PJ McIlvaine
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pjmacwriter.bsky.social
PJ McIlvaine
@pjmacwriter.bsky.social
Writer. Screenwriter. Author. Dragon Rider. My personal website is https://pjmacwriter.com/ I'm a writing beast. And I make good trouble. Looking for her champion for her books and screenplays.
Pinned
#booksky

Do you like a good murder?

So long as you're not the victim.

In my twisty, gritty, contemp adult psych thriller, bodies drop like flies. It's a heady mix of pop culture, elevated pulp fiction, & secrets galore.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CDB4SSQS/
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
Exclusive: Private jet owned by Israeli-American tycoon close to Trump family has been used by ICE to deport Palestinians from Arizona to Tel Aviv - "part of secretive and politically sensitive US government operation to deport Palestinians arrested by ICE"
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Revealed: Private jet owned by Trump friend used by ICE to deport Palestinians to West Bank
Exclusive: Luxury aircraft owned by property tycoon close to US president’s family has twice flown Palestinian men from Arizona to Tel Aviv
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
NEW: 'An impossibility': Negotiations to reform ICE sputter as shutdown looms for DHS

The deadline is Friday the 13th.

And this is going badly.

Rs call Dem demands “totally unrealistic.”

Ds say Rs don’t even know who’s negotiating for them.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
'An impossibility': Negotiations to reform ICE sputter as shutdown looms for DHS
Congress has two weeks to fund DHS as Democrats demand changes to rein in ICE and CBP. It's not going well. The top Senate Republican doubts they will reach a deal in time.
www.nbcnews.com
February 6, 2026 at 1:09 AM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
You have to understand that these are fundamentally bad people with hatred in their hearts.
February 6, 2026 at 3:21 AM
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This covers Good, Pretti, Martinez, Liam Ramos, and a few others.
“The official story—promulgated by Kristi Noem, and Stephen Miller and JD Vance—was a lie. They are lying to you. They're lying to us. They know it. And in fact, they seem proud of it,” says Chris Hayes on JD Vance saying he won’t apologize for labeling Alex Pretti an “assassin.”
‘For what?’: JD Vance refuses to apologize for smearing Alex Pretti
YouTube video by MS NOW
www.youtube.com
February 5, 2026 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
I wrote about why the Trump administration's antisemitism envoy is lying about Holocaust history to avoid the possibility that people might draw parallels between the condition of Jews in occupied Europe and the condition of migrants hiding from ICE today. religiondispatches.org/2026/02/05/f...
The Ferocity of Responses to Tim Walz's Anne Frank/ICE Comments Are Revealing
When Minnesota Governor Tim Walz invoked Anne Frank while criticizing ICE deportations in his state, the backlash was immediate and fierce. Walz, who earned a master’s degree in Holocaust education, s...
religiondispatches.org
February 5, 2026 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
The banality of evil is shocking. An ex-Big Lots warehouse for cheap consumer junk is bought by ICE to ship as many as 7,500 handcuffed human beings, as the Trump regime builds a U.S. gulag archipelago

The unthinkable comes to Pa. coal country. My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
From Big Lots to warehousing humans: ICE plan sparks fear in Schuylkill County | Will Bunch
A massive warehouse in Tremont. Pa. that once moved cheap goods will now detain migrants in an $119 million ICE deal.
www.inquirer.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:54 PM
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JUST IN: A federal judge has barred ICE and DHS from using taxpayer information provided by the IRS.

Judge Talwani says that DHS' view that noncitizens lack 4th amendment rights — combined with ICE use of administrative warrants — is a recipe for abuse.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 5, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
Defense attorneys say law enforcement obtained "30 days" of camera images of Marimar Martinez's car all over Chicago.

"They presumably wanted to be able to show her driving from the dynamite factory … to the suicide vest store."

