Bruce Stokes

ICE is sending people to a prison in Africa’s only absolute monarchy Inside the “legal black hole” in Eswatini, where Trump is sending detainees.

NEW: A copy of the arrangement with Eswatini that Mother Jones reviewed shows that the US has agreed to pay the only absolute monarchy in Africa $5.1 million to take in up to 160 ICE detainees.

If you’ve only ever visited the city after the wall came down, this map of East Berlin in 1985 will look very weird to you.

Democrats and Republicans would blame a government shutdown on the opposing party; independents lean toward Republicans.
(Domenico Montanaro, @npr.org)
www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...

The burial of the Homan case — 50 k in cash in a cava bag??!!—would be strange and troubling even in a department of justice that enjoyed a presumption of regularity. In this department, which has lost that presumption, it stinks to high heaven and requires investigation.

Monstrous. Being done in our name.

Ahead of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, people around the world continue to see the UN in a largely positive light.
(@pewresearch.org)
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/250907

Now it is the Old World’s turn to rescue the United States

Video shows Department of Justice official urging Jan. 6 rioters to 'kill' cops The Department of Justice hired a former Jan. 6 defendant who was caught on tape urging rioters to "kill" police. The department calls him a "valued member" of the administration.

NEW: Police bodycam footage introduced at the trial of Jared Wise showed him berating police officers on Jan. 6, 2021, and yelling "kill 'em" as rioters attacked law enforcement. He’s now working as a senior adviser for the Department of Justice.

Senior adviser in the office of the deputy attorney general:

Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, should junk a very bad bill A new law jeopardises Ukraine’s progress against corruption—and erodes the Western support it needs

If Volodymyr Zelensky values his people’s European future, he must quickly kill the bill that he has just so ill-advisedly signed before it kills the idea of a democratic Ukraine

This is one of the biggest and most brazen con jobs in US political history. She is purposefully creating fake evidence for a fake case. This shows the US intelligence community is being led by a liar and charlatan. That’s a threat to national security.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Sotomayor Warns No One Is Safe After Birthright Citizenship Ruling Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor torched the Supreme Court for siding with Trump on birthright citizenship—and putting every civil right under attack.

“With the stroke of a pen, the President has made a ‘solemn mockery’ of our Constitution,” she wrote. “Rather than stand firm, the Court gives way. Because such complicity should know no place in our system of law, I dissent.” https://trib.al/f4Z6jmC

Harvard sociologist/polisci Theda Skocpol explains how the vast expansion of ICE in BBB may be Trump's secret weapon to overcome the barriers of federalism and complete his autocratic takeover of the American state. (History from Germany & Hungary in 20s/30s.) talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/criti...

Opinion | I'm proud of America — and ashamed of what's happening to it A new poll showed fewer Americans than ever feel “very” or “extremely” proud to be Americans. That got me thinking about my own sense of patriotism.

“I haven’t given up on America. I’m just not sure yet if America has given up on itself”
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Voters Back Tariffs To Boost Jobs, U.S. Industries, But Fear Impact On Working Families: I&I/TIPP Poll.
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/250630-top...

OPINION TODAY
U.S. strikes on Iran backed by Republicans, disapproval overall; most say Trump needs Congress' OK | Which policies in Trump's budget Americans support and oppose | A New Political Star Emerges Out of a Fractured Democratic Party ... & more: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/250625-top...

Happy Birthday to all of them

"The women asked to see IDs or warrants, or even the names of the alleged criminals these agents were there to track down. They refused."

@crampell.bsky.social has the latest: wapo.st/4dZjM9z

Los Angeles Unified School District
Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho didn't hold back when expressing his anger and "contempt" after agents with Homeland Security attempted to gain access to two elementary schools earlier this week.

archive.is/2025.06.09-1...

Silence

Is

Complicity

Straighten your spine
Speak & live your truth

ICE waited until a woman’s lawyer went to the restroom then dragged her away. She fainted from stress and they dragged her unconscious body into the elevator, refusing medical attention.

3/ The exact details vary from institution to institution. But banning foreign students inevitably means less financial aid for Americans.

International students face visa cancellations despite no criminal records Some international students are suing the U.S. government after their visas have been cancelled. Many of them say they have never been convicted of a crime.

New: A federal judge has issued a nationwide injunction against the Trump administration's cancellation of SEVI status for 1000s of international students
www.npr.org/2025/04/22/n...

Whoa! New polling shows that a majority of voters in EVERY SINGLE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT oppose cuts to Medicaid.

Members of Congress should take note.

☎️ Flood the Capitol switchboard to voice your opposition to the bill from hell. 202-224-3121.

Defend Medicaid!
Defeat Cancer!

Federal Judge Boots DOGE Out Of Institute Of Peace After Armed Takeover A judge turned the U.S. Institute of Peace back over to its...

A judge turned the U.S. Institute of Peace back over to its unlawfully fired board members Monday, scolding the admin for using “brute force and threats of criminal process” to commandeer an organization that does not fall within Trump’s removal powers.
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/federal...