Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman
@bam5.bsky.social
Suddenly an immigration lawyer. Not quite ready to give up on this place.
Pinned
One Billion Supreme Court Justices
This 100% won’t happen, but a fun, roundabout way for SCOTUS to finally give stuff like the War Powers Resolution teeth would be to affirm that the Alien Enemies Act only applies if *Congress* declares war.
The Trump administration said that any Venezuelan immigrant it targets under the Alien Enemies Act "shall be ineligible for any relief or protection from removal" — including legal protections against deporting people to likely torture or persecution.
The AEA must be repealed.
The AEA must be repealed.
NEW: The Venezuelan nationals the US government sent to El Salvador in March and April were tortured and subjected to other abuses, including sexual violence.
In a new report, HRW and @cristosal.bsky.social provide a comprehensive account of the treatment of these people in El Salvador.
In a new report, HRW and @cristosal.bsky.social provide a comprehensive account of the treatment of these people in El Salvador.
November 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
This 100% won’t happen, but a fun, roundabout way for SCOTUS to finally give stuff like the War Powers Resolution teeth would be to affirm that the Alien Enemies Act only applies if *Congress* declares war.
Just one poll but it’s not great!
"When voters are read direct quotes from Platner’s since-deleted Reddit posts, he loses to Collins by double digits."
EMILYs List poll: Platner will lose Maine Senate race
The Maine Senate race is all but a must-win for Democrats looking to take back the Senate.
www.politico.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Just one poll but it’s not great!
Reposted by Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman
People love to talk about not complying in advance and yet whenever there's bad news about Trump those same people are so quick to do, "Ah well, nevertheless."
We'll never get accountability unless we keep fighting for it, no matter how exhausting it may be.
We'll never get accountability unless we keep fighting for it, no matter how exhausting it may be.
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
People love to talk about not complying in advance and yet whenever there's bad news about Trump those same people are so quick to do, "Ah well, nevertheless."
We'll never get accountability unless we keep fighting for it, no matter how exhausting it may be.
We'll never get accountability unless we keep fighting for it, no matter how exhausting it may be.
Reposted by Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman
Weird how at some point the ACA subsidies went from meaningless technocrat babble that it was obviously incredibly stupid for Democrats to try protecting to being incredibly important for helping people avoid suffering.
And Democrats managed to get it wrong both times!! What were the odds?
And Democrats managed to get it wrong both times!! What were the odds?
November 11, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Weird how at some point the ACA subsidies went from meaningless technocrat babble that it was obviously incredibly stupid for Democrats to try protecting to being incredibly important for helping people avoid suffering.
And Democrats managed to get it wrong both times!! What were the odds?
And Democrats managed to get it wrong both times!! What were the odds?
Reposted by Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman
Trump shattering a bunch of norms in a clumsy power grab which winds up causing lots of noise but not actually netting him anything feels pretty on brand
This is really something. Trump/GOP efforts to rig midterms running into serious trouble
November 11, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Trump shattering a bunch of norms in a clumsy power grab which winds up causing lots of noise but not actually netting him anything feels pretty on brand
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a messaging pardon before but this might be one.
Trump’s pardon attorney Ed Martin claims Trump is pardoning his Georgia co-defendants and other “alternate electors.”
Note: Trump’s Georgia co-defendants are charged under state law. The president can’t pardon people for state crimes.
Note: Trump’s Georgia co-defendants are charged under state law. The president can’t pardon people for state crimes.
November 10, 2025 at 5:32 AM
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a messaging pardon before but this might be one.
What do people think is going to happen to the GOP’s standing if the ACA subsidies vote is, as predicted, a meaningless gesture?
I still kinda think it’s going to be D+12 in a year because the orange god king is determined to to be a blansas sized political suicide bomber
also, like, the die for pain was cast a year ago. the pain will continue for, at minimum, another three years. every choice now is between only bad options, and people will suffer no matter what choice is made, and senators cannot and should not be immune to that.
November 10, 2025 at 2:06 AM
What do people think is going to happen to the GOP’s standing if the ACA subsidies vote is, as predicted, a meaningless gesture?
Merits of the deal aside, you don’t have to overthink this. If there are no subsidies in 2026 it will rebound on the president and his party. It’s up to Republicans if they want to defuse the issue or not.
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
If the Dems blink after all of this, for a deal that all but ensures no ACA subsidies in 2026 anyway, then what was the purpose of letting the shutdown go for 40 days in the first place?
November 10, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Merits of the deal aside, you don’t have to overthink this. If there are no subsidies in 2026 it will rebound on the president and his party. It’s up to Republicans if they want to defuse the issue or not.
To put it more bluntly, if legislation can’t bind Trump, why is the government currently shut down?
