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David Flores

@deflo.bsky.social
553 followers 116 following 893 posts

Wittiest 2005, NDDL, TexEx, #ExTexPat

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Reposted by David Flores
ProPublica @propublica.org · 28/09/2026
There’s an open secret in Major League Baseball: MLB teams routinely make handshake deals with young Dominican players, an informal system that has created perfect market conditions for predatory moneylenders. Watch @ggarciaroberts.bsky.social break down his investigation 👇
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Reposted by David Flores
Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Sheriff: Franklin County detective fired for misuse of Flock Camera system" www.wral.com/news/local/f... "The Franklin County Sheriff's Office has stopped using Flock surveillance cameras after it found an investigator used the cameras to track an unnamed person."
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Reposted by David Flores
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Good piece from @dgraham.bsky.social on how the failure to appoint people to key positions undermines Trump's ability to get things done. The mass gutting of civil service positions compounds the problem. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
theatlantic.com
The Absences Haunting the Trump Administration
The president has left hundreds of appointed roles open—including those that would have a central role in implementing his priorities.
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Reposted by David Flores
ArtButMakeItSports @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The Intimate Toilette (A Woman Urinating), by François Boucher, 1760s
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Reposted by David Flores
The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 25/09/2026
Dozens of American military personnel joined Ecuadorean police in drug raids in the country, marking a new level of direct U.S. involvement. on.wsj.com/4yb4EPy
on.wsj.com
U.S. Troops Are Now Fighting the Drug War on the Ground in Ecuador
Dozens of American military personnel joined Ecuadorean police in raids this week, marking a new level of direct U.S. involvement.
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Reposted by David Flores
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Trump's foreign policy is not isolationist. On the contrary, his ideologues want to build an international empire run by far-right political movements who serve American crypto, mineral and tech companies, many with links to the president. Read more here: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
Empire of Grift
Far-right ideologues have transformed American foreign policy into a tool of private gain and antidemocratic reaction.
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Reposted by David Flores
amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
“The worst place ever I’ve been in my life," Sakariye Abdi Mohamed, a Somali asylum seeker, told me over the phone from Guantanamo Bay last week. Sakariye is one of 7 or 8 Somalis who are being held at Gitmo. They say guards tell them the order to keep Somalis at the facility comes from DC.
motherjones.com
The Trump administration is imprisoning Somali immigrants in Gitmo
“Nobody tell us that we’re going to Guantanamo Bay.”
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Reposted by David Flores
Dylan Freedman @dylanfreedman.nytimes.com · 25/09/2026
EXCLUSIVE: A new report recovers nearly one million link shortener URLs used by OpenAI's agents while hacking Hugging Face. The agents attempt to message other chatbots like Claude, solve CAPTCHAs and exfiltrate Hugging Face's internal Slack messages. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/t...
nytimes.com
How OpenAI’s Rogue A.I. Agents Tried to Trick a Robot Detector (Gift Article)
A new report by a Bay Area start-up called Parse adds new details to an incident that has shocked the A.I. world and led to calls for closer government regulation.
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Reposted by David Flores
Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 26/09/2026
No duh.
pbs.org
ICE has wasted tens of millions of dollars with 'uninformed' detention plans, GAO finds
Among the misspending was nearly $3 million to erect tents at Guantanamo Bay that were never used, $20 million to maintain purchased warehouses that are now being sold without having housed a single d...
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Reposted by David Flores
Lauren Ashley Davis @laurenmeidasa.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
BREAKING 🚨 🚨 🚨 President Trump has rejected Iran’s proposal for a seven-day ceasefire and has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the November midterms, U.S. officials said. FREE WSJ GIFT ARTICLE 🎁 www.wsj.com/world/middle...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Trump Rejects Iran Ceasefire, Expects Renewed Bombing After Midterms
The president is skeptical that Tehran will meet his demands.
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Reposted by David Flores
CNBC @cnbc.com · 24/09/2026
30-year fixed mortgage rate jumps sharply Thursday to 7.45%
cnb.cx
30-year fixed mortgage rate jumps sharply Thursday to 7.45%
The 30-year fixed rate surged to 7.45%, the highest level since April 2024 as bonds sold off and yields rose.
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Reposted by David Flores
Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Here's a graphic that does a better job of conveying the point than my original post: even by the (insane) standards of the first Trump administration, #SCOTUS is receiving—and granting—a truly unprecedented number of applications for emergency relief from the federal government:
A chart that shows the number of emergency applications filed and granted by the Supreme Court during each presidency dating back to George W. Bush, with the data annualized to show the far-higher frequencies since 2017, but especially during the Trump I and Trump II administrations.
