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Bill Fouché

@bill-fouche.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.9K following 944 posts

Lawyer (newly retired), lifelong liberal, Unitarian-Universalist, cat person, Sondheim fan. I liked Texas better when Ann Richards ran it and E.Muskrat lived elsewhere. I rarely respond to messages.

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Reposted by Bill Fouché
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7h
Ken Paxton says Trump is the greatest president of his lifetime (privately he's been blaming Trump for the struggles of his campaign)
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 9h
This story just keeps going and keeps going. These messages!
Eric, I really wish you would stop papering all these things. It's really dangerous and not helpful to you or me while you could simply just call me on signal.
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In January 2025, weeks after her nomination, she complained that Deters had told a producer on her podcast about their deal.
"It's unbelievable when we have a private arrangement with you that you would now
CC a producer talking about money," she said. "Do not say we have any arrangement."

It's unbelievable when we have a private arrangement with you that you would now CC a producer talking about money
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 9h
New strong candidate for best sentence of journalism in 2026 just dropped in this wild Kimberly Guilfoyle story from WSJ “‘Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,’ she texted [Eric] Deters, adding a prayer hands emoji and a PDF with bill payment instructions from American Express.”
wsj.com
Exclusive | ‘Honey Please’: Kimberly Guilfoyle Pushed Donor to Pay Her $100,000 Amex Bill
Text messages with a MAGA ally show Guilfoyle seeking funds and offering access to top administration officials before becoming ambassador to Greece.
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Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 9h
11th Cir.: it violated clearly established law for FBI agent to fail to engage in reasonable efforst to avoid error in leading a no-knock dawn raid that ended up at the wrong house. No QI; Bivens case can proceed against FBI agent. media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...
Agent Guerra’s conduct was “simply not ‘consistent with a reasonable effort to ascertain and identify the place intended to be searched.’” Hartsfield, 50 F.3d at 955 (quoting Maryland v. Garrison, 480 U.S. 79, 88 (1987)). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, a reasonable jury could fairly conclude that Agent Guerra failed to engage in reasonable efforts to avoid error, and, therefore, violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. Such plain incompetence has clearly violated the Fourth Amendment 9The prior panel opinion also did not meaningfully engage with the striking similarities between this case and our decision in Hartsfield, 50 F.3d at 955. See Martin I, 2024 WL 1716235, at *5. USCA11 Case: 23-10062     Document: 78-1     Date Filed: 10/07/2026     Page: 37 of 50 23-10062  Opinion of the Court 37 since at least 1995 when we decided this materially similar precedent. See id. See also Mullenix v. Luna, 577 U.S. 7, 12 (2015) (“Put simply, qualified immunity protects ‘all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.’”) (quoting Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341 (1986)).10
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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 12h
This is a very good analysis of the Texas GOP's white supremacist-adjacent future, via @hooks.bsky.social. Read:
texasmonthly.com
Texas Republicans Might Finally Lose. Will They Learn Anything?
This November could be the beginning of the end of Trumpism. The state GOP is adrift.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 10h
JPMORGAN: “.. US housing affordability remains near its worst level since the Global Financial Crisis, with a market that’s effectively ‘frozen.’”
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 10h
The ultimate NIMBY. @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 10h
“Trump has made more stock trades than every member of Congress combined” 🤯
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 12h
Trump suggests he wants to cut off almost all trade: "We're gonna very very self-sufficient very soon"
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Liza Goitein @lizagoitein.bsky.social · 14h
A critical piece from my colleague @josephanunn.bsky.social . The history of the law prohibiting federal troops at the polls makes crystal clear that an Insurrection Act invocation wouldn't negate that law.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 14h
And if you say this is wrong @MarshaBlackburn calls you a communist
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 15h
NYFed: By February 2026, Trump's tariffs had contributed 2.9 percentage points to consumer goods price inflation; without tariffs, goods prices would have fallen slightly. The tariffs raised the cost of imported goods AND their domestically-produced competitors.
libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org
How Fast Do Tariffs Pass Through into Consumer Prices? - Liberty Street Economics
A look at how much of U.S. tariffs reach consumers and how quickly, tracing tariffs through import, domestic producer, and retail prices.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 15h
A much-needed explainer from @citizencohn.bsky.social about those $500 checks (bribes) Trump is sending out as an alleged Obamacare "refund." Looks quite likely to be illegal. www.thebulwark.com/p/donald-tru...
thebulwark.com
Donald Trump Is Buying Votes at $500 a Pop
He’s calling it an Obamacare “refund,” but it’s nothing of the sort.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 17h
NEW: Over the past year, ICE investigated — and considered sending undercover agents against — hundreds of nonprofits across the U.S. that help people register to vote, new records revealed. The probes were part of Trump's extensive search for noncitizen voting ahead of the midterms.
democracydocket.com
ICE  probed hundreds of voter registration groups across the U.S.
The agency also contemplated deploying undercover agents to "initiate prosecutions" against the groups and "dismantle" them.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 17h
This segment is about DHS's claim that they have identified and arrested over 2,000 "terrorists," a claim laughable on its face. This is largely because the admin has reclassified multiple criminal gangs as "foreign terrorist organizations," and ICE's gang identification is notorious sloppy.
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Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 18h
This sounds a lot like Trump’s NSPM-7 at work. NSPM-7 is a Sept. 2025 presidential directive that authorized the FBI to open investigations without concern for basic First Amendment protections. The memo erased longstanding FBI policy. Via @ryanjreilly.com: www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
nbcnews.com
FBI whistleblower says White House pushed unconstitutional probe of protesters
The former analyst says supervisors were told not to put things in writing, so many of the directives came in face-to-face meetings.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 16h
"Gov. Greg Abbott is blaming a scheduling conflict and says he's not gonna be attending the rally in San Antonio today where the president is going to be. He's not taking time for the president."
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17h
Rep. Greg Murphy describes people who have lived in America for decades and have families here and are brutally deported by ICE as "collateral damage," and says "thank God we're getting rid of the garbage that's in our country:"
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The UnPopulist @theunpopulist.net · 17h
Jeff Flake once estimated that at least 35 Republican senators would vote to remove Trump if the ballot were secret. A Democratic Senate could give them that chance. @andycraig.bsky.social
theunpopulist.net
A Democratic Senate Should Adopt Secret Impeachment Ballots on a Priority Basis
Such a change, requiring no constitutional amendment, would free senators to vote their judgment instead of their fears
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@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 17h
