Month: April 2025

It’s going to be hard to rebuild the agencies Trump is crushing

The people are gone. The money is gone. The buildings are gone. Nobody will want to work for a place that could be eliminated again. What happens to the records? I bet the Trump cult members destroy the paper and computer copies so they can’t be used in the future

What happens to the files and archives of government agencies Trump is destroying? Is Trump getting rid of them, too? In the future, if we get a president who cares about people, it would be hard to bring these organizations back.

— Harris Levy (@harrislevy.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T19:45:09.600Z

There are many stages in this struggle. What’s happened so far is illegal. Next step is whether Congress votes to kill these agencies. Complicated

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T19:46:16.143Z

Poor job by the Washington Post and CNN on posts about ex-presidents criticizing Trump

They left out all the times Trump has criticized the ex-presidents. I wrote them both back on BlueSky. The post article does talk about Trump’s bad remarks but it’s way down in the story. It should be in the post, too.

Three ex-presidents denounce the current one in a two-week stretchWhile presidents have been at odds before, there is often a sort of camaraderie among the small club of individuals who have served in the highest office in the land.www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202…

— Jamie Gangel (@jamiegangel.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T23:15:40.866Z

You should also discuss how Trump has talked about the ex-Presidents. See example below and there’s Trump’s birther lie about Obama.Check out this article from USA TODAY:Trump: 'Jimmy Carter died a happy man' because he wasn't the 'worst president'www.usatoday.com/story/news/p…

— Harris Levy (@harrislevy.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T23:36:29.072Z

bsky.app/profile/adam…

— Harris Levy (@harrislevy.bsky.social) 2025-04-20T16:23:43.934Z

Here’s the Post and my similar reply:

In just over two weeks, three former presidents have taken to the public stage to sound the alarm against President Donald Trump, despite the tradition that former presidents generally refrain from publicly criticizing their successors.

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) 2025-04-19T20:08:55.629Z

Current presidents don’t usually criticize former presidents as often as Trump does. Check out this article from USA TODAY:Trump: 'Jimmy Carter died a happy man' because he wasn't the 'worst president'www.usatoday.com/story/news/p…

— Harris Levy (@harrislevy.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T20:24:33.592Z

Trump’s effort to crush the Consumer Finance Protection Board

RIFs are pretty detailed, and it is entirely possible that many agencies failed to follow the steps or meet the criteria. Question is whether courts call them on their BS or say that the Trump administration has discretion over this (in which case, why have the rules at all?)

— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T21:23:05.204Z

This tweet appeared under this Techmeme headline:Kyle Cheney / @kyledcheney:Judge Amy Berman Jackson has suspended efforts to implement large-scale terminations at CFPB until she rules on whether it's a violation of her injunction against dismantling the agency. [image]

— Techmeme X Chatter (@xchatter.techmeme.com) 2025-04-18T21:23:15.987Z

Judge Blocks DOGE From Laying Off 90 Percent of CFPB http://www.wired.com/story/cfpb-t…

— WORKER19 (@blogwood.com) 2025-04-18T21:22:58.244Z

NEW: The CFPB has been gutted. More than 1,400 workers received RIF notices this afternoon, agency sources tell me. Around 200 employees are left. http://www.wired.com/story/cfpb-h…

— makena kelly (@makenakelly.bsky.social) 2025-04-17T21:29:55.813Z

Late night Prospect: The CFPB mass firing leaves the agency without sufficient staff to fulfill its statutory goals or even priorities laid out by the agency’s acting chief legal officer a day earlier. It also puts some markets CFPB oversees at risk of malfunctioning.prospect.org/justice/cfpb…

— David Dayen (@ddayen.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T06:05:55.598Z

More on how Trump’s tariffs are damaging travel to the US

Visits to the U.S. in March fell nearly 12 percent year-over-year, government figures show, the first significant downturn since early in the pandemic. Analysts say Trump's visa revocations, detentions, deportations and tariffs are pushing tourists awaywww.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0…

— Matthew Hay Brown (@matthewhaybrown.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T14:03:26.827Z

As international tourists pull back on U.S. travel and purchases, $90 billion in lost revenue looms

Canadians and Europeans are boycotting the US and US made products. Goldman Sachs estimates this will cost the US economy $90 Billion in 2025.

— Laguna Beach Democratic Club (@lagunabeachdems.bsky.social) 2025-04-16T19:32:09.778Z

U.S. tourism down while more Americans consider moving abroad

Rubio doing his best to rescue the tourism biz. 🤡 @axios.com http://www.axios.com/newsletters/…

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) 2025-04-16T13:19:50.182Z

The American tourism industry is going to get absolutely smoked

— Bruce Arthur (@brucearthur.bsky.social) 2025-04-20T16:40:51.407Z

canadian air travel to the united states in march: down 13.5%canadian air travel to mexico in march: up 15.6% “i think they are choosing more friendly policies”-mexican secretary of tourism/statistics canada

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer.com) 2025-05-09T20:09:11.601Z

California is No. 1 state for tourism, but may be hit by 'Trump Slump,' Newsom says

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes.com) 2025-05-05T23:10:03.380Z

Trump's policies responsible for projected $9,000,000,000 DECLINEin international visitor spending in 2025That's a $6.4B loss in hospitality, dining, entertainment, etc And $2.5B loss to transportation (airlines) http://www.tourismeconomics.com/press/in-the…

— Larry Tenney (@larrytenney.bsky.social) 2025-05-04T20:36:41.894Z

Trump has destroyed the government’s COVID site

The official U.S. government covid.gov website is now just a conspiracy theorist website tailored to Trump's 2020 grievances.

— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T17:35:56.428Z

White House replaces covid.gov website with ‘lab leak’ theory The government-run website covid.gov used to host information about COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and treatment. Now, under President Trump’s purview, the page redirects… @cosmicmeta.io #LabLeakhttps://u2m.io/87g7J8xX

— Buhane Information Technologies (@buhane.com.tr) 2025-04-18T20:01:33.716Z

We still need good information, not Trump crap. I got COVID for the first time just three months ago.

Ending food safety inspections is a terrible idea

Ugh the gross negligence to public safety…it’s only a matter of time before this decision leads to something going horribly wrong.

— Z Nerdy Girlie (@butterflyforest.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T18:09:55.222Z

Public health and other experts are criticizing the Food and Drug Administration for how it handled a widespread E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce.

— People Magazine (@people.com) 2025-04-18T11:00:54.831Z

People are going to die from contaminated food

— David Leavitt 🔜 #PaxEast (@davidleavitt.bsky.social) 2025-04-17T22:57:23.002Z

This is really bad, signed a historian of food safety

— Christopher Deutsch (@drchrisdeutsch.bsky.social) 2025-04-17T22:56:27.868Z

“The City That Reads” and my conversation with Elmore Leonard

Under Mayor Kurt Schmoke, Baltimore used the slogan “The City That Reads”. This would have been in the late 1980s and/or 1990s. When Baltimore was #1 in teen pregnancy at some point during this time, cynics called it “The City That Breeds”.

I don’t recall the year this happened but I went to Washington, DC to see Elmore Leonard at a bookstore and get books signed by him. I rushed there after work in Baltimore, it was hot and I was sweaty and I got there just before the event was over.

I explained this to him and we had a conversation that went something like this.

Me: I am sorry to be late but I came here from Baltimore

Leonard: Baltimore? We needed you there earlier today (They had a poorly attended book signing in Baltimore at a store – I was not aware of it.)

Me: They call it “The City That Reads”

Leonard: That must be a new slogan.

I saw him again a year or two later and gave him a “The City That Reads” bookmark.