Don Zeko
@donzeko.bsky.social
Public defender in the South, politics obsessive, nerd stuff enthusiast. Also a dad, although I'm trying to respect the privacy of my increasingly feral children.
We could avoid a lot of these headlines if we stopped assuming that people on the hard right believe in universal principles.
Ammon Bundy Is All Alone
The anti-government militia leader can’t make sense of his allies’ support for ICE violence.
w/o paywall: archive.is/6doPr#select...
The anti-government militia leader can’t make sense of his allies’ support for ICE violence.
w/o paywall: archive.is/6doPr#select...
Ammon Bundy Is All Alone
The anti-government militia leader can’t make sense of his allies’ support for ICE violence.
www.theatlantic.com
February 1, 2026 at 8:47 PM
We could avoid a lot of these headlines if we stopped assuming that people on the hard right believe in universal principles.
So I don't think there's going to be a national 30-point leftward swing from the 2024 result. But in the unlikely event that there is, I wonder how a hypothetical president JD Vance governs.
Real talk: if the environment is anything close to what yesterday’s special election implies in November, there need to be people working very hard on a serious agenda for a substantial Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, focused on voting rights, democracy, and court reform.
February 1, 2026 at 2:57 PM
So I don't think there's going to be a national 30-point leftward swing from the 2024 result. But in the unlikely event that there is, I wonder how a hypothetical president JD Vance governs.
If you have any particular reason to worry about the cops having access to your devices, passwords are more secure than biometric
The FBI was able to access Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson's Signal messages because she used Signal on her work laptop. The laptop accepted Touch ID for authentication, meaning the agents were allowed to require her to unlock it. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 31, 2026 at 10:37 PM
If you have any particular reason to worry about the cops having access to your devices, passwords are more secure than biometric
Reposted by Don Zeko
Anyway, good morning from this evergreen quote from a guy we teach the kids is a great American hero
April 30, 2024 at 11:41 AM
Anyway, good morning from this evergreen quote from a guy we teach the kids is a great American hero
Biery is probably not writing with the usual audience in mind.
Judge Biery signed the order with a photo of Liam and two bible verses: The first is "But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The second is simply "Jesus wept."
Astonishing thing for a judge to do.
Astonishing thing for a judge to do.
January 31, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Biery is probably not writing with the usual audience in mind.
Reposted by Don Zeko
stephen miller just a few posts away from recreating the "mudsill" theory from first principles
Translated "it's fine if they're slaves or indentured servants"
January 31, 2026 at 6:19 PM
stephen miller just a few posts away from recreating the "mudsill" theory from first principles
Reposted by Don Zeko
Not just any amendment, either: the literal single most important sentence in the entire document
January 30, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Not just any amendment, either: the literal single most important sentence in the entire document
Reposted by Don Zeko
Has anyone seen the charging instrument? Interested in how they got it.
The charges against Don Lemon are ridiculous. He’s a target because he’s black, because he’s media, and because he’s a Trump critic, and because Trump and his minions cannot accept any dissent. It’s deeply pathetic, unamerican, and lawless.
January 30, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Has anyone seen the charging instrument? Interested in how they got it.
Reposted by Don Zeko
You tend to think that being level-headed and suppressing any pre-existing prejudices leads to a better read on a volatile situation. Yet with Trump, it’s those level-headed people who keep misreading the situation, believing that he’s softening and this will end soon, over and over and over.
Trump: “Agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist, Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent.”
January 30, 2026 at 1:27 PM
You tend to think that being level-headed and suppressing any pre-existing prejudices leads to a better read on a volatile situation. Yet with Trump, it’s those level-headed people who keep misreading the situation, believing that he’s softening and this will end soon, over and over and over.
The degree to which Trump has corrupted the department of justice in a single year in office is terrifying.
A truly unacceptable assault on the First Amendment.
Federal Agents Arrest Don Lemon Over Minnesota Church Protest
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 2:28 PM
The degree to which Trump has corrupted the department of justice in a single year in office is terrifying.
Reposted by Don Zeko
A Minnesota woman observing ICE agents in her car was cornered on one-way streets. An agent approached, called her by name—citing facial recognition. Days later, her Global Entry and TSA privileges were revoked, with no explanation.
How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 11:55 AM
A Minnesota woman observing ICE agents in her car was cornered on one-way streets. An agent approached, called her by name—citing facial recognition. Days later, her Global Entry and TSA privileges were revoked, with no explanation.
Statutory Bivens and abolishing QI have got to be on the agenda when/if Dems get to pass legislation again
11th Cir., 2-1, holds that it was not clearly established that it would violate a person's right to bodily integrity for sheriff's deputy to drive drunk at night without lights, hit the person's car, and then flee leaving person to die.
