There’s a schism in MAGA over Trump & Bibi’s plans to turn Gaza into a beach resort.

Illinois Press Association CEO Resigns After Dispute Over ICE Lawsuit The CEO of the Illinois Press Association, who had joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration for actions toward journalists outside a Chicago-area ICE facility, resigned this week following a ...

The Illinois Press Association board of directors has made a huge mistake. What a mess localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/posts/2025/1...

Who Are the Louisiana Voters Behind a Major Supreme Court Challenge?

“One of them, Albert ‘Skip’ Caissie Jr., 78, said in a phone interview that he wasn’t aware that he was involved in a Supreme Court case.”

Excellent paper!

4. Splurge - spend lots of money on military, whether legal or not

JORDAN: Comey is where weaponization all started. 9 years ago he took the dossier--

BASH: But that's not what he's being prosecuted for

JORDAN: I'm just saying, you want to talk about weaponization, that's where it started

BASH: So this is retribution then

Vought is not interested in “normal” democratic politics: He seeks to “traumatize” civil servants, use the military to suppress protests, and sees Trump as an agent of God’s will. He is convinced to be fighting a noble war to defend his “real America” of white Christian patriarchal rule.

Orders Project The Orders Project is a non-partisan program created by the National Institute for Military Justice to assist military personnel in understanding their options when faced with orders they believe may....

for active military or if you know someone in the military:

“The Orders Project is a non-partisan program created by the National Institute for Military Justice to assist military personnel in understanding their options when faced with orders they believe may not be legal.”
www.nimj.org/top.html#/

The Trump Administration refuses to participate in the Universal Periodic Review of its human rights record which has happened for the past 17 years.

Not surprising but one more indicator of America’s slide into dictatorship.

So, what does the New York Times’ flagship podcast tell its millions of listeners about Russell Vought? They present him as a devout Christian with an incredible work ethic who grew up with parents struggling with the burdens placed upon them by an overbearing state and channeled that experience into working tirelessly to help the American people; a proper “small government” conservative who, while perhaps being a bit radical in his approach sometimes, loves the free market and therefore tries to rein in the sprawling government bureaucracy. Remarkably, I don’t think there is anything in The Daily’s profile that Vought himself wouldn’t agree with. They are accepting at face value everything Vought claims, resulting in a portrait of Vought that must be almost entirely in line with the regime’s preferred version of who he is and what he does. The Daily’s bizarrely credulous approach to Vought matters because it is indicative of a much broader tendency to normalize the assault on the modern state, democratic self-government, and the constitutional order – to sanitize those who are responsible for it and the extreme ideas that are animating them. Russell Vought embodies the radicalization of the conservative movement; his example captures how far removed from democratic politics the Trumpist Right is. Vought is convinced to be fighting a noble war against a vast leftist conspiracy that has supposedly taken over the country and is destroying the nation.

How the media sanitizes Vought, via @thomaszimmer.bsky.social

steady.page/en/democracy...

"Look at the picture... One of these is a member of a private militia that supports the President and was involved in a violent effort to overturn the election, the other is an agent of the state. Can you tell the difference?" donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...

The Trump administration wants us to believe that they are all-powerful forces who control everything and can be reined in by neither Congress nor the Supreme Court, but if anything goes wrong, it's Mastermind Chuck Schumer's fault.

Is traditional legacy media incapable of meeting a moment in which power relies on propaganda and political theatre?

Hey @jaketapper.bsky.social, I'm no expert on cognitive illnesses, but it feels a bit detached from reality for a sitting POTUS to forget that he was in power during an attack on the U.S. Capitol, doesn't it? Do you know anyone in journalism with experience covering dementia-like symptoms?

The Human Trafficking Case That Could Hand Government Contractors Blanket Immunity In a little-noticed Supreme Court case, the country’s largest private prison operator argues companies should be shielded from lawsuits when doing the government’s dirty work.

The nation’s largest private prison company is asking the Supreme Court to give federal contractors blanket immunity from lawsuits — including human trafficking claims.

If they win, private contractors could operate with even less accountability than they do now.

Private prisons are shrouded in secrecy. I took a job as a guard to get inside—then things got crazy This is the biggest investigation we’ve ever published.

This is true. One of the most searing reads on this in Mother Jones.

www.motherjones.com/politics/201...

part of the conditions for reopening the govt should be clawing back these slush funds

They like him and want to help him.

Yeah, but what's actually going to happen is the money will be spent already by the time the case gets any teeth. The next version of the USA has to take some hard looks at controls to guard against corruption, and not ever allow private BS like DOGE to touch Treasury system ever again.

we need to abolish this shit

Very important 🧵on Trump’s plans to use the military against American citizens.

We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy

Sunday reading:

I wrote about the aggrieved extremist who is currently firing thousands of federal workers and ravaging state capacity based on conspiratorial nonsense - and about mainstream media’s infuriating tendency to sanitize Russell Vought and the regime he serves.

This week’s piece:

Fridley Weekly Bridge Brigade

Check out this fun group!

If you’re in the area join this growing event Thursdays from 4-5:30 @ Matterhorn Dr NE.

@indivistwincities.bsky.social
@mn50501.bsky.social
@womensmarchmn.bsky.social

It was our fuck up but not our fault? Vance is such a slippery character

Tick tock. Where’s the $50k.

Also, release the Epstein Files.

That is different from what the admin said. They claimed it was coming out of DOD R&D funds. Tariff money cannot be touched by the Trump Regime without congressional approval.

This senile liar who currently occupies the White House does not remember that he was President on January 6th.

If you voted for this senile liar, and if you enable him today, you clearly are ok with breaking America. The ruins of our once great nation are because of you.

I’m a US citizen and a veteran. ICE arrested me for no reason. Jailed for three days without an explanation or ability to notify anyone, George Retes argues the only path to healing starts with the government taking accountability for its actions.

“I spent three nights and three days in federal custody. During that time, I was never told what I was charged with, was not allowed to shower despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, had no phone call to my family, and no access to an attorney.” - George Retes, U.S. citizen and veteran.

We’re in this weird period in which everyone is afraid of people that almost everyone despises

Federal immigration officers wear masks, no name tags — now some drive cars without license plates The Sun-Times has documented four unmarked cars carrying federal officers without required plates, offering another way to shield their identities. Federal officials say they’re meeting regulations.

Illinois law requires all registered vehicles to display front and back license plates, without exception. But to evade accountability, masked federal immigration agents are driving around in unmarked cars without plates.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10...?