Sam Bagenstos
@sbagen.bsky.social
Personal account. Personal views. Frank G. Millard Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School & Arlene Susan Kohn Professor of Social Policy, University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy. Former General Counsel, HHS and OMB.
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
Team Oligarch Suits Up to Torpedo Netflix/WBD Merger talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/team-...
Team Oligarch Suits Up to Torpedo Netflix/WBD Merger
Simply extraordinary stuff coming out this morning about the battle over what...
talkingpointsmemo.com
December 9, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Team Oligarch Suits Up to Torpedo Netflix/WBD Merger talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/team-...
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
Very annoyed at this.
Congress knows how to use the power of the purse to get what it wants, but refuses to do it to, like, make sure that grants get to Head Start.
Just a total warping of priorities, using the power only in these narrow contexts and never to help poor people
Congress knows how to use the power of the purse to get what it wants, but refuses to do it to, like, make sure that grants get to Head Start.
Just a total warping of priorities, using the power only in these narrow contexts and never to help poor people
Congress to withhold Pentagon travel funds until it sees boat strike videos
Lawmakers quietly stuck the requirement into their must-pass annual defense policy bill.
www.politico.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Very annoyed at this.
Congress knows how to use the power of the purse to get what it wants, but refuses to do it to, like, make sure that grants get to Head Start.
Just a total warping of priorities, using the power only in these narrow contexts and never to help poor people
Congress knows how to use the power of the purse to get what it wants, but refuses to do it to, like, make sure that grants get to Head Start.
Just a total warping of priorities, using the power only in these narrow contexts and never to help poor people
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz
Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison
www.forever-wars.com
December 8, 2025 at 9:40 PM
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
Remember, as Sean Duffy keeps telling us his ideas for air travel -- dress up nice for your flight! do a little workout before you get on too! -- this is an actual Good Thing We Wanted that Democrats secured for us before these assholes took it away
White House Scraps Cash Payments for Delayed or Canceled Flights
www.nytimes.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Remember, as Sean Duffy keeps telling us his ideas for air travel -- dress up nice for your flight! do a little workout before you get on too! -- this is an actual Good Thing We Wanted that Democrats secured for us before these assholes took it away
I hate this timeline.
This is 0 reps, right? Also, thumb position? What are we doing here: why the hell is this one exercise the new criteria for masculinity/health?
In line for the TSA behind this guy
December 9, 2025 at 12:09 AM
I hate this timeline.
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
As a woman who has been pregnant, given birth, breastfed, and formula fed, the only explanation for this shit is Bobby has a fetish for tiny coffins. Not every woman can or wants to breastfeed. Fed is best.
ALSO, where was he when ICE detained a 2 wk PP mom, without a pump and her milk dried up?
ALSO, where was he when ICE detained a 2 wk PP mom, without a pump and her milk dried up?
RFK Jr: "All of the ingenuity of corporate America has not produced an infant formula that is superior in nutrition and all the qualities that we want to the infant formula that God made, which is the infant formula in a mother's breast."
December 8, 2025 at 11:50 PM
As a woman who has been pregnant, given birth, breastfed, and formula fed, the only explanation for this shit is Bobby has a fetish for tiny coffins. Not every woman can or wants to breastfeed. Fed is best.
ALSO, where was he when ICE detained a 2 wk PP mom, without a pump and her milk dried up?
ALSO, where was he when ICE detained a 2 wk PP mom, without a pump and her milk dried up?
It's not.
Who would ever voluntarily choose to live under the demented monarchical plutocracy our Supreme Court is creating for Trump? How is this a remotely rational way to structure a government?
slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com/news-and-pol...
December 8, 2025 at 11:50 PM
It's not.
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
Want to help dismantle the nation’s biomedical research infrastructure and go down in infamy among future generations of scientists? Jay Bhattacharya is hiring. #NIH
December 8, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Want to help dismantle the nation’s biomedical research infrastructure and go down in infamy among future generations of scientists? Jay Bhattacharya is hiring. #NIH
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
🚨 BIG BIG DEAL 🚨
The spokesperson's claim this delay is not political but bc "comprehensive scientific reviews take the time necessary to get the science right" is absurd. They claim to have figured out leucovorin + COVID vax deaths already. But they need more time on a drug as well studied as mife?
The spokesperson's claim this delay is not political but bc "comprehensive scientific reviews take the time necessary to get the science right" is absurd. They claim to have figured out leucovorin + COVID vax deaths already. But they need more time on a drug as well studied as mife?
