Eric Blair

@protecttruth

Status Quo Politics is holding us back. Who will call for a big fight, and big change? The status quo cannot hold. SCOTUS delenda est

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Eric Blair@protecttruth· 25d

Jamie Metzl “has been called "the original COVID-19 whistleblower" for his efforts calling for a full investigation into pandemic origins…” This guy is a crank. The easiest game in town today is “I’m a lifelong Democrat. But here’s why Democrats are bad.” As @nytpitchbot.bsky.social says.

Metzl has been a vocal proponent of the COVID-19
lab leak theory. 48] In March 2023, he testified at
the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus
Pandemic invited by US House Republicans. 491[50]
[51] Metzl has been called "the original COVID-19 whistleblower" for his efforts calling for a full investigation into pandemic origins, 152! Since early 2020, he has been a leading voice raising the possibility of a COVID-19 research related origin.In April 2020, he launched his "Origins of SARS-COV- 2," website. 53) His July 2020 Wall Street Journal editorial raising questions about pandemic
origins 54] and August 2020 The Hill editorial

Eric Blair@protecttruth· 27d

What happens when you're too lazy to travel for diner safaris to talk to Trump voters? You use a focus group to bring them in. Patrick Healy (of Clinton Cackle fame) developed this focus group innovative journalism strategy, and now K Soltis Anderson, a Republican operative, is part of it.

ADRIAN J. RIVERA, KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON AND
KATHERINE MILLER
'Don't Forget About Us': 10 Young Trump Voters Score Trump's Second Term
Lucinda Rogers

Eric Blair@protecttruth· 29d

“This brings me to a final point - the heavily leftward-biased traditional media (but also those on the right) is at fault for much of this. Objective facts are pushed aside, and spin is put in their place. Trump can do no right (or wrong).“

a scientist in the medical field, I saw firsthand the disinformation the Biden administration put out about COVID and the complacency of the mainstream and social media in failing to challenge it. This has resulted in many people rebelling against necessary vaccines, such as the measles vaccine. However, RFK might be headed in the
wrong direction.
Opinion: Springfield immigrants face an impossible choice The absurdity of biological males in women's sports is a direct violation of Title IX. It hurts the right's perspective of
those with different gender ideologies. Hopefully, DEI and "wokefulness" have seen their demise. As a university
professor, I saw both the good and the harm they caused. We need a stronger school system to lift up those from disadvantaged backgrounds to a level where they can compete on merit. Maybe we should keep the Department
of Education. This brings me to a final point - the heavily leftward-biased traditional media (but also those on the right) is at fault for much of this. Objective facts are pushed aside, and spin is
put in their place. Trump can do no right (or wrong). There's no question that Trump is bombastic, but I personally believe that the country is in a far better place with him as president than it would have been under a
Harris presidency.
I guess I'm MAGA-light. America must be great again. Trump is trying (and sometimes, to me, very trying). But he
has us on the right path. God bless America!

Eric Blair@protecttruth· 29d

I am dead serious. Trump isn’t impeached now because a big slice of the country believes this. Give it a read

Eric Blair@protecttruth· 29d

Seeing this kind of comment a lot, and waiting for this poster to discover that linear time exists. 2026 is indeed after 2024, it turns out! (this is about the @maragay.bsky.social observation that the political establishment is out of touch with voters.)

he electorate is actually not "to the left of the Democratic Party on pretty much everything."

We just had some elections. In 2024. And 2022. And 2020. We actually have them every two years. You should check those out. Also check out polls. Watch some TV news. Read a newspaper. Something.

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Jul 13

It's crisis posture over at NYT due to the subpoenas. Presented without comment @nataliekorach.bsky.social at @status.news www.status.news/p/new-york-t...

Over the last few days, as The New York Times braces for a potential precedent-setting legal showdown with the Trump administrationover press freedom, the newspaper’s top leadership has been in close contact with the five reporters targeted by federal prosecutors, seeking to reassure them that the institution will mount an aggressive defense against the extraordinary effort to compel their testimony before a grand jury.

Behind the scenes, Status has learned, Times executives have held several conversations with the journalists, with Executive Editor Joe Kahn personally involved in the discussions as the newspaper prepares for what could become one of the most consequential press-freedom battles of Trump's second term. On Sunday, chief executive Meredith Kopit Levien brought that message to the broader newsroom and company.

In an internal memo obtained by Status, Kopit Levien recirculated a Saturday note from Kahn that denounced the subpoenas. She added that leadership regards the action as “a brazen attempt to stifle independent reporting.”

