Unpopular opinion: I do not believe Trump is on his death bed. I do believe he is having physical ailments right now, partially because he eats like crap and doesn't exercise, and partially because he is nearly 80 years old. Should the press push harder? Yes. Without question.
Americans are standing up, taking action, and refusing to let democracy slip away. The fight for our democracy lives in communities everywhere, not just in the halls of power. We explore how each act of defiance—no matter how small—chips away at authoritarianism’s grip. www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/w...
You can read the study here It’s actually pretty positive www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
All from an account called RAW EGG Nationalist.
The senator online troll says….”oh dear! That doesn’t sound good.”
First Elon says “read the warning labels.”
You guys see where this is going? Right?
If you prefer to read this thread on our site, here’s the link: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/emer...
And we're done. Thanks to all who followed along on this Labor Day weekend. If you appreciate @lawfaremedia.org's live coverage of court proceedings, I hope you'll consider supporting our non-profit newsroom. See you next time! givebutter.com/journalism/a...
Judge Sooknanan: I will look for the government's status report letting me know that the children have been deplaned and returned to ORR custody. Ensign, for his part, says the government "obviously" believes these actions are lawful and that he looks forward to setting out why in the brief.
Judge Sooknanan: "These children are going to be deplaned. They're going to be returned to ORR custody. And no attempts will be made to remove them from ORR custody and remove them to Guatemala, in light of my order, while these preliminary emergency proceedings are pending."
Judge Sooknanan: I am trying to do the best I can to fulfill my obligation as an Article III judge. I appreciate you all showing up today, and I particularly appreciate the government's representation. But I'm going to put it on the record again, just so there's absolutely no ambiguity...
Judge Sooknanan: And again, I'm not going to force you to respond sooner, but if you need five days, my order is going to stay in place. I have done all I can to try to make a decision based on what's in front of me. The government hasn't put anything in front of me to counter plaintiff's narrative
Judge Sooknanan to Ensign: And even now that the government has appeared, you're telling me that even though you think you have the authority to do this, and that what you're trying to do here is unify families, not violate the law, you need five days to respond.
Judge Sooknanan continues her monologue: And so, absent action and intervention by the court, all of those children would have been returned to Guatemala, potentially to extremely dangerous situations.
Judge Sooknanan: And I tried to reach the government. I have been up since then..and didn't reach anyone from the government until later this morning. And the imminence that the plaintiff claimed proved true, because, in fact, those planes *were* loaded. One actually took off and was returned.
Judge Sooknanan: As I said at the start of this hearing, I got a call at 2:36 am [last night] because the government chose the wee hours of the morning on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend to execute a plan to move these children. That's why we're here.
Judge Sooknanan says that she will wait to see Ensign's brief but at this point she's not seeing anything that would displace the statutory protections she just mentioned. Further, she says, I know it's extraordinary to enter a TRO on an ex parte basis. But I felt the situation was imminent...
Judge Sooknanan: For unaccompanied minors in particular, there are special procedural protections under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act...that's because this population is incredibly vulnerable. I don't see anything in what you're citing that would override those protections.
They are playing games with the lives of those children. And lying in the process. Red flags everywhere.
Judge Sooknanan to Ensign: "This is why we have process. This is why we have courts." Then she says that she also took the opportunity to look at the provision that Ensign cited. "I'm pretty skeptical that it gives the government the authority to do what you are claiming it does," she says.
When she's done reading select quotes from the plaintiff's declarations, Judge Sooknanan sums it up as follows: "And so this doesn't quite line up with what I'm hearing from the government.
Sooknanan: Every one of these 10 children who are named plaintiffs speak about being afraid of going back to Guatemala. She reads a series of quotes in which the children express being afraid of return because they experienced neglect or abuse from one or both of their parents.
In one, the child says that her parents [in Guatemala] recently received a strange call from someone with the US government, telling them that he or she would be deported with a larger group of people. "Since my parents told me this news, I feel terrible," the declarant says.
