The six reliably pro-Trump justices are "racking up a rap sheet of constitutional abuses of staggering import." ICYMI Philip Allen Lacovara on the coming judgment of history:
Mid-Atlantic nature. Natural world. Photography. Plays with words. Grovers Mill Martian invasion survivor 😉. Popular sovereignty, voting rights, democracy, and good governance stan.
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The six reliably pro-Trump justices are "racking up a rap sheet of constitutional abuses of staggering import." ICYMI Philip Allen Lacovara on the coming judgment of history:
NEW: The world’s largest professional organization of scholars studying genocide just voted overwhelmingly in support of a resolution declaring that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. apnews.com/article/geno...
Grover Norquist and his ilk have been rather silent during this tax hike.
This is literally the largest act of union busting in American history. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/u...
Red-breasted Nuthatch foraging for seeds in its typical upside down manner. Sure would make me dizzy! #birds #birding #birdphotography
This evening felt like summer, the warm evening air pleasant on your face and filled with the scents and sounds of the neighborhood. #London #Photography #PhotographersUnited #DayInMyLife #EastCoastKin #Scape #UrbanGaze #UrbanPhotography
The LGML case came very close to being JGG redux. But just before the hearing began, the judge decided not to wait. She entered a TRO barring removal of all the children. That made all the difference: DHS already had the kids loaded on planes. One plane even took off (then turned around).
Enormous impoundment-related changes in Trump/Vought's Circular A-11 update from Friday, which is OMB's guidance to agencies They: -removed the definition of impoundment -said GAO's impoundment determinations don't matter -claimed pocket rescission authority -claimed profound deferral authority 🧵
Thread: this is Russ Vought giving himself permission to ignore Congress and the constitution
Foulshaw's father, fisher and fighter. Born 2008 in Cumbria and England's first Osprey nest in 150 years, he's fed and protected 32 fledged chicks and his partner of 12 years. Plus guests! Fettling the nest for next year, he'll fly south soon. Stay safe you legend. @cumbriawildlife.bsky.social
The ham did nothing wrong. No bill.
So glad to see him reelected, and y'know *in* office since they literally changed the locks on him I wrote about this town last year bc there was a lawsuit to make it have elections, which coincidentally stopped around when the Voting Rights Act was passed 🙃 ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
Some astonishing omissions by Eric Loomis in his Times oped on labor 👉 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o... Not that unions & all of us don't need to do more--we do But the essay ignores the substantial efforts that unions have undertaken that I chronicle here👇1/x open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
We've got more for you on Labor Day. More than 82 percent of civilian federal workers have had their right to collectively bargain stripped in the largest act of union busting in US history. Unions are a voice from below, and their autonomy poses a threat to autocrats, Harold Meyerson writes:
A Glossy Ibis, a Stilt and a Plover walk in a lake... A silhouette, although not a full black and white image. #ClassicMono #birds
Happy September. Gift links to two great stories that delighted me the weekend. One about the cat in Darren Aronofsky’s new movie Caught Stealng, a d the other about a great Onionesque site about Marin County. Movie cat: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/m... Marin County: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/u...
I have an opinion piece in the New York Times today on how the labor movement has failed to step up to the moment in countering Trump, even as Trump unilaterally strips public sector workers of collective bargaining. Labor will die as a movement if this continues. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
MORE: Sparkle Sooknanan is still awake -- and she wants a fourth status report from DOJ. The judge orders the government to update her when all putative class members have been returned to ORR custody.
I will make exceptions for the DOGE bros.
The wrong type of chill in Netflix and chill.
Yay!! It is great when that happens.
Omg guys!! That dang fox posed for me tonight!!!! #wildlife #fox
The price of Justice will see inflationary pressure.
The Trump administrations is trying to wear down the judges. Kudos for Judge Sooknanan for her effort and endurance.
This was incredible, important lawyering from National Immigration Law Center (@nilc.org) over the past 24 hours. Here's their case page: www.nilc.org/litigation/l... Here was the statement from Efrén Olivares, NILC VP of litigation, from earlier today regarding the TRO:
Anna has had excellent coverage of this developing case in which the Trump administration tried to use the holiday weekend to secretly and illegally deport children.
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.
They may have suffered neck injuries.
the Federal Employees & Contractors Oral History Project (FECOHP) was launched in 3/2025 by the Organization of American Historians (OAH). Directed by an experienced oral historian & former federal historian, the project seeks to capture this pivotal moment through the voices of those who lived it.
This is worth sharing far and wide. Federal Employees and contractors oral history project. Im not involved in this. Just got the link, idea seems to be to create a record of the assault on the American Repuvlic after Jan 2025. www.fecohp.org
Judge Sooknanan: Are you aware that I have issued an order on the docket about the putative class? DOJ / Drew Ensign: I have not, your honor Judge Sooknanan: I want you take 5 minutes now to look at that order and circulate that through the govt/DHS (Hearing pauses)
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...
