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Sean Flaherty

@sean-flaherty.bsky.social
662 followers 463 following 701 posts

Interested in elections, culture, national security, civil liberties. flahertysean at protonmail.com jWpK.72 on Signal

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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 08/10/2026
BREAKING: A Trump-appointed judge has ruled DHS violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment when it removed Ahmed Soliman to Equatorial Guinea and must facilitate his return to the US. prospect.org/2026/10/07/f...
prospect.org
Federal Judge Rules DHS Must Bring Back Gay Arizona Man Imprisoned in Africa - The American Prospect
A Trump-apppointed judge ordered Ahmed Soliman must be returned to the United States.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Probability that some ICE officers will use these gloves on people who cooperate but verbally challenge their detention, and on protesters who are unthreatening but annoy them: 100% or damn close to it.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
From a 2022 email from world-renown e-voting expert Douglas Jones (homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/), shared with permission. The TSE is Brazil's central election authority. In a close, high-stakes election Brazil is voting on a fundamentally insecure and unverifiable system.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Before leaving the country in 2018, Brazilian computer scientist Diego Aranha worked tirelessly to show vulnerabilities in the system and the need for reliable, voter-verified paper records of each ballot. www.zdnet.com/article/braz...
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Prominent experts have pointed to grave vulnerabilities in Brazil's voting system. Note: Jair Bolsonaro was elected on these same machines in 2018. His 2022 claims of fraud were disingenuous, though accurate w/r/t to vulnerabilities.
riotimesonline.com
Brazil's Voting Machines Keep No Paper Trail - Can Voters Still Trust Them in 2026?
Brazil is the largest democracy voting with no voter-verified paper trail. A 2025 poll finds 43% distrust the machines as the 2026 race nears.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
By which experts? From the article: "Brazilians will cast their ballots through an electronic voting machine recognized by experts as one of the fastest and safest systems in the world. Still, confidence in the machines has declined amid consistent attacks by Mr. Bolsonaro’s movement."
nytimes.com
Brazil Election: What to Know as Lula and Bolsonaro Face Off in 2026 Presidential Race (Gift Article)
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the leftist incumbent, and Flávio Bolsonaro, the right-wing challenger, face off in a race that could define the future of Latin America.
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Literal No Kings. Either Article I means something or it doesn't.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Who says AI can't be controlled? tinyurl.com/3rvmh38j
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Rally for Fatou Traore tomorrow at 5pm in the ped mall by the fountain. Fatou Traore is here legally. She is in ICE detention Monroe, LA and faces deportation to Sierra Leone, a country she has never been to.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
ICE said, he said. God. ICE has no credibility and needs to be abolished.
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
All American @blueskyairborne.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Share his face. bsky.app/profile/melm...
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Devastating.
apnews.com
USAID fallout: In Nepal, when the aid workers stopped coming, the women and babies started dying
The Associated Press has found that the decision by the United States to slash its foreign aid funding last year has increased pregnancy complications and deaths in Nepal.
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Trump gave a bigly ballyhooed address to the nation about how China stole the 2020 election two months ago and everyone including him immediately forgot about it.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It's cruel regardless of whether or not those deported face abuse or torture in a third country. To send people somewhere where they have no connection or community and don't speak the language is punitive, plain and simple.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Third-country deportation is deliberately cruel. "This month, lawyers for two men deported to Equatorial Guinea said they were beaten and held at gunpoint in a hotel-turned-detention center by police who covered their heads with bags."
apnews.com
Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to allow quick third-country deportations to continue
President Donald Trump's administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow continued quick deportations of immigrants to third countries where they have no ties.
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
Gail Helt @gailhelt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A reminder that China shared imagery with Iran that allowed the Iranians to kill American soldiers.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Not to be huffy about Sipher, whose writings on Russia and other matters I've found valuable. But he is wrong on phone voting.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Disturbing that a national security expert is calling for phone voting. Here's a good explainer of why it's a bad idea. Other countries that use it have only traded security for convenience. blog.citp.princeton.edu/2026/01/16/i...
blog.citp.princeton.edu
Internet voting is insecure and should not be used in public elections - CITP Blog
All internet voting systems are insecure. The insecurity is worse than a well-run conventional paper ballot system, because a very small number of people may have the power to change any (or all) vote...
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Something more recent. Other countries have only decided to sacrifice security for convenience. blog.citp.princeton.edu/2026/01/16/i...
blog.citp.princeton.edu
Internet voting is insecure and should not be used in public elections - CITP Blog
All internet voting systems are insecure. The insecurity is worse than a well-run conventional paper ballot system, because a very small number of people may have the power to change any (or all) vote...
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Ask members of Congress if they would vote on their phones in their secret ballot caucus leadership elections. They wouldn't do it to save their lives.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The secret ballot is the difference. By law, your vote can't be traced to you. Way, way different than banking. verifiedvoting.org/publication/...
verifiedvoting.org
If I Can Shop and Bank Online, Why Can’t I Vote Online?
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
James Talarico @jamestalarico.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Extraordinary, powerful and heart-wrenching. Active duty Marine Colonel Zach Schmidt, speaking in his personal capacity, about Khalil, an Afghan national whose family helped U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Khalil was deported by the U.S. on Friday to a conflict zone.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Gift link. More lives being cruelly ruined. Arrests way up in June, July. 4% of July arrests had past violent conviction. 380 arrests/day in TX. By not punishing employers, by collecting taxes, America made a tacit deal w/unlawful immigrants. We owe them. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Of course, a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are here now and the dismantling and replacement of ICE go well beyond the Dignity Act; I am thinking of the bill's asylum and border provisions.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
2/2 What to say. Pray for this man.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
1/2 Outrages that defy adjectives. Thanks to David Kurtz, for bearing witness.
open.substack.com
This May Be the Worst Wrongful Deportation Yet
INSIDE: Greg Abbott ... Sigal Chattah ... Dolly Parton
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
"It was clear that DHS did not have confidence that the numbers they have stated publicly were accurate," said an official with knowledge of the meeting in Pennsylvania, who did not have permission to speak publicly."
npr.org
DHS acknowledges the noncitizen numbers it touted on voter rolls were inflated
The Trump administration claimed to have found 250,000 noncitizens on the voter rolls in four states. But the agency's communications with states since then indicate that data was preliminary.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Per Georgetown law prof Steve Vladeck, an injunction re another case, LWV of Massachusetts v. Trump, prevents Trump's mail-in ballot plans from moving forward unless higher courts "freeze" that injunction. Also litigation to come re the USPS rule. www.stevevladeck.com/p/246-making...
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
As @jpygold.bsky.social pointed out this is an academic freedom issue as it was done contra faculty consensus. Also, strange that none of the folks jumping to protect a eugenicist organized a letter complaining about this.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"Must read" is trite by now but I don't know what else to say. Bernstein: "I don’t take this debacle to mean that the admin has figured out how to manipulate, GDP, inflation, and unemployment reports. But, like Ms. Rampell, I’ve lost my confidence in that assertion."
econjared.substack.com
The Government Report That Made Me Stop Trusting Our Statistical Agencies
I’ve waved people off this degree of mistrust. I no longer can do so.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
4/4 Fourth, pass the Dignity Act. Keep the border secure, and make the asylum process humane and efficient. salazar.house.gov/dignity-act
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
3/4 Third, abolish ICE. Its culture is beyond the effort it would take to reform it. Hideously obvious by now. For those who say that would b 2 disruptive, remember that ICE was created only 23 years ago in George W. Bush's first term. We can create an effective ICE replacement. archive.ph/mPe0N
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
2/4 Second, a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for all now here illegally and all who want to come here. New immigration should be responsive to the conditions of the US economy. Immigrants overwhelmingly take jobs that citizens won't do, and we have historically low unemployment.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
1/4 FWIW, my ideal immigration would be first, amnesty for all now in the US unlawfully who are otherwise law-abiding. For those afraid of the A-word, remember Ronald Reagan signed a bipartisan amnesty bill in 1986 (www.reaganlibrary.gov/public/docum...).
brookings.edu
Assessing US immigration policy in the second Trump administration | Brookings
A summary of the Brookings event titled "Assessing US immigration policy in the second Trump administration," held on January 13, 2026.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
2/2 ...think it's important to defend democracy, only 50% of young Black voters think it is. So the glass is half full, but major work to do and no room for complacency.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
1/2 Democracy is still a Top 5 issue for Black voters as a whole, but young Black voters are increasingly apathetic or skeptical. Terrance Woodbury, D strategist & pollster, has some jarring insights. At 34:50, he talks abt Top 5 issues for Black voters. Democracy: #4. But while 80% of Boomers...
podcasts.apple.com
Are we really gonna defend democracy again?!?
Podcast Episode · Clock It with Symone & Eugene · August 13 · 40m
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
If you're not up to speed on the latest in "race science" and its currency among some in the Silicon Valley elites (I've only been peripherally aware), this piece is an eye-opener: www.scientificamerican.com/article/sili...
scientificamerican.com
Silicon Valley Is Reviving the Discredited and Discriminatory Idea of ‘Race Science’
Scientific racism today must be seen and rejected for what it truly is—a hollow attempt to dress discrimination in the garb of science and reason
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Still true.
open.substack.com
America’s Authoritarian Fantasies
Defying demagogues who daydream about dictators.
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
Public Citizen @publiccitizen.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The Trump admin is opening 45 million acres of protected land to logging and road construction. This would repeal a decades old rule that preserves the wild nature of forest land. Trump is literally cutting down the areas that make America great.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I did not remember that Trump cancelled the same exercises outright in 2018. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/u...
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
“it costs less money than what we’re doing now” is the only answer we need to push normies towards universal healthcare
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Incredibly moving account of an openly trans CIA officer who briefed Vice President Mike Pence, and served in the second Trump Presidency because she believed was needed. Fascinating natsec story, and a powerful account of what life was like for a trans woman.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
It's likely that all Mangioni's murder of Brian Thompson accomplished was to make the CEO class feel a sense of unity in besiegement, and to further divide society.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The reports of surveillance and harassment of groups protesting ICE/CBP in Minnesota remind me that I still need to read this State Dept Cuba report before even more outrages bury it from memory. If nothing else, I recommend Thom Hartmann's chilling summary. tinyurl.com/zmmee84t
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
The Intercept @theintercept.com · 16/08/2026
This time last year, the LA City Council presented him with a proclamation honoring his efforts. Federal authorities say Parias is an undocumented immigrant who had previously evaded arrest. But their account does not explain a growing mountain of evidence. interc.pt/4g2dBUX
interc.pt
ICE Shot a Journalist and Threw Him in Detention. He’s Approaching 300 Days Behind Bars With a Festering Wound.
With the case of Carlitos Ricardo Parias, the U.S. has broken its own record for holding a journalist in custody.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
But "Vote Blue for the Affordable Care Act, the Iran nuclear deal, increase of progressive taxation, regulation of carbon-emitting power plants, the CFPB, and a whole lot of other important progressive policies" is wordy but accurate. No opinion on the source of Clinton/Obama wealth.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
2/2 Likewise, in defending its sovereignty, Ukraine has no choice but to do everything possible to minimize civilian casualties when it strikes inside Russian territory. But "We have no choice" is a notion that can all too easily legitimize atrocity.
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Sean Flaherty @sean-flaherty.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
1/2 IMO truer words were never spoken. Sometimes there is no choice; for example, since being invaded Ukraine has had no choice but to defend itself with military force. substack.com/@snyder/note...
substack.com
Timothy Snyder (@snyder)
One of the most dangerous sentences in politics is: “We have no choice.” There is almost always a choice, even if every choice is difficult. Once leaders convince themselves that history, revolution, ...
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Reposted by Sean Flaherty
Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
"The punishment should fit the crime" is an old, well established principle. "That punishment was disproportionate and made things worse" does not mean "wrongdoing should never be punished or even scrutinized." This difference is so easy to understand that it takes effort to not understand it.
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