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Reposted by Matt Szafranski

Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 5m

tl;dr this is, as I've been screaming into the wind about for a week now, not just illegal as shit but fundamentally means the Constitution as written is no longer in effect

That said if you want an even deeper dive on the subject than I've done, this is a very good thread

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 58m

Trump's mechanism to pay the troops during the shutdown is by far the most illegal budgetary action he's taken as POTUS, potentially setting the stage to break everything.

It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.

Long thread.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/10/national-security-presidential-memorandum-nspm-8/

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Matt Szafranski @mszafranski.bsky.social · 6m

Savage

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 33m

tfw your 1,000-word tweets aren't working

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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 41m

Brown rejected the compact!

www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...

www.brown.edu

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Santiago Mayer @santiagomayer.com · 52m

Holy shit. This is Angelo Elia, a legislative correspondent for Congressman Dave Taylor.

According to @rooster.info, during a Zoom meeting today, he had an American nazi flag displayed in the background.

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 1h

Sorry, this is very funny to me because whoever is making these decisions has no idea what Argentina is.

John Collins @logicallyjc.bsky.social · 1h

What the fuck are we doing?

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2h

Sunny Hostin to Cheryl Hines: "The problem is that your husband is the least qualified HHS head that we've had in history. I think that's very dangerous. He has spread a lot of misinformation, chaos, and confusion."

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Josh Kovensky @joshkovensky.bsky.social · 1h

NSPM-7 watch: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday that Charlie Kirk's death was a "domestic 9/11" and that he's undertaking a commensurate response at home. Treasury is "compiling lists" and looking at funding streams, he said.

talkingpointsmemo.com/news/big-tal...

Big Talk: Treasury Secretary Declares New War on Terror Against the Left

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that his department is in...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Matt Szafranski @mszafranski.bsky.social · 1h

It seems pretty clear Trump was responding to 2020 images of Portland and whatever Steven Wormtongue was saying.

Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 1h

Funny moment as they're now talking discovery. Oregon says we need records of internal WH discussions if they helped Trump decide to mobilize Guard. DOJ tries to say politely there were no internal discussions, the extent of Trump's 'deliberation' was totally public

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❀°。Der Siebenschläfer *.ﾟ✿ ⋆ @sababausa.bsky.social · 1h

The only positive I take from JD Vance’s presence in public life is my conviction that he’s politically repugnant and the electorate would drive him back into Tartarus

❀°。Der Siebenschläfer *.ﾟ✿ ⋆ @sababausa.bsky.social · 1h

The values, integrity & private attitudes of public servants may be the *most* pressing “real issue” in modern America

JD Vance has no time or use for honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, kindness, courage, or piety

Vance stands for hierarchy, perfidy, corruption, power, violence, and control

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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 2h

Republican officials have spent years psy-oping themselves into thinking that there are no sincere, good faith liberals or progressives anywhere in America. So no wonder they're totally unequipped to deal with a large crowd of normal people waving American flags.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 3h

ICE just arrested a singing giraffe in Portland.

Robby Roadsteamer @roadsteamer.bsky.social · 4h

🚨 *Breaking News* Robby Roadsteamer has been detained by ICE Portland after singing Rod Stewart with the Portland Frog! We need your help!

Please support Robby's campaign and lawyer fees at robbyroadsteamer.com link on bio 💙🦒🦒🦒

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Richard M. Nixon @dicknixon.bsky.social · 2h

A man in the crowd shouted, "Go Cubs!"

The Pope, grinning, shouted back: "Han perdido! They lost!" ftw.usatoday.com/story/sports...

Pope Leo had 2 simple words to troll Cubs fan who yelled at him

Pope Leo kept it simple responding to a Chicago Cubs fan.

ftw.usatoday.com

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2h

This is good: Rep Eric Swalwell tells me House Dems are now discussing making an end to mask-wearing a precondition for ICE funding.

"When we are in the majority, the masks are coming off," he says.

This is the next frontier in anti-Trump resistance.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2018...

Trump ICE Raids Take Horrific Turn in Chicago, Handing Dems an Opening

There’s one simple pledge Democrats can make to voters about ICE that’s easy to understand and will have broad support.

newrepublic.com

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Matt Szafranski @mszafranski.bsky.social · 2h

You don't need to. He is.

