Stay safe out there!

Make sure you know your rights!

4/ With no way to reliably learn DHS agents’ identities, there aren’t many ways to report them for alleged abuse. And the office that would have handled complaints about DHS’ behavior? Dismantled.

3/ He’s not the only one struggling to find answers. Under Trump 2.0, DHS appointees have eroded civil rights guardrails and encouraged agents to wear masks, all while threatening groups standing in their way of creating an unaccountable police force.

The sale of the Telegraph is no trivial matter. A mainstream media further exploited by the right threatens us all | Jane Martinson

No one is above the law, except for every single Republican politician and activist convicted of a crime over the last decade because Trump has pardoned all of them or commuted their sentences.

If you are just realizing that Trump couldn’t care less about the Constitution, federal statutes, or Congress, then you haven’t been paying attention. Trump thinks he’s king.

Christian nationalist podcaster Joshua Haymes says Christians must be willing to defend the institution of slavery because the Bible makes it clear that "it is not inherently evil to own another human being." www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwat...

Everyone knows that Meta is basically single-handedly behind the "do age verification in the app store" push, right? Government mandated online age verification is dangerous, doesn't work, and poses a massive threat to human rights and free expression no matter where/how it's done. Full stop.

The request follows a U.S. Court of Appeals decision that blocked the administration’s earlier attempt to activate the Guard in the state.

👀 Sources tell me and @joshgerstein.bsky.social that veteran federal prosecutor Beth Yusi — with DOJ since 2007 — was fired after resisting the Letitia James indictment. Also Kristin Bird, with EDVA since 2019.

Let’s be clear: Trump’s attacks on California's flood control projects started long before this shutdown. This flimsy pretext should not distract from the fundamental truth of his presidency: Trump is only interested in representing states that voted for him. He is half a president.

The programs will continue to receive grant funding, but only for one year. “It is still a disruption to families,’’ Lisa McConachie of the Oregon DeafBlind Project said. “It creates this mistrust, that you are gone and back and gone and back.”

Breaking News: Marc Benioff, the Salesforce CEO, apologized for saying President Trump should send the National Guard to San Francisco.

This is why I continuously correct people on Border Patrol vs. ICE. Two different agencies, both under the DHS umbrella, with the former being *significantly* more aggro than the latter.

On Thursday, Judge Sarah Ellis ordered that the guy in charge of ICE Chicago, Russell Hott, show up for a hearing on Monday bc ICE is violating so many parts of an order she issued last week. On Friday, DHS decided Hott was no longer overseeing Chicago. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

The premium increases we are doing everything we can to ward off but Republicans refuse to acknowledge or fix. This is a NOW problem. Higher Obamacare Prices Become Public in a Dozen States www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/h...

Facts don’t care about the GOP’s feelings — there’s nothing more American than rejecting a mad king. Please join us tomorrow: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings

Make it make sense. [Cartoon by Adam Zyglis]

"He's 17. He has taken on the unlikely role of protector, often patrolling his neighborhood daily starting around 5 a.m. "I may not be no cop or none of that, but I be taking care of the community." www.npr.org/2025/10/17/n...

The MTA in New York City ran its fifth annual pop-up sale, selling retired signs and other train memorabilia from North America’s largest subway system. The event attracted a line of collectors that stretched for blocks. nyti.ms/4nXs8mn

⁨Congress has not authorized military force against Venezuela. But the Trump administration has made it clear they may not stop at boat strikes in the Caribbean. We must stop the U.S. from being dragged–intentionally or accidentally–into full-fledged war in South America.

Hundreds of students across the country have had to stay home from school because of measles exposures.

Important: Sen Chris Murphy just sent pointed questions to Kristi Noem about DHS's account of shooting of US citizen by Trump's paramilitary forces in Chicago. The official line is imploding. Murphy wants Noem to explain why DHS misled. More like this, Ds. New piece: newrepublic.com/article/2019...

Secretary Bessent says he might reveal photos of Chinese parts in Russian drones. Is the Trump Admin trying to break last year's news? How about making real headlines? End the 9-month pause on targeted Russia sanctions. We're losing leverage to end Putin’s war.

JUST IN: Judge Mehta threatens contempt and bar sanctions for attorney Carolyn Stewart — who has repped numerous Jan. 6 defendants and pardon recipients — over filing a motion with “fabricated” citations to local rules and refusing to correct it.

So the president of the United States plans to meet with Putin in Hungary, and when a reporter asked where that plan came from, this was the reply of the United States government www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government…” ~Patrick Henry

Why Johnson is burning so much capital to hold yardage that will inevitably be lost and making this a bigger and bigger story is beyond me.

“It’s clear that Donald Trump has diminished capacity,” Pritzker said. “Which I think is sad, you know, that the people around him are not getting him help, and instead they’re just taking advantage of him. And that’s what Stephen Miller is. You can tell.” trib.al/dazsYG7

The people around Donald Trump are taking advantage of his diminished capacity to break the law. Whatever they do now, we won’t forget — and we will hold them accountable.

He sang Rod Stewart, danced — and then ICE grabbed him. @timmiller.bsky.social talks with @roadsteamer.bsky.social about his detention in Portland

SCOOP: No Kings organizers tell MeidasTouch that RSVPs for the "No Kings" rallies have more than doubled since Mike Johnson and Republicans started attacking them

Police just detained two protesters. One dressed as the Statue of the Liberty.

French philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre knew what made fascists tick. badfaithtimes.com/its-one-long...

lol, now they're saying the Nazi flag is an "optical illusion"

The Trump administration is committing "murder" with its attacks on boats in the Caribbean, says @davidcole-gtown.bsky.social . Would rationales of alleged drug-smuggling hold up if they were made by other countries about the U.S. drug trade?

Trump campaigned on “releasing the Epstein files.” Then the FBI found his name and picture all over the files, photos and videos—now they’re keeping it under lock and key.   What else is in there? Who else are they protecting?

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is set to meet with President Trump at the White House, with long-range Tomahawk missiles and the trajectory of the war with Russia on the agenda as Kyiv intensifies its push for U.S. military aid.

The finest in modern Republican governance. What's next from Trump/RFK -- repurpose the shuttered public corruption unit at the FBI to instead go find Sasquatch? Maybe the fired disease detectives at the CDC can finally get the trooooth about the tooth fairy? kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

A journalist should ask why he seems so uninformed about what's going on in the country as he is supposed to be the leader of the House.

Treasury's Bessent confirms American taxpayer funds being used to buy troubled Argentine pesos, as administration bails out ideological ally during government shutdown: "Treasury has not disclosed how much it has spent purchasing pesos or whether it will do it on a schedule." Via Reuters

Speaker Johnson now signaling the House will remain out of session next week, the fifth recess week in a row

NEW: In a letter to EPA Chief Lee Zeldin, Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, cited a recent ProPublica story that quoted government scientists saying a yet-to-be-released report on the toxicity of PFNA was ready to publish in April. By @fastlerner.bsky.social

After users of OpenAI's Sora app made vulgar and racist depictions of Martin Luther King Jr., the company said it would block people from creating videos using his image.

The Government Is Shut Down. But Not for Fossil Fuels. Federal workers who issue permits for oil, gas and mining operations are on the job, along with those working to repeal pollution limits. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/c...

Reverend David Black is here shaming the cops. "You're arresting us? Look at yourselves. Look at yourselves. You know which side you're on and I don't think you want to be there. And you have that choice."

Pritzker should absolutely say something here, but we’re going to see these scenes play out across the country, and the Democratic Party in general needs to come up with a response that doesn’t throw the people they’re encouraging to take the streets under the bus.