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 am delighted to be publishing "An Originalist Case for Birthright Citizenship of Unlawful Immigrants' Children: Anti-Gypsy and Anti-Chinese Restrictions as Categorical Context" in the UC Law Journal (formerly Hastings L. J.). @uclawsf.bsky.social papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
The White Earth Nation’s bison herd welcomed its very first calf, marking what tribal leaders call ‘a new chapter’ in returning mashkode-bizhiki (bison) to Anishinaabe lands. Bison are being reintroduced through a partnership with the InterTribal Buffalo Council. buff.ly/XMsVVPs #ShareGoodNewsToo
Digital tokens. They’re gonna put genocide on the blockchain. Crypto grifter-style ethnic cleansing.
Residents are finding all sorts of ways to fight ICE: They're recording and reporting. They're wheatpasting and sharing know-your-rights materials. And they're stepping up to care for each other, from delivering groceries to walking kids to school. 51st.news/dc-residents...
Happy weekend everyone! Here’s a photo from the moment I was showing you in my last video 😊. Greenland magic 🤗
This includes justices on the Roberts Court.
Their reach is not limited to their direct audience. The quotes then get repeated and spread more widely with the credibility washing from their distant past when the lying was not so prevalent.
We also see this in how SCOTUS has treated the litigation against Trump, which has been disastrous for our democracy. This 👇 appears to provide a slightly different, but consistent, framing. bsky.app/profile/maxk...
You know, another thought about this: the bad habit we get into of thinking of the Constitution just as a thing that imposes limits is part of the problem here I think
“Texas Democrats lost. But they drew attention to Republicans’ efforts to put their thumb on the scale, and demonstrated a valuable tactic for galvanizing their beleaguered party. They lost, but they lost loudly. Losing loudly has been a crucial feature of successful political movements.” Gift:
Platforming and disseminating propaganda appears to be the motivation behind the Sunday shows.
Our news media are so broken. There's a way to challenge someone in an interview without looking like you're the press secretary for the other side. ABC's Martha Raddatz badly misses the mark. "Why fight with the president?" she asks.
Grassley’s problem was there was a Democrat in the position to issue an executive order in the first place.
We have an extraordinary example of someone who is a unifier beyond expectation right now, and it's Zohran Mamdani. He does not throw anyone under the bus. The most important thing he did? Listen to what has people most upset. Propose policy that met those needs.
I made a spreadsheet of all the federal cases filed as part of Trump's DC crackdown. It's not going great
Or cover it with mulch.
shoutout to this iNaturalist user who appears to be an ROV pilot in the gulf of mexico and posts occasional biological observations, including A GODDAMN TANINGIA ATTACKING THE ROBOT ARM OF THE ROV www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Hues of Greenland. Different stories sorted by color schemes. Blue, oranges and yellows all night during the midnight sun.
One disabled Marine veteran has not had a primary care doctor assigned to him since his previous doctor left in the winter, his wife said. The VA “was never like this before. There’s a lack of staff, empty rooms, locked doors.”
Damn cormorant you don't gotta show off like that. 🪶
For folks who are Hungary-dooming, (a) Orban was genuinely popular, and (b) very far from a done deal, but "was" has been the operative adjective for some while - www.reuters.com/world/hungar...
For those asking, my American Revolution lecture course is free online here: oyc.yale.edu/history/hist...
Nice! Nice iridescence!
What do liberals have against spread mulch?
The extent to which ICE is ignoring all civil rights and due process is astounding — and indicative of a culture where they’ve been told they can do literally no wrong. Agency and admin leaders must face sanctions and legal consequences.
shout out to @edzitron.com who is the whole reason my story this week exists -- he turned me on to the trend! go read Ed: www.wheresyoured.at/how-to-argue...
Stephen Manning, this guy’s lawyer, is one of the best in the country. It’s very good news that he’s taken this case.
Must read. I don't endorse every word, but it's exactly right about the big picture:
🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics. The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.
But it was too late. To understand what happened, you *must* read @kimlanelaw.bsky.social's @jodemocracy.bsky.social article ▼▼ In fact, just drop what you're doing and read it now.
We have a decades of scholarship on how pro-democracy forces win in competitive authoritarian systems: they form a united opposition that brings together people with otherwise profound political disagreements.
I got to talk with @lataco.bsky.social's @eltragon.bsky.social about his tireless documentation of immigration raids in LA, and how his knowledge of the city's street food scene makes him a better immigration reporter
This firefighter arrived in the US at age 4, has been here for 19 years, was on track to legal status, and was on a crew trying to contain a major blaze (in Washington state, vs Oregon, fwiw.) h/t @joshuajfriedman.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Powerful essay by @faniaoz-salzberger.bsky.social “Israel, the true Israel, is no longer its government but its civil society.” on.ft.com/4nbDVN6
An activist has started using artificial intelligence to identify ICE agents beneath their masks — a use of the technology sparking new political concerns over AI-powered surveillance. Can Washington do anything about it?
