Austin Pohlmann

[Saganism @Saganismm]

This planet is run by crazy people. ... Think what they have to do to get where they are. Their perspective is so narrow, so... brief. A few years. In the best of them, a few decades. They care only about the time they are in power.

— Carl Sagan, Contact

[Fuck You I Quit @fuckyouiquit]

This is enough money to cover universal free college for every US student for nearly a decade btw

[OME @Mike_Eagle]

if you squint at the word trillion it looks like guillotine

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

Today, Elon Musk, a trillionaire, pays the same amount into Social Security as someone making $184,500.

If we end that absurdity and lift the cap on taxable income, we can make Social Security solvent for 75 years and expand benefits by $2,400. My Social Security bill does that.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC]

But taxing wealth so normal people can afford to see a doctor and not go bankrupt over inhalers is radical left. OK

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Destroying confidence in the electoral system and other pillars of democracy (media, courts) is their goal, it’s not just pathetic whining. Then they use that lack of confidence to push strongman powers, restrictive voter suppression laws, and other crackdowns.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

🚨 WOW.

Trump’s financial disclosure forms reportedly show he bought between $1 MILLION and $5 MILLION in Dell stock earlier this year.

Then THIS WEEK…

the Pentagon awarded Dell a contract worth MORE THAN $9 BILLION.

Read that again slowly.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

This New York Times piece is worth your time. Here’s what is happening, as simply as I can put it.

Back in January, Trump sued the IRS, an agency he controls, demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns a number of years ago.

IRS lawyers did their jobs. They wrote a memo laying out the defenses that could beat the suit, including the fact that Trump filed too late. His own lawyer was in court when the leaker pleaded guilty in October 2023, more than two years before Trump sued.

The Justice Department never showed up to court. Never argued back. Never used the defenses sitting on their desk.

The judge got suspicious and ordered both sides to explain whether they were actually opposing each other or just colluding. The day before that brief was due, Trump dropped the suit.

Same day, his Justice Department announced a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization fund.” 

Trump gets a formal apology. The IRS agrees to drop any audits of him and his family, even though a 2024 Times report found a loss in an ongoing audit could cost him over $100 million.

The acting Attorney General, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, picks the five commissioners who decide who gets paid. Trump can fire any of them. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are not ruled out.

This is the most corrupt thing I’ve ever seen from an American president.

Where in the hell are my Republican colleagues?

https://t.co/La0nlLuz1r

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

The instant he lost his seat, Cassidy began standing up for things he’s known all along were right. Profiles in cowardice, through all the ranks of the GOP.

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

Sen. @ChrisCoonsforDE: Is Trump eligible to run for a 3rd term under our Constitution?

Trump Judge nominee: Um... I would have to... to review the- the actual wording--

Coons: The language of the 22nd Amendment makes it clear that no, he is not eligible to run for a 3rd term. Anybody else brave enough to say that the Constitution of the United States prevents President Trump from seeking a 3rd term?

Trump Judge Nominees: …

Coons: Nobody? Alright.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

When the CEO of Verizon predicts AI & robotics could lead to 20%-30% unemployment within the next few years, we may want to take notice.

AI is the most transformative technology in human history. We’re not prepared for it economically or socially. That must change. NOW.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Anyone who thought creating the largest internal security force in the country, answering only to the president, was for anything else hasn’t been paying attention.

[Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien]

Calling the opposition party “the greatest enemy” of a country is exactly what wannabe dictators do to justify seizing power.

[Count Dankula @CountDankulaTV]

The Afroman Trial.

