Yes, exactly!
Yes, exactly!
Co-opting what MAGA tried to do during COVID on choice. Plus pointing out public health is about protecting whole public so why isn’t admin monitoring for XYZ diseases anymore? Point out all that has been cut & ask people if they are OK w/ensuring food safety themselves. Etc. End
I think the more people hear things like, “Do you want to get COVID vaccine to help protect your loved one who has cancer? Well, too bad, RFK Jr. says you can’t do that now.” We know MAGA are hypocrites on health/body autonomy; they’ve proven that re: abortion. But non-MAGA public wants choice. 3/x
High info voters who understand value of CDC & public health & complexities of COVID response aren’t the people to reach right now. They already get it. Bringing up the past unfortunately gives MAGA ammunition to diffuse focus from the true urgency of what this means *right now* to people. 2/x
It seems like Dem messaging on this needs to be more KISS & focused: “RFK Jr.’s attack on CDC shows he’s trying to take away your healthcare. He’s trying to tell you what vaccines you and your family can get. He’s not a dr, but he’s trying to tell your dr what to do.” 1/x
I wrote more about this man and my thoughts about his story in the replies to this post: bsky.app/profile/pete...
This man has a compelling story. I wish he & so many others hadn’t voted for Trump when so many of us knew he would try & do exactly what happened to this man. But he’s owned up to making a mistake & is speaking out & fighting powerfully w/ACLU to help prevent others from being targeted as he was.
I wrote some more thoughts about this man’s story in the replies to this post: bsky.app/profile/pete...
IMO, this man has redeemed many times over any harm committed by his vote. He’s now on the side of those fighting for justice & making good trouble. I mourn the path that got him here but am glad he’s joined the fight. End
And by doing these things publicly & visibly, he risks continued targeting by this admin & its supporters. Our nation’s history is rich in redemption arcs. If we stop believing in 2nd chances, in the ability of people to change & grow, to make mistakes & own up to them, then we’ve lost our way. 5/x
I was horrified by what happened to this man & admire that he is not only speaking out to inform & educate the community but to participate in a lawsuit to try & stop ICE from targeting people in the way he was. By doing those things, he has already helped people. He may never know how many. 4/x
There’s a difference between knowing something is likely to happen & then actually seeing it. Sadly most American voters are low info; that’s just the way it is & has been for a long time. Trump has taken advantage of that fact since coming down that staircase in 2015. 3/x
I remember seeing the video of him being arrested by ICE. It was one of the 1st high profile detentions of a US citizen during this admin. I was a high info voter & I was still shocked by it, even though I knew all along that such things were going to happen under Trump. 2/x
Exactly this. His story is a powerful one. He admits he made a mistake with his vote & explains why he voted the way he did: because of a lie repeated over & over during campaign & not countered enough by MSM or at all by right wing media. That mistake had a direct & traumatic impact on him. 1/x
So this MAGA person’s real scoop is that people can be talented at multiple disparate interesting things. Further scooped by the implication that if we were to look into her background, which I have no desire to do, we would likely find no such interesting things. Truly stunning news analysis. /s
*Wasn’t* President until 2009, I mean.
Oh, he is one of the stupidest. I didn’t link to it but just after this he tries to argue that even if Obama was President until 2009 he somehow was still responsible for Epstein deal and Tapper to his credit keeps up the pressure on getting it right.
And people always find it.
“Root causes of ‘the’ public health epidemic in this country?” I’m sorry - do we have just one? I don’t even want to know what Miller thinks “the” epidemic is. At any rate, if we have just one epidemic, it’s the one created by this admin who doesn’t seem to think the public deserves good health.
This is the whistleblower who exposed that all of our social security info was uploaded to an unsecured cloud server by DOGE. Please thank him and check out tips from @altssa.altgov.info on credit freezes and other ways to protect your data.
Thank you very much for your bravery. The American public owes you a huge debt of gratitude, whether they know it yet or not.
