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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 2h

A SCOTUS captured by Trump isn't co-equal. Add a captured Congress and it's a junta. We have to break up that junta. Pushback by the people is key. Voter turnout is essential.

NYT
The responses..serve as the most comprehensive picture to date about the extraordinary tensions within the judiciary..

Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders

www.nytimes.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 3h

Agreed. But then they picked her. I half wonder if part of their calculus was giving Trump the raspberries. And at the same time throwing an ego wrench in the Venezuela plan. Marchado is likely the leader to replace Maduro in a new regime. That requires Trump's help (drug boat diplomacy).

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 5h

Machado is going to accept the peace prize in his honor. That borders on adoration, fed by a strong desire to become the MargaretThatcher of Venezuela — with Trump's help in fomenting a coup. Harsh but I think accurate just the same. Maduro's a creep. But regime change promises to be even creepier.

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 1d

Of course she praises him. She needs Trump to push Maduro from power. Neither are peacemakers. Both are relying on war to advance their interests. You may agree or disagree with those interests, but peace is a distant third cousin to regime change by warships, at best.

White House knocks Nobel Committee for snubbing Trump, but Peace Prize winner praises him

Some of Trump's Republican allies have called for him to get the Nobel Peace Prize, though the nomination deadline passed early in his current term.

www.cnbc.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 1d

It's all about which ruler gives Trump the best oil deal — the Maduro regime or a U.S.-backed regime-change puppet. It's not a war on drugs. It's a war for oil.

NYT
[Maduro opponent] Machado told American corporate representatives in June: "We want you here producing millions of barrels a day.”

Venezuela’s Maduro Offered the U.S. His Nation’s Riches to Avoid Conflict

www.nytimes.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 1d

I feel like I walked into a Trump-free economy tonight at a neighborhood Vietnamese sandwich shop.

$6.50 for a roasted pork banh mi! And a healthy size, with plenty of pork on fresh bread with fresh veggies, one that fills you up.

Small miracles in life are worth celebrating.

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 2d

A story I wrote about no-fly list abuse during the Bush II era. It was penned for Narco News in 2006. In this case, a state law enforcer with an intelligence background was targeted.

www.keepandshare.com/doc25/117324...

www.keepandshare.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 2d

This smells like no-fly list abuse. Any fed agency can put a name on the list, and it's nearly impossible to find out which one or to get your name removed once on the list. It's cloaked behind a shield of national security and ripe for abuse.
Trump can weaponize the list. See my story in comments.

US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport

Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was informed at boarding gate that his trip was cancelled

www.theguardian.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 2d

You can't trust liars. You have to hold their feet to the fire until a fool-proof deal is in hand — prior to conceding your leverage.

If that can't be done, the shutdown can't be fixed, short of Dem capitulation. There's no path forward but to keep fighting until the opponent is pinned to the mat.

Frustrated lawmakers say lack of trust is making it harder to end the government shutdown

Lawmakers are openly venting their frustration as they try to gain traction to end the government shutdown.

apnews.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 2d

I also think a "Where's Antifa" poster based on the popular "Where's Waldo" character would make a great holiday gift.

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 2d

Jerry, of course.

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 2d

No one told Noem Antifa is just slang for Deadheads mourning the loss of Gerry Garcia.

US Blues
Son of a gun, better change your act
We're all confused, what's to lose
You can call this all the United States Blues
Wave that flag, wave it wide and high
Summertime done come and gone, my, oh, my

Kristi Noem compares antifa to MS-13, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic State

Homeland security secretary calls loosely affiliated network of anti-fascist street activists ‘just as dangerous’

www.theguardian.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 2d

Chicago is such a war zone that a playoff baseball game broke out. And neither Texas team was playing. Instead, it's the cross-border rivals Chicago v Milwaukee.

Maybe the troops can catch a ballgame while in town, or up the road in Milwaukee, as the Trump shutdown eats their paychecks.

Texas National Guard troops now protecting federal property in Chicago area, official says

A military spokesperson says an “element” of 200 Texas National Guard troops has started protecting federal property in the Chicago area. The spokesperson for the U.S.

apnews.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 3d

proceedings.nyumootcourt.org/2022/10/pres...

Preserving the Bivens Doctrine in the Fourth Amendment Context – N.Y.U. Proceedings

proceedings.nyumootcourt.org

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 3d

I've covered such cases against ICE in the past. Some of that coverage is outlined in my book, "Dispatches from the House of Death — A Juarez Cartel informant, a DEA whistleblower, mass murder and a coverup on the edge of the Empire." houseofdeath.org

www.oyez.org

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 3d

Masked ICE agents are violating the 4th Amendment blatantly. The amendment isn't foggy. It doesn't say "citizens." It says "the right of the people" to be secure in their persons and homes. Sue them as John Does. You can if they violate your constitutional rights. I would. See Bivens lawsuit.

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 4d

It should be lost on no judge that Trump would not call in the National Guard during a real insurrection and then pardoned the criminals involved.

Now he wants to call on the military, even the 82nd Airborne, to invade US cities so he can intimidate law-abiding citizens who didn't vote for him.

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 4d

Trump also is willing to throw in the Brooklyn Bridge, but only if Democrats first agree to cave into his demands.

Trump says he's open to health care deal but government must reopen first

President Donald Trump cracked the door slightly to negotiations with Democrats on the health care subsidies they’ve made central to the shutdown fight, then abruptly closed it Monday, leaving the two...

apnews.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 5d

These ads are running in Seattle, where the police department is already under-staffed by hundreds of officers.

So, our fed tax dollars are being abused to recruit local cops also funded by our taxes. And worse, ICE is wasting tax dollars by offering $50k signing bonuses.

All so ICE can invade us.

ICE airs ads stirring up local frustration to recruit police for mass deportation efforts

An Associated Press tally shows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is spending millions of dollars on TV recruitment ads targeting officers frustrated by local restrictions on immigration enforc...

apnews.com

Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 5d

Miller's war plan.

AP
Activists, residents and leaders say increasingly combative tactics used by federal immigration agents are sparking violence and fueling neighborhood tensions in the nation’s third-largest city.

“They are the ones that are making it a war zone" — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker

Using helicopters and chemical agents, immigration agents become increasingly aggressive in Chicago

Activists, residents and elected leaders say increasingly combative tactics used by federal immigration agents are sparking violence and fueling neighborhood tensions in the nation’s third-largest cit...

apnews.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 6d

We have plenty of talent on our side of sanity.

Artist Daniel Fried.

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 6d

Nothing says fighting crime like sending in the 82nd Airborne. Are coffee fiends in Portland flying too high on caffeine? Or maybe slum lords need paratroopers to evict tenants, like in Chicago? This is beyond abuse of power. It's depraved, like what's in the Epstein files. The ooze from sick minds.

White House official inadvertently reveals plans to send elite army unit to Portland

Anthony Salisbury displayed chat about deployment of 82nd airborne division on cell phone while in Minnesota

www.theguardian.com

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Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 7d

This amounts to a poll tax. I assume it will be appealed?

Bill Conroy @bconroy.bsky.social · 8d

This is one reason they federal agents are masked. If you know who they are, you can file a Bivens claim against them, and they fear that. It has to change. The masks have to go because they are shielding unconstitutional, extrajudicial violations of constituional rights on a mass scale.

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