'illegal' plan to fire many federal workers in a shutdown

www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

Unions file suit over Trump's 'illegal' plan to fire many federal workers in a shutdown

The suit asks a federal judge to stop the "cynical use of federal employees as a pawn in Congressional deliberations."

www.nbcnews.com

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Reposted by Tim O’Brien

Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 7d

“Exclusive: Nevada’s acting US Attorney urged voter fraud probe to help Republicans, document shows” electionlawblog.org?p=152321

"Exclusive: Nevada's acting US Attorney urged voter fraud probe to help Republicans, document shows" #ELB

Reuters: Nevada’s top federal prosecutor has asked the FBI to investigate debunked Republican claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election, a probe she hopes will influence congressional races and en...

electionlawblog.org

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Reposted by Tim O’Brien

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 7d

This is absolutely a lie. There is no reason shutdowns trigger layoffs. They never have before. Trump is simply using the shutdown as an excuse to take federal employees hostages and to further gut the government.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/shutdown-h...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7d

Trump: "When you shut it down, you have to do layoffs. So, we'd be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected, and they're gonna be Democrats."

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Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 7d

Republicans control all three branches of government.🙄

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 7d

SCOOP — The White House instructed all federal agency leadership on Tuesday to send out a mandatory message to workers blaming the impending potential government shutdown on House Democrats, The Handbasket was first to learn. Absolutely no modifications to the email were permitted.

My story:

Trump mandates all federal agencies send email blaming Dems for potential gov’t shutdown

Workers call the partisan email "a vile slap in the face."

www.thehandbasket.co

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 7d

Billions in taxpayer dollars have become virtually untraceable — raising questions about the legality of Trump’s actions. Some of these funds expire on Sept. 30. If they’re not spent by then, like all funds Congress appropriated specifically for 2025…they disappear.
www.notus.org/trump-white-...

Billions in Taxpayer Dollars Have Become Virtually Untraceable

The Trump administration’s aggressive approach to overhauling the executive branch has obscured how federal dollars are actually being spent — even for the members of Congress.

www.notus.org

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 7d

"Are we a lethal force? Oh yes, we are, Secretary Hegseth. We have been for decades. Ask our opponents." www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Trump and Hegseth Are Wrong: The US Military Is Lethal as Ever

In an oddly mismatched pair of speeches, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump lectured 800 of the US military’s most senior officers and enlisted leaders at the sprawling Marin...

www.bloomberg.com

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 7d

"It’s Bizarro World in Washington. Democrats are standing firm. And Republicans are arguing that they are the great defenders of the government they’ve spent months gutting. A shutdown looks increasingly likely." www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Shutdown Debuts a New GOP Message: Fund the Government, Please!

It’s Bizarro World in Washington. Democrats are standing firm. And Republicans are arguing that they are the great defenders of the government they’ve spent months gutting. A shutdown looks increasing...

www.bloomberg.com

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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 8d

I think we underestimate the extent to which the right wing has eroded civil society simply by pulling stunts like this that make any public participation extremely unpleasant.

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 9d

Cornell is cancelling a distinguished professor's classes on Gaza and suspending him because of the complaints of a student who previously served in Israel's military surveillance agency and was literally recording the comments of other students in class and deliberately derailing discussion.

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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 8d

fewer than 1% of the human population will ever get to type a comeback as contextually devastating as this

Holy shit, I remember the backlash I got for appearing in Alvin and the Chipmunks!

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Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 8d

“For the first time since The Times began polling on this issue in 1998, more U.S. voters sympathize with Palestinians than with Israelis.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/p...

Americans’ Support for Israel Dramatically Declines, Times/Siena Poll Finds

www.nytimes.com

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