Esther Kaplan
@estherbrooklyn.bsky.social
Journo. Oaklandside & Cityside, formerly Business Insider, Reveal, Type Investigations, The Nation.
In case you need a bit of encouragement after yesterday's frontal attack on trans youth, there's a movement catching fire in the Bay Area. oaklandside.org/2025/12/19/t...
They're losing health care, even in the Bay Area. Now trans youth and their families are getting organized
As the Trump Administration ratchets up pressure on hospitals, Rainbow Families Action notches a win in the battle to protect their kids’ care.
oaklandside.org
December 20, 2025 at 7:36 AM
In case you need a bit of encouragement after yesterday's frontal attack on trans youth, there's a movement catching fire in the Bay Area. oaklandside.org/2025/12/19/t...
I think anyone who has mental illness in the family recognizes the journey the Reiners have been on, trying & failing, giving up & trying again, worrying that the worst could happen, the worst being the death of their child.
Trump fails to see how many people see themselves in this tragedy.
Trump fails to see how many people see themselves in this tragedy.
December 16, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I think anyone who has mental illness in the family recognizes the journey the Reiners have been on, trying & failing, giving up & trying again, worrying that the worst could happen, the worst being the death of their child.
Trump fails to see how many people see themselves in this tragedy.
Trump fails to see how many people see themselves in this tragedy.
Funnest lawsuit of the week.
The Center for Biological Diversity is suing the Trump administration to have Trump's face removed from national parks passes. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
December 11, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Funnest lawsuit of the week.
Reposted by Esther Kaplan
Counterpoint:
The Supreme Court lacks the authority to change the text of the Constitution.
So either it affirms the text or (further, and more completely) nukes its authority as Constitutional arbiter.
There’s no third option. Art III (courts) can’t just usurp Art V (amendments).
The Supreme Court lacks the authority to change the text of the Constitution.
So either it affirms the text or (further, and more completely) nukes its authority as Constitutional arbiter.
There’s no third option. Art III (courts) can’t just usurp Art V (amendments).
The Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether to uphold the longstanding principle that grants citizenship to the children of non-citizens born in the U.S., following a legal challenge by the Trump administration. n.pr/48E1oko
Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments in birthright citizenship challenge
The Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether to uphold the longstanding principle that grants citizenship to the children of non-citizens born in the U.S., following a legal challenge by the Trump administration.
n.pr
December 5, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Counterpoint:
The Supreme Court lacks the authority to change the text of the Constitution.
So either it affirms the text or (further, and more completely) nukes its authority as Constitutional arbiter.
There’s no third option. Art III (courts) can’t just usurp Art V (amendments).
The Supreme Court lacks the authority to change the text of the Constitution.
So either it affirms the text or (further, and more completely) nukes its authority as Constitutional arbiter.
There’s no third option. Art III (courts) can’t just usurp Art V (amendments).
Major peer-reviewed research advance — out of a public university.
We're close to the world's first-ever broad-spectrum antiviral. In a breakthrough, researchers at the City University of New York have identified a promising path to the development of an antiviral that could be used to fight a wide range of deadly viruses, including future pandemic threats.
November 30, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Major peer-reviewed research advance — out of a public university.
Fascism begets antifascism.
NEW: Over 50,000 people attempted to block the founding convention for the new youth org of the far-right AfD party on Nov. 29 in Gießen, Germany. Wide-ranging actions-including 19 blockades around the small city-prevented a majority of participants from attending. Police violently beat blockaders.
November 30, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Fascism begets antifascism.
Many on the left have called for a general strike. Is the Trump Administration is starting to set one in motion?
New Mexico's entire CJA panel told Chief Judge Gonzales they're refusing to take cases until they are fully funded. That means everyone: defense attorneys, experts, investigators, social workers, and paralegals
The CJA panel is equivalent to contract public defenders in State systems
👀 @nacdl.org
The CJA panel is equivalent to contract public defenders in State systems
👀 @nacdl.org
November 8, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Many on the left have called for a general strike. Is the Trump Administration is starting to set one in motion?
There's little so pure as taxing the rich to feed kids lunch.
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 6:06 AM
There's little so pure as taxing the rich to feed kids lunch.
"I experience a lot of grief. Grieving not knowing my own family. I think a lot about how different our relationships would be if they had the ability to travel and I had the ability to go to Gaza." oaklandside.org/2025/11/03/g...
On being Palestinian in Oakland during the war
Lujain Al-Saleh on living and breathing the war on Gaza from afar and what it’s like to learn your relatives have been killed on the family WhatsApp group.
oaklandside.org
November 3, 2025 at 11:23 PM
"I experience a lot of grief. Grieving not knowing my own family. I think a lot about how different our relationships would be if they had the ability to travel and I had the ability to go to Gaza." oaklandside.org/2025/11/03/g...
Oof.
Generative AI was a colossal mistake that is already needlessly destructive.
