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Jackie Smith

@jackiesmith.bsky.social
352 followers 1.7K following 101 posts

With fear for our democracy, I dissent. -Justice Sotomayor Time to make John Lewis proud with some good trouble. Lover of democracy, animals, family, books, nature, Chicago sports and Chicago popes

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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
It's happening...
White crocuses emerging from a blanket of dead leaves with birch trees, pine, and blue sky in the background.
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Thank goodness!
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Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
The line Trump referenced today from Apocalypse Now, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning," is about the absurdity of war and the profound psychological damage it inflicts on everyone involved. Seems like Trump was, unintentionally, right on target. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...
open.substack.com
The American Dictator
Tonight, we have the specter of an American president trying to take control of an American city for thinly veiled political reasons.
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Jeff Jackson @jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
A federal agency - which controls an enormous amount of money - is breaking the law to hide its decisions from you and avoid accountability. Hey OMB, see you in court.
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June Lewins @joonloons.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
#LibrariesRule📚
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 15/07/2025
"Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people who need it" @hana-kiros.bsky.social, on spending $130,000 to burn food worth $800,000 www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food
Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.
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Jon of The North @krauza.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases) projects.propublica.org/claimfile/
projects.propublica.org
Find Out Why Health Insurance Denied Your Claim
You likely have the right to access records that explain why your insurer denied your claim or prior authorization request. Use ProPublica’s free tool to generate a letter requesting your claim file f...
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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
The Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” has cast very different shadows depending on which party holds the White House. When lower courts blocked Trump admin policies, SCOTUS intervened on an emergency basis to lift those orders in 77% of cases. For the Biden administration, that number was 0%.
Infographic titled “One Court, Two Standards” compares how the Supreme Court used emergency powers to rule on lower-court injunctions against the Biden and Trump administrations. Two panels show:
	•	Biden Administration: Lower courts blocked policies in 21 cases. All 21 cases are represented by red squares, indicating that 0% of injunctions/TROs were lifted by SCOTUS.
	•	Trump Administration: Lower courts blocked policies in 86 cases. 66 green squares and 20 red squares show that 77% of injunctions/TROs were lifted by SCOTUS.

Key takeaway box below reads:
“Using its ‘shadow docket,’ the Supreme Court granted emergency relief to lift 77% of lower-court injunctions against the Trump administration. It lifted 0% of those against the Biden administration.”

