Ellen Henak
@ehenak.bsky.social
Retired appellate and post-conviction criminal defense lawyer. Former public defender. Is working on playing with her grandkids and sewing.
If things are really caught up, that is very good news. While I have had only minor delays in mail, there are people in this village who got no mail for more than 2 weeks--and some get medication by mail. It has been a mess.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
Brown Deer post office adds staff, Sunday delivery amid delays
The post office on the border of Brown Deer and Milwaukee has added staff and Sunday delivery to address complaints of ongoing delays.
www.jsonline.com
January 29, 2026 at 5:38 PM
If things are really caught up, that is very good news. While I have had only minor delays in mail, there are people in this village who got no mail for more than 2 weeks--and some get medication by mail. It has been a mess.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
Even the folks up here in the north seem to need to re-learn this every year
PSA from a native northern midwesterner: having 4-wheel drive does not somehow make you immune to the laws of physics! I've helped push out way too many stranded trucks and SUVs the last few days (and exactly zero cars).
January 27, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Even the folks up here in the north seem to need to re-learn this every year
Reposted by Ellen Henak
Moriarty: "I was working with the BCA all day. What happened at the scene was that the federal agents stood about 2 feet apart w/ large batons & they physically prevented the BCA from entering the scene ... DHS prevented them from even entering the scene with a lawfully signed, by a judge, warrant."
January 26, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Moriarty: "I was working with the BCA all day. What happened at the scene was that the federal agents stood about 2 feet apart w/ large batons & they physically prevented the BCA from entering the scene ... DHS prevented them from even entering the scene with a lawfully signed, by a judge, warrant."
One of the reasons I love the Bucks
January 26, 2026 at 12:15 AM
One of the reasons I love the Bucks
Reposted by Ellen Henak
This picture broke me, but the description of this kidnapping by a witness who says ICE referred to this precious child as “it” as they took him away fills me with an unspeakable, murderous rage.
Sharing this report of ICE depravity from Facebook at the request of community member. This is from a suburb north of ICE-occupied Minneapolis.
The text is from her post on Facebook.
The text is from her post on Facebook.
January 21, 2026 at 11:59 PM
This picture broke me, but the description of this kidnapping by a witness who says ICE referred to this precious child as “it” as they took him away fills me with an unspeakable, murderous rage.
Completely inadequate medical care even by normally bad prison standards. Yes, we now have concentration camps
popular.info/p/ice-has-st...
popular.info/p/ice-has-st...
ICE has stopped paying for detainee medical treatment
ICE halted payments in October, and the situation will persist for at least several more months
popular.info
January 20, 2026 at 2:19 PM
Completely inadequate medical care even by normally bad prison standards. Yes, we now have concentration camps
popular.info/p/ice-has-st...
popular.info/p/ice-has-st...
Reposted by Ellen Henak
What the last days of the Roman emperor Caligula can teach us about the second Trump administration open.substack.com/pub/greattra...
The Last Days of Caligula
Madness in Power: Caligula’s Final Days and its Lessons for Trump’s Second Act
open.substack.com
January 17, 2026 at 5:23 PM
What the last days of the Roman emperor Caligula can teach us about the second Trump administration open.substack.com/pub/greattra...
Some days, wisdom is aiming at making one person happy. Today I worked at making a medium-size girl happy. She hates sleeves so the compromise is often sleeveless but with a jacket. She loves pink (and purple), hearts, and sparkle. #sewing
January 17, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Some days, wisdom is aiming at making one person happy. Today I worked at making a medium-size girl happy. She hates sleeves so the compromise is often sleeveless but with a jacket. She loves pink (and purple), hearts, and sparkle. #sewing
i have been reading Tom Ricks’ “Fighting the Good War” which is a military analysis of the civil rights movement, and one thing that comes abundantly across is that movement leaders and ordinary people made it a practice to refuse to fall into despair and cynicism.
January 17, 2026 at 3:00 AM
I ain’t dead yet.
things im learning from this tweet:
- everyone on this site was a really annoying kid
- really annoying kids today love newspaper comics too
- there was apparently a generation that preceded millennials, but they've all died out and little is known about them
- everyone on this site was a really annoying kid
- really annoying kids today love newspaper comics too
- there was apparently a generation that preceded millennials, but they've all died out and little is known about them
why did so many millennials read so many newspaper comics? easily 60 percent of my reading diet in elementary/middle school was collected editions of calvin and hobbes, farside, dilbert, peanuts, doonesbury (!), foxtrot (?!?) and i know im not alone. historically unique phenomenon
January 13, 2026 at 9:59 PM
I ain’t dead yet.