The best reading of this article: Trump is going to use FDA to restrict medication abortion, but he wants to wait until after the midterms so the Republicans don't experience blowback. But that just makes the midterms more important. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
FDA Slow Walking a Long-Awaited Abortion Pill Safety Study
The Food and Drug Administration has delayed a promised review of safety data for the abortion drug mifepristone at Commissioner Marty Makary’s request to put it off until after the midterm elections,...
www.bloomberg.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:40 PM
🚨 BIG BIG DEAL 🚨
The spokesperson's claim this delay is not political but bc "comprehensive scientific reviews take the time necessary to get the science right" is absurd. They claim to have figured out leucovorin + COVID vax deaths already. But they need more time on a drug as well studied as mife?
The spokesperson's claim this delay is not political but bc "comprehensive scientific reviews take the time necessary to get the science right" is absurd. They claim to have figured out leucovorin + COVID vax deaths already. But they need more time on a drug as well studied as mife?
The best reading of this article: Trump is going to use FDA to restrict medication abortion, but he wants to wait until after the midterms so the Republicans don't experience blowback. But that just makes the midterms more important. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
FDA Slow Walking a Long-Awaited Abortion Pill Safety Study
The Food and Drug Administration has delayed a promised review of safety data for the abortion drug mifepristone at Commissioner Marty Makary’s request to put it off until after the midterm elections,...
www.bloomberg.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:20 PM
The best reading of this article: Trump is going to use FDA to restrict medication abortion, but he wants to wait until after the midterms so the Republicans don't experience blowback. But that just makes the midterms more important. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
There’s a special place in hell for an undereducated man explaining why formula isn’t good…NEWS FLASH- FED IS BEST. Some babies can nurse and some moms can’t breast feed and that’s the brilliance of formula. Get this idiot off the stage
RFK Jr: "All of the ingenuity of corporate America has not produced an infant formula that is superior in nutrition and all the qualities that we want to the infant formula that God made, which is the infant formula in a mother's breast."
December 8, 2025 at 10:33 PM
There’s a special place in hell for an undereducated man explaining why formula isn’t good…NEWS FLASH- FED IS BEST. Some babies can nurse and some moms can’t breast feed and that’s the brilliance of formula. Get this idiot off the stage
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
There's this conceit that Democrats are hopelessly split on housing policy but Elizabeth Warren led a housing supply bill that got buy-in across the party until House Republicans stopped it.
It's a problem for these efforts to write progressives out of the party if they're not actually the problem.
It's a problem for these efforts to write progressives out of the party if they're not actually the problem.
Leave it to House Republicans to fumble a comprehensive, bipartisan housing package that passed out of the Senate committee UNANIMOUSLY!
December 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM
There's this conceit that Democrats are hopelessly split on housing policy but Elizabeth Warren led a housing supply bill that got buy-in across the party until House Republicans stopped it.
It's a problem for these efforts to write progressives out of the party if they're not actually the problem.
It's a problem for these efforts to write progressives out of the party if they're not actually the problem.
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
Sadism is the lifeblood of MAGA, and US government agencies are sanctioning this as an operating principle on a daily basis:
December 8, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Sadism is the lifeblood of MAGA, and US government agencies are sanctioning this as an operating principle on a daily basis:
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
Way too many Libertarians: “But with a totally unconstrained executive, just think what good we could do!”
also you know what else is dangerous to individual liberty? a totally unconstrained executive, which we're seeing right now thanks, in part, to kavanaugh's own actions as a justice!
December 8, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Way too many Libertarians: “But with a totally unconstrained executive, just think what good we could do!”
THIS.
It is really, really hard to get your head around the raw hubris of the majority. They really will be destabilizing the operating structure of the entire U.S. government. Why? Because they believe they have a better idea about how the past century should've been done.
Justice Gorsuch: Is it possible--"just maybe"--that we're setting our sights far too low and we should be blowing up many more structures of modern government?
December 8, 2025 at 4:23 PM
THIS.
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
A Republican call to give Americans cash instead of health insurance subsidies revives an old idea that has left millions with medical debt. n.pr/44dfWWE
Republicans push high deductible plans and health savings accounts
A Republican call to give Americans cash instead of health insurance subsidies revives an old idea that has left millions with medical debt.
n.pr
December 8, 2025 at 2:07 PM
A Republican call to give Americans cash instead of health insurance subsidies revives an old idea that has left millions with medical debt. n.pr/44dfWWE
A really good @juliaazari.bsky.social post about our president’s racism.
open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
Trump's language about immigrants isn't just about ugly words
Saying the quiet part out loud isn't just a superficial change.
open.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 12:12 PM
A really good @juliaazari.bsky.social post about our president’s racism.
open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
It was never about deporting criminals. It was always about using deportation to criminalize people they want to control.