“As Joe says, the five colleagues who have been targeted—and our whole newsroom, which works hard every day to serve our mission and the public’s right to know—should know that they have the full weight of The Times, and each of us, behind them,” she wrote.

Together, the Times leadership’s actions underscore how seriously it views the administration’s move as a direct attack on the newspaper’s reporting and as a broader threat to press freedom.

The subpoenas, issued by the Southern District of New York, seek testimony from Times reporters Julian Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, Eric Schmitt, and Adam Goldman over their reporting on security con

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Jul 6

Primary elections are not majoritarian democracy, they exist to choose the best candidate for a general election and they are even bad at that.

Incandescent Rage
@incandescent-rage.bsky.social
Follow Crazy idea: the democratic party supports democracy
and runs the candidate in 2nd place
5:56 PM • Jul 6, 2026
2

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Jun 19

Bad move by Clinton, Obama, and Biden. Now is not the time for fuzzy bipartisanship with fascist enablers. Now is the time for going to war against Republican elites like GW Bush. We must have a Truth and Reconciliation process first. THEN we can have bipartisanship again. Not now.

One fascist who brought us Sam Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Trump, and three great men who are still living in 2002.

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Jun 14

“Author at the Federalist” “After working in Republican politics in Minnesota…”

The Federalist
thefederalist.com › home › archives for nicole russell
Nicole Russell, Author at The Federalist After working in Republican politics in Minnesota, Nicole Russell moved near Washington, DC and began her
journalism career. Her work has.

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Jun 12

the sourcing is also 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀 If I read this right, they're telling a story someone in the room gave them. (Can't be an aide overhearing on speaker; they're describing the room layout.) And it doesn't seem like Vance.

Vice President JD Vance took a seat at the head of the table in the John F. Kennedy Conference Room of the Situation Room complex. “This is a huge problem,” he told the group. Arrayed around him were the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles; the White House counsel, David Warrington; the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt; the deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich; the communications director, Steven Cheung; the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche; the associate attorney general, Stanley Woodward Jr.; and the deputy chief of staff James Blair. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, joined on speakerphone.

The vice president appeared panicked to others in the room about the way the subject of Epstein was already dividing the MAGA coalition. Some senior officials had the impression that Vance had bought into the darkest theories about Epstein and a cabal of predators hidden within the country’s ruling class. Wiles would tell others that the vice president had proved himself to be a major conspiracy theorist. Another top official said later that Vance had been pounding on the Epstein issue since the release of the memo. He was privately pressing for the administration to release all the Epstein files, everything in the Justice Department’s possession, even encouraging a congressional investigation.

Vance had also floated to colleagues an extraordinary P.R. gambit — that the White House enlist Tucker Carlson to interview Epstein’s longtime girlfriend and co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, in prison. It might help the president if Maxwell was willing to state that Trump had not been part of any wrongdoing with Epstein.

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Jun 12

ok, you'll say, this is the Times Magazine. And NYT Mag has always had more freedom to tell the truth about Trump than the bothsides Kahn/Sulzberger Politics section. That's right. But this is written by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, access and power-deferential journalists extraordinaire.

Maggie HabermanJonathan Swan
By Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan
Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, White House reporters for The Times, are the authors of the forthcoming “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.” This article is drawn from reporting done for that book.

June 10, 2026
On July 17, 2025, at around 6 o’clock in the evening, President Trump’s top officials filed into the White House Situation Room — the secure bunker where classified and high-stakes national security matters are discussed and decided. This was where President Barack Obama, along with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the president’s national security team, watched the raid that ended with the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Now, however, Trump’s most senior advisers had gathered — without him — to figure out how to gain some measure of control over a very different kind of crisis threatening to en

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Jun 12

here's that excerpt

Now, however, Trump’s most senior advisers had gathered — without him — to figure out how to gain some measure of control over a very different kind of crisis threatening to engulf the presidency: the Epstein files.

Ten days earlier, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. had jointly released a memo that bluntly stated that their review had found no “client list” of powerful men for whom the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein had allegedly procured underage girls and young women. Intended to put to rest years of speculation and end the pressure campaign to release the voluminous material in the department’s possession, the memo instead had the opposite effect, setting off a backlash that was notably loud among the MAGA base.

And it was about to get worse: The Wall Street Journal was preparing a damaging article about Trump’s relationship with Epstein. The president’s desperate attempts to kill the story had failed. His team now had to get everyone onto the same page about how to counter the growing swarm of attention. They needed a gesture of transparency to appease an increasingly angry base, but also a way to convey the message that the president was sympathetic to his supporters’ concerns. Which itself was a problem, because he clearly wasn’t.

