Ansley Skipper

still thinking about the Montana knife maker who said you don't have to worry about tariffs if you buy american. and then three months later, he realized he imports swedish steel and german equipment. and even MiUSA equipment costs $100k more now because of tariffs

04.08.2025 01:13 — 👍 26871    🔁 4662    💬 730    📌 270

When one of your favorite writers reads your book 😍☺️🤯 and of course nails the summary.
@jvl.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

01.08.2025 18:51 — 👍 80    🔁 9    💬 2    📌 0

BY THE NUMBERS Why Mass Deportation also means Mass Detention Trump is building a parallel prison system ripe for autocratic abuse

A DANGEROUS BUILD UP Trump plans to dramatically expand immigrant detention into a parallel prison system accountable primarily to him. ICE detention facilities will have almost double the annual budget as the Bureau of Prisons. ICE Detention Facilities $14B Bureau of Prisons $8.6B Sources: Bureau of Prisons, Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025; ICE Detention Facilities, Annual funding average from FY2025 to FY2029, Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 and One Big Beautiful Bill Act, EOIRA as of 6/30/25, DHS, Office of the Chief Immigration Judge

LIMITED OVERSIGHT ICE is flooding investment into mass deportation and detention without corresponding support for oversight. Detention +308% Transportation & Removal +500% Oversight +0% DHS has further dismantled existing oversight offices. Office of the Immigration Ombudsman  Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

BACKLOG TO GROW Prolonged detention is likely as an expansion in enforcement far outpaces judicial capacity. +10,000 Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents +130% +100 Immigration Judges +14% 3.8 million backlog of immigration cases Subscribe at IfYouCanKeepIt.org

Trump is openly musing about building a mass detention system under his direct and sole authority — and the rapid expansion of ICE is the start. Ansley Skipper analyzes the risks of prolonged detention and the creation of a parallel carceral system altogether.
www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/ice-may-be...

25.07.2025 19:03 — 👍 80    🔁 36    💬 5    📌 2

ICE may be building a parallel prison system We need to talk about prolonged detentions

New from me for @protectdemocracy.org www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/ice-may-be...

25.07.2025 20:13 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Many scary things about the ICE expansion, but this graph is terrifying.

Expanding enforcement without expanding adjudication almost certainly means unfathomable numbers of detainees.

@ansleyskipper.bsky.social explains: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/ice-may-be...

25.07.2025 17:36 — 👍 6    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

Thomas Jefferson would be horrified The Trump administration just robbed my alma mater of its independence

Thomas Jefferson would be horrified, writes @ansleyskipper.bsky.social

www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/thomas-jef...

01.07.2025 11:51 — 👍 28    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 0

This is how you do it and huge credit to Selzer and @thefireorg.bsky.social for having more courage, patriotism, and legal skill than Paramount and its lawyers. The First Amendment is worth fighting for.

30.06.2025 21:37 — 👍 652    🔁 131    💬 25    📌 5

Thomas Jefferson would be horrified The Trump administration just robbed my alma mater of its independence

Read this from @protectdemocracy.org's Ansley Skipper on the outrage of Trump forcing out UVA's president. Really makes clear the lie that *any* of this is about free speech.

@thefireorg.bsky.social @markwarner.bsky.social @kaine.senate.gov
www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/thomas-jef...

30.06.2025 21:12 — 👍 7    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

Thomas Jefferson would be horrified The Trump administration just robbed my alma mater of its independence

On Friday, the Trump administration forced out UVA’s president, short-circuiting one of the most vibrant examples of campus free speech and self-government in the country. Ansley Skipper writes from Charlottesville: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/thomas-jef...

30.06.2025 21:31 — 👍 123    🔁 49    💬 4    📌 3

Thomas Jefferson would be horrified The Trump administration just robbed my alma mater of its independence

"I spent the last four years at, as they say, Mr. Jefferson’s university. I am one of those supposedly “oppressed” campus conservatives...And I have not been brainwashed, silenced, or intimidated. I’ve seen a place that is animated by debate, and dissent."
www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/thomas-jef...

30.06.2025 21:20 — 👍 400    🔁 90    💬 5    📌 3

Thomas Jefferson would be horrified The Trump administration just robbed my alma mater of its independence

"That’s what Thomas Jefferson wanted for his university, an 'institution…based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.'”
www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/thomas-jef...

30.06.2025 21:22 — 👍 307    🔁 76    💬 4    📌 0

This is the spoils system in action.

And they told us it was meritocracy.

25.02.2025 13:08 — 👍 246    🔁 83    💬 16    📌 6

Will the Real POTUS Please Stand Up? (with Kara Swisher) Podcast Episode · The Focus Group Podcast · 02/22/2025 · 1h

What do voters think about Elon Musk and his rampage through the US Government? A banger episode of The Focus Group pod with @karaswisher.bsky.social ‬⁩ who blows my mind with a couple of insight about Elon’s endgame.

22.02.2025 12:54 — 👍 1148    🔁 203    💬 75    📌 33

Unions sue to stop DOGE from accessing federal data The legal complaint marks yet another challenge to the sweeping access and authority granted to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

New on our lawsuit: “Steamrolling into sensitive government record systems threatens to upend how these critical systems are maintained and compromises the safety and security of personal identifying information for Americans... It also violates federal law.”

23.02.2025 02:00 — 👍 289    🔁 70    💬 8    📌 2

Hegseth Fires Military’s Top JAG Lawyers in Pursuit of ‘Warrior Ethos’ The defense secretary has repeatedly derided the military lawyers for war crime prosecutions and battlefield rules of engagement.

“In some ways that’s even more chilling than firing the four stars,” Rosa Brooks, a professor at Georgetown Law. “It’s what you do when you’re planning to break the law: you get rid of any lawyers who might try to slow you down.”
By NYT Greg Jaffe
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/u...

23.02.2025 02:54 — 👍 13333    🔁 5370    💬 588    📌 301