Paul Handley
@phand1.bsky.social
DC based recovering journalist: FEER, AFP, lots of bylines elsewhere; Asia (esp Thailand), Saudi, US. Author "The King Never Smiles" bio of Thai King Bhumibol. Clarinet Django/gypsy/manouche, swing, jazz, Takoma Park Community Band. 🇫🇷 🇺🇸
Reposted by Paul Handley
it is actually kind of bananas how unitary executive theorists have taken a straightforward clause requiring the president to "faithfully execute the laws" and transformed it into a grant for the exercise of limitless unenumerated power.
The Take Care Clause was a byproduct of the lessons learned from the Glorious Revolution that the executive should not be able to dispense with the law promulgated by the legislature. It was not a constitutional provision to empower the executive branch— but to constrain it!
December 9, 2025 at 2:20 PM
it is actually kind of bananas how unitary executive theorists have taken a straightforward clause requiring the president to "faithfully execute the laws" and transformed it into a grant for the exercise of limitless unenumerated power.
Grocers and Instacart changes the prices depending on who they think your are:
www.consumerreports.org/money/questi...
www.consumerreports.org/money/questi...
Instacart’s AI-Enabled Pricing Experiments May Be Inflating Your Grocery Bill, CR and Groundwork Collaborative Investigation Finds - Consumer Reports
Exclusive: Instacart’s AI pricing may be inflating your grocery bill.
www.consumerreports.org
December 9, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Grocers and Instacart changes the prices depending on who they think your are:
www.consumerreports.org/money/questi...
www.consumerreports.org/money/questi...
Reposted by Paul Handley
This blood transfusion brought to you by the leeches I placed on your testicles
Trump on his farm bailout: "This money would not be possible without tariffs ... because of tariffs, this is possible."
December 8, 2025 at 10:24 PM
This blood transfusion brought to you by the leeches I placed on your testicles
Reposted by Paul Handley
Breaking: Kushner and Saudi Arabia are part of Paramount’s hostile bid for Warner Bros. This could give them control of CNN and more: www.axios.com/2025/12/08/j...
Jared Kushner is part of Paramount's hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery
Paramount is telling WBD shareholders that it has a smoother path to regulatory approval than does Netflix.
www.axios.com
December 8, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Breaking: Kushner and Saudi Arabia are part of Paramount’s hostile bid for Warner Bros. This could give them control of CNN and more: www.axios.com/2025/12/08/j...
Reposted by Paul Handley
The Judges are performing their constitutional duty & following the law. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same thing about the Justice Department in this regard.
December 8, 2025 at 6:10 PM
The Judges are performing their constitutional duty & following the law. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same thing about the Justice Department in this regard.
Reposted by Paul Handley
Read this: www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
December 7, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Read this: www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
There's the new Trump-Vance-Miller National Security Strategy, and then there's this to fill it out (h/t empty wheel)
authoritarian-stack.info
authoritarian-stack.info
The Authoritarian Stack
How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next
authoritarian-stack.info
December 6, 2025 at 4:46 PM
There's the new Trump-Vance-Miller National Security Strategy, and then there's this to fill it out (h/t empty wheel)
authoritarian-stack.info
authoritarian-stack.info
Reposted by Paul Handley
FT has a piece on how particularly poisonous the Juan Orlando Hernández pardon was (but is a good overview and unlikely many pieces did note that Roger Stone himself needed a pardon).
www.ft.com/content/1dc4...
www.ft.com/content/1dc4...
![Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.
https://www.ft.com/content/1dc4124e-6bd3-4b2b-9628-1ff43583f28c?utm_social_handle_id=18949452&utm_social_post_id=615514481
The Hernández pardon created “a tremendous disincentive for [overseas] prosecutors, police, judges and governments to take on the risk of investigating and assisting the extradition of officials who may be released arbitrarily by the US president”, said Ricardo Zúñiga, a former senior US state department official who focuses on Latin America.
“The US was seen as a place where justice would be done . . . it really undermines faith in the US justice system.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreicyrhntrhmeqvtgwwccd7mnqezzudjvz7grtujunjymvitzvolddm@jpeg)
December 6, 2025 at 12:30 PM
FT has a piece on how particularly poisonous the Juan Orlando Hernández pardon was (but is a good overview and unlikely many pieces did note that Roger Stone himself needed a pardon).
www.ft.com/content/1dc4...
www.ft.com/content/1dc4...
Reposted by Paul Handley
The mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew was reportedly engaged in a nasty years-long custody battle with the White House press secretary’s brother before she was detained by Immigration and Customs enforcement last month. trib.al/QrdO7XA
Karoline Leavitt’s Brother Had Grim Custody Fight With ICE-Arrested Ex
ICE arrested Bruna Ferreira, the mother of Leavitt’s nephew, in November.
trib.al
December 5, 2025 at 11:15 PM
The mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew was reportedly engaged in a nasty years-long custody battle with the White House press secretary’s brother before she was detained by Immigration and Customs enforcement last month. trib.al/QrdO7XA
Reposted by Paul Handley
The White House deleted their shitpost on X in defeat after suffering the biggest ratio in social media history at the hands of Sabrina Carpenter.
December 5, 2025 at 10:30 PM
The White House deleted their shitpost on X in defeat after suffering the biggest ratio in social media history at the hands of Sabrina Carpenter.