BREAKING: Historian Jane Manners filed a brief in Boyle v. Trump, challenging President Trump’s dismissal of three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 1/ bit.ly/4mKYlN8
In frustration, I asked a law professor (Michael Libonati), "is anything in the law real?" He replied: "Burdens." That's why Manners' framing here is so important. The question isn't how much has Congress limited POTUS, but how much it has allowed. The burden is on POTUS to prove he's allowed.
You know how the Gulf Stream (AMOC, for the climate nerd set) keeps Europe habitable? The latest tipping points paper is making the rounds for good reason. AMOC collapses past 2100 in *all* projections iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... Good @economist.com take www.economist.com/leaders/2025...
![Figure 1. (upper) Ensemble means of the AMOC strength and (below) total ocean heat transport at 26°N in the model simulations in which the northern AMOC shuts down. The letters are ordered from top to bottom to correspond to lines with decreasing values in year 2300/2500. The short cyan line shows the observed (yet insignificant) trend of the RAPID observations [21, 22] for 2005–2023 (upper) and 2005–2020 [23] (below).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:3nekuksdc3y37mr7q66aaq4d/bafkreief3gzrwyhemgj77br3xekpalcft76trwmbh5cjpcopibwtpcdlry@jpeg "Click to view full size")
John rylan's Research Institute and Library, Manchester UK
Until the fascists took over the White House.
@tedunderwood.me My new "AI personality" piece is out: arstechnica.com/information-...
Historian of Reconstruction here they have been gunning for the 14th amendment since it was passed. First southern Dixiecrats and racist demagogues like Vardaman and Tillman. Today the far right MAGAts Rationale: the defeated south was forced to ratify it to re enter the Union! Reaction never rests!
ICYMI, Social Security’s chief data officer reported that DOGE staff took actions that “constitute violations of laws, rules, and regulations, abuse of authority, gross mismanagement, and creation of a substantial and specific threat to public health & safety.” He was fired. Now this.
Reset the clock.
Fortunately, for some of us, it still is.
Yay!!! 🦇 I still don’t see as many bats as I used to see. So, it is more special when I now get a glimpse.
Bluesky right now ...
Red in the Morning Lake Lonsdale, Victoria Weather turned to custard a couple of minutes later lol. #BlueSkyArtShow #stunday #bluesky #photography #landscape #travel #nature #landscapephotography #naturephotography #scape #nikon #dxo #EastCoastKin
The Trump administration continues its campaign to dismantle federal sector unions on an extremely dubious reading of the FLMRS’s national security provisions.
“…I am infuriated that the Air Force plans to grant military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt. She did not die defending the Constitution. She died trying to overturn it.” My latest in @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/honoring-a...
This story, revealed by @TheAssemblyNC, is totally wild: In the last days of their supermajority in the NC state legislature, Republican leaders rammed through a bill (SB 382) that changed campaign finance law. It allowed *unlimited* direct corporate contributions to political campaigns.
Zohran Mamdani is the happiest politician in America, his whole campaign is about how New York is awesome and can be even awesomer. Meanwhile, there has never been a politician in history who talked as much about what a shithole he thinks America is as Donald Trump does.
Meta is prepared. bsky.app/profile/reut...
Will Vance channel his inner Haig?
Breaking news: A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from rapidly deporting undocumented immigrants detained away from the border without a court hearing, a setback for its mass deportation agenda.
n this post, I summarize key points from the Federal Circuit ruling against Trump's massive IEEPA tariffs, in our case against them: reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Unbelievably bad. “The CDC you knew is over. Unless someone takes radical action, there is nothing there that can be salvaged.” www.advocate.com/politics/dem...
House Republicans Want To Doxx Wikipedia Editors Over Bogus ‘Bias’ Complaints Congress has absolutely zero constitutional authority to investigate a private website for its editorial decisions. Zero. None. This is First Amendment 101. Yet House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and…
It is. Spending time with migrating Osprey is also time well spent, but will trigger feelings is nostalgia and impermanence of the seasons.
Official confirmation will not come before the end of Weekend at Donnie’s.
This is how dramatically this Industry changed in the last decade -- here are shows I've written for (some I was there it's entire run, some not) 1st Show: 5 seasons 71 episodes 2nd: 3 sns 76 eps 3rd: 3 sns 39 eps 4th: 3 sns 39 eps 5th: 1 sns 8 eps 6th: 1 sns 8 eps 7th: 1 sns 8 eps 8th: 1 sns 7 eps
I am confident they will hack their way through it.
Very nice!
I was quite far away when I first spotted it swimming, and wasn’t sure what it was. But it kept swimming closer! Soras are good swimmers, but when it came to a partially submerged log, it climbed right up. Swimming is ok, but these big feet were made for walking! #Birds #photography #wildlife 🪶
And then deciding to give so much time for an appeal without the tariffs ending.
1/blockbuster decision on Trump tariffs. Regardless of what happens at the Supreme Court, stretching national security laws to their limit, Trump has put the cornerstone of US coercion at risk. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...