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Heather Burbach

@heatherburbach.bsky.social
1.1K followers 248 following 1.2K posts

Native Oregonian lawyer residing in Rhode Island. Strong Civil Libertarian. Very leftie. Political junkie. Fugitive from X. Here for cute pets and political and legal takes. FoTS

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Heather Burbach
Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 12h
NEW EPISODE: When asked earlier this year if he regretted not seizing voting machines and ballots after the 2020 election, Donald Trump said, "Well, I should have." Now he's telling us exactly what he plans to do in this year's midterms, and this time, we should believe him. youtu.be/MBLiMjSXros
youtu.be
Trump Just Admitted His Post-Election Plans. Believe Him.
YouTube video by Democracy Docket
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 13h
If you're in these states, *TODAY* is deadline to register to vote. Arizona, Arkansas Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas. Even if you think you've registered: doesn't hurt to check! And there's a lot happening across them. A thread with stakes on each. ⬇️
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🎃Darin S Pumpkins🎃 @darinself.com · 13h
Yeah, this is a big time impeachment abuse of power.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 11h
In Austin, a 9-year-old watched ICE detain and drive away with his mother, leaving community members to scramble to find him care. Senate Republicans just blocked a bill that would bar ICE from making arrests at school bus stops. Their cruelty is endless.
commondreams.org
'It Has to Stop': Community Members Condemn ICE Arrests at Bus Stops After GOP Blocks Bill to Protect Kids | Common Dreams
Republicans in the US Senate blocked a bill to protect school bus stops from ICE arrests, leading to outrage in Pennsylv
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Eugene Freedman @eugenefreedman.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It decimated the federal workforce - not overhauled it. The elimination of expertise. The destruction of capacity. It also did NOT slash government spending. Spending is UP. It has been reallocated to the secret police and military. Stop publishing falsehoods.
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 04/10/2026
every racist bigot ever
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NPR @npr.org · 04/10/2026
Former foster youth with disabilities tell their stories — of how they got through foster care n.pr/4zbz44j
n.pr
How the system failed us: Former foster youth tell their stories
Former foster youth with disabilities tell their stories — of how they got through foster care
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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
‘“The money should be granted as Congress intended, and essentially, they’re ignoring what Congress did,” said Representative Zoe Lofgren.’ The Trump White House is instead redirecting the money designated for basic research towards pet causes like AI
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ACLU of Rhode Island @riaclu.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
🗳️‼️ Rhode Island, the deadline to register to vote in the midterm election is SUNDAY, October 4! Take one minute to check your voter registration and text a friend to remind them too: vote.sos.ri.gov/Home/Registe...
vote.sos.ri.gov
Welcome to your Voter Information Center
If you are not registered to vote, you can register on-line. You will need:
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Oriana González @oriana.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
SCOOP: White House officials, led by Susie Wiles, have told DOJ to delay any abortion-related action until after the midterms Wiles suggested to Todd Blanche that an aggressive approach on abortion would be negative for the GOP in November @washingtonsun.com www.washingtonsun.com/campaigns/ab...
washingtonsun.com
White House Officials Told the DOJ to Delay Action on Abortion Ahead of the Midterms
Attorney General Todd Blanche has moved slowly in abortion pill litigation and department officials have told advocates to wait until after the election.
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Brad Duplessis @bradduplessis.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
thehill.com/opinion/nati...
thehill.com
The Pentagon should remember the value of professional dissent
It is especially important for military institutions tasked with fighting wars and expending the nation’s blood and treasure through conflict.
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
BREAKING: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has named New York State Attorney General Letitia James to serve as special prosecutor to investigate the Cornell rape case.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Last year not a single refugee fleeing religious persecution was admitted to the US.
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
NEW: The Georgia State Election board is requesting Justice Department "intervention" ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The board sent request letters to Todd Blanche, Harmeet Dhillon, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Docs obtained by @lawfaremedia.org: www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...
documentcloud.org
Formal Request for DOJ Intervention to Todd Blanche
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Dennis Goris | Cartoons @dennisgoris.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
911, what is your emergency?
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Adam Klasfeld @klasfeldreports.com · 01/10/2026
Scathing from Judge Edelman: Given his first indictment, the notion that the grand jury process would protect David Hearn from another "meritless, politically driven prosecution" is nothing short of "facetious."
