The Supreme Court just gave the Trump administration a green light to traffic humans to random countries around the world—including war zones where migrants face torture, slavery, or death. And they did so while offering literally zero explanation for why this is legal or constitutional. In a shadow docket ruling yesterday, the Court stayed a […]
When last we checked it with the feckless execs at CBS/Paramount, they were preparing to pay Donald Trump tens of millions of dollars to settle a completely bogus lawsuit designed to bully the media giant into compliance. CBS desperately wants the Trump administration to sign off on their pointless $8 billion merger with Skydance. Trump […]
By now, it is common knowledge that RFK Jr. had a brain worm that consumed a portion of his brain. It’s actually not as rare or crazy as it sounds at first blush, mind you, but it’s also not terribly common in the United States. And, at the end of the day, a worm ate […]
After months of what can only be described as government kidnapping, Mahmoud Khalil is finally out of detention and released on bail. The Columbia grad student and green card holder was detained by ICE for the heinous crime of participating in pro-Palestinian protests—or as Marco Rubio apparently sees it, having opinions Rubio doesn’t like. It […]
What a surprise. The most intellectually dishonest people in the nation still have the biggest bullhorns. That’s why a regular-ass drug raid that occurred in Tucson, Arizona somehow makes headlines in New York City. Here’s the New York Post, disingenuously reporting the (Arizona) news: A massive raid on a suspected cartel member found in Arizona […]
The normalization of authoritarianism is happening in real time in federal courtrooms. While district court judges try to apply actual legal standards to Trump’s near constant attempts to find ever more constitutional crises to create, appeals courts are busy treating the wholesale dismantling of constitutional constraints as just another political disagreement. Take, for example, what’s […]
This was never an issue before, but it’s suddenly an issue now that ICE has gone full Gestapo to keep up with Trump’s mass deportation demands. ICE’s tactics — unmarked vehicles, masked officers, and untargeted raids of any place that might contain foreigners — have earned it all the criticism and hatred it now faces. […]
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The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia (who we now find out, via his lawyer, prefers to be called Kilmar Abrego) keeps getting more and more bizarre. After being “accidentally” shipped to El Salvador — despite a judge’s order directly barring such a move — the Trump regime has spent months (1) denying that they could […]
Back in early 2024 Amazon announced that Prime Video customers (who already pay $140 per year) would be charged $3 extra every month just to avoid ads that didn’t previously exist. It was just the latest example of “enshittification” in a streaming sector all out of original ideas, desperate to provide Wall Street with impossible […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is MrWilson with a comment about ICE arresting Brad Lander: Republicans keep saying no one is above the law, but they keep referring only to other people and not themselves. They don’t need warrants. They don’t need to provide due process. They get to assault […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2020, the killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests were having an impact, with one court citing the incident in denying immunity to officers in another case, more schools moving to end contracts with cops, and Minneapolis city council voting unanimously to disband its police department. Meanwhile, Devin Nunes’s […]
A couple of weeks back, we discussed famed southern convenience store chain Buc-ee’s and its penchant for initiating all kinds of trademark related threats and lawsuits. While we talk about this sort of thing a lot around here, the company’s actions have been particularly silly. When taken in sum total, you’re left with the idea […]
This series of posts explores how we can rethink the intersection of AI, creativity, and policy. From examining outdated regulatory metaphors to questioning copyright norms and highlighting the risks of stifling innovation, each post addresses a different piece of the AI puzzle. Together, they advocate for a more balanced, forward-thinking approach that acknowledges the potential […]
I need to say something that will be deeply uncomfortable for many of you: if you have friends, family, or colleagues defending what’s happening right now, their old sane selves may not be coming back. Let me be specific about what I mean. This week, Donald Trump posted explicit orders on Truth Social directing federal law enforcement […]
It has never been about removing dangerous criminals — the “worst of the worst” — from the United States. Under Donald Trump, immigration enforcement has been about removing immigrants from the country. Period. That’s the whole thing. (And, apparently the only immigrants welcome to seek shelter in the US are those of the whiter variety […]
Disclosure: I am on the board of Bluesky and am inherently biased. Adjust your skepticism of what I write on this topic accordingly. It seems a bit odd: when something is supposedly dying or irrelevant, journalists can’t stop writing about it. Consider the curious case of Bluesky, which, according to various pundits, is a failed […]
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As Mike Masnick noted late last week while covering yet another extremely disturbing development in the ongoing horror show that is our current government, the Trump Administration isn’t fucking around. It wants to destroy America so it can have the only kind of America it’s willing to put up with: one it can rule, rather […]
Late last year, eight major U.S. telecoms were the victim of a massive intrusion by Chinese hackers who managed to spy on public U.S. officials for more than a year. The “Salt Typhoon” hack was so severe, the intruders spent a year rooting around the ISP networks even after discovery. AT&T and Verizon, two of the compromised companies, […]
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