Caera Thornton
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caerathornton.bsky.social
Caera Thornton
@caerathornton.bsky.social
Carolina Texpat making good trouble.
I don’t evangelize; I shenanigize. Might be an author again someday. Still a musician, though. 😇
Pinned
My "memoir" is live; it documents my spiritual, emotional, and psychological abuse in high control religion, the Messianic cult Adat Shalom in Dallas. I'm still trying to get the alt text on the images so bear with me:
adatsurvivor.wordpress.com #Exvangelical #SpiritualAbuse #Survivor #MeToo
My Spiritual Abuse Story
Record of my experience with Adat Shalom, Dallas.
adatsurvivor.wordpress.com
As New Orleanians and lawyers who have litigated to protect protesters, clergy, and the press from unconstitutional federal force in Illinois, we’ve seen up close what an effective response looks like. Chicagoans showed us that communities don’t have to accept this fate.
Lessons from Chicago
A playbook for the federal immigration surge in New Orleans
open.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Almost no state legislative seats are expected to be competitive, but Paré’s is one of the more realistic possibilities for Democrats to flip as they seek to chip away at GOP control of the chamber and strengthen Gov. Josh Stein’s veto power.

www.wral.com/news/local/d...
Democratic primary heats up to take on one of Wake County’s few GOP lawmakers
Almost no N.C. state legislative seats are expected to be competitive in 2026. But one in southern Wake County could be, and Democrats are lining up to take on the Republican who currently holds it.
www.wral.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:35 AM
A coalition of municipal and nonprofit organizations has taken legal action to thwart the Trump administration’s move to restrict the amount of federal grant money nonprofits can spend on permanent housing and subsidized rents for formerly homeless people.

ncnewsline.com/2025/12/02/n...
Nonprofits, local governments sue HUD to block changes to federal housing program for the homeless  • NC Newsline
Municipal and nonprofit groups have sued the Trump administration to stop spending restrictions on permanent housing and subsidized rents.
ncnewsline.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:35 AM
California U.S. Representative Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat representing the Los Angeles area, filed an ambitious new bill on Wednesday which would redirect billions put aside by the Trump administration to fund its immigration crackdown toward helping Americans become homeowners.
Exclusive: Democrat targets Trump’s $175B immigration funds for housing
Representative Jimmy Gomez says he wants to help people pushed to the sidelines of the housing market to achieve homeownership.
www.newsweek.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:35 AM
As the leading Democrat on the House Immigration Subcommittee, Jayapal said she had tracked the issues around ICE detention centers for several years and had become increasingly concerned about conditions since January, when President Donald Trump returned to office.
Democrat says Trump admin's "absurd" actions will help ICE bill succeed
In an exclusive interview with Newsweek, Washington Representative Pramila Jayapal outlined her updated ICE detention bill.
www.newsweek.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:34 AM
The bill challenges decades of Supreme Court precedent protecting citizens from involuntary loss of nationality, and Wildes—who previously represented Melania Trump—argues it overlooks the reality of mixed-status families and millions of Americans born with more than one citizenship.
Exclusive: Melania Trump’s immigration lawyer responds to new citizenship bill
Melania Trump’s former lawyer Michael Wildes warns the dual-citizenship plan defies legal precedent and common practice.
www.newsweek.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:34 AM
The update has for some raised new concerns over workplace privacy in the United States, and challenges assumptions many employees hold about the confidentiality of their texts on company devices.

www.newsweek.com/google-start...
Google starts sharing your texts with your employer
The update allows your employer to view and archive your messages on company devices.
www.newsweek.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:33 AM
A Democratic committee aide told CNN that the photos and videos released by the committee on Wednesday have previously never been made public, and were all taken from Little St. James Island in the US Virgin Islands.
Photos and video from Epstein’s private island released by House Democrats | CNN Politics
House Democrats on the Oversight Committee on Wednesday released photos and videos from a private island in the Caribbean that Jeffrey Epstein once owned, shining new light on what was once the epicen...
www.cnn.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Musk earns $1 trillion over the next decade, he could earn an average of $100 billion each year. At that rate, the world’s richest man could make $3 billion more each year than all 1.4 million elementary school teachers in the nation combined, according to a new data analysis project.
Elon Musk could make more than every elementary school teacher in the U.S.
Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for the world’s richest person
www.the-independent.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:32 AM
At the Cabinet meeting Trump announced that “the word ‘affordability’ is a Democrat scam,” insisting falsely that his economic policies were bringing down costs. Trump won in large part by promising to bring down inflation, but prices have risen under him at the same time that the economy is slowing
December 2, 2025
The news of last Friday, November 28, that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Joint Special Operations commander overseeing an attack on a small vessel carrying 11 people on September 2 to “kill ev...
open.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:32 AM
On Monday, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles confirmed the presence of the Chinese warships but refused to provide details, saying the military would continue to track their movements "until we know that task groups are not coming to Australia."