Given the process that led to the Indictment in this case, Mr. Hearn and the public
cannot view the promise that a future grand jury would protect him against a meritless,
politically driven prosecution at some point in the future as anything short of facetious ‘The government indicted Mr. Hearn at a near-record pace, with the grand jury voting on the charge less than two weeks after his arrest. At the time the Indictment was returned, some of the government's own initial conclusions as to the origins of the damage to the Reflecting Pool’s liner were equivocal at bes
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Alex Kaplan @alkapdc.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This article contains certain details not previously reported. Among those: -Tina Peters claimed Trump asked her who to pardon. -Peters claimed WH chief of staff Susie Wiles asked her “if I would go over some things that were getting ready to come out” in Trump’s July election fraud speech.
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
One important policy lesson from this story is how Facebook committed blatant tax fraud in 2013 (Zuckerberg's stock options as R&D) and still hasn't been forced to pay it and thus learned that tax fraud is an acceptable business practice and so is doing it again.
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404 Media @404media.co · 30/09/2026
BREAKING: The Trump administration is using a grant program from the 1980s to force cities around the US to funnel their ongoing collection of Flock, Axon, and other ALPR data into large federal surveillance centers that fall under the White House’s jurisdiction, 404 Media has learned
404media.co
How Cities Are Forced to Funnel License Plate Data to a Massive Federal Surveillance Program
How the federal government built a massive database of license plate reader data through an anti-drug trafficking program.
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Congressman Gabe Amo @amo.house.gov · 29/09/2026
Trump is spending $1,800,000,000 on a ballroom and his vanity projects. Instead, that money could pay for: 🍎607,000,000 school lunches 💡12,000,000 electric bills for a month 🩺88,000 Veterans medical expenses this year 🥪429,500 Americans’ SNAP benefits for a year Priorities.
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
These sound like non-trivial problems.
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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“Beyond two parking tickets for not moving his vehicle during snowstorms, Abdullah has no criminal record in Minnesota and was working legally as a mechanic while his asylum application was pending. He arrived in the United States in early 2023.”
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andy vs. @im-all-id.me · 26/09/2026
It's really comin down out there (civilization)
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The Downballot @the-downballot.com · 25/09/2026
Don't sleep on the many big elections for prosecutor and sheriff this year! @taniel.bsky.social has a thorough guide for what to watch.
boltsmag.org
The 25 Sheriff and Prosecutor Races Set to Shape Criminal Justice and ICE Collaboration - Bolts
Voters face stark choices for offices with vast powers on policing and punishment. Bolts walks you through key contests to watch across a dozen states.
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Norm Eisen @normeisen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Please don't overreact to the SCOTUS SAVE database decision today Page 6 of the decision makes clear that we are in the 90 day statutory window when mass changes cannot be made to voter lists! Yeah it's a shit decision for the reasons the 3 dissenters say but we can deal with it. More to come...
nytimes.com
Supreme Court Allows Expansive Voter Screening Tool Ahead of Midterms (Gift Article)
Critics of the Trump administration system to monitor the citizenship status of voters had raised alarms about privacy and improper voter purges.
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Joe Walsh @walshfreedom.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The United States government killed another innocent person.👇
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Erik Uebelacker @uebey.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
New: A judge issued a final, scathing order against ICE for 26 Federal Plaza's conditions, granting class certification for ALL current/future detainees inside. "ICE knew ... that how it was treating detainees was wrong, yet it continued to do it anyway."
courthousenews.com
In final ruling against ICE, judge blasts ‘dreadful’ and ‘squalid’ conditions at 26 Federal Plaza
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan entered a permanent injunction on behalf of detainees, granting them class certification and demanding the facility’s conditions be improved.
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VoteVets @votevets.org · 24/09/2026
Elon Musk's DOGE is gone, but the wreckage it left behind at the VA is still being felt. A new VA Inspector General report found that DOGE, alongside Trump's VA appointees, terminated 435 contracts worth a total of $1.1 billion. www.stripes.com/veterans/202...
stripes.com
$1 billion in VA contracts terminated following requests from DOGE, senior officials
Most of the terminated contracts were for consulting services, which included administrative and program management as well as communications.
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Chinese media allowed at WH. American media banned in defiance of a court order.
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404 Media @404media.co · 23/09/2026
NEW: Yesterday, 404 Media broke news of the FBI breach. Now, we've discovered it has exposed the FBI's own hacking unit. The FBI's Remote Operations Unit (ROU) is a highly secretive team of hackers making exploits and tools to break into target’s devices. Some of its members just got exposed.
404media.co
FBI Hack Exposed FBI’s Own Hacking Unit
The FBI's Remote Operations Unit (ROU) is a highly secretive team of hackers making exploits and tools to break into target’s devices. Some of its members just got exposed.
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 24/09/2026
ONE OF US ONE OF US ONE OF US Congrats on your space potato @alyankovic.bsky.social!
