Early planning documents reviewed by WIRED describe a statewide transport grid designed for steady detainee transfers across Texas, with ICE estimating each trip to average 100 miles. Every county would have its own small, around-the-clock team of contractors collecting immigrants from local authorities deputized by ICE. It is a subtle transfer of the physical custody process into the hands of a private security firm—authorized to carry firearms and perform transport duties “in any and all local, county, state, and ICE locations.”

NEW: ICE is planning to build a shadow deportation network in Texas. A proposal outlines a 24/7 transport operation run by armed contractors—turning Texas into the logistical backbone of an industrialized deportation machine.

My latest @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/ice-is...

Rubio promised to betray U.S. informants to get Trump’s El Salvador prison deal To secure U.S. access to President Nayib Bukele’s notorious CECOT prison, Rubio agreed to turn over several MS-13 leaders central to a long-running Justice Department investigation.

This is sick. Several of the MS13 gang members Trump traded to Bukele so he could have access to CECOT prison for deportees were actually COOPERATORS with law enforcement. He betrayed them. wapo.st/4nbNiM4

Presidentialism was a mistake

Found this video while explaining the Portland Frogs to someone. Enjoy!

One word: Cher

This is exactly what we needed, thank you @thedailyshow.com

Trump Labor Department Says His Immigration Raids Are Causing a Food Crisis In a filing in the Federal Register, the Labor Department argues there are “immediate dangers to the American food supply” due to a lack of migrant agricultural workers.

So this is funny.
The administration just issued a rule slashing foreign agricultural worker wages. And to justify it, in a public filing, Trump's Labor Department alleges that Trump's immigration enforcement has devastated the Ag workforce and caused a "risk of supply shock-induced food shortages."

In memoriam...

Trump’s Speech to Generals Was Incitement to Violence Against Americans Military leaders’ quiet professionalism offers hope amid a maelstrom.

Kori Schake: “Yesterday morning, Trump and Hegseth behaved reprehensibly. Their speeches…were tantamount to incitement—a genuinely dangerous effort to suborn the military’s oath and condition them for using violence against their fellow Americans.” foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/01/t...

I’m a U.S. citizen who was wrongly arrested and held by ICE. Here’s why you could be next OPINION: “No matter your race, background or beliefs — none of us should have to fear being silenced, detained or dehumanized by the very government meant to protect us.”

I’m a U.S. citizen who was wrongly arrested and held by ICE. Here’s why you could be next.

www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...

Delivering the truth, in spades

Arrogant and Inept, Keir Starmer’s Hubris Is Blowing Up in His Face | Novara Media Liberals and lobby journalists jubilated last year when the grownups were finally put back in charge. Now, Starmer’s future and indeed Labour’s seem as certain as an iceberg lettuce, writes Joe Guinan...

Hubris is right, the arrogance of a first-past-the-post victor who believed 33% public support was enough to govern, and that no constitutional reforms were needed since held the levers of power. novaramedia.com/2025/09/15/a...

RFK Jr’s horrendous leadership of HHS threatens to undermine the health of an entire generation of kids. He must resign or be fired.

Press Conference: No "Transgender" Or "LGBTQ" Symbols Found At Kirk's Shooting Yesterday, several media outlets claimed or strongly implied that "transgender symbols" were found at the scene of the gun used by Charlie Kirk's shooter. This turned out to be false.

1. In the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk's shooting, the WSJ laundered claims that "transgender symbols" were found with the shooter's gun.

Now, a press conference reveals that NO such symbols were found.

WSJ owes a full retraction and apology.

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Led By Donkeys have got Fartrage's number.

Nigel Farage looks uncomfortable as Jamie Raskin uses his opening statement to absolutely demolish him

CINDY MCCAIN: “The desperation is overwhelming.”

