Sign in

Meli ✨

@wayofthelotus.bsky.social
1.6K followers 918 following 4.8K posts

Backyard Gardener, Botanist, Native Planter in Zone 8b/9a, Collector of Tarot, Witch, Amateur Artist, Mother of Teens, Surviving in the Southeastern US 🌈

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Meli ✨
Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 18h
Hailed by lawyers and activists as the “Brown v. Board of Education of the disability rights movement,” the 1999 Olmstead ruling said that disabled people had a right to be integrated into their communities — not forced apart from society in institutions marred by a history of abuse and neglect.
114423
Reposted by Meli ✨
Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 18h
“I really cannot support this,” Dwyer, an advocate for people with intellectual disabilities, recalled telling Wasserman. “You’re talking about forcing people into institutional settings.” He later told me: "I'm not sure how I got invited."
213920
Reposted by Meli ✨
Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 18h
Hugo Dwyer, one of those seated around the wooden conference table, couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The strategy described by Miller’s aide threatened to roll back decades of progress in the disability rights movement — all to serve Trump's demands to clear homeless encampments in U.S. cities
114220
Reposted by Meli ✨
Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 18h
Scoop: At a secret meeting this summer, an aide to Stephen Miller laid out Trump administration's plan to make it easier for states to round up and institutionalize mentally ill homeless people — by pushing a drastic policy change that would weaken the rights of millions of disabled Americans.
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.
25739439
Reposted by Meli ✨
Team Talarico @teamtalaricohq.bsky.social · 12h
Since taking office, Ken Paxton has spent $1.9 million in taxpayer funds on luxury travel, including to: — China — Israel — India — Italy — Malta — Taiwan — Albania — Greece — Palm Beach — South Africa — Dominican Republic — 25 trips to California — The 2024 Kentucky Derby
50764335
Reposted by Meli ✨
Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 13h
Mike Pompeo has been rewarded with a teaching fellowship at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The same school that canceled my class on media, race and international affairs. @columbiasipa.bsky.social share.google/KEvTy5yER71U...
share.google
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to join SIPA faculty
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will join the School of International and Public Affairs as a fellow at SIPA’s Institute of Global Politics in March, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
1242505828
Reposted by Meli ✨
damniel spookradski @self.agency · 12h
31185196
Reposted by Meli ✨
Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 13h
The tagline was something like "When the pressures on, Jay Feely won't come through for you" as the image of a kick going wildly wide right plays in screen.
1480040
Reposted by Meli ✨
Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 13h
So former NFL kicker Jay Feely is running for Congress as a MAGA guy and his opponent just put out an ad with a bunch of his missed kicks lol
262537290
Reposted by Meli ✨
Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 12h
My brilliant lawyer is doing this pro bono (free). You can support him directly with a tax-deductible donation here www.nationalsecuritylaw.org/donate
nationalsecuritylaw.org
National Security Counselors - Donate 💰
NSC runs largely on charitable donations, now more than ever. With every new step the government takes to implement its destructive agenda, we are seeing our workload balloon, mostly due to new whistl...
3653147
Reposted by Meli ✨
Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 15h
BREAKING: A while back, I sued DOGE (FOIA) to get Musk's communications. DOJ argued that Musk wasn't a govt employee anymore, BUT Hegseth just hired him again to work on a Pentagon warfare initiative called Project Meridian. So we noticed Judge Boasberg. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
13762711638
Reposted by Meli ✨
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22h
STEPHEN MOORE: We had much much higher inflation under Biden BERMAN: Let me stop you. Has inflation gone up or down since Trump took office? MOORE: Well, it was about 3.2% when Biden left office, it's 3.4% now BERMAN: So it's gone up MOORE: That is true
2432859700
Reposted by Meli ✨
MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 22h
The White House is coordinating with the Justice Department to hide its abortion agenda from voters until after they've voted in order to try to influence the results of the election.
16235101707
Reposted by Meli ✨
MeteorBlades @meteorblades.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
How much “assistance“did White House provide in this arrest? Will Marco Rubio soon be viceroy of Bolivia the way he is of Venezuela? What about Ecuador? www.commondreams.org/news/roger-m...
commondreams.org
Days After Rubio Pulls Visa, Agents in Bolivia 'Kidnap' Attorney General Who Charged 'MAGA's Man in LatAm' | Common Dreams
The Bolivia Public Prosecutor's Office denounced the "kidnapping" of their attorney general, Roger Mariaca, after he was detained at the airport. Is this a political move by the US government to silen...
1148
Reposted by Meli ✨
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Listening to Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit wave away the sexual assault charges against DeShaun Watson — even saying “winning is the best deodorant” — was pretty jarring, especially this week.
1001451293
Reposted by Meli ✨
David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 22h
When politicians who have never had to appeal to non-conservatives in their lives suddenly face a tough general election campaign, it turns out they're very bad at it! Here's @ryanlcooper.com on the candidates who can't candidate: prospect.org/2026/10/02/m...
prospect.org
Panicked Red-State Republicans Learning Politics on the Fly - The American Prospect
GOP candidates in places like Kansas and Texas are having to really campaign for the first time.
718345
Reposted by Meli ✨
Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
NEW: Colorado is suffering from drought, wildfires & soaring temperatures, putting climate change front of mind as the Supreme Court hears Boulder's attempt to sue oil companies for deceiving consumers over the impact of their products. Here's what's at stake: www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
nbcnews.com
As Colorado burns, a novel climate change lawsuit seeking damages from oil companies heads to the Supreme Court
Boulder argues that Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy “intentionally misled the public” about climate change, leading to more costly extreme weather events, like wildfires.
26132
Reposted by Meli ✨
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
NEW: It's that time of year: time to launch my annual guide to November's elections! I guide you through over *650* interesting elections, & why they matter. Judges, AGs, govs, mayors, lawmakers, AGs, county & school boards—plus many (many) ballot measures. Oh, & Congress. Explore & bookmark!
boltsmag.org
Your Cheat Sheet to the 2026 General Elections - Bolts
Congressional races will take center stage on Nov. 3, but they’re just the tip of what to watch. Prosecutors and governors, attorneys general and sheriffs, school boards and mayors, utility... Read Mo...
23781430
Reposted by Meli ✨
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
goes back to this quote from the story below: “The fact that they didn’t take the cameras down shows that we are the product. What they are doing is selling to much bigger agencies the ability to spy on a ton of people.”
222650
Reposted by Meli ✨
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 22h
Voter registration deadlines are SUNDAY in Alaska, Rhode Island, South Carolina. And MONDAY in: Arizona, Arkansas Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and *Texas*. If you live in these states, verify your registration now, literally.
10791626
Reposted by Meli ✨
David W. Congdon @dwcongdon.com · 22h
Rufo is truly one of the most evil people around, and there’s a lot of competition. I’m glad this article made sure to connect the dots to Nazi-era white supremacism. It’s about as blatant as one can get.
68820
Reposted by Meli ✨
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h
"What is becoming increasingly clear is that the administration does not see itself as a litigant before the court and does not see its attorneys as bound by court orders. It sees DOJ attorneys as somehow coequal with SCOTUS, the only attorneys in the federal system not bound by ethical rules."
publicnotice.co
The mendaciousness of the latest DOJ attack on judges
Blanche created a new rule out of thin air and is mad it’s not being followed.
541537519
Reposted by Meli ✨
Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 22h
The ability to pour hundreds of millions of pounds into a loss-making TV channel, bent on wrenching British politics sharply to the right, is yet another of the ways in which extreme wealth is trying to remake UK democracy. It needs to be part of any serious conversation about political funding.
501532626
Reposted by Meli ✨
NPR @npr.org · 21h
U.S. employers added 29,000 jobs in September as the unemployment rate inched up to 4.2%. Job gains for July and August were revised down by a total of 60,000 jobs, extending a lackluster run for the job market. n.pr/4ARKWKD
n.pr
The U.S. added only 29,000 jobs in September as job market lacks spark
U.S. employers added 29,000 jobs in September as the unemployment rate inched up to 4.2%. Job gains for July and August were revised down by a total of 60,000 jobs, extending a lackluster run for the job market.
2715448
Reposted by Meli ✨
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 22h
Big news in the Senate battle. After pouring $30 million in NC, John Thune's GOP SuperPAC stops spending there, effectively conceding Cooper is likely to win. And they're dumping their first 7-figures in Kansas. (Note: a Dem internal found Hamilton up today.) www.semafor.com/article/10/0...
27979243
Reposted by Meli ✨
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 22h
not that you should expect anything more than rank idiocy from this pair of racists, but the idea that whiteness means a "high trust" society of "social cohesion" is some of the stupidest shit i have ever heard. these people live in a fantasy land that you could dispel by simply opening a book.
talkingpointsmemo.com
Chris Rufo — Known For ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ Panics — Tries to Make ‘the Indian Question’ a Thing
To the degree that a “respectable” or “moderate” right exists today in...
24659601107
Reposted by Meli ✨
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.
1461664990
Reposted by Meli ✨
The Democratic Coalition @thedemcoalition.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Chris Wright’s check lists his employer as “US Dept of Energy.” $12,000. Trump’s Energy Secretary, funding a Senate race Cooper leads by 15.
dworkinsubstack.com
Trump’s Senate Pick Is Losing. Look Who’s Paying For Him.
Also: The judge, the lawyer, and the peanut farmer Trump didn’t see coming
12613
Reposted by Meli ✨
Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Mike Rogers wants to put a data center in your backyard because he's getting rich off of them.
14254612177
Reposted by Meli ✨
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
My man looks like Poochie the Rockin' Tech Support
theguardian.com
Exclusive: Major Republican fundraiser winning contracts from Trump administration, emails reveal
Palmer Luckey has donated $5.9m to Republicans and bundled more, while reaping billions in Pentagon contracts
4193117482
Reposted by Meli ✨
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.
71316300
Reposted by Meli ✨
Q. McLamore @ghawinriver.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This. And while we're on the subject, you wanna talk about "changing stories," let's talk about DA offices and cops in general, eh? Imagine what reporting would look like if the press treated known liars with the same level of skepticism and scrutiny that they treat victims.
09320
Reposted by Meli ✨
Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 01/10/2026
For the Tompkins County DA to go from "I recognize the reality that it can take years of therapy & healing for victims of sexual assaults to fully process & understand what happened to them" to "the evidence did not support the filing of criminal charges was legally correct" makes my blood boil. 1/
782265536
Reposted by Meli ✨
Mississippi Free Press @mississippifreepress.org · 01/10/2026
During the Sept. 22 hearing in Gulfport, Mississippi, 55 people made comments. Committee chairman Sen. Dean Kirby said this is most of any redistricting hearing the committee has hosted throughout the state. Each person making comments was given two minutes to speak. buff.ly/oxAULFs
buff.ly
Mississippians Condemn Redistricting Efforts During Gulfport Hearing
Mississippians on the Gulf Coast were mostly negative on any redistricting proposals that may come from the Mississippi Legislature.
1237
Reposted by Meli ✨
emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Note: I guess this is what Andrew Bailey didn't want a part of. (He probably hated the slander of Republican MN Judge Patrick Schiltz as well.)
524377
Reposted by Meli ✨
Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🚨BREAKING: Georgia’s Republican-controlled election board invited the Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday to declare the state’s voting system unlawful before the upcoming midterm elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
GOP-controlled Georgia election board asks DOJ to declare state’s voting machines illegal
The request represents a major assault on the state's voting system by unelected state officials.
23419571163
Reposted by Meli ✨
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Please, for the love of God, can the media stop calling random cranks who write fan fiction about their personal heroes in the past "historians."
Geoff Shepard, a former Nixon aide turned Watergate historian and revisionist, recently gave a two-hour presentation at Justice Department headquarters that laid out his theory that the deep state took Nixon down. The title of his 78-page slide deck: “Watergate As Lawfare.”
1432558566
Reposted by Meli ✨
Luke Ontario @coolhand.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“We urge you to use a ballot box” yep good call
A voter information mailer from the state of California detailing everything but mail in
2195
Reposted by Meli ✨
Mike Young @micyoung75.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The IG report finds mismanagement and cost overruns on the Fed renovation. It also states, in the president's own quoted excerpt, no violation of criminal law requiring referral and no misconduct identified. Both findings sit in the same report.
2133
Reposted by Meli ✨
Mike Young @micyoung75.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Sean Duffy put a million campaign dollars behind a super PAC electing his 26 year old son in law to Duffy's old Wisconsin seat. The candidate switched his voter registration from Florida to Wisconsin ten days before Trump endorsed him.
12310
Reposted by Meli ✨
Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
People outraged by the Cornell rape case should direct some of their energy to reforming the horribly antiquated NY laws that make it especially hard to successfully prosecute the vast majority of rapes. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
The loophole that likely doomed the Cornell rape case before it even started
Accusers who voluntarily drink have little protection under an antiquated law many see as "victim-blaming."
