They are determined to stack the system by getting rid of all experts and replacing them with partisan loyalists and/or incompetent and inexperienced people.

“Insurrectionist activity” is storming the Capitol to prevent certification of the election. This is a few cars honking behind an ICE vehicle to warn immigrants. And good on them!

Heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time. What are we even doing?

I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I see ICE and DHS get sued. Especially by journalists who suffered mistreatment by them.

With this level of pure deception, he truly should worry about God and a bolt of lightning.

Just like there is no Gulf of America.

Nobody wants your Texas Guard’s help. Ok thx bye.

Trump was determined to get boots on the ground in Portland. But blue state governors and a principled Trump-appointed federal judge were equally determined to prevent that. My write-up on this weekend’s game of whack-a-militia in the replies.

An important point to remember. Trump and Miller claim they want to fix a problem but aren’t working at all with state officials to do so. What they really want is to *pretend* to fix a *nonexistent* one so they can *usurp* the power of the blue state governors.

This week’s Just for Skeets and Giggles is out! Have a great weekend. open.substack.com/pub/statusku...

Dems are holding firm! Per The Hill: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) failed to pick up any additional Democratic votes for the clean, seven-week funding measure, leaving the tally at 54-44. It needed 60 votes to pass.

Things are not lost yet in the Kilmar Abrego García case! Keep the pressure, and the faith.

Most Americans would still consider this to be wrongful discrimination based on sexual orientation. Pass the Equality Act.

This you?

Class actions like these are admittedly difficult to pursue. But I’m very satisfied to see this has been filed.

How real, intelligent, compassionate leaders—even those who are very rich—sound.

An assault upon a residential apartment complex in Chicago, with ICE and other federal officials brazenly violating the Fourth Amendment rights of U.S. citizens, is something that should alarm us all. But it’s also part of a pattern that we already know how to resist. My write-up in the replies.

If you don’t understand why the GOP hurts its own voters in this way, you should read my piece on sado-populism. Once pain is a resource you can dole out, it can be weaponized to create a grim hierarchy.

I wonder why people don’t like or trust this guy.

I don’t want to live in such a society either. Stop the ugly scapegoating. The problem is billionaires hoarding wealth, not immigrants in need of emergency care. Just stop.

Trump is the cause for much amusement among world leaders…

Note Johnson’s response.

Trump on shutdowns when there was a Black president.

So many Hatch Act violations. So little media interest.

Do folks have similar horrific spikes in premiums to share? Let’s get the narrative out there.

Do you see what Trump is setting us up for here? Also a NYT news investigation said at least one of those killed off the coast of Venezuela was just a fisherman who went to work and never returned, according to his spouse.

But…it is in fact highly inappropriate if not unlawful.

The government shutdown is underway, and the parties are trying to control the narrative and the messaging. We should understand that this shutdown is different because the stakes are so high. A helpful comparison is a prisoners’ hunger strike. My explanation in the link in the replies.

Potential good news in the redistricting war! The state high court’s ruling could create il to two new pick-up opportunities in the House.

And this is before Medicaid cuts hit abd healthcare premiums go sky high unless the GOP caves in ACA subsidies.

Corruption in plain sight.

Compelled political speech.

$20 billion could save a lot of rural hospitals.

Personally, I think this practice of rescission alone demands a shutdown unless 1) it is halted completely and 2) the four corners of the budget are secured by ironclad agreement.

The Pope weighs in on the hypocrisy.

I was trying to think what this description fit and Prof. Snyder answered it. Russia. Hegseth wants us to fight like Russia.

New York will see you in court, Russ.

This statement is going to be used as evidence in the lawsuit already filed by the unions that any shutdown layoffs are impermissibly based on political affiliation.

Further to my point in my piece yesterday, Republicans have severely gutted all these services already. They don’t care about these programs. If they did they wouldn’t be slashing them.

If there were ever an image that captured the state of the parties during the shutdown lead up, this was it.

Incredible statement from a conservative federal judge.

The most important thing we heard out of the speeches by Hegseth and Trump to top military brass? Nothing. Total silence. That’s as it should be, but still a far cry from what Donald and Pete were used to. My write-up on the Quantico cringefest, in the replies.

Wow. They really did coordinate with officials in D.C. to conduct an arrest of the Mayor Baraka of Newark when nothing actually was happening at the time to warrant it.

This you?

These were international crimes, committed by our military on the orders of our leaders.

Welp.

Yet another impeachable offense among hundreds. When we take back control of the House, we’ll have to pick just a few…

Example of a new major ad buy by Dems to defeat a GOP senator in Ohio. The focus on affordability could prove tricky for Republicans to counter.

Who benefits from the Argentina bailout? Oh, say it ain’t so! A buddy of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent? A thread.🧵:

Pretty much sums it up.