He’s definitely getting a pardon now:
@cnn.com
During interviews with the FBI, the suspect arrested in the pipe bomb probe told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen
@cnn.com
During interviews with the FBI, the suspect arrested in the pipe bomb probe told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen
December 5, 2025 at 6:18 PM
He’s definitely getting a pardon now:
@cnn.com
During interviews with the FBI, the suspect arrested in the pipe bomb probe told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen
@cnn.com
During interviews with the FBI, the suspect arrested in the pipe bomb probe told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen
Reposted by Paul Handley
Racism as an excuse to abandon NATO
December 5, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Racism as an excuse to abandon NATO
Reposted by Paul Handley
NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY DROPPED
There is a LOT here, but omg NATO allies are going to seethe at this paragraph
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
There is a LOT here, but omg NATO allies are going to seethe at this paragraph
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
December 5, 2025 at 3:26 AM
NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY DROPPED
There is a LOT here, but omg NATO allies are going to seethe at this paragraph
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
There is a LOT here, but omg NATO allies are going to seethe at this paragraph
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Paul Handley
I'm satisfied that the have PC against Brian Cole, though I think IF THIS IS ALL it is a lower standard of certainty than on most Jan6 cases.
But IF THIS IS ALL the case is going to be VERYYY susceptible to 4A challenge on the cell dumps.
www.emptywheel.net/2025/12/04/w...
But IF THIS IS ALL the case is going to be VERYYY susceptible to 4A challenge on the cell dumps.
www.emptywheel.net/2025/12/04/w...
What's Not Being Said about the Alleged Pipe Bomber - emptywheel
The arrest affidavit for Brian Cole, now accused of laying the pipe bombs discovered on January 6, includes only purchase records and location information. There's not a single data point between the ...
www.emptywheel.net
December 5, 2025 at 12:16 AM
I'm satisfied that the have PC against Brian Cole, though I think IF THIS IS ALL it is a lower standard of certainty than on most Jan6 cases.
But IF THIS IS ALL the case is going to be VERYYY susceptible to 4A challenge on the cell dumps.
www.emptywheel.net/2025/12/04/w...
But IF THIS IS ALL the case is going to be VERYYY susceptible to 4A challenge on the cell dumps.
www.emptywheel.net/2025/12/04/w...
Interesting on Trump pardon of Honduran trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández: perhaps it was to save special autonomous "freedom zone" Prospera backed by Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen and other anti-govt tech billionaires.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Why did Trump pardon the former Honduran president? Follow the Tech Bros.
With Roger Stone taking a victory lap for having come up with the idea in the first place.
www.motherjones.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Interesting on Trump pardon of Honduran trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández: perhaps it was to save special autonomous "freedom zone" Prospera backed by Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen and other anti-govt tech billionaires.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Paul Handley
Previous architect is never gonna get paid for the work they did
December 5, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Previous architect is never gonna get paid for the work they did
Reposted by Paul Handley
Another Pam Bondi failure. “Pammie, you're doing a heck of a job.”
December 4, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Another Pam Bondi failure. “Pammie, you're doing a heck of a job.”
Palantir AI software working well for ICE
Agents in Key Largo, Florida ripped this woman wearing medical scrubs out of her car as she screamed she is a US citizen. Agents cuffed her and put her in one of their cars.
She was eventually let go, per David Goodhue of the Miami Herald, who also took this footage:
She was eventually let go, per David Goodhue of the Miami Herald, who also took this footage:
December 4, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Palantir AI software working well for ICE
Reposted by Paul Handley
This is the most consequential story for the 2026 midterms. Yet, I cannot find it anywhere on legacy media. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
DOJ Sues Six More States in Sweeping Push to Obtain Unredacted Voter Rolls
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:21 PM
This is the most consequential story for the 2026 midterms. Yet, I cannot find it anywhere on legacy media. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Reposted by Paul Handley
Steve Cropper, who co-wrote classics including "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay" and "In the Midnight Hour" during his years playing guitar at the legendary Stax Records in Memphis, has died. He was 84. n.pr/48zf0gD
Steve Cropper, guitarist and member of Stax Records' Booker T and the M.G.'s, dies
Steve Cropper, who co-wrote classics including "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay" and "In the Midnight Hour" during his years playing guitar at the legendary Stax Records in Memphis, has died. He was 84.
n.pr
December 4, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Steve Cropper, who co-wrote classics including "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay" and "In the Midnight Hour" during his years playing guitar at the legendary Stax Records in Memphis, has died. He was 84. n.pr/48zf0gD
Fascism includes naming buildings and institutions after the strongman while he is in power
December 4, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Fascism includes naming buildings and institutions after the strongman while he is in power
Reposted by Paul Handley
Trump on Gaza: "They had a problem today with a bomb that went off. Hurt some people pretty badly, probably killed some people. Just happened. But we have peace in the Middle East. People don't realize it."
December 3, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Trump on Gaza: "They had a problem today with a bomb that went off. Hurt some people pretty badly, probably killed some people. Just happened. But we have peace in the Middle East. People don't realize it."
Reposted by Paul Handley
images of Trump dozing during today's cabinet meeting
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty & Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty)
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty & Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty)
December 2, 2025 at 8:23 PM
images of Trump dozing during today's cabinet meeting
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty & Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty)
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty & Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty)
Reposted by Paul Handley
A most important question on the Sept. 2 double-tap strike is who had "target engagement authority" (TEA).
Wall Street Journal:
"A Defense Department official ... said Hegseth was the 'target engagement authority,' the key figure who authorized the strike."
www.wsj.com/politics/whi...
Wall Street Journal:
"A Defense Department official ... said Hegseth was the 'target engagement authority,' the key figure who authorized the strike."
www.wsj.com/politics/whi...
December 2, 2025 at 2:01 PM
A most important question on the Sept. 2 double-tap strike is who had "target engagement authority" (TEA).
Wall Street Journal:
"A Defense Department official ... said Hegseth was the 'target engagement authority,' the key figure who authorized the strike."
www.wsj.com/politics/whi...
Wall Street Journal:
"A Defense Department official ... said Hegseth was the 'target engagement authority,' the key figure who authorized the strike."
www.wsj.com/politics/whi...