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Reposted by David Flores
Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Wild stuff. Sheri Mecklenberg, career prosecutor accused of misconduct in Broadview 6 case, resigns from DOJ. The NYT obtained her scathing resignation letter, in which she says the U.S. attorney directed her to bring felony charges over her objection. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Read the document (Gift Article)
Sheri H. Mecklenburg resignation letter
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Reposted by David Flores
G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 25/09/2026
Our new Strength In Numbers/ @Verasight.io poll: 58% say the U.S. is worse off under Trump vs Biden, 24% say it’s better www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-09-25...
gelliottmorris.com
58% say the U.S. is worse off under Trump vs Biden, 24% say it’s better
Our new poll shows by a 56-26 margin, voters want Congress to be a check on Trump — including a quarter of Republicans
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Reposted by David Flores
unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 25/09/2026
Good morning from the ICE facility in Broadview, IL. As ICE vehicles trickle in and out of the lot, a small group of Chicagoland locals are holding a prayer service for those impacted by deportation efforts. The area around the facility is open, contrasting prior months of "protest zones."
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Reposted by David Flores
404 Media @404media.co · 22/09/2026
A sample of 5,000 alleged agents seen by 404 Media includes names, addresses, phone numbers, and details on FBI employees' spouses.
404media.co
‘We Hacked the FBI:’ Hackers Say They Have Data on All FBI Employees
A sample of 5,000 alleged agents seen by 404 Media includes names, addresses, phone numbers, and details on FBI employees' spouses.
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Reposted by David Flores
Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Every taxpayer, no matter your party, should be outraged by this. Your money is being used to fund campaign ads for Trump. It’s totally completely illegally. He’s stealing your money for his campaign. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/u...
nytimes.com
‘Love Me’ Ad Promotes Trump With Public Money Ahead of the Midterms
A disclaimer says the ad was paid for by the U.S. government, which could violate federal law.
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Reposted by David Flores
ProPublica @propublica.org · 25/09/2026
Two months after the CEO of defense contractor Navatek used a shell company to send $150,000 to the Susan Collins super PAC, the senator committed to getting Navatek $32 million in naval contracts, according to company emails.
propublica.org
The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way
After the FBI caught a defense contractor’s CEO making illegal campaign contributions, it sought to launch a sweeping political bribery probe involving Collins and others. Then the second Trump admini...
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Reposted by David Flores
ProPublica @propublica.org · 25/09/2026
The DOJ dropped 23,000 criminal cases — including hundreds of investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime and drugs — while prosecuting 32,000 new immigration cases in the first six months of Trump’s second term. (Published March)
propublica.org
Trump’s Justice Department Dropped 23,000 Criminal Investigations in Shift to Immigration
Under Attorney General Pam Bondi, the DOJ abandoned a record number of cases — including hundreds of investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime and drugs — in just the first six months of Presi...
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Reposted by David Flores
Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 13/08/2026
NEW FROM ME: The US Air Force has done dozens of secret ICE flights to Honduras since early June, in the largest and most regular use of their aircraft in Trump's second term. Read it here now, or read it in NYT six months from now. gillianbrockell.com/the-air-forc...
gillianbrockell.com
The Air Force has been doing secret ICE flights to Honduras for months
At least some of the flights were third-country removals, human rights group says.
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Reposted by David Flores
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 25/09/2026
Exclusive: The Trump administration has deported more than 25,000 people to at least 28 countries even though the migrants are not their own citizens, according to data analyzed by The Post. Migrants say they have been subjected to inhumane conditions.
washingtonpost.com
How Trump turned a refugee bureau into a $410 million deportation operation
Inside the secret deals powering the president’s push to deport migrants to countries not their own.
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Reposted by David Flores
Charlie Savage @charliesavage.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The DC Circuit has unsealed about 600 pages of litigation material from the Trump investigations at my request. They include a written 2-1 opinion and dissent (Millett, Wilkins, Katsas) rejecting Trump's attempt to block Mike Pence from testifying before a grand jury www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/u...
nytimes.com
Newly Public Documents Shed New Light on Trump Investigations (Gift Article)
Records unsealed on Wednesday include a 2023 appeals court opinion rejecting Donald J. Trump’s attempt to block Mike Pence’s grand jury testimony.
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amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Put together some video from my time covering Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago/Broadview (including off topic behind the scenes clips, like when I invented a new way to lock myself out of my hotel room).
turtlediaries.net
A Year After Operation Midway Blitz
On Guantanamo Bay and Broadview
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Reposted by David Flores
Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
From 16,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle. "The state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government: Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen."
nytimes.com
From 15,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle
It was the Trump administration’s latest stumble in its effort to find proof of widespread noncitizen voting, despite decades of evidence that it is extremely rare.