Racist Influencers Using OpenAI's Sora to Make it Look Like Poor People Are Selling Food Stamps for Cash
Folks looking for evidence of SNAP recipients as welfare queens have no shortage of AI generated schlock to use as justification.
futurism.com
November 2, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Oof.
Reposted by Esther Kaplan
... it's been close to or more than 62 days since Trump deployed forces to the Caribbean to engage in such strikes--which means that in addition to violating the Constitution, the assassination ban, two criminal murder statutes, and international law, [2] ...
www.justsecurity.org/120296/many-...
www.justsecurity.org/120296/many-...
The Many Ways in Which the Caribbean Strike was Unlawful
Legal expert on domestic authority and law most relevant to the US strike on alleged Venezuelan drug boat
www.justsecurity.org
October 29, 2025 at 12:04 PM
... it's been close to or more than 62 days since Trump deployed forces to the Caribbean to engage in such strikes--which means that in addition to violating the Constitution, the assassination ban, two criminal murder statutes, and international law, [2] ...
www.justsecurity.org/120296/many-...
www.justsecurity.org/120296/many-...
Reposted by Esther Kaplan
BREAKING: Both Satmar factions decide not to endorse a candidate for mayor and decry the vicious campaign against Mamdani that paints him as hostile to Jews.
In letters to their community members, the Satmar leadership calls the attacks against Mamdani false and dangerous.
In letters to their community members, the Satmar leadership calls the attacks against Mamdani false and dangerous.
October 29, 2025 at 6:22 PM
BREAKING: Both Satmar factions decide not to endorse a candidate for mayor and decry the vicious campaign against Mamdani that paints him as hostile to Jews.
In letters to their community members, the Satmar leadership calls the attacks against Mamdani false and dangerous.
In letters to their community members, the Satmar leadership calls the attacks against Mamdani false and dangerous.
Reposted by Esther Kaplan
SNAP, the country's largest anti-hunger program, dates back to the Great Depression and has never been disrupted this way. Most recipients are seniors, families with kids, and those with disabilities.
'Uncharted territory': Ongoing shutdown threatens food aid for 42 million people
SNAP, the country's largest anti-hunger program, dates back to the Great Depression and has never been disrupted this way. Most recipients are seniors, families with kids, and those with disabilities.
n.pr
October 27, 2025 at 1:37 PM
SNAP, the country's largest anti-hunger program, dates back to the Great Depression and has never been disrupted this way. Most recipients are seniors, families with kids, and those with disabilities.
There are people, many people, thousands of people, whose job it is to get up every morning and do this to families, to listen to the cries and screams, to go home for dinner, and wake up the next morning and do it again.
A Naperville man was hauled away by federal immigration agents Thursday morning as his two sons watched, the older boy begging them not to hurt his father and tearfully asking for a chance to speak to him before they left.
As his two sons watch and cry, ‘Pa, te amo,’ federal agents arrest man outside of Naperville apartments
A Naperville man was hauled away by federal immigration agents Thursday as his two sons cried and begged for him not to be hurt.
trib.al
October 26, 2025 at 6:06 AM
There are people, many people, thousands of people, whose job it is to get up every morning and do this to families, to listen to the cries and screams, to go home for dinner, and wake up the next morning and do it again.
I'm helming as Oaklandside is posting live today from Coast Guard Island, where Customs and Border Protection is arriving for operations in the Bay Area: oaklandside.org/2025/10/23/l...
Flash bangs, injured protester at Coast Guard Island as feds arrive in Bay Area
Yesterday, the Coast Guard confirmed an “operation” was underway and said guards' facilities in Alameda would provide support. Live reports from the scene.
oaklandside.org
October 23, 2025 at 3:11 PM
I'm helming as Oaklandside is posting live today from Coast Guard Island, where Customs and Border Protection is arriving for operations in the Bay Area: oaklandside.org/2025/10/23/l...
My mom was a planner in the National Park Service. The *years* that would go into review and incorporating community input for things like what interpretive signage should say.
We’ve received a lot of questions about Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing.
Here’s how the process is supposed to work:
Here’s how the process is supposed to work:
October 23, 2025 at 6:44 AM
My mom was a planner in the National Park Service. The *years* that would go into review and incorporating community input for things like what interpretive signage should say.
Reposted by Esther Kaplan
🚨 NEWS: Colombian President Gustavo Petro accuses U.S. government officials of murder and violating Colombia’s sovereignty and says the Trump-ordered strike of a boat in the Caribbean killed a fisherman named Alejandro Carranza.
October 19, 2025 at 3:09 AM
🚨 NEWS: Colombian President Gustavo Petro accuses U.S. government officials of murder and violating Colombia’s sovereignty and says the Trump-ordered strike of a boat in the Caribbean killed a fisherman named Alejandro Carranza.
This is a seismic shift.
Wow. New Economist poll finds only 34% of Americans say ICE's use of force has been justified, vs 51% who say it's been excessive. And they oppose agents wearing masks by 52-35.
