CLJohnson

CLJohnson

@cjenergy.bsky.social

Economist and expert witness. 40 years in energy regulation. AEA member. Long time consumer advocate, and interested in civil rights, environment, government. Also, an Astros baseball fan.

3.9K followers5.3K following3K posts

To clarify, Texas Transgender Student Union is the bogus anonymous LLC registered in Wyoming, apparently involved in election ratf**king.

steven monacelli@stevanzetti.bsky.social

NEW: Transgender Texas Student Union has retained counsel in response to the Travis County filing related to the fake transgender mailers. It's Chris Hilton, who previously worked for Ken Paxton at the Texas Attorney General's office and left temporarily to defend Paxton in his impeachment trial.

Lula's win over Bolsonara... Trump says Brazil's election was corrupt and rigged. Trump asserts that election results have to be "indisputable." We've heard this story before...

Sunday afternoon arguments in Appeals Court over DOJ demand that Los Angeles cease counting ballots identified on a thumb drive. DOJ not giving much information on how the list of suspicious voters was compiled.

Rick Hasen@rickhasen.bsky.social

Judge Sanchez questioning DOJ figuring out who is noncitizens from envelopes: "My name is Gabriel Sanchez. I guarantee you there are many Gabriel Sanchezes in Los Angeles County."

"the U.S. economy is fully hostage to an A.I. build-out laden with increasingly worrying financial engineering, all riding on a wager..." "Prices and market share are shrinking; costs are not." "With so many echoes of 2008, shame on us if this one catches anyone by surprise."

This post is unavailable.

Ethical conduct? What a charming concept for today's DOJ. Pirro, accompanied by armed agents, trying to intimidate adversary's expert witness into breaching their duty to the defense team.

emptywheel@emptywheel.bsky.social

A bunch of people talked about the letter Davey Hearn's lawyers sent to DOJ IG, a follow-up re DOJ IG's refusal to do an investigation. But the earlier letter they sent described an abuse that wasn't public before: Pirro mobbing their defense expert. legacy.www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

Trump is selling out America to Russia. And that includes selling off Alaska resources to Russia.

emptywheel@emptywheel.bsky.social

Here's the NYT story about how Trump is inviting Russia into AK to drill for oil. Literally selling out Alaska to Russia. www.ft.com/content/e9cf...

"Mr. Trump exempted 202 facilities in 39 states and Puerto Rico from clean-air regulations that were going into effect. Some were among the country’s worst industrial polluters" No President had ever done that, but Trump claims that enforcing the clean air act threatens national security.

Eric Lipton NYT@ericlipton.nytimes.com

JUST POSTED: Today at The NYT we are publishing a major investigation into how President Trump used his executive powers to expose millions of Americans to greater cancer risks. A six month-long investigation built on more than 10,000 pages of FOIA records. Read it www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/c...

CLJohnson reposted

🚨“Had poultry been infected, the playbook would have been clear: The strain is so virulent that if a single chicken tests positive, the US govt requires farmers to kill the whole flock to protect other farms as well as public health...But there are no federal rules for how to deal with sick mink.”🚨

ProPublica@propublica.org

NEW: A bird flu outbreak has been raging uncontrolled on a Utah mink farm for two months. Flu experts fear it could spark a devastating human pandemic. But officials haven’t acted — instead prioritizing the financial interests of the fur trade.

CLJohnson reposted

The woman asking these questions is NBC's Monica Alba.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

😳 WOMAN REPORTER: Do sexual abuse allegations mean nothing to you, sir? TRUMP: Wait. Wait! Wait wait wait. Slow down. Who are you with? REPORTER: NBC, sir. But they are very serious sex abuse allegations TRUMP: Quiet! Isn't she a fresh person? You're a horrible little reporter, aren't you?

Russian disinformation campaign uses AI to lie about Talarico. "Storm-1516 previously used those accounts to spread disinformation. Storm-1516 operates closely with a Russian organization with ties to the Kremlin..." The video was viewed 850.000 in the first 24 hours.

CLJohnson reposted

So, the real question: will HBO (part of Skydance) still stream Alex Gibney's "Musk" documentary, now that Musk is an investor in Skydance...

Semafor@semafor.com

🟡 SCOOP: Elon Musk makes $1 billion investment in Ellison’s Skydance, providing a much-needed financial injection as the company looks to cut costs and bolster its stock price. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

CLJohnson reposted

CLJohnson reposted

No American should have a federal agent knock on their door demanding they prove their citizenship ahead of the election. Under Trump, agents did just that. Our democracy requires free and fair elections. Not voter intimidation. This is despicable. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/u...

nytimes.comJudge Restricts D.H.S. Field Operations Aimed at Unearthing Voter FraudThe ruling largely blocked homeland security agents from carrying out field interviews in nine states, including California, as part of a sprawling effort to find noncitizens registered to vote.

Glad to see Talarico making Elon Musk's political spending an issue. Voters need to remember that the world's richest man doesn't become the world's biggest political spender without expecting something in return.

Team Talarico@teamtalaricohq.bsky.social

NEW AD: Have you seen these anti-Talarico attack ads? Elon Musk paid for nearly all of them. The world's first trillionaire knows if he drags the most corrupt politician in Texas across the finish line, Ken Paxton will owe him everything. Elon Musk: Texas is not for sale.

CLJohnson reposted

Replying to @emptywheel.bsky.social

Metaphor for our time 2: Whiskey Pete demands Eisenhower's globe but refuses to wait until the experts can help move it, so he damages the globe and has to give up the conceit. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

washingtonpost.comHegseth wanted Eisenhower’s globe for his office. His staff broke it.Photos obtained by The Post show a gash in the World War II-era artifact that resulted from a botched relocation attempt inside the Pentagon.

More disgraceful conduct by ICE against detainees. This time a 78 year old priest who could not walk by the time a judge ordered his release.

This post is unavailable.

"Putin's Chef," ( Prigozhin) operated Russian election interference operations. He proudly admitted to interfering in the 2022 mid terms. The US had a $10 M reward for capturing his operative (Zvinchuk) for 2024 interference. Trump refused to extradite him and pressured others to release him.

CLJohnson reposted

Glad to see CNN reporting on this. @jimacosta.bsky.social and I raised concerns about DHS potentially using a military-grade “heat ray.” After 20+ years in national security, I find this deeply troubling. A weapon designed to inflict intense pain. Against civilians? Why does DHS need this?

cnn.comPentagon grants DHS permission to test heat ray weapon for potential use at border | CNN PoliticsThe Pentagon has given the Department of Homeland Security permission to test a military-grade heat ray and develop tactics to potentially use it in operations at the southern US border, according to ...

White House press office called Feinberg a "mongoloid moron." Just for asking fact-based questions.

emptywheel@emptywheel.bsky.social

Read Andrew Feinberg's account of what led Trump to melt down yesterday -- noting that REAL whistleblowers can already make more from Qui Tam suits. www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...

That would be a spectacular way to go down in history. As the first domino in an economic collapse. Recalling this scene (Margin Call) portraying another domino falling in 2007. youtu.be/v4P4cS5jKmQ?...

youtu.beMargin Call (8/9) Movie CLIP - A Fire Sale (2011) HDYouTube video by Movieclips
Jeff (Hot Type) Jarvis@jeffjarvis.bsky.social

I'm coming to fear Larry Ellison could singlehandedly cause a crash. He's a one-man Janga economy: Oracle over-building, sonny's Skydance, collateralized investments in AI companies; any could bring his tower down, then much else with it. www.wsj.com/finance/larr...

"Russia, Russia Russia" is converted to "Iran, Iran, Iran." "Donald Trump lost the war in Iran. As a narcissist, he needs scapegoats to blame for his own historic failure, and Russia’s dictator has scripted convenient scapegoats for him"

ICE vehicles chase US citizen volunteer. "The ICE agent exited his vehicle and paced back and forth, smacking his palm with a pair of handcuffs, she said. Other ICE agents eventually joined him on the scene, she said." How and why is this OK? Read more at: www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/a...

sanluisobispo.comICE chased, detained Central Coast woman as she yelled she's a U.S. citizenThe woman, a volunteer with 805 UndocuFund, shared her account of the incident following a press conference Thursday.
This post is unavailable.

CLJohnson reposted

Talarico: "We just found out that [Elon Musk] is almost single-handedly bankrolling this effort to install Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate and defeat this movement...Elon Musk wants our land. He wants our water. He wants his very own personal United States senator. He is trying to buy Texas."

Railroad Commission GOP candidate Bo French is too racist for GOP conservatives like John Cornyn and Karl Rove. So, of course, Steve Bannon is campaigning for him in Texas. Ironically, none of his white nationalist campaign themes have any connection to the RR Commission functions.

Josh Marshall@joshtpm.bsky.social

Steve Bannon Casts Bo French as the Future of the GOP talkingpointsmemo.com/news/steve-b...

