Michael Schmitz

unemployed , Autism Spectrum Disorder, #ActuallyAutistic, #ADHD

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

This is so insanely corrupt, I can’t even believe it.

More than half the donors to Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom just won over $50 billion in new federal contracts in six months.

And here’s the part that should make your blood boil.

Sixteen of these 27 donors were facing federal enforcement actions, antitrust reviews, labor cases, securities charges. Many of those cases have been quietly dropped or scaled back since Trump took office. You write a check, your legal problems disappear. That’s not a coincidence.

The White House won’t even release the full donor list. They’re hiding it on purpose, because daylight is the one thing pay-to-play can’t survive. A federal judge already ruled ballroom construction has to stop until Congress authorizes it.

Government is supposed to serve the people, not auction itself off to the highest bidder. When access goes to whoever pays the most, working families always end up paying the price.

We either end the corruption, or the corruption will end us.

https://t.co/4MGFzSseFl

[Fuck You I Quit @fuckyouiquit]

Everything is fake and propped up on AI that we collectively dumped $539 billion into this year alone. 95% of companies that implemented it are seeing no measurable ROI. Microsoft just cancelled their AI coding licenses because tokens cost more than paying real people. Uber burned through their entire 2026 AI budget in four months. Dot com bust, but funnier. That’s what’s happening.

[The Tennessee Holler @TheTNHoller]

🔥 🧑‍🌾 “Do you know how many farms we lost last year? 15,000… farmers lost $28 BILLION… I don’t want to hear about Biden. You’ve controlled all of government for 1.5 years… Trump owns every bit of this.”

@RepAngieCraig roasts Trump Ag Secretary @SecRollins

(From @atrupar)

[Novara Media @novaramedia]

A US government agency worker who exposed alleged misuse of data by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) crashed his car after the brakes were cut, court documents show.

Daniel Berulis, an IT employee at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), filed an official whistleblower complaint on 14 April 2025 and went public the next day in an article by NPR.

He alleged that sensitive NLRB data had been compromised due to meddling by DOGE, and said there had been suspicious log-in attempts from an IP address in Russia.

Five days later, he started driving to see his uncle in Maryland, but veered off the road and crashed into a stop sign when he was unable to slow down. He later discovered the brakes had been cut, Wired reported.

A mechanic later found the driver-side airbag sensors had been removed “but noted that the remaining wires had been spliced together” so that the car’s system would not alert the driver, according to a police report filed by Berulis.

Before his whistleblower complaint, he said, a threatening note had been left on his door with pictures of him walking his dog, which appeared to have been taken by a drone.

The night before the crash, Musk shared a post that said DOGE had been “cleared” and that people were calling for the whistleblower to be investigated.

“Filing a deliberately false whistleblower claim is a serious crime,” Musk wrote. Underneath, one user wrote: “Snitches get stitches.”

Berulis is suing Musk for defamation, alleging that the billionaire put him at risk of violence by spreading false claims that he had illegally lied about DOGE.

Berulis’s lawsuit against Musk says that readers of his X post “drew the implication” that Berulis had committed a serious crime. It noted “replies demanding prosecution, jail, harm, or arrest” and said these put Berulis at “increased risk of physical harm”.

After Wired approached him, Musk posted on X that a report showed NLRB’s inspector general’s office “lacked a reasonable belief that [Berulis] was disclosing a violation of law, rule, or regulation” and had closed its investigation.

[Uzi @UziCryptoo]

In Denmark, McDonalds workers make $25 an hour and, if they are over twenty, the company starts paying into a pension plan for them, and in addition they have a full 6 weeks of paid vacation.

Now how much do you think this costs customers? The Economist looked into this and found out that the Big Mac costs 76 cents less than it does here.

Don't believe the lies that raising the minimum wage would force prices to go up.

[Michał Podlewski @trajektoriePL]

Now we know why Peter Thiel packed his bags for Argentina.

Milei just submitted his AI legislative framework to Congress, where he proposes:
- zero regulation on AI development,
- a brand-new "non-human corporation" category for AI/robot-operated entities with limited liability
-a low-tax regime with flexible governance rules.

