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Kara

@launchher.bsky.social
1.3K followers 186 following 16 posts

Proud Minnesotan. Jackrabbit. Recovering litigator

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Reposted by Kara
Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Again, if the 🇺🇸 media covered the GOP as it actually is, & the way foreign far right authoritarian parties are covered, behavior like this would spark a wholesale change in 🇺🇸 political journalism. This? It won’t even make headlines tomorrow, & the Sunday shows will platform a dozen GOP politicians.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Again, <only Republicans> ever get to talk like this. If a single municipal level Democrat ever did, it would be a national outrage &spark a wave of “civility” discourse, & op-eds about how Dems must Respect Real Folkz & talk across difference. Democracy is incompatible with this double standard.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Good evening to Juan Linz. Presidentialism was a grave mistake. Impeachment is literally the only mechanism we have. Failing to even try to use it is total failure. A constitutional order like this, in the face of such unprecedented corruption & constitutional crimes, is not really worth saving.
Juan Linz space astronaut memeLinz, perils of presidentialism.
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Scott Lemieux @lemieuxlgm.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
As someone who does teach con law, the idea that the Republicans on the Roberts Court are just too committed to "originalism" is farcical. You will search the opinions in Shelby County or Trump v. US (inter many alia) in vain for even the slightest trace of it
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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
For west coasters blinking awake who may need some political fuel to start weekend, below is my latest piece for @atrupar.com Public Notice. (Please consider subscribing to support Aaron and me!) Topic? Diesel Don’s Destruction of GOP…enjoy and plz share: open.substack.com/pub/aaronrup...
open.substack.com
Diesel Don is tanking the GOP
Record high prices are one of Trump’s defining political failures.
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Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 02/10/2026
We’ve got the inside story of how Trump’s displeasure with seeing homeless people in D.C. became the first domino in a series of actions that culminated in the administration’s stunning decision to weaken the rights of millions of disabled Americans to live in their homes and communities.
nbcnews.com
How Trump’s homelessness crackdown became a sweeping retreat from disability rights
After issuing a memo making it easier to institutionalize homeless people, the Justice Department began abandoning cases protecting disabled people’s right to live in the community.
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Wyldefire @wyldefire.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I was just told last night that my disabled son may lose 2/3s of his caregiver funds. This pays me to be his trained, live-in caregiver, and if anything it will CAUSE US to become homeless. All while Trump lives for free off tax payers. Anyone can become disabled at any time. Vote Blue. Please!
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
FLORIDA — @angieforfl.bsky.social Nixon ♥️ : “I was a single mom for 12 years. I struggled. I was able to purchase a home for me and my daughter because the government did the right thing… Trump cut those programs. Those lived experiences are why I fight. You got me crying on TV.”
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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
If this reads like one of those Nigerian prince scam emails, it’s because it’s exactly like one of those Nigerian prince scam emails
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 03/10/2026
Katie Phang: "Get the fuck out of here. Are you kidding me? You think it's a good use of taxpayers time and money to be able to do illegal redactions and withholds that are now forcing me to have to go and sue? Are you joking? But this is how Todd Blanche thinks."
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The Great Pumpkinsquatch - Scott Kelley Ernest 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ @mxscottkernest.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
BOMBSHELL: WaPo reports Trump's ads were funded with money meant for slain officers' funerals youtu.be/GwqOZ0eaoDI?...
youtu.be
BOMBSHELL: WaPo reports Trump's ads were funded with money meant for slain officers' funerals
YouTube video by MS NOW
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 02/10/2026
Ellison nails Schutz after he admits he's never taken a case for a client who didn't align w/ his personal views: "It is the job of the AG to defend laws sometimes you don't agree w/ if those laws are constitutional" (Note that Schutz then initially stammers about if abortion access is settled law)
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Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Legal folks, how is this "defying Democrats" and not "illegally misappropriating funds"?
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Every single newspaper that reported that Jane Doe “changed her story” should be rushing to publish retractions right now. This case should be a lesson in taking a DA’s victim-blaming statements at face value. Victims do not report to the police because they thought nothing happened to them.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 01/10/2026
I recommend people read this to get a sense of the president's grave cognitive impairment. Trump is either unwilling or unable (or maybe both) to answer the questions he's actually asked, so he just rants and raves while the interviewers do their best to provide structure to his random brain firings
time.com
Read TIME’s ‘What Trump Has Built’ Interview Transcript
The U.S. President discussed the war in Iran, press freedom, AI, and more ahead of the midterm elections.