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 31

so many mistakes made here

Genevieve McDonald • 7m There are some details missing from this
story, I hope it will be updated. The WSJ called me Friday morning to tell me they were running a story they had verified through multiple sources. I had spoken with them months ago off the record, so it was a courtesy call I'd probably still get some
blowback. After WSJ reached out to the Platner campaign for comment, Morris Katz demanded that I call the WSJ, retract my comments, tell them their reporting was inaccurate and send him a recording of the
call. When I refused to lie for the Platner campaign he sent this text: "Just want to be clear on where we are right now. If the story goes in its current iteration we'll communicate directly on the record, and by name, that Genevieve violated the personal trust of Amy and Graham and shared explicit falsehoods to
sabotage the campaign."
So went on record with the NYTs.

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 28

people who in essence call for ethnic cleansing in Israel I will block. there are still liberals there who believe in human rights. The path forward is supporting people who love peace, Israelis and palestinians

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 25

I am not defending the Pod Save guys. For example they legitimize Musk and Twitter by being unable to take criticism here. But how is this anything other than wrecking? These are sweeping statements that inflame division.

Just a gardener
@jardinpolitique.bsky.social
Can't stand these smug poseurs. They get a special kick out of screwing over Black Women primarily, and white women as a secondary hobby.
11:28 PM • May 24, 2026

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 21

also this is good news. It is essential that Fetterman votes for Schumer or his replacement

You don’t do your job, you can’t raise any money, and your entire party hates you,’” a person who was in the room says.
People with direct knowledge don’t buy the rumor that Fetterman might switch parties or outright quit his job. He’d instantly become much less interesting to Fox News if he were no longer a self-hating Democrat, and he’d lose his unique sway in the Senate if he stopped being an unpredictable vote. Barring another health scare, people close to Fetterman think he intends to stick it out through the end of his term in 2029.
A former senior staffer told me they expect Safier to keep his informal advisory role during that time, too. Earlier this year, the senator asked that Safier have access to his schedule. And a few weeks ago, Safier accompanied Fetterman on a series of fundraisers in New Jersey and New York City, according to multiple people with direct knowledge. Becoming an actual full-time staffer would mean an entirely different workload for Safier with significantly more scrutiny; it “blows the whole thing up,” the former senior staffer says. Safier seems to want a job more like that of his grandfather Zev Wolfson, whose pro-Israel lobbying efforts in Congress were “entirely under the radar, without any fanfare or publicity,” according to the Jerusalem Post. Those efforts were also incredibly successful. “He’s getting what he wants,”

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 20

Top income tax rate 1948: 91%

Nominal
Married Filing Jointly
Tax Brackets But Not Over
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
$10,000
$12,000
$14,000
$16,000
$18,000
$20,000
$22,000
$26,000
$32,000
$38,000
$44,000
$50,000
$60,000
$70,000
$80,000
$90,000
$100,000
$150,000
$200,000
-
1948
Married Filing Separately
Marginal
Tax Brackets
Tax Rate
Over
But Not Over Marginal
Tax Rate Listed tax rates and brackets
apply to all taxpayers. Listed tax
apply
$20,000
$22,000
$26,000
$32,000
$38,000
$44,000
$50,000
$60,000
$70,000
$80,000
$90,000
$100,000
$150,000
$200,000 Note: Tax rates include normal tax of 3 percent plus applicable surtax, and the maximum effective tax rate on normal tax and surtax up to $400, 12 percent of tax from $400 to $100,000, and 9.75 percent of tax in excess
allowed income-splitting by married couples.

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 19

It is either a person with a loose grasp of reality or a bot/manipulation account. etiher way it’s using Modi/South Indian identity politics (hindutva) to defend Khanna and slam AOC

Var mot @vmr10.bsky.social • 2h
I hate you losers so much. You are all anti indian, anti hindu racist clowns. Ro khanna is anti hindutva and no hindutva watcher blames or criticizes him. You are traitorous lying anti indian racist numpties.
Blocked
•••
Var mot @vmr10.bsky.social • 2h
No he is not you neand'erthal anti indian racist loser.
Hindutva hates his ass and billionaires are funding his candidacy. Why do subh'umans like you exist.
There is no point in your lying racist loser existence .ro khanna is gazillion times smarter than aoc
Blocked

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 18

nearly a decade ago this was common wisdom, accepted amongst pundits. “a bunch of mediocrities with puffed-up credentials due to affirmative action for conservatives” Let’s get back to saying that!

