caroline
@carolineplatt.bsky.social
public defender. appellate lawyer. I like criminal justice, dogs, music, sports, books, bars, billiards, and the beach.
DC --> LA
DC --> LA
Reposted by caroline
160 years ago today, the 13th Amendment was ratified to end slavery, with one major exception: punishment for a crime.
The legacy of slavery lives on as people behind bars are still coerced into working for mere pennies or nothing at all.
It's long overdue to abolish slavery in all its forms.
The legacy of slavery lives on as people behind bars are still coerced into working for mere pennies or nothing at all.
It's long overdue to abolish slavery in all its forms.
December 6, 2025 at 4:40 PM
160 years ago today, the 13th Amendment was ratified to end slavery, with one major exception: punishment for a crime.
The legacy of slavery lives on as people behind bars are still coerced into working for mere pennies or nothing at all.
It's long overdue to abolish slavery in all its forms.
The legacy of slavery lives on as people behind bars are still coerced into working for mere pennies or nothing at all.
It's long overdue to abolish slavery in all its forms.
Reposted by caroline
I love soccer and I remember each World Cup with great intensity and always so much look forward to the next. But FIFA that was disgusting, even more disgusting than usual, and now I just can’t. And won’t.
December 6, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I love soccer and I remember each World Cup with great intensity and always so much look forward to the next. But FIFA that was disgusting, even more disgusting than usual, and now I just can’t. And won’t.
Reposted by caroline
wtf is a FIFA peace prize? that's like being an NFL laureate in physics
December 5, 2025 at 7:21 PM
wtf is a FIFA peace prize? that's like being an NFL laureate in physics
Reposted by caroline
Important @motherjones.com piece here:
Trump’s DOJ is building a voter purge machine—powered by your private data
The federal agency ordinarily would prevent attacks on voting rights. Now it’s carrying them out.
www.motherjones.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Important @motherjones.com piece here:
Reposted by caroline
BERMAN: Would it be legal for police in Arkansas to kill suspected drug dealers on a boat in a lake?
TOM COTTON: The premise of your question is not well-founded
BERMAN: The answer is no. It would not be legal to kill them.
TOM COTTON: The premise of your question is not well-founded
BERMAN: The answer is no. It would not be legal to kill them.
December 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
BERMAN: Would it be legal for police in Arkansas to kill suspected drug dealers on a boat in a lake?
TOM COTTON: The premise of your question is not well-founded
BERMAN: The answer is no. It would not be legal to kill them.
TOM COTTON: The premise of your question is not well-founded
BERMAN: The answer is no. It would not be legal to kill them.
Reposted by caroline
I can't stop thinking about the purported drug smugglers being murdered by the US military. The punishment for drug offenses isn't the death penalty. This is just bloodlust and men in suits playing with lives they don't care about. It's truly grotesque and gravely compromises this country.
December 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I can't stop thinking about the purported drug smugglers being murdered by the US military. The punishment for drug offenses isn't the death penalty. This is just bloodlust and men in suits playing with lives they don't care about. It's truly grotesque and gravely compromises this country.
Reposted by caroline
Sorry to be a broken record but it's nuts to me that the New York Times would write an entire article summarizing a court ruling and refuse to provide a link to said ruling. This is a disservice to readers. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/n...
Here's the ruling: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Here's the ruling: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Appeals Court Says Alina Habba Is Unlawful U.S. Attorney
www.nytimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Sorry to be a broken record but it's nuts to me that the New York Times would write an entire article summarizing a court ruling and refuse to provide a link to said ruling. This is a disservice to readers. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/n...
Here's the ruling: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Here's the ruling: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by caroline
A study of recent ICE deployments shows unequivocally that the principal targets are US citizens protesting against ICE, not immigrants. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
ICE Wants to Go After Dissenters as well as Immigrants
The Trump administration is being open about its plans to violate Americans’ First and Fourth Amendment rights.
www.brennancenter.org
December 1, 2025 at 2:16 PM
A study of recent ICE deployments shows unequivocally that the principal targets are US citizens protesting against ICE, not immigrants. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Reposted by caroline
The legal, media, and academic institutions capitulating to an authoritarian ordering payments for favorable treatment are damning themselves to irrelevance. They are destroying their institutions. They will be — and should be — shunned for failing in their most basic purposes for existing.