Reposted by Ellen Henak
Others have posted it but I will do so as well. In the 1930s, the Nazis imposed restrictions on the ability of Jews (and other undesirables) to get their money out of Germany. Bessent is promoting Nazi-style fiscal policies.
Bessent: "For individuals who want to wire money out of the country, they're gonna have to tick a box whether they are or are not on public assistance. Then we're going to start pushing over the coming days and weeks that if you're on public assistance, you cannot wire money out of the country."
January 12, 2026 at 10:41 PM
Others have posted it but I will do so as well. In the 1930s, the Nazis imposed restrictions on the ability of Jews (and other undesirables) to get their money out of Germany. Bessent is promoting Nazi-style fiscal policies.
The winner of today's one-liner goes to a guy who looked like he was sleeping.
Scene: the ENT clinic, waiting for audiologist
Asst calls a name three times.
Asst (just loudly enough to be heard): I really wish people would pay attention.
Guy: I bet many of the people here wish they could hear.
Scene: the ENT clinic, waiting for audiologist
Asst calls a name three times.
Asst (just loudly enough to be heard): I really wish people would pay attention.
Guy: I bet many of the people here wish they could hear.
January 13, 2026 at 4:20 AM
The winner of today's one-liner goes to a guy who looked like he was sleeping.
Scene: the ENT clinic, waiting for audiologist
Asst calls a name three times.
Asst (just loudly enough to be heard): I really wish people would pay attention.
Guy: I bet many of the people here wish they could hear.
Scene: the ENT clinic, waiting for audiologist
Asst calls a name three times.
Asst (just loudly enough to be heard): I really wish people would pay attention.
Guy: I bet many of the people here wish they could hear.
A special ed bus? Where there are likely to be some children incapable of "complying" with orders? They really are looking for something explosive to happen, aren't they?
Local parents groups asking if adults can ride school buses to help protect children from ICE after a special ed bus got stopped this morning. Like a Dirty Harry movie except the villain in the federal government.
January 12, 2026 at 11:51 PM
A special ed bus? Where there are likely to be some children incapable of "complying" with orders? They really are looking for something explosive to happen, aren't they?
Whoever engineered the threading on my serger should be condemned to an eternity of threading and re-threading it with arthritic hands, bifocals, and (mild) cataracts
January 9, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Whoever engineered the threading on my serger should be condemned to an eternity of threading and re-threading it with arthritic hands, bifocals, and (mild) cataracts
To me, the ICE killing yesterday is not shocking. I’ve witnessed enough bad policing behavior.
The true escalation for me is going onto school grounds without a warrant (or chase) & behaving like that. I have never seen that before.
The true escalation for me is going onto school grounds without a warrant (or chase) & behaving like that. I have never seen that before.
No matter how I think about it, I can't get over the reality that an entire city had to cancel school to keep its students safe from the terrorism of the federal government.
January 8, 2026 at 3:36 PM
To me, the ICE killing yesterday is not shocking. I’ve witnessed enough bad policing behavior.
The true escalation for me is going onto school grounds without a warrant (or chase) & behaving like that. I have never seen that before.
The true escalation for me is going onto school grounds without a warrant (or chase) & behaving like that. I have never seen that before.
Reposted by Ellen Henak
No matter how I think about it, I can't get over the reality that an entire city had to cancel school to keep its students safe from the terrorism of the federal government.
January 8, 2026 at 2:02 PM
No matter how I think about it, I can't get over the reality that an entire city had to cancel school to keep its students safe from the terrorism of the federal government.
Reposted by Ellen Henak
It’s official: RFK Jr has officially reduced recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11, removing universal vaccine recommendations for RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue and two types of bacterial meningitis.
This reckless contravention of science is going to kill people.
This reckless contravention of science is going to kill people.
January 5, 2026 at 7:36 PM
It’s official: RFK Jr has officially reduced recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11, removing universal vaccine recommendations for RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue and two types of bacterial meningitis.
This reckless contravention of science is going to kill people.
This reckless contravention of science is going to kill people.
I still remember refusing to give a big-law firm my LSAT scores during second-year and, instead, lecturing them on the misuse of such scores for those purposes. Surprisingly, I got an offer anyway. Unsurprisingly, I did not take it.
As near as I can tell, this man was briefly “on the faculty” of a small college devoted to business education but he has big ideas for revamping the entire university system.