QI for deputy.
media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...
QI for deputy.
media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...
![Though these situations may be factually distinct, we cannot cast them aside in our “obvious clarity” analysis. Where precedent injects such uncertainty, it does not follow logically that the complained of offense “so obviously violates th[e] [C]onstitution.” Mercado v. City of Orlando, 407 F.3d 1152, 1159 (11th Cir. 2005). Indeed, when caselaw indicates that a certain type of conduct does not rise to the level of a constitutional violation, officials cannot possibly be on notice that the conduct is a constitutional violation—and certainly not with obvious clarity. See Hope, 536 U.S. at 741; al-Kidd, 563 U.S. at 741. The existence of this caselaw casting doubt on the “obvious clarity” of Moss’s claimed right—and, indeed, disclaiming such a right altogether—necessarily means that the right was not clearly established at the time of the violation. To be sure, similar out-of-circuit cases have reached the opposite conclusion. For example, as the district court noted in its order, in Browder v. City of Albuquerque, the Tenth Circuit concluded that a police officer’s misuse of a squad car resulting in a fatal collision could give rise to a claim under the Fourteenth Amendment. 787 F.3d 1076, 1083 (10th Cir. 2015).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:24vva42nxim6zbcmnozegoef/bafkreidebqwemly2zfgozo4wrt56vrpcdotmda42nxhtve6vdvv256uso4@jpeg)
January 29, 2026 at 8:14 PM
Statutory Bivens and abolishing QI have got to be on the agenda when/if Dems get to pass legislation again
In fairness to trump, he has been betting for years that the median voter does not understand even the most basic principles of economics and it has worked out just fine for him.
Trump: "People that own their homes -- we're gonna keep them wealthy. We're gonna keep those prices up. We're not gonna destroy the value of their homes so that somebody who didn't work very hard can buy a home."
January 29, 2026 at 8:00 PM
In fairness to trump, he has been betting for years that the median voter does not understand even the most basic principles of economics and it has worked out just fine for him.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Video shows ICE leaving behind an infant and broken glass after arresting a man with no criminal history.
“There was a car seat in the back... There were broken glass shards all over it... There was just this tiny peanut of a baby. He was crying.”
My latest: www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/i...
“There was a car seat in the back... There were broken glass shards all over it... There was just this tiny peanut of a baby. He was crying.”
My latest: www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/i...
ICE agents shatter window, leave 1-month-old baby, mother in car after Portland arrest
Video shows federal immigration agents leaving behind an infant and broken glass after detaining a Guinean immigrant with no known criminal history.
www.pressherald.com
January 29, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Video shows ICE leaving behind an infant and broken glass after arresting a man with no criminal history.
“There was a car seat in the back... There were broken glass shards all over it... There was just this tiny peanut of a baby. He was crying.”
My latest: www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/i...
“There was a car seat in the back... There were broken glass shards all over it... There was just this tiny peanut of a baby. He was crying.”
My latest: www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/i...
Reposted by Don Zeko
This is sort of a throughline in cases of excessive force used by law enforcement. The civilian is supposed to perfectly adhere to some unwritten code of conduct; the armed professional supposedly trained for such situations is only human & must be given lattitude if they succumb to fear and rage.
The administration is insisting that its masked goons are so emotionally stunted that words can launch them into a murderous rage.
"Our professionals are just ordinary people so ordinary people better act professionally around them, or else."
"Our professionals are just ordinary people so ordinary people better act professionally around them, or else."
January 29, 2026 at 2:18 PM
This is sort of a throughline in cases of excessive force used by law enforcement. The civilian is supposed to perfectly adhere to some unwritten code of conduct; the armed professional supposedly trained for such situations is only human & must be given lattitude if they succumb to fear and rage.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Yes - until you see it firsthand, it’s hard to understand how upsetting and enraging it is to see these guys operate in your community. They are dressed for war, they beat civilians up, they openly antagonize neighbors, they’re masked, they carry people away. Everyone is livid at every scene.
This video clip also demonstrates that Alex Pretti was made very angry by the brutal, lawless violence of the DHS. That makes him just like me, and a large part of America.
Until he was shot 10 times in the back.
Until he was shot 10 times in the back.
January 29, 2026 at 12:34 PM
Yes - until you see it firsthand, it’s hard to understand how upsetting and enraging it is to see these guys operate in your community. They are dressed for war, they beat civilians up, they openly antagonize neighbors, they’re masked, they carry people away. Everyone is livid at every scene.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Note the passive voice here. They kept saying their agents would be endangered. But no protestor has taken a shot at an agent. They also told those agents that they would be supported no matter what they did, had absolute immunity. The Trump admin is responsible for the bloodshed that followed.
