chasingmicrobes

Well the airports are gonna start shutting down if this government shutdown lasts too much longer...

This has nothing to do with crime. This is an attempt to crush political dissent.

Never before, in our entire 250 year history, has the military or immigration agents been used like this. It's dystopian, illegal, and it should stop.

Thugs

The new Supreme Court term starts today, meaning that -- in a novel twist -- the justices will hear oral arguments in some cases before they issue rulings that actually explain what they are doing.

a cartoon hand is pressing a red button that says wrong answer ALT: a cartoon hand is pressing a red button that says wrong answer

It’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry Eve, and you know what that means - it’s time for the annual survey!

Who will win this year’s chemistry Nobel? Wrong answers only.

You can dislike Massie all you want. We need more Repubs to stand up for what they believe in, not what the "Freedom Caucus" or Trump want.

Post by Representative Thomas Massie: The government is shutdown, but the House refuses to go back in session. Why are we in recess? Because the day we go back into session, I have 218 votes for the discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files. @SpeakerJohnson doesn’t want that to be the news.

Need more of this

The US Military Debates Possible Deployment on US Soil Under Trump Trump has said he wants to use active duty U.S. troops to quell protests and round up immigrants. Will the military comply?

From January

The actual headline, not fully shown in the preview card:

‘I Think Things Are Going to Be Bad, Really Bad’: The US Military Debates Possible Deployment on US Soil Under Trump

Chicago biz groups push back on Trump's National Guard plan Three high-profile organizations representing Chicago’s business community issued an unusual joint statement over the weekend rapping President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy Illinois National Guard tr...

Noem and Bovino keep saying the majority of people in Chicago want them here. And businesses want them. It's just the mayor and governor that don't.

But then they also say agents are being denied when they go for lunch/coffee or restrooms.

And local business groups are speaking out too:

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

Hundreds of scholars say U.S. is swiftly heading toward authoritarianism Most — but not all — political scientists are deeply troubled by the president's attempts to expand executive power, according to a national survey.

This is not a surprise to anyone on Bluesky. "A survey of more than 500 political scientists finds that the vast majority think the United States is moving swiftly from liberal democracy toward some form of authoritarianism." www.npr.org/2025/04/22/n...

The CNN anchor did not explain how he verified that it was the president — not any of his aides — who authored the written responses to his questions. He also did not explain whether he’d made any effort to speak with the president by phone, something that has become commonplace for reporters covering the second Trump administration because Trump has maintained use of his personal mobile phone since returning to the presidency and frequently uses it to contact reporters directly. The president’s purported text message exchange with Tapper was also unusual because Trump is not known to be a frequent user of his phone’s text message capacity. He also famously eschews email and other written forms of communication and during his first term he openly complained when attorneys working for his administration took notes during meetings. Trump’s unconventional use of text-based communications to purportedly respond to Tapper comes as questions continue to swirl about the state of his health

Jake Tapper did a whole interview with Trump by text message? Which means he can't actually confirm it was him. And now everyone's asking even more than before very reasonable questions about the wannabe dictator's health.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

New Yorker cartoons nail it again.

I think Blue Georgia is off on that one.
Not to say they shouldn't have called it out. But IMO they aren't analyzing it correctly.

He's been propagandizing that protestors are being violent against fed immigration enforcement. Therefore protestors are committing an "insurrection" against their 2024 "mandate" (of which there wasn't)

Pritzker is also furious: “Should National Governors Association leadership choose to remain silent, Illinois will have no choice but to withdraw from the organization.”

Less than a year into the Trump admin and the National Governors Association, founded over 115 years ago, is on the brink of collapse.

The people he's talking to are a very small but very vocal and active political group here. They often show up at Chicago city council meetings.

"Searching for signs of life, but there's nobody home"

🤣

Ellis also turns back to ICE agents going around acting anonymously. She again concedes that ICE agents may be worried about being targeted if they go unmasked, but says a "happy middle ground" would be to have "some reasonable identification on them," like a badge number.

Judge will NOT be granting a temporary stay despite Texas National Guard troops scheduled to get on a plane to Chicago at 4pm. While she said she is “very troubled” by the DOJ’s lack of answers……as to where the troops will be and what they’ll be doing once here (combined with their ask for seven days to file a brief), she said the Feds’ assertion that it’ll take a few days once here to officially be truly deployed gives enough time. Oral arguments set for Thursday

"There's no rush because they said they'd take their time..."

We need more courts to be willing to do this simple and correct thing. To say that he's not acting in good faith and that what he's saying isn't so. (And the same for the executive branch personnel who speak for him.)

(13/18)

She adds that violations of ICE agents' rights can't be addressed if they won't identify themselves.

She concedes it can be "scary" to be followed home or harassed, but adds,

"That doesn't mean you get to do this job and be anonymous."

With no call-in line, so far, this is the only journalist I’m seeing live-posting —>

(Hamilton is with DOJ.)

Per Seidel’s thread, Perry’s response to this was ordering a government response by Wednesday and hearing Thursday — over the objection of Illinois’s attorney, who argued that a TRO is needed now.

How ICE Hides Detainees From Their Lawyers ‘It seems like cruelty is the point,’ one attorney said.

ICE abducts people and then immediately moves them around to prevent access to lawyers and habeas corpus petitions. @emmarjanssen.bsky.social has the story on this consistent game being played to frustrate due process.
prospect.org/justice/2025...