Joseph Britt
@zathras5.bsky.social
Wisconsin and the world. Opinions my own. Once a Republican.
Pinned
Joseph Britt
@zathras5.bsky.social
· Mar 20
For the white, against the colored.
For the rich, against the rest.
For the dictator, against the democracy.
These are not the only principles of the Republican Party in the 2020s, but they are the main ones. They are the first fruits of decadence.
For the rich, against the rest.
For the dictator, against the democracy.
These are not the only principles of the Republican Party in the 2020s, but they are the main ones. They are the first fruits of decadence.
Reposted by Joseph Britt
The latest move in Trump’s White America immigration policy, via @cfr.org. There must not be many soccer fans in among Trump Republicans; this will complicate next summer’s World Cup.
The Trump administration announced on January 14 that it would indefinitely freeze visa processing for people coming from 75 countries, the latest effort to advance the president's immigration agenda.
Get the background:
Get the background:
A Guide to the Countries on Trump's Travel Ban List
The White House's growing travel ban is now shutting down immigrant visa processing indefinitely for seventy-five countries, including Brazil, Iran, Russia, and Somalia, among several others.
www.cfr.org
January 14, 2026 at 10:38 PM
The latest move in Trump’s White America immigration policy, via @cfr.org. There must not be many soccer fans in among Trump Republicans; this will complicate next summer’s World Cup.
Reposted by Joseph Britt
Important reporting by @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social, who checked with former ICE officials to get their perspective on the agency’s rampage through Minneapolis. Whether part of a conscious strategy to provoke violence or a more ramshackle program to meet arrest quotas, ICE is attacking a major city.
“It’s not at all surprising that this is happening with these ICE [removal] officers being sent out to basically treat people terribly,” a one-time deputy chief counsel with the agency told me, anticipating more escalation of violence. My latest for @motherjones.com:
Former members of ICE say recent violence is "by design"
"What has changed is there has been an encouragement from the top to be much more aggressive in enforcement."
www.motherjones.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Important reporting by @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social, who checked with former ICE officials to get their perspective on the agency’s rampage through Minneapolis. Whether part of a conscious strategy to provoke violence or a more ramshackle program to meet arrest quotas, ICE is attacking a major city.
Reposted by Joseph Britt
"Two to three thousand armed agents of the federal government have been deployed to Minnesota.
Armed, masked, undertrained ICE agents are going door to door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live."
Armed, masked, undertrained ICE agents are going door to door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live."
Governor Walz Addresses Ongoing Federal Presence in Minnesota
YouTube video by Office of the Governor of Minnesota
youtu.be
January 15, 2026 at 2:32 AM
"Two to three thousand armed agents of the federal government have been deployed to Minnesota.
Armed, masked, undertrained ICE agents are going door to door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live."
Armed, masked, undertrained ICE agents are going door to door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live."
Thread. Here we go again. Via @austinkocher.com
Based on the City of Minneapolis and confirmed by a friend in the city, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been involved in another shooting in the northern part of the city, two people shot by ICE officer(s). Situation is developing, more information to come.
January 15, 2026 at 1:59 AM
Thread. Here we go again. Via @austinkocher.com
On one level, what @jamesrball.com describes is unsurprising. Federal legislators derive their authority from their institution; the less powerful Congress is, the less weight their voices have. Republicans in Congress have worked to weaken Congress for many years now.
The absence of any public pushback from the Republican Party on a situation as insane as Trump is rapidly reaching on Greenland is itself a huge sign of how far gone the US already is.
January 15, 2026 at 1:14 AM
On one level, what @jamesrball.com describes is unsurprising. Federal legislators derive their authority from their institution; the less powerful Congress is, the less weight their voices have. Republicans in Congress have worked to weaken Congress for many years now.
Important reporting by @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social, who checked with former ICE officials to get their perspective on the agency’s rampage through Minneapolis. Whether part of a conscious strategy to provoke violence or a more ramshackle program to meet arrest quotas, ICE is attacking a major city.
