Patty

Photography ~ Capturing the beauty I see in life. you can find me on Bluesky or IG p_soappman 🇺🇦🇬🇱

[Patty @soappman]

We needed a little hike

[Patty @soappman]

. This again proves this administration is incompetent & does not give a damn about the affects for the average American when it makes decisions unless it feeds his & his family’s pockets, 1% & his donors.
@HouseGOP @HouseDemocrats
@SenateDems
@SenateGOP
https://t.co/sZwsFwpoQa

[Miles Taylor @MilesTaylorUSA]

Yesterday Donald Trump tripled the size of his personal political army inside the government. Illegally. And almost no one noticed.

Here's what happened:

He signed an order converting ~8,000 of the most senior career officials in government into employees he can fire for any reason, or no reason at all.

These aren't rando's. They're the directors, chiefs of staff, and the people who write the rules or decide who gets federal money, i.e. the lieutenants right below his political appointees.

Until yesterday, they answered to the law. Now they answer to him.

A president normally gets ~4,000 political appointees. People he can bring into government and fire at will. I was one of them at DHS. You serve at his pleasure, full stop -- so if you're gonna speak truth to power, you're prepared to quit (or get fired if he doesn't like it).

The rest of the federal government is PROTECTED from firing if they tell the truth.

But Trump just stripped those protections. Adding 8,000 more people to his personal army. Overnight. Without asking Congress.

With the stroke of a pen, those people now serve at the pleasure of the president. They're "his" people, whether they like it or not.

And the chilling effect is real. An official who can be fired this afternoon for "subversion of presidential directives" (the order's own words) doesn't need to be hand-picked to know what's expected of him or her.

The threat does all the work.

By the way, this order is illegal. The law only lets Trump reclassify jobs when "necessary" in exceptional circumstances. And this blows an 8,000-person hole in the merit hiring / firing system created by Congress.

Without permission, Trump has created a whole new category of stormtroopers inside the Executive Branch.

If this doesn't get challenged in court, you're going to see the U.S. government become a very different place.

Here's the full story: https://t.co/mJzrvzhxGR

[The Lincoln Project @ProjectLincoln]

Trump's Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins: "If we have a big screwworm infestation—which we will not, we're on top of it..."

The screwworm has returned to the US after 60 years after Trump and DOGE eliminated a program to contain the flesh-eating parasite.

[Warren @swd2]

Man, if the desert could vote y’all would be killing it.

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

⚡️ Budapest has reached an agreement with Kyiv on the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.

This opens the way for Ukraine’s EU accession. Hungary will no longer block it.

[Stanimir Dobrev @delfoo]

Updated map of the regions of Russia where there are shortages of gasoline or diesel. As always it's worse in the occupied territories. Adding 5 regions to the list of those that have fuel shortages. Voronezh, Karelia, Tomsk, Rostov and Tula.

[Patty @soappman]

Is this enough evidence of how Russia is a Terrorist State? @IntlCrimCourt @NATO @HouseGOP @HouseDemocrats @SenateDems @SenateGOP

[Yasmina @yasminalombaert]

This is putin casually admitting to what can only be described as a textbook war crime, and he’s doing it with a smug smile on his face.

He literally brags about using Ukraine as a human testing ground.

He openly admits that they didn't fire their "Oreshnik" missile at a military test range. Instead, they fired it at populated areas in Ukraine just because it was "convenient to watch”.

Think about that for a second. He sent explosive warheads into communities, and then sent drones in right after just to count the bodies and measure the craters "down to the millimeter" like it’s some kind of science fair project.

