Aatif
@aaiqbal.bsky.social
NYC law stylist | Previously HLS Yale | twitter.com/aaiqbal | mindly.social/@aaiqbal
Reposted by Aatif
Children are being exploited. Let’s respond by dramatically hindering our ability to point out or criticize children being exploited, using methods we don’t understand because we’re old and incurious.
Children are being exploited and abused because Big Tech consistently prioritizes profits over people.
Enough is enough. Time to sunset Section 230.
Enough is enough. Time to sunset Section 230.
December 19, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Children are being exploited. Let’s respond by dramatically hindering our ability to point out or criticize children being exploited, using methods we don’t understand because we’re old and incurious.
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This is such an important counterpoint to everyone who argues for means tested programs over universal programs - the bureaucracy hoops you have to jump through for the means testing often result in a lot of the neediest people never accessing the benefits they supposedly have a right to
Zohran Mamdani explains that thousands and thousands of New Yorkers are already eligible for free and reduce public transportation, but because of the bureaucratic hurdles they never get enrolled in the program.
That's why he wants to just make the bus free.
That's why he wants to just make the bus free.
December 18, 2025 at 8:53 PM
This is such an important counterpoint to everyone who argues for means tested programs over universal programs - the bureaucracy hoops you have to jump through for the means testing often result in a lot of the neediest people never accessing the benefits they supposedly have a right to
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What's funny about this is that Cat Almonte Da Costa was a Lander patronage hire - her (Jewish) husband Ricky Da Costa was political director on his Comptroller campaign and is currently his Deputy Comptroller
December 18, 2025 at 10:15 PM
What's funny about this is that Cat Almonte Da Costa was a Lander patronage hire - her (Jewish) husband Ricky Da Costa was political director on his Comptroller campaign and is currently his Deputy Comptroller
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It’s always the ones you just assumed
David Brooks, who wrote in the NYT last month, "The Epstein Story? Count Me Out" is... in the latest Epstein photo dump published by @oversightdemocrats.house.gov.
He should absolutely be fired by NYT for this. Major conflict of interest that he didn't disclose.
He should absolutely be fired by NYT for this. Major conflict of interest that he didn't disclose.
December 18, 2025 at 7:41 PM
It’s always the ones you just assumed
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We can DEFINITELY enjoy the fact that Trump is miserable. He’s President and he’s miserable. He’s got supreme power and he’s miserable. He’s insecure, resentful, consumed by bitterness and rage and entitlement, incapable of being fulfilled.
/1
/1
I guess it’s possible to enjoy the disappointment and humiliation of Trump supporters even as we plunge over the edge of the chasm.
December 18, 2025 at 4:05 AM
We can DEFINITELY enjoy the fact that Trump is miserable. He’s President and he’s miserable. He’s got supreme power and he’s miserable. He’s insecure, resentful, consumed by bitterness and rage and entitlement, incapable of being fulfilled.
/1
/1
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I don’t know how much faith to put into Emerson but man are American voters just devoted to pain and suffering and stupidity.
Emerson poll on presidential matchup 2x2.
Progressive Democrat 43%
MAGA Republican 42%
Moderate Republican 48%
Progressive Democrat 36%
Moderate Democrat 47%
MAGA Republican 38%
Moderate Republican 44%
Moderate Democrat 39%
Progressive Democrat 43%
MAGA Republican 42%
Moderate Republican 48%
Progressive Democrat 36%
Moderate Democrat 47%
MAGA Republican 38%
Moderate Republican 44%
Moderate Democrat 39%
December 18, 2025 at 1:31 PM
I don’t know how much faith to put into Emerson but man are American voters just devoted to pain and suffering and stupidity.
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What a chart.
"This line goes down to nearly -10%"
"This line goes down to nearly -10%"
Trump says that 100% of jobs added this year were in the private sector. That's true — but only because he's overseen a massive drop in government employees. The rate of new job addition is way under 2024. www.ms.now/opinion/trum...
December 18, 2025 at 2:49 PM
What a chart.
"This line goes down to nearly -10%"
"This line goes down to nearly -10%"
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This is enshittification.
