Mary Kelly Persyn
@marykellypersyn.bsky.social
Lawyer, children's rights advocate, democracy defender, reader, poetry and books📚 lover, mom, runner.
House Speaker Johnson calls an early recess to avoid a Sec. Hegseth impeachment vote, AI regulation, the Epstein files, Trump’s criminal behavior, and pretty much everything else. anntelnaes.substack.com/p/squeaker-m...
Squeaker Mike Johnson
makes a run for it
anntelnaes.substack.com
So much respect and appreciation for Christian Bale. This is beautiful work. (And who's cutting onions in here? 🥲🥹)
Christopher Webb@cwebbonline.com · 2w agoI absolutely LOVE this. Christian Bale spent roughly 17 years fighting to make this happen. This week, his foster-care village opened in Palmdale, California: 12 homes built specifically to help keep siblings together when they enter foster care.
This comment is just stupid on its face.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.Tim Scott: "Think about how dangerous states like California [are] that want to take away your kids if you don't agree w/pronouns the schools chooses for your kids. They're coming for our culture. If you don't want to stand up & fight for the soul of this country, your wood is wet. It's that simple"
We thank Secretary Bunch for his extraordinary service to the Smithsonian and his leadership during these deeply troubling times. His remarkable legacy reminds us that preserving and sharing the full breadth of our history requires both brilliance and courage. www.naacpldf.org/news/ldf-sta...
LDF Statement on the Retirement of Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III
Read the PDF of our statement here. On Tuesday, Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III announced his retirement from the Smithsonian Institution, marking the end of his historic tenure as its 14th Secretary of...
naacpldf.org
Today (9/10) at 10am ET, the Indiana Supreme Court will hear arguments in a religious liberty challenge to the state abortion ban. The mostly Jewish plaintiffs have so far prevailed in the state courts under a state Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Watch here:
Indiana Appellate Clerk's Portal
mycourts.in.gov
It's an honor to once more represent First Focus on Children as they defend children's rights in the Supreme Court. Our latest amicus brief argues that excluding LGBTQ families and 4-year-old children from preschool harms them significantly, without protecting the health and safety of any child.
When, in January 2025, I wrote that the Trump administration was segregationist folks said I was exaggerating. I would have *loved* to be wrong about this but the unfortunate evidence remains on my side. This is just racism, pure and simple.
Trump Moves to Strip Tax Exemption From Schools That Aid Minority Students (Gift Article)
The Treasury Department released rules that would prevent schools with race-based programs from qualifying for tax-exempt status, a threat to both higher education and other private schools.
nytimes.com
the literal position of the trump administration is that any school that has any more than a smattering of black students is engaged in illegal racial discrimination against whites www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/b...
Trump Moves to Strip Tax Exemption From Schools That Aid Minority Students (Gift Article)
The Treasury Department released rules that would prevent schools with race-based programs from qualifying for tax-exempt status, a threat to both higher education and other private schools.
nytimes.com
Weirdos. Lying, psychotic, manipulative, but most of all, weird.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agoAttorney General Todd Blanche was on Fox News last night railing against "Secret School Gender Transitions," which Blanche described as a "pandemic that's happening in some school districts around the country"
Hi Friends! The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights is running its 6th annual Elizabeth Frenkel Waymakers Mileage Challenge, which raises awareness and funds for the great work the Center does for kids in migration. I started a new team, The Power Of We, and I've committed to 200 miles.
This is large scale disenfranchisement and now SCOTUS has even less excuse not to reject Trump's EO on mail voting. Allowing him to move forward would have clear negative harms to voters that could not be reversed, even as his claim for authority over voting processes is legally dubious.
Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · 3w agoThis is pretty fucking wild. I had assumed in a worst case scenario he would target blue zip codes and toss ballots based on technicalities but this is even worse than I imagined.
BREAKING: Liam Tadeo was just deported by ICE.
James Talarico@jamestalarico.bsky.social · 4w agoA 5-year-old Texan just spent the first day of school in an ICE detention center. ICE kidnapped Liam Tadeo on his way to a soccer game with his dad. Liam should be in kindergarten. Instead, our government has thrown him in a prison camp hundreds of miles from home.
ICE has fallen out of the headlines but July marked the largest number of migrant detentions ever on record. Five migrants have died in ICE custody in the last two months. It's also currently impossible to legally migrate to this country, as 100% of visa applications have been paused.
amanda moore 🐢@noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 4w agoA man and woman embrace as ICE and FHP detain her during an immigration stop in Fort Myers this morning.
“This is a noxious litigation strategy that should be a red flag for courts.” www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf…
New on the ACS Expert Forum: @marykellypersyn.bsky.social and @brucelesley.bsky.social examine how the Supreme Court’s OT 2025 decisions showed a striking “judicial blindness” to children’s rights and well-being. Read the full analysis: www.acslaw.org/expertforum/...
The Supreme Court’s Judicial Blindness to Children in OT 2025 | ACS
acslaw.org
Today in @thenation.com: a harrowing piece written from inside the Dilley ICE detention center by Maryam Tahmasebi, a green card holder who's been locked up along with her husband and son for months despite none of them committing any crime. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention
My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.
thenation.com
i've been chewing on why i think this is so great, and i think at bottom it's that it's such *ordinary* speech. clearly she's thought about this, clearly she has values she's comfortable expressing, but she's not speaking as though she's Making A Political Statement. just plain, earnest language
Your Evil Twin, Skippy 🇵🇸 🏳️⚧️@twinskippy.bsky.social · 2mo agoGolden State Valkyries forward Gabby Williams: “There’s a lot of discourse around trans athletes and what they can compete in. I would welcome a trans athlete on my team or against my team. Anytime. I don’t think it’s a problem in the world, it’s just another way to kind of attack trans people.”
Notice DOJ doesn't talk about its efforts to obtain state voter files anymore. They are 0-20 in those cases and today is the beginning of the quiet period -- states can no longer do systematic removals of names from the voter rolls. TLDR: We won!🥳
If we weren't so broken, divided and led by corrupt rapists, this would be the biggest story of the week. But barely a blip. apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump accounts were closed in 2021 due to concerns over possible money laundering, Capital One says
Capital One closed President Donald Trump’s accounts in mid-2021 after flagging financial activity that resembled money laundering.
apnews.com
"A concentration camp, in its most basic definition, is a place where a targeted civilian population, not necessarily accused of a crime, is detained and at least some of their basic rights are suspended," writes @jwashing.bsky.social. "That’s precisely what’s happening in the United States today."
Don’t call them ICE detention centers. Call them camps | John Washington
I’ve spent a decade reporting on immigration enforcement. The word ‘camp’ best captures the political function of these facilities
theguardian.com
The Senate rejected the SAVE America Act twice. Now, its supporters are attaching its provisions to must-pass bills in an attempt to force them through. A different package does not make the same voter-suppression policies acceptable. Take action: L4GG.org/OpposeSAVEAct
This description, to anyone who did not watch the speech, defines the act of Sane-washing Trump’s behavior @anntelnaes.bsky.social
Ann Telnaes@anntelnaes.bsky.social · 2mo agoExcuse me? It was an unhinged, grievance-filled, sexist performance. "The president’s hour-long speech was mostly lighthearted and sarcastic, with occasional swipes at the news media, a profession he eventually said he respected, praising journalists for doing an 'amazing job'."
Today, in violations of the rule of law that would be sufficient for impeachment in any other American presidency but aren't in this one because pathological partisan loyalty has rotted the constitutional order:
tony romm@tonyromm.bsky.social · 2mo agoNEW: In a stunning admission, the Trump administration admitted in court documents that it canceled billions in energy grants to states "based solely" on politics -- and whether that state was represented by Democrats and backed Harris in 2024. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...
It's so difficult to put into words the multidimensional perversity of the current Court's fabrication of a "colorblind" Constitution. Eric Segall's version is well worth reading.
Eric Segall@espinsegall.bsky.social · 2mo agoIn case you missed it, the Supreme Court’s imposition of formal color blindness on every governmental unit in America is inconsistent with text, history, precedent, real life, and deprives government officials of key tools to fight massive current racism: www.dorfonlaw.org/2026/07/the-...
We are a signatory to the Geneva Conventions.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoAsked about Trump's threats to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, Marco Rubio says "it looks like they're not ready to make a deal. So they're gonna continue to pay a price. And every night the price gets higher and higher." (This is a war crime.)
When power is rooted in disinformation, data become a threat. apnews.com/article/eeoc...
US civil rights agency moves to end demographic data collection after 60 years
The Trump administration is seeking to toss aside a 60-year-old requirement for tens of thousands of private sector employers to submit workforce demographic reports each year to the Equal Employment ...
apnews.com
Children haven't been caught in the crackdown. Children are its target. Children are under siege, and the danger isn't coming from books or "ideologies." It's coming from our government.
ProPublica@propublica.org · 2mo agoRecent ProPublica reporting shows how the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement is harming children: Deporting unaccompanied minors. Separating parents from U.S. citizen children. 📌 On Tuesday, July 21, join us for a discussion exploring the effects of these new policies. RSVP:
