“.. He said he had no interactions with Epstein after 2005, yet we now know they were in business together,” Garcia said. “Lutnick must resign or be fired.” @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/2264...

Always remember that If they build the camps, they will fill the camps.

China’s sentencing of Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison is a grave injustice and a direct assault on freedom of the press and the rule of law. The world must speak with one voice: this outrageous political persecution must end and Jimmy Lai must be released immediately.

In the old stories, the convention was that the troll demanding ransom for safe passage had to live under the bridge in question.

I have a sneaking respect for marketing that can create entirely artificial interest in the product being sold. (via Alan F. on Facebook)

The groups: “Democrats Confront the Party’s Questionnaire-Industrial Complex” [Politico via Richard Pildes, ELB]

Duane Berry faces no criminal charges but has been detained for a decade. The Fourth Circuit interprets a federal law as permitting perpetual confinement on grounds of incompetency, yet the Constitution prescribes no such general federal power [Mike Fox & Matthew Cavedon on @cato.org cert amicus]

Reached out to Ed Martin to ask if he'd comprehended that this was satire, and asked him whether he's even seen Arrested Development before. Will report back if he responds.

From @cathygellis.bsky.social @techdirt.com: Section 230 is a good law that's at the center of protecting freedom of speech online, and we ought to go to bat to defend it.

"There is an old saying that those who eat toasted cheese at night will dream of Lucifer. The author of Wuthering Heights has evidently eaten toasted cheese." How critics reacted to Wuthering Heights [Henry Oliver]

New this week: I wrote about the incredible drop in carjackings in America over the last 3 years. There were nearly as many carjackings in New Orleans in January 2022 (53) as occurred in all of 2025 (57). It's a trend happening pretty much everywhere with data. jasher.substack.com/p/carjacking...

Keep seeing the misinformation that this was Liam on here--has been reported that it was not

"Plato Understood Why Masking Would Turn ICE Agents Into Devils." No names, no identifiability, no prospect of social consequences = setting the stage for humanity's worst instincts to run wild [@rosenzweigp.bsky.social]

Every U.S. state has extensive safeguards in place to bolster election integrity: bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/un...

Even if you don't stick around for the interview with former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, this @davidfrum.bsky.social podcast opens strongly with a discussion of the newly revealed Trump family/United Arab Emirates $$$ connection

Yet another norm worth reasserting if the nightmare ever ends: "American Presidents Shouldn't Endorse Foreign Political Candidates" [Welch, Reason]

Contra Foucault, the modern West did not invent long-term incarceration: Adam Gopnik in the @newyorker.com reviews a book by Matthew Larsen and Mark Letteney on prisons in the ancient Mediterranean

The staffer

Proud to play a role in helping get this together for @justsecurity.org. It provides you with details from the sworn declarations filed in support of the ACLU's lawsuit in Minnesota, Hussen v. Noem. The details of abuses by federal agents across the 29 declarations we looked at are chilling.

I'm always happy to learn that there's still a significant portion of the country who wants the US to be the US.

The Pew Research Center has published a new survey of Americans' opinions on immigration enforcement. Four highlights: * "61% say it is unacceptable for officers to wear face coverings that hide their identities while working." /1

"If this had happened in the United States, they’d probably have sued the toy manufacturer claiming the dinosaur was defective in some way. Not that I want to give them any ideas."

Missouri has filed a lawsuit seeking to exclude undocumented immigrants from the 2030 Census and apportionment. Remarkably, Missouri is also seeking a "redo" of the 2020 enumeration "if necessary." No idea how that would even be possible at this stage. electionlawblog.org?p=154059

"After three years of tinkering, Isbell sowed his first fields with Koshihikari, quite likely the first planting outside Japan." Deft account of how one family brought sushi rice culture to Arkansas, with detours into water stewardship and migratory fowl habitat [T. Edward Nickens, Garden & Gun]

They also never return to the status ante quo. They always require people to haul the jumper back up to the bridge.

A case for cautious optimism on the extent to which the federal courts are containing Trump's power grabs. I'll remember the bungee cord image, bearing in mind, as Goldsmith observes, that bungee cords put under great stress sometimes snap back and sometimes break.

Damn i remember some big lawsuits of broadcasters over editing of events showing WH figures

Social services fraud isn't some kind of one-off. "Cheating on government benefits can become part of an area’s local culture... 'It went so far beyond farmers… It was tobacco buyers, tobacco company officials, bankers, check cashers, adjusters, and chemical salesmen. Kind of a giant, tangled web.'”