Without proof, and without much plausibility, Ábrego has been alleged by the Trump administration to be the author of various crimes and malfeasances. They admit that deporting him was a mistake, but also want us to believe that he is the sort of person who should be deported – a human trafficker, in one fantasy; a gang leader, in another. That there is no proof for these allegations is beside the point: the point is that the Trump administration is claiming authority over reality itself, claiming the ability to decide what is true and what is false, and to reclassify every migrant – and in particular every Latino male – as a criminally dangerous threat that must be eliminated. Ábrego, then, must be guilty because the Trump administration arrested him, and because they can do no wrong. He must be guilty because he is a migrant, and innocence and immigration are mutually exclusive. He must be guilty, too, because his case made them do something that they did not want to do: admit a mistake, face public pressure, reverse an action, and – worst of all – show weakness. And he must be guilty because he has become a symbol of all the immigrants they plan to deport, all the Americans whose rights they plan to trample on, all the past and future victims of their program.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie How many slaveholders were there, really?

a bit late but the whole jillian michaels thing last week gave me an excuse to talk a bit about the economy of slavery in detail youtu.be/pRs2Xu1FWR4

Tell Congress to stand down federal forces and respect DC — Free DC

Join and support DC residents in resisting occupation. Here are a few ways:

✅ Call/write your members of Congress using this toolkit and/or the action alert below from @freedcproject.bsky.social: docs.google.com/document/u/0...

America tips into fascism (GUEST POST) "Something is materially different in our country this week than last," writes historian Garrett Graff.

I loved @vermontgmg.bsky.social's latest piece so much that I asked if I could republish it on The Handbasket and he so generously said yes.

If you haven't read it yet, please do. It's essential:

Trump signs an executive order tasking Hegseth to establish "specialised units" within the National Guard to "deal with public order issues" across the US.

Using the US Military against the American public.

Will the DNC End Their Complicity in Israeli Genocide or Double Down? | Common Dreams As apologists for Israel, Democratic leaders in Congress and at the DNC are doing major damage to the party's prospects for next year’s midterm elections or defeating the Republican ticket in 2028.

Those numbers show that, on the subject of Israel and Gaza, the DNC’s officers are guilty of political malpractice—and actively complicit with what most Democrats in the nation see as genocide, says @normansolomon.bsky.social: www.commondreams.org/opinion/dnc-...

I know a lot of mainline dems read my work, so for those of you skeptical of my argument because of my role as a trans journalist, know that I _endorsed_ Harris for president.

The critiques I levy against Newsom are very particular to him and he poses a unique danger that I cannot stay silent on.

This isn’t an impoverished regional school – this is the University of Chicago. Devastating.

A government-sanctioned "truth arbiter" will soon arrive at CBS. Their role will be to ensure that journalists do not criticize this Administration or express views that conflict with its agenda.

This is a betrayal—not just of journalistic independence, but of the public trust. 🧵

A cartoon depicting Donald Trump and JD Vance as Don Quijote and Sancho Panza. Rocinante, don Quijote’s steed, is replaced by an overturned golf cart.

👌

What’s a technology that you think is overhyped? I’m going to give a sideways answer to this, which is that the venture capital business model needs to be understood as requiring hype. You can go back to the Netscape IPO, and that was the proof point that made venture capital the financial lifeblood of the tech industry. Venture capital looks at valuations and growth, not necessarily at profit or revenue. So you don’t actually have to invest in technology that works, or that even makes a profit, you simply have to have a narrative that is compelling enough to float those valuations. So you see this repetitive and exhausting hype cycle as a feature in this industry. A couple of years ago, you would have been asking me about the metaverse, then last year, you would have asked me about Web3 and crypto, and for each of these inflection points there’s an Andreessen Horowitz manifesto. It’s not simply that one piece of technology is overhyped, it’s that hype is a necessary ingredient of the current business ecosystem of the tech industry. We should examine how often the financial incentive for hype is rewarded without any real social returns, without any meaningful progress in technology, without these tools and services and worlds ever actually manifesting. That’s key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world.

Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...