Amy P.
@amyephillips.bsky.social
1.5K followers 2.1K following 1.2K posts
Appellate public defender. Broadway superfan. #FOIA nerd. #DCStatehood #PDTwitter #AppellateTwitter 🏳️‍🌈 🇵🇸 😷 She/her. Personal account. (@amyeph from Twitter)
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
amyephillips.bsky.social
What’s going to happen is that these Medicaid cuts are going to go into effect, and hospitals and clinics are going to close, and treatment won’t be available.

And then we’re going to get mainstream news stories with headlines like “Trump Gives Speech Blaming Obamacare for Mass Hospital Closures.”
Reposted by Amy P.
tomjoscelyn.bsky.social
“I spent three nights and three days in federal custody. During that time, I was never told what I was charged with, was not allowed to shower despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, had no phone call to my family, and no access to an attorney.” - George Retes, U.S. citizen and veteran.
I’m a US citizen and a veteran. ICE arrested me for no reason.
Jailed for three days without an explanation or ability to notify anyone, George Retes argues the only path to healing starts with the government taking accountability for its actions.
newsletter.ofthebrave.org
Reposted by Amy P.
sethdmichaels.bsky.social
it’s shocking how much this boils down to “people shouldn’t be allowed to disagree with me, and especially not allowed to agree with the people who were better-liked than me in college”
thomaszimmer.bsky.social
Power, Vought claims, now lies with a “permanent ruling class” of leftist elites who control all major institutions and especially the “woke and weaponized” agencies of the state. In order to defeat them, conservatives must become “radical constitutionalists” - and take radical action.
Reposted by Amy P.
subu.bsky.social
Always remember: the Trump administration's armed goons zip-tied children.

Children.

Armed men detaining children and tying them up. That's the US government today.
lutzfernandez.bsky.social
"And when masked men grab a parent from the school car line or the corner coffee shop, all students in that school or neighborhood are subject to trauma and made to understand: The state can make people disappear. It is to be feared."
The Assault on Children
MAGA's use of kids to consolidate authoritarianism
nobody-wants-this.ghost.io
Reposted by Amy P.
thomaszimmer.bsky.social
Sunday reading:

I wrote about the aggrieved extremist who is currently firing thousands of federal workers and ravaging state capacity based on conspiratorial nonsense - and about mainstream media’s infuriating tendency to sanitize Russell Vought and the regime he serves.

This week’s piece:
We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly
Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy
steady.page
Reposted by Amy P.
jamellebouie.net
a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society
thomaszimmer.bsky.social
What he’s railing against is a profound shift in culture, status… He’s obsessed with the idea that America is controlled by a leftist “ruling elite” - but “elite” isn’t defined socio-economically or by political power, it means something like: Getting to define “real America” and who gets to belong.
amyephillips.bsky.social
Or maybe he was cool at the bar, and she wanted to talk to him more, but when she got his canned message three days later, she either clocked it as AI, didn’t feel the same as she had in person because she was no longer talking to him, or figured waiting three days meant he wasn’t that into her.
Reposted by Amy P.
kenwhite.bsky.social
Also: if you work for ICE, even if you’re not one of the ones arresting citizens or tackling 15-year-olds or zip-tying kids together and segregating them by race, you’re part of the mechanism making it happen, and you should suffer long-term social and post-regime-change consequences.
aricohn.com
Some weirdo on Twitter has been absolutely melting down for like 36 straight hours because I posted:

When this is over, do not forget what ICE did, and what ICE is. And do not make room for them in society. Make sure they know that they are, and will continue to be, reviled and beneath contempt.
Reposted by Amy P.
dieworkwear.bsky.social
About a month ago, the Trump administration got rid of the de minimis exemption, whereby packages valued under $800 could slide in without import duties. Now there's a backlog as the government can't process all of this paperwork, leading to UPS just destroying packages
Business Insider headline reads: UPS is telling customers that their packages coming to the US are marked for destruction.
amyephillips.bsky.social
Who are we? We’re human beings with basic brain function who can tell when someone is repeatedly lying about everything they say. And reporters aren’t going to ask that, and he wouldn’t answer if they did, he’d just call them names and spew some word salad.
Reposted by Amy P.
withdrama.bsky.social
i think enough Dems are finally starting to understand that not only is the GOP not bargaining in good faith, they just wont honor any funding that does pass
Reposted by Amy P.
juddlegum.bsky.social
To avoid swearing in a duly elected Democratic House member who will force a vote to release the Epstein files, the House is in recess indefinitely
Reposted by Amy P.
elisewang.bsky.social
For those not fluent in Catholic: refusing the Monstrance is not denying prisoners the Eucharist, it is refusing Christ himself, since Christ is present in the Monstrance.

If Portland’s blow up animals are the right language for Portland, this is the right language for Chicago.
richraho.bsky.social
Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”
Reposted by Amy P.
reactionordinary.bsky.social
The RIAA was suing teenagers. We had to sit through ⬇️ this shit anytime we wanted to watch a DVD. A whole generation shamed for using Limewire and torrents. Only for these silicone valley assholes to now find copyright infringement a necessary evil they shouldn’t have to answer for
You wouldn’t steal a car
Reposted by Amy P.
lollardfish.bsky.social
The end of federal enforcement of special ed laws. Some states - including MN - will likely be ok. But a lot of disabled kids in a lot of states are going to lose the education that federal law and decades of jurisprudence say they are owed.
Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says
The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
www.usatoday.com
Reposted by Amy P.
gingerest.bsky.social
Would I rather believe they meant to fire everyone and then panicked at public response, or they are that wildly grossly incompetent? Hm
apoorvanyt.bsky.social
The Trump administration on Saturday scrambled to rescind layoffs of hundreds of CDC scientists who were mistakenly fired on Friday night in what appeared to be a substantial procedural lapse.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...
Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Amy P.
alvinsdream.bsky.social
So much of this fight is reminding people what a great concept freedom and democracy are and how we could be living a good life together if it weren't for the most miserable losers running everything
Reposted by Amy P.
gregpak.net
If you work for ICE, you should quit.
Reposted by Amy P.
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
This is as much a legacy of the War on Drugs than anything else. He has a controlled substance conviction separate and apart from the exonerated murder conviction.
cmgiulini.bsky.social
After spending 43 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, evidence hidden by the prosecution reversed his conviction. Rather than finally enjoying freedom, ICE abducted him for deportation

Depraved.

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him
Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam now faces deportation.
www.miamiherald.com
Reposted by Amy P.
newrepublic.com
According to the victim's attorney, the body camera captured the officer saying, “Do something, bitch,” before leaping out of the car and shooting her multiple times. Another officer asked, “Hey, what happened?” The first pointed to his camera, “Hey, don’t speak. You’re good”
trib.al/KhKsfSb