WHAT they are doing is abhorrent and immoral. But lost in all of it is HOW they are doing it: in relative secret, out of the public eye. It's next to impossible to follow even for a seasoned observer. They know what they are doing. And they will have to answer for it some day.

In Todd we trust

“There’s nothing quite like going to the bail window, paying cash and getting a receipt for a human being.” mlk50.com/2026/04/22/a...

the clock is ticking heatmap.news/energy/hormu...

with the country at war, Trump announces he's going to do some sightseeing at Graceland later today

In every Republican presidency of my lifetime there's been a recession and a new war in the Middle East.

TN is several years into these kinds of pretrial justice rollbacks. There is barely a hint remaining of the presumptions and burdens of proof originally written into the state law and constitution. This fall, TN votes on a constitutional amendment removing the right to bail from dozens of offense.

When we say that jail conditions are not about the building, this is what we mean. One the left: a 50-year old description of The Tombs in NYC On the right: a recent description of Rikers Island, which replaced The Tombs

The difference between a judicial warrant and an administrative warrant is the difference between a $20 bill and a napkin that a fascist wrote "twenty dollars" on.

Obviously, the "task" was to pull over as many Black drivers as possible. This is not how you address violent crime. This is not how you investigate and solve crime. This is a roundup as a demonstration of strength and control. Shame on the City of Memphis and MPD for playing along.

"Despite the fact that the Constitution requires counsel to be appointed for defendants unable to afford legal representation, the government spends only $7.9 billion on this right." Funding for the only constitutionally guaranteed component of the system is DWARFED by all other spending. 😡

Smash your Ring camera.

"And if using our local police and sheriffs to disappear them from their homes and cars doesn't work, we'll starve them, force them out into the streets, and deny them healthcare."

This failure of imagination and vision severely afflicts criminal justice policy as well. Believe it or not; we can have both safety AND justice.

Benito is a threat b/c he makes art so alluring and enjoyable you want to understand everything about it and then you end up learning about sugar and slavery and colonialism and the Taínos and Hawaii and then you probably have some thoughts of your own, and that's why art is powerful and dangerous

If this halftime show doesn’t make Stephen miller wade into the sea

"For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism." (gift link)

"By the end of the two-year period, 94% of participants reported they were housed." A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends. Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.

The problem is that elections rarely change the office over the long-term; they quickly return to the mean. (Hence why I take a defund/ remove powers/ abolish approach)

Hey, Tennessee. This is our leadership.

It’s like living in China, but without the trust in science, progress on renewable energy, uptake in EVs, amazing high speed rail network, and great food.

This is near constant in CJ reform work.

“Faceless officials with guns and body armor are crying about how scared they are of having their names on the internet, while shooting unarmed Americans in the face.”

We just lit candles for Alex in Midtown #Memphis

Also, may I say that I don’t agree with people saying ICE and CBP need “more training.” They’re doing exactly what this administration has trained them to—impose a reign of fear in blue cities. They don’t need more training. They need to be ripped up root and branch.

NYT video analysis confirms victim’s gun was removed before he was shot. So he was unarmed. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents-video.html

ICE is now responsible for 66% of the homicides in Minneapolis this year.

What we are watching is a paramilitary force learning that they can kill with impunity, that the regime will smear the victim and defend them. Unless politicians and the legal system exerts accountability, it will not stop. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...

All of these constraints … compound the well-documented problem of teen loneliness and poor mental health. And they are a reflection of an adult society that resists taking responsibility for, or even tolerating the presence of, children in public.” www.theatlantic.com/family/2026/...

A must read for Memphians

This guy says it all! He’s here to stand with and protect his community while ICE is harming and hurting it.

🧵

Excellent.

Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago

Saturday night situation

“Better Than Retail”

Wow. What’s this like? Our Democratic Sheriff in Memphis just signed on to 287(g), and our Democratic mayor is letting ICE agents ride along on patrol in Memphis Police cruisers.

Mayor Young, Gov Lee, & President Trump all say that the Memphis Safe Task Force is necessary to combat violent crime. But apparently not on the weekends. This chart shows hourly bookings for the month of October at the men’s jail at 201 Poplar Avenue.

What if we took all of the skeletons on front porches seriously?

!!!

Grizz win!!!

The Memphis Safe Task Force's goal was always to round up as many people as quickly as possible. Like a citywide ICE raid. It's fantastical for the Mayor to think he's going to convince 1,500 federal agents to solve homicides and do actual police work. www.psrmemphis.org/mayor-young-...

This is the way www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

Memphis' jail has 200 more people in it this morning than it did last Monday after the President and the Governor unleashed 200 federal agents onto our streets to work w/ a police dept that has been found to routinely violate our rights. Here's the front page of the @dailymemphian.bsky.social

Just like their local comrades, the occupiers park wherever they want. Never mind that it’s an active lane of traffic. This, while they execute a warrant on a hamburger at Huey’s, no doubt.

Whatever would we have done without these 219 "special deputized" federal agents?

The president just gathered the highest ranking officers in the military to tell them that he may order them to kill American citizens -- and that they better follow his orders. All in response to a series of crises that have no basis in reality. I don't know how to yell any louder.

So exhausting..

What Trump's Secret Police did today.