Just to keep people from being reminded of the fact that they’ve returned us to a horrible place where horrible acts are done to 10 yo girls and that trauma will be compounded infinitely by being forced to give birth in 5th grade.
MAGA has no problem with 10 yo girls being forced to give birth, as we’ve seen. Maybe MAGA’s reflexive use of “pregnant women” needs to be weaponized against them. What if “and girls” gets added every time they insist on “pregnant women” language? They might start using “people” themselves. 2/2
Someone elsewhere made a point I hadn’t yet considered re: controversy over the term “pregnant people”; it’s not only women who get pregnant. But also 10 yo girls. Would MAGA have us call them women? “People” encompasses not only transgender individuals but girls as well. 1/2
📌
“Faruqui also noted that Harvey and Pirro’s urge to throw Bryant in jail for such a minor infraction was contradictory to the Justice Department’s release of hundreds of January 6 rioters who’d been jailed on charges much more serious than Bryant’s.” Excellent & unsolicited point made by judge.
bsky.app/profile/atru...
Amazingly, Tapper fact-checked Mullin about Obama not being President in 2008 when Epstein deal was done. Mullin argued with him. Repeatedly.
I think that’s the point. Pulte’s original Tweet makes it sound like this person was prosecuted by Obama DOJ simply for mortgage application. Karl adds paragraphs from release that show what real fraud charges were about. Very different than what has been alleged vs Cook. Pulte being deceptive here.
As would the independence of the Fed itself.
That being said, Trump’s move here is dangerous and petty and clearly seems timed to coincide with the book tour announcement as he could’ve revoked her protection in July after 6 months if he was doing this to be in line with the statutory protection. He is a menace to everyone.
Especially since he arranged for his kids to have extended protection but wish these articles would give info for context. Until reading about this, I didn’t realize how short the protection is for former VPs and that they didn’t receive it at all until 2008. 2/2
This is true of Cheney; he requested & received an extra 6 mos of protection from Obama. But not Biden or Pence. I was surprised learning about Pence; I would've thought he would’ve requested & received extra protection due to 1/6 but apparently did neither. I am outraged by Trump’s actions 1/2
Plus they have had so many lawyers leave DOJ voluntarily or through RIFs, etc. that they are overworked, making errors & begging to change scheduling, which seems to displease judges. Every lawsuit filed vs admin piles it on. Making good trouble by pursuing justice & drowning them in paperwork.
But also makes me wonder if poorly hung & didn’t account for breeze. Or poor graphic design - they didn’t account for how his face would look blown up like this. At any rate, ironic that even his dictator flag reeks of tackiness & incompetence. 2/2
This is a fascinating observation. I did a quick image search & many pics are showing a crease down his face but without similar crease on the Teddy Roosevelt flag or American flag. Could be that creasing doesn’t show in others due to American flag having lines & TR flag being in b&w. 1/2
Thanks to you and your colleagues for your service and for speaking out so powerfully.
🚨🚨 Pre-Labor Day Massacre We don’t know the why but several of our (excellent) leaders are resigning, effective (we think) immediately. Is this an act of resistance or a purge by our anti-science government?
📌
Thanks so much. Not a lawyer, but I feel like this admin is giving those of us paying attention an informal legal education on the fly. I’m really grateful to you & other lawyers on Bluesky who explain things to the rest of us.
Thank you for explanation - hopefully they will dismiss.
Thanks for explanation. Is it typical to go to this step after grand jury refuses to indict? Who would’ve requested it - defense or DOJ? I know they only have 30 days to get indictment so wasn’t sure if this was a way for either side to get to resolution in lieu of going to grand jury again.
The NYT article says he has an upcoming hearing before magistrate for probable cause. Does that mean the DOJ is now trying to get indictment through magistrate since they didn’t through grand jury?
It’s from NYT and is confusing. Why would he appear before magistrate to determine probable cause if grand jury has refused to indict? Does that suggest they are pursuing different charge now?
What does this mean though: “Mr. Dunn is scheduled to appear next week in Federal District Court in Washington for a preliminary hearing where another magistrate judge, G. Michael Harvey, will determine if there is probable cause that a crime was committed during the sandwich-throwing incident.”
Dems on House Oversight have mechanism for whistleblowers to report directly to them. But I don’t know what they can do with this info if they get this with Repubs controlling everything: oversightdemocrats.house.gov/contact/tip-...
This is such a good point, and I don’t know why lower-level admin officials at least aren’t thinking about this. Higher-ups might have already negotiated preemptive pardons. But the people working for them likely have not and would be running huge risk to count on pardons.
Interesting & disturbing in light of Cannon comparison. Is typical tenure for Senate staff attorney as new law grad usually so short? One year with Tillis & one with Grassley seems like job hopping. But I know they work long hours w/o much pay so maybe not red flag it would be in other legal work.
Like anything that truly matters in politics, this does not happen without organized labor.
Donald Trump’s and Pam Bondi’s corruption of the Rule of Law in America will continue apace until the American People stand up and cry out “No More. We’ve had enough. We are a nation of laws, not of men.”
NEW: A docket note memorializes Judge Xinis's oral order forbidding the govt from removing Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the United States or from the Virginia detention center where he is now being held. www.courtlistener.com/docket/71191...
She did end up issuing written order, for anyone wondering. I think she knew exactly what she was doing asking that question. She got Ensign on record acknowledging oral order is binding.
NEW: A docket note memorializes Judge Xinis's oral order forbidding the govt from removing Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the United States or from the Virginia detention center where he is now being held. www.courtlistener.com/docket/71191...
She did end up issuing written order as well, for those who were wondering. She knew exactly what she was doing asking him that question. He’s on record acknowledging oral order is binding.
She knew exactly what she was doing when she asked the oral vs written order question the way she did.
Also bathroom bills I believe? Law requiring businesses to let everyone use bathroom corresponding to their gender identity & another requiring public schools to provide gender neutral bathrooms. I don’t know why he has said the things he’s said. But his record is of protecting rights too.
I’m sure you are correct that this is where they are trying to go. It’s horrifying to imagine and also horrifying to know it’s not unimaginable.
If notification was supposed to occur and hasn’t yet, I wonder why not? Because I thought purpose of such notice was to allow patients to object on own behalf to disclosure. Ironic since DOJ and HHS supposed to safeguard on HIPAA, but we know they’re useless. Hope there can be suits over this. End
That is scary. But when personal identifying info is being requested, aren’t there supposed to be very strict limits, even for feds? That is what the judge is restricting being released at the moment, thank goodness. Also, aren’t providers required to notify patients if their info is subpoenaed? 1/
NEW: Judge orders DOJ to give more info on subpoenas targeting trans minors' medical care. Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania staff warned of "traumatic" effects if forced to provide patient information to the Trump admin. DOJ called the claims "meritless." Tonight, at Law Dork:
Is there anything too low for this despicable administration? Glad at least some DOJ lawyers refused to sign off on this. Every time that happens it at least affirms that I’m not crazy to think admin is brazenly trying to overturn not only laws, justice, American ideals but also basic human decency.
I assume DOJ will try to argue this isn’t HIPAA violation for ludicrous reasons, but wouldn’t children whose records could be exposed here have strong case (maybe class action?) against health care providers if they cave? This is stake in heart of patient confidentiality. 2/
This is absolutely chilling. If they succeed with this, what would prevent them from going after any and all personal medical records, given what we know about RFK Jr fixation on autism, ADHD, vaccines, mental health disorders, substance abuse treatment, etc.? 1/
Wow, Newsom is so getting under Trump’s skin. And showing MAGA has no sense of humor because they neither understand the concept of satire nor the idea that the most effective political humor is either self-deprecatory or punching up. Trump always either punches down or self-aggrandizes. So weak.
This interview and Hannity are how we know that Newsom is hitting Trump where it hurts. He’s too scared to tweet/truth back at Newsom himself. Has to send completely ineffectual surrogates to do it.
Reminds me of this hero. I don’t think the police wanted to arrest him, you can tell they had no idea how to handle the situation, and this was a much smaller protest. www.wcjb.com/2025/06/14/8...
Takes a special kind of stupid to go after righteous grannies & aunties. Is he really daring an army of pissed off seniors to face off against his goons? They have lived through the history he’s trying to drag us back to, they have grandchildren to protect & they have no fucks left to give.
Totally agree. It is horrible.
No problem. I think it’s good to have historical perspective. Health insurance started out tied to employment which was first mistake. Wish we could re-design whole system. But ACA was way to improve an unfair imperfect system & enabled millions of uninsured to get coverage. Repubs will eff that up.
There is no Repub in Congress that has proposed anything since ACA that would make life better for anyone. We need Medicare for anyone who wants it; need all 3 branches to be Dem and either break filibuster or have 60 Dem Senators to get it done. End
No staying on parents’ policy until 26 yo. No 100% coverage of preventive care. Pre-COBRA (we got that thanks to Clinton) even worse: you could get good job with good insurance and not be covered for 6 month waiting period for preexisting conditions. Insurance sucks. Not having it is worse. 3/
Before ACA, if you didn’t have insurance through job, Medicaid or Medicare, you were screwed. If you bought insurance as individual, no coverage for preexisting conditions if you got sick, no renewal of your policy. Annual & lifetime caps that you could exceed with one operation. 2/
You’re right - it didn’t. We need universal coverage for that. Never going to happen with Repubs. And Dems could only pass ACA because they had 60 votes in Senate for 7 months in 2009. What they passed was radical for the time. 1/
Has Trump responded directly to any of Newsom’s tweets? I don’t read Truth Social but haven’t seen references to anything from Trump, just complaints from his whiny surrogates like this one. Seems so out of character for Trump not to take bait and respond. Makes me think he’s terrified of Newsom.
This is weird AF. Has he ever talked about heaven before? Maybe Putin showed him the copy of his secret medical record showing he’s dying and that’s what made his staff look ashen and frightened, per Peter Alexander, when they came out of Alaska meeting?
Trump’s circus is the distraction. Rockbridge is plotting the next 20 years of right-wing power. JD Vance’s SECRET BILLIONAIRE CLUB is funding media, rigging courts, and stacking governments. Trump is just the puppet. Rockbridge is the machine.
Ha, this would be awesome!
Totally agree but wouldn’t have happened with any other President. Just this one. It does send a message to those leaders - you can imagine Trump rage tweeting had he been greeted by people in low-level roles when visiting their countries. And it’s nauseating after the red carpet welcome for Putin.
Yes, both Daily Beast and WSJ reporting it as snub. I’m sure it’s because having them come wasn’t Trump’s idea.
Yes, seems like it. So if Olga had said “a nobody” greeted heads of state, that would be correct. Is this even close to protocol? If First Lady would normally do this in past and she’s clearly AWOL, wonder who is next in line? I’d think Sec’y State, Congressional leader? Not former Fox News host.
Makes sense since he has the biggest man boobs of any President in my lifetime.
For once, it feels like the fight isn’t one-sided. For once, it feels like someone on our side finally stopped polishing the participation trophy while the other side is busy smashing the trophy case with a sledgehammer. open.substack.com/pub/jojofrom...
The proof of this is that Newsom is trolling Trump like no one has before & Trump has no response. He’s afraid of him. When you’re playing a game & the other side is cheating & you have a player that welcomes the fray, you don’t have to crown him MVP. But does mean it’s good to have him on the team.