Nick Beaudrot @nbeaudrot • Sep 28 I mean yes, but presumably the Federalist Society has created some intellectual structure that lets
them pretend it's not so straightforward.
2
5 Matthew Yglesias O
@mattyglesias
•
Replying to @nbeaudrot I'm not sure that they have. It's a bunch of mediocrities with puffed up credentials thanks to affirmative action for conservatives who liberal lawyers pretend to respect for money. The intellectual chops
are not great.
6:48 PM • Sep 28, 2018 from Washington, DC

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 13

I believe in redemption, but also at some point filling the WaPo podcast with radical libertarian Koch economists, especially those who referred approvingly to "gentle silent rape" in a contrarian/inflammatory effort, we reach a limit, right?

‪Washington Post Opinions‬
‪@postopinions.bsky.social‬
· 5h
.
@mcmegan.bsky.social
talks with
@robinhanson.bsky.social
about how prediction markets work, why they often beat other forms of forecasting and how today’s versions could be improved:

Opinion | What prediction markets tell us about the future - The Washington Post
Prediction markets are having a moment. But what are they actually good for? Economist Robin Hanson has been thinking about this for decades. Long before betting markets went mainstream, he argued the...
wapo.st

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 11

2026 rule of headlines: Any headline “I’m a Democrat!! Here’s why X“ in big media is a lock-down rock-solid guarantee that the article is badly argued garbage.

I'm a Democrat. My Party Has a Double Standard
on Antisemitism.

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 10

also, re: Mona Charen 'No results found for "supreme court from:monacharen.bsky.social".' It is basically impossible to oppose Trump today without opposing this Supreme Court

from:monacharen.bsky.social supreme court
X
All languages
Top
Latest
No results found for "supreme court
from:monacharen.bsky.social".

Eric Blair@protecttruth· May 1

Haha "Congress" Haha What liars the people who write the headlines at NYT are.

U.S.
World
Business
Arts
Lifestyle
Opinion
Video
Audio
Games
Cooking
Wirecutter
The Athletic
New York Times - Top Stories
Since Congress Let Obamacare Subsidies Expire, Millions Are Dropping Coverage

Many Americans can’t afford the higher health insurance premiums that resulted from Congress’s failure to extend federal tax credits.

6 min read

A person looks at the screen of a laptop computer showing the specifics of a health care plan.
Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Apr 30

Utter cowardice from the NYT headlines division. "Supreme Court Further Weakens Voting Rights Act, Igniting Political Scramble" "justices split along ideological lines" "Civil Rights Leaders [oh, just them?] See the Ruling as a 'Betrayal'" "Republican" mentioned exactly zero times

Voting Rights Act Ruling

Louisiana Map Struck Down
What to Know
Read the Decision
Timeline of Legislation
Supreme Court Further Weakens Voting Rights Act, Igniting Political Scramble

The justices, split along ideological lines, found that Louisiana’s voting map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

6 min read

How the Ruling Could Be Felt in the Midterms and Beyond

5 min read

Civil Rights Leaders See the Ruling as a ‘Betrayal’

2 min read

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Apr 13

“Republican billionaires want to abolish retirement and have you work until you literally die on the job”

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Apr 11

Al Green lost a primary because he was redistricted by Texas Republicans, not because of his stance on impeachment, for god’s sake

And I think it's not lost on people that the
number one proponent of impeachment, Al
Green, just lost his primary

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Apr 11

"Gas prices SLIDE two cents" kidding me? Strong verbs, in the tank for Trump (and the powerful)

38 min ago
US gas prices slide 2 cents to $4.14 a gallon
Chris Isidore
By Chris Isidore

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Apr 11

Watching CNN. It's wildly in the tank for Trump and Republicans. - Spotlighting Vance - Strong verbs: "Vance leads peace talks" - Positive spin: "US clearing Hormuz mines" - Showing a huge victory US "peace proposal" (Iran ends nukes, Hormuz reopen) - which is not what Iran will agree to

Pakistan Government Ministry of Information & Broadcasting

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Apr 9

Excellent lede and pretty good headline on this story from Robert Jimison today in NYT.

As Trump Swings on Iran, Congress Is Absent and
G.O.P. Leaders Mum

Eric Blair@protecttruth· Apr 8

This article does everything it possibly can to pretend these are normal times and portray Trump as a normal president. It‘s wrong and it’s harmful. It deceives readers. Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman bend over so far to portray Trumpers as statesmen that their foreheads are on the floor.