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Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
these are our pianos, not theirs! I know this stuff can feel secondary with all of the immediate pain this admin causes, but in the face of such personalism, it also feels important to assert the democratic principle that these cultural inheritances don't belong to the president, they belong to us
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Sarah Burris @sarahburris.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Y'all I just caught the Kennedy Center claiming it isn't closing while telling vendors it's closing and now they're selling all of their Steinway pianos www.alternet.org/alternet-exc...
alternet.org
Kennedy Center moves to sell all of its Steinway pianos
Photos show piano movers rolling massive Steinway grand pianos through the red-carpeted halls of the Kennedy Center this week.
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George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Joe Biden was way more coherent than this even in the debate. time.com/article/2026...
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
Marc Elias was called an alarmist for saying Trump would refuse to concede in 2020. Then came Jan. 6. “They want you to believe that Donald Trump may say some things, but in the end, he’ll accept the results,” Marc says. “I don’t believe that.” Stay in the know: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
The GOP is ramping up efforts to interfere with the midterms. Republicans were just exposed for training Wisconsin election observers to identify discrepancies with voting machines. This is just the start. Subscribe so you never miss an update: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
BREAKING: MS NOW EXCLUSIVE. Republican Eric Schmitt was warned about the Jack Smith texts. He used them anyway. GOP Judiciary staff told Schmitt the texts — obtained from the Trump DOJ — were "unvetted." Schmitt still used them.
ms.now
Eric Schmitt was warned about the Jack Smith texts. He used them anyway.
As Republicans on Capitol Hill try to figure out how Eric Schmitt’s bombshell fell apart so embarrassingly, it turns out he was warned that the texts were unvetted.
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Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Jane Doe, you are remarkably brave. I wish you didn’t have to be. “I am Jane Doe.” Do not let them doxx Jane Doe. If you see their name, you did not. Do not punish the victim. I stand with survivors. You will not take away their power. We believe you.
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Ken Martin @kenmartin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Donald Trump and Republicans have broken every promise they made. Make your plan to vote them out on or before November 3 at IWillVote.com.
A graphic featuring an image of a sweaty, tired looking Donald Trump. Text overlaid reads, "Trump's broken promises." Text below lists all of the promises Trump lied about: No new wars, releasing the Epstein files, $5,000 DOGE checks, cheap gas, $2,000 tariff refund checks, lower grocery costs, draining the swap, Make America Healthy Again, Make America Great Again.
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Omigod, this is the most heartwarming story possible! Backpack (bear 89) is the son of the 2019 winner of Fat Bear Week, Holly (bear 435). In 2007, he injured his foot & a practice of riding on momma's Holly's back had a new meaning: he was mobility-restricted while it healed. So Holly moved him.
From DISCVR blog's Facebook page, a momma bear & a yearling cub on her back in the shallow water.  I think the background has been swapped out, and I can't rule out some AI use there?  God, Facebook has become the social media for AI slop : (

The title of the article, which I link below, is "How Bear 89 earned the name Backpack"
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Cait Conley @caitfornewyork.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Last year, Mike Lawler looked you in the eye and said “I will not cut Medicaid.” Then he was the deciding vote for Trump’s “Big Ugly Bill,” enabling the largest Medicaid cut in American history.
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
36 minutes before the hearing started.
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 30/09/2026
Lindsay Clancy's lawyers asked a judge to dismiss her murder charges, even casting doubt on whether evidence existed to establish that she killed her three young children, saying the entire case is "based on speculation."
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Ellie Leonard @redpencilscript.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is despicable.
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Sam Brunson @smbrnsn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Any judge--sorry, immigration judge, not real judge--who requires a 2-year-old to represent themself and then deports them deserves to lose their license. And also rot in hell.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
this gaffe should follow Eric Schmitt around for the rest of his political life (Jack Smith was actually in Maryland at a HAWKEYES game, not in Atlanta colluding with Fani Willis as Schmitt alleged) (Win McNamee/Getty)
photo of Schmitt's team holding up a poster board that made false claims about Jack Smith's whereabouts in February 2024
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Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Aaron is not underrating this. It's cinema. The sly smirk when Schmitt thinks he's gotten Smith to perjure himself. The hasty vanishing of the sign. Klobuchar getting Kennedy to hold it up. Schmitt getting LOUD and ANGRY when Klobuchar points out he mixed up the Hawks and Hawkeyes.
