📝 Housekeeping notes: I’m re-categorizing posts and updating the categories I use on this site, so if you spot things that seem miscategorized, that’s because they are. I may eventually get them all updated, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting on it to happen.

🦤 Twitter is still, technically, there. Y’know, functioning. You can go post a tweet, other people can still see it, etc. But… probably not for much longer? Musk activated Hardcore Mode on Twitter yesterday at 5pm on the West Coast and it seems like most of the remaining employees bowed out, leaving Musk with something that, by all reports, barely qualifies as a skeleton crew. The World Cup starts tomorrow, and apparently that kicks Twitter’s ass as far as site traffic and whatnot goes. A lot of people who should know about such things think Twitter may buckle under the stress and lack of help. I guess we’ll see.

• Futurism: Panicked Elon Musk Reportedly Begging Engineers Not to Leave
• NPR: Twitter employees quit in droves after Elon Musk’s ultimatum passes
• CNN: Inside Twitter as ‘mass exodus’ of staffers throws platform’s future into uncertainty
• Mosquito Capital on Twitter, Thread: “As an SRE and sysadmin with 10+ years of industry experience, I wanted to write up a few scenarios that are real threats to the integrity of the bird site over the coming weeks.” (Better hustle and read that thread while it still exists.)

🏛️ Nancy Pelosi stepped down from Dem leadership yesterday. A few contenders for the throne include Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar.

⚖️ Jesse Benton, a Republican political strategist who was pardoned by Trump in 2020 for a campaign finance crime, just got convicted of another campaign finance crime. He helped Russian businessman, pyramid scheme-runner, and former Russian naval officer Roman Vasilenko illegally contribute to Trump’s campaign.

🍊 Hey, remember when Trump tweeted that classified photo from a secret intelligence satellite? Good times.

🇰🇵 In case you don’t have enough to fret about, North Korea just tested an ICBM that could probably hit mainland US.

🍊 Speaking of Trump, the Mercers claim they won’t be funding him this go around. Pretty sure Murdoch and the Koch brothers have told him to piss in the wind, too. With three major GOP donors telling him to go pound sand, I’d be keeping a mighty close eye on Trump’s campaign funding if I were a person in charge of such things.

🍊 Still speaking of Trump, the DoJ has appointed a special counselor, Jack Smith, to oversee the investigations over the stolen documents found at Mar-A-Lago and Trump’s involvement in Jan. 6. I’m seeing a lot of people online either complaining because it’ll slow down investigations or hush them up or some such, or treating this like the second coming of Robert Mueller, only, y’know, this time we’ll get him for sure, guys! I think that about the most it shows is that the DoJ is taking things seriously, I guess?

💉 There’s a vaccine for aggressive breast cancers going into Phase II human trials. Neat!

-fin-

Today has been another long, busy day.

• CNN: Trump Org. stopped illegal tax practices when Donald Trump took office, former CFO testifies – Allen Weisselberg, the former CFO of the Trump Org, is still covering Trump’s ass. Man, you can’t buy that kind of loyalty. I wonder what Trump has on him.
• NBC: Michael Flynn ordered to testify in Trump election interference probe – This is the grand jury that’s been convened to look into Trump’s election interference in Georgia in 2020.
• Reuters: Pence says he will not testify before U.S. House Jan. 6 panel – Pence says Congress has “no right” to his testimony. Which is not how I think that actually works? Anyway, why would he testify. They already tried to kill him once – why give them more reason to try again?
• NPR: Speaker Pelosi says she will step down as party leader after two decades at the top – I haven’t always liked the way Pelosi did things or agreed with her stances, but damn that woman got shit done. She was a force of nature when called upon.
• Politico (via Yahoo News): Victorious House Republicans describe plans to investigate Biden – No surprises here. It’s gonna be just like the incessant Benghazi trials, only aimed at Hunter Biden this time. Brace yourselves.
• Gizmodo: End of an Era: Facebook Takes Sexuality, Religion, Address, and Politics Off of Your Profile – Does anyone even fill out their profiles on Facebook anymore?

Got a whole day ahead, so here’s some quick links.

• MSNBC: Officials reportedly think they know why Trump took classified docs – Cool, it’s still illegal, tho.
• New York Times: NATO and Poland Say Deadly Blast Was Likely Unintentional
• Newsweek: Lauren Boebert in Precarious Position as Final Votes May Sway Election – LOSE! LOSE! LOSE!
• NPR: With midterm losses, Trump’s climb to the nomination could be steeper than he’d like
• Newsweek: Did Mar-a-Lago Crowd Try to Leave While Trump Was Speaking? – Conflicting reports.
• Vice: Almost Twice as Many Republicans Died From COVID Before the Midterms Than Democrats

🇺🇦 So, Russia’s bombing Ukraine at the moment, and it looks like two of their missiles might have hit Poland, killing two people. Moldavia is also having some issues related to this – lost power, etc. The Pentagon isn’t confirming that Russian missiles overshot, though, and there were reports that it might have just been wreckage from missiles shot down by Ukrainian forces, not actual missiles. Worth pointing out that Poland is a NATO member. Bad scene, man. Picture a lot of nations standing around holding their breath while everyone tries to figure out what happened and what they’re gonna do about it.

🇺🇦 There’s an anonymous US intelligence source “confirming” that this was, in fact, a missile strike, and not just debris… but it is an anonymous source and no one’s going on the record yet, so grain of salt.

🇺🇦 As best as I can tell, whether or not actual missiles or just debris hit Poland is still unconfirmed.

🧵 Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D, a disinformation expert, has a very good thread on Twitter about Russian disinformation and propaganda regarding the missile situation.

💰 In case you’re curious, companies are still donating money to the election deniers in Congress who egged on Jan. 6.

⚕️ A woman miscarried in Ohio, and the hospital she went to for help nearly let her bleed to death before helping her. You mean striking down Roe v. Wade and abortion rights in America has led to the suffering of women across the country? Gosh, who could have predicted.

🍊 Trump’s probably gonna announce his 2024 campaign tonight. I hope that turd trips on his way to the podium.

🏛️ Meanwhile, Kevin McCarthy, who is also a turd, is trying to nail down votes to be Speaker of the House, assuming the GOP takes control of the House (they probably will, but y’know, 🤞).

-fin-