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university
Full statement from NU below:
Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 1:37 AM
The legal, media, and academic institutions capitulating to an authoritarian ordering payments for favorable treatment are damning themselves to irrelevance. They are destroying their institutions. They will be — and should be — shunned for failing in their most basic purposes for existing.
Reposted by caroline
A must read from @anandwrites.bsky.social. This line —
“The clubby deal-making and moral racketeering of the Epstein class is now the United States’ governing philosophy” — is spot on. How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
“The clubby deal-making and moral racketeering of the Epstein class is now the United States’ governing philosophy” — is spot on. How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
Opinion | How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:43 AM
A must read from @anandwrites.bsky.social. This line —
“The clubby deal-making and moral racketeering of the Epstein class is now the United States’ governing philosophy” — is spot on. How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
“The clubby deal-making and moral racketeering of the Epstein class is now the United States’ governing philosophy” — is spot on. How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
Reposted by caroline
Major sources of hate speech are located outside the US. Well yeah, we have this conversation every few months. And every few months people reject the bright shiny evidence that easiest way to ruin America is to feed the hate and bigotry that already exists here.
November 24, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Major sources of hate speech are located outside the US. Well yeah, we have this conversation every few months. And every few months people reject the bright shiny evidence that easiest way to ruin America is to feed the hate and bigotry that already exists here.
Reposted by caroline
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Reposted by caroline
This is Fendi. He is seen here demonstrating the internationally acknowledged sign language for politely requesting uppies. 13/10 would pick him up immediately (TT: isthat_jojo)
November 17, 2025 at 11:41 PM
This is Fendi. He is seen here demonstrating the internationally acknowledged sign language for politely requesting uppies. 13/10 would pick him up immediately (TT: isthat_jojo)
Reposted by caroline
Please stop using language that suggests that people with criminal records are appropriate targets for this administration's violence. One in three adults has a criminal record. Stop playing sacrifice games with fascists. Stop surrendering entire categories of people in your own mind.
November 15, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Please stop using language that suggests that people with criminal records are appropriate targets for this administration's violence. One in three adults has a criminal record. Stop playing sacrifice games with fascists. Stop surrendering entire categories of people in your own mind.
Reposted by caroline
As U.S. citizens are increasingly being swept up in ICE arrests, fascism expert Jason Stanley says it’s “a way to normalize the targeting of everybody” and scare Black and brown Americans away from public life. #Velshi
US citizens being swept up in ICE arrests: 'We’re now a country where you have to bring your papers around'
The Supreme Court has given ICE free reign to stop and detain people based on nothing more than appearance, accent, job, or location, and this dragnet is now sweeping up U.S. citizens. University of Toronto professor and fascism expert Jason Stanley warns that "we are now a country where you have to bring your papers around." Furthermore, Stanley says that "if you instill fear in Black and brown citizens that they will have this interaction with ICE, they're much less likely to show up" to vote or participate in civic life.
www.ms.now
November 15, 2025 at 7:33 PM
As U.S. citizens are increasingly being swept up in ICE arrests, fascism expert Jason Stanley says it’s “a way to normalize the targeting of everybody” and scare Black and brown Americans away from public life. #Velshi
Reposted by caroline
Just how morally, ethically, intellectually bankrupt do you have to be to argue that 15-year-olds can sell sex but can’t affirm gender
November 15, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Just how morally, ethically, intellectually bankrupt do you have to be to argue that 15-year-olds can sell sex but can’t affirm gender
Reposted by caroline
Whether it’s Barack Obama, appearing in a tan suit or Donald Trump appearing 1700 times in Jeffrey Epstein‘s emails, both presidents made some highly controversial appearances.
November 15, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Whether it’s Barack Obama, appearing in a tan suit or Donald Trump appearing 1700 times in Jeffrey Epstein‘s emails, both presidents made some highly controversial appearances.
Reposted by caroline
Remember: The richest 1% evade over $160 billion in taxes every year.
That amount would fund SNAP for a year with money to spare.
Ask yourself who the real freeloaders are.
