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Reposted by Colm O'Cinneide

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 18h

Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 20h

Here’s video of the incident

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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 1d

We've already seen judges and lawyers being targeted as "enemies of the people". This increases risk of threats/attacks, while undermining judiciary as a whole. Couple it with Tory plans to scrap immigration tribunals and legal aid for people seeking asylum and it shows utter contempt for the law.

Robert Jenrick lists 30 'activist judges' he vows to axe in war on UK's open border

In a bold move, Robert Jenrick is set to unveil a controversial plan targeting what he calls 'activist' judges, at the Conservative Party conference.

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Holger Hestermeyer @hhesterm.bsky.social · 4d

I would add one thing: we are bombarded with two claims: 1) the UK can leave the ECHR without lowering human rights protection and 2) the ECHR significantly limits what the government can do and hence the UK has to leave it.
These cannot both be true. /1

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 4d

There are lots of reasons not to leave ECHR. But apart from anything else, it just doesn't solve the problem the Tories/Reform think it does.

E.g. the Supreme Court judgment re Rwanda being unsafe explicitly said it was not based on ECHR.

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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 4d

Notable that there has been no mention of a referendum on ECHR exit. Just a mandate via a General Election.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 4d

Conservatives would take UK out of ECHR, Badenoch confirms

Leader says move is is necessary ‘to protect our borders, our veterans and our citizens’ Kemi Badenoch has announced that a Conservative government under her leadership would pull the UK out of the European convention on human rights. The move marks a lurch to the right for the Tories, who are attempting to stem a loss of support to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. Farage has long been a critic of the ECHR and has pledged to leave it if he becomes prime minister. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 3d

Just not sure, really not sure, that I'd follow Kemi Badenoch as an example of the USA as a country that is protecting human rights without being in the ECHR.

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Milan Markovic @profmarkovic.bsky.social · 4d

How exactly would one write an opinion that the government is irreparably harmed by having to wait to deport people to die in Venezuela?

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 4d

What an utter disgrace. Noem's actions to "vacate" Secretary Mayorkas' grant of TPS over the direct command in the statute that no early termination can be done was flagrantly unlawful. And yet the majority offers not a SINGLE word of explanation for why they think she could do that.

Shameless!

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 5d

BREAKING: SCOTUS (again) allows Sec. Noem to proceed with ending Temporary Protect Status for more than 600,000 Venezuelans, over the objection of the three Democratic appointees.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 4d

What an utter disgrace. Noem's actions to "vacate" Secretary Mayorkas' grant of TPS over the direct command in the statute that no early termination can be done was flagrantly unlawful. And yet the majority offers not a SINGLE word of explanation for why they think she could do that.

Shameless!

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 5d

BREAKING: SCOTUS (again) allows Sec. Noem to proceed with ending Temporary Protect Status for more than 600,000 Venezuelans, over the objection of the three Democratic appointees.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 25A326
KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL. v. NATIONAL TPS ALLIANCE, ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR A STAY
[October 3, 2025]
In March of this year, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered a preliminary order postponing the effective date of the Secretary of Homeland Security's decision to remove "temporary protected status" (TPS) from Venezuelan nationals living in the United States. See 8 U.S. C. §1254a; 5 U.S. C. §705.
In May, this Court stayed that order while the Government appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ultimately affirmed the District Court's preliminary order. Last month, the District Court entered final judgment in respondents' favor, holding unlawful and setting aside the Secretary's actions effectuating her decision— namely, her vacatur of a pending extension of TPS for Venezuelan nationals, and her termination of that status itself.
See 5 U. S. C. §706(2). (The District Court also concluded that the Secretary unlawfully vacated a TPS extension for Haitian nationals. The Government now seeks to stay the portions of the District Court's judgment pertaining to Ven-ezuela, but not Haiti. See Application 7, n. 6.)
The application for stay presented to JUSTICE KAGAN and by her referred to the Court is granted. Although the posture of the case has changed, the parties' legal arguments and relative harms generally have not. The same result that we reached in May is appropriate here.

NOEM v. NATIONAL TPS ALLIANCE
JACKSON, J., dissenting
The September 5, 2025 order entered by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, case No. 25-cv-1766, is stayed as to the Venezuela vacatur and Venezuela termination, pending the disposition of the Government's appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is timely sought. Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR and JUSTICE KAGAN would deny the application.
JUSTICE JACKSON, dissenting from the grant of application for stay.

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 6d

Often it’s better to stand back from the day to day soap opera of politics and look at the bigger picture.

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 6d

On Yom Kippur many Jewish people in Britain have their phones off to mark the holy day.

As it ends at 723pm, some will hear the tragic Manchester news for the first time.

At that time, please join many of us to send a message of solidarity to British Jews.Thanks Together coalition for proposing.

To everyone in Britain's Jewish Community: you are not alone.

We will not let hate or those who spread it win.

We stand with you.

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 8d

Important to hear Hilary Benn affirm, in his Labour Conference Speech, that the official position is that the UK leaving the ECHR would indeed undermine the UK's commitments under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement 1998:

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Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 7d

Harry Cole here, suggesting that because someone in Utah shot Charlie Kirk 3 weeks ago, Keir Starmer shouldn’t be nasty about Nigel Farage in the U.K.