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Reposted by David Flores
Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
JUST IN: A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction upbraiding ICE for mass arrests that have strained detention facilities and forced detainees all over the country into "overcrowded, squalid, and degrading rooms for excessive periods of time" www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/defaul...
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Reposted by David Flores
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
New — I had the opportunity to see NAZA, the documentary freaking out the Israeli government because of its horrifying firsthand descriptions of the way the IDF has used AI to target and massacre Palestinian civilians. My thoughts on the film’s damning revelations, and the banality of evil:
thehandbasket.co
I saw the documentary the Israeli government doesn’t want you to see
'NAZA' dispels once and for all the myth that the IDF didn't target civilians in Gaza.
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Reposted by David Flores
G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 25/08/2026
Corresponds to national environment around D+9 or 10. As I wrote when our forecast came out, indicators are in many cases even better for Democrats than in 2018 (www.gelliottmorris.com/p/democrats-...). This is firm “big blue wave“ territory
gelliottmorris.com
Democrats strongly favored to take the House, Senate tilts Democratic in our new election forecast (crosspost)
Our brand-new election forecast for the 2026 congressional midterms puts Democrats at above even odds to take control of both chambers
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Reposted by David Flores
Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
#BREAKING: Over dissents from the three Dem. appointees, #SCOTUS has *granted* the Trump administration’s request to freeze a district court injunction that had blocked the mail-in ballots executive order. But Trump’s EO remains blocked by a different injunction in a different case—at least for now:
supremecourt.gov
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Reposted by David Flores
Nick Miroff @nickmiroff.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
In Tapachula, @theatlantic.com's Kevin Sieff finds a city that "looks and feels the way towns in northern Mexico along the U.S. border once did—a dumping ground for those expelled from the United States and a gathering place for those snagged on their way north." www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
theatlantic.com
A Reverse Ellis Island
A city at the southern tip of Mexico has become the place where migrants’ dreams go to die.
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Reposted by David Flores
Sandi Villarreal @sandivillarreal.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Over the past two decades, governmental bodies, with the help of the courts, have degraded Texas’s public information apparatus—once, one of the most transparency-friendly in the U.S.—piece by piece, nearly hollowing it out. Here's how they did it. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
texasmonthly.com
Texas Was Once a Leader in Government Transparency. No More.
Our state once wanted residents to know what politicians were saying and doing behind closed doors. Now leaders are redacting most everything.
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Reposted by David Flores
Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The central problem with Chief Justice Roberts’s Friday afternoon “administrative” stay in the White House ballroom case isn’t just the lack of any clear standards for such relief; it’s that it’s hard to see how, *whatever* the standards are, this case could satisfy them. Me in today’s “One First”:
stevevladeck.com
245. Irreparable Harm, “Administrative” Stays, and the White House Ballroom
Chief Justice Roberts’s order in the ballroom case is a useful illustration of how standardless the Court’s approach to “administrative” stays appears to be.
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Jazmine Ulloa @jazmineulloa.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
In West Texas, a century-old adobe church built by Mexican American families is being restored as the border wall construction approaches. It’s one of dozens of sacred sites across the Southwest now endangered, a fight that’s as much about immigration as lost history. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/u...
nytimes.com
In West Texas, Trump’s Border Wall Collides With Latino History (Gift Article)
A century ago, Mexican American families came together to build an adobe church near the border. Can its bell toll again as the wall expansion nears?
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Evan @evan7257.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The @houstonchronicle.com editorial board follows up with a family we covered as part of the Pulitzer Prize winning series on dangerous railroad crossings: First, he lost his brother. Now ICE wants to take his dad. How much hardship is enough? www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/edit...
houstonchronicle.com
First he lost his brother. Now ICE wants his dad. How much hardship is enough?
"Me, mamá and papá," that's been Marco's world since his brother Sergio was killed. Now, his father may be the latest casualty in the country's mass deportation campaign, writes the editorial...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/08/2026
Missouri's Amendment 3 would restore an abortion ban with limited exceptions, but its advertising is focused on a different provision: banning gender transition care for minors. The campaign never explicitly states it would repeal the constitutional right to abortion voters approved 2 years ago.
propublica.org
Missouri Republicans Are Trying to Repeal Abortion Rights by Leaning Into Anti-Trans Sentiment
Two years after falsely linking reproductive rights to gender transition care for minors, GOP lawmakers have packaged the two issues into one amendment in an effort to strip away the right to abortion...
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
For the last seven months straight, the U.S. government has refused to process immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries around the world; including visas for spouses of U.S. citizens. Today, a federal judge ruled the policy flagrantly illegal.
Map of the world, with the 75 countries impacted highlighted in yellow. They include countries in South America like Brazil and Venezuela, about half of all African countries, and most Middle Eastern countries.