“.. It is an invisible barrier to startups and new market entrants,” said Scott Lincicome .. “Why would you ever want to enter a market that you know your chief competitor is backed by the U.S. government?” @cnbc.com @scottlincicome.bsky.social www.cnbc.com/2026/02/07/t...

He committed a crime, Trump pardoned him, he committed a new crime. Law and order president? Lol. abcnews.go.com/amp/US/wireS...

SCOOP: The NSA detected a phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump last spring. Whistleblower says that Tulsi Gabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staff. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

SEN. OSSOFF: “.. why are roving gangs of masked men — who look like they couldn’t pass the Army physical exam — dressed up like pretend Delta Force operators, on our streets, demanding papers, dragging people from their cars, and shooting people to death?” @acyn.bsky.social

The @nytimes.com autocracy index is good. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The Fourth Circuit let the federal government indefinitely detain Duane Berry after charges were dismissed—an overreach that threatens liberty and constitutional limits. Cato has filed an amicus brief urging Supreme Court review. Learn more. https://ow.ly/MmA350Yaqxu

Trump administration is dead set letting the public take out phones and record ICE street actions. "That’s too bad. Both the U.S. Constitution and public sentiment firmly support independent efforts to publicize the conduct of government employees." [J.D. Tuccille, National Post (Canada)]

Family money-raking: "You’d have to add two digits to the sum of Biden abuses of power, foreign entanglements, & corruption alleged in the report to get near what Trump has raked in just from the UAE." Andrew McCarthy kicks off 5-part NRO series on Trump-&-sheiks sleaze, should be worth following

Braised chicken thighs with chopped leeks and celery; other flavorings include white wine, anchovies and thyme. #foodsky #BlueskySupperClub

Annoyingly, this doesn’t specify what exactly is happening. But it sure seems like DHS filed a “motion to pretermit” the asylum application. Which it is doing in countless cases around the country. There’s been a little reporting on this; there needs to be a bunch more. I’m working a piece myself.

Signal group chats about ICE whereabouts are protected speech. The FBI is investigating anyway... reason.com/2026/01/29/g...

Though the Court once "declared drug-dog sniffs unique, evidence has shown that the infallible drug dog is a thing of myth. Dog sniffs should be treated like other Fourth Amendment intrusions--especially in the area immediately surrounding the home." [Matt Cavedon on Cato brief in Johnson v. U.S.]

Were the Framers themselves solidly behind a unified executive theory? "Article II of the Constitution offered significant concessions to those who preferred a more plural executive." [George Liebmann]

When @walterolson.bsky.social and @stevevladeck.bsky.social come together…pay attention.

"It was never about adjudicating [Judge James] Boasberg’s behavior; it was about making splashy headlines and fueling right-wing attacks on the judiciary without regard to whether DOJ’s specious charges would withstand meaningful scrutiny."

Just amazing how much these “real America” types hate what America is and stands for.

How it started: "America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions." [George Washington] How it's going: "flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.... WE DON'T WANT THEM. NOT ONE." [Kristi Noem]

"It is hardly an exaggeration to understand Trump’s message as that of the racketeer: 'Nice little state you got there. I sure wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.'" | Dan Greenberg https://thedispatch.com/article/donald-trump-tina-peters-colorado/

Got kind of an interesting one: A bill to expand Florida's "food libel" law to include Big Sugar has angered an unusual coalition of environmentalists, First Amendment advocates, and MAHA activists, who say the law will be weaponized against critics of agribusinesses reason.com/2026/02/05/e...

The disparagement law has a lower standard than a typical libel lawsuit, and---get this---it would have a one-way fee-shifting provision that awards attorney fees to agribusinesses that win lawsuits, but not defendants who beat them. reason.com/2026/02/05/e...

Cato's Patrick Eddington has a good piece on a letter @wyden.senate.gov sent to CIA Director Ratcliffe alerting Ratcliffe to "a classified letter . . . express[ing] deep concerns about CIA activities." www.cato.org/blog/senator...

Oklahoma Senate Bill 1554: "No NGO (nongovernmental organization) shall knowingly or recklessly provide material support for the benefit of any illegal immigrant or asylum seeker within this state." A NGO member who provides such aid could face up to five years in prison.