LizR
banner
lizrussell.bsky.social
LizR
@lizrussell.bsky.social
Twin mom. Sports fan. Community activist and gun violence prevention advocate in my spare time.
Reposted by LizR
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz
Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison
www.forever-wars.com
December 8, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by LizR
Today in "America will do literally anything to avoid having replacement level rich country marginal tax rates & social insurance programs"
Hawley is pitching his colleagues — and Trump — on a new health care plan that would allow all tax payers to deduct up to $25K/person in medical expenses.

Hawley told us he recently discussed the idea with Trump: “I said...'no taxes on tips, no taxes on health care’, and he goes ‘oh I like that."
Hawley pitches new health care tax plan
The Missouri Republican is proposing making it easier for more tax payers to deduct medical expenses — and has pitched Donald Trump on the idea.
www.politico.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by LizR
On Monday, the University of Alabama suspended two student-run magazines over fears stemming from a July DOJ memo. The student journalists I spoke with yesterday told me that the decision was nonsensical and threatened their First Amendment rights.
www.alreporter.com/2025/12/03/u...
University of Alabama suspends two student magazines over DEI
The editors of the publications, which focus on women’s wellness and the Black student experience respectively, expressed shock at the decision.
www.alreporter.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by LizR
The U.S. constitution is widely considered the hardest constitution in the world to amend.

The U.S. Senate is the only legislative body in the democratic world which requires a supermajority for normal legislation.

The U.S. is one of the only advanced democracies with a two-party system.
December 3, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by LizR
NEW: President Trump has repeatedly threatened to bring federal agents, or even soldiers, to San Francisco to battle crime. His administration has actually done the opposite, quietly taking federal law enforcement away from the city to do immigration work instead.

www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
December 2, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by LizR
I hope if you're shopping today, you stop by a local indie bookstore. Here's my list of my favorite 25 books from this past year, some old, some new, fiction, history, and current events — something for almost anyone on your list (and, of course, yourself!): www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/my-favorit...
My favorite books of 2025
25 books that changed the way I look at the world this year
www.doomsdayscenario.co
November 29, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by LizR
How it started / How it’s going
November 30, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Reposted by LizR
Don't know whether this is new or has been up for awhile. Either way, when the White House creates a hit list of journalists it doesn't like, the free press is in danger. www.whitehouse.gov/mediabias/
Media Offenders
Explore the Media Bias Tracker that fact checks and holds Fake News accountable. False claims debunked, Hall of Shame for serial offenders, Leaderboard of networks ranked by Repeated Lies. Stay inform...
www.whitehouse.gov
November 29, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by LizR
Former US military lawyers speak out:

"The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both."

Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes

1/2
November 29, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by LizR
Join San Diegans For Gun Violence Prevention for a program of words and music to remember all who have been lost to gun violence. This is one of many #FreedomToLive vigils being held across the country.

RSVP: www.mobilize.us/newtownactio...

Host a #FreedomToLive vigil: freedom-to-live.org
November 29, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by LizR
"By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies"

Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations

www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine
The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.
www.wsj.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:33 AM
Reposted by LizR
Time to ask: In whose interests is American foreign policy being conducted?
"By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies"

Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations

www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine
The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.
www.wsj.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by LizR
"There are costs to performatively deploying members of the military—one of which is the risk of endangering them"

From @juliettekayyem.bsky.social

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
A Terrible and Avoidable Tragedy in D.C.
Trump was warned that members of the military could be attacked.
www.theatlantic.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by LizR
The Trump administration has reacted to a small scale lone wolf attack by in DC announcing a sweeping collective punishment, using the organs of government to heap blame on partisan rivals, and potentially dissuading anyone from collaborating with US forces abroad for a generation.
CIA statement about the Afghan man identified as the gunman who shot two National Guardsmen in Washington
November 27, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by LizR
This is a really big story that should not be missed. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
DOJ Says Noem Made Final Decision on El Salvador Removals in Breach of Court Order
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Reposted by LizR
By its own admission, ICE now poses a serious threat to Americans’ free speech and privacy rights. bit.ly/3Kq348R
ICE Wants to Go After Dissenters as well as Immigrants
The Trump administration is being open about its plans to violate Americans’ First and Fourth Amendment rights.
www.brennancenter.org
November 27, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by LizR
Too many people get shot in America. They shouldn’t get shot. But they get shot because of a legacy of bad law and bad court decisions that have bastardized our founders’ bequest to us in the bill of rights. The problem isn’t mental health or Afghanis. It’s the guns.
November 27, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by LizR
"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...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by LizR
A sad irony in Washington, D.C., where West Virginia National Guardsmen were shot today. Six days ago, a court ruled their deployment was illegal, but stayed the order pending appeal. My heart goes out to these public servants and their families. oag.dc.gov/sites/defaul...
November 26, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by LizR
Before DOGE, systems meant to serve millions of people were being run by a few harried employees using outdated systems. And now, after DOGE, they are being run by even fewer, even more harried employees on those same outdated systems!
So, DOGE, What Would You Say You Did Here?
An exit interview
www.theatlantic.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Properly insane Trump Administration campaign commercial on the taxpayers dime.
this extremely fashy Trump cult of personality ad featuring Kristi Noem ran this morning on Fox & Friends
November 26, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by LizR
BREAKING: Trump is again separating kids from families

The govt isn't releasing info, but we found ICE has sent record # of kids to shelters.

One family went to govt office , only to have parents detained while the children—aged 5, 11 and 1--went to shelters

www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record.
Under a zero tolerance policy, the first Trump administration separated immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. New data suggests separations are happening all over the count...
www.propublica.org
November 24, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Reposted by LizR
'Just to clear up any confusion: There is no statute that allows the president to unilaterally revoke birthright citizenship. There is no statute that authorizes racial profiling. And there is no statute that permits the government to use incredible and indiscriminate force against protesters,'
A federal judge in Chicago issued a massive opinion on *Thursday that required the Trump admin to stop brutalizing people at the Broadview ICE facility

Yet a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that order on *Wednesday 🤔

ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
How Conservative Judges Turned a Throwaway Line Into a Free Pass For ICE Violence
For these judges, the White House not getting its way is a legal crisis that requires immediate intervention.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 24, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by LizR
Elon Musk donated $277 million to Trump so he could steal the federal government’s data, dismantle the nation’s infrastructure, and stop foreign aid from going to nonwhite people. It’s a quid pro quo breathtaking in scope, corruption, and damage, & completely unprecedented in American history.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.

It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM