"The outcome of this trial [creates] a weapon with which the Trump administration can bludgeon political opponents—sidestepping the First Amendment—prosecutors effectively concocted a “criminal enterprise” through innuendo and partial truths. " @samrussek.bsky.social newrepublic.com/article/2078...

🏴🏴🏴An appeal is coming, but the conviction of several protesters on charges of providing "material support" for terrorism is a chilling sign. By @samrussek.bsky.social newrepublic.com/article/2072... Authoritarianism is the new Liberalism. Dictatorship is the new Democracy. God help us all. #Resist

In #Houston, politics is looking decidedly old. The median age of its city council is roughly 55—two years older than that of Dallas, eight years older than that of Austin, and a whopping 20 years older than that of Houston’s median resident. Will that affect Rep. Al Green's bid for a 12th term?

New from @samrussek.bsky.social: The Dem primary for the 18th Congressional District pits two generations of politicians—Christian Menefee and Al Green—against each other. How did Green, known for standing up to Trump, end up in a serious fight for his seat?

ICYMI: There’s an activist in Texas who’s been held in solitary confinement for 23 years. His body is failing. It took a year—and a court order—for him to finally see a *partial* medical diagnosis. He learned that he’d suffered a stroke *and* a heart attack. None of the prison officials had told him

“Xinachtli” Hernandez’s health is failing him. So is the system. trib.al/JumfKSL His worst fall came in the shower with no rails to hold onto—even though 16% of Texas’s prison population is 55+. When it rains his cell floods. He stores his belongings in jars so the rats don't chew through them.

Alvaro Hernandez, AKA Xinachtli, has been held in solitary confinement for 23 years. Now 73, his body's failing him—he can't walk, lost ~100 lbs, & Texas officials have withheld medical diagnoses. His supporters say this is part of a long history of retaliation for his activism

Bro they got Rachel Maddow posting crimethinc links

NEW: Another DFW-area activist, Lucy Fowlkes, was just arrested by the FBI in connection to the Prairieland ICE Detention Center protest last July, bringing the total to 19 defendants. Fowlkes, like ~1/3 of those charged, wasn't at the protest, but in the DOJ's discovery... (🧵)

Since July, Trump’s DOJ has used a protest outside an ICE facility to justify the roundup of leftwing activists, labeling them an “antifa cell.” For @newrepublic.com I gained access to nearly 6 TB of discovery—CCTV, bodycam, warrants. The DOJ’s story doesn’t add up

One of those stories where folks I’d never spoken to before have privately reached out to thank me for reporting it out. Happy to be in @texasobserver.org’s top ten this year

“This is New York’s first portfolio-wide union in recent memory, and surely the first to be built at such dizzying scale: In a matter of months, 40 Pinnacle buildings across three boroughs have formed tenant associations.” mr mayor-elect, sir, please intervene in this bankruptcy auction

"This is New York’s first portfolio-wide union in recent memory, and surely the first to be built at such dizzying scale: In a matter of months, 40 Pinnacle buildings across 3 boroughs have formed tenant associations and joined the union to coordinate their demands." newrepublic.com/article/2042...

The Pinnacle bankruptcy has upended the lives of thousands of NYers in rent-stabilized units, a constituency to which Mamdani has pledged himself. But as Sam Russek reports, a fast-growing tenants' union is forming in advance of the change at Gracie Mansion newrepublic.com/article/2042...

Our top story, @samrussek.bsky.social: As a Latina immigrant elected in her mid-twenties, Lina Hidalgo faced unique headwinds that can’t be ignored when reckoning with her time in office, yet what she did with the power she won must still be judged on its own merits.

What was Lina Hidalgo? When was Lina Hidalgo? Why was Lina Hidalgo? For @texasobserver.org, I appraised Democrats' erstwhile shining star—a beacon of Texas progressivism under Trump 1.0—whose second term will soon end in disappointment. www.texasobserver.org/lina-hidalgo...

New from @samrussek.bsky.social: While some local Democratic party chapters speak effusively of their partnerships with Texas Majority PAC, others liken it to a bait-and-switch operation that commandeers the grassroots manpower of established county parties & fails to deliver on its lofty promises.

SCOOP: A Soros-backed PAC in Texas expects a massive budget—$20 million a year, each year, until 2032—but the group has been roiled by territorial disputes and allegations of "data falsification" & "systemic" voter outreach fraud. And here come the midterms. In @texasobserver.org: bit.ly/3IYSfdc

Update: Franklin Pena's defense in the Jocelyn Nungaray case just asked the DA's office to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Ogg for misuse of official information, and both the DA and defense are planning to file bar complaints against her.

Explosive motion just filed in Harris County: DA Sean Teare has asked for the court to revise its rules on extrajudicial statements after his predecessor Kim Ogg went on the local Fox affiliate to leak new info on the Jocelyn Nungaray case. The order doesn't mince words:

ICYMI: A little-known Republican's entry into the race to replace Lina Hidalgo was unremarkable save for one detail: Her campaign's ties to a '24 SuperPAC that used antisemitic tropes to undercut Harris's appeal with Muslims in Michigan. In @newrepublic.com: bit.ly/3SiSWzc