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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 14h

Pretty insane stuff from DHS Acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara:

www.thehandbasket.co/p/dhs-fps-me...

Accordingly, if an individual across the street from a federal building throws a rock or bottle at FPS officers on federal property, as many of these rioters are wont to do, FPS can leave federal property and either arrest the malefactors or take other appropriate action in line with FPS's continuum of force policies. FPS could even enter a private residence containing an identified sniper blocks away from a federal facility in order to eliminate that exigent threat. There is simply no legal barrier to FPS taking action off federal property where a reasonable nexus to protecting that property exists.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 15h

Trump has sent the National Guard to Chicago and Portland under the guise of protecting DHS agents from threats that don't exist. With this new guidance, it appears FPS agents (who are able to call on ICE, CBP, etc for backup at any time) have been empowered to do their own "protecting."

DHS top lawyer says 'no legal barrier' to actions officers can take to defend federal property

In a memo obtained exclusively by The Handbasket, Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers were given free rein.

www.thehandbasket.co

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 15h

EXCLUSIVE — DHS Acting General Counsel sent out a memo Wednesday to all Federal Protective Service staff (the sub-agency that guards federal buildings) letting officers know they could take any action necessary "in the vicinity" federal property to protect themselves.

The Handbasket reports:

DHS top lawyer says 'no legal barrier' to actions officers can take to defend federal property

In a memo obtained exclusively by The Handbasket, Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers were given free rein.

www.thehandbasket.co

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Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 5h

just randomly looking around and found a place that sells these outfits in multiple sizes, if anyone's interested

www.favounicorn.com/inflatable-f...

Inflatable frog costume in kid and adult sizes, $54

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 5h

Is it cancel culture when they threaten to kill you?

www.nj.com/news/2025/10...

Sold-out Ta-Nehisi Coates speaker appearance in N.J. canceled over security reasons

Organizers canceled a sold-out Ta-Nehisi Coates event in Montclair citing undisclosed security concerns.

www.nj.com

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web_rant @webrant.bsky.social · 4h

Theocratic American fascism is always about the return of subjugation.

bsky.app/profile/step...

Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 10h

But you shouldn't be too surprised when they say stuff like this:

"You were better off being a Black person in Charleston, S.C., in 1850, when they had an operating slave market than being conceived as a Black baby in New York City or Baltimore today."

I don’t want to take any guidance at all from the secular society around us. And the reason I don’t is they killed 60 million babies. I don’t want to hear any more lectures from these people about slavery. You were better off being a Black person in Charleston, S.C., in 1850, when they had an operating slave market than being conceived as a Black baby in New York City or Baltimore today.

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web_rant @webrant.bsky.social · 4h

Theocratic American fascism is always about the return of subjugation.

bsky.app/profile/step...

Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 10h

But you shouldn't be too surprised when they say stuff like this:

"You were better off being a Black person in Charleston, S.C., in 1850, when they had an operating slave market than being conceived as a Black baby in New York City or Baltimore today."

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 11h

Counterpoint:

You absolutely do not have to hand it to enslavers

Wilson: Now, one of the things I want to do is say: I’m really glad that slavery’s gone, and good riddance. And I want to say that the Southern slave owner, who read the books of Ephesians and Colossians and 1 Timothy and treated his slaves decently, remembering that he had a master in heaven who he studiously tried to obey — what Paul said slave owners were supposed to do — I would say he was not an orc, and he is part of the reason why slavery ended. In other words, I would say he’s a good guy.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 7h

UPDATE: Judge Perry issued an opinion explaining why she blocked the Texas National Guard deployment in Chicago.

She begins with Alexander Hamilton’s rejection of a “preposterous” idea that the Constitution lets a President deploy a State’s militia to a different State for political retribution. 🧵

OPINION AND ORDER
Since this country was founded, Americans have disagreed about the appropriate division
of power between the federal government and the fifty states that make up our Union. This
tension is a natural result of the system of federalism adopted by our Founders. And yet, not even
the Founding Father most ardently in favor of a strong federal government believed that one
state's militia could be sent to another state for the purposes of political retribution, calling such
a suggestion "inflammatory," and stating "it is impossible to believe that [a President] would employ such preposterous means to accomplish their designs." But Plaintiffs contend that such
an event has come to pass, and argue that National Guard troops from both Illinois and Texas
have been deployed to Illinois because the President of the United States wants to punish state elected officials whose policies are different from his own.