They say she was likely caught going to Target, instead.
February 5, 2026 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
Far too many ICE agents are lawless, cruel and despicable bullies.
February 5, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
@wyden.senate.gov's record of warning that there is deep and constitutionally-serious dirt being done by the intelligence agencies in secret is unblemished. The vaguer he is, the filthier the dirt is. This is the vaguest I've ever seen him
Ron Wyden Only Talks Like This When The Spies Do Something *Real* Bad
No, I don't know what they did. But I have a lot of experience with the senator
www.forever-wars.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:10 PM
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My friend lives in this building and said it was truly terrifying. The whole building woke up to their building being broken into by federal agents all to grab some guy who’s posted about being anti facist.
After 6am this morning in Whittier, Minneapolis—FOUR BLOCKS from where Pretti was murdered.

18 agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) markings smashed an apartment window, ran in, and came out with one man.
February 5, 2026 at 3:10 PM
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Wait! The public face of nationwide immigration enforcement, Gregory Bovino, said in a newly discovered email that his boss wasn’t the head of CBP. He reported to Corey Lewandowski instead.

He’s a political operative with zero law-enforcement background calling the shots on immigration enforcement.
February 5, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
Wow: This appears to be a draft statement written by Ghislaine Maxwell in which she addresses allegations made against her and Prince Andrew by Virginia Giuffre. Maxwell appears to confirm that the photo is real and admits that Epstein committed crimes—contradicting her sworn testimony.
February 4, 2026 at 9:48 PM
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More to come on this; the rule makes a number of other changes to the Board of Immigration Appeals process (such that it will exist should this rule go into effect in 30 days without a court order blocking it). But top line; it's quite bad! public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-02326.pdf
public-inspection.federalregister.gov
February 5, 2026 at 2:56 PM
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This NYT piece never mentions the most important detail of the hearing.

THESE PEOPLE ARE UNLAWFULLY being held--and many are unlawfully being snatched in the first place.

The reason there's such a caseload is bc ICE is kidnapping people illegally.
February 5, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
Read this thread about the Trump regime's program to strip people of their human, civil, and constitutional rights.
‘One officer told me that I "had no chance of returning to Minnesota" and that "the best thing for (me] is self-deportation." …
She offered me $2600 to self-deport.
I refused.
I wanted to talk to my attorney.
They didn't tell me the judge had already ordered my release and return to Minnesota.’
February 5, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
If you want to FINALLY watch Scott Bessent get pinned down on specifics about the illegal money laundering operation being conducted by the Trump admin from someone who knows WTF he’s talking about, this clip is your chance. Bessent gets destroyed.
February 4, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
This is how Sen. Ron Wyden clues the public into activity that he finds extremely alarming. He does a press release about a letter he sent to the director of the CIA that basically says, 'I want to make sure you saw the classified letter I sent early today.' www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
February 4, 2026 at 9:53 PM
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This is one of the most important cases that galvanized Black people in the late 40s through the 1950s. Almost every major Black leader had a comment about it. It is also one of the most successful defense committees that was organized in the 20th century. Almost no one knows about it today.
On this day in 1948, an all-white jury sentenced a Black woman and two of her teenage sons to death for killing an armed white man in self-defense.
Feb. 3, 1948 | Black Woman and Her Children Sentenced to Die for Defending Themselves
Learn more about our history of racial injustice.
calendar.eji.org
February 3, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
If you want to get really angry, read this declaration by Kira Kelley’s client.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 5, 2026 at 6:59 AM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
There's been lots of attention on 1 particular inexperienced & untrained govt lawyer
But I want to give a shout-out to Kira Kelley,
climatedefenseproject.org/profile/kira...,
who focused on ICE's horrific treatment of an immigrant prisoner -- all occurring *after* the court had ordered him released
February 5, 2026 at 12:03 AM
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Must-read from @emptywheel.bsky.social

"The problem here is not just that ICE is blowing off judicial orders ... there are so many orders because the detentions are illegal ... The crime is the unlawful detention of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people. They’re kidnapping people legally..."
The Minnesota Lawyer Backlog Arises from ICE Kidnappings - emptywheel
The reason -- at least one reason -- ICE is having such a difficult time following judicial instructions in Minnesota is because ICE is snatching so many people illegally.
emptywheel.net
February 5, 2026 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by PJ McIlvaine
If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff.

Democracy dies in oligarchy.
February 5, 2026 at 12:16 AM