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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 15h

It was inevitable that, without needed change and reform, the War on Terror would swing back to America

It’s the march of capitalism and its reliance on hidden and then overt authoritarianism. We can see where this is going by looking at what we did to others, and so we must band together with them

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 15h

Unsurprisingly all over online right-wing media channels too.

Amid the flood of ads for grifty “wellness” products and the occasional pitch to invest in gold, these recruitment ads have joined the steady rotation of horseshit on Rumble

Karim Zidan @karimzidan.com · 1d

ICE recruitment ads are seeping into sports and entertainment programming, including the UFC, WWE, WNBA and NFL programming depending on the viewer's location.

www.sportspolitika.news/p/ice-recrui...

ICE recruitment ads air on UFC, WWE programming

Chilling ICE recruitment ads are seeping into sports and entertainment programming, including the UFC, WWE, WNBA and NFL programming depending on the viewer's location.

www.sportspolitika.news

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 3d

ICE is not only chasing down every random brown person in Chicago, they have a cameraman following them to film this for social media. Cruelty and inhumanity as content.

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Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 3d

Last month @rooseveltinstitute.org and NASI launched the Disability Economic Policy & Research Consortium. Read my colleague Lena Bilik's latest below on how a focus on this oft ignore population is crucial to building an inclusive economy.

rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/disabil...

Economic Policy Is Disability Policy: Launching the Disability Economic Policy & Research Consortium - Roosevelt Institute

When we apply a disability lens to economic policy and research, we zoom in on people who deeply understand the flaws in our systems and are more likely to interact with public programs and services. ...

rooseveltinstitute.org

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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 4d

Deputy Director of Democratic Institutions lays out the cases to watch in this SCOTUS term.

With the influence this court has had on landmark decisions and precedent, the outcomes will have long-lasting impacts.

Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

A new SCOTUS term begins today. What fresh hell awaits our flailing democracy this time around?🧵

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Taylor Lorenz @taylorlorenz.bsky.social · 4d

"Haidt’s thesis is broader than just 'new thing bad.' In The Anxious Generation and his public commentary you find a dismissal of young people as a thinking, feeling group: they are anxious because of phones, they empathize with Gaza because of phones."

now is not the time to ban phones

why Jonathan Haidt sucks

howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

Important piece by @lookheron.bsky.social tracing how the steady neoliberalization of higher education has sowed fertile ground for its takeover by authoritarians

LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 5d

Today, @lookheron.bsky.social argues that, for higher education, it's been one battle after another: how the neoliberal era laid the groundwork for the recent authoritarian turn.

The Neoliberal Foundation of the Authoritarian Turn in Higher Education

Recent authoritarian attacks on higher education mark a significant shift from the neoliberal era, which celebrated institutional independence from the state, the role of education in boosting worker…

lpeproject.org

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 6d

Stephen Miller said last year this was the plan. They said it out loud. Some of us highlighted his remarks at the time and warned how dangerous they were. Most of the media missed them and/or moved on from them. It’s happening:

@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 6d

Red states sending troops to blue states is a really bad idea.

‪Governor JB Pritzker‬
‪@govpritzker.illinois.gov‬
· 32m
This evening, President Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States. No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate.
‪Governor JB Pritzker‬
‪@govpritzker.illinois.gov‬
· 32m
We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.
‪Governor JB Pritzker‬
‪@govpritzker.illinois.gov‬
· 32m
I call on Governor Abbott to immediately withdraw any support for this decision and refuse to coordinate. There is no reason a President should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation.
‪Governor JB Pritzker‬
‪@govpritzker.illinois.gov‬
· 32m
The brave men and women who serve in our national guards must not be used as political props. This is a moment where every American must speak up and help stop this madness.

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

And if we zoom out a bit, we can see that depending on how SCOTUS rules, the case could effectively grant candidates greater power in our political system at the expense of voters—you know, the people those candidates are *supposed* to be working for.

Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

Mail-in voting leads to higher voter turnout, greater voter confidence, and more informed voting, as people have more time to deliberate when casting ballots from home. And as @brennancenter.org shows ⤵️ the US has robust systems to ensure mail voting is secure.

www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Mail Ballot Security

Election officials and the U.S. Postal Service have a range of systems to secure mail voting and ensure election mail is delivered on time.

www.brennancenter.org

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

If SCOTUS rules for the petitioners, millions of Americans who rely on mail-in voting could face new barriers to their right to vote, and election officials would face additional strain, as certification would need to happen earlier—despite clear evidence that vote-by-mail strengthens democracy.

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

Their argument is that this practice unconstitutionally dilutes votes and imposes “campaign burdens.” And while the case turns on a procedural question—whether federal candidates have standing to challenge Illinois' process for counting ballots—its potential implications are very much substantive.

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

3) Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections. This case could undermine mail-in voting—and possibly other state election rules—across the US.

Federal candidates are challenging an Illinois law that says mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day can be counted if received up to 14 days after.

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

Depending on how the Court rules in this case, the decision could have massive consequences not just for the Voting Rights Act, but civil rights law more broadly—a longtime project of reactionaries on the Court ⤵️

ballsandstrikes.org/legal-cultur...

How the Supreme Court Warped Civil Rights Laws to Undermine Civil Rights

The justices’ decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services is the culmination of a decades-long conservative push to hollow out federal civil rights laws.

ballsandstrikes.org

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

Now, this term, the Court will decide whether Louisiana's creation of that second district violates the 14th or 15th Amendments to the Constitution.

The question is whether the act of remediating a racist measure is actually *itself* a racist measure.

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

Finding for the Black voters, a federal court ordered Louisiana to redrew its map to include a second majority-Black district, which it did.

But then, a group of "non-Black voters" sued, claiming that the new map unconstitutionally used race as the sole determining factor in drawing the new map.

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

2) Louisiana v. Callais. This case may gut what's left of the Voting Rights Act. After the 2020 census found that 1/3 of Louisiana's population is Black, the state redrew its districting maps. But it was drawn with only *one* majority Black district.

The math failing to math, Black voters sued.

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

The decision to hear this case comes 15 years after the Citizens United v. FEC ruling.

As @rfunkfordham.bsky.social shows ⤵️ Citizens United's impact on our democracy has been disastrous. Now, with NRSC v. FEC, SCOTUS may well build on this shameful legacy.

rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Citizens United and the Decline of US Democracy: Assessing the Decision’s Impact 15 Years Later - Roosevelt Institute

In a new analysis, Rachel Funk Fordham examines the 15-year legacy of Citizens United, assessing its impact on democracy through new evidence and political science research and offering recommendation...

rooseveltinstitute.org

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

But it also places caps on these expenditures, which are being challenged in this case as a violation of the 1st Amendment.

If the Court strikes these limits down, big money will come to play an even larger role in our political system, while party control becomes even more consolidated.

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

1) NRSC v. FEC. This case has the potential to further shift power away from American voters and into the hands of donors.

Federal law currently allows political parties to make certain expenditures—known as "coordinated party expenditures"—to support federal candidates' general election campaigns.

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

At the outset, it's worth noting that we likely don't yet know of some of the most consequential cases the Court will take up this term, due in part to the justices' increasing reliance on the deeply antidemocratic shadow docket.

That said, here are a few cases I've got my eye on:

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Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 5d

A new SCOTUS term begins today. What fresh hell awaits our flailing democracy this time around?🧵

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 5d

BREAKING: It’s official. David Ellison announces that Bari Weiss, founder of pro-Israel outlet “The Free Press,” is now Editor in Chief of CBS News, per internal memo shared with me:

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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 8d

Good stuff

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alexjungle.bsky.social @alexjungle.bsky.social · 8d

Breaking news: ICE stops family at gunpoint—smash car window on top of newborn baby.

"I was screaming that there was a baby. But they didn’t care," cried mother.

“I covered my baby with my body—I was so scared he was going to be hurt because glass was landing on him."

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