In reporting about how Trump goes after his political enemies and left wing activists, experts have told me Trump's abuses were a natural consequence of sweeping powers given feds post 9/11 — It's like building a road and then being surprised when someone drives on it. Anyway, this is very good.

Radley Balko@radleybalko.bsky.social · 2d ago

Here's a gift link to my 9/11 essay in the NYT. Civil libertarians long warned that before giving government new powers, we should consider how an administration with authoritarian ambition might abuse them. We were told that America was too exceptional to elect such a person. Well here we are.

25 years ago, terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people, including 2,753 New Yorkers. As we remember that terrible day, let us also remember the first responders, office workers and strangers who ran toward danger to help each other.

NEW: President Biden, Mayor Mamdani, and Gov. Hochul attended Archbishop Ronald Hicks’s 9/11 Memorial Mass. Biden’s attendance was unannounced, and the congregation of victims’ families applauded when he walked in. Pope Leo XIV’s appointment invited Mamdani over objections from right-wing grounds.

Biden, Mamdani, and Hochul Join Archbishop Hicks’s 9/11 Mass After Trump and Vance Decline

The White House declined the invitation from Pope Leo XIV’s new archbishop of New York. I interviewed both Mamdani and Biden, who told me his health is doing well.

thelettersfromleo.com

San Francisco's 2023 housing plan “talks a big game about reversing exclusionary zoning. But here we have, as plain as day, a proposal to reintroduce exclusionary zoning near a major transit stop. And it comes from the President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.”

Robert Fruchtman @fruchtose.bsky.social · 4d ago

Big news: Later today, Supervisor Mandelman and SF Planning are hosting an important community forum to discuss making the Castro District a historic landmark district. This proposal is shockingly regressive. It would downzone in a rich white neighborhood. sfplanning.org/event/potent...

I cannot stress enough how bad the situation is for the people ICE expelled to Equatorial Guinea right now. Grateful to Ahmed Soliman for talking with me despite the retaliation against him every time he goes on the record. prospect.org/2026/09/09/s...

‘Shoot Him!’: Police Threaten Third-Country Nationals Imprisoned in African Hotel - The American Prospect

‘I’m fighting for my life,’ said Ahmed Soliman after the latest in a string of abusive incidents in Equatorial Guinea, where ICE expelled him five months ago.

prospect.org

This is yet another telling example of the Trump regime’s racism. There’s no pretense here of targeting criminals - the usual excuse for mass deportations. DHS is specifically encouraging Haitian “doctors, lawyers, scholars and engineers” to leave. Any decent society would value these people.

I can’t wait to read the NYT op-ed from Renee Good’s wife about grief on the one year anniversary of her death. Surely the NYT will extend the same grace to Becca Good—whose partner died protesting against state power—as it has to Erica Kirk—whose partner died defending white supremacy

Schools regularly assign HS students "adult" books in the semester and summer. Not to mention that 14 year olds should challenge themselves and feel empowered to explore. This is nuts and continues the anti-intellectual bent our country is experiencing.

Alex Ip 葉清霖@alexip718.com · 5d ago

Jesus Christ: after a recent ruling by the Eighth Circuit that allowed Act 372 to take effect, an Arkansas county has banned all children from checking out any books in the adult section, bringing home any DVDs, or using the self-checkout kiosk in its public libraries.

Critically important piece. Two points to highlight: we have for 4 decades+ intentionally blamed people for homelessness and then have dramatically undercounted to ensure we inadequately frame & respond to the crisis.

Brian Goldstone@brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 5d ago

A Labor Day reminder: having a job is no longer enough to protect millions of Americans from homelessness. For many workers, the greatest threat isn't losing their job. It's that their job will never pay enough, never provide enough hours, never offer enough stability to keep them housed.

“no amount of new builds has ever reduced rent” Meanwhile: Austin (it seems like I have stumbled on the last vestiges of 2015 left-NIMBY Twitter on this app)

samantha@commiesamantha.bsky.social · 6d ago

no, they also collude to fix prices on existing stock. and when new stock is built they buy it up and set it at the existing fixed price. no amount of new builds has ever reduced rent, especially since it's being built by developers who want to build the most profitable units they can.

“We could do tremendous good for ourselves by just not trading with countries” — Trump’s bonkers view of trade is that you become wealthy by not engaging in commerce

“Atlanta is ours, and fairly won.” ~Major General William Tecumseh Sherman to President Abraham Lincoln after Sherman’s U.S. troops entered and secured Atlanta on Sep. 2, 1864. (Sherman’s message was actually sent to Lincoln on Sep. 3.) Image of Gen. Sherman on horseback: Library of Congress.

Absolute crickets about any #DCU moves... They still have time, but what a wasted opportunity thus window has been truly...

Soccerwise@soccerwisehq.bsky.social · last wk.

DEADLINE DAY EXTRAVAGANZA 🚨 All the scoops from @tombogert.bsky.social plus @mattdoyle.bsky.social & @briandunseth.bsky.social 📺 JOIN NOW www.youtube.com/live/Bt_HH7i...

I testified yesterday at a hearing, again about immigrants and crime. Nothing makes the Republicans more infuriated than pointing out that immigrants lower the crime rate.

The Trump Administration has abandoned American families who have lost loved ones in Nepal. Full stop. substack.com/inbox/post/2...

The Politics of Disaster

From Nepal to North Carolina, the Trump Administration shows a cruel consistency.

substack.com

Gonna' have to figure out a way to process the rage. Because these stories are going to continue. And we can't ignore them.

Tom Joscelyn@tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 2w ago

“A Haitian immigrant who had grown increasingly distraught after losing his protection from deportation and being outfitted with an ankle monitor was run over and killed Monday in what his family believes was a suicide.” www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

SCOOP: After the Census Bureau issued a highly unusual report tied to a President Trump-aligned think tank, the bureau’s parent agency, the Commerce Department, cut language banning political interference from its scientific integrity policy, @npr.org has learned www.npr.org/2026/08/31/n...

Trump officials cut political interference ban after unusual Census Bureau report

After the Census Bureau issued a report tied to a Trump-aligned think tank, the bureau's parent agency cut language banning political interference from its scientific integrity policy, NPR learned.

npr.org

the big lesson to take here is that corporations are fundamentally cowards and can be bullied

Jesus, Google Earth: Have some dignity. Two views just now:

In the article, our government says this massacre “is another reminder of the dire state of Haiti’s security crisis." Yet, our government leaders deem Haiti safe for the return of vulnerable people. Good lord.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2w ago

The situation in Haiti is terrifying. On Sunday, 150 gunmen swept down on a town to kill, rape, loot, and burn. 22 people were executed in a churchyard. 52 were taken hostage. Stephen Miller mockingly says Haiti is safe and ICE just sent its second deportation flight this month; with kids on board.

The situation in Haiti is terrifying. On Sunday, 150 gunmen swept down on a town to kill, rape, loot, and burn. 22 people were executed in a churchyard. 52 were taken hostage. Stephen Miller mockingly says Haiti is safe and ICE just sent its second deportation flight this month; with kids on board.

Miami Herald@miamiherald.com · 2w ago

Last month, U.S. officials warned Haitian authorities to expect an increase in deportations following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision to allow President Donald Trump to end Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status designation even while litigation challenging the termination continues in the courts.

in 2023 *you* sent over 170 emails asking the Montgomery County Council to reinstate a Planning Board member after Marc Elrich kicked him out for basically doing his job. it happened again, so let the Council know: keep James Hedrick on Planning Board secure.everyaction.com/N2hg_35aQUKj...

Tell the Montgomery County Council: keep James Hedrick on Planning Board

Late Friday afternoon, Marc Elrich once again vetoed the appointment of a sitting Planning Board member, James Hedrick, who's been a champion for more homes and better transit in Montgomery County. Te...

secure.everyaction.com

These people had protected status. They lived here legally. They worked, they paid taxes. They made lives. Raised families. Now we’ve dehumanized them. Ripped away that protection and told them to get out. This is a stain on the soul of this Nation.

Between October 2025 and July 2026, the U.S. accepted 10,258 refugees. All but three (3!) were white South Africans. Regardless of your opinion of South Africa's laws and government, I don't know how you could call this anything other than an explicitly racist policy.

Under Trump, ICE has not stopped releasing immigrants from custody. It has cut releases of noncriminal immigrants, while actually releasing 50% more immigrants convicted of or charged with crimes than in December 2024. Trump's priorities are clear. www.cato.org/blog/ice-rel...

like the man in the white house, marc elrich is too angry, too spiteful, and frankly too much of a coward to know when to shut his mouth. i am ashamed that montgomery county democrats keep electing him bethesdamagazine.com/2026/08/26/e...

Elrich to veto Hedrick’s appointment to Montgomery Planning Board, again

County Council could override veto with vote of nine members

bethesdamagazine.com

The ruling is bad, but @rickhasen.bsky.social's post here is important. Don't despair, yet.

Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 3w ago

[Now Updated] Breaking: The Supreme Court, Over the Dissents of Democratic-Appointed Justices Stays the District Court Preliminary Injunction in Trump Mail-In Voting Case; But Another Injunction Against It Remains in Place for Now electionlawblog.org/2026/breakin...

KBJ has them cold:

Not a new idea, I guess.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w ago

BASH: One of the things that's happening is there's a push to start students down a trade school track as early as elementary school. Is that too early? LINDA McMAHON: I don't think so BASH: But elementary school? McMAHON: I think you can have some introduction of skilled trades in elementary

I’ll be heading back to Springfield soon but I also want to stress something: imagine what it must have been like for a Haitian family in Springfield for the past two years. To live under constant, growing threat like that from the most powerful person on the planet. Imagine what it’s been like for…

Asawin Suebsaeng@swin24.bsky.social · 3w ago

Katie Kersh, an immigration lawyer who’s been in Springfield Ohio a lot in the past couple years, tells me just now: “ICE is absolutely everywhere in Springfield. It is very visible.” noticeable ramping up lately. It is going to likely get… worse