Particularly notable given that Bove is now a judge on the court tasked with deciding whether or not Alina Habba legally has a job
D.C.-based criminal justice writer and socio-cultural critic who spends a lot of time at the library. Hoosier by birth and college education. Some would call me a libertarian. I would not. https://theblanksslate.substack.com/
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Particularly notable given that Bove is now a judge on the court tasked with deciding whether or not Alina Habba legally has a job
It irks me that CFL is taken seriously as a stats-minded realist when he’s proven to be fundamentally dishonest. He’s smart enough to sound reasonable but he’s just a pro-cop hack like his colleagues Mangual and MacDonald. Good cops—yes, Virginia, they exist—deserve better than them.
Also: Reminder that Louisiana’s National Guard actually IS deployed and patrolling DC against its citizens’ will. Just layers of clowning atop clowning. geauxguard.la.gov/2025/08/18/l...
Literally the last MF on earth I want to hear criticize Trump. FOH
Ridiculous on its face, but I recently read John Green's short and excellent book on TB. It makes me all the angrier how batshit this claim is.
All kidding about this nonsense answer aside: The regime is asserting the power to murder without trial a boat full of people suspected of drug trafficking, who easily could have been intercepted and arrested instead. That is unconscionable and horrifying even assuming everyone aboard was guilty.
Turkey?
Going to just pretend all the little flags in front of the Labor Dept are for victims of the Pinkertons.
I cannot explain to you how angry I was when the pedant's pundit George Will referred to people afraid of Trump's return as "over-caffienated Cassandras."
MBA & ‘learn-to-code’ bros: “The humanities are a waste of time” Also these guys: ::hubris all the way down::
De-emphasize preventative medicine, gut medical research, strip insurance from the poor, and then overwhelm treatment capacity. The public policy equivalent of making the frat pledge drink til he can't walk straight and then making him drive people home.
Killing (alleged!) criminals in offensive action is not legal, let alone ethical or moral.
@daralind.bsky.social , upon reading this:"I can tell you're really angry because you're using the most baroque language and haven't simplified the structure of your sentences." What can I say? She gets me.
among other weird things (the sheer # of no true bills from dc grand juries, plus the fact that judges are ordering prosecutors to disclose those refusals to defendants, which I'd never heard of before) ... I have never seen a prosecutor attack a grand jury like this www.cbsnews.com/news/d-c-gra...
Just sent the following email to D.C. Mayor Bowser. #freeDC
How’d that go for him?
To have federal military forces on the streets in a state without its consent is extraordinary, deeply worrying, a dire situation. But it is something which, under some narrower legitimate circumstances, can be done lawfully. To have *Texas* troops in Illinois without its consent is an invasion.
"All Americans have equal rights" is a concept so foreign to today's Republican Party that they think a Democrat saying as much is a major gaffe.
Don’t let Trump normalize extrajudicial killings. Laws matter:
Anyone who participates in what appears in context to be a proposed military occupation of Chicago “because crime” will be doing something that is illegal and is obligated not to do that. That’s all I’ll say.
I didn't know about this particular person, I'm guessing most of the Jews who have been telling you didn't know about this particular person, and yet: We've been telling you.
Roberts could never be that funny or charming, but this broader thought had also occurred to me
Live shot from my living room
This article mentions the paper ballots nonsense and nowhere does it note 99%+ of votes in the United States, including all of them in all but a couple of (deep red!) states, are already cast using paper ballots. That's much worse than the bad subhead.
Trump's politics, like all fascists, is aesthetic. It's why he is always saying things like "straight out of central casting" and attacks people at a superficial, not substantive, level. Even his racism manifests as aesthetics. Once you recognize this, Trump and his support are easy to comprehend.
“Killed by the Big Greedy Stupid” seems to be the clubhouse leader for local annihilation
Got dapped up by Ice Cube sitting front row center at Sydney Opera House.
A decent piece by Ike Allen, but we need to be really clear about why Pemberton is attacking the police reform law: the amendment my boss moved that stripped the union of its ability to bargain the disciplinary process.
Would be pretty good if people attending these town halls start “Bring them home!” chants for our National Guard members serving overstates.
The National Guard is not just a mindless obedient tool; it's made up of people with families & responsibilities at home that they are missing to ::checks notes:: clean up parks while needlessly carrying weapons in a city they don't live in. Trump's actions are wildly unpopular. This matters.
That would explain the light tan suits. People should greet him, “Yo, SA!”
"fake it til ya make it." Stephen Miller, probably.
According to federal data, 13 of the top 20 cities in homicide rates have Republican governors. None of those cities are Chicago. 8 of the top 10 states in homicide rates are led by Republicans. None of those states are Illinois. And yet Trump is sending troops here.