The government has argued that the children are simply being reunited with their parents. But Sooknanan reads from a series of declarations that seem inconsistent with that claim.
Sooknanan then says that she had an opportunity during the break to read some of the declarations filed by the named plaintiffs. She wants to read from them because they underscore the conflicting information she's received from the government about the children they want to remove.
We're back. The judge asks if Ensign has an update for her. Ensign: I have confirmed that the plan is to deplane the children and to return them to the custody of Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Sooknanan asks him to file status report when that's complete
And now we're on recess while Ensign calls his clients.
Ensign: In terms of the immediate question of whether flights are leaving, they will not be leaving. Sooknanan: Okay, great. I think the main thing is a representation that the plan is to deplane and then return those kids to where they were prior
Sooknanan: And if you don't know or can't find out [whether the children have been deplaned], a time estimate on when the agencies can confirm would be helpful. Because then I can ask you to file a status report.
Sooknanan then announces that she wants to take a 10 minute recess so that Ensign can go talk to DHS. She wants to know whether they are going to be deplaning the children and returning them to custody and what they expect to happen. Mr. Ensign, can you do that? Ensign: I'm certainly happy to try
Sooknanan talks about crafting her TRO to ensure that the children aren't removed until briefing is complete and she can rule. I do not want there to be any ambiguity about what I am ordering or what the government is to do down the road, she says.
Sooknanan continues: They're not going to be able to remove these children until you file a brief and we have a hearing and I rule... Ensign: We understand that. We certainly object to the TRO, but we understand that would be process at this point...
Sooknanan: I was thinking earlier than Friday, but if you need to get your ducks in a row and make sure you can figure out what's going on with all of these children, I'll allow it. But my order will stay in place. They're not going to be able to remove these children until you file a brief...
Ensign: That will be resolved through briefing...we can submit our position on that declaration. The judge asks when he plans to file response brief. He asks to have until Friday.
Sooknanan: I have counsel telling me that there are children whose parents did not request their return to Guatemala. I have declaration representations contrary to what you're telling me. How does that [factual discrepancy] get resolved?
Sooknanan asks Ensign for his thoughts on that. He argues that the provision he cited is its own form of protection for the children -- it protects children by permitting the reunification with their parents/families.
Sooknanan: And from the plaintiff's perspective, you do not think that that's true? Plaintiff's counsel: We know that is not true for all the children in the class...and even if it were, the provisions the government cites as legal basis does not override other protections in the statute
Sooknanan: So to be clear, you are representing that all of the children who were put on the planes are children whose parents have requested their return? Ensign: That's what I've been told...Through the government of Guatemala, it's been a month long process to ID children who meet criteria
Judge Sooknanan isn't buying it... The plaintiffs are telling me, she says, that the children do not want to go back to Guatemala, that no request has been made, and that they fear returning to Guatemala, and may be subject to harm
Ensign: "The Government of Guatemala has requested the return of these children, and all of these children have their parents or guardians in Guatemala who are requesting their return..."
Sooknanan asks Ensign about legal authority for the removals. He discusses a statutory provision that authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to unite children with parents from whom they've been separated...
When Sooknanan wraps up, counsel for plaintiffs tell her that their understanding is that the planes with the children have been grounded but that the children have not been deplaned. Sooknanan asks Ensign for an explanation, he says it might be that they're waiting for resolution of this hearing
Sooknanan explains the circumstances of how/when she got the case. First got a call around 2 am last night, entered TRO and set hearing. Moved up hearing after receiving call from plaintiffs to notify her that children were in process of being removed. Then entered new TRO for putative class.
We're back and Sooknanan asks if any planes have taken off. Ensign says all of the planes are on the ground -- one of them might have taken off and turned around. He's not sure. His understanding is that if that's the case, plane has returned.
This whole scenario feels like it's straight outta the government's Alien Enemies Act/J.G.G. playbook. In J.G.G., Boasberg entered TRO barring removal of named plaintiffs and set weekend emergency hearing on certification of class. But DHS started removing people just before/during hearing...
Sooknanan starts off by asking Ensign if he's aware that she just entered a new TRO on the docket to bar the removal of the putative class of minor children. He says no, he's not. She asks him to take minutes to circulate that order to his clients. We're in recess for 5 min while he does so.
Ok, the hearing is underway. Drew Ensign is here for DOJ. (The audio isn't great so I couldn't catch which attorneys are here for the plaintiffs.)
Here's the complaint filed late last night. One of the named plaintiffs is as young as 10. Judge Sooknanan already entered a TRO to bar the removal of named plaintiffs, and a new TRO just hit the docket for the larger putative class. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
I planned to live post the 12:30 p.m. hearing but the call-in line doesn't appear to be connected....Stay tuned. 😩
DEVELOPING: Advocates are seeking a court order to block the Trump administration’s effort to deport hundreds of unaccompanied minor children to Guatemala. Judge abruptly moved 3 pm hearing up to 12:30 after she was notified that some children “are in the process of being removed" today.
❤️
California stepping up.
"We will fight them at the 7-11, we will fight them at the Dunkin' Donuts, we will fight them at the Subway."
"Fun really is the name of the game for Trump & co. It’s fun for them to see a majority-Democratic city like DC live in fear of violence/deportation, to flood the trains/buses with armed law enforcement just because they can, to unleash troops who understand that they will not be held accountable."
Many thanks to independent journalist Amanda Moore (@noturtlesoup17.bsky.social) for all the footage she captured.
BURGUM: “I was shocked to find out, like, ‘oh, [USPP] pull somebody over and they just drive away and you can't pursue them?’ And they said ‘no, we can't.’ We got that rule changed in 24 hours because of President Trump's leadership. The next night they had so much fun. They pulled people over.”
NEW: A week or so ago, one federal agent kept popping up in videos from Trump's violent DC crackdown—so @jsweetli.bsky.social and I investigated. Turns out he's a 26-year-old US Parks Police officer, a lesser known law enforcement unit currently championed by Interior Sec. Doug Burnum. Our report:
I would read a whole series of reports like this on each individual federal goon. They all deserve a profile.
ABC News is still calling RFK Jr. a “vaccine skeptic.” The dude was one of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists for decades. There’s video of him in 2023 saying that there’s no vaccine which is safe and effective. You can call him an anti-vaccine activist!
And as @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social & I argue in #ScienceUnderSiege, it really IS appropriate, William J Broad, to compare the current assault on science by the administration and its enablers in congress (and, yes, the press): bsky.app/profile/mich...
As we near the end of this thread, another excerpt from #ScienceUnderSiege (www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/micha...) on the pernicious role the New York Times has played in enabling the current ideologically-motivated assault on science:
We had to take Broad to task not once, but twice, at #RealClimate, for promoting climate science misinformation on the pages of the New York Times: www.realclimate.org/index.php/ar... www.realclimate.org/index.php/ar...
Moreover, the author--William J. Broad--as a senior science reporter for the Times, has expended copious amounts of ink in the "Gray Lady" at the height of the climate science wars of the 2000s, promoting climate change denialism & contrarianism. Here's one example: www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/s...
As @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social & I document in great detail in #ScienceUnderSiege (due out 9/9: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/science-un...), the New York Times is very much implicated in the false balance and "performative neutrality" that has enabled this moment. Here's a brief excerpt from the book:
Late is the hour in which both William Broad and the New York Times (www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/s...) express concern over the Trump administration's promotion of antiscience: 🧵
Actually, he thinks that he is the state, and that everything should be controlled by the state, as long as he's the state.
RADDATZ: You talk about what can be done. After shootings in Buffalo & Uvalde, Congress passed a bipartisan Safer Communities Act. It provided hundreds of millions for schools to expand mental health services. You didn't vote for it. Why? TOM EMMER: I don't remember the reasons I didn't vote for it
“The problem is not that we don’t know how to do this in the year 2025. It’s that some states and their leaders want to do it, and others just don’t—for all the same reasons Trump doesn't want convenient voting.” My conversation w @tobiasread.bsky.social , Oregon’s Secretary of State
I absolutely love the FEARLESS Dr. Peter Hotez!!!!!
