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Reposted by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 8h

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?

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 16h

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

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Lee Kovarsky @kovarsky.bsky.social · 8h

This really is Trumpism in a nutshell.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 8h

This made me laugh so hard. Second screenshot is of the video posted by Benny Johnson of the event.

Benny Johnson « @bennyjohnson
X.com
BREAKING: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stares down army of Antifa and a guy in a chicken suit from the rooftop of the ICE facility here in Portland.
Noem says:
"Hey; Guy in the chicken suit. You can do better.
Too bad they are uneducated and ill-informed."
Noem isn't chicken: [chicken emoji]

A view from the roof of the building. There are about 15-20 people visible in total, several of whom appear to be reporters. Most are holding signs. They aren’t even taking up the whole sidewalk. One guy is wearing a chicken suit.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 8h

This made me laugh so hard. Second screenshot is of the video posted by Benny Johnson of the event.

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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 17h

NEW: The Ninth Circuit schedules oral argument for Thursday in the Trump admin's appeal of Judge Immergut's order temporarily blocking the deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.

The panel assignment:
Susan P. Graber (Clinton)
Ryan D. Nelson (Trump)
Bridget S. Bade (Trump)

2025-10-09 9:00 am Courtroom 2, 3rd Floor Rm 330, James R. Browning U.S. Courthouse, San Francisco
Before: GRABER, R. NELSON, and BADE, Circuit Judges
Case No.
25-6268
State of Oregon, et al. v. Trump, et al.

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Reposted by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 9h

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 19h

For @praeyesright.bsky.social I wrote this about Florida, the Everglades gulag, and 287g
politicalresearch.org/2025/10/06/f...

Florida Is the “Tip of the Spear”

The proliferation of 287(g) agreements under Trump has expanded the deportation machine exponentially, and there’s no better case study for what this future of anti-immigrant crusading looks like than...

politicalresearch.org

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Micah @rincewind.run · 13h

I am not a constitutional scholar but I am pretty sure “the president my personally levy taxes and choose what they fund” is not in fact what the founders intended

George Pearkes @peark.es · 14h

Well that's not how appropriations work at all

*WHITE HOUSE TO TRANSFER TARIFF REVENUE TO FUND WIC: LEAVITT

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 14h

A government of trolls, by trolls, and for trolls.

Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 14h

Yesterday brought news that country star Zach Bryan is dropping a song critical of ICE.

Today, the official DHS account trolls him by using one of his songs (without permission, one strongly presumes) over the kind of cinematic footage Trump loves, of masked federal agents clashing with Americans.

Screenshot of a tweet from @DHSgov dated 7 October 2025. It shows a video of federal agents, under the text "We’re having an All Night Revival"

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Diego! but make it spooky @diegoatlaw.bsky.social · 14h

US immigration system: *literally has a way for cubans to become residents just by being here a year & a day with some other conditions, where approval says "CUBAN REFUGEE" as it's about conditions in Cuba, baked into the law*

Also US immigration system: we need a full trial on Cuban asylum cases

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 15h

We've become numb to genocidal rhetoric around trans people.

Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 17h

Citing the “martyrdom” of Charlie Kirk, Texas AG Ken Paxton says his office is pursuing sweeping undercover investigations into “leftist” groups. “To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming."

"Leftist political terrorism is a clear and present danger. Corrupted ideologies like transgenderism and Antifa are a cancer on our culture and have unleashed their deranged and drugged-up foot soldiers on the American people," said Attorney General Paxton. "The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk marks a turning point in America.
There can be no compromise with those who want us dead. To that end, I have directed my office to continue its efforts to identify, investigate, and infiltrate these leftist terror cells. To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming."
The radical Left has incubated an environment where political violence is not only justified but celebrated and praised. In July, nearly two dozen armed leftists connected to various Texas-based Antifa-like groups ambushed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") facility in Alvarado, Texas. On September 10, 2025, a leftist assassin connected to the radical transgender movement murdered Charlie Kirk because of Kirk's bold support for truth, love of country, and unshakable faith. Two weeks later, another deranged leftist opened fire at an ICE facility in Dallas.
President Donald Trump has officially designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization and instructed his administration to "utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions — conducted by Antifa." Building on President Trump's bold actions, Attorney General Paxton has instructed his office to initiate sweeping investigations into radical leftist organizations engaged in or providing support to those performing political violence.

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 17h

Citing the “martyrdom” of Charlie Kirk, Texas AG Ken Paxton says his office is pursuing sweeping undercover investigations into “leftist” groups. “To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming."

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 18h

FPD for Sydney Reid (a woman accused of assault after cops manhandled her for filming an ICE arrest) say that the government did not preserve video that one of the officers watching took, which she claims is exculpatory.

They're moving to dismiss the case.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Other law enforcement officers were present, including Officer Jason Klepec. Officer
Klepec told Ms. Reid that he was filming her, in response to her filming the agents. After Ms.
Reid was arrested, she was put into the backseat of a car driven by Officer Dinko Residovic.
While Ms. Reid was sitting in the backseat, Officer Residovic viewed a video of the incident,
captured by cellphone. Ms. Reid recalls that the video clearly showed what the government has
alleged was an attempted knee to the groin. She recalls that the angle of the video shows that the
knee was not directed at any law enforcement officer but was a reactive movement.

