jbr0cks.bsky.social

jbr0cks.bsky.social

@jbr0cks.bsky.social

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The Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer are getting ready to cave once again. They have already watered down demands on ICE and Schumer has cut a deal with Trump and GOP to pass five of the six appropriations bills that fund 96% of government operations and thereby avoid a potential shutdown.

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And in fall, when Republicans forced a government shutdown by refusing to extend the Affordable Care Act Schumer allowed eight of his caucus members to join Republicans in supporting a funding bill that reopened the government and left the health care money fight to be settled later.

Schumer's ploy is a replay of their "strategy" on the ACA. when the vote on the ACA subsidies was eventually held, and Democrats, predictably, lost. On Jan. 1, 2026, the subsidies expired, just as the GOP wanted all along.

The Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer are getting ready to cave once again. They have already watered down demands on ICE and Schumer has cut a deal with Trump and GOP to pass five of the six appropriations bills that fund 96% of government operations and thereby avoid a potential shutdown.

That would leave the bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security—which includes ICE—to be debated another day. ICE is to be given a two-week extension of its current funding level (which is already triple what it was before 2025).

We’ve seen this same game play out before, twice. Spring 2025, Schumer refused to block a GOP bill averting a shutdown. He and nine other Democrats joined the Republicans in advancing their funding bill.

VP Vance,Karoline Leavitt, Stephen Miller, Kash Patel, Kristi Noem and others all made false claims about the case. Their words were an attack on constitutional rights under the 1st, 2nd and 4th amendment.

jbr0cks.bsky.social reposted

Marjory Stephenson was born #OTD in 1885 + Helped establish modern microbial biochemistry + Wrote foundational textbook 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 (1930), shaping the discipline for decades + Co-founded, Society for General Microbiology + 1 of the first 2 women Fellows, Royal Society, 1945 #WomenInSTEM

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AOC: They need 10 Democratic votes in the Senate to pass, continued unfettered ICE funding with no guardrails. Regardless of where you are in the Democratic party, this moment proves that the status quo cannot stand I would implore my Democratic colleagues in the senate to vote no

jbr0cks.bsky.social reposted

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

jbr0cks.bsky.social reposted

Dating from around 1865, this hooded parka from the Aleutian Islands in southern Alaska is made from seal intestines, a naturally waterproof & windproof material. Both robust & decorative, these seal gut parkas would have been used daily to keep warm & dry in this harsh environment. bit.ly/4oRZuCC

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“The scientific and technological revolution is intertwined with the game between superpowers,” he said in a speech in 2024. Trump has taken the opposite tack, aiming to cut billions of dollars in research grants for U.S. universities.

In the early 2000s, seven American schools would be among the top 10, led by Harvard University at No. 1. Only one Chinese school, Zhejiang University, would even make the top 25. Today seven other Chinese universities are in the top 10. Can we reverse this trend?

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Rafael Reif, a former president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said on a podcast last year that “the number of papers and the quality of the papers coming from China are outstanding” and are “dwarfing what we’re doing in the U.S.”

Educators and experts say the shift is a problem not just for American universities, but also for the nation as a whole. China's Xi understands this and has made the reasons for the country’s investments explicit, arguing that a nation’s global power depends on its scientific dominance.

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As Harvard and other leading U.S. universities face a fresh set of stressors from the Trump administration’s cuts to science grants, as well as from travel bans and an anti-immigration crackdown that has swept up international students and academics.

The number of international students arriving in the U.S. in August 2025 was 19 percent lower than the year before. China is taking these students, last year it began offering a visa for graduates of top universities in science and technology to travel to China to study or do business.

Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, is now at the top of a global ranking of research output. Harvard previously ranked No. 1. has dropped to No. 3. “There is a big shift coming, a bit of a new world order in global dominance of higher education and research.”

The reordering comes as the Trump administration has been slashing research funding to American schools that depend heavily federal funds for scientific research. Trump’s policies did not start the American universities’ relative decline, which began years ago, but they could accelerate it.

Independents have gravitated toward the Democrats over the past year due to Trumps madness, when asked which party they lean toward, Gallup found, but attitudes toward the party haven’t gotten warmer. Younger people, are rejecting both parties at much higher rates than older generations.

jbr0cks.bsky.social reposted

For all the grandstanding, Democrats have been nowhere to be seen on the ground in Minnesota. The work there is being done by leftist groups, immigrants rights orgs, and random citizens. Took Walz almost a week to visit Good's memorial. Democrats do not functionally exist in the conversation anymore

Governor Tim Walz@governorwalz.mn.gov

Rest in peace.

“Americans are stretched to the breaking point financially, and they will vote for candidates who name what is wrong and who credibly demonstrate that they will take on a rigged system in order to fix it,”

As we end year one of this authoritarian take over of our democracy, the media have quietly folded or acquiesced. "The New York Times’ breathless coverage of its recent Oval Office interview with Trump—describing his “many faces”—is a model of such a vapidity."

According to the Times, Trump “took unpredictable turns” during the interview. But instead of seeing this unpredictability as a symptom of Trump’s diminishing capacities and ever-shorter attention span, the Times reported it as “a tactic he embraces as president, particularly on the world stage...

.. If no one knows what you might do, they often do what you want them to do.” The media tries to confer on Trump a coherence that evaporates almost as soon as it’s stated. - Ralph Nader

Many suspect ICE is hiring Jan. 6 insurrections, white nationalists, etc. The truth is even scarier: ICE recruitment is so sloppy that the administration effectively has no idea who’s joining the agency’s ranks. slate.com/news-and-pol...

slate.comYou’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof.What happens when you do minimal screening before hiring agents, arming them, and sending them into the streets? We're all finding out.
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An agent explained: “It’s mostly very liberal cities—San Francisco, Los Angeles—where groups will come and try to stop ICE officers from arresting somebody. They’re like, ‘We’re going to form a human wall against you,’ ” “When they do that, you can just pop ‘em up. Let them cry about it.”

Many suspect ICE is hiring Jan. 6 insurrections, white nationalists, etc. The truth is even scarier: ICE recruitment is so sloppy that the administration effectively has no idea who’s joining the agency’s ranks. slate.com/news-and-pol...

slate.comYou’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof.What happens when you do minimal screening before hiring agents, arming them, and sending them into the streets? We're all finding out.

Who is applying: Aspiring officers fall broadly into three categories: law enforcement types who look like they do steroids, bearded spec-ops wannabes who look like they take steroids and do know how to work out, and dorks. Pencil-necked misfits.

So there were a lot of people here abusing Tulsi. Turns out the one peace lover in this horrible administration was sidelined and I hope all of you partisan hacks are happy with your petty selves. WSJ today:

Each of these billionaires spent their early childhood in apartheid South Africa, living under strict racial segregation. Until 1994, when apartheid officially ended, Land Acts reserved over 80% of land for white settlers, forcing millions of Black South Africans into crowded ghettos.

Whites in apartheid SA had superior education, healthcare, and economic opportunities, while nonwhites faced wage gaps, and constant police brutality. Black South Africans could not vote in national elections under apartheid, and universal suffrage arrived only in 1994 with multiracial elections.