Avatara Smith-Carrington

A photo of teenage Claudette Colvin in glasses and a sweater.

Friends, Claudette Colvin—the 15-year-old who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in March 1955 & joined the federal case against bus segregation that went to the Supreme Court — died today at age 86. But there are lots of myths and mis-impressions about her. A short corrective thread:

This is the sort of statement that was expected from every university president and law firm partner over the last year. That those statements weren’t made played a huge part in where we are now and people will remember.

Fulton judge dismisses RICO charges against training center protesters In his order issued Tuesday, the judge said Attorney General Chris Carr did not have the authority to bring RICO charges.

A judge has tossed the racketeering charges filed by the Georgia attorney general against activists who protested against Atlanta's Cop City facility.

Brett Kavanaugh (September 2025): The facts and how they relate to the law don’t matter. Assume ICE and other federal forces always act with integrity, always respect rights, and consistently impose minimal burden.

Brett Kavanaugh (December 2025): Should I not have done that? Was that wrong?

Christmas Cheer from a Lean Year: The 1950 Holiday Cards of Langston Hughes The Beinecke Library at Yale University is exhibiting Hughes's typewritten 1950 Christmas postcards, along with holiday cards he received from friends.

Even in the down year of 1950, Langston Hughes’s Christmas Cards show his writing wit still bristling. For those who may have had a hard year leading up to these winter holidays, there’s some defiant joy to glean from his wry greetings.

It used to be that the United States would use Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to transmit truth across the borders of repressive regimes.

Now the work of American reporters, having been censored, is being smuggled across the border to reach Americans.

Graduate instructor who gave failing grade to Samantha Fulnecky no longer teaching at OU A graduate teaching assistant who gave a University of Oklahoma student a failing grade on a psychology essay will no longer be teaching at the university.

A graduate teaching assistant who gave a University of Oklahoma student a failing grade on a psychology essay will no longer be teaching at the university

Bringing back Limewire to illegally rip copies of reporting suppressed by the government is definitely some cyberpunk shit

Archivists have saved and uploaded copies of the 60 Minutes episode new CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss ordered be shelved as a torrent and multiple file sharing sites. @evystadium.bsky.social has more.

Full story by @josephcox.bsky.social: www.404media.co/archivists-p...

News Team, Thank you for the notes and texts. I apologize for not reaching out earlier. I learned on Saturday that Bari Weiss spiked our story, INSIDE CECOT, which was supposed to air tonight. We (Ori and I) asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity. Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now-after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one. We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we

have effectively handed them a "kill switch" for any reporting they find inconvenient. If the standard for airing a story becomes "the government must agree to be interviewed," then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state. These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless. CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that "low point." By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones.

We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of "Gold Standard" reputation for a single week of political quiet. I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight. Sharyn

Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:

The Constitution of the Roberts Court is not color-blind. It is a Constitution that permits discrimination on the basis of race, but forbids alleviating discrimination on the basis of race. And over the next year, the Court will face more cases that could further erode both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, pushing America back toward what some on the right believe is the true, Antebellum Constitution.

I wrote about the conservative quest to restore the "true" Constitution, the Antebellum Constitution, shorn of the egalitarian nonsense in the Reconstruction Amendments, a document that replaces equality with a society of dominators and the dominated. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

In the summer of 1950 most US newspapers ran an AP story about how race had become the main issue in the upcoming Georgia governor's race. Segregationist Herman Tallmadge, governor from '47 to '55 and then a Senator until 1981 made a name for himself by refusing to "apologize for being a white man."

Straight Nonsense: The Trump-Kennedy Center would make sense—if I were a nitwit

Opinion: President Trump forces himself on top of someone who didn't consent — again.

The Trump administration’s release of the Epstein grand jury documents are entirely redacted.

It’s 119 pages of just black rectangles.

Trump having his name affixed to every building possible despite the fact that legislation passed by Congress provides for another name is exactly what I would expect a sexual predator.

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

UPDATE: Judge Perry issued an opinion explaining why she blocked the Texas National Guard deployment in Chicago.

She begins with Alexander Hamilton’s rejection of a “preposterous” idea that the Constitution lets a President deploy a State’s militia to a different State for political retribution. 🧵

The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.

This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.

One of the things I took away from the 60s and Richard Nixon, first mentioned by Hunter Thompson, but I believe to be true, is the fact that we believed, at time, that all our protesting, marching and sign waving was futile and pointless when in fact, it drove Richard Nixon to alcohol fueled madness

Israel accused of detaining Greta Thunberg in infested cell and making her hold flags Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and water

““They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” the Turkish activist ErsinÇelik, a participant in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu news agency.”+

ICE says I cause assaults on ICE by reciting facts about ICE’s recent shooting but refuses to link to the thread. Only posting a picture. ICE lies and ICE hides. You can read the facts for yourselves

BREAKING: A federal judge blocked the Trump administration's deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard members to Portland over the governor's objections.

This decision reinforces one of our country's core principles: The military has no place policing our communities.

Request: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Order: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Abughazaleh: I think Kristi Noem should be tried at The Hague. And if the response from ICE to people exercising their first amendment right is to drive vehicles through them, they should not be an agency in the US.

BREAKING: US President Trump says Israel "temporarily stopped bombing" Gaza as 17 Palestinians killed in new Israeli attack in Gaza City.

🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/a1y8rg

The Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine and the Compact for Excellence Members of the Trump administration love to say that federal funding is a privilege not a right and therefore something that can be granted or withheld based on changing administrative priorities.

The Trump Administration’s “Compact of Excellence” for Universities is... far from excellent! Indeed, it’s unconstitutional. In this post, let me count the ways.

blog.dividedargument.com/p/the-uncons...

We contacted more than 40 Planned Parenthood affiliates for this story on the state of care now that the GOP budget law is fully in effect. Service journalism with @garnethenderson.com:

Judge William Young's ruling against Rubio and Noem is a lesson for all in the Trump era Young lays bare the unconstitutionality of the Trump administration's student deportation efforts — and issues a challenge to America. Also: More court pushback.

NEW: Judge William Young's ruling against Rubio and Noem is a lesson for all in the Trump era.

Young lays bare the unconstitutionality of the Trump administration's student deportation efforts — and issues a challenge to America.

Today, at Law Dork:

I think we underestimate the extent to which the right wing has eroded civil society simply by pulling stunts like this that make any public participation extremely unpleasant.