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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy

@profciara.bsky.social

110K followers 7.3K following 4K posts

Law professor & book author of Corporatocracy, Political Brands & Corporate Citizen; Brennan Center fellow; board of CREW; campaign finance expert. Podcaster of Democracy & Destiny. I’m a lawyer not your lawyer. https://soundcloud.com/profciara #beans

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · Nov 18

👋Hello, to my new followers!
So glad we’re all here together. I’m a law professor who works on the intersection of corporate law and election law. I write about corruption. If you have a podcast I’d love to talk about my new book 📖 Corporatocracy. 🥰https://nyupress.org/9781479828326/corporatocracy/

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 1h

Shared courtesy of my Penn History colleague, Ben Nathans

Image: A variation on Benjamin Franklin’s “Join, or Die” engraving, originally published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. Each segment of the snake has the name of a university sent Trump’s “compact”: Texas, AZ, Vanderbilt, USC, Dartmouth, UVA, Brown, Penn, MIT.

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 4h

The new pope is quoting Hannah Arendt. www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.

www.cbsnews.com

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Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 6h

“I spent three nights and three days in federal custody. During that time, I was never told what I was charged with, was not allowed to shower despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, had no phone call to my family, and no access to an attorney.” - George Retes, U.S. citizen and veteran.

I’m a US citizen and a veteran. ICE arrested me for no reason.

Jailed for three days without an explanation or ability to notify anyone, George Retes argues the only path to healing starts with the government taking accountability for its actions.

newsletter.ofthebrave.org

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 5h

Wut? 📦 #ups

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 13h

About a month ago, the Trump administration got rid of the de minimis exemption, whereby packages valued under $800 could slide in without import duties. Now there's a backlog as the government can't process all of this paperwork, leading to UPS just destroying packages

Business Insider headline reads: UPS is telling customers that their packages coming to the US are marked for destruction.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 6h

How Trump plays you:
He posts a claim undermining the facts about January 6.

YOU ALL DISSEMINATE IT!!!

You don't mock that he's complaining that the FBI responded to a terrorist attack. You instead "fact check" re his claim that Joe Biden was in charge of the FBI--which is abt tribalism, not truth

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 16h

Don’t let the bastards get you down.

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paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 16h

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 21h

Hey, you idiotic propagandists at the New York Post:

God Bless America isn't the national anthem. It's a SHOW TUNE written by Irving Berlin.

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 23h

A+

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 1d

Blue!💙

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 1d

Chocolate labradoodle (mostly poodle). 🐕🐩🐩🐩 #dogsky

Debbi Winkler @debawink.bsky.social · 1d

Your dog looks so much like mine. What breed? Mine is an Aussiedoodle.

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 1d

My dog is milking the puppy dog eyes. #dogsky

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah. TikTok is out. It's an arm of the ruling fascist party at this point.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 1d

HUD’s ability to enforce fair housing laws was further gutted by the administration’s actions yesterday.

This is on top of the agency’s firing of 70% of its fair housing attorneys since January.

This will allow discrimination by race, sex, and disabilities to become more common—and go unpunished.

◥◤Kriston Capps @kristoncapps.bsky.social · 1d

HUD laid off so many fair housing investigators on Friday that it shuttered the regional offices that oversee discrimination cases in 9 states: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

HUD Issues Layoff Notices, Targeting Fair Housing Staff With Deep Cuts

Fair housing staffers who investigate claims of housing discrimination at field offices nationwide were among the hundreds of HUD staffers who received layoff notices.

www.bloomberg.com

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 1d

✅⚖️ oh yes? #NYT #Musk

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 1d

The Pentagon has to provide The New York Times information about Elon Musk’s security clearances, a federal judge ruled Wednesday—and the billionaire’s own posting habits helped decide the case. trib.al/f74QkIn

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myskhin.bsky.social @myskhin.bsky.social · 1d

Document and Murmur are two of the beautiful but mostly unknown REM albums! But Life’s Rich Pagaent will always be my favorite.

“There's the progress we have found…A way to talk around the problem”

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Noah Dahl @noahdahl.bsky.social · 1d

Loyal to the bank of America.

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 1d

You’re honorable more honorable than me. #rem 🎼

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 1d

You’re beautiful more beautiful than me #rem m.youtube.com/watch?v=Az5d...

Exhuming McCarthy

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic

m.youtube.com

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 1d

You’re beautiful more beautiful than me #rem m.youtube.com/watch?v=Az5d...

Exhuming McCarthy

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic

m.youtube.com

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 1d

Drake’s suit over diss track is dismissed. 👀⚖️🎶 www.law.com/newyorklawjo...

'Nonactionable Opinion': Judge Dismisses Drake's Defamation Lawsuit Over Diss Track | Law.com

As the allegations of pedophilia were made in the context of a rap battle, Judge Jeannette Vargas said no reasonable person would assume the statement was fact.

www.law.com

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Bobby Silverman @robertsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

computer, enhance

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Gina Murrell @ginamurrell1.bsky.social · 1d

Today I was in conversation with someone who mentioned Calder, and—although it’s a small thing—I always appreciate when the person assumes I know who (or what) they’re referring to. In fact, I DO know Calder, whom I probably learned of from working at my university’s Art Library in undergrad.

Black-and-white, mid-20th-century photo of the sculptor Alexander Calder standing indoors amid one of his kinetic sculptures, also known as mobiles.

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Kristen Wixx @kristenwixx.bsky.social · 2d

Dolly is a national treasure. How do we make this happen, guys?

A sign. The text reads, "If 5-4 is Star Wars Day, can 9-25 be Dolly Parton Day?"

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Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 1d

ICE left David, a 17-year-old boy, stranded on the side of Interstate 20 after pulling over his immigrant father, Hector, in Mississippi.

David began running in the scorching sun after the car and watched as it disappeared from sight—soon headed to a Louisiana ICE prison.

Here's their story.

ICE Stranded a 17-Year-Old on I-20 After Arresting His Father. The Mississippi Dad Now Faces Deportation.

A 17-year-old watched as ICE arrested his immigrant father, Hector, on I-20 in June. The family faces mounting legal fees and the risk of deportation.

www.mississippifreepress.org

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 1d

👀⚖️‼️👇🏾 #eswatini

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 1d

Israeli-American billionaires Michael and Gil Dezer’s Gulfstream IV plane flew 10 migrants to the tiny African kingdom of Eswatini, flight data shows. The Dezers made billions on Trump-branded condos. Now they're cleaning up with no-bid contracts to fly prisoners to foreign concentration camps.

This Family Made Billions on Trump-Branded Condos. Now Their Private Jet Is Taking Shackled Migrants to a Far-Flung African Prison

Israeli-American billionaires Michael and Gil Dezer’s Gulfstream IV plane flew 10 migrants to the tiny African kingdom of Eswatini, flight data shows.

zeteo.com

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Ciara Torres-Spelliscy @profciara.bsky.social · 1d

Meanwhile in Tampa Bay new signs are up in my neighborhood. They are wildly quick at monetizing everything.

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