“It’s not at all surprising that this is happening with these ICE [removal] officers being sent out to basically treat people terribly,” a one-time deputy chief counsel with the agency told me, anticipating more escalation of violence. My latest for @motherjones.com:
Former members of ICE say recent violence is "by design"
"What has changed is there has been an encouragement from the top to be much more aggressive in enforcement."
www.motherjones.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Important reporting by @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social, who checked with former ICE officials to get their perspective on the agency’s rampage through Minneapolis. Whether part of a conscious strategy to provoke violence or a more ramshackle program to meet arrest quotas, ICE is attacking a major city.
The latest move in Trump’s White America immigration policy, via @cfr.org. There must not be many soccer fans in among Trump Republicans; this will complicate next summer’s World Cup.
The Trump administration announced on January 14 that it would indefinitely freeze visa processing for people coming from 75 countries, the latest effort to advance the president's immigration agenda.
Get the background:
Get the background:
A Guide to the Countries on Trump's Travel Ban List
The White House's growing travel ban is now shutting down immigrant visa processing indefinitely for seventy-five countries, including Brazil, Iran, Russia, and Somalia, among several others.
www.cfr.org
January 14, 2026 at 10:38 PM
The latest move in Trump’s White America immigration policy, via @cfr.org. There must not be many soccer fans in among Trump Republicans; this will complicate next summer’s World Cup.
Interesting essay by @abuaardvark.bsky.social, who has seen a lot in the Middle East. Trump’s pattern has been to seek out opportunities for lethal military strikes that generate immediate publicity with minimal risk of American casualties. The ideal target is one that can’t shoot back.
Eternal Sunshine of the Bomb Iran Mind - my new piece in Foreign Policy lays out why the likely impeding US attack on Iran is unlikely to help its protestors and likely to make things worse. With a paywall free link
abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/eternal-suns...
abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/eternal-suns...
Eternal Sunshine of the Bomb Iran Mind
All signs point to an imminent American bombing attack on Iran, ostensibly in support of protestors challenging the regime. Such a military intervention in search of regime change has long been a fant...
abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io
January 14, 2026 at 7:21 PM
Interesting essay by @abuaardvark.bsky.social, who has seen a lot in the Middle East. Trump’s pattern has been to seek out opportunities for lethal military strikes that generate immediate publicity with minimal risk of American casualties. The ideal target is one that can’t shoot back.
Thread. Tren de Aragua is a real thing, in criminal activity within Venezuela. The Trump administration has used it to justify renditions to El Salvador and lethal air strikes on the high seas — all in insistent bad faith. @dell.bsky.social summarizes new @wired.com reporting.
BREAKING: Hundreds of sensitive U.S. records obtained by WIRED undercut the Trump administration’s claims portraying Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua as a unified terrorist force invading the country. Intelligence agencies spent much of 2025 unsure TdA even functioned as an organization on U.S. soil.
Trump Warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘Invasion.’ US Intel Told a Different Story
Hundreds of records obtained by WIRED show thin intelligence on the Venezuelan gang in the United States, describing fragmented, low-level crime rather than a coordinated terrorist threat.
www.wired.com
January 14, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Thread. Tren de Aragua is a real thing, in criminal activity within Venezuela. The Trump administration has used it to justify renditions to El Salvador and lethal air strikes on the high seas — all in insistent bad faith. @dell.bsky.social summarizes new @wired.com reporting.
Reposted by Joseph Britt
Again, I’m going to keep banging the lonely drum that this is a gross violation of both our UN & NATO treaty obligations, it poses a massive threat to US national security & international order, &, as it would have done for any other presidency since WWII, it should immediately end this one.
Trump again calls for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, calling it vital for NATO. NBC says the price tag could reach $700B, with Rubio tasked to draft a proposal. The fact that U.S. officials are calculating how to buy an autonomous territory that doesn’t want to be American is absurd.
January 14, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Again, I’m going to keep banging the lonely drum that this is a gross violation of both our UN & NATO treaty obligations, it poses a massive threat to US national security & international order, &, as it would have done for any other presidency since WWII, it should immediately end this one.
