@laurenaustin.bsky.social
Reposted
Merry Christmas team
Ya'll the footnotes. I have never seen anything like this.
![2 In its public-facing statements, the DOJ appears determined to project two images: it, the great protector of culture and children, see discussions supra; and it, the champion of the faithfuloppressed (mostly, Christians, although sometimes with the slightest pinch of “Judeo-”). See, e.g., DOJ press release of Apr. 22, 2025 (celebrating “the inaugural meeting of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias in the federal government,” where the AG “was joined by peaceful Christian Americans who were unfairly targeted by the [prior a]dministration”; discussions included “efforts to push radical and anti-Christian gender ideology on kids in classrooms, foster care, sports, and healthcare”). These perceived imperatives have formed an unholy alliance, from the perspective of transgender people, who find themselves in an increasingly inhospitable environment. Justice Alito has acknowledged “the discrimination” and “disadvantage[]” facing the transgender community today. Skrmetti at 577. It also is of great concern, for those who value the separation of church and state, to see the Department of Justice cavalierly blurring the lines. See also, e.g., press releases dated Sept. 9, and Sept. 30, 2025 (second and third hearings regarding “threats to religious liberty in education,” which ‒ of course ‒ included matters of gender transition).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:24vva42nxim6zbcmnozegoef/bafkreifolehrzbx4tqud53zwep5fps47jbuvsea7gvprwey7m2mlju42ha@jpeg)
December 25, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Merry Christmas team
Reposted
Not a lawyer, but this ruling (in a case about the Fed Gov’t demanding trans patient records from PA hospitals) is the real world equivalent of Joe Pesci’s opening argument in “My Cousin Vinnie.”
December 25, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Not a lawyer, but this ruling (in a case about the Fed Gov’t demanding trans patient records from PA hospitals) is the real world equivalent of Joe Pesci’s opening argument in “My Cousin Vinnie.”
Reposted
Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor and strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself. For @reuters.com
Pope Leo, on Christmas Eve, says denying help to poor is rejecting God
Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor and stra...
www.reuters.com
December 24, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor and strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself. For @reuters.com
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George Carlin as the archbishop is fantastic. It's a real all star cast tbh
it’s finally time. i’m watching Dogma for the first time in 15, maybe 20 years
December 25, 2025 at 2:24 AM
George Carlin as the archbishop is fantastic. It's a real all star cast tbh
Reposted
So I have the cover story in next month's TNR.
I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol.
They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.
I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol.
They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.
Trump’s Immigration Nightmare: It Is Happening Here
With astonishing speed, the administration has toppled the most cherished pillars of a free society. And the experts agree: It’s all going to get much, much worse.
newrepublic.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:08 PM
So I have the cover story in next month's TNR.
I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol.
They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.
I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol.
They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.
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"History will not struggle to understand what happened here. It will struggle to understand why it was tolerated."
Susie Wiles’s Inadvertent Indictment of Trump
Take it from his closest aide: he’s a corrupt liar
harrylitman.substack.com
December 23, 2025 at 9:02 PM
"History will not struggle to understand what happened here. It will struggle to understand why it was tolerated."
Reposted
The comments on this video on TikTok are so interesting to me because it is a lot of people saying that we can’t do this because what if Republicans try it to or what if Republicans reverse it. “We have to change the court the traditional way.”
did a video a few days ago making the case for supreme court expansion www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjB_...
Why Democrats need to expand the Supreme Court
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
www.youtube.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:51 AM
The comments on this video on TikTok are so interesting to me because it is a lot of people saying that we can’t do this because what if Republicans try it to or what if Republicans reverse it. “We have to change the court the traditional way.”
Reposted
New from me: I wrote about Trump’s emcee gig at the Kennedy Center Honors, airing tonight. It all makes total sense for someone who always yearned to be seen as one of the elites, and sees himself as an expert on everything, to appoint himself the country’s cultural arbiter
Opinion | Trump has always wanted to be in the cultural elite
The president hosted the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, airing Tuesday on CBS, in his latest bid to be the nation’s culture critic-in-chief.
www.ms.now
December 23, 2025 at 10:04 PM
New from me: I wrote about Trump’s emcee gig at the Kennedy Center Honors, airing tonight. It all makes total sense for someone who always yearned to be seen as one of the elites, and sees himself as an expert on everything, to appoint himself the country’s cultural arbiter
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We reached out to numerous trump advisers, senior administration officials, others close to trump and in the Republican elite to grade the trump doj’s handling of the Epstein saga from July to today. All but one said F or F minus
Because that one said “F-minus-minus.”