621480
Reposted by Meli ✨
The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 01/10/2026
The ads are government-funded, and one official even suggested that the payment scheme is partly designed to get media attention to the ads, amplifying them further. trib.al/CKhyJG8
trib.al
Trump TV Ads Backfire as New Poll Shows He’s Shockingly Toxic for GOP
As the saga around Trump’s taxpayer-funded ads grows more absurd, the author of a piece exploring Trumpian propaganda explains why no amount of disinfo can protect the GOP from Trump.
64515
Reposted by Meli ✨
David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Developers of Project Red Clay are under a time constraint to request a 30-year property (and sales) tax abatement for the hyperscale data center. The site's in an opportunity zone, which will trigger even more tax breaks. prospect.org/2026/10/01/d...
IT IS EASY TO SEE WHY Cloverleaf has set its sights on Lowndes County. Not only does Lowndes lack zoning, but the Project Red Clay site is located in an opportunity zone. Opportunity zones provide tax breaks for investors so long as they reinvest untaxed capital gains into local businesses and infrastructure. But this framework, born out of the mid-to-late-20th-century neoliberal push for alternatives to Keynesianism, has been criticized for failing to alleviate poverty in economically disadvantaged communities. Investors secure rewards for putting capital in these communities. However, they aren’t required to invest new capital there or demonstrate that their investments materially improve residents’ quality of life.

Congress established the Qualified Opportunity Zone program under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The One Big Beautiful Bill made this program permanent, leaving no shortage of incentives for developers to target communities like Lowndes for data center projects.
2306
Reposted by Meli ✨
David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Data center construction has migrated to places of low resistance: poor, often Black areas where corrupt deals are commonplace and the harms to residents invisible. Lowndes County, Alabama, in the heart of the Black Belt, is one of those places. 🧵 prospect.org/2026/10/01/d...
prospect.org
‘I Know I Couldn’t Live Here’: Standing Up to a Data Center in Alabama’s Black Belt - The American Prospect
Faced with little transparency about a mammoth facility, Lowndes County fights back.
7409165
Reposted by Meli ✨
The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
AP: A new AP-NORC poll paints a dismal picture for the president. Just 26% of U.S. adults approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low. apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com
Most Americans blame Trump for high prices as midterms approach, a new AP-NORC poll finds
A new AP-NORC poll finds that most Americans blame President Donald Trump for persistently high prices, while only about 2 in 10 approve of his handling of the cost of living.
54517
Reposted by Meli ✨
Skeletons, But Swole @untimelygamer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The administrator who allegedly handled the Cornell rapists' case posted this on LinkedIn, and even without that context, what a wild thing to admit on LinkedIn, the app where you network to find a job.
Here's the thing: Being a servant leader to a professional association you love is rewarding and relentlessly never-ending; it's what makes it reenergizing and kind of infuriating at the same time.
I won't lie: 2024 was
one of the most challenging years of my professional career. I thought about leaving student affairs and trying something new multiple times! My people (they know who they are) and my side-hustle as ASCA's President helped reassured me that there is meaning in navigating seemingly impossible things [highlight] AND it also helped me learn that caring less is okay. In fact, caring a little less in 2025 has given me space to prioritize finding meaning in other facets of life, and not only is that okay, it should be uplifted and encouraged. [highlight]
173
Reposted by Meli ✨
FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The Trump administration is expanding a heavy metals mine on Arizona public land, jeopardizing the habitat of endangered jaguars and ocelots.
66337
Reposted by Meli ✨
Hunter Walker @hunterw.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There is evidence- including communications from Smith's team - that was uncovered by the investigation into the investigation. But yes, it is hypocritical and bad to think members of Congress should be the only people in government protected from transparency
33113
Reposted by Meli ✨
I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 30/09/2026
“He has also recounted punching an inmate at a juvenile facility until the man was bleeding, intimidating a mental-health provider by blocking the door & telling him he would never have time to call for help, & pulling a Marine Corps knife on a psychiatrist.” A kid, he punched a kid til they bled.
2449
Reposted by Meli ✨
I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 30/09/2026
““She goes, ‘I can handle myself’. I said, ‘You can?’ And I remember grabbing her, slamming her into our front door,” he laughed during an interview on a podcast called Protector Nation.” Guy physically abused his wife because she said she could take care of herself.
thedailybeast.com
‘Christian Warrior’ Candidate’s Dark Past Revealed
Fresh videos and posts unearthed by the Daily Beast have placed the Republican under growing scrutiny as the midterms loom.
67532