A new report from @warren.senate.gov details Elon Musk’s reign of corruption in Washington, itemizing 130 dodgy dealings in 130 days. EXCLUSIVE ⤵️

It’s a Tuesday in June, which means Orientation for incoming freshman. And their parents. As I pulled into the parking lot this morning, Superdad in a minivan driving the wrong way made it a point to cut me off in his quest to get the parking space I was signaling to pull into. Good times.

Morning: Assistant scanning photos: “When was this picture taken, do you think?” Me: “Looks like a 70s or 80s Camaro parked out front…so then?” Afternoon: Assistant: “Who is this guy?” Me: “Joe Frank Harris. He was governor when I was born.” I am a fount of totally random knowledge, friends.

Welp. First AOTUS, then the Kennedy Center board, then the Librarian of Congress. I suppose this was inevitable.

Y’all, imma try this again. I feel like I never quite get my rhythm here. Since I ghosted everyone, here are a few wild developments in my life: 1. I’m three water heaters in and about to upgrade my electric panel in a quest to return hot water to my house. 2. Carter turned two on May 8th!

Hello, yes… Am I speaking to Georgia’s Ghost of 1941? How well did the Cocking Affair work out for Governor Talmadge? www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

this entire article is an argument for dems to refuse to lift a single fucking finger to help republicans pass a dirty CR. if congressional republicans can go straight to musk to get relief for their districts but congressional democrats can't, then there's absolutely no reason to help, at all.

Musk states "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy". Charles Darwin, who actually researched this stuff, showed it was empathy, specifically, that enabled humanity to flourish.

I suppose with these new tariffs on Mexico, Tea Partiers have finally stuck it to those pesky, avocado toast-eating Millennial kids. Too bad that in that 13 year interim, a lot of those Tea Partiers discovered guacamole, green smoothies, and… avocado toast. Alas.

📢🧵 www.threads.net/@patriciadea...

A lot of folks think the Great Depression happened all at once , with the stock market crash. That was bad, absolutely, but things got worse from there. Smoot Hawley helped make it worse

A central project for the next little while is to figure out how to tell the many people who don't closely follow politics what Musk is doing. Like literally get the information to them and make them believe it even though it all sounds cartoonishly evil.

Horrific: One of the USAID programs Trump just terminated was set to deliver lifesaving treatment to hundreds of thousands of starving kids abroad. Much of it is now sitting in a Georgia warehouse. Rubio's promise to preserve urgent assistance was a lie. New piece: newrepublic.com/article/1921...

I will only be referring to the idiotic duo as Chump and Prance from now on. It’s completely childish, but if we can make weak-sounding, emasculating nicknames stick, I suspect it would undercut some of their appeal.

The Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is being felt in Georgia peanut country. ajc.com/news/georgia...

People, it’s still February 2025, and Trump has been in office for a month. No, the majority of people who voted for him in November haven’t already turned against him. It will happen, but those people need to personally feel the impact of the things he’s doing now to hurt them. 1/2

America insisted on touching the hot stove, and now we’re being burned. time.com/7261440/trum...

Why does 25% AfD among young men spark a thousand "what is going on with young men?" posts yet Die Linke 34% among young women generates...nothing at all? Yes, young men voting for the radical right is an important phenomenon. But so is young women going rad left *at even higher rates*.

The DC police last week sought to arrest a sitting member of Congress, a Florida Republican, for physically assaulting a woman in DC. But the US attorney’s office didn’t sign off on it. www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/f...

The US is now demanding massive war reparations: -from Ukraine, which acted in self-defense against Russian aggression -for the US, which did not get attacked or even fight in the war -as compensation for resources the US used in ways that served US interests, when most US money went to US companies

From @jamiedupree.bsky.social:

“Putin planned to take Kyiv in three days, but he couldn't take Kyiv in three years. The only way Putin wins now—the only way he finally succeeds in destroying Ukraine’s sovereignty—is by persuading Ukraine’s allies to abandon Ukraine.” www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

So, things are going for Republicans well in ruby red suburban Georgia… augustatoday.com/2025/02/22/c...