Yep, ICE is becoming a pariah agency, and that's gaining deep penetration in the culture:
Yep, ICE is becoming a pariah agency, and that's gaining deep penetration in the culture:
ICE's military raids and masked kidnappings are resonating deeply/negatively in the cultural spaces we keep hearing Dems need to reach: Manosphere, Joe Rogan, country music, disengaged voters. That's rare and it gives Dems a big opening to engage.
Thoughts on this:
newrepublic.com/article/2018...
Thoughts on this:
newrepublic.com/article/2018...
October 19, 2025 at 1:52 AM
This is a seismic shift.
Things can be restored.
For the first time in more than 100 years, Chinook salmon have been spotted at the confluence of the Sprague and Williamson rivers in Chiloquin, the government seat of the Klamath Tribes in Southern Oregon.
Salmon clear last Klamath dams, reaching Williamson and Sprague rivers
Just a year after four dams were removed, a group of fall Chinook have migrated nearly 300 miles into the Upper Klamath Basin.
www.opb.org
October 18, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Things can be restored.
Reposted by Esther Kaplan
So the president of the United States plans to meet with Putin in Hungary, and when a reporter asked where that plan came from, this was the reply of the United States government www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
October 17, 2025 at 1:23 PM
So the president of the United States plans to meet with Putin in Hungary, and when a reporter asked where that plan came from, this was the reply of the United States government www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
Reposted by Esther Kaplan
Judge Illston’s temporary restraining order against the shutdown layoffs is scathing.
“It is also far from normal for an administration to fire line-level civilian employees during a government shutdown as a way to punish the opposing political party …” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
“It is also far from normal for an administration to fire line-level civilian employees during a government shutdown as a way to punish the opposing political party …” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
![Those who have received RIF notices cannot prepare for their upcoming terminations because the
human resources staff who would typically assist them are also furloughed. One union president
representing workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention described how human
resources staff were brought back into the office last weekend to work on issuing RIF notices, and
then, once they had completed this work, were told “to issue RIF notices to themselves.”2 Dkt. No.
47-3 (“Jacobs Decl.”) ¶¶ 2, 7. Unions are hearing from members who have serious health conditions
or are in the late stages of pregnancy, and who worry that their health insurance will be impacted by
the RIFs, but there is no one in the office who can answer their questions during the shutdown. Id.
¶¶ 9, 14; Gittleman Decl. ¶ 16; Robinson Decl. ¶¶ 6, 12.
It is also far from normal for an administration to fire line-level civilian employees during a
government shutdown as a way to punish the opposing political party. But this is precisely what
President Trump has announced he is doing, by taking to social media on the second day of the
shutdown to post: “I have a meeting today with Russ Vought,[3] he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to
determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he
recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent. I can’t believe
the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.” Dkt. No. 15 (“Am. Compl.”)
¶ 176; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Truth Social (Oct. 2, 2025, at 4:59 a.m.),
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115304455138824245 (last visited Oct. 15,
2025). The memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget that appears to have initiated
the shutdown RIFs says the same. See Dkt. No. 15-1, Am. Compl., Ex. A (“OMB Lapse Mem.”)
(directing agencies to “use this opportunity” of the shutdown to consider RIF notices, including in
those areas that are “not consistent with the Pr…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h7b2i6ttw3l4t7pvbvxdith/bafkreiadismecme4vmfqclakasxc2aib2stqhuzofeouxssssbvroju3sy@jpeg)
October 16, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Judge Illston’s temporary restraining order against the shutdown layoffs is scathing.
“It is also far from normal for an administration to fire line-level civilian employees during a government shutdown as a way to punish the opposing political party …” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
“It is also far from normal for an administration to fire line-level civilian employees during a government shutdown as a way to punish the opposing political party …” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Swamp, drained.
“Companies sending representatives to the East Room event include Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Alphabet’s Google, Amazon.com and Palantir Technologies, according to the White House.”
October 16, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Swamp, drained.
Reposted by Esther Kaplan
My gosh. After the US bombed multiple boats in the middle of the ocean, murdering people on grounds that they were allegedly "carrying drugs," the US Attorney General says "Just like we did with cartels, we're going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa."
October 8, 2025 at 8:11 PM
My gosh. After the US bombed multiple boats in the middle of the ocean, murdering people on grounds that they were allegedly "carrying drugs," the US Attorney General says "Just like we did with cartels, we're going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa."
Reposted by Esther Kaplan
SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled
The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency
@heatmap.news
The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency
@heatmap.news
Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says
It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.
heatmap.news
October 10, 2025 at 3:36 AM
SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled
The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency
@heatmap.news
The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency
@heatmap.news
Judge William Young: “The case squarely presents the issue whether noncitizens … have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The court answers this question unequivocally, ‘Yes, they do.’“ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Judge issues blistering opinion against Trump policy to deport pro-Palestinian students
Judge rules non-citizens have the same free speech rights as US citizens under the first amendment
www.theguardian.com
October 1, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Judge William Young: “The case squarely presents the issue whether noncitizens … have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The court answers this question unequivocally, ‘Yes, they do.’“ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...