Under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, federal commissioners were explicitly paid considerably more for ruling in favor of slaveholders than for freeing an accused person.
22.02.2026 09:05
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Under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, federal commissioners were explicitly paid considerably more for ruling in favor of slaveholders than for freeing an accused person.
Let's try this again 👋
Hi Bluesky - I'm Massachusetts' Attorney General. You might know me from suing President Trump nearly 50 times, beating Uber and Lyft in court, or being the first woman of color elected to statewide office in MA.
I officially left X today - help me find my MA people?
Digitized photographs from Guinea-Bissau's struggle for independence...
The 2nd to last comment made me laugh so hard I'm crying
There must be trials. Not as an emotive aspiration, rhetorical meme, or empty threat. A concrete plan. A dedicated special court for it. Structural legislation and prosecutors and funding and all the rest of it. Everything necessary for it can be done constitutionally. All it takes is the will.
I needed to hear it
‘The goal has been to demystify’: how a colonial Nairobi library was restored and given back to the people www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
I like @polphilpod.bsky.social ‘s definition of reactionary centrism - the reactionary right must be understood but not blamed and the left must be blamed but not understood
That's a huge WAR! Oil Can!
Illuminating: "CBP’s arrest and misconduct rate is [5x] higher than other federal law enforcement ... over the last decade, the arrest rate of CBP officers and Border Patrol agents (.5%) has been HIGHER than the arrest rate of undocumented immigrants" (.4%) www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/ice-101-ho...
"The authority the political branches possess over immigration does not include the power to seize liberty first and justify confinement later. Due process is not a courtesy extended at the government's convenience. Due process is the condition that makes custody lawful in the first place.”
once my son woke me up to ask what a three dimensional hexagon was called. yes, please. ask me about the gay instead.
Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas is just a delight on every level
‘Living in today’s America reminds me of nursery school torment. The reigning tyranny; the men who brutalise the innocent – like the boy with the hammer – because they can; the people who, like my mother, say this can’t be true, life can’t be that terrible.’
Yiyun Li:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...
VA Gov. Spanberger (moderate, was in CIA) and NYC Mayor Mamdani (left, is in DSA) both taking steps to block local law enforcement from helping ICE as it violently violates people's rights is a good example of how the relevant divide in the Dem coalition isn't center-left, it's fight-don't fight.
he's literally the "it's fascism" guy
That's a Seadogs helmet, isn't it?
I understand folks are scared but I want you to think about the mechanics of this.
There are more polling places (>100k) than ICE and CBP agents combined, so they can only pick a few districts to try to intimidate.
Now what happens when cell phone footage of that goes online in the early morning?
6/ The Post has lost over 375,000 subscribers in just over a year. If 10% of those readers subscribed to The 51st instead, we could hire 10 reporters and five editors, dramatically scaling our coverage of the city at this critical time. 51st.news/signup
My latest in @vox.com. Spectacle is the president's greatest strength, and his administration's greatest weakness
Note the shift after Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported
... really feel like most americans don't want to be ruled by billionaire pedophiles and some politicians could make some headway on that.
Gracie’s is open today and I was going to put free ice cream cones around Union Square, but then I remembered the biblical amount of rats in the neighborhood so I did free ice cream tokens instead.
"Save your soul and quit your job"
I want to start out by telling you how excited I was to see you holding a Q&A with your constituents concerning the egregious actions of ICE in MN these past 3 weeks. However, I was quickly horrified when I saw not only who your guest speaker was, but heard the things he had to say. DHS is currently buying warehouses to turn into concentration camps. In a country already littered with detention centers. People are being grabbed off the streets and disappeared. Americans are being executed. And you thought having a former assistant secretary for DHS to explain how no matter how much we suffer, ICE and BP are necessary, was a good idea? Maybe you are oblivious to what ICE and BP have operated as since their inception, but many of us are not. I taught for 7 years in Texas before moving to Brookline. I watched my students lose fathers, brothers, aunts, even boyfriends, to ICE and deportation. And when I say lose, I don't just mean they were deported. MANY were killed in the process, whether stateside through mistreatment in detention centers, or murdered once sent to countries with zero support or protection.
I cannot begin to express how disgusted I felt listening to Nunez-Neto describe how necessary ICE is. Truly. It's one of the more disgusting things I've heard from an official of a democratic administration. And I am deeply ashamed to have you as a representative, presenting that man and his beliefs as the correct stance in this moment. All this to say: Abolishing ICE is the moderate position. That is the bare minimum you must work towards as a representative of this community. ESPECIALLY when the MAJORITY of Americans want ICE abolished. Anything less, and you might as well be a fascist with Trump. Because you are ignoring the desires of the majority of this country. That is not democracy. Please don't try running for a democratic seat in this state again if you are just going to push xenophobic strong border nonsense like what I had to sit through last night. Shame on you. Abolish ICE. Prosecute ICE.
Note I sent to @repauchincloss.bsky.social this morning concerning that heinous Q&A last night
Devastating final line: "These agents, and the president who sent them, are no one’s heroes, no one’s saviors—just men with guns who have to hide their faces to shoot a mom in the face, and a nurse in the back."
But will it play in Peoria?
📣 Are you an early- or mid-career scholar or practitioner passionate about #Democracy and the #RuleofLaw in #Europe? Apply now for the re:constitution Fellowship 2026/2027!
@democracyreporting.bsky.social
@stiftungmercator.bsky.social
The killing of Alex Pretti and the grotesque lying was an overreach by the administration. They've paid a price and had to pull back a bit. But it's when there's some disarray that the democratic opposition needs to intensify the offensive, and turn a marginal tactical success into a major victory.