Sources and notes below include: CourtListener data through July 7, 2025; analysis by Adam Bonica.
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 07/07/2025
Just wow! Can we appreciate the fact that a team from Mexico is in Texas helping with the search and rescue. 👏🏽
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Adam Klasfeld @klasfeldreports.com · 06/07/2025
"The National Weather Service’s San Angelo office, which is responsible for some of the areas hit hardest by Friday’s flooding, was missing a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster and meteorologist in charge," according to its union's legislative director. 🎁 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/u...
nytimes.com
As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas (Gift Article)
Some experts say staff shortages might have complicated forecasters’ ability to coordinate responses with local emergency management officials.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 02/07/2025
i'm reading this charles sumner speech from february 1866 and my dude is cooking
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
"The rule of law is not a given in this Nation, nor any other. It is a precept of our democracy that will endure only if those brave enough in every branch fight for its survival. Today, the Court abdicates its vital role in that effort." —Justice Sotomayor
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Former Deputy National Security Advisor for Obama 👇🏽
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WIRED @wired.com · 12/06/2025
yep! unpaywalled:
wired.com
How to Protest Safely in the Age of Surveillance
Law enforcement has more tools than ever to track your movements and access your communications. Here’s how to protect your privacy if you plan to protest.
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David Gura @davidgura.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Sen. Alex Padilla, who was just forcibly removed from a DHS press conference, is the ranking member of Judiciary’s subcommittee on immigration, citizenship, and border safety, which has “oversight of federal agencies with citizenship, asylum, refugee, and immigration enforcement responsibilities.”
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Michael J. Stern @michaeljstern.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Yep.
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Danny Deraney @dannyderaney.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Every year on Memorial Day, I share this video of French caretakers who take sand from Omaha Beach in Normandy, and scrub them into the letters to give them the gold coloring. They do this for all 9,386 US soldiers who died. France also gave us this land as American soil.
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Good Lord, this just keeps getting worse snd worse.
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Henning @geohenning.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
On May 18, 1980, Richard Lasher got up early to get some photos at Spirit Lake. Instead, he was forced to stop because of the massive, explosive Mount St. Helens eruption and captured this iconic photo with his own red Ford Pinto on the road. 🧪⚒️ #OTD www.hemmings.com/stories/mt-s...
Photo by Richard Lasher. Horizontal and vintage photo of a road in a mountain forest. Red car with a motorbike on the road. In the distance a huge ash cloud from the eruption of Mt St. Helens on May 18th, 1980.
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Fiona "Fi" Webster 🌎🌍🌏 @fiona-webster22.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
1/ Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning author, writes, "Before it’s too late, everyone who can do so must communicate what is happening: our gov't, foreign policy, & trade policy are being transformed, not to benefit Americans but to benefit the president, his family, his friends." Gift link.
theatlantic.com
Kleptocracy, Inc.
Under Trump, conflicts of interest are just part of the system.
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
This is s problem.
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Tessa @amitessornotlol.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
A man pulled up to a gas station to fill up his truck. ICE agents surrounded him and took him away. But his children were left behind. “They arrested someone,” witness said. “They left the children inside the truck.” www.sfgate.com/centralcoast...
sfgate.com
ICE raids have 'overwhelmed' coastal California communities
Communities in three California counties "overwhelmed" as ICE raids ramp up in the region.
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Leia🇨🇴🇺🇸 @theswprincess.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
I know this is terrible to see & hear. DON'T LOOK AWAY To look away is to ignore that masked, unditentified authorities are kidnapping people on the street with no warrant and no due process. Be ready to film, peacefully intervene, call local news stations to share video.
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Jennifer C @thejenniwren.teamlh.social · 10/05/2025
🧵 Martin Diaz came to the U.S. as a toddler, fleeing cartel violence with his family. They had proof of the danger—a letter from a Michoacán official. He married a U.S. citizen & was advancing his visa. Then ICE showed up at his home in Spokane: no warrant, no ID #OnYourSide VC pslspokane
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Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Someone should ask Miller which article of the Constitution the Suspension Clause is located
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
One of the greatest travesties of this administration so far. Absolutely appalling.
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
You love to see it.
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Steven @stevevance.net · 08/05/2025
W
Photo of a Vatican that has two flags superimposed: flag of Chicago and the Cubs W
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NPR @npr.org · 08/05/2025
BREAKING NEWS: White smoke streams from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, signaling to the world that a new pope has been selected.
npr.org
Holy white smoke, we have a new pope!
White smoke streamed from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, signaling to the world that the 133 cardinals inside have elected a new pope. But we don't yet know his identity.
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
If our society is going to worship wealth, can we at least start idolizing the wealthy people who are also rich in charachter.
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
There are no words...
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
#WorldPressFreedomDay 🔥 @froomkin.bsky.social
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Ben Wikler @benwikler.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
A week ago today, FBI agents arrested Judge Hannah Dugan on courthouse grounds on outrageous charges. Immediately, Trump officials like Kash Patel and Pam Bondi began to celebrate. But this is not going well for them, and it’s going to age like milk on a Miami sidewalk. 🧵
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Not suspicious at all. Feels like someone gave fed AI a prompt to write a report with the desired findings.
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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 29/04/2025
My family found a home here after fleeing the pogroms in Ukraine. This country accepted us as refugees when we had nothing except the shirts on our backs. We've seen what can happen when we don't speak up about the dangers — it's time to raise the alarm now.
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Rex Huppke @rexhuppke.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
1/ OK, kids, let's do some math. Here Bondi claims 3,400 kilos of fentanyl have been seized in Trump's first 100 days. That's great. The more fentanyl getting seized the better. But Republicans weren't celebrating this when Biden was president.
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Good Boy @goodboy.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
A horrible story but god bless this woman so accurately reading the ICE goons for filth here
Marisa said she is eft with nothing BUt questions.
"What if I would have been armed," she 2 said. "You're breaking in. What am 1 supposed to think? My initial thought was we were being robbed-that my daughters, being females, were being kidnapped. You have guns pointed in our faces. Can you just reprogram yourself and see us as humans, as women? A little bit of mercy. Care a little bit about your fellow human, about your fellow citizen, fellow resident. We bleed too. We vork. We pleed justlike anybody else bleeds. We're scared. You could see our faces that we were terrified. What makes you so much more worthier of your peace? What makes you so much more worthier of protecting your children? What makes you so much more worthy of your citizenship? What makes you more worthy of safety? Of being given
the ight t that they took from me to protect my daughters?"
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
This is what courage looks like. Kudos to the team at 60 Minutes.
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Maca Iglesias @rotterdamvvg.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Canada’s brand-new Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney: “Trump is attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses, and we cannot let him succeed.” We must all take a page from their book and stop Trump from doing the same in our country. This could be us next year, America. Let’s be ready!
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Dr. Jack Brown @drjackbrown.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
“And as a Ukrainian-American Jew,
who built a holocaust museum,
whose family immigrated here
as refugees from the Russian pogroms, 
let me say this to Donald Trump –
Stop tearing down the Constitution
in the name of my ancestors.
Do not claim
that your authoritarian power grabs
are about combatting anti-semitism.”

Gov. JB Pritzker
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Rick @rickylongthread.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
The Narcan Program Has Saved Thousands Of Lives! This Is Barbaric!
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Warning: Your cybertruck is not a Duck (DUKW)!
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
This seems problematic... and makes me thankful to still be driving my 2015 vehicle with no tech upgrades.
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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
'The new head of the DOJ civil rights division is dramatically reshaping the office to propel President Trump’s social agenda, prompting the departure of about half of the division’s lawyers in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the situation and public statements from top officials.'
washingtonpost.com
Civil rights lawyers leave en masse as Justice Dept. mission shifts
Civil rights director Harmeet K. Dhillon redirected her staff to focus on combating antisemitism, anti-Christian bias and what she calls “woke ideology.”
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Spring is finally springing in Madison.
Purple flowers
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Jennifer C @thejenniwren.teamlh.social · 27/04/2025
🧵1 Unconstitutional. Unconscionable. ICE & FL law enforcement arrested 780 immigrants in 4 days—only 270 had final removal orders. Many still have legal status. This isn’t justice, it’s Trump’s mass deportation plan in action. Families shattered, rights trampled. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/u...
nytimes.com
ICE Arrests Nearly 800 in Florida in Operation With Local Officers (Gift Article)
The four-day operation came as the Trump administration has sought to enlist local authorities in an immigration crackdown.
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Do yourself a favor and see this movie. Every second is pure art. And be sure to stay for the after credit sequence.
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Jackie Smith @jackiesmith.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Who could've seen this coming? Only everyone with a basic understanding of how our government functions. Can't wait until they have to hire and train new employees to replace those in crucial roles who aren't coming back...even more costly.
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