@rlgottwald.bsky.social
Reposted
So I have the cover story in next month's TNR.
I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol.
They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.
I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol.
They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.
Trump’s Immigration Nightmare: It Is Happening Here
With astonishing speed, the administration has toppled the most cherished pillars of a free society. And the experts agree: It’s all going to get much, much worse.
newrepublic.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:08 PM
So I have the cover story in next month's TNR.
I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol.
They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.
I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol.
They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.
Reposted
Integrity is not at issue here. It's being stupid. They either did not know how to redact correctly, or they tried to cut corners.
I would hope that anyone who's been with us for more than a minute understands that one thing we don't do here is some kind of Sorkin act.
I would hope that anyone who's been with us for more than a minute understands that one thing we don't do here is some kind of Sorkin act.
I, personally, wished we lived in a world where attorneys willing to act in bad faith for Trump or the government faced personal or professional consequences for doing so.
I am saying that, to this point, we do not live in such a world.
I wish we did. But no sense pretending otherwise.
I am saying that, to this point, we do not live in such a world.
I wish we did. But no sense pretending otherwise.
December 23, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Integrity is not at issue here. It's being stupid. They either did not know how to redact correctly, or they tried to cut corners.
I would hope that anyone who's been with us for more than a minute understands that one thing we don't do here is some kind of Sorkin act.
I would hope that anyone who's been with us for more than a minute understands that one thing we don't do here is some kind of Sorkin act.
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Happy holidays Richmond. Catch a classic film at the Byrd, celebrate Kwanzaa with the Elegba Folklore Society, or experience live cabaret at DreamHaus RVA.
Top 5 weekend events: Kwanzaa Festival, GardenFest of Lights, The Jefferson Hotel
Happy holidays Richmond. Catch a classic film at the Byrd, celebrate Kwanzaa with the Elegba Folklore Society, or experience live cabaret at DreamHaus RVA.
richmond.com
December 24, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Happy holidays Richmond. Catch a classic film at the Byrd, celebrate Kwanzaa with the Elegba Folklore Society, or experience live cabaret at DreamHaus RVA.
Reposted
This issue alone is going to cost them seats in places they don’t expect. They don’t understand the grass roots anger and hostility there is about this, and billionaire CEOs of Cantor Fitzgerald like Lutnick aren’t going to fool them with their con men sales pitches.
December 24, 2025 at 11:37 AM
This issue alone is going to cost them seats in places they don’t expect. They don’t understand the grass roots anger and hostility there is about this, and billionaire CEOs of Cantor Fitzgerald like Lutnick aren’t going to fool them with their con men sales pitches.
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I’ll just note that the US didn’t do this to China, which outright bans US social media websites
US bars former EU commissioner Breton and others over tech rules ft.trib.al/TgoG45B
US bars former EU commissioner Breton and others over tech rules
France hits out at visa sanctions as Washington targets what it calls the ‘global censorship-industrial complex’
ft.trib.al
December 24, 2025 at 11:12 AM
I’ll just note that the US didn’t do this to China, which outright bans US social media websites
Reposted
free speech news
(seriously, if you don't recognise him as a fascist by now, there's something wrong with you)
(seriously, if you don't recognise him as a fascist by now, there's something wrong with you)
Trump posts early on Christmas Eve: "If Network NEWSCASTS, and their Late Night Shows, are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn’t their very valuable Broadcast Licenses be terminated? I say, YES!"
December 24, 2025 at 9:53 AM
free speech news
(seriously, if you don't recognise him as a fascist by now, there's something wrong with you)
(seriously, if you don't recognise him as a fascist by now, there's something wrong with you)
Reposted
Toretsk. Another ghost town in Donbas.
Once a living city.
Now — ruins.
The war has brought the most terrible destruction of European cities since World War II.
Not as history, but as a present reality.
Toretsk no longer exists.
And it is not alone.
Once a living city.
Now — ruins.
The war has brought the most terrible destruction of European cities since World War II.
Not as history, but as a present reality.
Toretsk no longer exists.
And it is not alone.
December 24, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Toretsk. Another ghost town in Donbas.
Once a living city.
Now — ruins.
The war has brought the most terrible destruction of European cities since World War II.
Not as history, but as a present reality.
Toretsk no longer exists.
And it is not alone.
Once a living city.
Now — ruins.
The war has brought the most terrible destruction of European cities since World War II.
Not as history, but as a present reality.
Toretsk no longer exists.
And it is not alone.
Reposted
free speech news
Stephen Miller wants everyone at 60 Minutes who “engaged in this revolt” (aka told the truth) fired
December 24, 2025 at 9:59 AM
free speech news
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The petty vindictiveness of the #Trump regime never ceases to amaze. Travel restrictions are something you impose on your enemies for committing war crimes, not allies who you take—wrongly, as it happens—to have overzealous regulation. #Trumpland #Technofascism www.bbc.com/news/article...
