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🌈 Buddy 🌈 & Gizmo 🦁🦁 @buddygizmo.bsky.social · 22d

The Gizmo loaf is lounging on his scratching board and I’ve been assured and is definitely not plotting anything with the Martian dude in the background 😹😹🦁🦁 #KittyLoafMonday #teamfloof #CatsOfBluesky

Gizmo the orange Maine Coon cat is the larger than life subject of this picture as he lies in the loaf position (paws tucked) on a scratching board. The board is meant as the name suggests for scratching but Gizmo in his infinite wisdom is using it as a bed. He’s only got about 7 beds, 27 boxes, the couch and a huge cat tree so why not add another leisure area into the mix?! 😹😹 Gizmo’s green eyes are looking downward and his warm orange colourings on his with darker orange tabby markings are glowing nicely against the sackcloth style colouring of the scratching board. It’s got a leopard print (orangey-brown spots outlined in black) style covering on the bottom half. This is only mainly a head shot so we don’t see the full loaf length but there is a blurred Marvin the Martian statue (about a foot high) in the background. Not much detail visible on that apart from his green Roman style helmet and black face with white eyes. Actually is it a face or is it just eyes? Hmm!

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 22d

Todays decision is a good illustration of Howell and Moe's argument IMO. SCOTUS allowed Trump to remove the sole Dem member of the FTC, despite 90 years of precedent and the clear intent of Congress. It is one more example of a court enabling a strongman presidency. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Why the Supreme Court decision on firing independent agency heads is a big deal

The demise of Humphrey's Executor and the rise of unitary executive theory

substack.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 22d

Trump is unique, but he was able to make use of unitary executive theory that other Republicans had pioneered. The logic of a powerful but personalized Presidency that the Federalist Society and others pioneered is tailor-made for a strongman.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-rise-o...

The party’s pursuit of extraordinary presidential power was no longer just a strategic choice. It was now magnified and driven to extremes by an anti-system, grievance-driven populist base that yearned for strongman leadership: a president who would exercise unchained unilateral power untethered to traditional democratic norms and procedures.

In Donald Trump, they found their man—and put American democracy in great danger. That danger was very real during Trump’s first term, is sure to magnify during his second, and there is good reason to think it will persist well after he leaves center stage. For with the Republican Party in the thrall of populist forces—an entrenched feature of American politics that will not end soon—future Republican presidents will have much the same incentives to embrace the role of the strongman.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 22d

Moe and Howell point out that both parties have embraced an empowered presidency, but are asymmetrical in their approach to the state. The GOP skepticism of the administrative state led them to develop governing logics of a powerful state, but centered in hands of the President, not administrators.

Their pursuit of extraordinary power took decades, and it continues today. Its first stirrings can be seen in the “administrative presidency” of Richard Nixon’s final two years in office. But it was Reagan who embraced it as a full-blown, systematic strategy of conservative governance. This involved greatly magnifying the presidency’s traditional reliance on centralization and politicization to enhance top-down control.

But it also involved a radical move of great historical consequence: Reagan’s Department of Justice, led by Ed Meese, began developing the Unitary Executive Theory (UET), a new line of legal theory that rejected the traditionally understood constraints of statutory law and separation of powers and claimed that the Constitution grants presidents vast inherent powers of unilateral action and supreme authority over all agencies within the executive—what they do, how they do it, how they are staffed, what decisions get made.

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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 22d

“‘I’ve been here more than a dozen times, and every single time I have seen a lawless abduction,’ said Comptroller Lander, while sitting cross-legged on the floor outside the elevators of the first floor of Federal Plaza.”

Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) @cliniclegal.bsky.social · 22d

Department of Homeland Security agents arrested 70 people outside a New York City building where immigrants are being detained. An additional 12 elected officials were arrested after they attempted to enter the building to assess the living conditions of the detained migrants.

'ICE Out of NY': Dozens Arrested at Federal Plaza as Fight Over ICE Escalates

The arrests came a day after Judge Lewis A. Kaplan extended court oversight of the detention facility’s conditions.

documentedny.com

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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 22d

The Emperor endorses Crafty Cow Cat Sofas.

Black kotty stretched out asleep on a small sofa

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20xdee6.bsky.social @20xdee6.bsky.social · 21d

it's almost as if they want to justify a full content ban by creating the material conditions via being shitty

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Gundroog @gundroog.bsky.social · 22d

Yeah, like there's already a checkbox for "hey this is sexy thing," just expand that instead of going "actually, don't post sexy thing in general, ew"

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🔞 Priest Fucker @impmeat.bsky.social · 22d

That's what I've been saying like,, even artists that worked around the lack of labels (by saying idk,, CW: noncon on their posts) are going to stop cuz of this TOS change to avoid getting nuked

It helps nobody and just makes things worse for everyone all around :/

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Dieselbrain @dieselbrain.bsky.social · 22d

what fucks me up about the Bluesky TOS update is fucking

every adult creator i know wants MORE labels and filter options. we WANT more granular control over the labels and spoilers we can put on our work so people who want to curate their timeline to avoid us CAN DO SO

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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 22d

Yonatan Zeigen’s mother, Vivian Silver, a 74-year-old Canadian Israeli peace activist, was killed in the October 7 attacks.

