Pete
@pmacarth.bsky.social
Refugee Resettlement, New England, and Righteous Fights
(he/him)
(he/him)
God Jul from Warsaw 🤍♥️
December 24, 2025 at 10:26 PM
God Jul from Warsaw 🤍♥️
Celebrating Solstice throughout East Lothian 🏴
December 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Celebrating Solstice throughout East Lothian 🏴
Reposted by Pete
“The Supreme Court decided not to have a Christmas party for 12 straight years because the justices couldn’t agree on whether to invite the Court’s Black employees” is about as tidy an encapsulation of the Supreme Court’s whole deal as I can think of
The Alarmingly Racist History of the Supreme Court’s Canceled 1947 Christmas Party
The Court held its first-ever office Christmas party in 1946. The following year, the clerks suggested inviting Black employees. It did not go over well.
ballsandstrikes.substack.com
December 20, 2025 at 9:06 PM
“The Supreme Court decided not to have a Christmas party for 12 straight years because the justices couldn’t agree on whether to invite the Court’s Black employees” is about as tidy an encapsulation of the Supreme Court’s whole deal as I can think of
The Creel Loaders Sculpture in Dunbar
December 20, 2025 at 10:26 PM
The Creel Loaders Sculpture in Dunbar
Reposted by Pete
Merry Christmas! It's the Hater's Guide To The Williams-Sonoma Catalog! defector.com/the-2025-hat...
The 2025 Hater’s Guide To The Williams-Sonoma Catalog | Defector
[Opens front door while holding a toy corgi in one arm] Merry Christmas! Oh my God, you made it! I thought you might be stuck at the airport for weeks! Well, because it’s such madness out there. Piper...
defector.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Merry Christmas! It's the Hater's Guide To The Williams-Sonoma Catalog! defector.com/the-2025-hat...
Stranraer has a curling club and it is amazing 🏴🥌
December 18, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Stranraer has a curling club and it is amazing 🏴🥌
Reposted by Pete
One of the biggest moments of my career:
USCIS canceled my client’s naturalization oath ceremony. We filed a lawsuit, went to trial, and the judge swore him in right there in the courtroom!
USCIS canceled my client’s naturalization oath ceremony. We filed a lawsuit, went to trial, and the judge swore him in right there in the courtroom!
December 16, 2025 at 3:21 PM
One of the biggest moments of my career:
USCIS canceled my client’s naturalization oath ceremony. We filed a lawsuit, went to trial, and the judge swore him in right there in the courtroom!
USCIS canceled my client’s naturalization oath ceremony. We filed a lawsuit, went to trial, and the judge swore him in right there in the courtroom!
Paint me like one of your French cats
December 14, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Paint me like one of your French cats
Eva Räng's Laxpudding. A new St. Lucia day tradition?
December 14, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Eva Räng's Laxpudding. A new St. Lucia day tradition?
Reposted by Pete
Black immigrants make up 5.4% of the undocumented population in the U.S., but around 20% of immigrants facing removal. Race is a factor in immigration enforcement just as it's a factor in criminal justice—in fact, the two are related. Great piece by Naomi Bethune:
prospect.org/2025/12/12/v...
prospect.org/2025/12/12/v...
The Vulnerability of Black Immigrants - The American Prospect
Black immigrants are more likely to be deported, in part because of their contact with the criminal justice system.
prospect.org
December 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Black immigrants make up 5.4% of the undocumented population in the U.S., but around 20% of immigrants facing removal. Race is a factor in immigration enforcement just as it's a factor in criminal justice—in fact, the two are related. Great piece by Naomi Bethune:
prospect.org/2025/12/12/v...
prospect.org/2025/12/12/v...
Reposted by Pete
Even for me, this is pretty in the weeds, but the shift in tone in SCOTUSblog's coverage since Sarah Isgur and The Dispatch took over—more deferential to the Court, more reverential of the justices as celebrities, more credulous and stenographic across the board—has been...notable
Maybe this new blog can respond, in one of its first posts, to the argument that the term “interim docket” is a deliberately misleading attempt to minimize the (very permanent) doctrinal and real-world consequences of #SCOTUS’s rulings on emergency applications?
www.stevevladeck.com/p/177-the-no...
www.stevevladeck.com/p/177-the-no...
December 11, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Even for me, this is pretty in the weeds, but the shift in tone in SCOTUSblog's coverage since Sarah Isgur and The Dispatch took over—more deferential to the Court, more reverential of the justices as celebrities, more credulous and stenographic across the board—has been...notable
Reposted by Pete
I had missed the SCOTUSblog post about the “interim docket blog”; wanted to scream but it’s late; texted @jaywillis.net instead; & he let me know that, oh, yes, this has been discussed.
I truly don’t understand how you just accede to Kavanaugh’s self-serving make-believe name for the shadow docket.
I truly don’t understand how you just accede to Kavanaugh’s self-serving make-believe name for the shadow docket.
Even for me, this is pretty in the weeds, but the shift in tone in SCOTUSblog's coverage since Sarah Isgur and The Dispatch took over—more deferential to the Court, more reverential of the justices as celebrities, more credulous and stenographic across the board—has been...notable
Maybe this new blog can respond, in one of its first posts, to the argument that the term “interim docket” is a deliberately misleading attempt to minimize the (very permanent) doctrinal and real-world consequences of #SCOTUS’s rulings on emergency applications?
www.stevevladeck.com/p/177-the-no...
www.stevevladeck.com/p/177-the-no...
December 12, 2025 at 6:34 AM
I had missed the SCOTUSblog post about the “interim docket blog”; wanted to scream but it’s late; texted @jaywillis.net instead; & he let me know that, oh, yes, this has been discussed.
I truly don’t understand how you just accede to Kavanaugh’s self-serving make-believe name for the shadow docket.