Because that one said “F-minus-minus.”
Trumpland Grades His Epstein Cover-Up an ‘F-Minus’
‘They keep making it look like we have something to hide,’ a White House official complains to Zeteo, writes @swin24.bsky.social, @premthakker.bsky.social, and @andrewperez.bsky.social.
Read it here:
zeteo.com/p/trump-epst...
‘They keep making it look like we have something to hide,’ a White House official complains to Zeteo, writes @swin24.bsky.social, @premthakker.bsky.social, and @andrewperez.bsky.social.
Read it here:
zeteo.com/p/trump-epst...
Trumpland Grades His Epstein Cover-Up an ‘F-Minus’
‘They keep making it look like we have something to hide,’ a White House official complains to Zeteo.
zeteo.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:14 AM
We reached out to numerous trump advisers, senior administration officials, others close to trump and in the Republican elite to grade the trump doj’s handling of the Epstein saga from July to today. All but one said F or F minus
Because that one said “F-minus-minus.”
Because that one said “F-minus-minus.”
Reposted
Don’t sleep on HAMNET. Gawd damn.
December 24, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Don’t sleep on HAMNET. Gawd damn.
Reposted
Prominent conservative influencers and lawmakers sparred at TPUSA's America Fest, its first major conference since the murder of Charlie Kirk.
TPUSA's America Fest Conference Showcased the Right's Civil War
bit.ly
December 24, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Prominent conservative influencers and lawmakers sparred at TPUSA's America Fest, its first major conference since the murder of Charlie Kirk.
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A thing I never realized about A Lion in Winter before tonight: O’Toole is a full quarter-century younger than Hepburn here, though they’re playing spouses of roughly the same age.
December 24, 2025 at 3:36 AM
A thing I never realized about A Lion in Winter before tonight: O’Toole is a full quarter-century younger than Hepburn here, though they’re playing spouses of roughly the same age.
Reposted
Rare footage from trial of Chinese general who defied Tiananmen crackdown order leaked online
Rare footage from trial of Chinese general who defied Tiananmen crackdown order leaked online
Video shows Gen Xu Qinxian explaining why he refused to deploy troops to crush 1989 student-led demonstrations
Rare footage of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general who defied orders to lead his troops into Tiananmen Square and crush the 1989 student protesters has been leaked online, offering a highly unusual glimpse into the upper echelons of the military at one of the most fraught moments in modern Chinese history.
General Xu Qinxian’s refusal to take his troops from the PLA’s prestigious 38th Group Army, a unit based on the outskirts of Beijing, into the capital has been the stuff of Tiananmen lore for decades. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 24, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Rare footage from trial of Chinese general who defied Tiananmen crackdown order leaked online
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Watching Lion In Winter again, and it hits me:
Katharine Hepburn was the Nicolas Cage of her generation.
Katharine Hepburn was the Nicolas Cage of her generation.
December 24, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Watching Lion In Winter again, and it hits me:
Katharine Hepburn was the Nicolas Cage of her generation.
Katharine Hepburn was the Nicolas Cage of her generation.
Reposted
December 23, 2025 at 10:56 PM
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Bari Weiss yanking a 60 Minutes story is censorship by oligarchy | Margaret Sullivan
Bari Weiss yanking a 60 Minutes story is censorship by oligarchy | Margaret Sullivan
Weiss ought to cut her losses, green-light the piece, and try to start acting like an editor – not like a cog in the machine of authoritarian politics and oligarchy
www.theguardian.com
December 23, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Bari Weiss yanking a 60 Minutes story is censorship by oligarchy | Margaret Sullivan
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Liana Finck maps out MAHA country. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/ITB2bZ
December 23, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Liana Finck maps out MAHA country. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/ITB2bZ
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⛔️ FINALLY: Epstein Scandal "Now Over.” Latest Files “Put An End To Everything.” Everyone “Innocent.”
