Author: Harris L

Trump will make it harder for the feveral government to hire employees even after he is gone

I worked for the federal government for almost 38 years. It was a stable place to work before Trump. His terrible actions will make it hard to hire people in the future. Let’s say a Democrat is elected in 2028 and wants to rebuild agencies Trump destroyed. Why would anyone want to work there knowing the next president could just get rid of you? If you were a scientist, the next president could take your work and throw it in the trash.

Here are links to two Washington Post articles which show how badly Trump is treating employees – it could happen again with a future president.

Despite judge’s rehiring orders, some fired feds might not come back

Federal workers told to report to faraway offices—with days’ notice

An entire class of junior researchers not developed for example.

— Justin Zimmerman (@jztidecat.bsky.social) 2025-03-17T12:03:31.942Z

Oklahoma wants to teach the Big Lie in schools – I predicted red states would do this

NEW: Oklahoma will expect high school students to study debunked 2020 election conspiracies this fall, embedding Trump’s lies into public school curriculum.Teachers and parents are pushing back. From: @yuniorarivas.bsky.social

— Democracy Docket (@democracydocket.com) 2025-06-28T15:01:17.812Z

See my post below where I predicted this in 2022

https://sad209898016.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=31845&action=edit

Oklahoma taxpayers will now be paying at least $33 million to teach high-schoolers to deny election results.Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters “used deceptive tactics in order to pass new last-minute changes” to the high school curriculum. open.substack.com/pub/populari…

— Dani M. (@danielleloveswords.bsky.social) 2025-05-01T14:36:17.926Z

Another loss for Oklahoma's MAGA mini-me Ryan Walters.OK's supreme court blocked new social studies standards that included conspiracy theories about covid and about Trump's loss in 2020. And they blocked the law putting bibles in public schools.

— Adam "Ask Me About Joe Lancaster" Laats (@adamlaats.bsky.social) 2025-09-18T14:49:12.209Z

Overturning NYT v. Sullivan would be terrible

Trump opposes press freedom. He doesn’t like people challenging his lies. I hope the Supreme Court doesn’t overturn NYT v. Sullivan but I don’t have confidence in this extreme right-wing dominated bunch.

I spoke to @oliverdarcy.bsky.social about my new book and Trump’s motivation for wanting to overturn Supreme Court precedents like NYT v. Sullivan that make it harder for powerful people to successfully sue the media. http://www.status.news/p/new-york-t…

— David Enrich (@davidenrich.bsky.social) 2025-03-10T01:51:44.188Z

Enrich explains that Neil Gorsuch’s recent opinion calling for reconsideration of NYT v. Sullivan is based on a law prof’s completely fact-free theory that journalists knowingly questionable information because the law disincentivizes fact-checking.

— Alison Frankel (@alisonfrankel.bsky.social) 2025-03-08T18:17:15.382Z

The push to overturn NYT v. Sullivan is part of a broader conservative campaign – involving lawsuits, investigations and govt policy – to weaken/delegitimize the media.It’s a key strategy for a White House that often uses lies and distortions to advance its agenda. http://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/b…

— David Enrich (@davidenrich.bsky.social) 2025-03-03T11:59:57.399Z

Among the many revelations here: In 2021, Neil Gorsuch wrote an influential opinion calling to reverse the famed NYT v. Sullivan. His arguments were largely drawn from an academic article.That article, I learned, was deeply flawed. SCOTUS later quietly corrected Gorsuch’s opinion.

— David Enrich (@davidenrich.bsky.social) 2025-03-03T11:59:01.480Z

Overturning Sullivan has at least two votes on the Supreme Court — Thomas and Alito. Maybe more. I can’t overstate how catastrophic that would be for free expression in America in an environment where political and performative defamation litigation are common.

— Radical Left Group Of Popehats (@kenwhite.bsky.social) 2025-02-07T16:08:02.085Z

Schumer should be more like McConnell

If we enter a shutdown, Congressional Republicans would weaponize their majorities to cherry-pick which parts of government to reopen.

— Chuck Schumer (@schumer.senate.gov) 2025-03-14T00:33:53.417Z

Ask McConnell what he would do if he was you. He was a much more effective leader. Please take me off Democratic fundraising mailing lists.

— Harris Levy (@harrislevy.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T00:38:43.580Z

In 2021, McConnell successfully filibustered a Democratic CR ahead of a government shutdown and forced them to accept a clean one instead. What happened this week – a total cave on a totally partisan long-term funding bill – hasn’t happened in the 20 years I’ve covered Congress.

— Steven T. Dennis (@steventdennis.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T12:14:37.420Z

Bad New York Times headline

Materials on the Arlington National Cemetery website highlighting the graves of Black and female service members have vanished. The cemetery, which is operated by the Army, said it was working to restore the content. Among the obscured pages was material about civil rights.

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-03-15T13:45:06.844Z

They didn't lose them. That sounds like they misplaced them. This was a deliberate effort to comply with Trump's disgusting policies. I assumed the only reason they are restoring them is public outcry.

— Harris Levy (@harrislevy.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T15:58:57.136Z

One point on Schumer’s strategy

They’ll get rid of workers, shutdown or no shutdown

I know nobody wants to hear this, but Schumer is right. http://www.slowboring.com/p/sixteen-th…

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T00:41:48.127Z

On #9The administration would have already identified what they consider non-essential employees in case the furlough took place. I think they would get rid of the employees anyway, shutdown or no shutdown. They don’t care about norms, rules or laws.

— Harris Levy (@harrislevy.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T00:07:52.417Z