Happy Appomattox Day to all that celebrate

So we talked to the author of the 25th amendment. (89 years young!) And we went through the text. It solved a real problem, but it wasn't the problem we have right now. I'd like a deus ex machina for what we're going through too, but this ain't it. From Moe Tkacik and I: prospect.org/2026/04/07/w...

BTW the people who spent the last few years advocating for Palestine were clearly 100% right that normalizing war crimes and genocide there would just increase the likelihood of inhumane actions elsewhere. Just saying.

Today I learned I can read German

I think the opposition party widely expected to make historic gains in the next election(s) has an obligation to explain how they'll stop this and prevent it from happening again or it's reasonable to conclude they don't plan on doing those things, which raises more uncomfortable questions

UK: Prince Andrew arrested. South Korea: Former President Yoon sentenced for life. Brazil: Former President Bolsonaro serving a 27-year sentence. USA: President Trump demands $10 billion payout from taxpayers.

hard to think of a better example of "you may not believe in class war, but billionaires know they're in one" than this

Definitely seems like they destroyed the country on purpose.

was that not already banned

New poll — Abolishing ICE continues its historic surge of support. 46% support 43% oppose 80% of Democrats and 15% of Trump voters support abolishing ICE. Independents are +8 on the question.

One year ago: "Democrats are seen as the Party of Betrayal. Republicans will screw you openly. Democrats pretend to have your back and then stab it. You should not vote GOP unless you enjoy being screwed, but voting for a Democrat feels like setting yourself up for the particular pain of betrayal."

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

On May 13, 1985 in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania State Police dropped a bomb from a helicopter onto a Black neighborhood. 11 people were killed, 5 of whom were children. As we see ICE terrorize communities, understand that saying “this isn’t who we are” is false.

Okay I think I've mapped out ICE politics as of Monday night

The officer who shot Alex worked for DHS for 8 years. The officer who shot Renee worked for DHS for over 10 years. Both are considered “highly trained.” The problem isn’t "training." DHS was built to violate our rights and has been empowered to act with impunity. We must MELT ICE and dismantle DHS.

This morning, I recorded a video on TikTok about why DHS’s arguments for the power to enter homes without judicial warrants in immigration cases are bunk. Nine hours later, TikTok still says my video is “under review,” and can’t be shared. Well, here’s a link: georgetown.box.com/v/Vladeck-IC...

This can’t be retrained. This can’t be reformed. We have a responsibility to stand up and fight using every means in our power within the bounds of the law. Abolish ICE.

Pam Bondi just sent a letter to Minnesota officials saying ICE will leave if the state turns over its voter database to Trump. Guess what? This has never been about safety or immigration. It’s a pretext for Trump to take over elections in swing states.

Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti. "Please get the truth out about our son."

I wonder if I’ll ever stop being angry all of the time.

Them, but also more directly: 285 people out of 535 could end all this (218 + 67). That fact should not be treated as an "oh they'll never do it" shrug, as if they don't have agency. They should be hammered constantly as traitors and cowards every day they don't.

NYT says ICE shot him in the back: An “agent aims his own firearm at Mr. Pretti’s back and appears to fire one shot at close range… A third agent unholsters a weapon. Both agents appear to fire additional shots into Mr. Pretti as he lies motionless… At least 10 shots appear to have been fired…” 🎁🔗

If you're living somewhere outside the USA, one thing you can do is pressure your leaders to boycott World Cup and Olympic events here.

What's making me really livid right now is thinking back to the years of commentary lecturing us that the rise of MAGA was rooted in a sense of righteous victimization by overbearing liberal elites, and sneering at those who insisted that it was fundamentally about domination and sadism all along.

