onfocus

What happened to Kirk is horrifying, and we fear deeply for whatever will happen next. But it is undeniable that Kirk was not just a part of the extremely tense, very dangerous national dialogue, he was an accelerationist force whose work to dehumanize LGBTQ+ people and threaten the free speech of professors, teachers, and school board members around the country has directly put the livelihoods and physical safety of many people in danger.

Running a harassment mob aimed at college professors is not a noble cause.

His entire business was saying the other side was evil and dehumanizing them. The debates were simply performances, and he could not have an entertaining public fight without opposition. Turning Point did not work to bring people together; it worked to bring about a country where anyone who wasn’t a white Christian nationalist wasn’t welcome. I won’t celebrate his death, but I’m not obligated to celebrate his life, either.

We should be discussing the paradox of tolerance. If your debate partner advocates for your death is that really an open debate? I’m not sure you’re an ‘open debate advocate’ in that case.

The legal foundation for soft secession was written by conservative justices who never imagined blue states would use it. Yale Law Professor Heather Gerken calls it “uncooperative federalism.” States don’t have to actively resist. They can simply refuse to help. And without state cooperation, much of the federal government’s agenda becomes unenforceable.

I’d like to see much more of this. The Western Health Alliance is a good start. The US President is sending federal troops into states and calling it war. States need to find a way to resist this treason by working together.

This is what Chief Justice John Roberts and the rest of his craven and corrupted conservative majority on the Supreme Court wrought when they declared Trump to be a king who is above the law for any presidential acts.

Supreme Court majority implicated in extrajudicial killings.

Trump’s is quite literally a pro-crime administration, as major branches of federal government are pulled away from pursuing criminals to persecuting immigrants, often violating the law to do so. The administration has sought to cut funding for and dismantle programs addressing domestic violence. And of course the Trump administration is headed by Donald J Trump – a judge found in a civil claim that it was “substantially true” that Trump raped journalist E Jean Carroll. It’s rapists all the way down, and enablers all the way up.

This is why so many people in this administration have a history of sexual assault or domestic violence. It's the same mindset.

It is rare for a federal grand jury to decline to indict, but it's become an emerging trend in Washington amid Trump's federal crackdown, with grand juries made up of local residents declining to indict at least six times in recent weeks.

People in Washington DC are not having it.

His arrest was illegal, the lawyers said, and violated Department of Homeland Security polices that say immigration enforcement must not be conducted at locations where emergency responses are happening.

These people are completely out of control.

“As I devote myself to Scripture, to my family, and to walking in the light of the Lord, I find that this process of renewal continues to unfold, deepening day by day, step by step,” she wrote. “I no longer desire to 'Burn the Man;' I now burn with zeal in the Spirit.”

Cringing at billionaires entering their youth pastor phase. Hopefully they'll get to the love thy neighbor parts.

Under Kennedy, science has taken a backseat to conspiracists, opportunists, and snake-oil salesman. The result is now a nationwide limitation on access to a vital vaccine that has saved countless lives over the past five years.

Destroying the US public health infrastructure for what? Eugenics? So some health grifters can make money selling horse de-wormer? A sick population is less likely to protest? Social instability is helpful to Republicans? It is baffling to me but must make sense somehow to this administration.

Although his office filed felony cases against at least 38 people for alleged misconduct that either took place during last month’s protests or near the sites of immigration raids, many have been dismissed or reduced to misdemeanor charges.

LA juries are not having it. Encouraging.

See also: Prosecutors Fail to Obtain Indictment Against Man Who Threw Sandwich at Federal Agent. GOOD.

In one clip, a customer seemingly crashed the system by ordering 18,000 water cups, while in another a person got increasingly angry as the AI repeatedly asked him to add more drinks to his order.

Obligatory

John Roberts and his Republican colleagues have granted a kid with ties to criminal hackers, Ed “Big Balls” Coristine, live access to every American’s Social Security data.

Supreme Court majority implicated in US government hacking incident.