This imagery is the kind of thing you see in video games to let you know you’re in a totalitarian city or country.
Dying at the book he's reading
I open Instagram and see an Uber driver being arrested here in my city and I open up this app to see some bullshit about Cracker Barrel? Give me a fucking break
DC being destroyed by an administration gutting government w/o regard for decency or efficacy, occupying streets like a police state, & claiming power no one believes it has yet faces mainly tepid opposition. I lack the requisite language to express my contempt for everyone involved.
Fed. judge dismisses the Trump administration's unprecedented lawsuit against every judge in the District of Maryland for a standing court rule automatically pausing deportations for two business days to give the court time to rule on new habeas petitions. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
![2 Indeed, over the past several months, principal officers of the Executive (and their spokespersons) have described federal district judges across the country as “left-wing,” “liberal,” “activists,” “radical,” “politically minded,” “rogue,” “unhinged,” “outrageous, overzealous, [and] unconstitutional,” “[c]rooked,” and worse. Although some tension between the coordinate branches of government is a hallmark of our constitutional system, this concerted effort by the Executive to smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it is both unprecedented and unfortunate.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:24vva42nxim6zbcmnozegoef/bafkreicp23fxg67kc7m4sjctcebcs6i7xlskgwkjglkonh26vhuv24lu44@jpeg "Click to view full size")
It appears this Aakash Singh worked for Sen. Tillis and is a 2017 law grad. He needs to be infamous.
Taps the sign: Trump’s power relies on unnecessary capitulation open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
An under-appreciated aspect of these nonsense orders is that people who should care more about his illegal power grabs can rationalize/waive away them as performative nonsense, ignoring the real abuses of power that have dire consequences
Let’s be clear about what is happening: This man is being punished — and disappeared — because he embarrassed our pretender king. They trumped up a criminal case against him because he was embarrassing.
Deployed without a clear objective under false pretenses now with extra burdens for no goddamn reason as ordered by an incompetent. The contempt the administration has for the country and its most beloved institutions beggars belief.
"Trump’s...comment on slavery was unsettling not only because I am the descendant of enslaved people... but also because I am an American who believes that the only way to understand this country—the only way to love this country—is to tell the truth about it. " AMEN.
The only thing I can say about this paragraph is read it. Sit with it. Read it again. @michaelharriot.bsky.social
Morning raid on home of high-profile Trump critic.
“I gave my life to Christ in the Cracker Barrel parking lot” sounds like the filthiest euphemism I have ever heard.
Don’t serve coleslaw. It’s an abomination. QED
Editors, managers, corporate boards, law firms, sacrificing what is right for what is right now. Disaster after disaster.
It is striking how decisions at the most crucial levels of society are seemingly made by people with no regard for anything beyond access.
Republicans say they don’t believe in structural racism or structural inequality but they sure know how to create and enforce it. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
If you have any information or tips to share about Donald Trump's patrolling of Washington DC tonight, or any ongoing operations, please hit me up on Signal @ premthakker.35 Your anonymity will be protected Even if you got no info, please boost this so others can see it too. Thank you guys.
ok, I can either learn what a dyson sphere is or what a labubu is but I refuse to learn both
This is not an argument against achievement or for giving up. Rather, figure out what it is you want--that may have changed over time, or even recently--and spend energy on that.
Life made you who you are; it's not wasted, even if you missed opportunities. (We all did.) Left job I spent 12 years living & breathing, started work in my community, reading more for pleasure/self-enrichment, more travel, etc. Still a struggle, but find more meaning in life, not accomplishments
“John Roberts knows exactly what he is doing, and he knows exactly the message he is sending to America.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
The illiberalism is the denial of equality. And failing to notice inequalities, or to view the inequalities afflicting some as less worthy of concern than those afflicting others, is how nominal liberals can slide into illiberal politics without realizing it. With @blanksslate.bsky.social.
Pitting my general annoyance with cheerleading as part of other sporting events (versus as its own thing, a la dance teams) against my contempt for asinine puritanism…give the men their pom poms let them dance.
HIPAAcrites.
DEA and USPP up and down H St corridor. H St feels less vibrant than usual, it’s unpleasant.
It’s hurricane season and racist southern governors are sending their National Guard to DC to terrorize people of color instead of protecting flooded constituents.
Trump: It’s WOKE to discuss “how bad slavery was.” Lincoln: “Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword…”
"Trump is using statutory power in the guise of a manufactured emergency that does not, in fact, exist." And in the process, he's making us less safe. New from @blanksslate.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-pro-...
Also, for many Americans, showing non friends your guns is just an invitation to get robbed.
These dudes just feel like the smallest men all the time, don’t they? Also puts that humiliating White House hat collection photo in better context too.
