A song to remind me of the most useful phrases I have learnt from Italian Duolingo. (Sound up)

BREAKING: The FBI has fired agents photographed kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest that followed the death of George Floyd, AP sources say.

BREAKING NYT:   Trump just fired a U.S. attorney who insisted on following a court order.   Michele Beckwith, the top federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was fired hours after she reminded a Border Patrol chief to abide by court-ordered restrictions on immigration raids.

Mamdani serves a full, nutritious meal in an era where politics is either deadly poison or vacuous junk food. He uses the tried and true "we did, we can, we will" framework that helps abate cynicism but without papering over past harms or present injustice.

It is much more common than it should be for employers to try to control their employees' politics -- but still, this story stands out

Also, apparently the Obamas were just here, receiving an award that comes with sheep-grazing rights

In Dublin for a few days, and Minnesota seems to have followed me here???

Ah, yes, noted free speech advocate Bret Stephens, the same Bret Stephens who cc’d a professor’s provost on an email complaining to that prof about a mild bedbug joke he had made at Bret’s expense.

BREAKING: A federal judge has ordered the University of South Dakota to reinstate a professor who posted criticism of Charlie Kirk on his Facebook page the day of the shooting, finding the action likely violated the First Amendment. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

In other news, Chief Justice Roberts's "administrative" stay from 9/9 — allowing the Trump admin hold off spending nearly $5 billion in foreign aid that Congress said is to be spent by 9/30 — remains in effect tonight, one week and one hour from the spending deadline. www.lawdork.com/i/173230405/...

Yes I will be fighting back against the unjust firing by @washingtonpost.com. I have filed a grievance and will be represented by none other than the amazing @katiephang.bsky.social and an incredible legal team. Journalistic freedom is a bedrock of a healthy society and is worth battling for.

🧵:

Proud to represent @karenattiah.bsky.social in her fight against the Washington Post

During the Trump administration, we are seeing *lots* of examples of unions stepping up to defend employers' (stated) core values -- this is an important one

Maybe everyone—public and private—should be entitled to a publicly stated “for cause” reason before they lose their job.

Do any of the professors or journalists or teachers also get their jobs back or nah

Federal district court judges are almost UNANIMOUSLY rejecting the government's new interpretation of a 1996 law to bar release from ICE detention to millions of people. Yet the Board of Immigration Appeals, fresh off a purge of Biden appointees, made it official precedent.

@jamellebouie.net, please do a column about how the same logic applies to other independent agencies, like the Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n. Though everyone is focused on the Fed, I spoke to a former NRC chair who told me that they're scared of a Fukushima disaster on US soil b/c of the UET.

The problem is that they have their whole own corpus of case law and who’s gonna be able to tell if AI is hallucinating Mr. Fuzzy Furry Paws v. Two Human Owners

A lot of purr se negligence arguments coming soon to a court near you.

The ABA Journal would like to inform you that America’s cats are one step closer to being able to file lawsuits

If only institutions like journalism and academia understood this. It’s not partisan to stand up for yourself if you are under threat, even if only one party is presenting the danger. In fact, if the institution under threat is important—and they all are—then standing up to the threat is imperative.

imagine if a family of beavers randomly showed up right now and finished whatever thing you've been putting off

Technologically advance a band: Huey Lewis & The ChatGPT Summaries of Reddit Threads

It's hard to imagine what @peterbakernyt.bsky.social and the @nytimes.com were thinking in publishing this assertion: “We all especially know Biden used government to censor Trump, kicking him off many media platforms, a clear violation of the law,” Mr. Shirley said. @peterbakernyt.bsky.social

Definitely A Cat

I find this extremely chilling: I spoke w a reporter this morning about Kimmel. (Reporter was / is great) They got back to me a short while ago to say they sought White House comment & WH demands to know first which experts they spoke with. I told reporter I'm happy to be quoted IN THE STORY but 1/x

Today's decision being heavily criticized by Past Brendan Carr

We are no longer in the era of First Amendment Lochner-ism. We are in the era of First Amendment Coronado-ism -- where we see the hyperexpansive First Amendment protections that allegedly defined an era come to a screeching halt the minute they stand in the way of conservative policy priorities.

New PEN America statement: “The firing and suspension of multiple journalists after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk should alarm anyone who cares about free speech and a free press. Taken together, these measures risk creating a chilling effect that extends beyond those directly targeted..."

It just boggles my mind that there is this Weird Jurisdictional Trick, aka, extraordinary rendition to a cooperating foreign country, upon which our Article III courts are helpless

Bluesky, is this your way of telling me to get a fifth cat?

She’s never heard of a discourse.

(Ed. Note: they cannot.)

Deeply disappointed with my alma mater, where I was subject to right-wing and occasionally extremely hateful rhetoric as free speech, that they think that protection only applies to some people.

PSA: there is no First Amendment exception for speech that “undermines the dignity of others.”

These are the Trump Administration’s demands on UCLA, in addition to a 1.2 billion dollar fine, as reported by the LA Times today. I must note again that the Trump Administration’s attempt to use title vi to enforce conservative agenda items is flagrantly illegal.

jd vance can say what he wants, because he is a free person in a free society, and so are we: free people in a free society which we make free by living as free people in a free society

This whole story is worth your time, but this nugget - dropped almost as an aside - jumped out at me.

This has been coming from the beginning. All major democracy-supporting NGOs and foundations have their legal complaints already drafted. And in time, perhaps not even much time, they will win their cases. What is needed most in the meantime is courage. Keep saying what you think, doing what you do.

The Washington Post can't claim to defend free speech while firing Karen Attiah for exercising hers. The Post should be a newsroom that promotes the freedom of ideas, speech and the press.

Statement from @postguild.bsky.social on the firing of Karen Attiah:

Extremely depressing to see Perkins - of all firms - fire an employee b/c of a tweet that drew blowback.

Breaking — FEMA Acting Chief Counsel Colt Hagmaier just resigned in an email to staff. He's worked at the agency for more than a decade. Hagmaier's resignation comes immediately after two FEMA employees were placed on leave for comments about Charlie Kirk. Text of his email shared with me:

This is your periodic reminder that there is a new 501(c)(3) the purpose of which is to hold lawyers like Martin to account, and to make sure no one ever forgets the role of lawyers in United States' decent to authoritarianism. If you are a lawyer/law student - we need your help. DM me.

I'm sure an LLM* would be happy to work up a (meritless) complaint based on this theory. Then an LLM** could write a motion to dismiss, and the judge could get a third LLM** to draft an opinion. *Large language model ** Human w/ advanced law degree, I hope

We're witnessing the most aggressive, fanatical crackdown on free speech in my lifetime. The speed and breadth of government censorship and private sector and nonprofit capitulation has been astonishing. As has the lack of urgency/silence from people who've long claimed to care about this stuff.

Spyware abuses continue - targeting journalists and civil society. Governments need to pause and prevent harm, and avoid legitimizing a tool that is as dangerous as a weapon to the health of democracy and civil society.

It may be distasteful but it is not illegal to mock someone's death and it should not warrant arrest, ever. The 1st Amendment exists specifically to protect disfavored speech and what is happening now is one of the greatest threats to free speech in the United States.