Don’t look away
Welch: He claims that he's the law and order president. But we all know that's a lie because he's a convicted felon. He pardons convicted felons, he surrounds himself with obsequious people that kiss his all day, every day
"Ashli Babbitt was a grown ass adult who made a series of conscious, ill-advised decisions to engage in treasonous behavior, and she got exactly what she deserved. She was a traitor. She was a threat to national security. There is no nuance needed here."
📌 Scientists are not in the business of advancing missions antithetical to public health. ✊🏼
Welch: Everybody's missing the point here. The point is, he's doing this on purpose. He's priming the public to get accustomed to having the military in the streets
The new ICE song by Jesse Welles nails it. ICE isn’t recruiting heroes, it’s recruiting the bitter, the rejected, the ones desperate for a badge to cover their failures. Losers with power become the most dangerous kind. (c/o Caroline Codsi)
Hi, immunologist here: (a scientist who studies immune & inflammatory processes) RFK Jr is talking absolute bullshit when he says he can “see in kids faces that they have inflammation” That’s NOT how immunology works. He is an anti-science profiteer. Start calling him such.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve on the Minnesota shooting: "The sad thing is we can't sit here and tell them that help is on the way. Because we're not going to do a damn thing about it."
If someone tells you there's nothing we can do about gun violence beyond thoughts and prayers, remind them: —Gun laws in other countries have prevented mass shootings —More guns don't make us safer —A majority of Americans want gun reform We don't have to live like this.
Just in case you forgot…
Jesus Christ. If your credit isn’t frozen at all three bureaus, I would strongly consider doing that now
Constituent: You talked about abuses in the medicare and medicaid system and I found interesting that the president pardoned someone that defrauded the medicaid system for $1.3 billion
I celebrate every victory for voting rights, but this one is particularly special. No issue has been more hotly contested or more important to PA voters than this one. The DSCC and DCCC fought hard and it is great to see them prevail. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Pritzker: This is not about fighting crime. This is about the President and his complicit lackey, Stephen Miller, searching for ways to lay the groundwork to circumvent our democracy, militarize our cities, and end elections.
This. 100%.
No brush, no pencil. Just a typewriter. Artist James, using a 1930s Smith Premier typewriter, typed out this painting. #art #printer #unique #typewriter #illustration
Florida banned The Diary of Anne Frank. Whoever signed off on that should have to eat every page of that book — one by one — and choke on the lesson they’re trying to erase. 📚🔥 #BannedBooks #AnneFrank
Two grand jury no bills on the same charge is a bar to any future prosecution for that same offense in Georgia. I tend to think that's a good thing. Prosecutors Fail 3 Times to Charge Woman With Felony Assault of F.B.I. Agent in D.C. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u...
that said: "Renewables and storage offer the only way to meet that demand in the short-term. The current backlog for gas turbines is 7 years long. Propose a massive gas plant today and you can expect it to be built in 2032. Meanwhile, renewables developers are building projects in 12-18 months."
US renewable investment is down 36 percent this year, while in Europe it's up 63 percent (from the @heatmap.news morning newsletter)
He'll likely try this, but I think the real danger comes after the 2026 midterms. Sure, they'll try to sway them with gerrymandering and "emergencies" that shut down polling places in key Democratic areas. But if Dems make real gains the current GOP majority can cry fraud and refuse to seat them.
At some point Trump is going to call for the removal from congress of dozens of Democrats, all of them accused of mortgage fraud, and Corporate Media will obsess over details of the accusations rather than just calling it a partisan purge and fascist consolidation of power. Stop taking the bait.
💯
"The world can tell the difference now between a war being waged for the survival of the Jewish state and a war being waged for the political survival of its prime minister."
Maybe because he's on the road -- visiting China for the first time in seven years.
And even with the worst possible messaging, it was still net positive! And yet Robbie Mook claimed it was "lethal in the general."
