mkmurray9
@mkmurray9.bsky.social
Interested in early childhood/math/education, social justice, ESOL teaching, books, music, travel.
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I feel like "attention hacking" is most of politics now. The Minnesota aid fraud story is becoming a perfect example.
Recap: In 2022, the Biden DOJ filed the first charges against dozens of fraudsters, many of them Somali-American, who'd fleeced a state food aid program. (1/x)
Recap: In 2022, the Biden DOJ filed the first charges against dozens of fraudsters, many of them Somali-American, who'd fleeced a state food aid program. (1/x)
December 29, 2025 at 4:20 AM
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Reposted by mkmurray9
How are these fits of presidential incontinence never covered as their own news events in NYT? Hours of sick hateful bile from the curdled joyless leader of the Christian nationalists sitting in the ruins of the tinsel trimmed White House he’s demolishing — seems like a story to me.
December 27, 2025 at 3:32 AM
How are these fits of presidential incontinence never covered as their own news events in NYT? Hours of sick hateful bile from the curdled joyless leader of the Christian nationalists sitting in the ruins of the tinsel trimmed White House he’s demolishing — seems like a story to me.
Reposted by mkmurray9
fascinating new birthright citizenship research from Amanda Frost and Emily Eason — in a reconstruction period rife with eligibility challenges, nobody challenged 12 members of Congress who would fail Trump’s citizenship clause test
Paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
December 24, 2025 at 3:02 AM
fascinating new birthright citizenship research from Amanda Frost and Emily Eason — in a reconstruction period rife with eligibility challenges, nobody challenged 12 members of Congress who would fail Trump’s citizenship clause test
Paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Attn: Brett Kavanaugh
"Her family has now been told she has been deported, despite US District Judge Brendan Hurson ruling Thursday that she could not be deported pending a hearing...attorneys said Monday that they have...confirm[ed] with the hospital she was born in Maryland." https://bit.ly/3MMdJvz
ICE detains woman whose lawyer insists is US citizen. DHS says she isn't
Federal agents arrested Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales on her way home in Baltimore, Maryland.
bit.ly
December 23, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Attn: Brett Kavanaugh
This has "become the norm among Repubs, while Dem pushback has too often been perfunctory. The defamation campaign against Kharbouch could easily have led to his being physically harmed or killed. Unless Islamophobia & other forms of racism are fought head-on, the US is headed for a dark future."
The smear campaign against Mustapha Kharbouch -- falsely accused of the Brown shooting and MIT murder by powerful politicians, pundits and plutocrats -- is a prime example of how pervasive racism has become. It's also a story largely ignored by the mainstream media www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Islamophobic Elites Lied to Destroy the Life of a Palestinian Brown Student
Plutocrats, pundits, and government officials joined together in a racist smear campaign against a queer Palestinian student at Brown University.
www.thenation.com
December 22, 2025 at 6:04 PM
This has "become the norm among Repubs, while Dem pushback has too often been perfunctory. The defamation campaign against Kharbouch could easily have led to his being physically harmed or killed. Unless Islamophobia & other forms of racism are fought head-on, the US is headed for a dark future."
"By making bigotry explicit, Trump & his closest imitators create a permission structure for people to be their worst selves." In fact, “In the last five years, the [r word] has gone from being nearly unused on Twitter (later X) in 2020 to being prominent in the current context.”
“It turns out that banishing the slur from public discourse was, in fact, important. Because now it’s back and it turns out that it does matter when subtext becomes actual text, when terrible people enable open hatred and bigotry, encouraging others to emulate them, degrading us all.”
Perry: The return of the r-word
"These days, the r-word slur has become a staple of the American right wing, uttered with few professional or social consequences," David M. Perry writes.
www.startribune.com
December 22, 2025 at 5:40 PM
"By making bigotry explicit, Trump & his closest imitators create a permission structure for people to be their worst selves." In fact, “In the last five years, the [r word] has gone from being nearly unused on Twitter (later X) in 2020 to being prominent in the current context.”
The worst of the worst, they said.
Woman comes to US at age 6. Graduates nursing school. Work permit. No criminal record. Snatched and imprisoned by ICE for 6 months now. About to be forced back to Honduras. A life destroyed and one less nurse. Merry Christmas.
www.nola.com/news/educati...
www.nola.com/news/educati...
December 20, 2025 at 5:01 PM
The worst of the worst, they said.
Attn: Brett Kavanaugh
"In Alabama, a U.S.-born construction worker has been detained not once but twice, at different job sites twenty miles apart from one another. The first time, agents kept him handcuffed for over an hour even after seeing his REAL ID."
Trump Is Walloping Construction Businesses. The Industry Stays Quiet.
Raids on work sites. Roofers under siege. But builders keep mum.
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 20, 2025 at 4:48 AM
Attn: Brett Kavanaugh
Reposted by mkmurray9
“This is a student who did nothing wrong on a campus that is already in mourning,” says @chrislhayes.bsky.social on the "enraging" story of right-wing figures falsely claiming with zero evidence the Brown University gunman was a Palestinian student.