Zohran: "I mean, think about when you fly. We have made it such a difficult experience to go through TSA that there's now a financial incentive to sign up for a separate program that can move you through it quicker. We have monetized the dysfunction."
December 18, 2025 at 3:45 PM
This is enshittification.
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you will not believe who just appeared in the Epstein files
December 18, 2025 at 5:32 PM
you will not believe who just appeared in the Epstein files
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David Brooks, who wrote in the NYT last month, "The Epstein Story? Count Me Out" is... in the latest Epstein photo dump published by @oversightdemocrats.house.gov.
He should absolutely be fired by NYT for this. Major conflict of interest that he didn't disclose.
He should absolutely be fired by NYT for this. Major conflict of interest that he didn't disclose.
December 18, 2025 at 5:35 PM
David Brooks, who wrote in the NYT last month, "The Epstein Story? Count Me Out" is... in the latest Epstein photo dump published by @oversightdemocrats.house.gov.
He should absolutely be fired by NYT for this. Major conflict of interest that he didn't disclose.
He should absolutely be fired by NYT for this. Major conflict of interest that he didn't disclose.
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the House has got to dial back Speaker powers, whatever else happens, because this is a terrible way to run half of the legislature.
The Epstein files are set to drop tomorrow. Right on cue, the Pedophile Protection Party speaker canceled votes before the deadline.
The American people deserve the entire truth.
No delays.
No cover-ups.
No redactions.
The American people deserve the entire truth.
No delays.
No cover-ups.
No redactions.
December 18, 2025 at 5:52 PM
the House has got to dial back Speaker powers, whatever else happens, because this is a terrible way to run half of the legislature.
Reposted by Aatif
🚨 We finally have news about our special election date! 🚨
Last night, we learned that our Election Day may be set for as early as February 3, 2026. That's in exactly 7 weeks & less than 50 days away.
To stay on track, we need to raise $7k by the end of the year. Donate below ⬇️
Last night, we learned that our Election Day may be set for as early as February 3, 2026. That's in exactly 7 weeks & less than 50 days away.
To stay on track, we need to raise $7k by the end of the year. Donate below ⬇️
December 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
🚨 We finally have news about our special election date! 🚨
Last night, we learned that our Election Day may be set for as early as February 3, 2026. That's in exactly 7 weeks & less than 50 days away.
To stay on track, we need to raise $7k by the end of the year. Donate below ⬇️
Last night, we learned that our Election Day may be set for as early as February 3, 2026. That's in exactly 7 weeks & less than 50 days away.
To stay on track, we need to raise $7k by the end of the year. Donate below ⬇️
Reposted by Aatif
"He took every Advanced Placement class he could, earned a scholarship to Brown and worked at Wawa over the summer to make enough money to buy a laptop, according to his two sisters."
Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a freshman at Brown, had a condition as a child that required brain surgery. The experience created an unshakable ambition to become a brain surgeon, his sister said.
He died after being shot on campus on Saturday.
He died after being shot on campus on Saturday.
Brown shooting victim was pursuing dream of becoming brain surgeon
Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, was one of two people killed at Brown University on Saturday.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 15, 2025 at 9:56 PM
"He took every Advanced Placement class he could, earned a scholarship to Brown and worked at Wawa over the summer to make enough money to buy a laptop, according to his two sisters."
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There are only ~20 people in American public life
TIL Michelle Reiner took the cover photo for The Art of the Deal
December 15, 2025 at 10:09 PM
There are only ~20 people in American public life
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A million Muslims live in New York City. We belong here, as does every other New Yorker.
This is vile Islamophobia from the Councilwoman and it has no place in our city.
This is vile Islamophobia from the Councilwoman and it has no place in our city.
December 15, 2025 at 10:25 PM
A million Muslims live in New York City. We belong here, as does every other New Yorker.
This is vile Islamophobia from the Councilwoman and it has no place in our city.
This is vile Islamophobia from the Councilwoman and it has no place in our city.
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GAZA IS DROWNING IN RAIN WATER AND THEY ARE ALL IN TENTS AND ISRAEL IS STILL FIRING ON PEOPLE AND THIS ISN'T A MAJOR NEWS STORY BECAUSE OF RACISM
December 15, 2025 at 10:36 PM
GAZA IS DROWNING IN RAIN WATER AND THEY ARE ALL IN TENTS AND ISRAEL IS STILL FIRING ON PEOPLE AND THIS ISN'T A MAJOR NEWS STORY BECAUSE OF RACISM
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Rob Reiner went out on the rarest kind of joke there is - one on The Bear
I think it's kind of beautiful that this was Rob Reiner's final line on television
December 15, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Rob Reiner went out on the rarest kind of joke there is - one on The Bear
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Surely the leadership of her party would come out and make statements of solidarity and follow up with action on this gross abuse of power, right?
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's son was pulled over by ICE and forced to prove he is an American.
Two options:
1) ICE deliberately targeted him.
2) ICE is stopping all non-White people without any probable cause and forcing them to prove they are citizens.
Hard to say which option is scarier.
Two options:
1) ICE deliberately targeted him.
2) ICE is stopping all non-White people without any probable cause and forcing them to prove they are citizens.
Hard to say which option is scarier.
December 16, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Surely the leadership of her party would come out and make statements of solidarity and follow up with action on this gross abuse of power, right?
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Another example of how fucked originalism is as a methodology. Basically directly imports schmittian colonialism into the constitution, like hey there were some white guys who made an apartheid state and hoarded the weapons for themselves and so we have to read it like a settler colonial hoard law
NEW: 6th Cir upholds the fed law barring undocumented immigrants from having guns.
What's shocking, though, is Judge Thapar's separate opinion arguing that noncitizens lack not only 2nd Am rights, but likely 1st, 4th & other const'l rights! 🧵
www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf...
What's shocking, though, is Judge Thapar's separate opinion arguing that noncitizens lack not only 2nd Am rights, but likely 1st, 4th & other const'l rights! 🧵
www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf...
www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov
December 16, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Another example of how fucked originalism is as a methodology. Basically directly imports schmittian colonialism into the constitution, like hey there were some white guys who made an apartheid state and hoarded the weapons for themselves and so we have to read it like a settler colonial hoard law
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Vance literally blaming antisemitism on rootless cosmopolitans
Folks, would you believe me if I told you JD Vance was over there railing against the immigrants as the reason for the antisemitism
December 16, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Vance literally blaming antisemitism on rootless cosmopolitans
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byproduct of the general parental paranoia of our age, but at the very least by the time kids are in middle school they should be going to school by themselves unless you live in the middle of nowhere
Why the fuck is everybody dropping off their kid at school personally like a little chauffeur? Put them on the fucking bus, you're not a fuckin driver. You're not a fucking slave.
December 16, 2025 at 1:48 AM
byproduct of the general parental paranoia of our age, but at the very least by the time kids are in middle school they should be going to school by themselves unless you live in the middle of nowhere
Reposted by Aatif
Yellow-Red-Blue, by Wassily Kandinsky, 1925 (detail, rotated), 📸 by @riogiancarlo.bsky.social
December 16, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Yellow-Red-Blue, by Wassily Kandinsky, 1925 (detail, rotated), 📸 by @riogiancarlo.bsky.social
Reposted by Aatif
I'm really late to this paper, but wow, what an enormous data + methods + theory lift
🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]
December 16, 2025 at 2:34 AM
I'm really late to this paper, but wow, what an enormous data + methods + theory lift
Reposted by Aatif
Since 9/11, the FBI has spent a ton of resources effectively entrapping angry poor people into pretending they were engaging in a terrorist plot and then "stopping" the plot that never had any chance of being carried out. This is almost certainly another such case.
www.techdirt.com/tag/own-plot/
www.techdirt.com/tag/own-plot/
December 15, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Since 9/11, the FBI has spent a ton of resources effectively entrapping angry poor people into pretending they were engaging in a terrorist plot and then "stopping" the plot that never had any chance of being carried out. This is almost certainly another such case.
www.techdirt.com/tag/own-plot/
www.techdirt.com/tag/own-plot/
Reposted by Aatif
Just a reminder that at least 600 Americans were fired for failing to show sufficient respect after Charlie Kirk's murder.
December 15, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Just a reminder that at least 600 Americans were fired for failing to show sufficient respect after Charlie Kirk's murder.