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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 29/09/2026
Reminder: Donald Trump and his family have grifted more than $4 billion while Americans struggle to get by.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
Klobuchar has Schmitt dead to rights: "The game in fact was in Maryland. For a senator to have false information & imply, based on confusion about name of a team, that you were in another city & somehow involved that day in what was happening in Georgia & call you a 'dirtbag' deserves an apology"
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max nesterak @maxnesterak.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Minnesota AG candidate’s stock portfolio presents 174 potential conflicts of interest minnesotareformer.com/2026/09/29/m...
minnesotareformer.com
Minnesota AG candidate’s stock portfolio presents 174 potential conflicts of interest • Minnesota Reformer
If Republican Ron Schutz wins the attorney general’s race in November, he will be responsible for enforcing Minnesota’s laws against the country’s biggest and most powerful corporations. His own perso...
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It's a good day to google "Foxconn," "Wisconsin," "Trump," "2018," "13,000 jobs" and "didn't happen, didn't even come close"
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Tea Pain @teapainusa.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Mike Johnson promises permanent vacations if Republicans win.
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Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The world might look very different right now if Judge Boasberg had been able to hold contempt proceedings in 2025 & the administration had been held accountable. Instead, emboldened by his success, Trump continues to treat the courts like a game to be played. joycevance.substack.com/p/consequenc...
joycevance.substack.com
Consequences
Last Thursday, the White House, almost as soon as Judge Kelly entered his order forcing the administration to restore access to CNN, MSNOW, and Politico, began searching for play in the joints.
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Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Last night I wrote about consequences, and what happens when the courts give Trump a pass. I hope you'll take a moment to read it, especially in this moment where we see the Court isn't immune to public pressure—Justice Alito just recused from a case because of it.
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George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I have never underestimated Trump’s lying, or his ability to spew bullshit. But he has in fact lost substantial control of his mind. And his ability to distinguish truth from lies—which was never really strong or important to him—is, at this point, de minimis.
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My latest piece about SCOTUS' anti-voting decision was originally exclusively for Democracy Docket members. Based on the reaction, earlier today, the team decided to drop the paywall. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/just...
democracydocket.com
Justice Jackson found a bright side. I am not sure I see one.
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration can resume using its voter suppression database to help Republicans remove voters from the rolls, I called it what it is: a te...
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 28/09/2026
Dr. Bandy Lee explains why she believes the MAGA movement can be understood through what psychiatry calls a “shared delusion or shared psychosis,” warning that emotionally driven delusions can spread rapidly through a population: “You do not even need physical exposure for the symptoms to spread.”
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
New, from me: Once memory-holed, DOGE is now the subject of revisionism. To better understand why DOGE failed, I talked to people in the civic tech movement that DOGE displaced, who continue to offer the alternative model for how to modernize govt. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/doge-vs-ci...
donmoynihan.substack.com
DOGE vs. Civic Tech
As DOGE revisionism picks up, a contrast with the civic tech movement it displaced illuminates its failure
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"An admission that the American president offered to sell arms to China is extraordinary. The Communist-ruled nation is considered by most policymakers and legislators of both parties to be the greatest military, economic and diplomatic rival of the United States..." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Offered to Sell Arms to China, U.S. Ambassador Says
President Trump made the offer to Xi Jinping, China’s leader, said David Perdue, the ambassador to China. The White House later said the U.S. had no plans for such a sale.
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The Sgt Joker @thesgtjoker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
There are more rapists walking free at Cornell than there are transgender college students competing in sports. Guess which ones American oligarchs want you to focus on so their Republican buddies get reelected?
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The kids these days will hardly believe it, but a mere two years ago, the mental & physical (lack of) acuity of Elderly Presidents was the Great Issue of Our Time. Someone should tell Jake Tapper & Alex Thompson, so they can write a book on it.
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waxmonkey @waxmonkey.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
ok so at this point we *dont* want the strait that we control open
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davidrlurie @davidrlurie.com · 26/09/2026
They fraudulently got ... nothing.
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Because of the Texas state government's error, Texas "counties are now dealing with nearly a year of backlogged voter registration tasks to process. They could include new registrations or simply updates to voters’ existing records, like a change in address..." www.votebeat.org/texas/2026/0...
votebeat.org
Tens of thousands of Texas voter registration applications likely ensnared in state error
Democrats are calling for investigations into why voter registration applications submitted via a DPS portal weren’t forwarded to counties.
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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Could we finish bumblefucking our way through the war in Iran before we start one with Cuba? Thanks
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Senator Andy Kim @kim.senate.gov · 25/09/2026
President Xi has been providing weapons and intelligence support to Iran against the U.S. In return, Trump rolls out the red carpet for him and meets him plane-side. Absolutely ridiculous.
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