They think we're fucking stupid cattle

This is a really, really important thread.

Look at this, our #Substack being a rising star! Take a minute and read a bit of our most recent free short story from our literary magazine. buff.ly/2SiZLc8

FLASH SALE! - Get 3 Months/$1USD. Get thoughtful short stories emailed to you every month; stories that ask questions about marriage equality, assisted suicide, the meaning of death, animal rights and defining your “purpose.” buff.ly/QTgEejb

There wasn’t a single Democratic elected official who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s death. Not one. Donald Trump is openly celebrating Robert Mueller’s death and no Republicans are condemning him. Both sides are not the same.

There's something deeply obscene and broken about the fact that Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are bombing elementary schools in an illegal war of aggression, and there's still a sense among the opposition that it has to be explained in terms of gas prices in order to get American voters to care.

under questioning by Rand Paul, ICE officials confirm that yelling at officers is not assault and recording officers is not a crime

Raskin: "I want the whole country to look at this. This is the attorney general of the US whose job is law enforcement. We've never had a witness who has misunderstood our rules and been unable to conform his or her conduct to our rules before. Excuse me."

Thanks @juscarts.com and @somewordslit.bsky.social for publishing my piece about 7th grade lightweight football as part of their Super Bowl special: somewords.boards.net/post/71

RIP Catherine O'Hara, who managed to steal every scene she was in

Finally got around to a bit of research I'd been meaning to explore, and: There is no documented instance of an ICE officer being identified and assaulted while off duty because he wasn't masked. www.pbump.net/o/ices-excus...

We need to talk about the rise of "smol bean fascism" where you have all the guns and the immunity but the really scary people are the ones with whistles and phone cameras and they're giving you generational trauma and ptsd by filming you killing people for no reason

Haitians in Springfield, Ohio lose temporary protected status on February 3rd. There will very likely be a major ICE incursion the next day. Haitians in Springfield were the targets of Vance’s lying during the campaign. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/01/28/t...

RAND PAUL: If a country bombed our air defense missiles, captured & removed our president, & blockaded our country, would that be considered an act of war? RUBIO: We just don't believe this operation comes anywhere close to the constitutional definition PAUL: Of course it would be an act of war!

pretty wild statement re: Republican Chris Madel drop from race for MN governor: "Saying he cannot support the national GOP's 'stated retribution on citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so."

Walz: "To Americans who are watching this, I've got a question for you: What side do you want to be on? The side of an all powerful federal govt that can kill, injury, menace, & kidnap its citizens off the streets? Or on the side of a nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such govt?"

Christi Noem should testify under oath in Congress and explain why she lied about the facts around the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Putin pioneered this. No opposition is legitimate. Regular, decent, “ordinary” people cannot possibly be against us because only we represent “the real people.” Tell-tale sign of authoritarianism.

“Get it all on record now — get the films — get the witnesses — because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, after visiting liberated concentration camps in April 1945

On the execution in Minnesota: Obviously, the individuals involved should be held accountable. But responsibility goes to the top of ICE and CBP, and DHS. Their appropriations come up next week in the senate. Not a cent for DHS without pulling ICE and CBP off the streets, in MN and everywhere else.

Hey, it’s this week’s schedule! (I swear one of these days I’ll get better about posting on here.)

Want to bring some holiday cheer to a hard-working lit mag run by volunteers? Take a minute to review the magazine, or one of our books on Amazon or Goodreads! buff.ly/aJgJy6s , buff.ly/4jnZdCS

There is so much for which to remember Rob Reiner. In my family, we have long treasured this one bit he did with Carroll O'Connor on "All in the Family." It has always made me laugh, no matter how many times I've watched it. And we all could use a good laugh these days

My God.

BLACK FRIDAY SPECIAL. Send us some of your words by the end of the day & I promise to eventually read the words & get back to you. somewords.boards.net/thread/4/sub...

Former DOJ lawyer Erez Reuveni was ordered to tell a judge that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was an MS-13 gang member and terrorist. "That is not factually correct." Reuveni: "They did everything to him in violation of his due process rights. What's to stop them if they decide they don't like you anymore?"

Bondi on Fox: "People protesting immigration enforcement raids were members of what she described as “organized crime” syndicates. “They are no different than [notoriously violent El Salvadorean gang] MS-13,” she said. can you imagine? The AG of the US equates peaceful protest w/ organized crime.

Lindsey Halligan indicts Letitia James on one count of bank fraud in EDVA. We are in an absolute nightmare.

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

A really stirring opinion from Judge Karen Immergut (Boalt 87!) blocking Trump’s military assault on Portland, calling it, elegantly, “ untethered to facts.” “Whether we choose to follow what the Constitution mandates …goes to the heart of what it means to live under the rule of law in the US.”

One of the highlights of the year for us is to elevate great authors by selecting stories to send to #pushcart for consideration. We are only allowed to send six, but could easily have sent many more epic tales! (Part 2) #philosophy #ethics #shortstory #fiction #litmag

Too perfect.

Ladies and gentlemen, the meritocracy

I stand with Maya Song.

@jvl.bsky.social This is what you were talking about in your last article.

NO. “ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show after *being pressured by FCC Chair*.” I honestly don’t get why speaking up for liberal democracy is so hard.

We're close to reaching a chilling moment; the first time in history where the single largest group of people arrested by ICE in the interior and held in detention are people with no criminal record. The gap is now down to fewer than 300 people.

"Harvard can't use race as a factor in admissions, but ICE can use race as a factor in detentions" is a retrenchment essentially to a pre-Civil War understanding of the Constitution. It's vanishingly few steps removed from "Latinos have no rights which the white man is bound to respect."

In the lead-up to the American Revolution, throughout the colonies, people understood that the punishments Britain waged against Boston were against ALL of them. Chicago is all of us.

So the U.S. military just blew up 11 people on the open sea in an extrajudicial massacre, saying they were dangerous drug traffickers but offering no court prior evidence to claim such. And other military units are patrolling U.S. cities with guns and no training in criminal procedure. Cool, cool.

Ukraine needs to name its military bases after Vladimir Putin and his generals. by Pete Hegseth

Pssst, are you a teacher? We've turned some of our best short stories into lesson plans for Grade 9-12. Vocabulary words, learning theories; everything to keep your school happy! buff.ly/fuQNxBk

Breaking News: A federal judge ordered that “Alligator Alcatraz,” a Florida immigration detention center, be shut down, at least temporarily, within 60 days.

I walk the streets of Downtown Atlanta every damn day. For years. I don’t recognize this fictional hellhole the vice president has created. Whatever lies it takes I guess. Right, @jd-vance-1.bsky.social?

It’s not just idiotic but evil to pressure history-preserving institutions like the Smithsonian to whitewash ‘How Bad Slavery Was’ but that’s exactly what Trump is doing: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/u...