Trump lies from today’s speech in Michigan: some of them he was telling early in his first term, before @ddale8.bsky.social had moved to CNN from the Toronto Star. Most American journalists treat old lies as old news. Via @carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Daniel Dale’s “Trump fact-checks” have reached parody level.
This is today’s. 🤡
@ddale8.bsky.social @cnn.com
www.cnn.com/2026/01/13/p...
This is today’s. 🤡
@ddale8.bsky.social @cnn.com
www.cnn.com/2026/01/13/p...
January 13, 2026 at 11:53 PM
Trump lies from today’s speech in Michigan: some of them he was telling early in his first term, before @ddale8.bsky.social had moved to CNN from the Toronto Star. Most American journalists treat old lies as old news. Via @carlquintanilla.bsky.social
@chrismurphyct.bsky.social is the junior Senator from Connecticut.
Senate Democrats who disagree with Murphy see Trump getting more unpopular, giving Democrats running for House and Senate an advantage that fights over appropriations (let alone impeachment resolutions) could put at risk. [short 🧵]
Senate Democrats who disagree with Murphy see Trump getting more unpopular, giving Democrats running for House and Senate an advantage that fights over appropriations (let alone impeachment resolutions) could put at risk. [short 🧵]
Murphy: The United States Congress should not fund a Department of Homeland Security that is not obeying the laws of the United States of America
January 13, 2026 at 11:27 PM
@chrismurphyct.bsky.social is the junior Senator from Connecticut.
Senate Democrats who disagree with Murphy see Trump getting more unpopular, giving Democrats running for House and Senate an advantage that fights over appropriations (let alone impeachment resolutions) could put at risk. [short 🧵]
Senate Democrats who disagree with Murphy see Trump getting more unpopular, giving Democrats running for House and Senate an advantage that fights over appropriations (let alone impeachment resolutions) could put at risk. [short 🧵]
ICE agents are even more dangerous to people in detention than they are to people on public streets. This account of a Minneapolis detention facility via @sahanjournal.bsky.social
Arrested while observing ICE, two Minnesota residents describe harsh conditions and fear inside federal building cells.
Written by Katelyn Vue
Written by Katelyn Vue
‘I heard screaming, I heard crying:’ Inside ICE detainment at the Whipple Building
Two U.S. citizen observers share a rare look inside ICE custody at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis.
sahanjournal.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:09 PM
ICE agents are even more dangerous to people in detention than they are to people on public streets. This account of a Minneapolis detention facility via @sahanjournal.bsky.social
ICE seems to have a thing for attacking women. Maybe it’s policy; maybe it’s what ICE employees do off duty. Either way, it’s not desirable in anyone doing any kind of law enforcement. Via @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social
Today at 34 & Park in Minneapolis, a woman tried to drive down the street where a protest had broken out in front of a home ICE was raiding, saying she had a doctor apt to get to. ICE agents busted out her windows, cut off her seatbelt, and pulled her out before arresting her.
January 13, 2026 at 7:14 PM
ICE seems to have a thing for attacking women. Maybe it’s policy; maybe it’s what ICE employees do off duty. Either way, it’s not desirable in anyone doing any kind of law enforcement. Via @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social
Reposted by Joseph Britt
It may seem a small thing as we face deadly force, but the regime threatening the Smithsonian matters. NPR, like other media, fails to clearly label the threat to withhold congressionally appropriated funds as illegal. We need to write and call Congress members to urge them to support the museum.
Today is the Smithsonian's deadline to give thousands of documents to the White House
The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology."
www.npr.org
January 13, 2026 at 5:37 PM
It may seem a small thing as we face deadly force, but the regime threatening the Smithsonian matters. NPR, like other media, fails to clearly label the threat to withhold congressionally appropriated funds as illegal. We need to write and call Congress members to urge them to support the museum.
Thread. After years of progress reducing economy-wide emissions of carbon dioxide & other climate -altering gases, the United States is again heading in the wrong direction. The speculative boom in data centers is the main reason why. Energy analyst @ketanjoshi.co summarizes a @rhg.com study.
New analysis out today from Rhodium Group showing data centres were one of the major drivers of the first rise in total economy-wide emissions in the US in years
Uncontrolled growth of demand has helped boost coal growth, in conjunction with the LNG export boom ->
rhg.com/research/us-...
Uncontrolled growth of demand has helped boost coal growth, in conjunction with the LNG export boom ->
rhg.com/research/us-...
January 13, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Thread. After years of progress reducing economy-wide emissions of carbon dioxide & other climate -altering gases, the United States is again heading in the wrong direction. The speculative boom in data centers is the main reason why. Energy analyst @ketanjoshi.co summarizes a @rhg.com study.
Reposted by Joseph Britt
People who aren't in Minnesota might not know that if you drive or walk past pretty much any school, there's going to be a group of people, parents and childless, standing guard to make sure the kids are safe from feds. It's pretty remarkable. And very disturbing. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Twin Cities students walk out, decry ICE as surge continues
Hundreds of Twin Cities high school students walked out of school Monday to protest federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Officials are increasingly concerned about high absenteeism in some sc...
www.mprnews.org
January 13, 2026 at 2:41 PM
People who aren't in Minnesota might not know that if you drive or walk past pretty much any school, there's going to be a group of people, parents and childless, standing guard to make sure the kids are safe from feds. It's pretty remarkable. And very disturbing. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Reposted by Joseph Britt
Reporting by veterans @carolleonnig.bsky.social & @kendilanian-nbc.bsky.social. Four Justice Departnent attorneys leave after former Trump lawyer Dhillon refuses to investigate Renee Good killing by ICE agent in Minneapolis. www.ms.now/news/doj-civ...
A new spate of Justice Department officials quit because their section didn't want to probe Renee Good's shooting
At least four leaders of the Civil Rights Division resigned because the section's head, Harmeet Dhillon, decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good.
www.ms.now
January 13, 2026 at 4:32 AM
Reporting by veterans @carolleonnig.bsky.social & @kendilanian-nbc.bsky.social. Four Justice Departnent attorneys leave after former Trump lawyer Dhillon refuses to investigate Renee Good killing by ICE agent in Minneapolis. www.ms.now/news/doj-civ...
Reporting by veterans @carolleonnig.bsky.social & @kendilanian-nbc.bsky.social. Four Justice Departnent attorneys leave after former Trump lawyer Dhillon refuses to investigate Renee Good killing by ICE agent in Minneapolis. www.ms.now/news/doj-civ...
A new spate of Justice Department officials quit because their section didn't want to probe Renee Good's shooting
At least four leaders of the Civil Rights Division resigned because the section's head, Harmeet Dhillon, decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good.
www.ms.now
January 13, 2026 at 4:32 AM
Reporting by veterans @carolleonnig.bsky.social & @kendilanian-nbc.bsky.social. Four Justice Departnent attorneys leave after former Trump lawyer Dhillon refuses to investigate Renee Good killing by ICE agent in Minneapolis. www.ms.now/news/doj-civ...
Reposted by Joseph Britt
"In democratic societies, the use of lawful force depends on legitimacy. Legitimacy depends on accountability. And accountability begins with identification."
www.thebulwark.com/p/take-the-m...
www.thebulwark.com/p/take-the-m...
Take the Masks Off
ICE won’t even match the courage and professionalism of the Iraqi Police.
www.thebulwark.com
January 13, 2026 at 4:14 AM
"In democratic societies, the use of lawful force depends on legitimacy. Legitimacy depends on accountability. And accountability begins with identification."
www.thebulwark.com/p/take-the-m...
www.thebulwark.com/p/take-the-m...
Thread. There is no bottom. By @bcfinucane.bsky.social
Fun fact:
The USG considers perfidy in a non-international armed conflict (which the boat bombing scheme supposedly is) to be a war crime.
Notable if the administration is committing criminal violations of its own (bogus) legal framework for the boat strikes.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/u...
The USG considers perfidy in a non-international armed conflict (which the boat bombing scheme supposedly is) to be a war crime.
