Heartwarming video of the day

Don't let copaganda fool you – police violence is not tied to their safety. The vast majority of police killings actually start with officers responding to a suspected non-violent situation or a case where no crime has been reported.

Tragedies like this emphasize what advocates have long known: It's not just "a few bad apples." This is the result of policies and practices that enable and even encourage police violence.

This kind of horror is not unique to ICE or any singular agency. Police violence is a widespread, systemic problem in the U.S. No police force of any other wealthy country kills civilians at a rate that even comes close to American police:

Today, ICE shot & killed someone, and then said the officer was using "his training." When police point to their "training" to justify murder, you can't help but wonder – who exactly do they serve and protect?

On the 5th anniversary of the January 6 riot, there is a lot to be said. One of the day’s underdiscussed legacies: Politicians who championed so-called “tough-on-crime” laws coming so close to seeing the abuses of the criminal legal system, but missing the point entirely 🧵

It’s #Festivus, and we’ve got a lot of problems with the politicians driving mass incarceration & criminalization – and they’re gonna hear about it. Gather ‘round while we air our grievances 🧵

The guy who famously crosses every border in one night without documentation?

These under-the-radar decisions by @newyorkstateag.bsky.social's office show even those who say they are champions of a more just system won't do the most basic things to make it more just. Her office doesn't have to have these cases dismissed. It is choosing to do so. nysfocus.com/2025/12/22/p...

Almost universally true that whether someone gets in trouble for a crime is less dependent on what they did, and more on how much power they have in society. Theft, drugs, violence, vandalism. Almost always true

We were dead and now we're the hottest country in the world, the first country—quite frankly the only country—where a box of breakfast cereal costs $11. We're saying Merry Christmas, and also the r-slur, and we're getting back to saying "gay" so it means "stupid" again. Grown-ups are doing it now,

As Pres. Trump prepares to boast his administration's "accomplishments" from 2025, we want to highlight all the changes he's made to the U.S. criminal legal system this year. 🧵 Spoiler: It's really bad.

What's the difference between states like Florida, where ICE arrests are sky-high, and states like Illinois with much lower rates of arrests? It's all about police & jails. Arrest rates out of homes, workplaces, etc are similar – but reining in sheriffs makes all the difference.

From @prisonpolicy.org: New analysis of government data from ICE via the Deportation Data Project shows federal agents reliant on local jails and police to reach their arrest numbers.

Can't believe we have to say this, but tampons aren't contraband. And yet in NY state prisons, body scanners (that COs demanded) are picking up menstrual products, leaving people barred from visiting with their incarcerated loved ones.

This story takes a lot of turns, and every single one of them is bad. Women denied the ability to visit loved ones because they have tampons. Guards unwilling to be screened to prevent contraband from getting in prison. Bad all the way down. nysfocus.com/2025/12/06/d... @chrisgelardi.bsky.social

We already knew this was a proactively pro-rape administration but still.

Trump is a lot of things, but he’s not politically stupid. He knows that Mamdani’s policies are popular and wants to be associated with them. If he hugs the mayor-elect tight, he thinks people will think he cares about affordability, too.

Rather than trivializing how much toilet paper Ghislaine Maxwell has access to behind bars, remember that most incarcerated people have little to their name. Toilet paper isn't a luxury – it's a basic necessity.

New: We analyzed prison rules and sanctions, and gathered accounts from incarcerated people, to reveal how DOCs use disciplinary policies to punish people for menstruating. www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/11...

I appreciate PPI's work so much. and also wtf.

Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage

People are very aware of how the Senate “works,” and that’s exactly why they are so angry

If they do this, every Dem that votes for it needs to go, starting with Schumer.

"While crime rates remain near historic lows, what has actually changed most is the public's perception of crime, which is driven less by first-hand experience or data than by the false claims of reform opponents. These false claims ... undo [our] hard-won, evidence supported, common sense reforms."

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission voted to increase phone and video calling rate caps for incarcerated people. In July we published dispatches about the necessity of phone calls, and how high costs — relative to extremely low prison wages — affect their connections to loved ones.

The @washingtonpost.com says Mamdani is "fixated" on Israel. Its evidence? When asked about Israel, he talks about affordability in NYC. Such embarrassing stuff out of the Post every single day.

With SNAP expiring, at least one Calif community is responding not by helping people get food, but by threatening hungry people with arrest This is what we mean when we say policing is a policy choice that creates crime Here’s the math that proves it 🧵

Why are people pissed? Left: Billionaires spent $40+ million to elect Cuomo Right: Hochul declares a state of emergency & allocates $65 million to feed people who might otherwise starve Imagine if the billionaires chose to do something good with their $$$, rather than protecting their wallets

🚨NEW: The FCC has voted to raise calling rates for incarcerated people – a move that bends to the will of telecomm companies, jails and prisons, while saddling poor families with higher costs. Now, prices could hike as much as 83% 🧵

This! This is why investing in services and support for those in need is a better crime-fighting tool than police and incarceration will ever be!!!

The beef thing is obviously bad. But for this to be the red line for so many republicans in congress is crazy! Not the attempts to steal an election Or the Epstein stuff Or the corruption Or the authoritarianism. Bringing another country’s beef in. That was it.

This interview is shocking and illuminating. Shocking that someone who was literally at the top of communications in Dem politics being utterly unable to make a coherent point. Illuminating about why the Biden admin struggled to present a cogent message to Americans. Must read.

Enten: "Canada is far more popular than Donald Trump is here in the United States. The net popularity of Canada is +49. Trump is -10. We're talking about Canada coming out nearly 60 points ahead on the net popularity ratings versus Donald Trump here in the US"

If given the chance, I'd lose my legs all over again to serve in our great military. The leader of your party is a five-time draft dodger who has fired more Veterans than any other president in our history. Square that circle then tell me who really hates our military.

it wouldn't fix everything but you could do a lot to improve journalism by simply straight out banning the passive voice

Oh you're trying to say the cost of living is skyrocketing? Donald Trump can't hear you over the sound of bulldozers demolishing a wing of the White House to build a new grand ballroom.

The ICE detention center near Buffalo has banned book deliveries, New York Focus has learned. Rejected books include a Spanish-English dictionary, a translation of a George R.R. Martin novel, and “The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.” nysfocus.com/2025/10/08/b...

At the Public Safety committee hearing, and the chair just asked a woman from MCI Framingham, “Where do the drugs come from?” “We aren’t the ones who go in and out. We get strip searched all the time, everywhere you go. I’m not saying you should start strip searching the guards, but…”

Mike Johnson — man of deep faith, we are told — wants pastors to be shot in the head with pepper balls.

The FCC has published its proposal for a new pricing structure, which would effectively gut the historic regulations approved in 2024.

Take a principled stand and fight for it. It’s good policy and good politics.

DOGE showed how this will play out if he tries to fire people or deny them pay. He'll make the move, the press will report on it, his base will cheer him being a monster, later courts will rule he didn't have authority & taxpayers will pay even more for his idiocy. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/u...

This is the funniest thing AI has ever done.

Imagine being not only unfunny, but also announcing to the world that you're a coward.

Court-watchers confirm this cruel ICE agent has been reinstated. Last week, in the briefest moment of decency, violently throwing a woman to the floor was “beneath the men and women of ICE.” This week, it’s back to business as usual. The cruelty, after all, is the point.

So funny that Silwa says Cuomo people are trying to pay him to drop out, and a few days later Adams drops out, something he said he wouldn’t do. Someone delivered him a potato chip bag full of cash.

Semi-regular reminder that a sane country would have already impeached and removed. But then again a sane country wouldn’t have elected a maniac criminal twice in the first place.