CLJohnson reposted

This may be the most outrageous, disgusting, offensive thing Trump has ever said. If not, it is tied for the honor. Russia has been fine on Ukraine. It makes me want to puke.

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com

Trump: "Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine."

ICE hires only the best.

emptywheel@emptywheel.bsky.social

From the sentencing memo against former ICE goon Samuel Saxon, who pled guilty to lying about the domestic abuse he inflicted on his 20-year younger girlfriend. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump blames every consequence of his policy mistakes on Biden, and RFK Jr. blames every consequence of his anti-vaccine policies on Fauci.

Erik Burnham 💬@erikburnham.bsky.social

Saw trending topic "RFKJr blames Fauci for measles." I then laughed so hard, the back of my head hurts.

Interesting thread about the profile of Marc Andreesen. A core feature of MAGA is the need for victimhood and grievance. Why else would a billionaire turn everything into a slight or grievance?

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social

Late to this Bloomberg piece on Marc Andreessen. This is one of the key things. Andreessen is *angry* about how he has been treated, when any objective observer might note he has benefited enormously from the institutions he now purports to detest. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Of course. Who would be surprised? Trump never admits responsibility for his own actions.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

“.. blaming senior aides and political operatives for a faltering midterm strategy ..” @reuters.com www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

CLJohnson reposted

Part of the answer to "how did we get here?" is that many major journalists—since 1998, Crawford has covered SCOTUS for PBS, ABC, and CBS—are lying bigots. Here Crawford is praising a guy who asked a dumb racist question, glitched out when asked why, then admitted he wanted a Christian theocracy.

Steve Vladeck@stevevladeck.bsky.social

This is a really striking tweet.

CLJohnson reposted

SCOOP: 'Tommy' from the now-viral exchange with Abdul El-Sayed is Thomas Teepell, a former staffer for Republican Senator Josh Hawley with close ties to Christian Nationalist Sean Feucht. He's the son of a former Bobby Jindal staffer whose consultant work was instrumental in getting Hawley elected.

thehandbasket.co'Tommy' from viral El-Sayed video is former Sen. Hawley staffer with Christian nationalist tiesThomas Teepell is the son of a former long-time Bobby Jindal staffer who's close to Sean Feucht.

Nothing says "we're hiding something" like altering photos in the oval office. According to the White House press office, the questions about it are "typical incel behavior."

Dan Diamond@ddiamond.bsky.social

The White House response to questions about why the photos were altered and if they obscured a map of East Potomac. (In a follow-up message, Cheung said the questions were “typical incel behavior.”)

Apparently Trump allows Canada to have privilege of health care. Trump doesn't believe that Candians should have health care.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "I do not want to lose as your representative $90 billion for the privilege of allowing Canada to have a healthcare system and other things that they shouldn't be having"

CLJohnson reposted

TikTok, which is owned by Larry Ellison, TechBros, and Arab billionaires, permanently suspends the account for Alex Gibney's "Musk" documentary. The free speech absolutists are closing ranks to kill free speech.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

(THR) - TikTok has banned the entire Musk film account, citing political content that violates its policies. .. raises concerns about Big Tech suppression that the very film seeks to expose.” @thr.com www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politic...

CLJohnson reposted

Zelenskyy says Starlink restrictions REMAIN in Ukraine, crippling interceptor drones and military operations. He says Ukraine has evidence the restrictions are DELIBERATE after testing Starlink systems in the EU, where they worked perfectly at speeds that cause connections to fail inside Ukraine.

Traitors in the white house.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

(Reuters) - The order to limit a satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drone operations came from inside the White House, according to two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter. @reuters.com 🇺🇦 www.reuters.com/world/europe...

CLJohnson reposted

When immigration agents struck a man with an SUV in Houston over the weekend, they said they were chasing an undocumented Mexican man facing deportation and multiple criminal charges. But the photo they shared of their target was of a man whose family says he died almost a decade ago.

nyti.msICE Agents Who Rammed a Worker in Houston Were Chasing a Dead Man, Family SaysICE agents rammed a man during a pursuit in Houston, leaving him with a shattered leg. But a bulletin of the target shows a man who died in 2017, his daughter said.

CLJohnson reposted

I can't believe he'd do this. This is the second time now he's called for his VP to be executed.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

(Bloomberg) - President Donald Trump called for executing individuals who leak information to the media during a campaign rally as he railed against what he saw as critical coverage of the Iran war. @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...