as a d&d nerd, I've been waiting for someone to write this article and @adamserwer.bsky.social killed it–a must read for any fantasy fans

The far right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Musk keeps posting about "hobbits" because modern scientific racism owes more to fantasy worlds and gaming systems than genetic science, and they see both as effective mediums for right-wing propaganda www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

The U.S. military is being used inside the United States. There's a lot we don't know about how, why, and under what authorities. Today, Lawfare is launching a new project–which includes a tracker and a map–to follow where and how the military is being domestically deployed.

Over at @lawfaremedia.org, we just launched a new project tracking domestic deployments of the U.S. military. The map includes 2025 data and our table includes data from 2017. Check it out: www.lawfaremedia.org/domesticdepl...

Lawfare has a new landing page where you can find @annabower.bsky.social, @rparloff.bsky.social, and @mollyroberts.bsky.social's courtroom dispatches in the litigation surrounding actions from the Trump administration. Check it out:

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

We have reached a verdict: Not guilty.

The closer it gets to Thanksgiving, the likelihood of Republicans nuking the filibuster increases pretty substantially, right?

The Republican 2028 primary is going to be wiiiild

The shuttering of USAID is one of the most morally reprehensible acts of the Trump administration

What we know so far, 9:30pm —Dems flip VA-Gov & VA-LG. —BIG Dem gains in VA House —Dems win NJ-Gov —Mamdani up —Dems seem to flip 2 statewide offices in GA —JD Vance's half-brother loses in Cincy. —Dems sweep Orlando council —PA: Dem justices up big —Maine anti-mail vote measure down —Krasner wins

Polls will begin to close very soon. And it'll feel like there are a million things to watch! One resource to bookmark: my cheat sheet to election night. We'll be updating with results as they're known: so once you know what happened in VA, NYC, NJ, you can check out the all the down-ballot stuff!

Children tear-gassed. Teenagers tackled to the ground. Bellingcat analysed footage of clashes between federal officers and civilians after a judge issued a restraining order on crowd-control tactics in Illinois: www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10...

The level of violence being used by the federal immigration enforcement agents in Chicago & it's suburbs is so insane—it seems like just a matter of time before something gives

Andrew Coan contemplates what would happen if the Trump administration defied lower court orders while declining to appeal them, creating an “appellate void” where higher courts lack an obvious path to intervene to enforce the rulings. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

NEW: Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power. Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well beyond the borders of his state. By @dougbockclark.bsky.social

We’ve updated our story with an additional comment provided by the United States Justice Department.

I hereby declare 2025 as “The Year of Politicians and Government Officials Reaching Out to Journalists in Utterly Baffling and Ill-Advised Ways.”

EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification. I glanced down at the message. “Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began. So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...

“She knew I was a journalist. She approached me. She invited my questions. She even encouraged me to stop chasing other reporters’ stories and focus on my own. Turns out, she gave me a great one. ”

Heated blanket is out for winter which means my cat will not leave my lap for any reason

Trump gutted USAID, stopping critical lifesaving assistance around the world, in order to save money, and is now putting more than that much money into interfering in Argentina's domestic politics by bailing out the ruling party.

Today, a Maryland grand jury indicted John Bolton on 18 counts of unlawfully retaining and transmitting classified material. Bolton is the third prominent critic of President Trump to be indicted in the past month. Read the indictment, from @annahickey.bsky.social.

Quite a day.

Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.

@mollyroberts.bsky.social previewed the indictment earlier this week: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/next...

This remains the most important piece i’ve written about the goals and ideological principles of the second Trump administration www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc... bsky.app/profile/jame...

he's going to come after you either way, so you might as well act with integrity

JUST IN: The Republican Mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska’s second biggest city, lost re-election last night to a Democrat. Mayor David Pruhs is a conservative who fought protections for LGBTQ+ residents; he made comments this year drew condemnation this year from Alaska Natives. He lost to Mindy O'Neall.

I recorded a @lawfaremedia.org podcast with @nickkristof.bsky.social about what the end of USAID means for the people who had relied on it and it's heartbreaking. The wholesale destruction of the agency by this administration will have consequences for decades to come. youtu.be/HfxfXuHBz6c?...

Maybe this was happening in LA, but ICE/federal agents actions seems to be getting worse in Chicago

Politico saying this is 👀👀👀

There's an overwhelming amount of litigation surrounding the Trump administration so over at @lawfaremedia.org we have tried to make it easier to parse it. You can find district court, appellate level, and SCOTUS cases all in one place! Check it out ⬇️

this is a very very big story because of the apparently totally fake story ICE/DHS put out about what happened.

MTG is positioning herself to be the post-Trump MAGA leader in a way that honestly seems more effective than Vance/Miller's recent moves

What an utter disgrace. Noem's actions to "vacate" Secretary Mayorkas' grant of TPS over the direct command in the statute that no early termination can be done was flagrantly unlawful. And yet the majority offers not a SINGLE word of explanation for why they think she could do that. Shameless!

Critical role campaign is all bangers so far

NEW — An estimated 40 people were taken by federal agents in an overnight raid in South Shore, a predominantly-Black neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. A couple who live nearby said they were shocked to see the enormous militarized raid in their community. thetriibe.com/2025/09/feds...

This is likely part of the proposed Israel/Gaza peace plan - listen to @sranderson.bsky.social and Joel Braunold discuss on @lawfaremedia.org

"The one tool [Democrats] do have is refusing their consent to keep the government open and funded unless they get some basic concessions not merely on Medicaid but also on executive branch compliance with federal statutes,” writes @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org in The Situation.

I'm skimming, but this paragraph stood out:

the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Laws in the early 1850s reads as awfully similar to current federal immigration enforcement in blue cities

I'm not usually one for a book of reviews & essays but Eric Foners recent book is fantastic

Over at @lawfaremedia.org, I discuss the OMB latest memo on RIFs: "OMB’s memo amounts to a threat that agencies will simply continue the actions they have pursued for the past nine months. Why this would provide the Trump administration with meaningful leverage in negotiations is unclear."

It’s both depressing and darkly hilarious how Lawfare posting has gone from “we got him on an Article 33, Clause 8, Subsection Alpha infraction, baby cannon time!” to *slams whisky bottle down* “the law is fake and I challenge John Roberts to a fistfight at the Walmart parking lot.”

In non politics news my friends have been making our way through my fast & furious movies and Natalie Emmanuel & Michelle Rodriguez should be in wayyy more movies

conservatives on the supreme court really believe that democrats will never be in charge again i guess?

Supreme Court rules 6-3 that congressional appropriations are optional: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

the evidence in favor of the traditional understand of the birthright citizenship clause is so overwhelming that a bunch of conservative legal hacks had to conjure a fake literature int existence to create the appearance of dispute. i expect the court to side with trump, of course.

Today, a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted former FBI Director James Comey today on two counts arising out of his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020. Read the indictment from @ericcolumbus.bsky.social.