But the scariest part is how he ends it. He casually drops that they are collecting this data so they can figure out how to better use these massive missiles in "urban areas”. That is political speak for densely populated cities filled with civilians, apartment buildings, and schools.
It’s pure, calculated terror.

putin: “After all, we... we used to test such systems at testing ranges. But 'Oreshnik' wasn't tested that way. And this wasn't a combat application. In fact, we haven't had a single combat application of 'Oreshnik' over the territory of Ukraine in the full, so to speak, sense of the word.
And the last one—to be completely honest, I will reveal a major, major state military secret to you. We simply struck a location where it was convenient to observe the results. Well, this concerns Bila Tserkva, and it especially concerns... concerns the DPR [so-called Donetsk People's Republic] area within the perimeter of the main fortified area.
Afterward, our drones flew into that area—the target area we had struck—and simply looked at how the multiple reentry vehicles had landed. They calculated everything down to the millimeter, exactly where everything hit.
For us, this is important in order to make future decisions regarding the full-scale deployment of 'Oreshnik' against designated targets. Including within urban areas.”

[VoteVets @votevets]

BREAKING: Rep. Pat Ryan just got the House Armed Services Committee UNANIMOUSLY to force Pete Hegseth to explain every senior military firing within the next 5 days. Hegseth has fired 24+ officers without cause or explanation. Even Republicans want answers.

[Patty @soappman]

@JayinKyiv Say @marcorubio if Russia were attacking the U.S. the same way they are doing to Ukraine, how would you react if the negotiators ask the U.S. to give up more land to RU to stop the war?

[Patty @soappman]

@RpsAgainstTrump 🤔 isn’t this the same thing that Russia did with their news organizations?
@CBSNews

[Patty @soappman]

@atrupar @ENERGY Wright is straight out lying to the American people. Solar works just fine in the winter time.
So, the question is, is he knowing lying because he’s paid off or is he lying because he is scared of getting Trump mad at him & him losing his job?
Either way, he’s a traitor.

[Trek3871 🟦Love Not Hate @Trek3871D]

@Acyn Meet Troy Lake….

No he did not go to jail for fixing his own car.

He went to jail for removing EPA Emission Controls from diesel engines across Wyoming.

When you break the law bad things happen, that’s something Donald knows nothing about.

[Patty @soappman]

@Acyn @RepLuna who started the war? Who has broken every agreement? Who has taken another countries territory? Who is taking Ukrainian children into RU? Who is has tortured and killed civilians?
Also, if RU did the same thing here in the U.S. would you give them more of our territory?

[Patty @soappman]

@Acyn @RepLuna who started the war? Who has broken every agreement? Who has taken another countries territory? Who is taking Ukrainian children into RU? Who is has tortured and killed civilians?
Also, if RU did the same thing here in the U.S. would you give them more of our territory?

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

A Tunnel Between Russia and the USA.

According to the Kremlin’s biggest piece of scum—Kirill Dmitriev—the parties could soon sign an agreement to continue planning work.
Trump—Putin’s best collaborator—wants to bring the Russians into the USA via the shortest possible route.

When will Americans have had enough?

[Patty @soappman]

@KaterynaLis He is so full of shit. The U.S. has basically been sending Ukraine Cold War equipment that has been sitting in warehouses unused for years along with a spattering of Patriot air defense interceptors & missile, along with GPS to help defend Ukraine from RU drone & missile attacks.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

"The Pentagon is expected to cancel a plan to send Tomahawk missiles to Germany partly because officials are concerned Russia will view it as an escalation" - Politico

??? What? 🤦‍♀️

[Shaun Pinner @ShaunPinnerUA]

Putin's corridor in Crimea looked like this yesterday. Drones are effectively disrupting the occupiers' logistics and placing huge pressure on the southern axis and Crimea.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

🔥🚨 MAJOR JUST IN: The SAVE America Act Just Failed In The Senate.

The measure, which would have required voter ID and proof of citizenship nationwide, was rejected 48-50.

Republican senators Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, and Susan Collins voted no.

[Patty @soappman]

I can’t get over how there are some who are up in arms about what Israel is doing in Gaza and rightfully so. And yet have bought into Russia isn’t doing the same thing in Ukraine!

Seriously?!