This is infuriating. The FBI is covering up for the ICE murder. This is obstruction of justice.

If Trump is really stealing spending power from Congress then it would be insanity for Democrats to vote to fund the government later this month. Shut it down until the president stops wiping his ass with the Constitution.

This is blatantly illegal. A president can’t go into the oil business and then decide where to spend the money. We are completely untethered from our founding document with a lawless president and a Republican Congress which has abdicated all Constitutional authority.

🧵 Some Syrian friends are celebrating Maduro’s ouster, chiding those who express concerns as naïve, at best, and as apologists for a brutal ruler at worst.

We can just call it the Schumer

Benjamin Netanyahu is “very embarrassed of the fact that Hamas still exists, that Hamas is still the dominant player in Gaza,” a researcher at Tel Aviv University told @ichotiner.bsky.social. “If he could choose, he would prefer to continue the war.”

Let’s see if this gambit works. Not a bet I’d take.

For those who prefer video: m.youtube.com/watch?v=lR-b...

2025 was a bleak year for democracy and freedoms in Turkey. With the arrest of Erdoğan’s top rival, Ekrem İmamoğlu, Ankara took a decisive step toward hollowing out the ballot box. Record numbers of arrests and detentions of Erdoğan’s critics pushed attacks on freedom of expression to new highs,++

#Trump's plan foresaw a significant surge in humanitarian aid to #Gaza that has remained way below needs. Not only is #Israel slowing down aid by continued restriction of access: It denies most of the top professional international aid organizations registration.

Family members informed on one another, condemning those named to abuse, torture, death at the hands of the Assad regime. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

December 29, 2025. Jomhouri Street. Tehran. @rezahakbari.bsky.social

Appeasement.

New. A deeply researched report by @leendersreinoud.bsky.social and Ali Aljasem on targeted sanctions and transitional justice efforts in Syria. Holding the Assad Regime and its Accomplices to Account: Targeted Sanctions and Transitional Justice in the New Syria opensyr.com/en/pages/p-40

Hard to think this blatantly unconstitutional move will hold

These guys are immune to irony.

"We have to show outrage to our European partners." I gave a talk at DIIS some years back in which a Danish official described the country as "America's wingman." I confess I winced when I heard the comment. But outrage over comments from Trump, Vance, and others in this administration? Yes.

Saudi-UAE tensions escalate. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

This is what every institution he threatens with frivolous defamation suits should be doing

"Conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism does a disservice to combating actual Jew-hatred." Our joint letter w/@truahrabbis.bsky.social, Israelis for Peace, @newjewishnarrative.bsky.social is at truah.org/wp-content/u... Additional criticism of ADL below www.commondreams.org/news/adl-mam...

The regime has announced two proposed rules intended to make it extremely difficult (if not impossible) for trans youth to receive the healthcare they need. We expect robust legal challenges to these hate-filled proposals and are actively engaged with organizations on the frontlines of this fight.

This was exactly Adolf Eichmann's job.

Good piece on Israel’s meddling and arming of the Druze in Syria

This is critically important. Democrats need to pass it if they retake Congress. Trump will veto it. So pass it again. Campaign on it. Given current polling, corruption of the FBI, and the brutality of ICE and BP, there’s no better time to say, “Federal police are not above the law.”

Detention practices of the al-Sharaa govt are troubling. But this is deeply distorted propaganda from a deeply biased source. 892 people have been detained over the past year (!) and Assad regime prisons are “filling up”? Filling up? www.timesofisrael.com/a-year-post-...

And along with not apologizing for being white anymore, we're calling it Christmas, not "the holidays" and if you call us racists or antisemites then you're a domestic terrorist who should be locked up. bsky.app/profile/atru...

What once was largely limited to Stormfront and the fever swamps of the internet just a few years ago is now accepted discourse from the White House.

@realjakebroe.bsky.social Not surprisingly, but quite TREASONOUS/TRAITOROUS that Dump blatantly does this $HIT… Unreal… bsky.app/profile/real...

Quite an admission. Who Can Solve Iran’s Many Problems? Not I, Says the President. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/w...

In his first term Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, an act with no bearing on the illegal status of Israeli annexation. syrianobserver.com/foreign-acto...

Link: academic.oup.com/edited-volum...

The usual hollow bluster and dishonesty we've come to expect from Trump. This is from Defense One's daily email this morning.

As our national debate about antisemitism and Islamophobia intensifies, we have released our latest UMDCIP 39-page report on "Trends in Prejudice Toward Jews and Muslims: Comparison to Other Racial, Ethnic, and Religious Groups." Full demographic analysis: sadat.umd.edu/sites/sadat....

Expanding Trump's travel ban to Syria is allegedly due to inadequate vetting by Syrian authorities that issue official IDs and passports. Yet it is US consular officials, always, who vet visa applicants, and can refuse visas to any applicant at any time for any reason.

Democratic revolutions can be powerful — and fragile. Georgetown School of Foreign Service assistant professor Killian Clarke joined CDDRL to discuss why counterrevolutions emerge even after successful uprisings. https://ow.ly/uj8c50XEnhu

NEW: Jack Smith told lawmakers he developed "proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn his election loss. www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

Maybe someday we’ll see corruption charges filed against Trump, his family, and his toadies. Maybe. Sigh.