👇🏻 #BrokenNews Leads With The Truth. Please Like and Share:
youtu.be/DAmF-n31N2I
👇🏻 #BrokenNews Leads With The Truth. Please Like and Share:
youtu.be/DAmF-n31N2I
Epstein Scandal "Now Over" - #BrokenNews
YouTube video by Larry & Paul
youtu.be
December 23, 2025 at 8:03 PM
⛔️ FINALLY: Epstein Scandal "Now Over.” Latest Files “Put An End To Everything.” Everyone “Innocent.”
👇🏻 #BrokenNews Leads With The Truth. Please Like and Share:
youtu.be/DAmF-n31N2I
👇🏻 #BrokenNews Leads With The Truth. Please Like and Share:
youtu.be/DAmF-n31N2I
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"The muscular, manly American Jesus blames the poor for their troubles. The Jesus of whom I am a fan offers love rather than condemnation, resources rather than retribution." michaelianblack.substack.com/p/white-chri...
White Christmas
It’s Christmas again, a good time to remember that love is sometimes hard to come by in this cold land.
michaelianblack.substack.com
December 23, 2025 at 5:17 PM
"The muscular, manly American Jesus blames the poor for their troubles. The Jesus of whom I am a fan offers love rather than condemnation, resources rather than retribution." michaelianblack.substack.com/p/white-chri...
Reposted
Reposted
"Let me start by saying something nice about Elise Stefanik: She went to Harvard. Then again, so did the Unabomber. You might think it’s unfair to compare Stefanik to the Unabomber, and it is—to the Unabomber. For all his flaws, he was way more ideologically consistent than Stefanik."
—Andy Borowitz
—Andy Borowitz
The Best Thing That Happened in 2025
A genuine cause for celebration.
www.borowitzreport.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:59 PM
"Let me start by saying something nice about Elise Stefanik: She went to Harvard. Then again, so did the Unabomber. You might think it’s unfair to compare Stefanik to the Unabomber, and it is—to the Unabomber. For all his flaws, he was way more ideologically consistent than Stefanik."
—Andy Borowitz
—Andy Borowitz
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"Miller is kidding himself if he thinks that demonizing and persecuting groups he doesn’t like won’t end with groups he does presumably like, including Jews, being demonized and persecuted."
@jonathanbernstein.bsky.social weighs in on our piece:
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/a-trump-pu...
@jonathanbernstein.bsky.social weighs in on our piece:
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/a-trump-pu...
December 23, 2025 at 4:16 PM
"Miller is kidding himself if he thinks that demonizing and persecuting groups he doesn’t like won’t end with groups he does presumably like, including Jews, being demonized and persecuted."
@jonathanbernstein.bsky.social weighs in on our piece:
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/a-trump-pu...
@jonathanbernstein.bsky.social weighs in on our piece:
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/a-trump-pu...
Reposted
When police returned Reggie Williams’ wallet, an officer told him: Don’t do anything bad and keep your ID on you.
To Williams, the warning echoed a slavery-era requirement that free African Americans carry documents to prove they weren’t enslaved.
(Published Nov. with @mlk50.com)
To Williams, the warning echoed a slavery-era requirement that free African Americans carry documents to prove they weren’t enslaved.
(Published Nov. with @mlk50.com)
“I Don’t Feel Safe”: Black Memphis Residents Report Harassment by Trump’s Police Task Force
A pastor was pulled over for looking lost. A 72-year-old was marched out in his bathrobe due to mistaken identity. Memphis’ mayor welcomed the federal law enforcement surge, but some residents say the...
www.propublica.org
December 23, 2025 at 4:00 AM
When police returned Reggie Williams’ wallet, an officer told him: Don’t do anything bad and keep your ID on you.
To Williams, the warning echoed a slavery-era requirement that free African Americans carry documents to prove they weren’t enslaved.
(Published Nov. with @mlk50.com)
To Williams, the warning echoed a slavery-era requirement that free African Americans carry documents to prove they weren’t enslaved.
(Published Nov. with @mlk50.com)