US denies visas to ex-EU commissioner and others over social media rules
Thierry Breton, the former top tech regulator at the European Commission, says a "witch hunt" is taking place.
www.bbc.com
December 24, 2025 at 9:17 AM
The petty vindictiveness of the #Trump regime never ceases to amaze. Travel restrictions are something you impose on your enemies for committing war crimes, not allies who you take—wrongly, as it happens—to have overzealous regulation. #Trumpland #Technofascism www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted
Keir Starmer now faces a choice between vocally condemning American interference in UK and EU politics in ways that will inevitably draw Trumpist anger towards Labour or folding in the face of Trumpian pressure thus fuelling LibDem, Green, SNP and Plaid accusations that Starmer is a coward.
December 23, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Keir Starmer now faces a choice between vocally condemning American interference in UK and EU politics in ways that will inevitably draw Trumpist anger towards Labour or folding in the face of Trumpian pressure thus fuelling LibDem, Green, SNP and Plaid accusations that Starmer is a coward.
Reposted
American social media platforms are banned in Russia. Have you noticed Donald isn't sanctioning anyone over that?
December 24, 2025 at 10:46 AM
American social media platforms are banned in Russia. Have you noticed Donald isn't sanctioning anyone over that?
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the thing with hiring wholly unqualified people who know it is they let you do whatever because staying in the post they know they don't deserve is the only goal, it's not an accident
Literally any other attorney general before Bondi would have fought tooth and nail and then resigned over this alone. Letting White House staff take over making public statements in the name of DOJ is in and of itself completely insane.
Sounds legit
December 24, 2025 at 11:43 AM
the thing with hiring wholly unqualified people who know it is they let you do whatever because staying in the post they know they don't deserve is the only goal, it's not an accident
Reposted
IT'S A WONDERFUL ESSAY: It seems people usually rewatch 'It's a Wonderful Life' just before Christmas. Can I commend to you this marvelous essay we published a few years ago? It could change the way you understand that classic movie.
www.thebulwark.com/p/there-is-n...
www.thebulwark.com/p/there-is-n...
There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
George’s vision of his wife without him is essential to the film, but critics continue to miss its true—and profound—meaning.
www.thebulwark.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:18 AM
IT'S A WONDERFUL ESSAY: It seems people usually rewatch 'It's a Wonderful Life' just before Christmas. Can I commend to you this marvelous essay we published a few years ago? It could change the way you understand that classic movie.
www.thebulwark.com/p/there-is-n...
www.thebulwark.com/p/there-is-n...
Reposted
Literally one of the reasons I’m skeptical of gAI is because I’m a historian and technology is one of the things I study, but also who looks at the recent history of Silicon Valley and trusts a single word they tell us
Hoverboards are the future, segways are the future, betamax, laser disc, Google glass is the future, 3d tvs are the future, curved screens are the future.
Like do we have to traipse through the whole graveyard of tech to get these people to understand just becauae you say it doesn't make it true.
Like do we have to traipse through the whole graveyard of tech to get these people to understand just becauae you say it doesn't make it true.
December 24, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Literally one of the reasons I’m skeptical of gAI is because I’m a historian and technology is one of the things I study, but also who looks at the recent history of Silicon Valley and trusts a single word they tell us
Reposted
Zack Snyder presents: Dark Toad Rising
“When I was small,” said Frog, “my mother and father and I went out for a picnic. On the way home we lost our way. My mother was worried.
‘We must get home,’ she said. ‘We do not want to meet the old Dark Frog.’
‘We must get home,’ she said. ‘We do not want to meet the old Dark Frog.’
December 24, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Zack Snyder presents: Dark Toad Rising
Reposted
As sources told me, Trump does not write 80% of his Truth social posts. Others do it and he just approves them. This is worse than the "autopen." Trump has ghost writers because his dementia makes it challenging for him to write anything.
December 24, 2025 at 11:44 AM
As sources told me, Trump does not write 80% of his Truth social posts. Others do it and he just approves them. This is worse than the "autopen." Trump has ghost writers because his dementia makes it challenging for him to write anything.
Reposted
In this latest round of troubling and targeted attacks on anyone who would stand in the way of their propaganda machinery, the Trump admin is rescinding US travel visas (and threatening worse) for Europeans who have worked on the digital services act and/or worked to address hate speech.
December 24, 2025 at 6:40 AM
In this latest round of troubling and targeted attacks on anyone who would stand in the way of their propaganda machinery, the Trump admin is rescinding US travel visas (and threatening worse) for Europeans who have worked on the digital services act and/or worked to address hate speech.
Reposted
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
Thank you @carolecadwalla.bsky.social for continuing to shine a light on how the techbros are graduating to techfascists. Its the ones that most people don't know the names of that scare me the most.
Also, you won't regret subscribing to thenerve.news
Thank you @carolecadwalla.bsky.social for continuing to shine a light on how the techbros are graduating to techfascists. Its the ones that most people don't know the names of that scare me the most.
