For the 250th anniversary of our War of Independence, I’m writing a summary for my kids of my g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-grandfather’s experiences in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Lexington & Concord, which I’ll be sharing here for those of you who might also be interested. /1

3/ You can think whatever you want about the merits of him staying (his U.S. family, his steady job) or being deported (the alleged gang affiliation), there's really only one key fact: A court ruled he CANNOT be deported to El Salvador bc he would face threat of death there.

2/ Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. over 10 years ago. He married a U.S. citizen and has three U.S. citizen children. But he put in removal proceedings because he didn't apply for asylum in time and because of alleged ties to drug gangs. He denies any gang affiliation.

Bone chilling. A court ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia to stay in the United States. The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that he was illegally removed. Trump is pretending he won the ruling 9-0. 1/ You may not think this case means anything to you. But let me tell you why it does.

Adams must be removed. The city cannot sustain being governed for nearly a year by a Mayor who is being coerced by Trump admin in order to escape charges. This corruption poses a real threat to the people of the city. He should have resigned a while ago, but will not. So it’s time for him to go.

On Jan 6, Jack Posobiec posted from the rooftop overlooking the Capitol that Alex Jones' Infowars had rented, til the major breaches were complete, then went for a tour of the Capitol grounds along with Ashley St. Clair.

Poso is if not a direct Russian asset then deeply adjacent. He emerged from his last deployment in the Navy as a Roger Stone employee deployed to the RNC (at "Citizens for Trump"), and finally made contact with the lovely Belarusian who had been chasing him for a year on Twitter, now his wife.

Jack Posobiec was instrumental in both Pizzagate (the weaponization of RU info op) and the Macon Leaks (same). No wonder Pete Hegseth was such a whimpering baby about Putin. He was traveling with a Putinist.

Elon Musk’s net worth falls below $400 billion for the first time this year after Tesla’s 27% stock avalanche - FORTUNE

Pope Francis’ letter to U.S. Bishops is incedibly powerful. This stands out to me especially. Every purported Christian faith leader who has endorsed or stood silent before Trump’s ugly immigration policies needs to be confronted with this statement. www.vatican.va/content/fran...

If I were the one who had made up the title of this episode, I would have added “—Or Not” to it. And with some emphasis on the “not.”

My take, essentially, is that we could be weeks or maybe even days away from the disintegration of the rule of federal law in this country. At some point this administration is going to stop obeying court orders. What then? Nothing good.

It could mean that the world financial system melts down when investors realize that Elon Musk may selectively default on US debt. Just saying.

Musk and Trump are both in the habit of stiffing people they owe money. If markets even suspect that this habit will extend to Treasuries, God help us 2/

For those not familiar with how financial markets work, US Treasuries are the ultimate safe asset, used as collateral for everything. Even a hint that some Treasuries might not be honored could bring everything to a screeching halt 1/

Hell yeah. Hold the line. This is what we need people to do. Slow things down, don’t comply in advance so the courts have time to stop them. It’s starting to work.

“For now, it’s fair to say that there’s a lot we don’t know about what DOGE is up to. And therein lies the problem.” Me on what we know—and, mostly, what we don’t know—about DOGE’s access to the payment system at the Treasury Department. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/doge...

Excellent piece on our weak hold on democracy. Hear the Founders. www.commonwealmagazine.org/americas-dec...

want chimken

This is also a valuable resource for sky users theblue.report

February 5, 2025:

Plainly unlawful and unconstitutional. No one can issue such an order; the President and his officers cannot simply ignore an entity created and funded by Congress.

The big Q, imo, is whether Susie Wiles can get Elon to avoid getting sanctioned by one or another various judges, bc he has already earned it.

But right now, Trump is relying on somewhat real AUSAs showing up to court to try to win these battles--in part bc they do want the appeal. They do want to test John Roberts' court, and so need a normal appellate record.

There are a lot of people just ASSUMING Trump won't follow orders from judges. Given the squawking about Judge Engelmayer's ruling enjoining Treasury (not ENTIRELY unfairly), they're treating it as real. There have been reports of compliance elsewhere. There will come a time Trump ignores orders.

Conservative state legislators aim to put a new amendment on the ballot that would ban abortion except for in emergencies, when a fetus has abnormalities, or in cases of rape or incest, but only if a police report is filed and within a 12-week limit. By @jeremykohler.bsky.social

Please remember something: if you had said a year ago that Trump would do even a fraction of these things, you would have been mocked, belittled, accused of “Trump derangement syndrome,” and dismissed by certain people. Identify those people and block and shun them.

Getting easier by the day

In related news www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Hey there. HuffPost went through some brutal layoffs this week. A lot of folks I deeply respect were impacted. My book never would’ve happened had it not been for the editorial freedom I got at HuffPost. So! I’ll mail a signed copy to the first 10 people to give $100+ tonight. gofund.me/6391d9ff

Thousands of job losses so far outside of government positions, with WaPo identifying layoffs from North Carolina to West Virginia and Texas: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

This is the essence of it. You can do any and all of this stuff by passing laws. They're not because they lack the votes. So all of this is illegitimate and frankly illegal. I'll go one step further and say there should not be a senate filibuster. You should be able to do any and all of this by ...

I just lost my job, along with most of my coworkers, due to the illegal grant freeze. I worked at an organization that -helped veterans who have lost a limb -Assisted elderly and disabled people -Helped hospitals better treat people who have lost limbs

You can also think of the unitary executive theory in the same way: it arose from lawyers working for Republican Presidents frustrated by legislative oversight of executive power. So they came up with a theory to expand executive power. None of this is democratic.

"the fallout includes rescinded contracting jobs in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Austin; layoffs at an independent-living facility in West Virginia that relies on federal funding to pay staffers; and furloughs at after-school programs in Maine" www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

One way to think about the DOGE effort is it's an outgrowth of 20 years of hardliner conservatives frustrated by their inability to get the votes in Congress to do what they want to do. 1/

I confess I really, really, really, really did Nazi this one coming

Trust me, bro.

people are not aware of what a security officer can & cannot do. They do not have the arrest power of a police officer. They cannot even touch you, or use cuffs unless there is a threat of violence, OR if you refuse to leave private property of client. Fed bldg is not Musk's/trump private property

Left: @janemayer.bsky.social on today. Right: from Gangsters of Capitalism, about the period 1898-1934.

COVID-19 May Be Linked With Higher Alzheimer's Risk, Study Finds I’ve been saying this for a few years now … www.sciencealert.com/covid-19-may...

Wait … they … 𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙙 ???

Also, Elon, BigBalls, and an AI porn chat bot have all become members of the Fed. Congratulations!