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Jacquie Battle

@jacquiebattle.bsky.social
430 followers 494 following 1.4K posts

Intention is to be better informed when leaving than upon arrival. If not that, then amusedly distracted. Pretty good at raising black swallowtail butterflies.

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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 10h
"Experts have long warned that immigration dragnets and the erosion of civil rights for immigrants will inevitably result in the erosion of rights for citizens. "Since the start of this Trump administration, we’ve watched those warnings come true."
projects.propublica.org
More Than 500 U.S. Citizens Have Been Detained, Including Handcuffed or Held at Gunpoint, in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown — ProPublica
The government doesn’t track how often immigration officers detain U.S. citizens. So ProPublica did. We’ve found more than 500 Americans who were held against their will during this Trump administrati...
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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 04/10/2026
A heart warming story that actually involves Facebook being sorta kinda useful.... in 2026?!?
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Earlier this week, I agreed to interviews with two USA Today journalists. They wrote fantastic articles about the Cornell case that I'm proud to have been a part of. What I did not know is that their employer considers interviews to proprietary and opens up recordings to be used by any journalist.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Excellent writeup by Gabe Fleisher at Wake Up To Politics Substack. Why This 18-Month-Old Case Still Matters It could decide what happens when the president defies a judge. www.wakeuptopolitics.com/p/why-this-1...
But there’s still one more nagging mystery: Why didn’t the planes turn around when a federal judge told them to?

Judge Boasberg has been trying to answer this question for more than a year now, launching an inquiry into whether to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt, which the administration has repeatedly tried to stop. In Tuesday’s hearing, the D.C. Circuit federal appeals court heard arguments on whether Boasberg can continue probing the administration’s alleged defiance of his orders.Courts have “no influence over either the sword or the purse,” as Alexander Hamilton memorably wrote. Instead, it is with words alone that they have succeeded in blocking the president — even one who has flirted with defiance — from carrying out some of the initiatives most important to him. What a remarkable statement of our constitutional system’s enduring power.

But also its fragility. None of this means that Trump’s compliance will last forever, particularly as he heads into his lame-duck era — or that future (more popular) presidents won’t try to pick up where he left off in March 2025, and try to defy orders handed down by judges. If they do, it will be important to know what system is in place, if any, for judges to protect their powers. How do we balance the separation of powers on one hand by ensuring that judges don’t cosplay prosecutors, but also on the other hand by ensuring that judicial orders aren’t optional?

The influential D.C. Circuit is about to take a first swing at that question. I, for one, will be watching.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
Jack Smith: "Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation ... rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 election, he engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power"
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Thread.
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Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
A hilarious summary
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Billy Domineau 🇵🇸 @billydomineau.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
9/11 is a great day to reread my viral Seinfeld spec and to remember I’m one of the most talented TV writers available to write for your show. I have $225k in student loans and my family is about to pay OOP for my dad’s post-stroke rehab, so you’d better believe I’m gonna give you my best!
avclub.com
Read This: A darkly comedic Seinfeld spec script set days after 9/11
Read This: A darkly comedic Seinfeld spec script set days after 9/11
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Geez.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Four traps Dems should avoid: 1. Not talking about immigration. 2. Focusing on compassion w/o making an economic argument. 3. Highlighting "the harm that ICE…[causes] w/o bringing…solutions to the table." 4. "…attempting to neutralize immigration attacks by emphasizing enforcement above all else."
thebulwark.com
How Dems Can Win on Immigration in November
Our exclusive look at a memo arguing that voter discontent toward Trump’s immigration policy leaves room for a winning pro-worker message.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
RFKjr seems quite wedded to the idea of wellness farms as a solution to all manner of societal challenges: addiction, troubled youth, and now, apparently, autistic people. "The plan calls for gov't agencies to try out “supported-living models” such as “farmstead or campus-based communities”…"
theguardian.com
‘So much fringe science’: RFK Jr’s advisers are pushing an extreme makeover in autism research
Experts warn the 336-page plan from RFK Jr’s advisers deflects federal dollars into unreliable alternative therapies
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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
"Russians who crave revenge for invented causes and revel in propaganda are complicit in all the killings, violence, and war crimes committed by our worthless, blood-soaked state." A Russian woman explains why Russia’s imperial ambitions are destroying the country from within.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Good thread. “[Quantitative Easing] consists of large-scale asset purchases by central banks, usually of long-maturity gov't debt but also of private assets,…”… “Typically, QE occurs in unconventional circumstances, when short-term nominal interest rates are very low, zero or even negative.”
stlouisfed.org
What Is Quantitative Easing, and How Has It Been Used?
Many central banks have used quantitative easing, or QE, during and after the global financial crisis.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Tim Curry. 🕊️ Good obit by Brian Murphy, with a lot of detail about Rocky Horror. 🎁 wapo.st/4wSED6h
wapo.st
Tim Curry, who found cult stardom in ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ dies at 80
The British actor also appeared in “Clue” and “Home Alone 2,” and received three Tony nominations for his stage work.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The mention of the Center for Public Integrity (RIP) — a temporary, rather temultuous way station for Solomon — has left me feeling melancholy for the days when investigative journalism seemed to have more impact and important stories had meaningful staying power. 🎁 wapo.st/4wHsqRG
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 19/08/2026
We unmasked the cops who misused Flock to spy on their spouses. Their police departments weren't checking their searches, so we did it for them. One just got arrested. Here's how we did it. Gift link: wapo.st/4xSDfS4 witth all stars @douglasmac.bsky.social @aaronschaffer.com
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Extremely disturbing story. Apparently, it's not enough to have training covering topics like harassment prevention; bias, sensitivity, & anti-discrimination; informed consent… Evidently, folks need to be explicitly trained to report the pedophiles in their ranks? JFC. bsky.app/profile/newy...
By then, Gajdusek was dead, his journals documenting his physical decline preserved at the National Library of Medicine. “I carried my lifelong pederasty into my medical career and succeeded in both with very few failures,” he wrote, two months before he died. “Without protectors I would never have succeeded.” He had spent the last decade of his life living in Europe and travelling for lectures and conferences. “Yes, I have lived a full life and with all the weirdness and quirks of my health and my personality,” he wrote, “I managed to twist it into an adventurous, almost mythological one, and for that I can only rejoice.”
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Can't wait to see what DOD's American History text will say about The Enlightenment and its influence on the country's founding.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Defense is introducing a course centered on Western civilization and Christianity this fall in the schools it operates for military families, part of an effort by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to redirect the education system toward patriotic values and classical learning.

The Department of Defense Education Activity operates about 160 schools across 11 countries and educates roughly 70,000 students who are children of active-duty military or civilian service members. Conservatives have eyed the schools — which, unlike most public schools, are run by the federal government — as a testing ground for reshaping education.

The Western civilization course planned for this fall will use a textbook published by Encounter Books, a conservative publishing house. Titled “The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom,” it includes suggested lesson plans created in partnership with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan that has also developed influential materials for K-12 schools.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Garrett Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social does a great job explaining the larger, broader context of 47's plane switch. As is so often the case with Trump's shenanigans, it's [corrupt] turtles all the way down. Questions still to be answered, in no particular order: 1/
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
It'll never stop being appalling that the office of the Vice President of the United States is occupied by a guy whose mentor and chief benefactor is also the main patron of Curtis Yarvin, aka Mencius Moldbug. Terrific interview; well worth the listen.
Book cover

The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy 

Author: Gil Durán 

Publication date: August 18, 2026
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
In dishonor of Ross Douthat's last NYT column, I'm breaking my self-imposed ban on reading him—smug bad faith, whiny victimization, and steadfast refusal to let evidence affect opinion—and will screenshot and comment. This is the column if you want to read it yourself (I don't recommend it). 1/x
nytimes.com
Opinion | Who Is My Enemy? I’m No Longer Sure.
Where does the side of the angels really lie?
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Excellent piece by Peter Wehner. It succinctly summarizes the science and politics of MAGA's — and in particular, Rand Paul's — vendetta against Anthony Fauci. 🎁 "Why MAGA Is So Obsessed With Fauci" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The accusation that Fauci lied to Congress rests on his denial, in a 2021 exchange with Paul, that NIH had ever funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab. The point of such research is to learn what a virus would need to jump into humans before it does, so that vaccines and treatments can be ready.The trouble is the term gain of function. In biology, it means research that gives an organism a new capability—engineering a bacterium to digest an oil spill is gain-of-function research. In politics, it has come to mean something narrower and more alarming: deliberately making a dangerous virus more dangerous. Federal rules use a third definition, narrower still. The federal framework adopted in 2017, after years of public debate, covers work to enhance a pathogen that is “likely highly transmissible and likely capable of wide and uncontrollable spread in human populations” and “likely highly virulent and likely to cause significant morbidity and/or mortality in humans.” It also excludes viruses, however dangerous, as they exist in nature. (The policy was revised in 2024.)The gap between those definitions is the whole dispute, and it is why the perjury charge fails twice over. Fauci says that in 2021, he was answering Paul by using the regulatory definition of gain of function—the one that determines what NIH may and may not fund, and the only one that his answer was actually about. By that standard, NIH had reviewed the grant to the Wuhan lab before funding it and had concluded that the research fell outside the framework, on the grounds that the lab was studying wild-collected bat viruses that were not expected to produce severe disease in people. The two men meant different things by the same phrase. And even if you set that aside, perjury requires a knowingly false statement. Five years later, there’s still no evidence that Fauci said anything he believed to be untrue.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Just the basic *idea* of "originalism" -- that we must divine the True Will of the Founders and then we must follow that wherever it leads us -- is one that even the founding generation itself would've rejected. Here's a Jefferson quote, and, hey, it's a quote from a Founder so you gotta obey!
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
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Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
(AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt construction of its $400 million ballroom at the White House without congressional approval. apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com
Appeals court rules Trump can't build White House ballroom without congressional approval
A federal appeals court has decided President Donald Trump cannot build a $400 million ballroom at the White House without congressional approval.
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Josh Block @joshablock.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"We are aware of no instance in American history in which a President unilaterally and using privately collected funds demolished substantial portions of the White House that Congress authorized to be built and American taxpayers paid for. Until now." media.cadc.uscourts.gov/opinions/doc...
media.cadc.uscourts.gov
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
1. A new Popular Information investigation reveals that Senate Republicans have recently launched at least six fake news sites in key states.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
H/t @philinvestigates.com
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Wow! @menendez.house.gov says that the EXACT scenario I flagged two months ago, where ICE "releases" someone having a medical emergency solely so their death won't be recorded as occurring while in custody, happened last month at the infamous Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, NJ.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
For many years, there were allegations that ICE would “release” critically ill people in hospitals so that their deaths wouldn’t be recorded as in ICE custody. To fix this, in 2021 the Biden admin required ICE to report deaths occurring up to 30 days after release.

Now that rule has been dropped.

Jon Collins
 @jcollins.bsky.social
· 2mo
The change comes as ICE has faced pressure after the death of 18 detainees so far this year. 

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

ICE to stop reporting deaths of newly released detainees, internal memo says
The agency is facing pressure to improve medical care in its facilities after reporting the deaths of 18 detainees in the first five months of this year.
www.washingtonpost.com
5:40 PM · Jun 4, 2026

Everybody can reply
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dell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
NEW: DHS wants to pay private contractors bounties to hunt down people who already left the country, photograph their homes, and demand money. It told them leaving the US would wipe out fines. It was the pitch for self-deporting. Experts tell WIRED this is a pointless escalation of tactics.
wired.com
DHS Is Hiring Bounty Hunters to Find and Photograph Deported People’s Homes Abroad
Homeland Security told immigrants that leaving the US would wipe out fines it claims they owe. Now it wants private investigators to find them in their home countries and collect.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
This couple came legally. They applied for asylum before their visas expired, wanting to do it all by the books. After six months, they applied for work permits to stay afloat, passing background checks. They worked legally and paid taxes while government delay dragged on. Then ICE came for them.
The couple quickly became key to Chicago’s nightlife, curating events and performing in some of Chicago’s most popular venues. They were getting ready for their biggest venture yet: following Karol G’s tour across the country, hosting unofficial afterparties.
But on Sunday morning, as the couple walked out of their rideshare outside of Midway Airport, they were apprehended by federal immigration agents. The two were on their way to take a flight to Washington, D.C., the first stop of the tour. They never made it through the door.
The Department of Homeland Security said it had arrested Panqueva, 26, and Paez, 27, for overstaying their visas, which both expired in 2022. But their attorney, Enrique Espinoza, said the pair had applied for asylum within the required time frame before their visas expired. The two both have asylum cases, Social Security numbers, work permits and the documents required for their ongoing legal process, Espinoza said.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Judge Williams SPECIFICALLY said it was illegal under 26 USC 7217 for Blanche to immunize Trump on tax crimes. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Moreover, the Release Order, signed only by Acting Attorney General Blanche,
extends a blanket grant of immunity to all Plaintiffs and their families and “affiliates,” and
precludes all “current or possible” investigations or actions before any other agencies or
departments.50 The Release Order also purports to bar the IRS from conducting any
future tax audits of President Trump, his sons, and their entities.51 This provision directly
contravenes 26 U.S.C. § 7217, titled “Prohibition on executive branch influence over
taxpayer audits and other investigations,” which states:
It shall be unlawful for any applicable person to request, directly or
indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to
conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular
taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.
26 U.S.C. § 7217(a).
The explicit text of this statute prohibits President Trump and his lawyers—one of
whom was former White House Counsel—from asking for or promoting termination of an
audit directed toward him.52 And acquiescing to any such demand is wholly incompatible
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keenoire.bsky.social @keenoire.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
www.nationalreview.com/2026/06/can-...
nationalreview.com
Can Blanche Actually Give Trump Immunity from IRS Audits? | National Review
The commitment is almost certainly not enforceable, for several reasons.
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keenoire.bsky.social @keenoire.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
www.nationalreview.com/2026/06/can-...
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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE POWER ACCOMPLISHES! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who wrote comments, contacted Congress, and yelled! This is OUR WIN! @standupforscience.net www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
politico.com
Senate finalizes funding patch that would block Trump’s grant overhaul
Language is included to delay the president’s move to put political appointees in charge of grant approval.
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Nathan Alderman @nathanalderman.com · 02/08/2026
1. The love of money is the root of all evil. 2. Culture must be constantly nurtured. All it takes is one bad decision to wreck decades of careful cultivation.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
GOP Staffers Say the Party Has a Groyper Problem "Party veterans are concerned that the pipeline of young Republican talent is veering off course — and into terminally online extremism." www.politico.com/news/magazin...
The triumph of ideology over experience in the second Trump administration extends far beyond hypothetical interns coming out of Heritage. “For my defense secretary, I want someone who, when there’s an attempted coup in Seoul, can WhatsApp his South Korean counterpart because they’ve known each other for 35 years,” Coffey said. Instead, he’s got Pete Hegseth, a former television personality who served as a junior officer in the Army National Guard.
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Lindsay Beyerstein @beyerstein.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
This is a crisis of federalism. Tim Walz is asserting as fact that Iran attacked water infrastructure in Minnesota and several other states. And Trump is saying it's Minnesota's own fault they were attacked as part of a war he started.
nbcnews.com
Hackers targeted municipal water systems in 7 states this week, FBI says
The federal warning comes after more than 30 water facilities in Minnesota were breached.
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Update: Google just sent me a statement saying it is “rolling back” this AI feature that let anyone make completely bullshit satellite images. Comes after our demos of the tool and those from OSINT researchers. One of the worst AI tools I’ve ever seen bsky.app/profile/jose...
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
How is this the only appearance of the word "corrupt" in this whole, long piece? "Bribe" doesn't make the cut at all. Nor "extortion." There was one mention of "corporate shakedown." Definitely a worthwhile read, but… Geez.
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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
There is only one crime defined in the Constitution and that is the crime of treason: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Seems a good idea to keep an eye on what the corrupt pols of other countries are doing, since they all seem to inspire, influence, and support one another. Thread.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Grift aside, it seems likely a good thing that FLAG wasn't actually providing its version of civics education to American children. www.propublica.org/article/trum...
In 2016, Adams founded FLAG, registering it as a nonprofit with the mission to bring high-quality civics education to K-12 students across America. FLAG has produced civics materials like the Student’s Constitution, the Student’s Declaration of Independence and the Student’s Federalist Papers — kid-friendly editions of the country’s founding documents. By 2023, FLAG was reporting annual revenue of nearly $1.5 million, consisting of donations and merchandise sales. “Thanks to the support of 40,000+ grassroots patriots,” the organization’s website states, “over 1 million FLAG resources have been distributed in classrooms all across America.”FLAG’s website invites teachers to request free classroom presentations, delivered by “certified FLAG Ambassadors,” including Adams himself, alongside guest speakers described as entrepreneurs, business leaders and immigrants. In 2016 and early 2017, FLAG regularly posted photos documenting visits to schools. After that period, however, ProPublica could not find similar documentation of FLAG representatives visiting schools. Since 2016, as FLAG’s annual revenues grew from $68,000 to $1.1 million in 2024, there is almost no indication in the organization’s annual federal tax filings that it was spending money on its stated mission. No line item in FLAG’s federal tax filing identifies a payment to a school, a teacher or an educational distributor. Only two lines, in a 2017 federal filing, indicate $26,925 for “Student’s Constitutions, Printing” and $5,670 for “Book Donations, Shipping & Supplies.” In the last six years, while FLAG operated under Adams, the only documented instance of FLAG activity that appears to fit the definition of “educational” is a 2020 video showing Adams speaking at what is described as a teachers’ conference.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
The difference between inflation under Biden and inflation under Trump is under Biden we were lower than the rest of the world, under Trump we’re higher In case facts still matter
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
‘We were shovel-ready’: A Minnesota forest hit by DOGE cuts is now ablaze "Fire crews now have to thin out thousands of acres of dense, dry forest as wildfires burn." 🎁 wapo.st/3TEDQb3
In 2024, as part of a $100 million initiative to tackle the nation’s wildfires, the Biden administration awarded the Superior National Forest — where about two dozen lightning-sparked fires have been burning since early July — $10 million for projects that would have removed decades of dead trees and undergrowth, creating breaks in potential fire fuel around critical corridors and remote homes. The funding would have also paid for fire prevention efforts along a key 36-mile gravel road known as the Echo Trail — months before the ongoing Sioux Fire jumped it, threatening residences.But at the beginning of 2025, the U.S. DOGE Service paused or canceled federal grants and spending to review whether they were connected to diversity or climate initiatives. That affected nearly all of the Forest Service’s grant projects and funds, according to two USFS officials familiar with the situation, who like others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of professional retaliation. One official said DOGE’s involvement also delayed a regional support fund that moved crews across the country for fire prevention work. That was a “big part of the reason why our large-scale [prescribed burn and hazardous fuel treatment] accomplishments went down so much last year,” the official said.Kania[*] argued that while DOGE “was supposed to save money,” the federal government and the state will be spending a lot more money to do the same work.

