vertigo

Maine Progressive

[Jeffrey Evan Gold @jeffgoldesq]

@FPWellman @Acyn In fact, his grandfather came to this country to dodge German military service, a family tradition Trumps have dutifully carried on here.

[Ken Klippenstein @kenklippenstein]

"Why don't elderly politicians retire and spend time with families" assumes their families love them
https://t.co/ZNFgNIsKzP

[Devin Nunes' Cattle Dog 🇺🇦 🇪🇺🇺🇸🇨🇦 🇦🇺 @Kaos_Vs_Control]

A New 55-Page Congressional Report Alleges Donors Who Wanted to Fund America's 250th Birthday Celebration Were Given the Wrong Bank Routing Numbers Redirecting Their Money to a Trump-Linked Group Instead, Without Their Knowledge, 1 Day Before the Actual 4th of July

Wire fraud?

[Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski]

Trump and his sons ripped off nearly one million of their supporters and made a fortune producing nothing of value for anyone. Blood sucking leeches, using the US presidency to do it. And they couldn’t care less and their cult doesn’t seem to mind. Strange times in America.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Mamdani: We're a city of 8.5 million people, biggest city in the country. More than 3 million New Yorkers were born outside of this country. And so they bring with them both that love of this country and the roots of where they come from. And in the world cup, feels like every team is playing at home.

It's a beautiful moment because New Yorkers feel like they can be their full selves. And even today you saw Morocco beat Canada three zero… You'd have thought you were in Morocco

[dominic dyer @domdyer70]

YES: Mamdani's administration just funded New York City's first-ever pet food pantry program.

$750,000 in the FY2027 budget, specifically to help pet owners who can't afford food for their animals. Another $750,000 goes toward affordable spay/neuter services. $1.5 million total, aimed at keeping people and their pets together.

Here's why it matters: NYC animal shelters took in over 16,000 animals last year. Nearly 10,000 were strays. Another 6,500 were owner surrenders — people who loved their pets but couldn't afford to feed them or get them basic vet care, and had to give them up.

Animal welfare advocates had been pushing for this for years, asking for $15.3 million to fully fund pantries, spay/neuter clinics in every borough, and a real animal welfare office. They got a fraction of the ask, But it's the first time the city has put dedicated dollars behind the idea at all.

No family should have to choose between rent and feeding their family — pets included. This is a start.

[LPC @landpalestine]

BREAKING- Itamar Ben-Gvir cancels his visit to NYC for fear of Zahran Mamdani threat that he will be arrested upon arrival

[Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior]

"This week marks both 250 years of US 'independence' and 1000 days of Israel's genocide of Palestinians. The latter milestone is more important."

More: https://t.co/o0xQnUA0Nj

[David Sirota @davidsirota]

something to keep in mind the next time you hear your politician bewail the parliamentarian or some other fake excuse

[Congressman Greg Casar @RepCasar]

RFK Jr. looked me dead in the eye and lied. He said, "there are no cuts to Medicaid."

Now we have receipts: 3.8 million people lost Medicaid or CHIP.

All to pay for tax cuts for billionaire donors.

[Bill Madden @maddenifico]

Whoa! Trump has lost the right-wing Bari Weiss-founded The Free Press

Trump's Art of the Self-Deal: There is no modern parallel for the scale and shamelessness with which the president is enriching himself in office.

"You do not need to think Trump is the end of American democracy, or that everything he does is evil, to see this for what it is: the biggest grift in American history."

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

America's largest groundwater reserve now faces data centers under construction directly above it.

Recent analysis reveals that multiple proposed and under construction AI data centers lie directly atop or adjacent to the Ogallala Aquifer. This vast underground freshwater reservoir ranks as the largest in the United States and stands among the most critical groundwater resources in North America.

The aquifer spans eight states. It accounts for approximately 30 percent of groundwater used for irrigation nationwide and sustains about one fifth of United States agricultural output.

Not every data center will draw water straight from the aquifer itself. Several companies have shifted toward more water efficient cooling technologies while others have yet to reveal their specific plans.

Researchers however highlight the heavy concentration of large scale AI developments in Texas and Wyoming. This buildup prompts serious questions about the overall strain on a resource that is already stressed.

Contemporary AI data centers produce massive heat loads and demand advanced cooling solutions. A single large hyperscale site can consume as much as 5 million gallons of water each day. That amount equals the daily water requirements of a town housing tens of thousands of people.

