Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
Oooo, more threatening letters. Congress is the new "I want my two dollars" paper boy from Better Off Dead--a nuisance that thinks it's tough, but we all know it's not effective.
Civil War historian. Wide Awake Progressive. Retired from social studies, financial analysis, and small business. Traveled over 50k US miles for my research. Nature knows best and intends no ill will.
1,600 followers 990 following 8,698 posts
view profile on Bluesky Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
Oooo, more threatening letters. Congress is the new "I want my two dollars" paper boy from Better Off Dead--a nuisance that thinks it's tough, but we all know it's not effective.
Niall Harbison (@niallharbison.bsky.social) reposted
He has been in complete agony and he needed a blood transfusion during his operation but look at Spock now! He's back walking!
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
"Also: name a younger politician who has stood up to Trump to his face and in the same room with him as millions in fed subs are on the line." My exact words that you attempted to counter. Also, the names you gave are from TX, a state not in danger of losing fed funding like Maine is. GOP ❤️ TEXAS.
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
I can't find evidence to prove the people you named sat in the same room with Trump and stood up to him directly to his face. But JANET MILLS HAS, and I provided you with still photos from the footage of that day, which I watched live as it happened. Can you show evidence to defend your counter?
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social)
#ME #Maine #PineTreeState #NoKings @collinswatch.bsky.social
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social)
#CA #California #Prop50
Brian Klaas (@brianklaas.bsky.social) reposted
Gun murders last year: US: 17,927 England & Wales: 22 Here's the data, per capita, in the chart below. It's the guns. I wrote about the evidence, with lots of data, along with a more personal response to the Annunciation Church shooting (where I was baptized): www.forkingpaths.co/p/guns-at-an...
Coral City Camera (@coralcitycamera.bsky.social) reposted
Scrawled filefish blowing kisses 😘🔮🐟 #scrawledfilefish #filefish #fishkiss #kissyfish #elegantoddball #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity
Coral City Camera (@coralcitycamera.bsky.social) reposted
Flying carpet? Flying saucer? Flapping flap flap? #southernstingray #stingraysofcoralcity #flapflap #flyingcarpet #flyingsaucer #stingray #schoolmastersnapper #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity
Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) reposted
In a major setback to President Donald Trump’s attempt to purge independent agencies, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block a lower court order reinstating Democratic commissioner Rebecca Slaughter to the Federal Trade Commission. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Colleen Curran (@ccurran.bsky.social) reposted
Well, BretPal is coming to a swift end as of 30 September. Between now and then, I'll be posting my favourite Breton manuscripts, starting with the iconic horse Mark from the Boulougne Gospels (Boulogne sur Mer, MS 8).
Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) reposted
Trump and Republicans got rid of the CFPB's $5 cap on overdraft fees, allowing big banks to keep raking in profits off of struggling Americans. So just how much money are banks taking from consumers with these predatory fees? @sanders.senate.gov, @blumenthal.senate.gov, and I are finding out.
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social)
#MO #Missouri Citizen turnout needed on 4 September🗽
Randall Perkinson Photography (@rmperkinson.bsky.social) reposted
Globe Amaranth Palmyra, Missouri, USA #Photography #StreetPhotography #streetscapephotography #palmyra #missouri #flower #flowers #amaranth #globeAmaranth
Randall Perkinson Photography (@rmperkinson.bsky.social) reposted
Along Center Street Hannibal, Missouri, USA #Photography #StreetPhotography #streetscapephotography #hannibal #missouri #storefront
my mamas child (@2024fighter.bsky.social) reposted
YES!
Laura Friedrich Merton 🇨🇦💪 (@worldlady.bsky.social) reposted
Performing only to the basest of the base.
Perry Bacon (@perrybaconjr.bsky.social) reposted
In one of the debates in New York mayor's race, Mamdani (and Lander) both praised Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. She has been one of the most passionate voices defending cities and urban life as Trump trashes them. And she's stayed popular in way Brandon Johnson has not. newrepublic.com/article/1997...
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social)
#chicago #chitown
Jesse Johnson (@jljzen.bsky.social) reposted
At parade, China shows off powerful new weaponry to keep rivals at bay www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/09...
Rina (@rina2012.bsky.social) reposted
#DailyFlowers for you 🫶 Happy #RoseWednesday 🌱🌿 youtu.be/lF1FZTWOrAQ?... #ColorADay #thelittlethings #MacroMonday #photography #flowers #FlowerReport #naturelovers #PhotographersUnited #scape #onlybeautifulthings #photohour #Bloomscrolling #ArtYear #nature #EastCoastKin
Oto (@oto2.bsky.social) reposted
📷️Nikon Zf 📸Schneider-Kreuznach Edixa-Xenar 50mm F2.8 #photography #fotografía #Nikon #Zf
Professa Murray (@kalimurray.bsky.social) reposted
Again, actual contact with voters is proving to be toxic to the Administration. This really does explains the mild panic in the Republican Party over 2026.
Maggie Blackhawk (@maggieblackhawk.bsky.social) reposted
"The United States is more than white men moving westward. It is more than conquest. The US is constituted by and is a product of its borderlands. In fact, it is more borderlands—and borderlands peoples—than center." harvardlawreview.org/wp-content/u... Turner, once again, meet Bolton.
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) reposted
Nigel Farage looks uncomfortable as Jamie Raskin uses his opening statement to absolutely demolish him
Matthew Stadlen (@matthewstadlen.bsky.social) reposted
If Nigel Farage is correct that Britain has “become North Korea”, how come he has his own national TV show when he’s leader of an opposition party?
Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) reposted
It seems like federal district courts are in full revolt against SCOTUS. I've never seen such direct scathing criticism of SCOTUS like this from the bench over their shadow docket rulings quietly overturning precedent without explanation. From the Harvard decision today.
Olga Nesterova (@onestpress.onestnetwork.com) reposted
NYT: Harvard won a crucial legal victory in its clash with the Trump administration, when a federal judge said that the government had broken the law by freezing billions of dollars in research funds in the name of combating antisemitism.
Max Kennerly (@maxkennerly.bsky.social) reposted
I've never seen such a disconnect between Dem elected/staff/consultants and actual Dem voters. The latter understand what's going on. The former are awash in right-wing brainrot, hence @schatz.bsky.social blaming COVID mitigation and BLM marches for the GOP's wanton destruction of public health.
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
Are these leaders connected with Musk-Tates and the Bryan Johnsons of the Thiels, Vances, and Millers?
Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) reposted
“.. Quite a hot mic moment on CCTV in Beijing today as Putin and Xi, both 72 years old, are caught casually talking about living to 150 and maybe forever thanks to organ transplants. (As picked up by Bloomberg.)” (via @yarotrof.bsky.social)
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social)
Xi Muses on Living to 150 in Hot-Mic Moment With Putin, Kim Bloomberg www.bloomberg.com › news › articles › xi-muses... 1 hour ago — Putin responded through a translator, saying that with the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted ..." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) reposted
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas: Looking at President Xi standing alongside the leaders of Russia, Iran, and North Korea in Beijing today, these are not just anti-Western optics; this is a direct challenge to the international system built on rules.
Raider (@iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social) reposted
Black Chicagoans rallied downtown to reject Trump's threats to carry out a Los Angeles-style crackdown on the city. ICE as early as this week may begin using Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago as a staging ground for their assault on the country's third-biggest city.
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
I'd like to add that the reason the institution has failed is because of the people operating it: the voters and their representatives. Without that lifeblood, Congress is an idea--an actor in the network expressed by text. How We, the People move it from psychical to physical landscapes is on us.
Sharon (@sharonk.bsky.social) reposted
i don't think it's great that there is no one in the GOP asking about congressional war powers
Robert Black (@hurricanexyz.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Congress has constructively dissolved itself
Pwnallthethings (@pwnallthethings.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Disturbing but true
Kaitlin Is Just Getting Started (@gothamgirlblue.com) reposted
If there’s one thing that I have learned from engaging with primary sources, it is that people in the past weren’t smarter or more principled than we are today they just weren’t drowned in omnipresent propaganda and/or prosperous enough to be detached from material conditions
Kaitlin Is Just Getting Started (@gothamgirlblue.com) reposted reply parent
And honestly, where they were locked into propaganda (ie: the antebellum South), they demonstrated the same rationalization and lack of critical thinking that we see today.
Zinn Education Project (@zinnedproject.bsky.social) reposted
"I shall neither fawn nor cringe before any party, nor stoop to beg them for my rights. You may expel us, gentlemen, but I firmly believe that you will some day repent it." --Henry M. Turner #tdih 1868 when Georgia legis. denied elected Black reps their seats 🧵⬇️ www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/he...
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis (@kendrawrites.com) reposted
Most African Americans have been in the US longer than most white Americans of european descent. And of course there were always Native Americans here and many of the founding texts were influenced by their presence. The US has never been a white country.
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis (@kendrawrites.com) reposted reply parent
The US has never been a white country is important to say over and over again. It's the country's greatest myth, and the erasure of both the genocide and the forced labor of enslaved people that they brought in almost immediately to do this labor.
David Ho (@davidho.bsky.social) reposted
Paul Offit, a RFK Jr. critic who co-invented a rotavirus vaccine that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives, was blocked from participating in the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee so that RFK Jr. can continue to kill millions of people.
Jacob T. Levy (@jacobtlevy.bsky.social) reposted
www.theunpopulist.net/p/can-libera...
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
Why not? The 2000 dot com bust sure did. 😬 🕶️
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
I'm not PS anymore but nationwide online or in local lecture. I literally don't know how to teach the Constitution--do I say it is what used to be our guide but we're pausing now? How do I teach the document as the highest law in the land when it isn't? How do I answer questions honestly?
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
and the State of Israel. For decades, Israel has controlled the Gazan airspace so that Gazan residents must leave from or arrive to Israeli airports to travel; Israel controls communications in and out of Gaza. Gaza has been a police state of Israel. Here is Gaza now because of ISRAEL ⤵️
Talib Kweli (@talibkweli.bsky.social) reposted
Blaming "Gaza protesters" when a majority white country votes for a nazi pedophile is wack. Free Palestine.
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social)
'Bout 'magine it's time for a right stave-ah against Trump. All tricks and no treats for the GOP! C'mon, Maine! DIRIGO! 18 October 25
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
Me too. And I kind of don't want to be a teacher anymore. It's bumpy.
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
This is true but not complete. The wealthy are slowing their spending in areas, too, and this is significant because in reality all income groups are slowing. Earlier this year LVMH--Vuitton and Moet--reported sales declines; on 19 Aug: "Dior, Gucci and other luxury brands in crisis as sales slide"
Raider (@iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social) reposted
McDonald's CEO says the quiet part loud! Says, we are living in a two tier economy where the rich are getting richer and doing very well. While the middle and lower class are getting poorer and having to skip meals.
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
We bombed an open motorboat and the people on it had no due process. We pulled a Germany sub in WWI type thing. How do I explain to my classes THAT we just pulled a WWI belligerent move as I teach the Lusitania and Sussex?
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
We bombed an open motorboat and the people on it had no due process. We pulled a Germany sub in WWI type thing. How do I explain to my classes THAT we just pulled a WWI belligerent move as I teach the Lusitania and Sussex?
Tom Scocca (@tomscocca.bsky.social) reposted
Don't feel like doing a repost that puts the murder video on the timeline yet again but do feel like repeating the point that the president just straight-up assassinated 11 people for supposedly doing something that wouldn't be a death-penalty crime if they were caught and convicted
Merchants of Misery (@merchantsofmisery.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
For all the people who think the army would disobey an unlawful order by Trump, look no further than the countless veterans gleefully talking about how they're so happy Trump did what they wish they could have done when they served.
I may be invisible, but you're transparent. (@invisiblelad7.bsky.social) reposted
The party of "family values".
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
@rokhanna.bsky.social You're defending someone who said this? “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.” "Punch him in the balls" is advocating for assault.
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
She's a total peahen who thinks she's got flair. In my crude southern kin circle, they'd not call her a peahen who thinks she's a peacock, they'd say "she thinks she's hot shit but she's really cold phart."
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
And male Christian religious leaders And athletes And singers like Morgen Wallen who must throw chairs at passersby after a great show
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
You left out "that time of the month" as a top American complaint about women doing what men are permitted, even encouraged, to do.
faewings (@faewings.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Imagine if we treated men as badly as they've treated women! They'd be angry, fighting, name calling, and beating women! Oh yeah, that is what too many men do now. 🙄 Guess it wouldn't make much of a difference, would it. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
Jones Murphy (@jonesmurphy.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Nearly 40 million women, including about 6 million rape survivors, voted for a court-ruled rapist over a lady prosecutor who jails rapists. Most of these racist women have never voted for anyone who is not a white man and never will.
w2u0b2b5.bsky.social (@w2u0b2b5.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
These pathetic facts are hard to argue and MUST BE ADDRESSED!These woman are voting for Republicans that want to disenfranchise them and anyone other than white straight males!! If these women take their husband's name the GOP(Gang Of Pedos)are attempting to say they can't vote cuz doesn't match bc!
Jones Murphy (@jonesmurphy.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Yet this is a taboo topic among almost all Democratic voters and leaders, as well as journalists. It's a very big deal. People should be talking about this more than almost anything else. It's ending democracy.
Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.com) reposted
Sing it.
Peter Morley ♿️ (@petermorley.bsky.social) reposted
Daily Reminder: Social Security is OUR money!
Politico (@politico.com) reposted
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie has filed a discharge petition to force the disclosure of Justice Department investigative files related to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd.bsky.social) reposted
Trump accuses Xi of conspiring against the U.S. with Putin and Kim But I thought they were his friends? www.nbcnews.com/world/china/...
Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof (@evanbernick.bsky.social) reposted
Yes henlo. We haz questions about the scope of Section 502(f) authority and possibly a lurking Article IV question.
Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof (@evanbernick.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
These problems are even bigger. As a constitutional matter, the deployment of unfederalized Guard personnel into a nonconsenting state can never happen. Never.
Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof (@evanbernick.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Good overview here www.lawfaremedia.org/article/sect...
rwabhm.bsky.social (@rwabhm.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
So, if I am reading that right, this action is even more illegal than what he did in California?
Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof (@evanbernick.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
I’m not even sure what he’s doing at this point, but one state cannot invade another and that is what this would be if he’s using 502(f). That would be Texas invading Illinois.
Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof (@evanbernick.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Whereas in California the state’s own national guard was federalized under a law which allows that. The problem there was that they went beyond the very limited things they can do without violating other laws.
Quinta Jurecic (@qjurecic.bsky.social) reposted
this is almost certainly under Title 32 authorities (meaning the TX guard will be nominally under TX state control but on a federal mission), meaning the posse comitatus issues that came up in California will not apply. that said, it raises a whole lot of other legal problems
Quinta Jurecic (@qjurecic.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
to be clear, the reason I think it’s title 32 is that if it were title 10, trump wouldn’t need the tx guard, he could just federalize the Illinois guard like he did in California. but we shall see
Mike (@mcgwh.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Man, doesn’t the deployment of ARNG soldiers on title 32 from TX into IL open a pandora’s box of state sovereignty issues? Can the Governor of TX deploy soldiers, essentially on state active duty (title 32) to IL against the wishes of the Governor of Illinois who is also CDR in Chief of the ILARNG?
Mike (@mcgwh.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
This given the recent verdict in CA calmatters.org/justice/2025...
Arditi d Popolo (@arditidpopolo.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
This isn’t a posse comitatus issue though. It’s still bad, but a different flavor of egregious
Arditi d Popolo (@arditidpopolo.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
The CA verdict is. This isn’t. The current situation raises other legal issues.
Arditi d Popolo (@arditidpopolo.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Assuming TX NG are under state authority and not direct federal control, under Title 32 are not subject to the PCA. I assume this was an attempt to avoid the problems demonstrated in the CA lawsuit.
Jeff Sabin (@texanokie07.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
It's not the same problems. It's worse. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/sect...
Brian Cook (@2ndadminstate.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Exactly. If it involves more than protecting federal people and property, the only legitimate legal authority is the Insurrection Act of 1792. And there is no demonstrably insurrection.
Quinta Jurecic (@qjurecic.bsky.social) reposted
this now brings us up to six (!) grand jury refusals to charge (that we know about), plus two cases filed as part of the dc surge dismissed on the us attorney's office's request
Joe Harrington 🇵🇸 (@harringtonphotos.bsky.social) reposted
sunbleached 📷 Olympus OM4Ti w/ 85mm f2. 🎞️Kodak Ektar 100, one stop overexposed 🧪C41 home dev 📍 Somewhere off Utah State Route 24 #film #35mm #believeinfilm
Ian Scott (@polpo.org) reposted
Yesterday we visited Green Mountain Falls, CO to visit the kinetic sculpture Off the Beaten Path by Patrick Shearn. I wasn’t ready for just how dynamic it was even in the slightest breeze. Reminds me of a murmuration of starlings. Incredible artwork. It’ll only be up through October 19th.
Andy Craig (@andycraig.bsky.social) reposted
That Pritzker press conference was... surreal, and I think marks a significant moment of escalation in the constitutional omni-crisis. This was the governor of a state saying plainly the Union itself is being torn apart and his state is being militarily invaded by an authoritarian regime.
Ora Tor (@splitrailfence.bsky.social) reply parent
George Pearkes (@peark.es) reposted
Venezuelan government bonds (which are in default and trade for about a quarter of their face value, *with* a coupon near 10%) traded to session highs on the news that the US may* have started a war with them. *IANAL and we don't have all the facts here, don't yell at me pls
Mark Chadbourn (@chadbourn.bsky.social) reposted
This is a good read. How the stupid are going to kill America.
Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) reposted
As we begin September, Democracy Docket is tracking 139 voting and election cases is 40 states. 13 in Georgia 13 in North Carolina 10 in Texas 9 in Arizona 8 in Pennsylvania 8 in Wisconsin Democracy is on the docket! www.democracydocket.com
Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) reposted
When President Trump used 32 U.S.C. § 502(f)(2) in 2020, that was to have out-of-state National Guard troops sent to D.C.—which has no sovereignty of its own. Sending the un-federalized TX National Guard into IL without the latter’s consent raises *serious* Article IV problems that 2020 … didn’t.
Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
More background here: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/why-...
post malone ergo propter malone (@proptermalone.bsky.social) reposted
this is just insanely illegal