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Reposted

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 7h

Reupping link to CBS' coverage of Sydney Reid's trial from today--I think they were the only outlet that covered it live. Among other things they reveal the "victim" STILL hasn't turned over all her relevant texts. [Link fixed]

www.wusa9.com/article/news...

Bates was the sole witness called by prosecutors and spent more than five hours on the stand across two days. Much of the questioning centered on her text messages following the incident, where she downplayed it and disparaged Reid as a "libtard." She didn't turn over additional text message evidence until early Wednesday morning, and in the middle of cross examination, Abe discovered one message was missing.

"Conveniently, the most damning one wasn't there," Abe said. "... Agent Bates’ story is riddled with holes."

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 7h

Trump has amended his complaint against NYT.

The same day(ish) that Mike Schmidt wrote a ridiculous column minimizing Trump's first term crimes, he got dropped (tho the claim against him was ridiculous).

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

storage.courtlistener.com

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Shea (she/her) @solarshea.bsky.social · 1d

A few things happening at once:

1) Some temporary good news! Court ruling sides with Unions that the #shutdown #layoffs are illegal and paused! #UnionStrong #Feds

@altfda.altgov.info @alt-ssa.altgov.info @altcdc.altgov.info @alt-dol.altgov.info @roguenasa.altgov.info @roguenoaa.bsky.social +

Judge orders Trump administration to pause shutdown layoffs

Unions have sued to block dismissals during the government shutdown.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 5h

Jeanine Pirro becoming the Washington Generals of prosecutors.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6h

Pritzker: "Stephen Miller is clearly ordering people to break the law. So he should know that yeah, it may be three years from now that he is held accountable, but I think it's important for them to know that whatever they do now, it's not like we're going to forget."

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CajunBlueAZ ⚜️🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @cajunblue.bsky.social · 13h

🚨Officer Michael Fanone keeping it short and sweet. ✊🏼

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 13h

Wow. New Economist poll finds only 34% of Americans say ICE's use of force has been justified, vs 51% who say it's been excessive. And they oppose agents wearing masks by 52-35.

Yep, ICE is becoming a pariah agency, and that's gaining deep penetration in the culture:

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 20h

ICE's military raids and masked kidnappings are resonating deeply/negatively in the cultural spaces we keep hearing Dems need to reach: Manosphere, Joe Rogan, country music, disengaged voters. That's rare and it gives Dems a big opening to engage.

Thoughts on this:

newrepublic.com/article/2018...

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Rep. Greg Stanton @repgregstanton.bsky.social · 7h

apnews.com/article/pent...

Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules

Journalists at the Pentagon turned in access badges and cleaned out their workspaces, the price for refusing to agree to new restrictions on their jobs at the seat of U.S. military power.

apnews.com

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AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes @azagmayes.bsky.social · 8h

Time is up. I gave Speaker Mike Johnson two days to swear in Adelita Grijalva. Arizona's 7th congressional district 813,000 Arizonans are now being taxed without representation. I have lawyers downstairs right now drafting litigation.

youtu.be/9OBdjsGntQI?...

AG Mayes Demands Speaker Johnson Swear In Adelita Grijalva | The Lead with Jake Tapper CNN

YouTube video by Arizona Attorney General's Office

youtu.be

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Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 2d

NEW: Adrian Fontes has CERTIFIED the results of the AZ-07 election of Adelita Grijalva. Mike Johnson is OUT of EXCUSES and should swear her in.

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The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 7h

"Operation Inflation" is stocking a rack of free inflatable costumes near the site of Portland ICE protests.

Why Portland ICE protesters are showing up dressed as giant inflatable animals

"Operation Inflation" is stocking a rack of free inflatable costumes near the site of Portland ICE protests.

www.oregonlive.com

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David Waldman @kagrox.bsky.social · 11h

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 12h

Revenge of the "Lib Tard:" Jeanine Pirro Wins First Humiliating Acquittal

www.emptywheel.net/2025/10/16/r...

Revenge of the "Lib Tard:" Jeanine Pirro Wins First Humiliating Acquittal - emptywheel

After fuck-up after fuck-up, Jeanine Pirro's prosecutors got an embarrassing acquittal in their effort to jail Sydney Reid for filming an ICE arrest.

www.emptywheel.net

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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 13h

🚨BREAKING: Arizona Supreme Court UNANIMOUSLY RULES that the State's Election Procedures Manual is not subject to the state’s Administrative Procedure Act rulemaking requirements.