Homan: "I begged for the last two months on TV for the rhetoric to stop. I said in March -- if the rhetoric doesn't stop, there is gonna be bloodshed. And there has been. I wish I wasn't right. I don't want to see anybody die."
January 29, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Note the passive voice here. They kept saying their agents would be endangered. But no protestor has taken a shot at an agent. They also told those agents that they would be supported no matter what they did, had absolute immunity. The Trump admin is responsible for the bloodshed that followed.
If anything, it might imply the agents already had a motive to single him out and kill him when the encounter began.
News Movement posted this video of Alex Pretti on Jan 13, showing him spitting at ICE agents and kicking their taillight.
Now conservatives are suggesting this changes things.
That would mean they are suggesting he deserved to be target of an extrajudicial execution.
The video changes nothing.
Now conservatives are suggesting this changes things.
That would mean they are suggesting he deserved to be target of an extrajudicial execution.
The video changes nothing.
January 29, 2026 at 12:32 PM
If anything, it might imply the agents already had a motive to single him out and kill him when the encounter began.
Reposted by Don Zeko
Reposted by Don Zeko
An entire community of thousands, here legally, having been demonized with deranged lies about eating pets, is about to be arbitrarily DECLARED illegal so they can be forcibly ethnically cleansed. I don’t want to hear one more fucking word about comparisons to Nazi Germany being overwrought.
January 29, 2026 at 3:20 AM
An entire community of thousands, here legally, having been demonized with deranged lies about eating pets, is about to be arbitrarily DECLARED illegal so they can be forcibly ethnically cleansed. I don’t want to hear one more fucking word about comparisons to Nazi Germany being overwrought.
Moriarty might be the most prominent person in American politics that I have met personally. The Do Something Now impulse is very strong, but I am inclined to trust that she's handling this as well as she reasonably can
NEW: Talking with Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty about Trump, Operation Metro Surge — and FAFO.
Moriarty: "[T]he people of Minneapolis are looking around, and this is what they’re saying to their electeds too, is, ‘Who is here protecting us?’”
Tonight, at Law Dork:
Moriarty: "[T]he people of Minneapolis are looking around, and this is what they’re saying to their electeds too, is, ‘Who is here protecting us?’”
Tonight, at Law Dork:
Talking with Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty about Trump, Operation Metro Surge — and FAFO
Watch now (47 mins) | "[T]he people of Minneapolis are looking around, and this is what they’re saying to their electeds too, is, ‘Who is here protecting us?’”
www.lawdork.com
January 29, 2026 at 1:14 AM
Moriarty might be the most prominent person in American politics that I have met personally. The Do Something Now impulse is very strong, but I am inclined to trust that she's handling this as well as she reasonably can
Reposted by Don Zeko
It is wild to me that a military incursion to steal another country’s resources so the president can have a personal slush fund in Qatar is like the 5th most scandalous thing currently happening.
this is a straightforward impeachable offense for trump, vance, rubio and every other person down the line who enabled it and the framers would have thought impeachment for it did not go nearly far enough
Marco Rubio: "The oil proceeds are being deposited into an account that ultimately will become a US Treasury blocked account here in the US. We will say 'this is what this money can be spent on.' They will submit to us a budget request -- 'we want to use the money on these things.'"
January 29, 2026 at 12:54 AM
It is wild to me that a military incursion to steal another country’s resources so the president can have a personal slush fund in Qatar is like the 5th most scandalous thing currently happening.
Reposted by Don Zeko
The GOP is in fact the party of divorced middle aged men whose blue haired daughters hate them
i love that rightwingers genuinely seem to believe that political ideology is a set genetic inheritable trait
January 28, 2026 at 10:50 PM
The GOP is in fact the party of divorced middle aged men whose blue haired daughters hate them
Heroes of the Republic!
one of the agents said “okay we know” when we were whistling so i leaned in and whistled louder and he threatened to pepper spray me. i then said “are you scared of a fucking whistle dawg” and he very meekly said “no i’m not scared of a whistle”
January 28, 2026 at 10:39 PM
Heroes of the Republic!
Reposted by Don Zeko
This right here is one of my great pet peeves: THERE WERE NOT ONLY ONE GROUP OF FOUNDERS. The Reconstruction Founders led a massive, important constitutional change, and we don’t need to look at English common law to understand what equality, citizenship, and freedom meant. WE WERE OUR OWN NATION.
January 28, 2026 at 9:16 PM
This right here is one of my great pet peeves: THERE WERE NOT ONLY ONE GROUP OF FOUNDERS. The Reconstruction Founders led a massive, important constitutional change, and we don’t need to look at English common law to understand what equality, citizenship, and freedom meant. WE WERE OUR OWN NATION.