Also, you won't regret subscribing to thenerve.news
A message to America: we are not your enemy
Last night, the US launched an all-out assault on the "global censorship industrial complex", I respond with some deep breaths, solidarity and a vibey video (it's all I have)
open.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 10:52 AM
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
Thank you @carolecadwalla.bsky.social for continuing to shine a light on how the techbros are graduating to techfascists. Its the ones that most people don't know the names of that scare me the most.
Also, you won't regret subscribing to thenerve.news
Thank you @carolecadwalla.bsky.social for continuing to shine a light on how the techbros are graduating to techfascists. Its the ones that most people don't know the names of that scare me the most.
Also, you won't regret subscribing to thenerve.news
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That fuckin sucks guys.
This deployment is wholly unneeded and paints the National Guard as the faces of facism even tho they signed up to help their communities during times of crisis.
Now they cant *have* a holiday, much less spend it with their families.
This deployment is wholly unneeded and paints the National Guard as the faces of facism even tho they signed up to help their communities during times of crisis.
Now they cant *have* a holiday, much less spend it with their families.
National Guard wearing Santa hats while patrolling in DC.
December 24, 2025 at 6:29 AM
That fuckin sucks guys.
This deployment is wholly unneeded and paints the National Guard as the faces of facism even tho they signed up to help their communities during times of crisis.
Now they cant *have* a holiday, much less spend it with their families.
This deployment is wholly unneeded and paints the National Guard as the faces of facism even tho they signed up to help their communities during times of crisis.
Now they cant *have* a holiday, much less spend it with their families.
Reposted
24 December 1920 | A Czech Jewish woman, Herta Reicherová, was born in Ostrava.
She was deported to #Auschwitz from #Theresienstadt ghetto on 6 September 1943. She did not survive.
She was deported to #Auschwitz from #Theresienstadt ghetto on 6 September 1943. She did not survive.
December 24, 2025 at 12:00 PM
24 December 1920 | A Czech Jewish woman, Herta Reicherová, was born in Ostrava.
She was deported to #Auschwitz from #Theresienstadt ghetto on 6 September 1943. She did not survive.
She was deported to #Auschwitz from #Theresienstadt ghetto on 6 September 1943. She did not survive.
Reposted
Increased immigration enforcement has impacted Nochebuena celebrations for many Latino families.
The Post spoke with families across the country about how they are adapting to changes, with some planning smaller gatherings. https://wapo.st/3L0wrz2
The Post spoke with families across the country about how they are adapting to changes, with some planning smaller gatherings. https://wapo.st/3L0wrz2
December 24, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Increased immigration enforcement has impacted Nochebuena celebrations for many Latino families.
The Post spoke with families across the country about how they are adapting to changes, with some planning smaller gatherings. https://wapo.st/3L0wrz2
The Post spoke with families across the country about how they are adapting to changes, with some planning smaller gatherings. https://wapo.st/3L0wrz2
Reposted
Stephen Miller finds it impossible for anyone else to consider immigrants as human beings so he's happy to go on air and say "would those journalists host the people we deported for a night to keep them out of torture prison?" as though getting people out wasn't exactly the point of the reporting.
December 24, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Stephen Miller finds it impossible for anyone else to consider immigrants as human beings so he's happy to go on air and say "would those journalists host the people we deported for a night to keep them out of torture prison?" as though getting people out wasn't exactly the point of the reporting.
Reposted
Journalism is supposed to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted,” but Bari Weiss has it backwards. My new column https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/23/bari-weiss-60-minutes-cecot-episode-censorship?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Bari Weiss yanking a 60 Minutes story is censorship by oligarchy | Margaret Sullivan
Weiss ought to cut her losses, green-light the piece, and try to start acting like an editor – not like a cog in the machine of authoritarian politics and oligarchy
www.theguardian.com
December 23, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Journalism is supposed to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted,” but Bari Weiss has it backwards. My new column https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/23/bari-weiss-60-minutes-cecot-episode-censorship?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Reposted
The Ottoman court was a place where, famously, no over the top schemes or violence took place.
December 24, 2025 at 11:51 AM
The Ottoman court was a place where, famously, no over the top schemes or violence took place.
Reposted
AI advocates: you really need to learn to stop coming off to subject matter experts in other fields as if you’re Kool-Aid manning into the room and going “you’re dumb not to use these tools for your trivially easy jobs”
you may think this is an unfair read on your intentions, but life is unfair.
you may think this is an unfair read on your intentions, but life is unfair.
You absolutely will not convince a bunch of historians and sociologists and whoever else is in this thread that you know more than we do about this and we should use it. I wish you AI enthusiasts would stop wading into our conversations. You have nothing helpful to contribute and are snarky.
December 21, 2025 at 7:24 PM
AI advocates: you really need to learn to stop coming off to subject matter experts in other fields as if you’re Kool-Aid manning into the room and going “you’re dumb not to use these tools for your trivially easy jobs”
you may think this is an unfair read on your intentions, but life is unfair.
you may think this is an unfair read on your intentions, but life is unfair.