Notable if the administration is committing criminal violations of its own (bogus) legal framework for the boat strikes.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/u...
U.S. Attacked Boat With Aircraft That Looked Like a Civilian Plane
www.nytimes.com
January 13, 2026 at 12:17 AM
Thread. There is no bottom. By @bcfinucane.bsky.social
Short, to the point: @ag.state.mn.us Keith Ellison on the bad faith behind Trump actions in Minnesota: the ICE riots, of course, but not only those.
Bad faith pervades the whole Trump administration, from Venezuela to vaccines to bogus prosecutions. It’s been hard for some to accept this.
Bad faith pervades the whole Trump administration, from Venezuela to vaccines to bogus prosecutions. It’s been hard for some to accept this.
Ellison: "Enforcing federal immigration law and fighting fraud are just pretexts for this surge. The real reason is no secret -- Donald Trump and his administration have been targeting people, cities, and states that don't agree with them politically."
January 12, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Short, to the point: @ag.state.mn.us Keith Ellison on the bad faith behind Trump actions in Minnesota: the ICE riots, of course, but not only those.
Bad faith pervades the whole Trump administration, from Venezuela to vaccines to bogus prosecutions. It’s been hard for some to accept this.
Bad faith pervades the whole Trump administration, from Venezuela to vaccines to bogus prosecutions. It’s been hard for some to accept this.
Always important to remind ourselves that the entire Venezuelan adventure, with its grand schemes to multiply that country’s oil production several fold, takes place in a happy-happy-fantasy playtime world in which climate change isn’t happening. Because it just can’t. Via @bryangodbe.bsky.social
"US plans to exploit Venezuela’s oil reserves could by 2050 consume more than a tenth of the world’s remaining carbon budget to limit global heating to 1.5C, according to an exclusive analysis."
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
US plan to exploit Venezuela’s oil could eat up 13% of carbon budget to keep 1.5C limit
Exclusive: ClimatePartner analysis shows how move would risk plunging Earth further into climate catastrophe
www.theguardian.com
January 12, 2026 at 8:21 PM
Always important to remind ourselves that the entire Venezuelan adventure, with its grand schemes to multiply that country’s oil production several fold, takes place in a happy-happy-fantasy playtime world in which climate change isn’t happening. Because it just can’t. Via @bryangodbe.bsky.social
Attacking Greenland is the dumbest and worst of Trump’s impulses, writes @jfallows.bsky.social, who also sees people in Trump’s circle manipulating him and using him to advance their own agendas, from vaccines to South America. And Trump is going gah-gah, which we can see for ourselves.
In the Time of the Mad King, starting with Greenland.
By me. fallows.substack.com/p/in-the-tim...
First 2/3+ before paywall, fyi.
By me. fallows.substack.com/p/in-the-tim...
First 2/3+ before paywall, fyi.
In the Time of the Mad King.
Lieutenants like Vought, Miller, Hegseth, Noem are ever more purposefully destructive. They serve a leader ever less tethered to reality. Update on the real-world consequences for the rest of us.
fallows.substack.com
January 12, 2026 at 7:14 PM
Attacking Greenland is the dumbest and worst of Trump’s impulses, writes @jfallows.bsky.social, who also sees people in Trump’s circle manipulating him and using him to advance their own agendas, from vaccines to South America. And Trump is going gah-gah, which we can see for ourselves.
It can’t be said too often: Trump administration messaging targets his most fervent supporters, who will believe anything he says. They love White House messaging about Trump being “Acting President of Venezuela.” That it infuriates Venezuela hardly matters. By @anneapplebaum.bsky.social
In Venezuela, armed ‘colectivos’ are said to be setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for Americans
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
US urges its citizens to flee Venezuela amid reports of paramilitaries
State department says armed ‘colectivos’ appear to be setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for Americans
www.theguardian.com
January 12, 2026 at 5:16 PM
It can’t be said too often: Trump administration messaging targets his most fervent supporters, who will believe anything he says. They love White House messaging about Trump being “Acting President of Venezuela.” That it infuriates Venezuela hardly matters. By @anneapplebaum.bsky.social