“But fig, Trump can just refuse to implement that part of the law!” Ok and we can do this again in February and people can buckle down for it to the extent they’re able.
November 10, 2025 at 1:09 AM
To put it more bluntly, if legislation can’t bind Trump, why is the government currently shut down?
Wow RINO RCP has a better generic ballot for Dems than @fiftyplusone.news
November 9, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Wow RINO RCP has a better generic ballot for Dems than @fiftyplusone.news
They say the filibuster is good because it prevents wild swings in legislative policy after each national election
We really don’t talk enough about how much the 21st-century three-branch equilibrium (executive branch makes policy; judicial branch red-light-green-lights policy; Senate turns the judge-making machine on and off) is an absolute disaster for a) basic administration and b) policy predictability.
This is an absolutely insane administrative process. Within the space of a week, states were told by judges/White House
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
November 9, 2025 at 3:49 PM
They say the filibuster is good because it prevents wild swings in legislative policy after each national election
Before everyone gets mad at the judge for retiring, he's already on senior status, so this doesn't create a vacancy for Trump
“What Nixon did episodically and covertly, knowing it was illegal or improper, Trump now does routinely and overtly.” — recently retired federal judge
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why I Am Leaving the Federal Bench
A judge explains his reasons for resigning.
www.theatlantic.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Before everyone gets mad at the judge for retiring, he's already on senior status, so this doesn't create a vacancy for Trump
Reposted by Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman
this one's funny because a big chunk of what is actually fucking Golden is that his union ties made him support insane tariffs, which falls squarely inside Matt's critique about how concentrated intraparty donor/activist power leads Dems to take unpopular positions, except from the wrong direction
I mean, yes, misguided progressive criticism of Golden has driven him from office and now Republicans are going to win the seat. According to me, that’s bad.
November 9, 2025 at 6:38 AM
this one's funny because a big chunk of what is actually fucking Golden is that his union ties made him support insane tariffs, which falls squarely inside Matt's critique about how concentrated intraparty donor/activist power leads Dems to take unpopular positions, except from the wrong direction
I don’t believe a guy who works in finance can’t afford a house in South Carolina. I *do* believe he can’t afford the house he thinks he deserves.
![Statistics bear this out: in September, the share of the long-term unemployed, those who’ve been out of the job market for more than six months, hit 26%, according to The New York Times, much of it driven by recent graduates. The jobs that are available for recent grads are often precarious or temporary. “So when you see a bunch of foreigners coming over here to take jobs that [my friends] wanted,” Haley says, “they have every right to be pissed, and I’m pissed for them.”
It isn’t about jobs alone. “I look at the housing market,” he says, “and I don’t see how I’m ever going to own a house. And I do very well for someone my age” — he works in finance on the South Carolina side of Charlotte — “and I still don’t see it.” Again, the generational discontent: “My parents bought their first house for $90,000. I mean, that house probably now is worth $400,000. How can we compete?”
Then there’s the rising crime and disorder. “I live in what is known as a very safe area,” he explains. “Yet someone got shot and killed outside my apartment complex a couple months ago. . . Outside my apartment in that same couple months, someone got jumped for a bad drug deal. And I’m tired of having to go to CVS to push a button for an employee to come unlock the toothpaste for me. Like, that’s ridiculous.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hbpefio3f5csc44msmbgioxz/bafkreiaa7ngxxnh26gcqqufxtjr5avxgamp2tadczrfnxwibkhahjsdire@jpeg)
November 9, 2025 at 1:56 AM
I don’t believe a guy who works in finance can’t afford a house in South Carolina. I *do* believe he can’t afford the house he thinks he deserves.
Reposted by Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman
Looking at the GOP acting electorally suicidally and saying “they’re not acting like they’re planning on having elections” is like watching someone driving 90mph at a brick wall and being like “wow they must have figured out a way for this not to kill them.”
November 8, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Looking at the GOP acting electorally suicidally and saying “they’re not acting like they’re planning on having elections” is like watching someone driving 90mph at a brick wall and being like “wow they must have figured out a way for this not to kill them.”
No it’s because Trump doesn’t have any brain cells left and none of his viziers know how to do populist nationalism. 2019 Trump would have sent a letter to each SNAP recipient declaring “I have SAVED your benefits from the RADICAL LEFTIST Democrats.” Today he needs a sign to find the Oval Office
It’s shit like this that makes me think the GOP doesn’t care about winning elections and they’re just not planning on having them. Because no one who thinks they have to win elections does this.
They're going to the highest court in the land to avoid feeding children.
November 8, 2025 at 4:13 AM
No it’s because Trump doesn’t have any brain cells left and none of his viziers know how to do populist nationalism. 2019 Trump would have sent a letter to each SNAP recipient declaring “I have SAVED your benefits from the RADICAL LEFTIST Democrats.” Today he needs a sign to find the Oval Office
It’s always possible that KBJ has gone full stove-touching acceleration, but I think Sacks is right. You control what you can control.
