Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 5/14

[SVPete]

The Latest Bluesky Meltdown is Pretty Entertaining

https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2026/05/13/the-latest-bluesky-meltdown-is-pretty-entertaining-n3814920

Whenever I see Bluesky gathering attention on X it's usually because they've ganged up against another conservative and done their best to drive them off the platform. But the really fun stuff happens when the woke liberals at Bluesky turn on other woke liberals at Bluesky and create a circular firing squad. And that's what has been happening there lately.

Yesterday, it dawned on one outspoken liberal, David Roberts, that maybe the whole concept of Bluesky wasn't working out so well for the left.

David Roberts

@volts.wtf

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It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Bluesky has been a net negative for US politics. They corralled everyone on the left into a little glass fishbowl where they shout at one another & everyone else ignores them. Meanwhile, all the pols & institutions stayed on X & are being dragged farther right.
10:39 AM · May 12, 2026

Can you guess what happened next? The Free Beacon describes the reaction.

Bluesky users were shocked that such a revered member of the annoying left-wing pundit class would criticize their place of worship. Doing what comes naturally, they responded by shouting at Roberts while everyone else ignored them. He was forced to write a 10-post follow-up explaining that his criticism should not be considered an endorsement of X, the far more popular, immigrant-owned Bluesky competitor, which he described as a "toxic" "Nazi" haven that is turning mainstream journalists into right-wing activists.

...
Naturally, it wasn't long before someone brought race into it. David Roberts is white so of course that's a problem.

There are multiple X posts about this kerfuffle embedded in this article, very very amusing, but more than I want to format into this post. As DU has been demonstrating for over 25 years, echo chambers often do not attract the brightest and best of the echoed POV and often turn into Proggier- (or conservativier-) -Than-Thou urination contests, with purge sauce. DU has had a couple such purges, IIRC.

[SVPete]

THE CASE OF WILLIAM PAUL

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/05/the-case-of-william-paul.php

William Paul is Senator Rand Paul’s son and former Rep. Ron Paul’s grandson. Yesterday he treated Rep. Mike Lawler to a drunken diatribe against — who else? — the Jews. He threw in homosexuals as well. Son William supports Thomas Massie and blames the opposition of “the Jews” to whatever difficulties Massie currently faces.

I hear, however, that President Trump has had a hand in Massie’s political situation as well. Trump himself has a Jewish daughter, so he might be a thorn in son William’s side as well. You never know.

Sad. Sadder still, while there are treatment centers for chemical addictions, I know of no corresponding "treatment centers" for antisemitism.

[SVPete]

Biden FBI secretly set up Trump to be indicted after he leaves office, Arctic Frost memos suggest

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/fbi-and-jack-smith-prosecutor-sought-hold-anti-trump-evidence-until-he-left

In the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, FBI agents tied to Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation memorialized anew their belief that President Donald Trump broke the law in contesting the 2020 election and secretly arranged to preserve their evidence until 2030 in memos that raise alarm they could revive their prosecution after Trump leaves office.

The FBI memos and emails closing out the controversial Arctic Frost investigation – obtained by Just the News – show the bureau chose not to relinquish the evidence it gathered after Smith went to court to dismiss charges against Trump, even though that is the normal practice for agents. Instead, they created a preservation order keeping the evidence in FBI custody for two years after Trump's second term ends, claiming it was necessary to do so because of ongoing litigation, the memos show.

FBI emails and memos obtained by Just the News dating back to early 2025 show how the FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors who had been working on the criminal prosecutions aimed at Trump and his allies worked to close the 2020 election-related case against the incoming president, while also seemingly leaving open the door for the criminal case to be revived once Trump leaves office and a Democrat again holds the reins at the Justice Department.

“The American people deserve to know how this egregious weaponization of power to target political opponents and President Trump happened inside an institution meant to protect them,” FBI Director Kash Patel told Just the News. “We shut down the weaponized CR-15 squad, and we are going to keep following the facts until there is full accountability. The FBI exists to protect the country, not to preserve political prosecutions for a future administration.”

