Lorien

I'm grateful to @60minutes.bsky.social featuring our study published @justsecurity.org.

Link to the study (on the 'presumption of regularity'): www.justsecurity.org/120547/presu...

He’s right!

Donald Trump is not just the most immature, insecure, stupid person to ever become president; he is the most immature, insecure, stupid person to ever become famous.

Today Was a Good Day An old friend of mine, the actress Eliza Coupe (with whom I once did a series of Sierra Mist commercials in which we were part of a made-up sketch troupe called “The Mist-Takes.” I’m so sorry.), invit...

"With talk of 'soft secession' kind of floating around, it’s worth noting that the GOP has already seceded from America. At least the America I thought I knew." michaelianblack.substack.com/p/today-was-...

The lack of critical thinking among the audience for this never stops breaking my heart.

This is pure fascism, folks

graph shows ICE budget tripling in size

Even as FBI is being downsized, it must allocate more of its resources to the only part of the govt that is growing: immigration enforcement.
The scale of this growth is hard to comprehend. DHS has a slushfund of $10B - bigger than the old ICE budget - to pay other agencies and state & local cops.

Big Pharma: 1
Small Farmers : 0

There will be a hundred pieces this week attempting to pick through the “big cases” to be decided in the approaching term—although, to be sure, most of the big cases will be added in the months to come. But focusing on a handful of “big cases” relies on your predicate agreement as a reader that the court that will decide them, with all the oyez and the gravitas, is still behaving, in the main, like a court. The challenge will be to seek out that which the court is obscuring in this performance of business as usual this term, and to understand that the red curtains and the black robes have very rapidly come to serve as props in a performance of judicial legitimacy that is no longer worth the price of admission.

As the Supreme Court begins a new term, please do not let its props and stagecraft obscure the reality that it's passing off political power grabs as Just Doing Law. slate.com/news-and-pol...

I would also make sure to do this on the day when, because of my actions, the more than one million people who report into the people I've gathered will not get paid for an indeterminate time. And will still have to work.

OMG this William G. Young opinion that just dropped (12:30pm) in AAUP v. Rubio.
It begins with a postcard sent to Chambers and Young's reply

card: "Trump has pardons and tanks, what do you have?"

WGY: "We the People of the United States — you and me — have our magnificent Constitution"

We are sailing to Gaza. Here’s why | David Adler Governments have failed the people of Gaza. Now, ordinary people are taking humanitarian matters into their own hands – and putting their lives on the line

"Coming from a US Jewish family, I joined the humanitarian mission for the same reason that so many US Jews are speaking out about the assault on Gaza: to reclaim my identity, heritage, our traditions...from the nation-state that seeks to monopolize them" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Kimmel blackout is what happens when your TV isn’t locally sourced When most Americans weren't looking, a handful of companies seized control over what you see on your local TV channels.

Folks had no idea who owns their local TV stations - until large, faceless corporations, Sinclair and Nexstar, said they can't watch Jimmy Kimmel because of politics

This is why they've been warning us: media consolidation is a threat to democracy. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/jimm...

anti-corruption is a good play because it taps into the third quadrant of the engagement vs left-right coordinate plane www.gelliottmorris.com/p/what-do-di...

Removal protections are gone. Humphrey's Executor is overruled in all but name by the Shadow Docket.

Rest in peace to the Presidency, and long live the Monarchy.

ASU to Put New Transgender Policies in Place Transgender discussions, language to be hounded off college campuses in Texas, following orders from Trump, Abbott.

In the news from Texas: Angelo State University has just informed faculty that "if they make any statement implying that there are more than two sexes or genders (male and female) they will be fired." conchoobserver.com/2025/09/19/a...

Trump signs an EO on H-1Bs raising "the fee that companies pay to sponsor H1-B applicants to $100,000"

Nexstar’s takeover of Tegna would require an overhaul of FCC ownership rules - Poynter The proposed sale would exceed the FCC’s 39% cap, igniting debate among broadcasters, unions and press groups

IMPORTANT PERSPECTIVE: What I have not seen anyone discussing is that Nexstar pulling Kimmel, forcing ABC’s hand, comes as Nexstar is leading the way for the industry on trying to get FCC approval for media consolidation. www.poynter.org/business-wor...

I am actually sad to have to say this since I have admired much about Disney CEO Bob Iger over the years, but what a profoundly quisling move this is by someone who knows better. It’s shameful and he has tarnished his once proud reputation.

Sinclair is demanding that Kimmel apologize to the family (?) and also "make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA"

Are you fucking kidding me? It's not enough they got him fired, they want him to grovel and send money to these anti-free speech grifters?

in some ways it’s actually perfect. as i wrote the other day, it’s exactly what he would have wanted.

Vague, open-ended designations of "terrorism" are a signature of authoritarian regimes. Antifa isn't a group but the label can be attached to whomever the regime disfavors.

Every word of this, including “we have decided to do the journalistically correct thing and capitulate entirely.”

What Kimmel Really Said About Kirk that Made MAGA Melt Down The late-night host will be off the air indefinitely following comments he made about Charlie Kirk.

The late-night host will be off the air indefinitely following comments he made about Charlie Kirk's death.

A very low bar that the US can no longer clear

General pattern in regime change: the comedy gets better and then it gets banned.

The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced. I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.

White man kills white man, black woman gets fired.
karenattiah.substack.com/p/the-washin...

What America is going through is not unusual in historical terms. Plenty of examples like it today elsewhere in the world.
What makes it unusual is the rapid collapse from a set of widely espoused norms and values that centered on liberty. It is the sacking of the shining city on hill that shocks.