Estimates indicate that United States data centers directly used roughly 17 billion gallons of water in 2023. Including the water needed to generate their electricity the annual total could surpass 160 billion gallons. These volumes are set to increase further as AI infrastructure grows rapidly.

The Ogallala Aquifer remains especially fragile due to its extremely slow recharge rate. Groundwater levels in some locations have declined by more than 200 feet or 61 meters. Certain portions of the aquifer might require centuries or even millennia to replenish.

Specialists note that facility location represents only one consideration. The selected cooling methods the chosen water sources and comprehensive long term oversight will ultimately shape the real environmental consequences.

[Joe Kent @joekent16jan19]

Our nation was founded by rejecting a failed system that no longer served We the People. Through their undaunted courage, our Founding Fathers birthed this nation and created a system that empowers us to replace the government when our leaders fail us.

In our lifetimes, we have watched our government drag us into pointless wars to sustain an empire that enriches and empowers only the elites, while the American way of life deteriorates here at home.

We are blessed in this: 250 years ago, our Founders didn’t merely grant us the right to change our government—they made it our duty.

We now face an onslaught of propaganda claiming that, despite another foolish war in the Middle East and rampant corruption, those in power have our best interests at heart. This is designed to deceive, provoke, and demoralize us. Don’t take the bait. View it all with clear eyes and resolve to change it.

This nation is not merely “an idea” to be reshaped by the selfish whims of those in power, nor is it a “failed experiment.” This nation is our home, our heritage, and our sacred duty to preserve for future generations. By breaking free from the failed political system that enabled this rot, we can restore our wounded Republic.

Rejoice that we live in the greatest, freest nation the world has ever known. Never give up hope. Never stop fighting for what it is our duty to protect.

God bless the United States of America.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

DOGE deletes itself on July 4th. It will be remembered as a hugely destructive failure.

Musk promised $2 trillion in savings.

What we got, by DOGE’s own unverified math, was $215 billion. Even that number was never proven.

The costs were atrocious. Nearly 140,000 federal workers pushed out. Veterans waiting longer for care. USAID dismantled while people died overseas as a direct result. 20-year-olds with Red Bulls and no college degrees rummaging through Americans’ most sensitive data.

Musk, the world’s richest man, a federal contractor with billions in government business, auditing the government that pays him, accountable to no voter anywhere. 

Even Musk now says he wouldn’t do it again. The guy who ran it calls it a mistake.

Government reform was there for the taking. Both parties know federal technology is outdated. Both parties know waste exists. Fixing it required serious people working with career civil servants who know where the problems actually are. Instead we got a chainsaw, a photo op, and years of lost expertise we now have to rebuild.

Now Trump’s budget director says there will be no final accounting or receipts. They promised transparency and they’re closing up shop in the dark.
They’re counting on us all to forget.
https://t.co/LhgbGUY2Ca

[David Sirota @davidsirota]

Jeff Bezos's newspaper accused @ewarren and other populist Democrats of spreading a false conspiracy theory about greedflation.

In reality, the Dems were correct: it is an actual conspiracy.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

Gabor Maté has helped millions make sense of pain.
We met through one of the deepest wounds of our time, the one opened by the genocide in Palestine.
Each in our own way, we search for a path through and beyond it.

Honoured to be in conversation with him about my book, domani.

[GBC @GBC_Press]

🚨 BREAKING:

​The United Nations has officially declared Gaza a genocide zone, noting that Israel is deliberately targeting children and infants.

​It took them three full years to reach this conclusion.

[MM  @adgirlMM]

Apparently a plan was proposed in March by a Trump bootlicker appointee to replace the 200-year-old columns on the White House with more "ornate" columns that match his style.

Scaffolding has gone up. The White House says it's "routine maintenance."

Congress is silent.

[Elizabeth de la Vega 🇺🇸🦅 @Delavegalaw]

And let me point out, what Trump is doing is not "
grifting." He is not a "grifter." Grift is petty fraud and theft. Trump is a career criminal who is committing a massive, sprawling fraud and theft against the United States and its people -- right before our very eyes.

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

Both AIPAC and the liberal feminist groups that compose the establishment wing of the Dem Party have united on one line of attack against @AbdulElSayed to help AIPAC's Haley Stevens win: he's a sexist.

Total repeat of the 2016 playbook used for Hillary against Bernie: