B L Harland

Paying for votes is a crime for the payer and the recipient 18 USC 597. With five-year statute of limitations, the next DOJ could bring charges. And the conduct would be beyond the scope of presidential immunity for Trump. www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/...

As Texans froze to death and we collected snow in our bathtubs to flush toilets, boil for drinking water and cooking, Paxton abandoned us. Vote for the man who didn’t leave. #TalaricoForSenate #VoteBlue #TX

Commerce. Treasury. Education. Energy. Homeland Security. Interior. Small Business. These departments are all run by cabinet officials who have assets estimated to reach $100 MILLION or more. We have a government run by and FOR the ultra-rich.

Big corporations don’t need this break. Working families and small Main Street businesses are the ones who paid for this president’s unnecessary tariffs in the first place, and they’re the ones who should be repaid. www.cnn.com/2026/08/05/e...

A $3 @mta.info subway fare and some good Q train timing can buy you one hell of a view of the July 4th fireworks and the Brooklyn Bridge light show! Huge shoutout to the train operator for slow rolling over the Manhattan Bridge and the conductor for announcing it.

The Constitution sets minimum ages for office. It may be time to set maximum ones as well. bit.ly/4oLX8GQ

Former FBI agent Dan Brunner: From what we saw, the suspect wasn’t even close to breaching security. He still would have had to go down two flights of stairs and get through additional secured doors. He didn’t even reach the magnetometers before being stopped.

Nevada's largest utility says it will need three times the electricity required to power Las Vegas just to handle proposed data centers — and it probably can't do that without fossil fuels. https://to.pbs.org/4c0Eh6n

It's a global effort with a multibillion dollar price tag. Among its aims: re-greening nearly 250 million acres, planting 4,000 miles of trees, helping farmers, creating jobs, sequestering carbon.

Congratulations to photographer Andrew Harnik who has won the White House Correspondents’ Association award for presidential news coverage with one of the greatest Oval Office photos ever captured.

Effective 2025 federal tax rates paid by these corporations: Alphabet: 8.01% AT&T: 4.6% Meta: 3.57% General Motors: 3.09% Amazon: 1.37% Exxon Mobil: 1.31% Disney: -1.57% CVS Health: -3.88% Income tax rate paid by the typical American: 14.5% This is what a rigged system looks like.

Colson Whitehead concludes his Harlem Trilogy with a transcendent and wildly entertaining novel in which his recurring characters grapple with the ways their lives are defined by crime and the city they call home. It’s the greatest New York novel in years. @doubledaybooks.bsky.social

You know what? Fine, tech bros. You win. You get to do algorithmic pricing. But in return, we get to do algorithmic taxing on everyone with a net-worth over $5million. As a little treat.

this made me cackle all the way through

Congress failed to pass the SAVE Act last year for good reason: it’s an anti-voter bill. But now lawmakers have revived it despite overwhelming public opposition. Call your senators today and tell them to reject the SAVE Act: bit.ly/4srDVLB

Like clockwork.

RUSSIA GETS: -Higher oil prices -Reduced US economic pressure -Bogged down US military -Air defense assets not sent to Ukraine US GETS: -Indefinite war in pursuit of undefined outcome -Weaker economy -Frayed international partnerships -Combat deaths

Many of y’all asked how you can support and donate to our female athletes and the celebrations,,, so I created a Go Fund Me. I’m hopeful this can have an impact beyond the weekend and help those that represent the best of the US gofund.me/140322128

Since Trump was elected, this is what his “booming economy" looks like: - Billionaires became $1.5 trillion richer Meanwhile: - 60% live paycheck to paycheck - 15 million are losing health care - 20 million saw their premiums double

probably not a more elegant sentence on the internet today:

The beef I did not know I needed

this is a really important point. the district courts are trying to contain this administration. the circuits, by and large, are still working, with the occasional exception of the 5th, 8th, and DC circuits. the Supreme Court is on an island. lawless and completely rogue.

Bluesky is the new science Twitter, new study by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and Julia Wester concludes! "Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter."

The "SAVE ACT" is all about Republicans wanting to disenfranchise women and returning the US to the early 20th century before the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.

Putin's dream.

🚨BREAKING: Todd Lyons, the acting chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has admitted to senators that federal immigration officers would have “no reason” to be at voting locations this November. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

@stephruhle.bsky.social again asks, is this White House for sale?

Paste their pictures on the front pages next time there is a climate disaster. (gift article) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/c...

President Donald Trump kicked off the week with one of his clearest statements yet that, with polls looking bad for the GOP, he wants to take control of this year’s elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Man, they just lie endlessly. On the left, Ben Carson. On the right, conclusions from a study on the economic impact of a high national minimum wage after the 1966 FLSA: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

We found that Jeff Bezos paid *zero* taxes in 2007 and 2011. In fact, he reported making so little in 2011 that he even claimed and received a $4,000 tax credit for his children. This is how he did it (published 2021):

Trump unveils latest scam

A Trump ‘Blockade’ Is Stalling Hundreds of Wind/Solar Projects Federal agencies are delaying approvals for renewable energy projects on both federal land and private property at a time when electricity demand is going up. By Brad Plumer and Rebecca Elliott www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/c...

"The White House’s concession comes amid sagging approval ratings for Mr. Trump, and as he faces outrage over immigration enforcement tactics and the shooting deaths of two Americans by federal agents in Minnesota." Shame on all those institutions that caved pre-emptively last year.

xAI is valued at $200 billion and burns through $1 billion/month in cash. The primary product development has been a chatbot that self-identified as "MechaHitler" then pivoted to production of nonconsensual porn, including of minors. I do not consider this an optimal use of society's resources.

What's most amazing about this is the fact that the WSJ needed a “study” to figure it out.

“Technology has stolen us from each other and in many ways from ourselves, and then tried to sell us substitutes. Stealing ourselves back, alas, is not as easy as walking out the door. We need somewhere to go and, more importantly, someone to go to who likewise desires to connect.”

This is what oligarchy is about: If you paid 1 penny in federal income taxes last year, you paid more than Tesla - a $1.3 trillion company owned by Elon Musk, the wealthiest man alive, who became $460 billion richer since Election Day after spending $290 million to elect Trump.

The dollar, economy and trade relations are falling apart under TS Scott Bessent who is increasingly mean, arrogant and shallow. But a 2023 interview that offers a glimpse into a kinder, gentler Bessent who knows his stuff. So why is he playing the villain so aggressively?

there's an entire information sub-economy focused on pretending Mark Zuckerberg is innovative and interesting

The Trump administration has often alleged dark motives for acts of decency. In Minnesota, @kellyweill.bsky.social writes, that tactic is backfiring on a historic scale. talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/why-con...

This is a terrible fucking idea

Please share - multiple summer 2026 in-person undergrad internship opportunities at @pewresearch.org! - religion - digital - social trends - data journalism - global - news - internet - AI - admin - race - science - methods - politics Apply soon! pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...

Senate Republicans are at it again, they know Trump’s policies suck for the American people so they want to disenfranchise 69 million married women from voting with their draconian voting bill. Call your Senators @ 202-224-3121. Tell them to #StopTheSaveAct Katie Phang explains👇