hilzoy
@hilzoy.bsky.social
12K followers 3K following 16K posts
Ethics R Us. Cambridge MA
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Reposted by hilzoy
thefarce.org
"Where's everyone else?"

Excellent point from Marc Elias on the complete lack of elite revulsion to Pam Bondi's sycophantic performance in the Senate yesterday.
Reposted by hilzoy
jackjenkins.me
For the uninitiated: The pope being this direct and explicit to U.S. bishops about how to respond to a domestic policy happening in real time is…unusual.
joshmcelwee.org
Pope Leo told U.S. bishops visiting him at the Vatican on Wednesday that they should firmly address how immigrants are being treated by President Donald Trump's hardline policies, attendees said, in the latest push by the pontiff on the issue. For @reuters.com:
www.reuters.com
Reposted by hilzoy
jamellebouie.net
really can’t say enough about how mike johnson is a sniveling little coward of a man. a bayou-bred pushover with a dignity deficit that would embarrass renfield
atrupar.com
Q: Do you agree that the mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois should be in prison?

MIKE JOHNSON: Should they be in prison? I'm not the attorney general. I'm not following the day to day on that
Reposted by hilzoy
ernest33141.bsky.social
Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst noticed that Bondi flipped open a file during the Senate hearing and he zoomed in.

Inside were her crib notes for attacking the senators.

The GOP now practicing Cliff's Notes Fascism

In other words, under oath Bondi was purely a performance.
#FuckTrump
Reposted by hilzoy
himself.bsky.social
"It wanted to signal strength. Instead, it’s revealing its weakness. The administration’s need to break the academy is forcing it to make a desperately risky gamble." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by hilzoy
atrupar.com
"This is supposed to be an oversight hearing" -- Schiff helpfully ticks through all of the incriminating questions -- and there are many of them -- that Bondi refused to answer during today's hearing
Reposted by hilzoy
govpritzker.illinois.gov
I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?
Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.
hilzoy.bsky.social
Wait: there are TWO of us?????
Reposted by hilzoy
courtneyvaughn.bsky.social
Streets are still closed off in front of the Portland ICE facility at 8:30pm. Protesters have gathered on a side street. Dance party in progress.
hilzoy.bsky.social
I also have to say again: the idea of being lectured about the importance of merit by PETE HEGSETH, the most unqualified SecDef in living memory, is ludicrous. And the fact that Caldwell says that Hegseth presented “a nuanced vision” of civ/mil relations …
hilzoy.bsky.social
Bigots are wasteful. They waste lives, dreams, and more ordinary resources. They act as though we will never be in danger of losing a war, eager for all the truly great soldiers we can find, wishing that we had never let ludicrous blowhards fire and insult some of our best soldiers.
hilzoy.bsky.social
Every so often I think to myself: Southern states, who were really poor, decided it would be better to build two of everything than to share public services of any kind with Blacks. Two sets of schools, two of each water fountain, two sets of hospitals, etc., etc., etc.

Amazing, in a horrible way.
hilzoy.bsky.social
We never have so much talent that we can afford to sacrifice some to bigotry.
sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com
the unstated implication of caldwell's faff is that discrimination against minorities somehow enhances military effectiveness rather than degrading it
jamellebouie.net
the chris caldwell of 1948 would have been arguing against desegregation of the armed forces www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...
hilzoy.bsky.social
Since Trump and his minions are obviously not operating in good faith, they have forfeited all claims to judicial deference.
hilzoy.bsky.social
If he gets to use words any way he wants, he can make any law fit any situation. No one should have that kind of power.

In general, I think the judiciary should often defer to the executive. But that relies on the executive operating in good faith.
hilzoy.bsky.social
He could say that his say-so counts as a judicial warrant under the fourth amendment, or that saying “whatever that guy did” counts as stating a specific offense. He could say that he has a tummy ache, that that constitutes a national emergency, and so he gets to exercise emergency powers.
hilzoy.bsky.social
Good piece.

No law or Constitution can survive if the President is given unreviewable power to say what the facts are. Trump could say that the NYT is not part of “the press” at all, so interfering with its freedom is fine.
nytimes.com
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“Can presidents unleash the armed forces on their own people based on facts that they contrive?” Stephen Vladeck asks in a guest essay. “The text of the relevant statutes doesn’t answer that question. But our constitutional ideals, to say nothing of common sense, should.”
Opinion | No, Trump Can’t Order Troops to Wherever He Wants
The president’s claims about cities don’t hold up.
nyti.ms
hilzoy.bsky.social
Sure, though I’m not sure the Framers anticipated the police throwing out all one’s possessions…
hilzoy.bsky.social
It worked so well for Nixon …
hilzoy.bsky.social
There’s an honorable and effective way to stop unauthorized leaks: hire decent people who will bring up their concerns to your face instead of working the media, and then don’t do anything that would make them think: I cannot in good conscience stay silent.

Then there’s the other way.
swin24.bsky.social
The Department of Defense staffers and other sources are also convinced that certain aspects of the accelerating Pentagon leak hunt can be gamed and sabotaged by the leakers themselves. For one thing, multiple sources tell Zeteo that they’ve already practiced how to beat polygraph exams.
swin24.bsky.social
We started reporting this trying to get a follow on the revelation last week that Trump / Hegseth were waging a new escalated war on leakers and whistleblowers, expecting some of the similar doom and gloom we get often— instead we got a bunch of government personnel laughing at fascists bumbling.
Reposted by hilzoy
ericmgarcia.bsky.social
I've been banging this drum for the past four months or so: DOGE and Russ Vought broke the appropriations process. What's the point of going through the arduous process of crafting 12 spending bills, clearing them through committee and getting them through two chambers if Trump does rescissions?
vermontgmg.bsky.social
If appropriations bills are not seen as enforceable contracts, why should any Member of Congress vote to fund any part of the federal government under Donald Trump? You're voting to provide money for lawlessness. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...
There is no budget "deal" to be made
President Trump has so broken the constitutional framework as to make joint normal, responsible government impossible.
www.doomsdayscenario.co
Reposted by hilzoy
joshtpm.bsky.social
Boston Globe. “Longstanding policy” is federal law passed in 2019. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/07/n...
Reposted by hilzoy
johnpfaff.bsky.social
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.
flglchicago.bsky.social
Here’s video of the incident