Masked secret police roaming the country, abducting anyone they want, sending them to large prison camps, especially targeting liberals exercising their First Amendment rights. www.npr.org/2026/08/03/n...

She protested ICE raids. Then agents showed up at her door

The Justice Department is using federal conspiracy charges to sweep up ICE protesters. Some legal experts worry the agency is casting too wide a net to prosecute political activists.

npr.org

It really is amazing how Missouri legislators really want to do unpopular things and avoid doing popular things. I'm not saying ballot measures are a good thing. But the ideas in this proposal are nuts. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/u...

Missouri Voters Reject Measure to Limit Their Ballot Box Powers

The state’s conservative Legislature had put the measure on the ballot that would have enacted citizen initiatives only if they won majorities in each of Missouri’s eight U.S. House districts.

nytimes.com

The Free Speech Brigade going after Americans "for speech that could endanger the agency’s mission". (It was never about free speech and I sincerely hope that every single media outlet is aware of this now...) www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Yeah, I guess there really is nothing you can do to rein in a lawless president if you're not willing to do anything about it.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Cornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"

He says this as the president rages about the DOJ refusing to prosecute a man they know is innocent, rather than admit the he hired a shitty pool guy.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Tillis admits Trump is weaponizing the DOJ during his speech announcing he'll vote for Todd Blanche: "Maybe it's a little bit more intense in this administration than the last one ... I'm going to support Mr Blanche's nomination"

At this point, Thom Tillis has nothing left to lose but his principles, so he made sure to toss them overboard too.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Tillis admits Trump is weaponizing the DOJ during his speech announcing he'll vote for Todd Blanche: "Maybe it's a little bit more intense in this administration than the last one ... I'm going to support Mr Blanche's nomination"

I'm posting this now so I can quote post in a few months with a picture of Lucy yanking the football away form Charlie Brown.

You almost have to hand it to Trump at this point. He’s figured out how to manipulate world markets by doing nothing more than tweeting bullshit 24/7.

FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · 3d ago

BRENT CRUDE DROPPED MORE THAN 7% AT THE OPEN AFTER TRUMP SAID HE AGREED TO CALL OFF A MASSIVE ATTACK ON IRAN AT THE REQUEST OF MIDDLE EAST ALLIES INCLUDING SAUDI ARABIA, WITH OIL ALSO WEIGHED BY ANOTHER SMALL OPEC+ QUOTA INCREASE, AS WTI FELL 6.7% TO $78.98 A BARREL.

This is a story about the President and several of his hand-picked appointees all committing crimes and blatantly lying to the public while stealing public funds and abusing the criminal justice system, but the NYTimes describes the situation like they're recapping a soap opera.

Larry Glickman@larryglickman.bsky.social · 3d ago

Another example of the problem with the fixation with Trump’s putative emotions: here a story about the Trump administration’s corruption, incompetence, and venality is framed as one about Trump’s “wrath.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/u...

After 20 years of legal practice while watching increase Republican lawlessness, my view is less abstract legal theorizing and more carving into a rock "if a proſecutour bringeth a cauſe without merit, then ſhall he ſerue the ſelfe-ſame ſentence which he ſought for the falſely accuſed."

Matthew Guariglia@mguariglia.bsky.social · 4d ago

I worry that most cynical among us, hopped up on 30 years of law and order rhetoric, will say "this is the system working: he didn't do anything wrong and now he's free." As if the terror and wide-scale publicity of an arrest and federal prosecution is not a horrible punishment in and of itself.

Amazing that Iran is successfully attacking the drinking water in the American Midwest, and this is pretty directly the Trump administration's fault, yet this is not a huge scandal among his voters who live there

Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · 5d ago

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz responds to Trump: “DOGE took an axe to CISA and left the U.S. exposed to cyber attacks."

The easiest possible layup for a President at war with another country would be to explain that they are attacking us. Trump won't do that because he views Minnesota as a bigger enemy than Iran.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d ago

Trump: "We heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack and they blame it on Iran. I don't think so. I blame it on Minnesota because they're grossly incompetent. Iran's got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota."

Todd Blanche, 2 weeks ago: “There is no weaponization fund. The weaponization fund is dead.” Donald Trump today: Gimme my weaponization fund. ⤵️

We’re now in the part of the bubble where the arms races turns to AI companies turns into one-upping each other on the “we have an out of control robot” score. Seems promising.

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 6d ago

Breaking news: Anthropic said that AI systems it was testing hacked into three outside companies undetected earlier this year. The incident was disclosed one week after one of OpenAI's systems broke out of a test environment and hacked a tech company.

These are bribes, and every individual and company who pays them should be held criminally liable.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 6d ago

Four-byline alert: 🚨 “.. no sitting American president has ever raised these amounts for his pet projects. .. Trump has been demanding large checks .. telling executives and lobbyists that their companies should give $25 million or $50 million.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Is anyone really surprised that Trump would put himself above his responsibilities to administer the government?

Jacob T. Levy@jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 6d ago

The crucial information here isn't about Blanche, who will continue on as Acting. It's that Trump REALLY REALLY REFUSES to commit to abolishing the January 6 Slush Fund or to giving up any part of his above-the-law get-out-of-audits-free card. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/u...

You mean an agency that SCOTUS says the president can directly control and fire anyone he wants from at will? Yeah, Schumer, you've got a real crackerjack idea there.

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 6d ago

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) is set to introduce legislation to create a new federal agency to investigate corruption. The bill is part of Democrats’ effort to articulate a legislative agenda ahead of the midterm elections. https://wapo.st/4fGLuJc

Is it me or does “anti-authoritarian ideology” sound weird? Strange way to describe what’s going on.

Jess Calarco@jessicacalarco.com · last wk.

"Davis, the government says, has attended and facilitated meetings about protests and discussed his anti-authoritarian ideology with other activists. He is not accused of violent acts, taking any specific actions at protests nor having any encounters with ICE agents. He is facing 6 years in prison."

Oh my. Who could have predicted that Trump would use some sycophantic lackey to do his bidding and then rip away any benefit as soon as it could cost Trump some personal graft.

I guess we can just say it again. This should be a presidency-ending scandal.

Murshed Zaheed@murshedz.bsky.social · 7d ago

“Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Right now people in blue states are basically paying federal taxes as if they’re colonized territories of red states. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

You mean, the stock everyone said was overpriced but we were all forced to buy because Nasdaq changed its rules for this one special company, in fact turns out to be a bad investment?

Can't imagine why Fauci wouldn't want to have an earnest open debate with these folks

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

Ron Johnson claims the the "injection injured" are committing mass suicide

Not quite. Federal agents deleted his phone data and are now charging him with "destroying evidence." The details here are important. When agents asked for his passcode, he gave them a passcode that caused the phone to wipe itself. But, they are the ones who entered it into the phone.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · last wk.

Federal prosecutors charged a man returning to the U.S. with obstruction because he gave them a passcode that erased his smartphone during a customs search.

Not many eulogies include passages about how exceptionally bloodthirsty the departed was

Sahil Kapur@sahilkapur.bsky.social · last wk.

Trump on Lindsey Graham: “He was extremely hawkish. I will tell you, he never saw a war that he didn’t like.”

This guy’s behavior here shows he clearly thinks threatening the WSJ and causing harm to journalists is all just fun and games.

derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social · 2w ago

It’s almost as if radically scaling back surveillance of an infectious parasite undermined the government’s ability to respond to an outbreak. apple.news/AU7UjBeLKTau...

More insane, inhumane, and illegal treatment of human beings by the US government,

Drew Harwell@drewharwell.com · 2w ago

86 people in a single ICE holding room, "all jostling for space in a closet of humanity that smelled of sweat, urine and feces." What would we call it anywhere else? www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Trump and the Senate Republicans have put a lot of not-serious people into powerful positions. Hegseth may be the poster-child for that group.

Christopher Webb@cwebbonline.com · 2w ago

Pete Hegseth is not a serious person. And Ossoff is devastatingly good at this. But who else wanted him to shout out, “Just answer the f*cking question”?

History will judge the Trump administration as being aggressively inhumane.

Teddy Wilson@reportbywilson.bsky.social · 2w ago

ICE is arresting relatives who come forward to take custody of migrant children in federal shelters