December 20, 2025 at 2:06 AM
“This is a student who did nothing wrong on a campus that is already in mourning,” says @chrislhayes.bsky.social on the "enraging" story of right-wing figures falsely claiming with zero evidence the Brown University gunman was a Palestinian student.
"Miller has outlined something more comprehensive and sinister—an elaborate worldview that...centers immigrants as a threat to 'civilization' in terms that echo the rhetoric of those determined to exclude people like his ancestors."
Stephen Miller is employing state terror in service of the open goal of shifting the ethnic mix of the country. In numerous ways he's doing this at the expense of public safety.
We spent weeks reporting on Miller's real aims. Here's the result. We hope you'll read:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
We spent weeks reporting on Miller's real aims. Here's the result. We hope you'll read:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
Inside Stephen Miller’s Dark Plot to Build a MAGA Terror State
He is descended from Russian Jews—you know, the kind of people who were once denounced as alien and unassimilable. Today, his project is to unleash government persecution of those he deems alien and u...
newrepublic.com
December 19, 2025 at 9:55 PM
"Miller has outlined something more comprehensive and sinister—an elaborate worldview that...centers immigrants as a threat to 'civilization' in terms that echo the rhetoric of those determined to exclude people like his ancestors."
Reposted by mkmurray9
We are failing our kids
December 16, 2025 at 3:06 PM
We are failing our kids
Reposted by mkmurray9
Words DO MATTER.
This is deeply moving.
This is deeply moving.
December 16, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Words DO MATTER.
This is deeply moving.
This is deeply moving.
"The agency spokeswoman said in her statement that the grant funds were being reinvested to 'better serve special needs students.'” Just not Annie, who is deafblind. #Orwell
"A program for deafblind children helped 3-year-old Annie Garner, born with poor vision and no ears, learn to communicate. The Trump administration cut the program’s funding over diversity goals."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/u...
Born Deaf and Blind, She’s Caught in Trump’s Anti-Diversity Crusade
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 3:58 PM
"The agency spokeswoman said in her statement that the grant funds were being reinvested to 'better serve special needs students.'” Just not Annie, who is deafblind. #Orwell
“Immigration officers dragged [citizens] from cars, detained them for days, fabricated claims of assault, routinely used excessive force and denied medical care. … Agents “treated children with reckless disregard for their safety and wellbeing.” #KavanaughStops
One citizen said that federal agents in Idaho pointed guns at her children, ages 6 and 8, and dragged her 14-year-old daughter out of a truck and zip-tied her.
The mother told investigators that an agent threatened to “fucking blow your head off.”
By @nicolefoy.bsky.social
The mother told investigators that an agent threatened to “fucking blow your head off.”
By @nicolefoy.bsky.social
Immigration Agents Have Often Grabbed and Mistreated Citizens, Congressional Investigators Find
Prompted by ProPublica’s reporting, an investigation by Senate Democrats documented the experiences of nearly two dozen citizens wrongly detained by immigration agents, contradicting the Trump adminis...
www.propublica.org
December 15, 2025 at 5:20 AM
“Immigration officers dragged [citizens] from cars, detained them for days, fabricated claims of assault, routinely used excessive force and denied medical care. … Agents “treated children with reckless disregard for their safety and wellbeing.” #KavanaughStops
Reposted by mkmurray9
In a season shadowed by tragedy, we light Hanukkah candles as a reminder that even the smallest flame pushes back the darkness.
May these nights bring comfort to those grieving, resilience to those shaken, and hope to us all.
Chag Sameach.
May these nights bring comfort to those grieving, resilience to those shaken, and hope to us all.
Chag Sameach.
December 14, 2025 at 11:03 PM
In a season shadowed by tragedy, we light Hanukkah candles as a reminder that even the smallest flame pushes back the darkness.
May these nights bring comfort to those grieving, resilience to those shaken, and hope to us all.
Chag Sameach.
May these nights bring comfort to those grieving, resilience to those shaken, and hope to us all.
Chag Sameach.
Reposted by mkmurray9
So we have two immigrant heroes. One in Australia who helped disarm one of the shooters and one in the US who helped track down the Brown U shooter. When a man stabbed several people in the UK, it was also an immigrant who disarmed him.
Weird that the Far Right keeps vilifying immigrants.
Weird that the Far Right keeps vilifying immigrants.
December 15, 2025 at 2:17 AM
So we have two immigrant heroes. One in Australia who helped disarm one of the shooters and one in the US who helped track down the Brown U shooter. When a man stabbed several people in the UK, it was also an immigrant who disarmed him.
Weird that the Far Right keeps vilifying immigrants.
Weird that the Far Right keeps vilifying immigrants.
"Why do so many people tolerate, even cheer, violence when it’s carried out by someone in a uniform? Why is it so easy for two armed men choking a restaurant worker on the floor to be rebranded as just “law enforcement”?"
