Don Zeko
@donzeko.bsky.social
Public defender in the South, politics obsessive, nerd stuff enthusiast. Also a dad, although I'm trying to respect the privacy of my increasingly feral children.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Like man, genuinely, Trump is using a temple dedicated to the man who fought to bring an end to chattel slavery as though it were a platform at a slave market, weighing men like slabs of meat before having them beat the shit out of each other in his yard for his amusement.
September 5, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Like man, genuinely, Trump is using a temple dedicated to the man who fought to bring an end to chattel slavery as though it were a platform at a slave market, weighing men like slabs of meat before having them beat the shit out of each other in his yard for his amusement.
BofA is a perfectly reasonable and clear way to abbreviate Bank of America. My brain is incapable of reading it that way
UMich: Both groups are falling again now, but the gap has widened, with lower-income consumers feeling meaningfully worse about the economy BofA
December 3, 2025 at 11:07 PM
BofA is a perfectly reasonable and clear way to abbreviate Bank of America. My brain is incapable of reading it that way
Reposted by Don Zeko
very curious for a history of how all the Smart Savvy Centrists decided that climate is activist hokum.
December 3, 2025 at 6:38 PM
very curious for a history of how all the Smart Savvy Centrists decided that climate is activist hokum.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Noah Smith has been a 6 year study into Twitter radicalisation by the Royal Holloway University politics department
December 3, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Noah Smith has been a 6 year study into Twitter radicalisation by the Royal Holloway University politics department
One of these days I'm going to get around to matching this up to specific screen grabs from Moana
December 3, 2025 at 6:42 PM
One of these days I'm going to get around to matching this up to specific screen grabs from Moana
Reposted by Don Zeko
"Before ~1800, almost every parent lost a child; now it’s such an uncommon experience that people have forgotten and want to ban vaccines."
An Astonishing Graph
For most of human history, around 50% of children used to die before they reached the end of puberty. In 2020, that number is 4.
kottke.org
December 3, 2025 at 6:20 PM
"Before ~1800, almost every parent lost a child; now it’s such an uncommon experience that people have forgotten and want to ban vaccines."
Reposted by Don Zeko
There's a reason DC, with all its Roman architecture and nomenclature, doesn't have a triumphal arch. They are imperial. The practice is older, but they're primarily associated with the later surviving ones, exclusively reserved for emperors. Thus why the one in Paris is a Napoleonic monument.
‘We’re doing arch’ Trump says in update on latest construction project
‘We’re doing arch’ Trump says in update on latest construction project
‘We’re doing arch’ Trump says in update on latest construction project
www.independent.co.uk
December 3, 2025 at 4:05 PM
There's a reason DC, with all its Roman architecture and nomenclature, doesn't have a triumphal arch. They are imperial. The practice is older, but they're primarily associated with the later surviving ones, exclusively reserved for emperors. Thus why the one in Paris is a Napoleonic monument.
I suspect the people up in arms about disability accomodations for students also have a problem with reasonable disability accomodations in the workplace, they just aren't as willing to say that part out loud
December 3, 2025 at 3:52 PM
I suspect the people up in arms about disability accomodations for students also have a problem with reasonable disability accomodations in the workplace, they just aren't as willing to say that part out loud
To the extent that the law matters here at all I don't think "I didn't realize my subordinates were doing it and didn't give the order" gets Hegseth where he wants to go. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command...
December 2, 2025 at 11:15 PM
To the extent that the law matters here at all I don't think "I didn't realize my subordinates were doing it and didn't give the order" gets Hegseth where he wants to go. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command...
::sighs::
It is utterly routine for the police to fail to Mirandize arrestees and it almost never matters that much.
It is utterly routine for the police to fail to Mirandize arrestees and it almost never matters that much.
They didn’t read Luigi Mangione his Miranda rights? And searched his bag without a warrant???
globalnews.ca/news/1155242...
globalnews.ca/news/1155242...
Luigi Mangione’s lawyers seek to ban evidence from trial in CEO killing - National | Globalnews.ca
Among the evidence lawyers want to prevent from being presented to jurors are a 9 mm handgun and a handwritten notebook.
globalnews.ca
December 2, 2025 at 5:41 PM
::sighs::
It is utterly routine for the police to fail to Mirandize arrestees and it almost never matters that much.
It is utterly routine for the police to fail to Mirandize arrestees and it almost never matters that much.
Reposted by Don Zeko
I cannot apologize to the college feminists on my campus in undergrad enough. They were clearly the real materialists and I was LARPing. It really is gender all the way down.
lol it's just "big truck big".