The Dutch East India Company gave the world the limited liability company in 1602. Milei wants Argentina to do the same for autonomous AI agents in 2026.

[The Tennessee Holler @TheTNHoller]

LINDELL TV’s @alisonintheknow: “Last time you told me to shut up…”

PELOSI: “And I’ll tell you to shut up again. You’re not a real reporter. You work for the pillow man. Get away from me.”

(H/T @adammocklerr)

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

S&P, the company that runs the world's most tracked stock index, considered changing its rules to fast-track SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic in after their IPOs.

It ultimately chose not to do so.

Thread.

[Geoff Thew @G0ffThew]

To their credit, YouTube did actually investigate the false copyright claim and remove it!

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

Today Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is announcing that he will temporarily halt tax breaks for data center developers.

He will also call on the state legislature to take multiple actions around data centers, including banning NDAs that have been used to keep these projects secret.

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

A Texas county granted Elon Musk an 100% tax exemption for a proposed TeraFab chip manufacturing facility that could cost upwards of $119 billion to implement over four years.

Grimes County will be home to a massive data center that produces high-performance semiconductor chips for Tesla vehicles, robots, and SpaceX systems.

Musk won't pay a dime thanks to the tax abatement the county commissioners are giving SpaceX.

So who will pay for the complex? The residents of Grimes County when they check their electric bill.

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

NEW: World Cup tickets cost up to $11.5 million — you could get into the last WC for $11.

This time FIFA could rake in $13 billion using dynamic pricing, resales, and lax U.S. rules.

We found FIFA President Gianni Infantino funneling that money into keeping himself in power.

[The Road Jess Travelled @JessPected]

So much for that super impressive tough guy violence if rapists ever told him they're rapists. The reality is, as is always the case, he'd high-five his rapist buddies' confessions & slobber over them hoping for their approval.

[Geoff Thew @G0ffThew]

Crazy YouTube still hasn’t responded

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

The New York Legislature has passed landmark legislation to stop surveillance pricing and ban corporations from using personal data to set individualized prices.

The bill now heads to the desk of Governor Kathy Hochul.

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

The New York Assembly and Senate have both passed a one-year moratorium on the construction of AI hyperscale data centers.

The bill is now on Governor Kathy Hochul's desk.

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that would allocate an additional $70 billion for DHS and ICE.

These agencies already have a combined $100 billion in unspent funds that were part of a larger DHS spending bill.

The legislation now heads to the House.

[Gigi @Gigi_chienergy]

The screwworm program wasn't charity, it was a $10 million fence that kept a billion-dollar problem from eating our own livestock alive. That's the thing with most USAID funding: it looks like "aid," but it's really cheap self-defense. Solve a problem there, and it never lands on our doorstep. But sure, let a bunch of guys who can't define DEI without Googling take a chainsaw to it. They didn't stop to ask, "Will this cut hurt us too?" Unless that's the point, burn it all down and call it efficiency.

As usual our inept agriculture secretary, blaming the Biden administration as usual, instead of offering a solution to the problem they created.

Texan here

A screwworm infestation is a nightmare for cattle, causing horrific wounds and economic devastation. For Texas, the situation has escalated dramatically in the last 24 hours with the first confirmed case of New World Screwworm (NWS) in over 60 years! This could have been avoided!

Infested animal can kill a cow in less than two weeks.

Treatment is extremely difficult and time-consuming, requiring the painful removal of every visible larva and deep disinfection of the wound. Ranchers no longer have much experience with this labor-intensive process, and there is currently no approved pharmaceutical treatment to make it easier.

This has triggered a massive economic threat. The USDA estimates that a widespread outbreak would drain an astonishing $1.8 billion from the Texas economy alone in livestock deaths, labor, and medication expenses.

How will this affect you? Tightening supplies will drive already high beef prices higher.

[Randy Milholland @choochoobear]

The community note is perfect.

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

The DOJ argued protest signs displaying "86-47" were death threats. A judge cited Merriam-Webster. 1930s soda-counter slang. Means "throw out." Case over.

James Comey is still being prosecuted for seashells. The lead prosecutor just withdrew. The dictionary will be waiting in North Carolina in October.