"The Lies Americans Tell Themselves to Justify State Violence Against Migrants"
I posted a photo of Border Patrol agents pinning a man to the ground in a headlock – and the internet made up every excuse in the book to defend the assault, writes @scotthech.bsky.social:
zeteo.com/p/ice-migran...
I posted a photo of Border Patrol agents pinning a man to the ground in a headlock – and the internet made up every excuse in the book to defend the assault, writes @scotthech.bsky.social:
zeteo.com/p/ice-migran...
The Lies Americans Tell Themselves to Justify State Violence Against Migrants
I posted a photo of Border Patrol agents pinning a man to the ground in a headlock – and the internet made up every excuse in the book to defend the assault.
zeteo.com
December 14, 2025 at 9:13 PM
"Why do so many people tolerate, even cheer, violence when it’s carried out by someone in a uniform? Why is it so easy for two armed men choking a restaurant worker on the floor to be rebranded as just “law enforcement”?"
More than that, his crew threatened to open fire on the murderers. He rescued civilians, returned to base to refuel, flew back, and rescued more civilians. Then he denounced the crimes to his HQ.
For all this he received death-threats throughout his life.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Th....
For all this he received death-threats throughout his life.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Th....
December 8, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by mkmurray9
New ICE data available today prove that DHS lied in response to my report last week, showing that over 70% of people booked into ICE custody had no criminal convictions, and just 5% had violent criminal convictions. DHS will lie about anything... www.cato.org/blog/new-dat...
New Data Prove DHS Lied About Cato Report on ICE
ICE should reprioritize serious public safety threats and be transparent about its arrests going forward.
www.cato.org
December 2, 2025 at 10:45 PM
New ICE data available today prove that DHS lied in response to my report last week, showing that over 70% of people booked into ICE custody had no criminal convictions, and just 5% had violent criminal convictions. DHS will lie about anything... www.cato.org/blog/new-dat...
Reposted by mkmurray9
This is who we're deporting while we're importing sex traffickers like the Tate brothers and white supremacists who are nostalgic for Apartheid.
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
A Babson College student wanted to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. She was deported instead. - The Boston Globe
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was at Logan to catch a flight to Texas when immigration authorities detained her as she was about to board the plane.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:58 PM
This is who we're deporting while we're importing sex traffickers like the Tate brothers and white supremacists who are nostalgic for Apartheid.
"Bove told...federal prosecutors that the WH no longer intended to go to the trouble of intercepting vessels at sea, arresting crew members, seizing drugs, collecting evidence, & so on. Instead, [he] suggested that the admin wanted to simplify the process considerably, & 'just sink the boats.'”
I think it should be a bigger deal that before Trump made him a life-tenured appeals court judge, Emil Bove was at DOJ taking the position that the White House should do war crimes
Report: Trump’s Most Corrupt, Least Qualified Judge Was Also an Enthusiastic Proponent of Extrajudicial Killings
Yet another reason for Senate Democrats to impeach Emil Bove the moment they take back the upper chamber.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 26, 2025 at 9:07 PM
"Bove told...federal prosecutors that the WH no longer intended to go to the trouble of intercepting vessels at sea, arresting crew members, seizing drugs, collecting evidence, & so on. Instead, [he] suggested that the admin wanted to simplify the process considerably, & 'just sink the boats.'”
Reposted by mkmurray9
“They should do it the right way”
November 26, 2025 at 8:18 PM
“They should do it the right way”
Reposted by mkmurray9
This is the scandal. Trump isn’t targeting dangerous people. He’s targeting peaceful immigrants. Almost exclusively.
November 26, 2025 at 2:10 PM
This is the scandal. Trump isn’t targeting dangerous people. He’s targeting peaceful immigrants. Almost exclusively.
"Almost immediately, “About This Account” stated that many prominent and prolific pro-MAGA accounts, which signaled that they were run by “patriotic” Americans, were based in countries such as Nigeria, Russia, India, and Thailand."
I wrote about the fake account blowup on X this weekend. A genuine post-truth nightmare and proof that these companies have polluted their platforms so thoroughly and traded reality for profit that they've undermined the very idea of what the internet is supposed to be.
That MAGA Account Might Be a Troll From Pakistan
How X blew up its own platform with a new location feature
www.theatlantic.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:06 PM
"Almost immediately, “About This Account” stated that many prominent and prolific pro-MAGA accounts, which signaled that they were run by “patriotic” Americans, were based in countries such as Nigeria, Russia, India, and Thailand."
“A man died with his hands and feet bound behind him, and the official explanation is suicide. No emergency congressional investigation. No mass protests demanding accountability. No institutional response adequate to the horror of what this represents.”
November 21, 2025 at 12:44 AM
“A man died with his hands and feet bound behind him, and the official explanation is suicide. No emergency congressional investigation. No mass protests demanding accountability. No institutional response adequate to the horror of what this represents.”