*TRUMP TO ANNOUNCE PROPOSED ROLLBACK IN AUTO FUEL ECONOMY RULES
*TRUMP FUEL-ECONOMY ANNOUNCEMENT EXPECTED WED. AT WHITE HOUSE
*WHITE HOUSE MEETING TO INCLUDE EXECUTIVES FROM GM, FORD
*TRUMP TO ANNOUNCE PROPOSED ROLLBACK IN AUTO FUEL ECONOMY RULES
*TRUMP FUEL-ECONOMY ANNOUNCEMENT EXPECTED WED. AT WHITE HOUSE
*WHITE HOUSE MEETING TO INCLUDE EXECUTIVES FROM GM, FORD
Trump to address White House at 2:00 pm ET Tuesday
December 2, 2025 at 5:04 PM
I cannot apologize to the college feminists on my campus in undergrad enough. They were clearly the real materialists and I was LARPing. It really is gender all the way down.
The hardest thing about baby sleep for me is that it's not a smooth progression. I know intellectually that this is just how it works, but we are sleeping so much worse now than we were two months ago.
December 2, 2025 at 12:18 PM
The hardest thing about baby sleep for me is that it's not a smooth progression. I know intellectually that this is just how it works, but we are sleeping so much worse now than we were two months ago.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Anyway. DHS’s comms apparatus is now fundamentally indistinguishable from Stormfront, so that’s great.
December 2, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Anyway. DHS’s comms apparatus is now fundamentally indistinguishable from Stormfront, so that’s great.
Reposted by Don Zeko
I have a new piece up at @msnownews.bsky.social, on the recent NJ supreme court case banning shaking baby syndrome evidence, using it to discuss both the generally shoddy nature of all forensic evidence but also the legal profession's on-going refusal to confront our current data-driven world.
Opinion | New Jersey's ban on 'shaken baby syndrome' claims in court points up a larger problem in the legal system
John Pfaff: The state Supreme Court ruling underscores how thin empirical support is for much of the forensic evidence used in criminal cases.
www.ms.now
November 25, 2025 at 2:38 PM
I have a new piece up at @msnownews.bsky.social, on the recent NJ supreme court case banning shaking baby syndrome evidence, using it to discuss both the generally shoddy nature of all forensic evidence but also the legal profession's on-going refusal to confront our current data-driven world.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Admiral Bradley—WHO TO BE CLEAR WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY DECISION THAT WAS MADE—has my total and complete moral support. I will be keeping him in my prayers, and I will be rooting for him.
If Admiral Bradley didn’t realize before that these cowards were setting him up to take the fall, he knows it now. Time to hire a good lawyer.
December 2, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Admiral Bradley—WHO TO BE CLEAR WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY DECISION THAT WAS MADE—has my total and complete moral support. I will be keeping him in my prayers, and I will be rooting for him.
Reposted by Don Zeko
A lot of people are ignoring how the TA who was targeted (who is Trans) gave the 0 grade but the professor (who is Cis) reviewed and confirmed.
This isn't some rogue Grad student who attacked a student. This was a TA doing her job who has become the latest victim of right-wing transphobic hatred.
This isn't some rogue Grad student who attacked a student. This was a TA doing her job who has become the latest victim of right-wing transphobic hatred.
*sigh* it is simultaneously true that 0/25 is probably too harsh a grade AND that if you are going balls to the wall to complain about the difference between a 0 and a F (say, 12-15), you are missing the forest for the trees. the suspension/investigation is the far more important issue.
December 1, 2025 at 6:44 PM
A lot of people are ignoring how the TA who was targeted (who is Trans) gave the 0 grade but the professor (who is Cis) reviewed and confirmed.
This isn't some rogue Grad student who attacked a student. This was a TA doing her job who has become the latest victim of right-wing transphobic hatred.
This isn't some rogue Grad student who attacked a student. This was a TA doing her job who has become the latest victim of right-wing transphobic hatred.
The best case scenario here is that Hegseth and co incorrectly assume the Dems won't have the guts to prosecute them for this.
If a man personally implicated in war crimes can remain atop the Pentagon, why would he stand by and risk his freedom should Vance (or Trump again) lose the 2028 election?
And unless Bradley sees the inside of a brig, the message to USSOCOM's chain of command is that no action is impermissible.
And unless Bradley sees the inside of a brig, the message to USSOCOM's chain of command is that no action is impermissible.
Pete Hegseth And Adm. Mitch Bradley Belong In Prison
The South American boat strikes are plainly murders. Now we have the names of the murderers. Do we have the political will to lock them up?
www.forever-wars.com
December 1, 2025 at 8:06 PM
The best case scenario here is that Hegseth and co incorrectly assume the Dems won't have the guts to prosecute them for this.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Look we’re all thinking it - Harrison Butker has cost Kansas City the Mandate of Heaven they gained when Mahomes said ‘Black Lives Matter’ and Kelce endorsed the vaccine
December 1, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Look we’re all thinking it - Harrison Butker has cost Kansas City the Mandate of Heaven they gained when Mahomes said ‘Black Lives Matter’ and Kelce endorsed the vaccine
What's weird about the boat strikes is that they grow out of the drone strikes that have been carried out with bipartisan approval for years and years, but the new context undermines all of the legal justifications for the previous drone campaigns.