Donald Trump might be abusing his power, but at least he's making us less safe....wait. Criminal justice writer Jonathan Blanks breaks down why Trump's D.C. police takeover has no upshots: www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-pro-...
Anyone know if the Texas state constitution requires the free passage of electeds to and from official business, as it is in many states (and U.S. Constitution Art 1, sec 6 constitution.congress.gov/browse/artic...)?
"This is probably just the latest administration action that diverts scarce federal resources away from serious crime reduction and toward its deeply unpopular political goals."
Hostility, innumeracy, senility
Trump does not GAF about actual crime, part eleventy-seventy.
Three active-duty Marines who were part of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were retained. But the Air Force will not allow transgender servicemembers to have hearings before it discharges them. www.military.com/daily-news/2...
THIS. A great summation of everything that's wrong with Trump's takeover.
No idea. I see value in “follow the money” when things seem out of character or if you’re trying to prove corruption, but most of what is going on is in line with what they said they’d do and I’m not terribly concerned whether racism, greed, or cowardice is anyone’s specific reason for going along.
My latest for the Bulwark explains how Trump’s tough on crime posture is a damnable lie. www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-pro-...
All those digital only except NY & LRB
Legacy news: NYT, Guardian Cancelled WaPo , LAT, but can access WaPo thru public library (along with Balt Sun) Get WSJ thru work Subscribe to 51st for DC news, and various other websites (eg Bulwark, Liberal Currents, Balko) and legacy periodicals (New Yorker, LRB, Atlantic) inter alia
Latest evidence that there are plenty of people with ideas in the administration but there is no overarching master plan. It doesn’t reduce the potential danger, it’s just that they aren’t as organized as many people believe or as smart as they think they are.
Thank you!
My latest for the Bulwark explains how Trump’s tough on crime posture is a damnable lie. www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-pro-...
cannot emphasize how much this is not happening to areas with worse violent crime rates in states Republicans cynically need
it is incredible to see the extent to which the Sensible Centrists are simply incapable of grasping the very simple and obvious fact that the president's concern with crime is a pretext, and that to deny claims of a sudden epidemic in crime is not to say that crime is nonexistent.
Declaring a fake emergency as an excuse to deploy the military to police civilians is one of the most canonical examples of authoritarian takeovers. Overseas, people see clearly what Trump is doing. Here in America most people — especially those with power or influence — are in denial.
There’s no longer any pretense this has anything to do with crime (there are cities or parts of cities in SC and Ohio that have higher crime rates than DC — send the troops there!). This is about establishing a precedent for Trump seizing control of the nation’s capital when he wants to.
Fucking ghouls
Well I hope you at least wear your pants above the navel like a respectable codger of adequate means.
If you have tips, insights or recordings of police activity in D.C. please feel free to submit them to our tips line here: tips.hushline.app/to/thebulwark
Note to future old man self: do not wear a t-shirt with the picture of a person’s face on it and then tuck it into your pants that you are wearing above your navel. It will look like the person is peeking out of your pants.
I can think of one big reason
I’m in (alas, at library today)
Two things can be true: 1) The President has legal authority over the D.C. police and the D.C. National Guard that he doesn't have *anywhere else* in the country; & 2) Even if this doesn't set a legal precedent, it sets an ominous *political* precedent for pretextually overriding local government.
None of this is based on actual crime statistics, btw. It’s based on Trump’s brain calcifying in the late 1980s and his deeply ingrained racism.
ICE is attempting to co-opt my personal favorite thing about America. So I’m in the Indianapolis Star explaining to Indycar fans why what ICE is doing is so harmful, and to everyone else about why Indycar, in particular, represents a better America than that. www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
Sometimes; but some have made multiple email accounts because they think it’s easier than password recovery. They also have multiple accounts bc they have full emails and don’t want to learn how to empty them. There are solutions but you have to break thru levels of frustration and fear
Then add the lawyers & judges plugging in AI prompts and turning in results during legal proceedings and not catching hallucinations, jeopardizing their clients’ / parties’ lives and livelihoods. The assumption you posit undergirds billions of dollars of investments and it is dead ass wrong.
And to treat this non sarcastically, I work in my local library system and I don’t think digitally literate people have the slightest idea how in-the-dark millions of Americans are re basics like “signing in to email.” They have it on their phones and have no idea what their password is.
With respect, BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Maybe the country mice have a point. Walking thru Chelsea and just saw a sign for Hennessy Coladas and I’m properly horrified.
Korematsu is a case about a man being arrested and convicted. that's due process, you fascist moron.
Imo, IQ is too crude of a metric, but certainly departments should screen for a tolerance for boredom, monotony, and being at bottom of hierarchical structure that highly intelligent people may struggle with.