Brown. 💔

Do you want me to tell you about how elections next week fit into protecting the 2026 election against Trump’s future attempts to rig them? Of course you do. I wrote a thing with my brilliant teammate Emily. It’s a scary movie, but a predictable one. And I do believe the good guys will win.

Thanks to (now retired) Col. Krugman for this. So well said. Though I wasn’t active duty but a civilian DoD intelligence analyst, his reasoning echoes mine when I left in ‘17. Our best natsec people should keep serving as long as they can, but it’s also important to draw lines and know when to go.

As SCOTUS weighs further gutting the Voting Rights Act, we filed a brief on behalf of Republican members of Congress who last voted to reauthorize it, warning the Court not to disregard decades of bipartisan congressional fact-finding and Congress' role. protectdemocracy.org/work/former-...

Good for my alma mater. I was furious when they surrendered to the Administration’s blackmail settlement and made trans students and staff 2nd class members of Brunonia. This is a step away from capitulation and toward academic freedom and civil rights. And a step toward earning back my trust.

"I think in a free country we should be able to post onto the internet, 'hey, there are masked agents on Broadway and Vine and not have the government or the tech oligarchs prevent us from doing that.' Shame on you, Tim Cook." @radiofreetom.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social:

We need more of this. Not the all caps part. We must make universities who would sell out students more afraid of accountability for their actions than of this Administration. As Disney learned. As others in business and govt must learn. There aren’t enough sweetheart deals or pardons for all.

As if irony isn’t already dead, the Hatch Act violation on the DOJ website, which blames Democrats for the shutdown, appears on the page advising DOJ employees they are subject to the Hatch Act. joycevance.substack.com/p/a-note-abo...

Dismissed because a pride flag is “political.” While federal employees can now wear MAGA hats at work. Someday, Republicans will regret silence at this Administration’s brazen favoritism and targeting. Each disgrace makes it harder for a future Democratic president to resist turning the tables.

H/t to my father in law who pointed out that contrary to SECDEF* Hegseth, we’ve had some excellent “beardos” in the military over time. Like at Antietam. *he says “dudes in dresses”, I’m not using his preferred name as SecWar or indulging his delusional hyper masculine gender performance as policy

My takes from Trump and Hegseth’s disgraceful speeches: - They are trying to turn the military against the American people - The generals are not having it - Trump and Hegseth are weak bullies, who wouldn’t be tough enough to face one day in the life of a trans person, woman, or Black person.

On Tuesday, hundreds of U.S. generals and admirals are scheduled to attend an emergency meeting called by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Our own @alexandrachandler.bsky.social, a former intelligence analyst, outlines the stakes. Read her full take here: https://protdem.org/42SBgzU

Taken just a few minutes ago outside the ICE facility in Portland that Trump claims is under siege. My message to Donald Trump is this: we don’t need you here. Stay the hell out of our city.

Every single one of these clips was taken today in downtown Portland. Portland doesn’t want or need a federal takeover. If Trump insists on sending federal “resources” he can start with funding health care, bridges, affordable housing, and wildfire protection to name a few.

Your correspondent here in war ravaged Portland, at the moderately busy airport where lackadaisical travellers are headed to Disneyland or Spokane, no doubt fleeing for their lives. Relief supplies down to essentials like cold craft beer and marionberry jam.

Trump’s TruthSocial order to send troops to Portland is ridiculous. He is trying to look tough after losing badly in the attempt to use tragedy to cancel Kimmel and others, and for the shutdown. If he really wanted to help local LE deal with ICE protests, he’d ask. But he wants fear and violence.

As a resident of #Portland it is impossible to capture how unhinged this is. We are a low crime city and the ICE protest "siege" consists of one auxiliary ICE office that normally has at most a dozen weirdos debating what performance art they should use to block a single driveway

Troops to Portland? Illegal and absurd. But the absurdity is the point. Trump policy is to ignore real threats to US security coming from abroad and use the armed forces to pursue imaginary threats from within, thereby creating an atmosphere suitable for personal rule. (1/2)

OUR BATHROOM MIRRORS ARE VITAL TO OUR NATIONAL SECURITY

Nothing says limited government, affordability, and national security in one go like a president making cabinets, vanities and furniture more expensive. My trio: release the Epstein files, end your police state, and don’t shut down the govt because you want to take healthcare from millions.

Trans people also invented mail in ballots, in 1798. And Hunter’s laptop. We cancelled Infrastructure Week 47 times. We hid the remote. And we’re why your phone dies at 12%. A possible shutdown is about millions of (non trans) people’s healthcare costs skyrocketing to pay for billionaire tax cuts.

If there is more and more of Trump playing medical doctor to the country echoing a lot of his “bring light inside the body” ivermectin / bleach advice energy from 2020, I wonder if that does anything to hurt his popularity beyond the hard MAGA-MAHA core.

According to Tom Homan, for the crime Tom Homan allegedly committed, Tom Homan should have his citizenship stripped away and be renditioned to a foreign prison without receiving due process in the courts. Sorry, Tom Homan, but those are Tom Homan's rules.

Oh, and we cancelled Disney Plus and Hulu because even though I hadn’t finished Andor (don’t judge, I’m busy) there was no way to keep watching it on a platform owned by those capitulating to our would be dictator. Meanwhile, I subscribed to @wired.com because they are unafraid. Market forces FTW.

