Jas Easterly
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jaseasterly.bsky.social
Jas Easterly
@jaseasterly.bsky.social
13th Gen Virginian. I bow and scrape for no one—neither should anyone else. Dietrich Bonhoeffer fan. Summum Nec Metuam Diem Nec Optem. Mon Mothma’s old man. JET's Pop. NYU MFA—still writing 1st novel. Afghan War Vet. Journeyman lawyer—no problem too small.
Pinned
When someone keeps punching you in the mouth, you break their f . . .ing arms.
Reposted by Jas Easterly
An alarming wargame, real-life concerns. European officials fear that Russia may stage an incursion into NATO and the EU much sooner than the previous readiness deadline of 2029. In one scenario, a Russian force of 15,000 troops was enough to sever the land corridor between the Baltics and Poland.
A Wargame Shows Just How Vulnerable Europe Is to a Russian Attack
With America disengaging, Russia may be ready for a new war much sooner than previously estimated.
www.wsj.com
February 5, 2026 at 4:52 AM
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Minneapolis... Caracas... it's all just one big military operation against the enemy in Trump's mind.
February 5, 2026 at 5:11 AM
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February 5, 2026 at 5:13 AM
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China is now “bankrolling” Russia’s war in Ukraine providing “60 per cent” of the funds needed by Moscow to continue fighting.

www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/da5539f...
China bankrolling Putin’s war to gain advantage over West, MPs told
Beijing’s huge support for Russian aggression against Ukraine part of larger threatening posture, air marshal tells Commons committee
www.telegraph.co.uk
February 5, 2026 at 2:02 AM
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Two days ago, we discovered Trump has engaged in the most corrupt behavior of any president in history—giving secret technology to China's ally in exchange for the Trump family getting half a billion dollars.

And nobody is still talking about it. #Corruption
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Trump accused of ‘corruption, plain and simple’ after UAE invested in family firm
White House says president is not involved in running his businesses. Ethics experts remain concerned
www.theguardian.com
February 4, 2026 at 11:31 PM
The obvious question is what does immigration enforcement—a largely federal area—have to do with elections, which are run by the states?
February 5, 2026 at 12:07 AM
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Can't stress enough how *crazily illegal* this is:

Rubio may have been exercising authority after he no longer lawfully could

Byron—running NARA day to day under that authority—may have taken actions that are void from the beginning

Byron may *not* lawfully serve as/perform functions of Archivist
*BREAKING: Rubio is out as acting Archivist, and has illegally named an ineligble political appointee to "to serve and perform the functions of archivist"—which he did not have the authority to do.

My reporting expands on @federalnewsnetwork.com's scoop:
🧵

lastcampaign.substack.com/p/rubio-out-...
Rubio out at NARA; illegally names ineligble political appointee to serve as Archivist
Rubio has no authority to name anyone to serve as Archivist or perform those functions
lastcampaign.substack.com
February 4, 2026 at 11:50 PM
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Here’s the clip of Melania promoting her movie minutes before she denied promoting her movie
February 4, 2026 at 6:46 PM
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Or perhaps someone else can buy this paper from Bezos—since he seems to view it as an albatross—and donate it to a foundation established to run it as a nonprofit. Bezos gets a capital loss, the buyer/donor is a hero, the rest of us get a world class newspaper. The Knight Institute is ready to help.
Jeff Bezos should be a hero and donate the Washington Post to a charity. Bezos would get a big charitable deduction; the rest of us would get a newspaper dedicated to the public interest. This post from Steven Waldman is from a year ago but it's still a great idea. www.cjr.org/opinion/wald...
Jeff Bezos Should Donate the Washington Post to a Charity
His conflicts of interests are insurmountable. He can take a heroic path to strengthen journalism.
www.cjr.org
February 4, 2026 at 6:50 PM
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Washington Post reporter laid off while freezing in a war zone by one of the world’s richest people.
A publisher who lays off a reporter whose pen is freezing because she's covering a frigid war zone while dodging missiles is not an editor you want to work for, in a more perfect world
February 4, 2026 at 5:23 PM
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So clearly not a simple financial decision.
Trump Demolition job extends far beyond government institutions.
February 4, 2026 at 5:38 PM
“The three men I admire most—the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost—they took the last train for the coast, the day the music died.”
February 3, 2026 at 11:58 PM
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{𝙖𝙅𝙎𝘿} Tue. 03-Feb-1959: “The Day the Music Died.” 🕯️🎸
February 3, 2026 at 9:49 PM
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The first time Leonard Leo was called an “influencer”
February 3, 2026 at 8:43 PM
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The most basic gun rule is don't point your weapon at something you don't intend to shoot and don't shoot something you don't intend to kill.

So there are only two possibilities here: EITHER the agents were willing to murder observers OR they have never received any firearms training. 🧵
happening this morning in Minneapolis -- ICE agents drawing guns on observers. I reiterate again that it is only a matter of time before DHS kills more innocent people in Minnesota. Congress needs to shut this shit down right now.
February 3, 2026 at 8:19 PM
February 3, 2026 at 6:56 PM
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Truly Stasi-like. What would you say if you saw it in another country?
February 3, 2026 at 6:04 PM
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If you have an iPhone and menacing people are approaching, click your power button rapidly five times. It will turn off biometrics and require a passcode to unlock your phone.
The federal search warrant for the home of the Washington Post reporter including permission for the FBI to force her face or fingers to unlock the phone. More on my Substack. Join me here: substack.com/@thefrankfig...
February 3, 2026 at 5:21 PM
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If you want a sense of how bad the attacks on pro-choice speech are right now, read the latest issue of my newsletter.

Prepare for a thread—because there are too many attacks to list here
jessica.substack.com/p/texas-coll...
Texas College Cancels “Illegal” Speech by Abortion Provider
2.2.26
jessica.substack.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:23 PM
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As I suspected, Gabbard was at the FBI raid in her capacity to look into foreign election interference- something Giuliani told Trump he needs to prove in order to have the military seize voting machines. From Hugo Lowell:
February 3, 2026 at 1:40 AM
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February 2, 2026 at 9:22 PM
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That fraud scheme in Minnesota involving Somali Americans that Trump has trumpeted? FBI agents were pulled off the case to do routine immigration work, delaying the investigation, according to this revelatory oral history by Emily Bazelon and @rachelposer.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Inside Kash Patel’s F.B.I.: Meltdowns, Chaos, Vendettas
Forty-five current and former employees on the changes they say are undermining the agency and making America less safe.
www.nytimes.com
February 3, 2026 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by Jas Easterly
Even if you don't have time to read all 83 pages of Judge Reyes's opinion barring the Trump administration from rescinding Temporary Protected Status for 350,000+ Haitians, please at least check out the four-page introduction.

It's a tour de force:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 3, 2026 at 1:06 AM
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"Plaintiffs charge that Secretary Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants. This seems substantially likely."
BREAKING: Judge Ana Reyes, in DC, issues a stay of DHS Sec. Noem’s decision to end Haiti’s temporary protected status (TPS) designation, a decision that was to go into effect on Tuesday and could have ended legal status for up to 350,000 people overnight. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 3, 2026 at 12:51 AM
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"The murders of Pretti and Good should be a stark warning that whiteness ceases to offer protection as soon as a person opposes this regime and its program of racial terror." www.liberalcurrents.com/after-alex-p...
After Alex Pretti’s Murder, It’s Clear That MAGA Media Views White Liberals as Race Traitors
MAGA is committed to the belief that the people ICE is pursuing are inherently bad and that therefore opposing ICE is standing with criminals and rapists against the American people.
www.liberalcurrents.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:38 AM