House Judiciary Chairman urges DOJ to permanently dismiss all Trump cases after bombshell report

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/house-judiciary-chairman-urges-doj-permanently-dismiss-all-trump

The chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee is urging the Justice Department to ask federal courts to dismiss with prejudice all prior criminal prosecutions against President Donald Trump, putting a permanent end to a 10-year legal assault by the Obama-Biden era FBI against the man twice elected president by the American people.

"It's probably time that this all just ended," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Wednesday night after Just the News reported new documents it obtained revealed the FBI at the end of the Biden presidency secretly took the rare step of preserving evidence from a dismissed January 6 prosecution until 2030, raising alarm the bureau could revive its prosecution after Trump leaves office.

The agents in the controversial Arctic Frost case also wrote a new memo insisting they believed Trump violated laws, creating a fresh roadmap for prosecution after Trump's presidential immunity from prosecution ends in 2029.

Jordan, who played a crucial role in debunking Russia collusion allegations against Trump and chronicling FBI abuses in the targeting of conservative figures since 2016, reacted to the report by saying Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche should declare "this thing is done, over with. A-B see you later."

Well, this should have hissing yowling devil-kittens being birthed on DU.

[SVPete]

Vance-led task force cuts off $1.4B from home health, hospice providers suspected of fraud

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/vance-led-task-force-cuts-home-health-hospice-providers-suspected-fraud

EXCLUSIVE: Vice President JD Vance's anti-fraud task force has withheld $1.4 billion in federal funding from home health and hospice providers nationwide, following a wave of suspensions enacted by an anti-fraud task force targeting operations in California, Minnesota and several other states.

Approximately 90% of the suspended providers have not reached out to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency tasked with combating fraud, waste and abuse, since payments have been suspended.

Trump administration officials told Fox News Digital that they believe a lack of communication between alleged fraudulent providers and CMS indicates that the providers were not legitimate enterprises.

"Silence gives assent," probably would not work as an argument in court, but government programs include means of appealing decisions with which you disagree. ~$1.4B of no appeals is pretty loud silence.

[SVPete]

Here's More From Xavier Becerra's Embarrassing Interview With KTLA

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/amy-curtis/2026/05/13/ktla-xavier-becerra-missing-kids-interview-n2676004

Last week, former Biden Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra participated in a debate for the California governor's race with his fellow Democrats. During that debate, Becerra said there were no lost kids under the Biden administration, despite the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General saying that more than 448,000 unaccompanied minors were handed to Becerra's department, with hundreds of thousands being unmonitored with bad addresses, no court notices, and other problems.

The Trump administration has found thousands of those children, many of them sex trafficked or otherwise abused.

Becerra also sat down with KTLA, and they may have just ended his campaign for governor over the issue. The interview didn't go well for Becerra at all, but one exchange about missing children was particularly bad.

"During your time as HHS Secretary, a New York Times investigation found the health department couldn't find some 85,000 children it had released," said reporter Annie Rose Ramos.

"That's not accurate," Bercerra interrupted. "What you just read is not accurate. First, that's what I'll say. Because it was never the case that we could not find kids. You're ... I don't know if you got those talking points from Donald Trump."

"It's from a New York Times article," Ramos replied.

"That's not what the New York Times article said," Becerra continued. "The New York Times said that individuals, that the children and their sponsors did not respond to calls they didn't say we couldn't find kids."

KTLA then showed a screenshot from the article that read, "While HHS checks on all minors by calling them a month after they begin living with their sponsors, data obtained by the Times showed that over the last two years, the agency could not reach more than 85,000 children. Overall, the agency lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children."

Becerra was appointed for being a check-off, not for any relevant competence.

[enslaved1]

Not sure if here or Mind Numbing Stupidity is the best place for this.