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
L - Tom Emmer in 2024 on the House subpoenaing Hunter Biden. R - Tom Emmer today on why the House shouldn’t investigate Don Jr: He’s a private citizen.
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
a bill which provided a strong footing for civil liability and punitive damages that attaches to Flock itself as well as the civil jurisdiction in question would do wonders for reining this kind of thing in.
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WPRI 12 @wpri12.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A nationwide recall of thyroid tablets sold by Vitruvias Therapeutics Inc. has now been classified as one of the FDA's most serious and urgent recalls. More: www.wpri.com/recalls-and-warnings/t… 
FDA upgrades recall of thyroid medication. The Class I recall means there’s a  “reasonable probability” that using the product “will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”  Learn more at WPRI.com »
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Russell Vought wants to kill the NIH In case you didn't know this, Vought's daughter has cystic fibrosis & has benefited from a combination drug treatment (elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor) that was developed by NIH-funded research By @juliametraux.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Project 2025 is gutting medical funding that helped Russell Vought's own kid
Its architect's daughter has cystic fibrosis—and benefits from a "miracle drug" backed by an agency he's attacking.
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Schrödinger's Sneetch Belly @rtodkelly.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Please know that this is one of my few legitimate areas of actual, high-level professional expertise: Kicking the healthiest people off of a health insurance program will bankrupt it. Not 'could;' not 'might,' not 'probably," but absolutely will, with mathematical certainty.
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
oh my talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-fbi...
talkingpointsmemo.com
The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way
This story was originally published by ProPublica,  a nonprofit newsroom that investigates...
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Nikki McCann Ramírez @nikkimcr.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Statement from Troy Jackson responding to ProPublica’s report on the FBI’s probe into alleged corruption by Maine Senator Susan Collins
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Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
We literally created things like the UN to end that concept.
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Simon Rosenberg @simonwdc.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
New, high-quality polls have Peltola up 6 in Alaska, Turek up 8 in Iowa, and Talarico up 6 in Texas. The GOP's Senate majority is clearly in jeopardy 👇 www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/new-polls-...
hopiumchronicles.com
New Polls In Alaska, Iowa, And Texas Suggest That Trump And The Rs Are In Serious Trouble
Morning all.
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The Beaverton @thebeaverton.com · 21/09/2026
Trump vows to punish Canada for EU alliance as soon as he finishes losing Iran war
thebeaverton.com
Trump vows to punish Canada for EU alliance as soon as he finishes losing Iran war
WASHINGTON D.C. - President Donald J. Trump has pledged to extract terrible, systematic revenge on all of Canada for daring to enter talks with the European Union, just as soon as he finishes losing the war he started in Iran.
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Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Trump’s obsession with these vulgar memorials to his own vanity is a reminder of the darkness around him, of his hostility to democracy, his loathing of honor, and his disordered mind. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
theatlantic.com
Trump’s Monumental Obsession
The president fantasizes about a capital city full of memorials—to himself.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18/09/2026
Trump claimed he's "banning the free press" & added "we're repressive also" when asked about China's lack of press freedoms during bonkers event where he struggled to stay awake, demanded kids get 5 vaccine shots instead of 1, and rambled incoherently in response to basic Qs Here's a supercut:
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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Obama: “Imagine if I had pulled Fox News’ credentials from the White House press corps. You’re laughing, but this is what’s happening. It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent right now would have tolerated behavior like that from me.” Clip courtesy @meidastouch.com
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Norm Eisen @normeisen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The judge asked the govt if the Kennedy Center is going bankrupt. You should've seen them backpedal Why so fast? If it's broke, a court puts someone else in charge & they lose control of it @cnn.com👇 -TN
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Trump's arch will harm historic sites: Federal officials acknowledge that Trump's planned triumphal arch will unavoidably harm historic sites if built as planned — but they say the project must move forward, according to a National Park Service document and emails obtained by The Washington Post.
washingtonpost.com
Trump’s arch will harm historic sites but must proceed, federal officials say
National Park Service officials acknowledge that President Donald Trump’s planned arch would harm dozens of historic sites but say it must move forward anyway.
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Nick Pettigrew @nick-pettigrew.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"If I just bought all my stuff from myself I could charge me a billion dollars and I'd be a trillionaire. I am very smart."
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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Trump is dead serious. See this chart from March: www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
Chart showing that prior presidents including Trump’s first term grant disaster requests from blue and red states roughly equally before Trump 2 started rejecting most requests from blue states
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Alex Dukalskis @alexdukalskis.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Wow... “If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something,” said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired career FBI official who held senior counterintelligence roles.
propublica.org
Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch
The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large...
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