-Cops raid Afromans house for bullshit reasons.
-Steal money, break his door, fuck his house up.
-No criminality found whatsoever, no charges at all pressed on Afroman.
-Afroman spends the next 3 years making songs that make fun of all the officers involved by name, even using footage of the raid from his own CCTV cameras.
-Songs had titles like "Randy Walters is a son of a bitch" and "Lick Em Low Lisa" accusing one of the officers of being a lesbian and sleeping with the other officers wives.
-During the raid one officer looked like he was about to eat some lemon pound cake sitting on Afromans counter, Afroman made a whole album calling the officer fat.
-The cops get mad and file a lawsuit for defamation.
-Afroman turns up to court in a whole American flag suit.
-Officers performatively mald and cry while listening to the songs really trying to oversell how badly the songs upset them.
-One officer was suing because Afroman made a whole song about him saying he was fucking the officers wife. When the officer was asked if Afroman was really fucking his wife, he said "I don't know". Nuking his own case and establishing that there is a non-zero chance that Afroman might actually be fucking his wife.
-As his only witness for the trial, Afroman brought a deputies EX FUCKING WIFE.
-The jury ruled completely in favour of Afroman.

This entire thing has been a great win for free speech and absolutely fucking hilarious.

[Mohammad @MargBarAmerica]

israel and america do 9/11’s in lebanon and iran every day and it feels like the world barely cares

[David French @DavidAFrench]

Abraham Lincoln, reflecting on the power to declare war:

"Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us."

Trump should have gone to Congress, or he should not have attacked at all: https://t.co/5JkSX5zskp

[Nancy Mace @NancyMace]

I reviewed more Epstein files at DOJ. Here's what you need to know:
Thousands of victims. Mountains of evidence. ONE accomplice in jail.

This is a global sex trafficking network where the rich and powerful walked free while victims were ignored.

I've accumulated a list of witnesses, co-conspirators, and predators. If they don't show up for testimony, I'll support subpoenas.

[Libertarian Party of Texas @LPTexas]

We have an Epstein list for you. This is a list of those who knew and did nothing.

Donald Trump knows.
Joe Biden knew.
Barrack Obama knew.
George W. Bush knew.
Bill Clinton knew.

Every single one of their Attorney Generals knew.
Pam Bondi knows.
Merrick Garland knew.
William Bar knew.
Jeff Sessions knew.
Loretta Lunch knew.
Eric Holder knew.
Michael Mukasey knew.
Alberto Gonzalez knew.
John Ashcroft knew.
Janet Reno knew.

Every single director at the FBI knew.
Kash Patel knows.
Christopher Wray knew.
James Comey knew.
Robert Mueller knew.
Louis Freeh knew.

State, County, and City prosecutors knew.

For more than twenty years, those in power knew. The people you trusted to enforce the law were supposed to protect the most vulnerable among us, children, but they looked the other way. Instead of stopping it, they allowed it to continue while they gained power and wealth.

Now you know. It is no longer a conspiracy theory or a hoax. The facts are in front of you. You cannot pretend ignorance anymore. The question is no longer what they did. It is what you will tolerate. Every election, you were told to vote for the “lesser evil,” and warned that this was the most important election of your lifetime, that you had to vote for red or blue and that you couldn’t vote third party. You were told your conscience had to wait, because the other side was worse. But evil does not become acceptable just because it wears a different party label. At some point, the excuse ends and responsibility begins. The moment you knowingly support corruption, you become part of the system that protects it. So ask yourself how long you will keep choosing evil, and at what point that choice makes you complicit.

[Dan Carlin @dccommonsense]

There is nothing about political parties in the Constitution (despite people saying we live in a "two-party system").
In fact, several prominent founders warned of the dangers of "factions".

If we got rid of the big two parties today it's hard to see how we'd be any worse off.

[Warren Gunnels @GunnelsWarren]

Welcome to the Divided States of Oligarchy

Elon Musk Wealth
2012: $2 billion
2026: $852 billion

Jeff Bezos Wealth
2012: $18 billion
2026: $265 billion

Mark Zuckerberg Wealth
2012: $44 billion
2026: $249 billion

Federal Minimum Wage
2009: $7.25 an hour
2026: $7.25 an hour