Laura I Appleman
@lawandlitprof.bsky.social
Cats, high school baseball, poetry, and occasionally law. Not your attorney.
Thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children could lose their lawyers beginning Friday as federally funded contracts supporting them are set to expire, prompting advocates to warn that the move will leave vulnerable minors to face deportation proceedings frightened and alone.
Thousands of Migrant Kids Are Set to Lose to Legal Representation
Expiration of federally funded contracts will leave some 20,000 children to face deportation proceedings alone.
truthout.org
Delighted that "The Market for Deportation: Private Profits & the Machinery of Removal," will be published by U. Penn. J. Bus. L. in 2027! If you're concerned about the disturbing political economy made by private profiteers in modern immigration removal, read on: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Umberto Eco’s Personal Library Opens to the Public: More Than 32,000 Books, Exactly as He Left Them
Umberto Eco’s Personal Library Opens to the Public: More Than 32,000 Books, Exactly as He Left Them
William Weaver could add an extension onto his Tuscan villa, which he called the 'Eco Chamber.' The Biblioteca Eco, or Eco Library, whose ribbon-cutting earlier this month you can see in the Italian n...
openculture.com
Penelope: home after 20 years on your ship Odysseus: well, a lot of time on the ship for sure Penelope: right? It’s not like you spent several years on a paradise island with a goddess as a lover or anything Odysseus:
BREAKING: Trump’s rule change for the Office of Management and Budget will not only require agencies to ensure grants advance the president’s priorities, it will also kill up to 5,000 clinical trials — including 1,000 cancer treatment studies fight2win.standupforscience.net @standupforscience.net
Today is a good day to remember that authoritarianism is not inevitable, overthrowing fascists is possible, and good things can still happen. www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...
Tens of thousands march in the first Budapest Pride since Viktor Orbán was voted out
Saturday's Pride march came a little more than a year after Orbán's nationalist-populist government passed legislation and a constitutional amendment to outlaw the event, drawing criticism from human ...
pbs.org
Colorado jails put mentally ill and other vulnerable people in solitary confinement. This didn't happen once, it was a routine practice that happened more than 15 days at a time on at least 315 occasions between July 2023 and March 2025. ✏️ @boltsmag.org
Colorado Limited Solitary for People with Mental Illness. But Judges Still Routinely Approve It. - Bolts
Despite a 2021 law meant to curb solitary confinement in local jails, judges almost always grant requests to isolate people with serious mental illness, often because there's nowhere else to send them...
boltsmag.org
At least 17 people in ICE custody died “after medical staff delayed or failed to provide critical care that might have saved their lives, according to multiple doctors who reviewed their cases” I know one of the doctors who did the case review Thx to @sfchronicle.com for this critical reporting
Ko Lyn Cheang@kolyncheang.bsky.social · 2mo agoDeaths in ICE detention have surged. @sfchronicle.com is tracking them here. The database is the foundation of a Chronicle investigation by @stjbs.bsky.social and myself about medical delays, missed and misdiagnoses and other failures that drove record deaths. www.sfchronicle.com/projects/202...
New SSRN article: "The Market for Deportation: Private Profits & the Machinery of Removal," uncovering the obscene profits now being minted from deportation by private corrections corporations, PE firms, & our future AI overlords. Download it while SSRN is still up! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Now that RFK Jr is touting the benefits of nicotine, maybe it's time to bring these back...
The Independent@the-independent.com · 3mo agoMAGA runs on ZYN: Nicotine pouches become all the rage with Trump admin including the health secretary RFK Jr
My brilliant friend & scholar @jaymichaelson.bsky.social recently wrote a fascinating piece on psychedelics, politics & peak experiences—incredibly topical given the daily dose of current chaos, rage, & dysfunction. Read it while it’s hot! jaymichaelson.substack.com/p/does-wonde...
Does Wonder Make You Wonder?
Do peak experiences (religious, psychedelic, or otherwise) make us question our beliefs and identities? And does that make us better people?
jaymichaelson.substack.com
Taking names for who will be purchasing this amazing place with me....
Marin K. Levy@marinklevy.bsky.social · 3mo agoThis is a drop everything moment . . .
We are ostensibly a free country and the degree to which we don’t know what is actually going on in a vast network of “camps” on our own soil in the year 2026 is….. something we are probably never going to come close to actually grappling with as a country
Asawin Suebsaeng@swin24.bsky.social · 3mo ago
‘Covid ‘only’ kills the sick the old and the vulnerable’ presented as a net positive is not restricted to RFK jr. And I’m sure I will be unpopular for pointing that out.
Thomas [DARK MODE], DO@tom.medsky.social · 3mo agoRFK Jr. showing his eugenicist beliefs. Here he is today at The City Club in Cleveland: "The average American who died from COVID had 3.8 chronic diseases. So what was really killing them? It was almost impossible for COVID to kill a healthy person. It was killing people who were already sick."
"The underlying message of Kennedy’s campaign is that measles deaths are expected and admissible, because the people who don’t survive the disease were flawed anyway, says Laura Appleman, a professor of law at Willamette University in Oregon. "
Death is the policy
RFK Jr.‘s measles response is junk science and social Darwinism.
theverge.com
Oh boy. Wow. This is ... quite a line to read between. If I'm reading this right, the CEO of GEO is saying one reason they're selling buildings to ICE is to make it harder for state officials to indict them on federal charges when they do horrible things to the people detained therein.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg 🇵🇸@elizabethweill.bsky.social · 3mo agoZoley: "The ownership of the buildings will provide stronger credibility in the courts as to the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution that these are federal facilities...
Yes and www.vanityfair.com/news/story/r...
RFK Jr.’s Eugenics-Coded Crusade
Survival of the fittest—a concept that’s been twisted and abused since its birth—could be a Trump administration motto.
vanityfair.com
Jonathan Howard@joho.bsky.social · 3mo agoDiscussed here by @derekberes.bsky.social One of the most insightful essays on MAHA.
Professor says U.S. political violence used to be worse, and Oregon played a part https://www.byteseu.com/1973927/ PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Political violence in the United States may feel uniquely alarming right now, but it is not unprecedented, according to Laura Appleman, the Van Winkle …
Professor says U.S. political violence used to be worse, and Oregon played a part - Bytes Europe
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Political violence in the United States may feel uniquely alarming right now, but it is not unprecedented, according to Laura
byteseu.com
Citizens Bank says it's committed to fostering strong communities, but keeps financing GEO Group & CoreCivic. Help turn up the pressure on Citizens to stop bankrolling the for-profit prison companies hurting our communities and killing our neighbors before their 4/23 shareholder meeting!
Indivisible Maynard Area@indivisiblemaynard.bsky.social · 4mo ago@de-icecitizensbank.org has a toolkit for the next week to complete actions to get Citizens Bank to break ties with GeoGroup and Core Civic: www.de-icecitizensbank.org/toolkit @boycottcitizens.org @de-icecitizensbank.org
Grijalva to RFK Jr: "You apparently once cut the penis off a roadkill raccoon"
Between 2025 and 2026, the number of people detained by ICE on any given day grew by nearly 60%. Thanks to Trump's deportation agenda, expanded immigration detention accounts for almost all of the growth in mass incarceration since last year.
My Ides of March fun fact is that the place where Caesar was stabbed is now a cat sanctuary, and I think it’s beautiful that creatures with tiny knives on their feet live there
V. pleased that my latest article, "Eugenics and the Carceral State: Progressive-Era Reform & the Creation of the Modern American Criminal Justice System," is finally in print. Wondering why the criminal system is the way it is? I have some thoughts! scholarship.law.missouri.edu/cgi/viewcont...
scholarship.law.missouri.edu
Want to understand why dozens of groups are working to shine a light on Citizens Bank's ties to ICE detention companies? Read this piece out today in the Philadelphia @inquirer.com.
Joseph N DiStefano @phillyjoed.bsky.social · 5mo agoAfter big banks declined to fund ICE prison contractors, $CFG @CitizenBank stepped in, drawing protesters. My story: www.inquirer.com/business/cit...
