Acquired Expertise 🌌 ✒️ 💫

While we’re waiting for Trump and Republicans to unveil their healthcare plan, remember this: Health insurance didn’t start as a corporate cash grab. Before the 1970s, giants like Blue Cross and Blue Shield were nonprofits. Then the 1973 HMO Act, signed by Republican President Richard Nixon, turbocharged for-profit healthcare. Fast forward: the seven biggest insurers just pulled $71.3 billion in profit. THAT’S the plan.

@HarrisonFordLA They’re not lost… …they’re waiting.

Indiana Jones would never lose his keys. I just did. Again.

🚨 BREAKING: ICE agents in Minneapolis are seen arresting another teenager without verifying his identity first, and admit to it on camera. In the video, the teenager calmly tells agents he can go inside and get his ID to prove who he is. The agents refuse. Instead, they say they’ll “take pictures at HQ”… and then force him into their SUV anyway. That is deeply alarming. Law enforcement is not allowed to detain people first and figure out who they are later without lawful justification. Detaining someone without verifying identity, without probable cause, and without allowing them to present ID raises serious Fourth Amendment concerns. You cannot seize a person just to “check” who they are. This also mirrors what DHS has now openly admitted: that people are being detained first and sorted out later based on suspicion alone. That means innocent people, minors, and U.S. citizens are being taken into custody without verification, without charges, and without due process. If the government can forcibly detain someone simply to identify them, that is not law enforcement… that is unlawful detention.

There are an estimated 2 million illegal immigrants in Texas and only 130,000 in Minnesota. And where is ICE terrorizing the population? This is punishing people for their vote against Trump, which is protected first amendment activity. texastribune.org/2025/02/17/tex…

A Nazi slogan to intimate insurgents. Used after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Czechoslovakia in 1942 to justify mass killings and destruction in Lidice. Who thought this was cute? history.com/this-day-in-hi…

After speaking with Chair Powell this morning, it’s clear the administration’s investigation is nothing more than an attempt at coercion. If the Department of Justice believes an investigation into Chair Powell is warranted based on project cost overruns—which are not unusual—then Congress needs to investigate the Department of Justice. The stakes are too high to look the other way: if the Federal Reserve loses its independence, the stability of our markets and the broader economy will suffer. My colleague, Senator Tillis, is right in blocking any Federal Reserve nominees until this is resolved. apnews.com/article/federa…

Let's level set the discussion: What we have learned from Los Angeles, Chicago and now Minneapolis are: 1) The blitzes of ICE and CBP agents into cities has PROVOKED rather than prevented chaos and mayhem. 2) The vast majority of people they're seizing are NOT criminal aliens.

A way to understand the Minneapolis shooting: it was a MAGA version of a Third World honor killing. My latest in @theAtlantic theatlantic.com/politics/2026/…

I wish some other country had undertaken the experiment of electing a total imbecile as its national leader, so we could learn from their mistake rather than our own.

Hey y’all see the 17 year old Target employee who was abducted by ICE from his job despite being a United States citizen and telling them that, and they shoved him in the car and when they confirmed he was indeed a US citizen then pushed him out of the car in a Walmart parking lot 8 minutes away from where they abducted him. And he’s stumbling and sobbing while bystanders ask if he’s okay (at the Walmart after being pushed out of the car) and he’s sobbing saying “no I’m not okay, they slammed me on the ground.” And he’s bleeding. A 17 year old kid.

"Is this America now? A country where unaccountable and poorly trained government agents go door to door, arresting and beating people on suspicion and shooting people who don’t obey their every order or try to get away...an authoritarian police state." open.substack.com/pub/noahpinion…

A lot of people think Medicare is free or paid for with taxes during our working lives. It's not. I pay $670.50 per month for Part B plus another $28.20 for Part D. I'm not complaining, I just want others to know that those on Medicare do pay for much of their coverage.

🚨BREAKING: ICE/Border Patrol just blatantly violated the constitution and illegally stormed a family home in Minneapolis… Kicked the door in, guns drawn, tased multiple U.S. citizens, with children inside, WITHOUT a judicial warrant AND WITHOUT a no-knock warrant. Watch the video. You hear them scream “We have a warrant!” and then immediately smash the door in. No pause. No paperwork. No judge issued warrant. And here’s the part they don’t want you to understand: If you don’t have a judicial warrant, you do not get to enter a home. If you don’t have a no-knock warrant, you do not get to kick a door in. They had neither. Then you see the inside footage. A woman, in her own home, surrounded by armed men, asks a very simple question: “Where’s the warrant? Show me the warrant. There are kids in this house. Put the guns down.” She asks again: “Where is the warrant?” The agent says, “We’re getting it.” Then says he doesn’t have to show it. So let’s be clear: They admit they don’t have the warrant, but they enter anyway, rifles up, adrenaline high, kids watching. They grab a man. Still no warrant. They order the woman to “back up”… inside her own house… while they are illegally trespassing. When she doesn’t comply fast enough, he shoves her. That is assault. In the background, another woman is tased for hugging the man they’re trying to take. Not attacking. Not armed. Just holding onto someone she cares about. Still. No warrant. Then the woman filming has a taser aimed directly at her. She’s standing in a doorway, asking… again… for the warrant they keep lying about. An agent fires the taser at her. At a woman. Inside her own home. For asking for a warrant. Only after they’ve shoved people, after they’ve tased multiple U.S. citizens, after they’ve terrorized children, do they finally hold something up. And what is it? An administrative warrant. Not signed by a judge. Not legal authority to enter a home. Not permission to kick in a door. Not permission to point guns at kids. Not permission to tase U.S. citizens. This wasn’t a mistake. This wasn’t confusion. This was federal agents knowingly violating the Constitution, because they think no one will stop them. If this can happen to them, it can happen to anyone. And the question isn’t if this will happen again. The question is how many more homes are they going to break into before someone is killed?

@ichudov @BotFinderUK It’s not necessary to thank anyone for having not experienced imaginary side effects of perfectly safe vaccines.

@BotFinderUK I was brave enough NOT to get the covid jabs, and had no ill-effects whatsoever. No microclots, no turbo-cancer, no heart attacks. Very happy and thankful

Who else was brave enough to have the covid jabs and has had no ill - effects whatsoever?

@BotFinderUK There are no fools or idiots in this family: everyone is fully protected.

Ronald Reagan’s budget director.

Some countries that have prosecuted or threatened to prosecute central bankers for the purpose of political intimidation or punishment for monetary policy decisions: Argentina, Russia, Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

Don't doubt that Jay Powell is going to war. I've never seen a central bank release an evening video so directly taking on a head of state. In this case, the medium is the message: Powell is taking his case to the people.

@JonLemire Trump officials claim that ICE agents are under sustained attack from organized left wing forces. Yet, ICE’s Wall of Honor shows no agents killed in the line of duty since 2024 (some have been injured). 32 people have died in ICE custody in 2025. 9 shot 2 killed since Sept.

@JonLemire This part was incorrect:... "An ICE agent who appears to have been knocked back by her front bumper...". He was not knocked back. He wasn't even touched and the video proves it.