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God @thegodshow.com · 21/08/2026
This is fascism.
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 22/08/2026
The Trump economy: $40tn debt, 6.7% mortgages and $5 diesel ft.trib.al/yjvQxNr
ft.trib.al
The Trump economy: $40tn debt, 6.7% mortgages and $5 diesel
The president’s agenda is under strain as the Iran war pushes up prices and America’s finances worsen
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The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 22/08/2026
The president has proposed building a ballroom at his private golf club in Bedminster that would be used for holiday events and weddings. on.wsj.com/4gsyk3d
on.wsj.com
President Trump is quietly making plans for another ballroom to be built nearly 200 miles north of the White House in New Jersey
The president has proposed building a ballroom at his private golf club in Bedminster that would be used for holiday events and weddings.
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Chase Madar @madar.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Remarkable how little political noise it's made here in the US that a major American naval base in Bahrain was basically destroyed, and that this was kept quiet for five months www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/u...
nytimes.com
Navy Carrier’s Problems Are Tied to Attacks on U.S. Base Early in War
Diego Garcia, a tiny island 2,200 miles from the Gulf of Oman, took over as the Navy’s logistics hub after Iran damaged a base in Bahrain.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
There are going to be Democrats who say we shouldn’t rip it all out — it’s already built, we have other priorities — but removing the visible signs of Trumpism is absolutely necessary.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 21/08/2026
Yesterday, Aug. 20, was one of the worst days of ICE flights I've seen. -At least 82 ICE flights -At least 15 were removal flights, including Haiti -At least 5 removals were third-country removals (Cameroon, Costa Rica, Liberia, Paraguay, Rwanda) -Plus 1 emergency return for reasons unknown
An ADSBx map showing 35 planes flying all over the Americas and Africa, emanating out of Louisiana and TexasAn ADSBx map showing North and Central America, showing roundup flights to northern cities, about a dozen removal flights to central America and the Caribbean.A closeup of Alexandria, La, showing GlobalX's N966AD taking off and then quickly returning to the airport.
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ICE Flight Monitor @iceflightmonitor.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Alarming escalation of the admin's cruel deportation campaign: over 24 hrs, we tracked flights carrying third country nationals from the U.S. to Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Paraguay & flights deporting Mexicans to Guatemala, Honduras & Costa Rica www.humanrightsfirst.org/library/ice-...
humanrightsfirst.org
ICE Flight Monitor at Human Rights First Tracks Multiple Forced Third Country Transfers from the United States in 24 Hours
Washington D.C.—Over the last 24 hours, ICE Flight Monitor, housed at Human Rights First, has tracked multiple forced third country transfers from the United States to Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Came...
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Reposted by David Flores
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 21/08/2026
The number of U.S. service members reported wounded or killed in the Iran war has jumped to 774, after the Pentagon added scores of new troops to the wounded list in the last few days.
washingtonpost.com
More than 750 U.S. service members wounded in Iran war
The numbers in the Pentagon report increased as the conflict nears six months.
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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 21/08/2026
New at FiftyPlusOne: Rural and suburban voters haven’t looked this Democratic since 2018 blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/rural-and-...
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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 21/08/2026
We're at the "banality of evil" phase of ICE's dogged pursuit of prison space. The days of flashy "ICE buys warehouse" headlines are behind us. Ahead are less conspicuous ones like "ICE awards construction contract." Those are equally important. Boring is what "efficient" looks like.
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Ian Millhiser @imillhiser.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
How the Supreme Court could use Trump’s ballroom to gut environmental law www.vox.com/politics/499...
vox.com
How the Supreme Court could use Trump’s ballroom to gut environmental law
Trump’s lawyers make arguments that, if accepted by the justices, would render a wide range of laws unenforceable.
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Chief Justice Roberts has issued an “administrative” stay In the ballroom case—which effectively allows Trump to keep doing what he’s doing while the full Court decides whether to let him keep working indefinitely while the case moves forward (which it probably will, given this intervention).
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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 21/08/2026
BREAKING: The editor of military newspaper Stars and Stripes says he has been fired for insubordination after calling any censorship a "red line."
bit.ly
Stars and Stripes editor says he has been fired for insubordination after doing interview
The editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes says the Pentagon has fired the editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes, as well as its publisher and a reporter.
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David Flores @deflo.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Sleep now in the fire?
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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Among other reforms, it cannot stand that the President can sue everyone all the time but never face any lawsuits or criminal charges himself because he’s president. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Threatens Defamation Suit Over National Guard Report, Aiming to Intimidate a Critic (Gift Article)
It was the latest example of President Trump’s bid to use the legal system against those who voice unflattering facts and opinions generally protected by the First Amendment.
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