Israeli Peace Activist: My Mother Was Killed on October 7. Here’s Why I Support Palestinian Statehood.

Following the U.K., Australia, Canada and Portugal’s formal recognition of Palestine as a sovereign and independent state, Democracy Now! speaks with Israeli peace activist Yonatan Zeigen in Tel Aviv....

www.democracynow.org

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CJ Lemire @cjlemire.com · 22d

What they really want is to reimpose the social strata of the Jim Crow era south, but nationally:

- Not-white people are explicitly second-class citizens
- A large number of poor white people who lack social standing, but "at least we ain't those not-white folks".
- A small, white, educated elite.

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 23d

One thing that remains fascinating to me is how much radical Trumpism wants to move down the value chain, instead of upwards to more value-add + complex production and research. Instead, RFK kills the NIH and NSF.

Historically, the US economy’s competitive advantage was tied to sophisticated, complex products and services. It needs to regain that edge. There is no surer path to better and more advanced products than increased levels of basic research and development. But US investment in basic research has declined significantly; funding for the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other government research organizations has declined by more than 60 percent in relation to GDP since the 1960s. The 2022 CHIPS and Science Act should help, by providing $280 billion in funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing, especially in the field of semiconductors. But the work to increase government investment has barely begun.

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Public Universal Fiend @publicuniversal.bsky.social · 23d

Something imo consistent both with imperial decline and with the overall southernization of American politics

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Public Universal Fiend @publicuniversal.bsky.social · 23d

Fundamentally they see their ideal role as a colonial ruling class I think.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23d

it's also a fantasy of domination of those they deem to be their social and cultural enemies. and then, among some of this number, a straightforward belief that the proper place of many millions of americans is servile labor

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23d

i don't think there's anything more to this than an ignorant and adolescent need to destroy but to the extent that there is, it's that a closed-off country of poor, low-wage workers is easier to control with imposed hierarchies (see: the american south, 1890 to 1965)

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Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 23d

One thing that remains fascinating to me is how much radical Trumpism wants to move down the value chain, instead of upwards to more value-add + complex production and research. Instead, RFK kills the NIH and NSF.

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NPR @npr.org · 22d

Ten years after countries promised to cut climate pollution in the Paris Agreement, countries plan to produce more than twice the amount of fossil fuels that would be consistent with that deal. n.pr/46sDnvh

Leaders promised to cut climate pollution, then doubled down on fossil fuels

Ten years after countries promised to cut climate pollution in the Paris Agreement, countries plan to produce more than twice the amount of fossil fuels that would be consistent with that deal.

n.pr

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Prism @prismreports.org · 22d

On Oct. 7, join us for ‘Killing the Story,’ a conversation with journalists who attempt to publish accurately & factually about the genocide in Palestine.

We'll explore media bias, the Palestine exception, pressures from the Israel lobby, & other paths for coverage.
tinyurl.com/killingthestory

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David W. Congdon @dwcongdon.com · 22d

One of my DMin students is doing a research project on ex-pastors and he's looking for people who left ordained ministry for nonreligious work to complete a survey. Participants can remain anonymous, but he would love to interview any who are willing. Please share!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Ex-Pastors Survey

docs.google.com

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Minou The Rescue Cat 🇨🇦 @minousjewels.com · 22d

Good news #Montreal you have a pop-up Cat Museum!! Me Minou was rescued in Montreal. They are raising money to find a permanent home for the cat museum. If you live in Montreal please visit while you can, runs until Oct 12, 2025.

mtlcatmuseum.ca

laruchequebec.com/en/projects/...

Montreal Cat Musuem pop-up running until October 12 2025.

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For the Love of Missy @missybbbobtail.bsky.social · 22d

You're looking at a one cat serial crime spree pro. Turned on fax machine/ copier last night. At least we have 120 copies of our tax returns from last year.

Zero remorse.

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Lawrence @ldog562.bsky.social · 22d

I wholeheartedly agree 🥰🥰

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Prism @prismreports.org · 22d

UPDATE 9/22/25: On Sept. 19, Maklad said he was flown from Texas to Venezuela, where Venezuelan immigration agents weren't expecting him & hadn’t agreed to accept him. He was flown back to Texas & still has no answers about how long he’ll be detained or what will happen to him.

Prism @prismreports.org · 29d

A Syrian man won his fight to avoid deportation. Ten months later, he remains detained, Stephanie Casanova reports. Kamel Maklad’s case reveals how authorities are imprisoning people who can’t legally be deported until they capitulate & agree to leave the country, immigration experts say.

Syrian man won fight to avoid deportation. He remains detained.

Kamel Maklad’s case reveals how people who can’t legally be deported are imprisoned until they capitulate and agree to leave the country

prismreports.org

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Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 22d

Combine this dismantling of fair housing enforcement with the evisceration of the CFPB and the efforts to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and you have a perfect recipe for racialized hyper-predation in housing markets. Lots of money to be made at the expense of low-wealth folks of color.

Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 22d

Of course Trump is destroying fair housing enforcement. Really solid article laying it out.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/r...

Trump Appointees Roll Back Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws

www.nytimes.com

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