Blaine Stum

DOJ report on D.C. police says chief created ‘culture of fear’ The draft report says the main reason “for the misclassifications is a culture of coercive fear that emanates from Pamela A. Smith” and some of her staff.

www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

I'd love it if MORE political operatives were familiar with academic polisci literature. But that's simply not the case-- not the national level, not at the state level, and certainly not at a local level.

I'd love to know which "political operatives" he's referring to. I've spent more than a decade working in policy and have campaign experience at a local, state and national level. I can count on my fingers the number of practitioners who actively read academic polisci literature.

Didn’t even clear the bar 😭🤣

A candidate for Mayor can promise a lot of things, but they won’t be able to do many of those things without support and buy-in from the legislature. I know that won’t be top of mind for many people when they vote, but it’s important nonetheless.

I’ll say that the first point— that the new Mayor needs to have a better relationship with Council and be more transparent— is especially important to me as someone who has worked on the Council side for 7 years now.

Mayor Muriel Bowser Presents: The End of an Era As the city chooses its next mayor, the lessons of the past three terms are ripe for honest reflection and a better way forward.

A decent overview of what we should expect/demand from a new Mayor by my friend Salah:

czapary.substack.com/p/mayor-muri...

That said, I’m surprised by the lack of foreign films on Tarantino’s list. Parasite? In the Mood for Love? Cidade de Deus? Spirited Away? Y Tu Mama Tambien? The Lives of Others? So many incredible foreign films have been released in the 21st century.

I’d probably have three of these (TS3, TWBB, and MM:FR) in my top 10 movies of the 21st Century. But the rest are… well, let’s just say choices were made.

Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.

Exclusive: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody” in the first strike on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. After two men survived, the mission commander ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, according to two sources.

NEW: ICE’s policy of mass detaining immigrants w pending deportation proceedings has led to an avalanche of rejections in court.

More than 220 judges — including 23 Trump appointees — have called it an illegal distortion of long-settled law. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

Because West Virginia national guard absolutely shouldn't have been there, the administration reaction will be that much more extreme to head off those questions.

No idea why an Afghan refugee shot National Guard soldiers within walking distance of the White House, but this new USCIS directive was revealed on Monday. Worth noting.

screenshot of tweet from @MurielBowser" "It has been the honor of my life to be your Mayor. Together, we have built a legacy of success of which I am intensely proud. With a grateful heart, I am announcing that I will not seek a fourth term. For the next 12 months, let's run through the tape and keep winning for DC."

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has just announced that she is not running for reelection.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser says she won't run for re-election in 2026.

Yea, I'm deeply ambivalent about RCV but at this point... it is what it is. Trying to delay it when it's been funded and planning is under way will only create more confusion.

NEW: The Court has ruled that the National Guard deployment to DC is illegal and granted a preliminary injunction.

As we made clear from the beginning: the US military should not be policing American citizens on American soil.

This is a victory for DC, Home Rule, and American democracy.

The record in this case, including many of the amicus briefs filed, makes clear that there are strong views on both sides about whether these deployments represent good policy. But the Court is only tasked with deciding whether Defendants' actions are lawful. In this opinion, the Court addresses two of the District's statutory arguments under the APA and finds that it is likely to succeed on the merits of both. First, the DOD Defendants have exceeded the bounds of their authority under Title 49 of the D.C. Code, and thus acted contrary to law, in deploying the DCNG for non-military, crime-deterrence missions in the absence of a request from the city's civil authorities. Second, these Defendants lack statutory authority under 32 U.S.C. § 502 to support their request for assistance from out-of-state National Guards and their actions in calling those Guards to the District. The Court finds that the District's exercise of sovereign powers within its jurisdiction is irreparably harmed by Defendants' actions in deploying the Guards, and that the balance of equities and public interest weigh in the District's favor. As such, the Court will GRANT the District's motion for preliminary relief and partially DENY Defendants' motion to dismiss on those claims. The Court finds, however, that the public interest weighs in favor of an administrative stay in this case, and that a stay is needed to permit orderly proceedings on appeal. Accordingly, the Court will STAY its order for 21 days, until December 11, 2025?

BREAKING: Federal judge rules that Trump's DC troop deployment is likely illegal — both as to D.C. National Guard and and out-of-state National Guard units — granting DC's request to block the use of the troops in this way.