JSOC and SEAL Team 6 have spent a decade-plus orchestrating drone strikes on land, including when Bradley was the Team 6 commander overseeing Somalia/Yemen strikes—and reattacks to kill survivors, who in a land context are not as categorically hors de combat as at sea, were routine during them:
December 1, 2025 at 8:01 PM
What's weird about the boat strikes is that they grow out of the drone strikes that have been carried out with bipartisan approval for years and years, but the new context undermines all of the legal justifications for the previous drone campaigns.
Reposted by Don Zeko
A basic and intuitive understanding of the law is that punishments should not be retroactive upon a policy change.
This is even worse. There is no formal policy change, they are simply penalizing couples for following common practice - explicitly allowed by Congress - for decades.
This is even worse. There is no formal policy change, they are simply penalizing couples for following common practice - explicitly allowed by Congress - for decades.
"We followed everything we were supposed to do"
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:33 PM
A basic and intuitive understanding of the law is that punishments should not be retroactive upon a policy change.
This is even worse. There is no formal policy change, they are simply penalizing couples for following common practice - explicitly allowed by Congress - for decades.
This is even worse. There is no formal policy change, they are simply penalizing couples for following common practice - explicitly allowed by Congress - for decades.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Years ago, AP adopted a policy that when covering police shootings it would not repeat police claims of “fear for their lives” without independent verification bc of how many times they got duped.
DA offices have “Brady Lists” of cops they refuse to put on the stand bc they’ve lied too often.
DA offices have “Brady Lists” of cops they refuse to put on the stand bc they’ve lied too often.
The White House says attacks on ICE are up 1000%
Court records in cities where federal law enforcement has been busiest tell a more complex story -- there are few serious injuries, and many allegations don't hold up in court.
Latest w/ @brittnymejia.bsky.social
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Court records in cities where federal law enforcement has been busiest tell a more complex story -- there are few serious injuries, and many allegations don't hold up in court.
Latest w/ @brittnymejia.bsky.social
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Attacks on ICE up 1,000%? Trump administration claim not backed up by court records
The Trump administration has cited a more than 1,000% increase in assaults on immigration agents to justify aggressive tactics. But court records reviewed by The Times show the majority of the alleged...
www.latimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Years ago, AP adopted a policy that when covering police shootings it would not repeat police claims of “fear for their lives” without independent verification bc of how many times they got duped.
DA offices have “Brady Lists” of cops they refuse to put on the stand bc they’ve lied too often.
DA offices have “Brady Lists” of cops they refuse to put on the stand bc they’ve lied too often.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Today is the 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest. Six myths: 1) She wasn't old or tired. 42 years old that day, she had a "life history of being rebellious" & had spent two decades helping to turn the Montgomery NAACP into a more activist branch alongside ED Nixon and Johnnie Carr.
December 1, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Today is the 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest. Six myths: 1) She wasn't old or tired. 42 years old that day, she had a "life history of being rebellious" & had spent two decades helping to turn the Montgomery NAACP into a more activist branch alongside ED Nixon and Johnnie Carr.
Reposted by Don Zeko
So, this is about OU, and I think it’s a fair characterization of a problem, the solution to which cannot be “put the instructor on leave immediately.” You cannot do things that way, or the rule is that Calvin gets an A.
December 1, 2025 at 2:59 PM
So, this is about OU, and I think it’s a fair characterization of a problem, the solution to which cannot be “put the instructor on leave immediately.” You cannot do things that way, or the rule is that Calvin gets an A.
State prosecutors need to look into which of Trump's pardons can be prosecuted again out of the federal system
David Gentile and Juan Orlando Hernández get added to my list of examples of this; I never imagined the pardon power being used and abused in these ways.
"There is no such thing as financial fraud; there is no such thing as a right-wing politician anywhere in the world who is guilty of a crime."
"There is no such thing as financial fraud; there is no such thing as a right-wing politician anywhere in the world who is guilty of a crime."
Santos. Utterly predictable and completely unbelievable at the same time.
There are a lot of Trump’s abuses that use powers about which I can honestly say “I was always against presidents having that power,” but pardons and commutations weren’t among them. I never imagined.
There are a lot of Trump’s abuses that use powers about which I can honestly say “I was always against presidents having that power,” but pardons and commutations weren’t among them. I never imagined.
December 1, 2025 at 3:05 PM
State prosecutors need to look into which of Trump's pardons can be prosecuted again out of the federal system
Reposted by Don Zeko
It has been painfully obvious for *decades* that far-right wanted force US to listen to far-right speech while making other speech illegal, but our insanely stupid & short-sighted & hateful Elite joined them in pretending their anti-free-speech agenda was actually free-speech.
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
November 30, 2025 at 8:57 PM
It has been painfully obvious for *decades* that far-right wanted force US to listen to far-right speech while making other speech illegal, but our insanely stupid & short-sighted & hateful Elite joined them in pretending their anti-free-speech agenda was actually free-speech.