Yes ICE are like Nazis and the Gestapo and it’s important to make that connection but people are blatantly ignoring that American history already has its own version of this. ICE members are directly tied to slave patrollers and the militia that carried out the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans

I am watching what is happening in Minneapolis on Ali Velshi and one of the ICE officers (off camera) literally says, “It’s like Call of Duty. Pretty cool huh?” as they shoot whatever it is they are shooting. Agents walking around, guns unholstered for no reason. This is insanity

Anyone telling you NOT to call your member of congress today is an op or under the influence of an op There is literally no reason not to Telling people not to call is not a radical position

7 Democrats — with the blessing of Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic leadership — just voted with Republicans to give these agents even more money

Once again: Focusing on their lack of training is a mistake. With "better training," their violence would simply cost more, and they would still kill whoever they wanted, but make it look more professional — to make people more comfortable, the way many of you are at ease with local police violence.

I would like Democrats to understand that doing literally anything is not the escalation they think it is. Doing something is DE-ESCALATION. Doing nothing is ESCALATION because it will cause people to take matters into their own hands.

According to its new privacy policy, TikTok now collects more data on its users, including their precise location, after majority ownership officially switched to a group based in the US. www.wired.com/story/tiktok...

There is evil and then there is this

When an ICE agent confronts you is "when your due process ends," says the member of Congress from the largest border district. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...

If you want to know what people mean when they say Democrats are "controlled opposition," rather than whipping votes against ICE funding, Hakeem Jeffries struck a deal with Republicans to allow Democrats to feign outrage at ICE while still funding the spending package.

This guy went to work today, put a mask on, kidnapped a 5 year old child, and then used him as bait so both he and his father could be sent behind bars

Minnesota: "School officials say the [5-year-old] child was used as bait. They say [ICE] agents made little Liam knock on the door to ask to be let in in order to see if anyone else was home."

New: meet ELITE, the Palantir app ICE is using to find neighborhoods to raid. Map interface; officers search for immigrants; click person to bring up individual dossier. This is clearest link between what Palantir is building and ICE's activities on the ground yet www.404media.co/elite-the-pa...

ICE recruitment is going well.

In case you’re wondering whether the pro-ICE reactions to Renee Nicole Good’s murder are natural, here’s a comment that was just left on my video. My video about anti-transgender bias at the BBC. I haven’t made a video about Good yet. youtu.be/pWm3dK8tPto

they didn’t leak it to make the shooter look innocent, but to make the victim look guilty. not guilty of a crime. guilty of having a visibly queer wife. guilty of liberalism. guilty of opposing the regime. they don’t seek to exonerate themselves, only to demonstrate who deserves to die.

so where are the op-eds about republican overreach today? where’s the commentary about donald trumps war against american citizens or his terror campaign targeting brown people? where’s the pearl clutching over the conservative social media bubble reliant on nazi propagandists?

I just received this statement from ICE re: Barbara Mariana Gomes Marques May in which they can't even be bothered to get her age right (she's 38.) She never received the notice to appear in 2019, and was at the final step of her green card process with her US citizen husband when she was taken.

Trump’s approval in the swing states is abysmal open.substack.com/pub/gelliott...

AOC: I think there's two things that are happening at once: One, there absolutely is an unprecedented abuse of power, destruction of norms, erosion of our government and our democracy in order to prop up an authoritarian style of governance However, they are weaker than they look…

YES! THIS on GenAI! Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins: "An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

Media and Dems are still getting this badly wrong: Trump is deeply unpopular! Recent approval numbers: 38-54 (Quinnipiac) 39-60 (AP) 40-56 (Gallup) 41-58 (Reuters) 39-56 (Economist) On the pod, @lakshya.splitticket.org explains these numbers brilliantly. Listen: newrepublic.com/article/2010...

"Democracy dies if prominent black writers don't frame their arguments around appeasing white voters in Wisconsin," or "Democracy dies unless liberal writers praise radical, hateful conservative activists" is the subtext. And it's worth thinking through who makes these kinds of arguments and why.

Whether they're blaming vaccines and Tylenol, or selling dubious "remedies," what they're really doing is promoting the perception that families (and especially mothers) can prevent and treat Autism. And thus also the perception that people with Autism and their families don't need social support.