www.newsweek.com/satellite-ph...
Satellite photos capture Chinese naval fleet alarming US Pacific ally
The Australian military is continuing to track the movements of Chinese naval vessels, Defense Minister Richard Marles said.
www.newsweek.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Rutte, speaking at a NATO meeting, warned against Russia's "increasingly reckless behavior" as he urged allies to invest at least 5% of their GDP in defense spending. "Putin believes he can outlast us," he said, before pointing to the treaty members' support for Ukraine as proof Putin is "wrong."
Ukraine war live updates—US peace deal stalls, Putin launches drone strikes
Yuri Ushakov said the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff was "very useful," but that no "compromise option has not yet been found."
www.newsweek.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:30 AM
What the Courts are doing, and more:

tinyurl.com/56axht4v

tinyurl.com/4kb9bkya
Colorado tells DOJ ‘take a hike’ as it rejects demand for statewide voter data
tinyurl.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Reposted by Caera Thornton
Trump keeps losing in court.
Trump Faltering in Face of Lower Courts
The rule of law is proving to be stronger than he thought
contrarian.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Caera Thornton
“The administration has replaced the mission of saving lives with the mission of securing contracts.”
The privatization of American morality
The State Department’s new “America First” Global Health Strategy is a transactional gamble with millions of lives at ri
contrarian.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Caera Thornton
Legislators can’t govern if speaking up puts them at risk of prosecution.
An Unconstitutional Vestige of Monarchical Rule
Prosecuting legislators threatens to undermine independence of a co-equal branch.
contrarian.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Caera Thornton
A University of Oklahoma student failed an assessment and seemingly blamed it on her professor being a trans woman.

Now that professor has been put on leave.
The First Amendment Can’t Get You Out of Following Class Instructions
A failing grade for not understanding the assignment isn't a constitutional crisis.
contrarian.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Caera Thornton
“For too many in America right now, this holiday season is hardly about the art of care and joy of giving. Not when the cost of caregiving itself is a national crisis.”
The Caregiving Crisis Upon Us
It is overwhelmingly women who bear the brunt of this crisis.
contrarian.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:10 PM
The company said in a filing Friday that it is seeking a “full refund” of all duties under the act paid as a result of President Donald Trump's executive order that imposed what he called "reciprocal" tariffs.

www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...
Costco sues the Trump administration, seeking a refund of tariffs
The wholesaler is the latest company to sue a federal agency over the president's signature economic policy.
www.nbcnews.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:39 AM
A new lawsuit accused Avondale City Council Member Jeannette Garcia of drunkenly offering a colleague a job at Turning Point USA in exchange for sex and, after he rejected her, taking his 14-year-old daughter without permission. 

Again: Drag queen? No. Conservative? Yes.
Lawmaker who called Tom Hanks a ‘pedo’ sued for allegedly kidnapping colleague’s teen daughter
The Arizona city council member allegedly took the child after she propositioned a colleague for sex at a Turning Point USA event.
www.sfchronicle.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Lakanwal spoke through an interpreter and told the judge he was in pain and unable to open his eyes. His court-appointed attorney entered the plea on his behalf during the brief proceeding in D.C. Superior Court.

www.newsweek.com/national-gua...
Alleged National Guard shooter issues new plea after DC attack
Lakanwal, 29, is charged in the Nov. 26 attack that killed Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24.
www.newsweek.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Trump’s behavior over the holiday weekend has increased concern about his mental acuity. A rant on his social media account at midnight on Thanksgiving itself threatened to strip citizenship from naturalized immigrants and called Minnesota governor Tim Walz a profoundly offensive slur.
December 1, 2025
President Donald J.
open.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:38 AM