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Breaking news:
Given the current FBI and DOJ, excuse my skepticism.
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I wouldn't say this is flimsy per se--tho it didn't meet standards many of the real Jan6 investigation used, w/20 page affys verifying ID.
They demonstrate PC; they just seem to go out of their way not to say more.
Imagine if they lose their job bc they solved this, like Fauci did for COVID?
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— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Ron Filipkowski feels the same way.
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Elsewhere, Next Up after this? Seatbelts will now be offered as an "option," available for just a few dollars more.../s?
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"A noun. A verb. And Joe Biden. " The opposite of Harry Truman's buck stoppage.
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Current US Policy:
If you’re suspected of trafficking a small amount of drugs with no evidence, we will murder you, but if you’re convicted of trafficking an enormous amount of drugs with copious evidence, we will pardon you. Because we are currently a very stupid country.
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) December 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
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Rep. Jim Himes after being briefed by Adm. Bradley:
"What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service. You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who are killed by the United States."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 8:55 AM
The story is behind a paywall, but wowza!
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Wow, Adm. Holsey didn't leave of his own accord, Hegseth pushed him out. What looked like the SOCOM head resigning rather than do war crimes now looks like SecDef canning him to facilitate war crimes.
Congress should have him testify, and would've already if war-crime-sympathetic GOP didn't run it.
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— Nicholas Grossman (@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Even some Rethugs are skeptical.
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Rand Paul tells me that he wants the full video of the Venezuelan boat strike released.
“And I think if the public sees images of people clinging to boat debris and being blown up, I think that there is a chance that finally, the public will get interested enough in this to stop this.”
— Eric Michael Garcia (@ericmgarcia.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 10:14 AM
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A brief graph(ic) interlude here. Even I can understand these.
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Yesterday, the Deportation Data Project posted new FOIA data on ICE arrests through October 15 and it’s staggering how much it instantly disproves every claim the Trump admin has made about targeting “criminals” during its splashy arrest operations.
Here’s arrests in Illinois since April.
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— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 5:27 AM
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On a related note. ICE hiring continues apace. Kristi Noem's ICE hiring chaos laid bare as fat, illiterate and violent misfits 'not ready to tie their own laces' are recruited. www.dailymail.co.uk/…
The Trump administration's frantic push to hire 10,000 new deportation officers by year's end has spiraled into what insiders describe as a national embarrassment - with lax vetting and a signing bonus of up to $50,000 luring in a wave of woefully unfit recruits.
An exhaustive Daily Mail investigation has exposed how Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lowered standards so dramatically that the new cohort now includes recent high school graduates and applicants who can 'barely read or write' as well as those who lack basic physical fitness and even have pending criminal charges.
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Some of these new hires do not even have to report to field offices before they get sent to the academy, where they are given free room and board for six weeks of training — shortened from the standard 16 weeks.
'A lot of these background checks aren't being done till after these people have reported for duty,' one DHS official told the Daily Mail.
'They're just trying to process them in as quickly as possible to say that we have people operational. Anything that they think may have a pulse, they're moving through.'
The DHS official called the rushed hiring process 'willful blindness' and said this will continue until the department meets its goal by the end of December.
'We are bringing in people with the understanding that many of these people are not going to make it,' the source explained.
'They only care about how many unique individuals 'Enter on Duty.' What happens after that is irrelevant to them.'
Read the rest, its damning.
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In case you were wondering on the timeline.
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Anyone who doesn't use this clip in their campaign ad is either maga or stoopid.
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More on that lawsuit Costco filed against FIDJT's tariffs.
From the article. Costco demands a refund from Trump. www.publicnotice.co/…
Bolding mine, for clarification.
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First come, first served
Multiple companies have already sued the Trump administration to get back the money they paid in tariffs.
The majority of these lawsuits are essentially “me too” claims, reiterating the plaintiffs’ arguments in VOS Selections [an earlier lawsuit against the tariffs]— probably a safe strategy in light of the bruising Sauer [the attorney who argued the government's cast in VOS] took last month. Bloomberg reporter Zoe Tillman interviewed multiple trade lawyers, who made it clear that they want to get out before the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling.
“The Trump administration has made it very clear that they don’t want to return this money, so we’re just making sure we have every possible T crossed and I dotted,” he told Bloomberg.
The Libertarian advocacy group New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a class action on behalf of “all companies or individuals who have paid or become obligated to pay IEEPA tariffs.” The lead plaintiff is a board game company out of Connecticut called Smirk & Dagger Games — and that’s just good, clean fun!
But unwinding these tariffs is not fun, which is why one of the biggest importers in the country has entered the fray, at the risk of finding itself crosswise with the Trump administration.
They're not doing it for you or out of the goodness of their hearts, but to make sure they're at the front of the line if/when the tariff payback gets under way. And if you think Costco (and others) will lower prices for you with all those tariff rebates, I've got a bridge to sell you.
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Meanwhile,
UPDATE: Trump Jr.-backed startup receives $620 million Pentagon loan. popular.info/…
In October, Popular Information reported that the Pentagon awarded a contract to Unusual Machines, an obscure drone company that President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., joined as an advisor in November 2024, despite having no notable experience with drones or military contracting.
The contract was for the manufacturing of 3,500 drone motors, and the Army also “indicated it planned to order an additional 20,000 components” from Unusual Machines next year. Trump Jr. was given 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in 2024, which are now worth millions.
Now, another small startup funded by 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm where Trump Jr. is a partner, will receive a $620 million loan from the Defense Department, the Financial Times reported. Vulcan Elements, which currently has around 30 employees, produces rare-earth magnets, which can be used in “drones, radar systems and other military applications.” The contract was awarded just three months after 1789 invested in Vulcan.
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Trump Jr. “helped screen candidates for top jobs at the Pentagon on behalf of his father after the election.” In September, Trump Jr. said on his podcast that he looked for candidates who wanted to spend more on drones, alleging that the military is “better served with a drone that costs… a tiny fraction of that of a plane.” During the nomination process, Trump Jr. was also an outspoken defender of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who later issued several directives that enabled the Pentagon to increase spending on drones.
Oh, and:
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These people are despicable.
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And dumber than a sack of 💩
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I found a nickname I like better than Don Snorleone.
Thank you Governor Walz.
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GOV. WALZ on Trump’s racist attack on Somali Americans: “Unprecedented. We have kids going to school today and the president called them ‘garbage’ — condemn this attack or you are complicit in it… the only thing hurting this state is Trump himself.”
Our kids are watching.
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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Condemn this attack or you are complicit in it… the only thing hurting this state is Trump himself.”
Our kids are watching.
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Evening Shade Seekers! Happy International Cheetah Day!
Which is also part of World Wildlife Conservation Day!
Happy National Dice Day!
Happy Celebrate Shelter Pets Day!
Happy National Sock Day! Ya never know when one of these will come in handy (footie?)
Happy National Cabernet Franc Day!
Which should pair nicely with National Cookie Day!
Happy Birthday Francisco Franco! (1892-1974)
SouthSide Johnny Lyons (b. 1948)
AND Marisa Tomei (b. 1964)
Tomorrow is National Bathtub Party Day AND National Sacher-Torte Day.