New MAGA talking point dropped:
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 17h
An authoritarian government forcing people to use new politically-driven language in their speech -- call it "newspeak," if you will
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 17h
As Trump crisscrossed the country last week trying to help his party avoid a blowout in the midterms, two of his top political advisers — James Blair and Chris LaCivita — were in the Balkans helping a pro-Russian government looking to tighten its grip on power.
nytimes.com
Amid Midterm Crunch, Trump Advisers Took Time to Help Russia-Aligned Government
James Blair and Chris LaCivita, who are leading the president’s congressional campaign operation, traveled to Republika Srpska to provide election advice.
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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 06/10/2026
The shock gloves immigration agents could soon use to control detainees worked so powerfully during a military exercise that participants felt intense pain, stopped fighting and feared additional exposures.
bit.ly
Army study found shock gloves purchased by ICE cause pain, compliance and fear
The shock gloves immigration agents could soon use to control detainees worked so powerfully during a military exercise that participants felt intense pain, stopped fighting and feared additional exposures.
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
According to a 2013 paper, almost 40% of female homicides globally are due to intimate partner violence www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
DOJ's Civil Rights Division once attracted the best of the best. These are the worst of the worst. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/u... Good article, but for the pathetically weak nut graph that says their work histories "might have disqualified them from being hired in the past, former officials said."
nytimes.com
Justice Dept. Turns to Partisans and Conspiracists to Fill Depleted Ranks (Gift Article)
The civil rights unit has recruited people whose questionable work histories and dearth of education and experience might have disqualified them in the past, former officials said.
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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Something unprecedented happened during my visit to the Gulf. For the first time in 20 years in Congress, I was denied entry to U.S. military facilities and even meetings with military leaders. An order from Hegseth - that applies to both parties - to hide the cost of the war.
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Instead of religious freedom, where believers can practice their religion as they see fit without interference from the state, it’s a demand for religious dominance, where the state forces everyone to live in accordance with one religion’s dictates. If I can’t control them then I’m being oppressed.
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
🚨BREAKING: GOP lawyer Cleta Mitchell and convicted election denier Tina Peters are pushing a scheme to have Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seize voting machines, as part of a broader effort for the Trump administration to interfere with the midterm vote. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
Election deniers Cleta Mitchell and Tina Peters want Trump’s commerce secretary to seize voting machines
The problem? No federal official can seize control of election administration from the states and counties, who hold the power run elections under the U.S. Constitution.
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The UnPopulist @theunpopulist.net · 06/10/2026
Postliberal Catholic theologian Chad Pecknold has taken leave from Catholic University to become a spokesman for DHS, essentially putting his faith in the service of an objectively ruthless mass deportation campaign.
theunpopulist.net
A Catholic Theologian Signs Up for Mass Cruelty
Yet another thinker puts his faith in the service of monstrous deportation policies
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Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Contra Alito, religious liberty and accommodation have in fact expanded in the years since Obergefell. Examples abound: e.g. the Covid church cases and the way "most favored nation" handling of religion has been displacing Employment Division v. Smith regarding laws of general application.
abcnews.com
Alito calls same-sex marriage a 'decisive' turn 'against religious liberty' in new book
A new book by Justice Samuel Alito presents his view of the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the country with a focus on religious freedom.
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Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The Cook Political Report just moved the Kansas Senate race to TOSS UP. Kansas. Which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1932. 🤯 www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/sen...
cookpolitical.com
A Senate Majority is Squarely in Democrats’ Sights as Kansas Moves to Toss Up; Two Other Races Shift Left
Four weeks out from Election Day, the Senate map is shifting further in Democrats’ favor — and with it, their odds of winning back the majority.While Republicans continue to have a financial edge in a...
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It's almost like putting a quack anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist in charge of the nation's health policy has consequences. "The United States has now had more measles deaths in the past two years than we have had in the previous three decades combined...": www.ms.now/news/pennsyl...
ms.now
Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak is the largest in decades in the U.S.
The state has surpassed 1,000 measles cases this year, health officials said Monday, making it the largest outbreak in the U.S. in more than three decades.
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
www.ms.now/news/reflect...
ms.now
Attorneys for David Hearn call for probe into Reflecting Pool vandalism case
In a letter to the inspectors general of the Justice and Interior departments, Hearns’ lawyers demand answers as to who is responsible for the “gross incompetence, negligence, and misconduct.”
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I'm so old I remember when this poll/metric inspired a thousand hot takes about the Dem Party image being irretrievably damaged by cultural excess via @simonwdc.bsky.social's indispensable newsletter... www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/dems-up-11...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 06/10/2026
Everyone wants someone else to plan dinner parties & invite them.
derekthompson.org
You Are No Longer Invited to Dinner
We’re witnessing the death of hosting in America. The share of adults who say they regularly have friends over has declined 70 percent since 1975
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Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
What stands out in the story is that the only Dem who doesn't like the tit-for-tat idea is Durbin - who is being replaced by a Dem (Stratton) who's fine with it. (Also, Mazie Hirono seemed confused by the Q, but she's 78 and can be dizzy in hallway interviews.)
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Court Ruling Hobbles Trump DOJ’s Jihad Against Elusive Threat of Noncitizen Voting talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Court Ruling Hobbles Trump DOJ’s Jihad Against Elusive Threat of Noncitizen Voting
Judge Strikes Down Federal Ban on Noncitizen Voting In a potentially very...
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Trump says 'Let them take out Los Angeles.' Recall this map: The *entire states* with population smaller than LA County. Among them they have 80+ US Senators. LA is about 1/3 of Calif's population, which has 2.
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Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
One of the most heinous examples is Matt Walsh suggesting that, actually, Jane Doe raped the frat boys because they were also under the influence. I thought it bore a certain resemblance to some of Andrew Johnson’s comments on slavery. www.liberalcurrents.com/the-illusion...
But Walsh isn't satisfied with victim blaming. He goes so far as to assert that, given the consumption of drugs and alcohol, the fraternity boys couldn't possibly be held responsible themselves:

I'm not kidding when I say that the Cornell frat guys should file a counter suit accusing the woman of raping them. According to her own testimony, some of the men were drunker than she was. By her logic, and the logic of her supporters, they were even less capable of consent. She was the rapist in that case. There's no way out of our current madness except by holding feminists to their own standards.When I read Walsh's comments I see a level of male supremacism that leaves my jaw on the floor. It also reminds me of a quote from President Andrew Johnson delivered to Frederick Douglass when pressed about protecting freed slaves:

If I know myself, and the feelings of my own heart, they have been for the colored man. I have owned slaves and bought slaves, but / never sold one. I might say, however, that practically, so far as my connection with slaves has gone, I have been their slave instead of their being mine.
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Charlie Sykes @sykescharlie.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Putin-Trump was the most successful covert operation in modern history. David Corn on today's "To the Contrary" Podcast.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
In case facts still matter…
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Former German spy chief arrested on suspicion of treason. Looks really bad. If these accusations prove true, it's one of the worst intelligence scandals involving any agency anywhere. Thread.
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The Independent @the-independent.com · 06/10/2026
Army secretary who quit Pentagon after clashes with Hegseth breaks silence
trib.al
Army secretary who quit Pentagon after clashes with Hegseth breaks silence
Dan Driscoll is one of a series of high profile departures while the defense secretary reshapes the military in his own image. He has now given his first interview to Rolling Stone
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Perceptions of press freedom in the U.S. hit a record low, and are now below the average among developed nations. news.gallup.com/poll/715025/...
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Health care went from 8% of jobs in the 1990s to nearly 16% today. That's a sign we got richer.⁣ ⁣ Once you've got a house, a car, a dishwasher, the next dollar doesn't go to a second oven. It goes to more years of life. newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/…
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A new Reuters poll makes pretty clear that Republicans aren't willing to follow President Trump on some of his vanity projects. 80% of Republicans don't like his taxpayer-funded political ads. Only a quarter approved of Trump adding his name to the Kennedy Center. www.reuters.com/world/americ...
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
White supremacist cops take a minority citizen, drive him out to the woods as a threat, and leave him there. No, it's not Mississippi in the 1930s, why do you ask?
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We used to have a federal agency devoted to investigating and prosecuting abuses by law enforcement, but Americans voted for the "let cops do crimes" candidate instead bsky.app/profile/kevi...
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