The Strait of Hormuz is perfectly safe...

Via @number10cat.bsky.social

.@ktsavage

From Hamas attack to U.S. war with Iran, violence forges a new Middle East An Iran-led order that long backed the likes of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis – is gone. What will follow is one of the top questions of modern geopolitics.

The old order in the Middle East — Iran as the region’s disruptive spine, its proxies as the tools of pressure and deterrence — is gone. What replaces it is an unpredictable mix of competing ambitions, fresh grievances, destroyed cities and ungoverned spaces.

It's not Roosevelt we're dealing with. Hell, it's not even Nixon.

Dimon on why JPMorgan Chase is not funding WH Ballroom:
We have an issue, which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it.

There are specific reasons Trumpists want war on Venezuela, but there‘s a generic one: they crave power to make war on anyone, any time, for completely fabricated reasons, and then to use the guise of war to increase violence and repression everywhere, including home.

They are lawless bestial scum.

Carney: We know that this decades-long process of our ever-closer economic relationship between Canada and the US has ended. And as a consequence of that, many of our strengths have become our vulnerabilities, particularly in those industries that are most tightly integrated with the US….

I am so very sorry. 🇺🇸🫶🇨🇦

ausmashmash
Ashley
Photographer East Coast of Australia
"Here's a little #wildlifewednesday moment for you, filmed only an hour ago, as this gorgeous humpback descends into the water right on sunset, ready for the night to take over"

Apologies for hijacking a posting, but I’m wondering if Lily is on holiday? Have you set up a special acct for her? Thanks

I dislike intensely this man. Have a great Sunday!

'We're citizens!': Oklahoma City family traumatized after ICE raids home, but they weren't suspects A woman says her family’s fresh start in Oklahoma turned into a nightmare after federal immigration agents raided their home, taking their phones, laptops, and life savings – even though they were …

every word of this

kfor.com/news/local/w...

JUS TIN: Susman Godfrey becomes the latest firm to sue over Trump's retaliatory executive orders. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

DOGE takes over federal grants website, wresting control of billions A DOGE engineer removed users’ access to grants.gov, threatening to further slow the process of awarding thousands of federal grants per year.

Scoop: DOGE now controls how grant opportunities get posted across government.

DOGE engineer removed users’ permissions to post to Grants-dot-gov without telling them. Now requests flow thru DOGE-controlled mailbox.

with @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social + @hannahnatanson.bsky.social

Hello from Oklahoma City! Ambassador, thank you for your heartfelt post on IG about JD Vance’s thoughtless, cruel and dumb as a rock comment about Denmark. Denmark! Our county was well served when you were our representative abroad. Take care Karol Savage

How Elon Musk’s SpaceX Secretly Allows Investment From China As a U.S. military contractor, SpaceX sees allowing Chinese ownership as fraught. But it will allow the investment if it comes through secrecy hubs like the Cayman Islands, court records say. “It is c...

"Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX allows investors from China to buy stakes in the company as long as the funds are routed through the Cayman Islands or other offshore secrecy hubs, according to previously unreported court records..."

www.propublica.org/article/elon...

bsky.app/profile/1joe...

NY real estate tycoon and Trump golf partner whose experience in statecraft with regard to Russia is not yet six weeks old, says the Kremlin sees the world in a way diametrically at odds with reality and he totally buys it.

Page One, FT:

“.. Wall Street’s ‘American exceptionalism’ trade has been shattered in recent weeks as the fallout from Donald Trump’s tariffs and uncertainty over the economic outlook and geopolitics have fuelled an unusually prolonged and deep twin sell-off in the US dollar and equities.” 🇺🇸

@maddow.msnbc.com R, The excuse for privatizing the postal service is debt. The reason for the debt dates to the W. Bush admin. Ask ChatGpt “what occurred in the W. Bush admin that caused the debt burden of veterans retirement cost to shift from the DoD to the USPS.

@maddow.msnbc.com R, The excuse for privatizing the postal service is debt. The reason for the debt dates to the W. Bush admin. Ask ChatGpt “what occurred in the W. Bush admin that caused the debt burden of veterans retirement cost to shift from the DoD to the USPS.

Why is Trump’s Commerce secretary urging the public to buy Tesla stock? Howard Lutnick told a national television audience to buy a specific stock tied to the sitting president’s top campaign donor.

"If Lutnick's Democratic predecessor, Gina Raimondo, took such a step -- urging Americans to buy stock in a company led by Joe Biden’s top campaign contributor -- it seems likely that more than a few congressional Republicans would call for her resignation..."
www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

89? No longer just a handful of pompous tech kids. If all of them have write access thanks to the Sec of the Tres. a. We’re screwed and b. We need their names.

JUST IN: In new sworn declaration, DOGE administrator Amy Gleason says DOGE has 89 employees and no “formal front office or organizational chart.”

FDA staff return to crowded offices, broken equipment and missing chairs Thousands of Food and Drug Administration employees are returning to the office to find overflowing parking lots, cramped workspaces and missing equipment.

"Thousands of employees returned to the Food and Drug Administration’s headquarters Monday to find overflowing parking lots, long security lines and makeshift office spaces without chairs and other basic supplies..."
apnews.com/article/fda-...

When I wrote my camps book, people sometimes had difficulty understanding how concentration-camp regimes were proud of what they were doing and wanted attention for it, even as they also hoped to keep many aspects secret and terrorize vulnerable classes. Anyway, this is what that looks like.

@maddow.msnbc.com it seems to me no one - even the ones claiming they will protect SS - is resisting changes to SS. Martin O’Malley is convinced they will dry loot it. Ditto Mr. Larsen and Sen. Whitehouse. Looks like the fix is in.

DOGE plays hardball in U.S. Institute of Peace takeover DOGE, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency, took over the U.S. Institute of Peace after threatening its officials with criminal prosecution.

Every sentence of this is more insane than the last.

The weapons safe???

(gift link)

wapo.st/42dj8kl

Social Security Administration to require in-person identity checks for new and existing recipients In an effort to limit fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures.

Yep.

Rep. Larson: “By requiring seniors and disabled Americans to enroll online or in person at the same field offices they are trying to close, rather than over the phone, Trump and Musk are trying to create chaos and inefficiencies so they can privatize the system.”

apnews.com/article/soci...