Fire crews are now thinning areas, specifically along the Echo Trail, to create defensible space and fire breaks, he said, but “they are doing it under emergency conditions … and that is the most expensive way to do this work imaginable.”

*A U.S. Forest Service district ranger with the Superior National Forest for six years and a law enforcement ranger with the Bureau of Land Management for two decades before retiring last December.
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Paul Bleicher @pbleic.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Astonishing. RFK Jr. adds 8 members to a 6 member FDA advisory panel. 6 of them were sellers of peptides, and the 7th a compounding pharmacist. In an 8-6 vote with all 8 votes coming from these new panel members, the panel approved 4 peptides against the objections of FDA scientists.
nytimes.com
FDA Panel Supports Lifting Restrictions on Four Peptides (Gift Article)
In an all-day hearing, the agency’s scientists argued against allowing broad access to unproven drugs that the agency had banned three years ago.
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David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
We political scientists have pointed out repeatedly that non-citizens voting is an incredibly, incredibly rare event. So it's so disappointing that this happened under former NJ Governor Phil Murphy and even moreso that he kept it hidden. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/n...
nytimes.com
Error Led to 400 Noncitizens Voting in New Jersey, Governor Says
A 2023 software glitch at the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission led to roughly 6,600 noncitizens being registered to vote during the Murphy administration, Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Zack Mullock for NJ-2.
youtu.be
Mullock for Congress Launch Video
YouTube video by Zack Mullock
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
"It marks the 1st time a fed appeals court has struck down a state ban on such weapons…" "…ruling was surprising because fed courts of appeals have upheld assault weapons bans in the past…" "“What this…opinion shows is…there are very few gun laws that are safe from being struck down right now,”…"
theguardian.com
Federal court strikes down New Jersey ban on assault rifles and large-capacity magazines
Ruling comes as supreme court is set to consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles violate US constitution
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Thread.
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Jacquie Battle @jacquiebattle.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
To me, this was one of the major revelations from Will’s project.[*] I figured that partisanship was like a blinder that kept people from seeing things that they don’t want to see—things that would challenge their set opinions, upset their worldview, or insult their identity. But it seems it’s actually more like a refuge; a place people retreat to when they can’t traffic in reality. When they need to pretend that things aren’t as they are.

*Will Saletan of The Bulwark; the project:
  "The Corruption of Lindsey Graham"
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