I truly don’t understand how you just accede to Kavanaugh’s self-serving make-believe name for the shadow docket.
Reposted by Pete
Respectfully this is not a “legal experts say.” It’s just not arguable. It’s like saying “weather experts say the sun sets at night.”
December 12, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Respectfully this is not a “legal experts say.” It’s just not arguable. It’s like saying “weather experts say the sun sets at night.”
Reposted by Pete
Fonts are in the news, so I'm going to take the opportunity to port over an old thread: what was typography like in the Soviet Union?
Spoiler: they did not just have 1 font everyone had to use. As a matter of fact, there were 39.
One of them, you can see here, used to great effect for "Chernobyl."
Spoiler: they did not just have 1 font everyone had to use. As a matter of fact, there were 39.
One of them, you can see here, used to great effect for "Chernobyl."
December 10, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Fonts are in the news, so I'm going to take the opportunity to port over an old thread: what was typography like in the Soviet Union?
Spoiler: they did not just have 1 font everyone had to use. As a matter of fact, there were 39.
One of them, you can see here, used to great effect for "Chernobyl."
Spoiler: they did not just have 1 font everyone had to use. As a matter of fact, there were 39.
One of them, you can see here, used to great effect for "Chernobyl."
Reposted by Pete
mind bouncing back and forth trying to calculate the exact percentage of motivation for dems caving on the shutdown in trade for this vote was "oh god we can't let the filibuster be touched" and what percentage was "i am not going to miss a single minute of thanksgiving vacation"
Senate Republicans blocked Democratic legislation that would have extended ACA tax credits for over 20 million people
Republicans Block Bill That Would Extend Affordable Care Act Tax Credits
Democrats, meanwhile, blocked a competing GOP bill on Thursday that would have bolstered health savings accounts instead.
www.huffpost.com
December 11, 2025 at 8:01 PM
mind bouncing back and forth trying to calculate the exact percentage of motivation for dems caving on the shutdown in trade for this vote was "oh god we can't let the filibuster be touched" and what percentage was "i am not going to miss a single minute of thanksgiving vacation"
Reposted by Pete
There does not exist a hot dog suit big enough nor a face eating leopard ferocious enough to serve as an adequate metaphor for Chris Rufo complaining about right wing media becoming conspiracy addled click bait
Chris Rufo literally was a core figure in boosting a lie that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio town ate pets. He offered a bounty for “information” after the lie was repeatedly debunked.
Spare us the navel-gazing nonsense.
Spare us the navel-gazing nonsense.
December 11, 2025 at 2:19 AM
There does not exist a hot dog suit big enough nor a face eating leopard ferocious enough to serve as an adequate metaphor for Chris Rufo complaining about right wing media becoming conspiracy addled click bait
Reposted by Pete
It's been truly remarkable to see the grand jury system actually act as a real line of defense.
Especially since--as I bet most non-lawyers don't know--the only legal person in the GJ room is the prosecutor: no defense, no judge.
There is NO place more favorable to the state. And they keep losing.
Especially since--as I bet most non-lawyers don't know--the only legal person in the GJ room is the prosecutor: no defense, no judge.
There is NO place more favorable to the state. And they keep losing.
JUST IN: Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Snell just confirmed, at the prodding of U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri Holleb Hotaling, that this motion for dismissal followed a "no bill" from a grand jury.
That means the grand jury refused to indict.
That means the grand jury refused to indict.
U.S. prosecutors in Chicago are dropping another case tied to Operation Midway Blitz, "without prejudice."
It's USA v. Nathan Griffin. Below is the motion, followed by excerpts from the complaint.
The feds don't say why they're dropping it, but they had until today to secure an indictment.
It's USA v. Nathan Griffin. Below is the motion, followed by excerpts from the complaint.
The feds don't say why they're dropping it, but they had until today to secure an indictment.
December 10, 2025 at 4:31 PM
It's been truly remarkable to see the grand jury system actually act as a real line of defense.
Especially since--as I bet most non-lawyers don't know--the only legal person in the GJ room is the prosecutor: no defense, no judge.
There is NO place more favorable to the state. And they keep losing.
Especially since--as I bet most non-lawyers don't know--the only legal person in the GJ room is the prosecutor: no defense, no judge.
There is NO place more favorable to the state. And they keep losing.
Reposted by Pete
I can't take another day of The Discourse without saying it:
It's Somali.
Not Somalian.
People from Somalia are Somali.
Somalian is not a word.
It's Somali.
Not Somalian.
People from Somalia are Somali.
Somalian is not a word.
December 10, 2025 at 3:54 PM
I can't take another day of The Discourse without saying it:
It's Somali.
Not Somalian.
People from Somalia are Somali.
Somalian is not a word.
It's Somali.
Not Somalian.
People from Somalia are Somali.
Somalian is not a word.
Reposted by Pete
In other news, the whole thing about Calibri v. TNR isn't about a font face, it's about the fact that Calibri is easier for people with some disabilities to read.
They think any accommodation, however painless, should stop.
They think any accommodation, however painless, should stop.
December 10, 2025 at 3:08 PM
In other news, the whole thing about Calibri v. TNR isn't about a font face, it's about the fact that Calibri is easier for people with some disabilities to read.
They think any accommodation, however painless, should stop.
They think any accommodation, however painless, should stop.
Reposted by Pete
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more."
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
December 9, 2025 at 2:58 PM
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more."
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
Reposted by Pete
The distance in time between now and when Microsoft Office replaced drop down menus with the ribbon bar at the top is the same as the distance between then and the fall of the Berlin Wall
November 11, 2025 at 7:23 AM
The distance in time between now and when Microsoft Office replaced drop down menus with the ribbon bar at the top is the same as the distance between then and the fall of the Berlin Wall