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Jacqueline Sweet @jsweetli.bsky.social · 16h

Project Veritas has “leaked texts” between two EDVA prosecutors and Mike Davis claims top DOJ officials have opened an investigation. Lawyer for one told PV the texts were fake.

If you look at the texts something is off. The messages show blue bubbles but the bottom says text and not iMessage.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19h

WHITEHOUSE: What happened to the $50k in cash that the FBI paid to Tom Homan in a paper bag?

BONDI: The investigation of Mr Homan was subjected to a full review by the FBI. They found no credible evidence of any wrongdoing

W: That was not my Q

B: You're welcome to discuss this with Director Patel

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Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 20h

When Trump rolled out the troops, I assumed a PR win because the city was in decent shape and he'd take credit.

This was the Union Station story. It had already bounced back from its COVID lows, so MAGA just took credit for all the stores that were suddenly open. www.semafor.com/article/08/1...

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21h

Yeah, we talked to a bunch of servers at restaurants who were like “business is way down!” And there are “ICE was here” signs posted all over my neighborhood. Not great!

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21h

Actual resident of Washington, DC: the only time there’s been a serious crime near my current residence was DURING the occupation (an elderly lady was carjacked in the quiet and normally very safe alley behind my house). I am not happy with that outcome.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

Rep. Riley Moore: "I think the actual residents of Washington DC are very happy with the outcome. And I think the actual residents of Chicago and our other great cities here in America would actually like to have safe streets and not people murdered every night."

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 21h

Deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean under what legal authority? The White House never stated one, but it leaked.

Apparently the answer is a lawyer wrote down something that amounts to drugs are weapons so the president can kill whoever he says is moving drugs, without evidence or review.

Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 1d

Head of OLC is a former Alito clerk
www.cnn.com/2025/10/06/p...

Exclusive: Classified Justice Department opinion authorizes strikes on secret list of cartels, sources say | CNN Politics

The Trump administration has produced a classified legal opinion that justifies lethal strikes against a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers, according to multiple peop...

www.cnn.com

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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 1d

Imagine being the Kyiv correspondent for CBS News, calling into the morning news meeting, and hearing this fellow telling you what to cover.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 1d

“People over Papers, a crowdsourcing project that maps sightings of US immigration agents, was taken offline yesterday by Padlet, the collaborative bulletin board platform on which it was built. It’s just the latest ICE-tracking initiative to be pulled by tech platforms in the past few days.”

Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline

People over Papers was removed by Padlet, the platform it was built on, yesterday.

www.technologyreview.com

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Mike Sacks @mikesacks.bsky.social · 1d

CA5’s going en banc likely to uphold Louisiana’s law requiring the 10 Commandments in the state’s public schools in defiance of pre-Roberts precedent

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Before ELROD, Chief Judge, and JONES, SMITH, STEWART, RICHMAN, SOUTHWICK, HAYNES, GRAVES, HIGGINSON, WILLETT, Ho, DUNCAN, ENGELHARDT, OLDHAM, WILSON, DoUGLAS, and RAMIREZ, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
A member of the court having requested a poll on the petition for rehearing en banc, and a majority of the circuit judges in regular active service and not disqualified having voted in favor,
IT IS ORDERED that this cause shall be reheard by the court en banc with oral argument on a date hereafter to be fixed. The Clerk will specify a briefing schedule for the filing of supplemental briefs. Pursuant to 5th Rule 41.3, the panel opinion in this case date June 20, 2025, is
VACATED.

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Anne-Marie W. Clark 👩‍👧‍👦🐶⚖️😷🌎🚢📚🌦️⚜️ @amwclark.bsky.social · 1d

AOC graduated cum laude from Boston University with a degree in international relations and economics.
(per wikipedia)

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Mike Johnson on AOC: "She hasn't read the legislation and I'm not sure she would understand it even if she did."

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 1d

This may shock you but some of us have problems with the operation of the federal government that transcends party identification and individual elected officials.

JasonArizona @jasonpuckett.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, get those Obama supporters! They really brought this on!! It’s important to remain cynical and never support either party, they are exactly the same

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 1d

I'm sorry but how does this person have standing to challenge Colorado's ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy when she has explicitly disclaimed any desire to change a patient's sexual orientation or gender identity? How is this a real case? slate.com/news-and-pol...

The Supreme Court’s First Blockbuster Case This Term Looks Pretty Fake

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, a case that seeks to undo a major triumph of the LGBTQ+ movement.

slate.com

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Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 1d

👀 Marjorie Taylor Greene breaks with Republicans on Obamacare funding, saying she’s not a fan of the law but demands action to prevent a premium hike. “I’m absolutely disgusted that health insurance premiums will DOUBLE if the tax credits expire this year.” She says GOP leaders don’t have a plan.

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