That amount would fund SNAP for a year with money to spare.
Ask yourself who the real freeloaders are.
November 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Remember: The richest 1% evade over $160 billion in taxes every year.
That amount would fund SNAP for a year with money to spare.
Ask yourself who the real freeloaders are.
That amount would fund SNAP for a year with money to spare.
Ask yourself who the real freeloaders are.
Reposted by caroline
NEW: FBI Director Kash Patel granted waivers to Deputy Director Dan Bongino and two newly hired senior FBI staff, exempting them from polygraph exams normally required to gain access to America’s most sensitive classified information, officials said.
FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff
As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau backgr...
www.propublica.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:35 PM
NEW: FBI Director Kash Patel granted waivers to Deputy Director Dan Bongino and two newly hired senior FBI staff, exempting them from polygraph exams normally required to gain access to America’s most sensitive classified information, officials said.
Reposted by caroline
Murphy: "It's clearly the biggest scandal in presidential history. He wouldn't be acting this way if he wasn't so deeply worried about what's in those files. What we've already seen is immensely incriminating. Clearly Trump was at the center of a child sex ring ... the scandal could bring him down."
November 14, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Murphy: "It's clearly the biggest scandal in presidential history. He wouldn't be acting this way if he wasn't so deeply worried about what's in those files. What we've already seen is immensely incriminating. Clearly Trump was at the center of a child sex ring ... the scandal could bring him down."
Reposted by caroline
When Massachusetts passed a "millionaires tax" in 2023, conservatives claimed the rich would flee.
But two years later, they haven't — and MA has collected $5.7B for infrastructure and public education.
A reminder that positive change can still happen at the state level.
But two years later, they haven't — and MA has collected $5.7B for infrastructure and public education.
A reminder that positive change can still happen at the state level.
November 14, 2025 at 4:13 PM
When Massachusetts passed a "millionaires tax" in 2023, conservatives claimed the rich would flee.
But two years later, they haven't — and MA has collected $5.7B for infrastructure and public education.
A reminder that positive change can still happen at the state level.
But two years later, they haven't — and MA has collected $5.7B for infrastructure and public education.
A reminder that positive change can still happen at the state level.
Reposted by caroline
They’re calling her Megyn R. Kelly on TikTok
November 14, 2025 at 3:36 PM
They’re calling her Megyn R. Kelly on TikTok
Reposted by caroline
Biden didn’t release the Epstein files because Merrick Garland was actively investigating Epstein/Maxwell co-conspirators all the way up until January 2025. Then Trump shuttered the probe. www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey...
House Democrats press DOJ for details on Epstein co-conspirators probe that was "inexplicably killed"
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein provided the Justice Department with "precise and detailed" information about 20 alleged co-conspirators, House Democrats say.
www.cbsnews.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Biden didn’t release the Epstein files because Merrick Garland was actively investigating Epstein/Maxwell co-conspirators all the way up until January 2025. Then Trump shuttered the probe. www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey...
Reposted by caroline
Wapo and NYT are zombie publications. They look like your loved ones but sorry those people are gone.
November 14, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Wapo and NYT are zombie publications. They look like your loved ones but sorry those people are gone.
Reposted by caroline
The International Criminal Court is ditching Microsoft Office, saying it’s too dependent on US tech, in favor of Open Desk, a German open source alternative.
The move comes after Microsoft revoked ICC head Karim Khan’s email access when he was sanctioned by the US for the warrant against Netanyahu.
The move comes after Microsoft revoked ICC head Karim Khan’s email access when he was sanctioned by the US for the warrant against Netanyahu.
International Criminal Court to ditch Microsoft Office for European open source alternative | Euractiv
The court will move its internal work environment to Open Desk, a German-developed open source software
www.euractiv.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:36 PM
The International Criminal Court is ditching Microsoft Office, saying it’s too dependent on US tech, in favor of Open Desk, a German open source alternative.
The move comes after Microsoft revoked ICC head Karim Khan’s email access when he was sanctioned by the US for the warrant against Netanyahu.
The move comes after Microsoft revoked ICC head Karim Khan’s email access when he was sanctioned by the US for the warrant against Netanyahu.