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Veterans Against Trump @vetsat.bsky.social · 6h

"Based on the known spending so far, the deployments could wind up costing Americans roughly two-thirds of a billion dollars."

But we don't have money for healthcare, amirite? 🫠

Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 8h

“The National Guard’s mostly quiet walks through Washington, D.C., are expected to cost a little more than $200 million…”

www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

A Very, Very Expensive Way to Reduce Crime

The Trump administration’s National Guard deployments are highly inefficient.

www.theatlantic.com

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Brian Hiatt @hiattb.bsky.social · 11h

A little moment in my newest James Gunn interview www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv...

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web_rant @webrant.bsky.social · 4h

Tel Aviv born Michael Dezer purchased as many ocean-front old motels in Sunny Isles Beach as he could, then in partnership with Trump built $900 million Trump Towers, the $600 million Trump Grande Ocean Resort and $166 million Trump International Hotel and Tower.

Jared saying they want to do the same in Gaza

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Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 9h

Michael Dezer was born in Tel Aviv in 1941, came to the US in the 1960s after serving in the Israeli Air Force. He and his son keep close ties and lost a number of Zionist groups as “charitable” causes.

They gave hundreds of thousands to Trump PACs in 2016 and 2020.

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Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 9h

Michael Dezer and his son Gil Dezer built six Trump-branded properties in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, which is now known as “Little Moscow” due to all the luxury condo buyers — people who found themselves suddenly mysteriously filthy rich.

“Russians love the Trump brand,” Gil Dezer said in 2017.

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web_rant @webrant.bsky.social · 4h

Tel Aviv born Michael Dezer purchased as many ocean-front old motels in Sunny Isles Beach as he could, then in partnership with Trump built $900 million Trump Towers, the $600 million Trump Grande Ocean Resort and $166 million Trump International Hotel and Tower.

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Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 10h

NEW: The private jet that flew 10 shackled migrants to an Eswatini prison last weekend is owned by Israeli-American billionaires with close ties to Trump.

It’s oligarchs all the way down.

My first for @zeteo.com:

zeteo.com/p/this-famil...

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 6h

there's really just zero motivation for Ds to negotiate when they're saying things like this. if they're just going to rule by recissision anyway, might as well make them admit they're gutting the fillibuster in order to destroy healthcare.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15h

Q: Rescission are something Dems have said is a reason for a lack of trust. What rescissions are you discussing?

JOHNSON: We have more than $37t in debt. We're doing everything we can to get us back to sound fiscal responsibility. What does that include? A rescission package is part of our process

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web_rant @webrant.bsky.social · 4h

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUmR...

Blue Oyster Cult - "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll" HQ/With Onscreen Lyrics!

YouTube video by Rick Needham

www.youtube.com

web_rant @webrant.bsky.social · 4h

He'll say it when he meets Machado in person.

bsky.app/profile/atru...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9h

Trump: "The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me, and said 'I'm accepting this in honor of you, because you really deserved it.' A really nice thing to do. I didn't say 'Then give it to me, though.'"

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Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 8h

That sound you hear is plaintiff lawyers popping champagne corks and DOJ lawyers groaning.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9h

Q: How many layoffs have you authorized?

TRUMP: It'll be a lot. And it'll be Democrat-oriented.

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 10h

His slip of the tongue reveals who’s really in charge. trib.al/mIvP0yE

“Illinois governor says we’re provoking actions that are unlawful,” Miller said on CNN. “If I put federal law enforcement and National Guard into a nice sleepy Southern town, is anyone gonna riot?”

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Heartland Signal @heartlandsignal.bsky.social · 11h

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) says he has been denied 4 times to see what is going on inside the Broadview, IL ICE facility:

"Something's going on in there that they don't want us to see. I don't know what it is, but all Americans should be asking the same question."

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web_rant @webrant.bsky.social · 4h

When you have a Speaker who's such your tool he won't even convene the House in fear of a vote to release files on Epstein.

bsky.app/profile/carl...

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web_rant @webrant.bsky.social · 4h

Alfred Nobel being the inventor of dynamite...

bsky.app/profile/esqu...

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 6h

Anyone else think it's odd that the US just lost one of its last major munitions producer on the day the Nobel peace prize was awarded? The world has basically run out of high explosives and has no immediate capacity to scale back up to produce it again. Could be coincidence but it's kinda spooky.

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 9h

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 12h

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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