Senator Ruben Gallego @gallego.senate.gov · 2h

Mike Johnson is covering up for pedophiles. I won't stop saying it.

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Matt Szafranski @mszafranski.bsky.social · 2h

This is why the city should just upzone like crazy along the Needham line and let nature take its course. Also, there is NO way the legislature approved a West Roxbury secession absent Boston eagerly defenestrating it.

Sam Mintz @samjmintz.bsky.social · 2h

I need to share some of these comments about West Roxbury secession (I'm not joking and neither was he) on the neighborhood Facebook page.

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Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 3h

i've been saying this

Tom @dixitinsipiens.bsky.social · 4h

Of course. JDV is the doyen of the party's 4chan Nazi troll wing.

If anything, Trump isn't analogous to the Austrian mustache man/painter/autobiographer; he's more like old President Hindenburg with his inchoate militaristic bravado, with much more vicious & coherent ideologues waiting in the wings

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 5h

Fascinating. Politico notes that when notified of the texts, many state-level Republicans fired or condemned these cretins. Now Vance emerges to excuse the racism, and calls the reaction to it "pearl clutching."

He seems determined to purge the party of its last enclaves of decency.

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Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 3h

yup

sucks that they're in this position but you signed up for the big boy and girl responsibilities, and "regardless of what OLC said I know this is wrong but imma just put my head down" means you failed, and there has to be professional consequences

Eric L. Robinson @uticaeric.bsky.social · 7h

Going to need a purge of remaining JAGs and referrals to bar discipline when this is over. If it’s ever over.

Natasha Bertrand @natashabertrand.bsky.social · 8h

NEW: How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action
New details here about how the Army’s top uniformed lawyer was fired just weeks after raising concerns about the use of the military domestically and mass firings of DoD employees www.cnn.com/2025/10/15/p...

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David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 3h

Having known Fenway Health and its clientele for a great many years, this shocks and saddens me. I feel so badly for younger transgender Americans who are being scapegoated and punished by this administration.

cleverhandles.bsky.social @cleverhandles.bsky.social · 7h

Fenway Health is canceling its gender affirming care program for minors. People uprooted their lives and moved states to come to places like this, and it feels like no one cares even half as much about thing like this as they did literally anything else last year.

fenwayhealth.org/press/

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 5h

Justice Kavanaugh in the Callais oral argument keeps alluding to some longstanding requirement of strict scrutiny that use of race have a time limit. This is invented.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 4h

“the constitution forbids race conscious remedies” would be news to the people who wrote the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments

Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 4h

Griem goes there, arguing in response to Justice Jackson that there can be no race-conscious remedy absent a finding of intentional discrimination.

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Matt Szafranski @mszafranski.bsky.social · 4h

It is possible the vehicle they chose is legal enough but it's really pushing it. There's a good case against, but yes the final path they took is plausibly a less violation than others this far.

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GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 4h

the only line in this story that matters is “would require congressional approval”

US Justice Department considers merging DEA, ATF in major shakeup, memo says

The U.S. Justice Department is considering merging the lead agencies enforcing drug and gun laws in a major shakeup as it follows President Donald Trump's instructions to sharply streamline the government, according to a memo first reported by Reuters.

www.reuters.com

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George Pearkes @peark.es · 4h

This is all a blatant violation of Article I of the Constitution.

Trump’s troop pay move is a ‘temporary fix,’ Johnson says

A Pentagon funding shift covered Wednesday's active-duty paychecks. But another threat looms if the shutdown continues to Oct. 31.

www.politico.com

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Rigorous, Fred-based Reporting @thefred.bsky.social · 5h

That's because Vance has posted a lot of Nazi content in group chats.

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 5h

Fascinating. Politico notes that when notified of the texts, many state-level Republicans fired or condemned these cretins. Now Vance emerges to excuse the racism, and calls the reaction to it "pearl clutching."

He seems determined to purge the party of its last enclaves of decency.

‘College Group Chat’: JD Vance Dismisses ‘Pearl Clutching’ Over Young Republicans Leak to Attack Jay Jones

Liberals hit back at Vance's blunt dismissal of racist, antisemitic and misogynistic messages leaked from a Young Republicans group chat.

www.mediaite.com

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Matt Szafranski @mszafranski.bsky.social · 5h

It's terrible comms. No paychecks for whom? Furloughed feds? Are people who participate going to get fired? Huh?