"We should make this thought clear for the Europeans, now we can actually strike Brussels, London and Paris...We can forget about Article 5 and forget about Americans stepping up to help.” What a humiliating indictment of us. www.newsweek.com/russian-stat...

"During the meeting, Ukraine was told it faced imminent shutoff of the Starlink service if it did not reach a deal on critical minerals, said the source, who requested anonymity to discuss closed negotiations." Astonishing betrayal of an ally. www.reuters.com/business/us-...

Friday fun post!

Today's thread: we got weird cookbooks.

I don’t think that our president understands that “merging” with another country, be it Canada or Greenland (or anywhere else, frankly), would make it exponentially more likely he’d be overthrown. Not just voted out. Overthrown.

So, I'll say this: just this morning we got two polls showing Trump and Musk underwater with the public. So, yes, all this shit is terrifying, and yes, we're all at incredible risk. But they're moving fast because it turns out people don't like this shit, and we shouldn't lose sight of that.

More like “blunder and break,” but sure.

If you’ve known me in person for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me say, “I’d love to see a strong Congress in my lifetime.” Yet, I’ve never had much hope I’d ever see it come to pass. 1/2

On this Day of Remembrance, we honor the 120,000 Japanese Americans unjustly imprisoned during WWII because of their heritage. Their resilience remind us to never forget the lessons of history. We will continue to fight for justice, equality, and civil rights for all.

On July 9, 1776 the Sons of Liberty in NYC tore down a statue of the King because they refused to obey unjust dictates from an unaccountable ruler. Just sayin.

Yesterday I took 15 minutes of my Archives and Collective Memory course to explain the firing of AOTUS and the resignation of Deputy AOTUS. I’m not one who wades into politics in class lightly, but it was very important fo be honest about this from the standpoint of the profession. 1/4

The JFK library is now closed because of DOGE.

This also describes libraries, except they don’t run on plagiarism and potable water

I read a blog post in International Living (of all places) that had a sentence to the effect of “The United States has been teetering between democratic governance and oligarchy for all of its existence” and I can’t stop untangling that in my brain. 1/2

The Trump official currently dismantling USAID was caught in a secret meeting with a group of pro-Russian separatists in the Balkans. Those he met with are under American sanctions for trying to restart the Bosnian war in the name of Christian nationalism. 1/

So… this part of the world was quick to get to the “find out” phase. www.11alive.com/article/news...

Jose Barco, a decorated U.S. Army veteran once based out of Fort Carson who served 2 tours in Iraq, was taken into custody last month by ICE because his citizenship papers, which were supposed to be processed while he was in the Army, were lost. Read his story:

I realize this is a bill that is introduced, which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going anywhere, but my goodness, this is so morally backwards.

Library folks probably know this division because they maintain ERIC. This is bad.

Here's a cheery little story for your Monday morning! 🧪 www.iflscience.com/humans-were-...

It seems DOGE is costing taxpayers at least $7 million a week. That's a lot of money for a court injunction making machine. rollcall.com/2025/02/04/w...

I’m realizing this morning that I just expect things to work out magically with commercial flights these days, that every next Sully would pull a miracle and make sure everyone is safe when things go awry. I so wish that had been true last night.

I may have overdone it on caffeine this morning, y’all…

You can claim Lake Thurmond is such, but imma still call it Clarks Hill Lake. Likewise, I’m still going to go right on saying “Denali” and the “Gulf of Mexico.”

Once more with feeling, folks: Saying it again — #LOCKSS Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe www.lockss.org/use-lockss

If you’re a federal employee and want to talk about DOGE, my Signal username is annamerlan.30 and I simply love to chat with people on their non-work devices

Carter in the snow yesterday morning.