WhileRomeBurns

WhileRomeBurns

@zfiddle.bsky.social

I do a lot of different things, to varying degrees of expertness. Cheese. Unrepentant cat lady. Likes to stay in touch, especially with reality, but you do you. (PS: If you contact or reply with $ requests, you’ll be ignored/blocked.)

254 followers303 following1K posts

WhileRomeBurns reposted

To those fighting for democracy in LA: 🔟 PROTEST LESSONS from Hong Kong ’19 1️⃣ BE LIKE WATER. Flow, never freeze. One Telegram ping, dozens flood a location, form a blockade with debris, and disperse instantly. Re-emerge blocks away. Keep them chasing shadows. Spread them thin using multiple fronts.

Wait, what now?

Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social

David Pogue: “I’m wondering what your thought is on the ban on foreign students, the proposal. I mean, you were one of those kids, right?” Elon Musk: “Yeah. I mean, I think we wanna stick to, you know, the subject of the day, which is, like, spaceships, as opposed to, you know, presidential policy"

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social

SCOOP: The State Department's new reorganization plan includes the opening of an "Office for Remigration," a term popularized by far right extremists and neo-Nazis in Europe. The office will coordinate directly with DHS "to advance the President’s immigration agenda." My report:

WhileRomeBurns reposted

Less than 2 weeks until the official start of the hurricane season, FEMA has rescinded their strategic plan. But don't worry, it's been replaced with... (checks notes) Nothing. An internal FEMA assessment acknowledges that the agency “is not ready” to handle catastrophic storms this summer.

wired.comFEMA Has Canceled Its 4-Year Strategic Plan Ahead of Hurricane SeasonMultiple FEMA employees tell WIRED that they did not know of another time when a strategic plan was rescinded without another in place.

Read down the thread, because it’s hilarious. Go, Sen. Alsobrooks!

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social

Senator Alsobrooks: You’ve been unable to address specific questions about your agency. Can you name which office the Safe to Sleep program operates out of? RFK Jr.: Guesses wrong 5 times Alsobrooks: It is the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD.

Kash Patel (in summary): “I don’t have a budget ready no matter what the law says and I don’t know when I’ll have it to ask for my budget.” Me: Is it incompetence, or is it a hidden agenda, or… (*looks at the FBI Mission page*) … is someone at the FBI covering their mission by keeping him occupied?

Wait…isn’t ED Rx like Viagra “gender affirming care”?!

GoogeliArt 🦋💙PD@googeliart.bsky.social

"The judge overseeing the case against the Defense Department's firing of transgender service members revealed that the military spends eight times more on erectile dysfunction medication than on gender affirming care." - www.newsweek.com/us-military-...

WhileRomeBurns reposted

You also realize that there is absolutely no way to ensure that Qatar's flying palace plane is clean on OPSEC, right? Accepting a pre-built "Air Force One" from a foreign power is a literal intelligence nightmare that should be freaking out every intelligence agency we have

What can you do right now? This.

It's a productive question to which I don't think anyone knows the complete answer as nothing like this has ever happened before. But some of what comes to mind: Ruin Tesla, discredit Musk, build social consensus that what's happening is wrong. Bring court cases. Later, strengthen the Privacy Act.

WhileRomeBurns reposted

I've been a doomer about DOGE data grabbing, but I'll admit it never occurred to me Musk could fire his way to stealing all copyrighted material ever

Jen Taub@jentaub.bsky.social

Holy shiitake! Trump fired Shira Perlmutter, the Director of the US Copyrights Office apparently because she refused to let Elon Musk raid the place to steal author’s intellectual property rights democrats-cha.house.gov/media/press-...

WhileRomeBurns reposted

"Pertussis, or whooping cough, is now spreading at a rate the U.S. hasn’t seen since vaccines were introduced in 1948." It's No Coincidence. Public health funding is being slashed. Vaccine misinformation is spreading. Fewer people are getting vaccinated. This is the result.

It's not just measles. Major leadership failure by RFK Jr and pertussis is raging! Op Ed nurses @donnagaffney.bsky.social and @nurseteria.bsky.social published today in @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social @justin-gill.bsky.social @defendpublichealth.bsky.social www.seattletimes.com/opinion/add-...