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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 8d

Massive banner in the crowd at Galatasaray v Liverpool about humanity lost in Gaza. Uefa camera man cut away quickly when he zoomed out and realised.

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David Gilbert @davidgilbert.bsky.social · 13d

NEW

WIRED led the way in reporting on Elon Musk's efforts to dismantle the US government. My colleagues and I spoke to 100s of employees at dozens of agencies to understand what happened.

This is the definitive story of DOGE as told by those who experienced it

www.wired.com/story/oral-h...

The Story of DOGE, as Told by Federal Workers

WIRED spoke with more than 200 federal workers in dozens of agencies to learn what happened as the Department of Government Efficiency tore through their offices.

www.wired.com

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Colm O'Cinneide @colmocinneide.bsky.social · 13d

Robert Jenrick is also quoted here as saying that the Equality Act & Climate Change Act all have 'had the effect of undermining the sovereignty of parliament'. Curious as to why & how he thinks this. (Assuming undermining parliamentary sovereignty isn't just equated to 'legislation I don't like'.)

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 13d

Tory candidates must pledge support for leaving ECHR or stand down, says Jenrick

Shadow justice secretary demands that prospective MPs sign contract saying they stand for ‘Conservative values’ * UK politics – latest updates Robert Jenrick has demanded that prospective Conservative candidates should either promise to support leaving the European convention on human rights or stand down. As the party continues to debate whether to pledge to withdraw from the international agreement, the the shadow justice secretary said he would get candidates “to sign a contract to say they actually stand for Conservative values”. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 14d

He’s been found out this week… the question is when the press turn on him and move back to Boris/Jenrick instead

John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social · 14d

The View from Westminster newsletter comes from Archie Mitchell tonight. Free sign-up here www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 14d

Appreciate this experimental test of what I would have assumed: direct interventions to depolarize a polarized politics will not durably succeed absent addressing the social factors reinforcing it.

I think of this in terms of politics occurring in different modes; you'd need modal transformation.

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 15d

Depolarization is not "a scalable solution for reducing societal-level conflict.... achieving lasting depolarization will likely require....moving beyond individual-level treatments to address the elite behaviors and structural incentives that fuel partisan conflict" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Reposted by Colm O'Cinneide

ghost malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 15d

is this not just kidnapping?

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 15d

In December 2023, Special Counsel Jack Smith asked SCOTUS to grant cert before judgement to hear Trump’s immunity appeal.

The court rejected that request and didn’t issue its immunity decision until July 2024.

Trump’s federal cases never made it to trial before the November 2024 election.

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 16d

Certiorari "before judgment" is how #SCOTUS takes up a full appeal *before* the intermediate federal courts have heard it.

It used to be exceedingly rare. For instance, there wasn't a *single* grant of such expedited review b/w August 2004 & February 2019.

This is the *23rd* such grant since then.

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 16d

#BREAKING: Over dissents from Justices Sotomayor, Kagan & Jackson, #SCOTUS grants a stay in the Slaughter case (allowing President Trump to remove the last Dem member of the FTC), *and* grants certiorari "before judgment" to decide whether to formally overrule its 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor.

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Colm O'Cinneide @colmocinneide.bsky.social · 15d

Where is UCU when you need it?

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Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 15d

Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds

open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

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Colm O'Cinneide @colmocinneide.bsky.social · 15d

Advocates of the UK Home Office/ministers getting more or less unlimited discretion to decide deportation cases, free from any real substantive judicial scrutiny, should be asked about this case.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Disabled Nigerian man living in UK for 38 years wins appeal against deportation

Anthony Olubunmi George, who arrived in 1986 and has no criminal convictions, given right to remain

www.theguardian.com

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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 16d

This story is worth a read, but it's so frustrating to see, since I know virtually everyone quoted in it (and the author) and ... there were *lots* of people warning of these coming dangers. Andreessen became a baby about his feelings long before taking offense to the slight from the Biden admin.

WIRED @wired.com · 16d

A snapshot of Silicon Valley in 2025 is Mark Zuckerberg, now a MAGA-friendly mixed martial arts fan who doesn’t worry much about hate speech on his platforms and complains that corporate America isn’t masculine enough.

I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley. I Was Wrong

Tech got what it wanted by electing Trump. A year later, it looks more like a suicide pact.

www.wired.com

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Iva Vukušić @vukusiciva.bsky.social · 15d

Not unexpected. Still bad. Really bad. #ICC
www.reuters.com/world/europe...

Exclusive: US could hit entire International Criminal Court with sanctions soon

The United States is considering imposing sanctions as soon as this week against the entire International Criminal Court, putting the court's day-to-day operations in jeopardy in retaliation for investigations of suspected Israeli war crimes.

www.reuters.com

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Colm O'Cinneide @colmocinneide.bsky.social · 15d

Advocates of the UK Home Office/ministers getting more or less unlimited discretion to decide deportation cases, free from any real substantive judicial scrutiny, should be asked about this case.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Disabled Nigerian man living in UK for 38 years wins appeal against deportation

Anthony Olubunmi George, who arrived in 1986 and has no criminal convictions, given right to remain

www.theguardian.com

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John Cotter @drjohncotter.bsky.social · 15d

Reform are so online that they think it would be popular to deport people who’ve been lawfully in the U.K. for years. Labour are so online that they can’t quite condemn it as abhorrent. And everyone else is so online they think Reform’s proposals might be popular.

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