Thank you for this piece. I don’t understand people who can’t hold two opposing thoughts in their heads at once: 1) they don’t support Newsom in 2028 and 2) 2028 is irrelevant if we don’t win 2026. Right now Newsom is fighting for 2026 and doing it more effectively than anyone else. 1/2
That could create thousands of mad-as-hell Americans real fast. Repubs who haven’t traveled too far on the MAGA train may take pause. And Dems may decide that a tank might stop one person but it won’t stop a multitude. I hope they’ve overplayed their hand by doing this early so we can prepare. End.
I don’t know - I can see it going both ways. A suppressing effect or galvanizing one. Right now unfortunately many of these actions can remain abstract to people geographically removed from LA and DC. But when the troops move into their town? Try and prevent them from doing what they want to do? 1/
I believe that every President until the present one has indeed thought that. No matter how I might agree or disagree with them politically, I have never doubted that. This President has destroyed every norm that I previously thought sacrosanct.
next to someone who was the opposite of him in every way. Newsom would have a field day. Glad Zelenskyy is instead wearing the same thing he wore when he met King Charles. If it was good enough for an actual king, good enough for our repulsive wannabe one. Slava Ukraine.
& everyone who is not Trump or MAGA knows this. If he were to show up in Oval with a well-tailored suit, Trump would crow that he’d won something, but the sane world would see a tired, old, unhealthy, incoherent, unprincipled man in makeup in ill-fitting suit 2/
The crazy thing is this is such an obsessive self-own on Trump’s part. Zelenskyy owns suits, and unlike Trump, he wears them quite well. The reason he doesn’t wear them is because he takes his role as a wartime president in solidarity with his people quite seriously…1/
Let’s hope Republicans in Congress will actually stand up if Trump tries to do this. I think in Senate they’d need to get past Dem filibuster so should be a dead-end route to do legislatively. Who knows through what nonsense he’d try through executive order and what SCOTUS would do. Scary as hell.
I wonder if there’s any chance this is what was discussed during meeting with Putin that had diplomats so shook. Except for the most delusional MAGAs, this could be a frightening red line. The US military is strong, but is it strong without intelligence and logistical support of allies? Terrifying.
It’s funny how he started out the evening without the all-caps and “thank you for your attention to this matter,” but 10 hours later you can see him devolving into his typical insanity in just one tweet. Also weird how he hasn’t tried to attack Newsom as far as I’ve seen? Clearly afraid of him.
from the people. Very glad everything was peaceful, but this just shows what performative bs this is. The MPD shouldn’t be protecting Guard members & holding hands of federal LE who need 20 people to arrest a sandwich thrower. What a waste of time, money & any goodwill between MPD and community.
“Police officers who had been following the protest intervened, forming a barrier between the crowd and the troops with bicycles. The tension dissipated, and the protest moved on, joining forces with a handful of demonstrators who had been at the White House.” Police protecting the Guard troops…2/
From the article: “As demonstrators passed between the White House and the Washington Monument, the mood briefly turned tense as some berated National Guard troops standing in front of a military vehicle. Some marchers shouted expletives and yelled “traitor” at the Guard members.” 1/
Thank goodness for Europe! The thought of another Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy getting treated so atrociously again was making me sick. These folks are on the right side of history. It’s shameful that our Putin-owned President is not.
Not only is Laura Loomer heartless, self-serving, and evil, she seems incapable of not giving Bill Maher’s team additional ammunition to defend against her in her misguided defamation suit. This tweet looks like another opportunity for her to be grilled about relationship to Trump.
Is there anything good or beautiful or beloved or groundbreaking or innovative or helpful to people or emblematic of the best of our country that this man isn’t determined to destroy? This plant is so much more than a plant. #ETTD
Would you consider doing an update on this very important story, considering what’s going on right now in DC? Between federal LEOs making arrests they don’t normally make & ICE in general, the lack of body camera footage really adds to the suspicion these encounters are provoking among ordinary ppl.