"The Department of Justice is trying to make it easier for President Donald Trump to lie to the American public under the guise of cracking down on leaks."
#pressfreedom
https://freedom.press/issues/new-doj-policy-on-journalists-and-sources-fuels-trumps-lies/

Microsoft dumped a law firm that capitulated to Trump and hired a law firm (Jenner & Block) that is fighting Trump’s executive orders.

#JENNERBLOCK https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/business/microsoft-drops-trump-compliant-law-firm.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

@tofugolem @jeffjarvis
"At this point, the threat of state violence is the ONLY basis for the power of government." -- Tofu Golem

"Sen. Chris Murphy called the president's crypto scheming the 'biggest corruption scandal in the history of the American presidency'."
#crypto #trumpcoin
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-crypto-corruption-abu-dhabi-deal-1235329793/

"Most of our manufacturing jobs have been lost to automation, not trade." https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-kenneth-rogoff.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

"Trump has this as a religious belief," says Rogoff: "The dollar’s strength over time was a significant contributor to the hollowing out of our industrial base."

Trump exploits this "ridiculous" ideology to devalue the dollar and boost his family's cryptocurrency venture.

#trumpcoin
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-kenneth-rogoff.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

For more than 60 years, hundreds of unclassified reports from the US defense and intelligence community have assessed the threats to the US from environmental, #water, and #climate risks.

Those reports are disappearing from government websites and the military is being ordered to cancel, and censor, these security analyses.

I've documented, annotated, and linked to them on my website in three blog posts. The first one is here (the next two are there as well):

https://www.gleick.com/blog/climate-change-water-the-environment-and-national-security-an-annotated

Have you noticed that T's eyes get more reptilian?

Trump pardoned Paul Walczak, the son of Betsy Fago, "a longtime Republican donor."

https://crooksandliars.com/2025/04/trump-pardons-donors-son-stealing-doctors?utm_source=social&amp%3Butm_medium=twitter&amp%3Butm_content=101846

A federal employee who is helping the Trump administration carry out the drastic downsizing of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau owns stock in companies that could benefit from the agency’s dismantling, a ProPublica investigation has found.

Gavin Kliger, a 25-year-old
Department of Government Efficiency aide, disclosed the investments earlier this year in his public financial report,
which lists as much as $365,000 worth of shares in four companies that the CFPB can regulate.

According to court records and government emails, he later helped oversee the layoffs of more than 1,400 employees at the bureau.

Ethics experts say this constitutes a conflict of interest and that Kliger’s actions are a potential violation of federal ethics laws.

Executive branch employees have long been subject to laws and rules that forbid them from working on matters that “will affect your own personal financial interest.”

CFPB employees are also required to divest from dozens of additional, specific companies that engage in financial services and thus either are or could be subject to agency supervision, rulemaking, examination or enforcement.

The CFPB oversees companies that offer a variety of financial services, including mortgage lending, auto financing, credit cards and payment apps.

Two of the companies in which Kliger is invested — Apple and Tesla
— are on the CFPB’s list of prohibited holdings.

Two others — Bitcoin and Solana
— aren’t on the list but are nevertheless barred under agency guidance on investing in cryptocurrency firms.

Court records show that Kliger was among a small handful of top CFPB and administration officials discussing the implementation of the layoffs in emails.
Separately, a federal employee who works on the layoff team said that Kliger “managed” the firings of about 90% of the bureau’s staff earlier this month, according to a sworn declaration filed by lawyers opposing the administration.
The employee, using the pseudonym Alex Doe for fear of retaliation, said they learned of Kliger’s role from colleagues and described Kliger -- keeping the CFPB employees “up for 36 hours straight to ensure that the notices would go out,” the declaration states.
“Gavin was screaming at people he did not believe were working fast enough” and “calling them incompetent.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/doge-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-gavin-kliger-stock

@eniko
When did we not have to care about every election everywhere?

On election night in November 2024, the Trump family put their hands together in a circle and yelled "Ka-ching!"
#trumpcoin

"President Trump has noted that conflict of interest laws do not apply to him." -- Eric Lipton, NYT
#crypto #trumpcoin

"Mr. Trump is now not only a major crypto dealer; he is also the industry’s top policy maker."
#crypto #cryptocurrency #trumpcoin https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/us/politics/trump-crypto-world-liberty-financial.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

Trump's crypto empire "has eviscerated the boundary between private enterprise and government policy."
#trumpcoin https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/us/politics/trump-crypto-world-liberty-financial.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

@FoxesInLove
The same applies to vulture capitalists who buy distressed assets (and to vultures).

"Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount ['60 Minutes' corporate parent], has been intent on securing approval from the Trump administration for a multibillion-dollar sale of her media company." #cronycapitalism
‘60 Minutes’ Chastises Its Corporate Parent in Unusual On-Air Rebuke https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/business/media/60-minutes-scott-pelley-paramount.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

@cryptadamist
Two viewpoints on Trumpcoin:
(a) Disturbing massive corruption
(b) Fascinating brilliant fun

@cryptadamist
Trumpcoin:
"...a dropbox for putting money into Trump's pocket."
"...pay to play"
"buying access"
"...facilitating politicians doing crypto pump and dumps"

Thought I'd just share this from my visit to my sister. #lambsofmastodon