The preliminary injunction is stayed until Dec. 11.

Neither Liberal nor Conservative Congress is crippled by ideological conflict. The political parties are more polarized today than at any time since the Civil War. Americans disagree, fiercely, about just about everything, from terro...

If you want to learn more about the ideological innocence of a majority of the American public, I highly recommend Donald Kinder and @nathankalmoe.bsky.social's book, "Neither Liberal nor Conservative: Ideological Innocence in the American Public."

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

A great post from @gelliottmorris.com that affirms existing PoliSci research showing that most Americans are not ideological thinkers. It also reaffirms my belief that election surveys should do more open ended questions.

I’ve never heard of something like this happening. Absolutely wild.

"We are united in our forceful opposition to the bills recently advanced by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. These bills are an affront to Home Rule and the principles of democracy and local self-governance on which this country was founded. The District is home to more than 700,000 residents who pay taxes and serve in the military. Like all Americans, they deserve the right to elect local leaders who have the authority to determine the local policies that govern them. We urge members of Congress to reject this unprecedented federal overreach and vote against these bills." Muriel Bowser, Mayor for the District of Columbia Brian Schwalb, Attorney General for the District of Columbia Phil Mendelson, Council Chairman for the District of Columbia

We stand united against all 13 anti–DC Home Rule bills in Congress.

DC is home to more than 700,000 residents who pay taxes, run businesses, and serve in the military. Like all Americans, we deserve the right to set our own local laws.

Congress should reject this unprecedented federal overreach.

“I Lost Everything”: Venezuelans Were Rounded Up in a Dramatic Midnight Raid but Never Charged With a Crime Authorities said Tren de Aragua “terrorists” had taken over the building. A ProPublica investigation found little evidence to back up the government’s claims. For the first time, the Venezuelans arres...

You probably saw videos of a nighttime raid in Chicago. Agents rappelling from a helicopter, bursting down doors, questioning brown-skinned immigrants.

We investigated -- and found little evidence to support the government’s claims about Tren de Aragua.

www.propublica.org/article/chic...

AI-Generated Videos of ICE Raids Are Wildly Viral on Facebook An account is spamming horrific, dehumanizing videos of immigration enforcement because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for it.

The most horrifying AI slop of ICE raids you can possibly imagine is wildly viral on Facebook, collectively totaling tens of millions of views from a single account. First spotted by @chadloder.bsky.social

www.404media.co/ai-generated...

‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison

40 men Trump sent to CECOT tell the NYT they were beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted. The details are worse than you can imagine.

We can’t let them get away with this. Miller and the other architects of this sadism need to go to prison.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...

Don Moynihan on "Purge, Merge, and Surge" "Instead of surging in Iraq, it’s happening here in American cities."

New in PN: @donmoyn.bsky.social on "Purge, Merge, and Surge"

“The visible presence of overwhelming numbers of troops in the streets has a psychological component. You display dominance & make examples of people who resist — except instead of surging in Iraq, it’s happening here in American cities.”

Jury acquits D.C. 'sandwich guy' charged with chucking a sub at a federal agent Sean Dunn faced single misdemeanor offense after federal grand jurors refused to indict him on the felony charge sought by prosecutors.

BREAKING: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT EATS A LOSS IN 'SANDWICH GUY' CASE AS JURORS FIND DEFENDANT NOT GUILTY www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

checking in on the state of our nation

Caption: Border Patrol agents detain painter Krzysztof Klim while verifying his identification on Oct. 31, 2025, next to Halloween decorations outside a house in Chicago’s Edison Park neighborhood. Klim, originally from Poland and now a U.S. citizen, was briefly detained and then released. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

U.S. Border Patrol agents watch the street while others question and detain a man they found painting a house in Chicago’s Edison Park neighborhood on Oct. 31, 2025, during immigration enforcement operations. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

The photos in this Chicago Tribune piece… It's a quiet middle-class inner suburb, but these guys look like they're in Fallujah circa 2006.

The uniforms indicate Border Patrol and its BORTAC "special operations" unit.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/31/c...

O'DONNELL: Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago residential neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows. Have some of these raids gone too far?

TRUMP: No. I think they haven't gone far enough.