They are now targeting people who did everything by the book and were literally at the ceremony where they were going to become citizens...
"Immigrants lined up to become U.S. citizens in Boston on Dec. 4 were pulled from line by USCIS officials moments before the oath ceremony"
"Immigrants lined up to become U.S. citizens in Boston on Dec. 4 were pulled from line by USCIS officials moments before the oath ceremony"
Immigrants Approved for Citizenship ‘Plucked Out’ of Line Moments Before Pledging Allegiance: Report
Immigrants lined up to become U.S. citizens in Boston on Dec. 4 were pulled from line by USCIS officials moments before the ceremony. The incident comes after USCIS told employees to halt all immigrat...
people.com
December 8, 2025 at 4:00 AM
It was never about deporting criminals. It was always about using deportation to criminalize people they want to control.
A deep -- and correct -- critique of much of the current SCOTUS's jurisprudence.
the idea that a handful of conservative legal scholars have an understanding that should supersede a settlement affirmed my generations of american is astoundingly arrogant, and the idea that trump — or any president — can unilaterally overturn that settlement is just despotism
December 8, 2025 at 10:09 AM
A deep -- and correct -- critique of much of the current SCOTUS's jurisprudence.
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
I mean, Cuellar hasn’t even had a chance since the pardon to cast a single vote in the House in opposition to the Trump agenda.
So “loyalty” isn’t even measured by how you vote. It’s flat, simple, public personal fealty.
So “loyalty” isn’t even measured by how you vote. It’s flat, simple, public personal fealty.
Trump rages that Henry Cuellar didn’t pay him back for a pardon by switching parties, blasting Cuellar for a “lack of LOYALTY.”
In other words, Trump admits he was trying to use his pardon power to buy Republicans a House seat.
In other words, Trump admits he was trying to use his pardon power to buy Republicans a House seat.
December 7, 2025 at 5:22 PM
I mean, Cuellar hasn’t even had a chance since the pardon to cast a single vote in the House in opposition to the Trump agenda.
So “loyalty” isn’t even measured by how you vote. It’s flat, simple, public personal fealty.
So “loyalty” isn’t even measured by how you vote. It’s flat, simple, public personal fealty.
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
The defense is now “We were trying to commit murder, not war crimes.”
"Bradley told lawmakers that the orders he received from Hegseth were to kill the individuals on the approved target list, which included everyone on the boat, then destroy the drugs and sink the boat, those sources said."
They were civilians.
They were civilians.
Admiral told lawmakers everyone on alleged drug boat was on a list of military targets
Adm. Frank Bradley said U.S. intelligence had identified the 11 people on the boat and determined the military was authorized to kill them as part of Trump’s campaign against alleged drug-smuggling ve...
www.nbcnews.com
December 7, 2025 at 11:54 AM
The defense is now “We were trying to commit murder, not war crimes.”
What @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social says here.
www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/how-... Syndicate Newsletter
www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/how-... Syndicate Newsletter
December 7, 2025 at 11:54 AM
What @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social says here.
www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/how-... Syndicate Newsletter
www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/how-... Syndicate Newsletter
Yes, it really does look like Thoughts and Desires.
As bad as the coincidence appears, it looks like FIFA just did a model of the sculpture Thoughts and Desires, which was donated to the UN by Azerbaijan in 2017.
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
December 6, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Yes, it really does look like Thoughts and Desires.
Reposted by Sam Bagenstos
Fitting that our new National Security Strategy is basically cribbed from Camp of the Saints, the super-racist 1970s novel that is all the rage amongst contemporary fascists around the globe, like Steve Bannon.
bsky.app/profile/maxb...
bsky.app/profile/maxb...
The new National Security Strategy of the U.S. contains some pretty explicit white nationalism:
“We want to support our allies in preserving the freedom and security of
Europe, while restoring Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity.”
“We want to support our allies in preserving the freedom and security of
Europe, while restoring Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity.”
December 6, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Fitting that our new National Security Strategy is basically cribbed from Camp of the Saints, the super-racist 1970s novel that is all the rage amongst contemporary fascists around the globe, like Steve Bannon.
bsky.app/profile/maxb...
bsky.app/profile/maxb...