Also the First Circuit is basically guaranteed to rule against the administration. It’s just a matter of when.
Also the First Circuit is basically guaranteed to rule against the administration. It’s just a matter of when.
KBJ threaded the needle thanks to CA1’s unfinished business.
-if she denied the admin stay, the full SCOTUS woulda stepped in to override her.
-if she immediately referred the case to the full Court, they coulda dragged feet.
-instead she boxed them in to act quickly once she does refer the case.
-if she denied the admin stay, the full SCOTUS woulda stepped in to override her.
-if she immediately referred the case to the full Court, they coulda dragged feet.
-instead she boxed them in to act quickly once she does refer the case.
November 8, 2025 at 3:54 AM
It’s always possible that KBJ has gone full stove-touching acceleration, but I think Sacks is right. You control what you can control.
Also the First Circuit is basically guaranteed to rule against the administration. It’s just a matter of when.
Also the First Circuit is basically guaranteed to rule against the administration. It’s just a matter of when.
Reposted by Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman
extremely funny to see guys with names like "JewishWonk" making dark insinuations about rootless cosmopolitans
I am begging the entire klal to go immediately to therapy.
November 7, 2025 at 11:24 PM
extremely funny to see guys with names like "JewishWonk" making dark insinuations about rootless cosmopolitans
Haha what
DHS confirmed it has stopped automatically storing officials' text messages.
Instead, officials are supposed to take a screenshot, send that to their work email, download it onto their work computer and run a text-recognition program on it. Every time.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...
Instead, officials are supposed to take a screenshot, send that to their work email, download it onto their work computer and run a text-recognition program on it. Every time.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Haha what
We used to worry that MAGA would use economic populism to distract people from their attacks on democracy
JUST IN: Trump administration files emergency stay motion at 1st Circuit, seeking to block judge's order to pay full SNAP benefits for November. DOJ says the ruling 'makes a mockery of the separation of powers.' Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
SNAPStayMotCA1110725.PDF
www.documentcloud.org
November 7, 2025 at 3:17 PM
We used to worry that MAGA would use economic populism to distract people from their attacks on democracy
You have an unalienable right to that sub
This was an Italian sub I got at Faicco’s last week. Look at the size of that thing! Any decent society would outlaw it as a weapon of war.
November 7, 2025 at 1:14 AM
You have an unalienable right to that sub
Reposted by Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman
This is highly related to my main takeaway from my jury duty earlier this year: "beyond a reasonable doubt" for _every element_ of the crime charged is a HIGH STANDARD TO MEET in a jury trial, esp when the gov is doing all this. Every juror should be prepared to hold the government to that standard.
There's a deep point here: the line between jury nullification and acquittal for other reasons is not always clear. Nullification is just one of many ways a prosecution can go wrong for the government when the jury is skeptical of law enforcement and prosecutors.
the jury nullification take is wrong. If that’s what had happened they wouldn’t have sent a note to the judge asking for definitions of relevant terms.
They just didn’t think he did the crime after considering the evidence and following the given instructions.
Don’t charge sandwich cases.
They just didn’t think he did the crime after considering the evidence and following the given instructions.
Don’t charge sandwich cases.
November 6, 2025 at 8:10 PM
This is highly related to my main takeaway from my jury duty earlier this year: "beyond a reasonable doubt" for _every element_ of the crime charged is a HIGH STANDARD TO MEET in a jury trial, esp when the gov is doing all this. Every juror should be prepared to hold the government to that standard.
Yeah I’m glad he’s quitting, don’t care if we lose the seat
November 6, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Yeah I’m glad he’s quitting, don’t care if we lose the seat
Reposted by Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman
I must once more emphasize that we have not heard at all that there did not seem to have been any reports of things like ICE at polling places yesterday. If they want to do voter suppression and intimidation, the time to shoot that shot was months ago when they could end the filibuster to do it.
not to bring the vibe down, but my guess is that after tonight Trump will probably double down on gerrymandering, voter suppression, and intimidation as tactics to disincentivize Dem turnout ahead of next year‘s midterms. (with margins like these, it won’t matter, but it’s a time to be vigilant)
November 5, 2025 at 11:50 AM
I must once more emphasize that we have not heard at all that there did not seem to have been any reports of things like ICE at polling places yesterday. If they want to do voter suppression and intimidation, the time to shoot that shot was months ago when they could end the filibuster to do it.
Reposted by Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman
Brad Lander is at the victory party and, folks, he has the custom one-of-one “GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE” shirt.
November 5, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Brad Lander is at the victory party and, folks, he has the custom one-of-one “GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE” shirt.