A BIG victory for our clients and the voters of Arizona and another defeat for the GOP.

🚨 Republican National Committee v. Fontes

Learn more.

www.democracydocket.com

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 12h

Newsom: We were under the understanding that we were going to close I-5 — up to 80,000 vehicles tomorrow and Saturday. They seemed to have backed off of that. They were going to move forward with a display, but they’re not clearly sharing that with state officials.

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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 12h

Whether he jumped or was pushed, this seems like a big deal. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/u...

Head of the U.S. Military’s Southern Command Is Stepping Down, Officials Say

www.nytimes.com

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Ian Bond @cerianbond.bsky.social · 14h

A good moment for other EU states to remind Orban that Hungary is a signatory to the Rome Statute, & there is an outstanding ICC warrant against Putin.

Meanwhile, any European country that values its sovereignty & security needs to pile resources into defending Ukraine & defeating Russia.

Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 14h

Trump and Putin are amazingly best friends again, will meet in Budapest to settle the war. They will try to screw Ukraine I’m sure

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I’ve Had It Podcast @ivehaditpodcast.bsky.social · 1d

“I love Hitler” Racist texts LEAKED from young Republicans group chat.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 15h

While we're all calling detentions of US citizens bc racist ICE goons think Latinos must be undocumented "Kavanaugh stops," I hereby propose we start calling the arrests of US citizens who get assaulted by ICE while just standing there "Ghostbusters," after the clarinetist who was charged.

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 15h

Here's how ProPublica categorizes the 170 US citizens ICE has kidnapped. 50 Kavanaugh stops and 120 cases where ICE claimed they were assaulted, usually (IMO) after assaulting the person in question.

Remember that 2 of the electeds--Ras Baraka and Brad Lander--were arrested DURING their election.

We reviewed more than 170 cases overall, which we sorted into two categories.

The first is Americans who were held because agents questioned their citizenship. We found more than 50 such cases. The second category is Americans arrested by immigration agents after being accused of assaulting or impeding officers at protests or during immigration arrests of others. In that category, we tallied about 130 Americans, including more than a dozen elected officials. In many of these cases, the government never charged these individuals or the cases were dismissed.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 16h

This entire article is, unsurprisingly, kicked off by Brett Kavanaugh and includes this: "A spokesperson for Kavanaugh did not return an emailed request for comment."

Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 16h

BREAKING from PP

We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*

The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:

Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer

More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado

www.propublica.org/article/immi...

by @nicolefoy.bsky.social

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.

The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

www.propublica.org

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 17h

Tick Tock, Tick Tock: Lindsey Halligan's Filter Follies

www.emptywheel.net/2025/10/16/t...

Tick Tock, Tick Tock: Lindsey Halligan's Filter Follies - emptywheel

Lindsey Halligan's loaner prosecutors decided they'd ask for a filter protocol to access already seized material the day after Judge Nachmanoff ordered they provide all discovery to Jim Comey that sam...

www.emptywheel.net

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 17h

Kash Patel's entire career is based off arguing that warrants obtained relying tangentially on a former MI6 spook paid unwittingly by Hillary Clinton was unreasonable for the FBI.

Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 19h

Glenn Beck says that after he aired a show on Antifa, FBI agents acting on the behest of Kash Patel came to get tips. Here's who the segment targeted, largely through strained connections and guilt by association: www.mediamatters.org/glenn-beck/g...

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 16h

Trump is going to indict another of his critics.

But not for lying us into Iraq (which the papers in question might better demonstrate).

edition.cnn.com/2025/10/16/p...

Justice Department expected to ask grand jury to indict former Trump national security adviser John Bolton on Thursday | CNN Politics

The Justice Department is expected to ask a federal grand jury in Maryland on Thursday to indict John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, multiple sources tell CNN.

edition.cnn.com

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Death "Antifa’s girlfriend" Car @lovebethandrobots.bsky.social · 16h

In case you're wondering how the big MAGA accounts/influencers/podcasters are responding to the Republican chat leak, it's a combination of "What about Jay Johnson?" and "This other bad thing happened, so the chat doesn't count and also the chat is not that bad."

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17h

UN Ambassador Mike Waltz claims Maduro is an "illegitimate leader," citing the fact he was "convicted in the Southern District of New York."

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Will Craft @wcraft.bsky.social · 17h

The Guardian has been tracking DHS detention statistics, and we found that DHS stopped publishing any data on trans detainees as soon as the Trump admin took office

Chart showing when the government stopped tracking transgender detainees

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