Read @ansleyskipper.bsky.social on the National Guard deployment you're probably not paying much attention to — and why you should be following more closely www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/domestic-d... @protectdemocracy.org

Russian fighters over Estonia, drones over Poland and Romania, Xi eating our lunch with India, and unchecked death in Ukraine and Gaza. Our crack LE/natsec govt leadership? Considering a Heritage proposal to label all trans people are a terror threat. And still haven’t released the Epstein files.

They are literally canceling culture

Trump-MAGA-Musk are tripping over themselves competing for who can use this tragedy to most ruthlessly grab power and punish enemies. (trans people, democracy orgs,etc) Yet Bondi has united left, center, even far right that her attempt to define illegal speech/wrongspeak is ridiculous. Slow clap.

Scapegoating trans and nonbinary folks is right out of the authoritarian playbook to gain and consolidate power. Here’s how to fight back against the scapegoating to protect our communities and defeat the authoritarian threat. https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/protecting-democracy-requires-protecting

And following jealousy of the British for a govt that holds predators and associates accountable rather than covering up for them— here is Brazil holding their president accountable for plotting a coup. Like South Korea did. Must be nice. Yet democracy will still prevail here too, eventually.

I have problems with the current UK government (e.g., pandering to anti-trans hate and banning trans people from public spaces and putting them in danger to placate bigots), but at least they are in the business of accountability for those linked to predators.

The murder of Charlie Kirk was an evil act. It’s part of a pattern of violence in our politics that threatens us all, and makes all Americans less safe. I pray for him, his wife and kids and other loved ones, and for all those affected by this terrible crime.

Thanks to @ariberman.bsky.social for talking with me for his article. Great analysis of the Trump-MAGA plan to tilt the electoral playing field and to deceive, disrupt, and deny their way to ensure they can’t lose the 2026 election, votes be damned. Fortunately, we also have plans, and the people.

Labour is functionally the Democratic party of the UK. When you seen an American trans person getting mad at Democrats over trans issues, this is what we are trying to prevent. Labour officials consulted for American Democrats last election.

It hit me today— while the US House continues its Epstein recess— that Brown is giving into the bullying of extremists who lie about trans women being sexual predators, while Vance, Bondi, Patel, Bongino, and Speaker Johnson twist themselves into knots to protect actual sexual predators. Cool.

Hello journalists. If you report this you gotta say that under the Constitution he has no power to do it. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

The Trump administration effectively created a de facto bathroom ban at Brown University and none of the major media is covering it, and if they do, they character it as about sports. This is how the trans visa ban was enacted and characterized. www.advocate.com/news/transge...

Ashamed of my alma mater that has meant so much to me— and has now decided I’m a man or don’t exist. And that trans students are a bargaining chip for better terms of surrender to Trump. Meanwhile, I’m proud as a @gladlaw.bsky.social Board member, that we’re encouraging students to seek legal help.

A story about a girl named Becky who just wants to be allowed to play with other kids. Trump-MAGA (and certain SCOTUS justices) must punch all the way down to Becky and other trans kids in middle school to make themselves and some in their coalition feel powerful. Such people shouldn’t have power.

This July 4th, America celebrates rejecting kings. So why is our military being treated like a personal army? @amandacarpenter.bsky.social writes about the danger of deploying troops on U.S. streets, reminding us it’s not Trump’s military. It’s ours. 🔗 Link: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/not-his-mi...

I’ve got 2 sick kids home today. My mom just got over something. I’ve got unrelated medical appointments next week. Recently, one son just finished a project bagging for a local foodbank. With gratitude for food & healthcare on my mind, I can’t imagine how these senators sleep at night. 2026.

Multiple layers of anger. 1) as UPenn alumna (more glad I transferred to non capitulating Brown) 2) a university w/ a med school making up “biology-based” definitions 3) sports (which I admit can be complicated!) is just the wedge for UPenn and trans people. The bullies will now demand more.

If you see fascists in the street today—or police acting like them—don’t just panic. I just dropped a full guide on how to document, report, and protect your community. Built for No Kings Day. Useful every day. open.substack.com/pub/onoffens...

Great thread on the California National Guard case from @lizagoitein.bsky.social

BREAKING: Judge’s emergency order enjoins federal deployment of California National Guard. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

An example for other business leaders.

So proud of our team that supported the filing of this brief, and the amici retired 4 stars and service secretaries. Some of them served America half a century, and are still serving now— using their voices to call out the dangers of using our military in a political mission, in our own country.

Furious at this treatment of a Senator. As others have said, no accident Padilla is Latino and from California. Every member of Congress should be demanding accountability from Noem, DHS, Secret Service and the FBI non-stop. Federal LE is out of control and Congress needs to protect us all.

Thanks to @defenseone.bsky.social for publishing my latest on the military’s norm of nonpartisanship and why Army leaders must uphold and teach this, now more than ever. www.defenseone.com/ideas/2025/0...

Grateful for and proud of @krisgoldsmith85.bsky.social , @itsapurdy.bsky.social and all my the vets who are part of @unite4vets.bsky.social They are protesting today on the anniversary of D-Day against VA cuts and for a democracy worthy of the sacrifices of so many past and present. wapo.st/3HuIB0P