This article advocates for the “Faculty Merit Act” that would — get this — require all faculty applicants to submit their *SAT* scores. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Holy shirts that’s hilarious.
January 2, 2026 at 5:13 PM
I still remember refusing to give a big-law firm my LSAT scores during second-year and, instead, lecturing them on the misuse of such scores for those purposes. Surprisingly, I got an offer anyway. Unsurprisingly, I did not take it.
Last night, we hosted an under-8 y grandchild NYE sleepover extravaganza. Among other events, we had a little-pom-pom war by the fort. Picked up, but they are still EVERYWHERE (like glitter.)
Just found one in the sink. IYKYK
Just found one in the sink. IYKYK
two teddy bears cheering with the words way to go yaaaay !!! below them
ALT: two teddy bears cheering with the words way to go yaaaay !!! below them
media.tenor.com
January 2, 2026 at 1:15 AM
Last night, we hosted an under-8 y grandchild NYE sleepover extravaganza. Among other events, we had a little-pom-pom war by the fort. Picked up, but they are still EVERYWHERE (like glitter.)
Just found one in the sink. IYKYK
Just found one in the sink. IYKYK
Is this because I have a K-Pop Demon Hunters obsessed granddaughter or because something good may happen?
January 1, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Is this because I have a K-Pop Demon Hunters obsessed granddaughter or because something good may happen?
It was a very different time. It was a very different place. But we were very much in love and still are. Happy 41st anniversary, @rhenak.bsky.social !
December 30, 2025 at 2:29 PM
It was a very different time. It was a very different place. But we were very much in love and still are. Happy 41st anniversary, @rhenak.bsky.social !
Reposted by Ellen Henak
IT'S A WONDERFUL ESSAY: It seems people usually rewatch 'It's a Wonderful Life' just before Christmas. Can I commend to you this marvelous essay we published a few years ago? It could change the way you understand that classic movie.
www.thebulwark.com/p/there-is-n...
www.thebulwark.com/p/there-is-n...
There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
George’s vision of his wife without him is essential to the film, but critics continue to miss its true—and profound—meaning.
www.thebulwark.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:18 AM
IT'S A WONDERFUL ESSAY: It seems people usually rewatch 'It's a Wonderful Life' just before Christmas. Can I commend to you this marvelous essay we published a few years ago? It could change the way you understand that classic movie.
www.thebulwark.com/p/there-is-n...
www.thebulwark.com/p/there-is-n...
Reposted by Ellen Henak
When I teaching the Holocaust I note the Holocaust museum’s definition of a concentration camp is a prison whose inmates are denied due process. These are by definition concentration camps.
These are concentration camps. No other way to describe them. Truly horrific, and none of it surprising in the least.
30 minutes. Some deportees described sexual assault. Detainee describes the guard sexually assaulting most detainees. Lights left on all day. Prisoners not given clean water.
Now the DHS tour. Nobody spoke to the detainees. Noem's video was in a different area of the prison.
Now the DHS tour. Nobody spoke to the detainees. Noem's video was in a different area of the prison.
December 23, 2025 at 12:39 AM
When I teaching the Holocaust I note the Holocaust museum’s definition of a concentration camp is a prison whose inmates are denied due process. These are by definition concentration camps.
Reposted by Ellen Henak
✨Hunger Task Force is Milwaukee’s only Free & Local food bank.
🥫Their wishlist items include canned veggies low in sodium, low-fat boxed milk, spaghetti sauce (no sugar added), fruit in its own juice, and tuna/chicken in a can/pouch.
Help fill up the bin this season at Ian's Pizza Story Hill!
🥫Their wishlist items include canned veggies low in sodium, low-fat boxed milk, spaghetti sauce (no sugar added), fruit in its own juice, and tuna/chicken in a can/pouch.
Help fill up the bin this season at Ian's Pizza Story Hill!
December 20, 2025 at 3:48 PM
✨Hunger Task Force is Milwaukee’s only Free & Local food bank.
🥫Their wishlist items include canned veggies low in sodium, low-fat boxed milk, spaghetti sauce (no sugar added), fruit in its own juice, and tuna/chicken in a can/pouch.
Help fill up the bin this season at Ian's Pizza Story Hill!
🥫Their wishlist items include canned veggies low in sodium, low-fat boxed milk, spaghetti sauce (no sugar added), fruit in its own juice, and tuna/chicken in a can/pouch.
Help fill up the bin this season at Ian's Pizza Story Hill!