Hank Hoffman
@hankhoffmanct.bsky.social
Music—psychedelia, punk, garage rock, roots reggae, jazz, '60s soul, Beatles. Left/lib politics, NY Mets. 1950s cars w/ tailfins, midcentury modern design. Film noir, EC Comics. If you follow me & your feed makes me wonder why, I'll probably block you.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
This is the world Justice Kavanaugh sanctioned in his foolish & unnecessary concurring opinion to the Court’s order in Noem v Vasquez Perdomo. His hopes of cleaning up that blunder with a plaintive footnote in last week’s concurring opinion in Trump v. Illinois, demonstrates his staggering naïveté.
"'I have my ID!' Mubashir shouted repeatedly, as heard on the video. The agents do not respond."
www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
ICE agents tackle, arrest American citizen in Minneapolis
Federal immigration agents tackled and arrested a Somali American man in Minneapolis on Tuesday and detained him for about two hours for no apparent reason other than his ethnicity.
www.mprnews.org
December 28, 2025 at 4:32 PM
This is the world Justice Kavanaugh sanctioned in his foolish & unnecessary concurring opinion to the Court’s order in Noem v Vasquez Perdomo. His hopes of cleaning up that blunder with a plaintive footnote in last week’s concurring opinion in Trump v. Illinois, demonstrates his staggering naïveté.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
Historians: Quibbling Over Exact Definition Of Concentration Camp Sign Of Healthy Society https://theonion.com/historians-quibbling-over-exact-definition-of-concentration-camp-sign-of-healthy-society/
December 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Historians: Quibbling Over Exact Definition Of Concentration Camp Sign Of Healthy Society https://theonion.com/historians-quibbling-over-exact-definition-of-concentration-camp-sign-of-healthy-society/
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
America's richest 10% now hold 60% of the nation's wealth.
The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.
Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.
Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
December 27, 2025 at 7:01 PM
America's richest 10% now hold 60% of the nation's wealth.
The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.
Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.
Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
Doing eminently defensible actions is important, even when immediate success is unlikely. It lays down markers of what *should* happen & can also change the play of possibilities.
See: Van Hollen, Kilmar Abrego Garcia
See: Van Hollen, Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Once you decide there's nothing bad enough the president can do to warrant impeachment you're kind of done. You're relegated to holding a bunch of hearings which is a PR battle for the subsequent election, but in the meantime you're stuck with a criminal president
I’ve seen no serious engagement from senior Dems about what, exactly, they plan to do in terms of reasserting congressional power, as in identifying the available tools and thinking seriously about ways to use them to dig us out of the current state of total constitutional collapse.
December 28, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Doing eminently defensible actions is important, even when immediate success is unlikely. It lays down markers of what *should* happen & can also change the play of possibilities.
See: Van Hollen, Kilmar Abrego Garcia
See: Van Hollen, Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
Always a funny coincidence when the savvy move requires the least amount of work.
They've persuaded themselves that avoiding impeachment is a savvy move because there aren't enough votes to remove him but a major consequence of this is the ~normalizing~ effect of Congress abdicating its only real check on a lawless president. Then you're just left with huffing and puffing
December 28, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Always a funny coincidence when the savvy move requires the least amount of work.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
I never again want to hear about how the Republican Party is the party of national security. You don’t incinerate our diplomatic capacity & violate all of our treaty commitments if you care about national security.
Context for Trump withdrawing dozens of ambassadors
*China has invested heavily in expanding diplomacy
*The US has significantly degraded soft power
*The US already has scores of diplomatic vacancies
*China has invested heavily in expanding diplomacy
*The US has significantly degraded soft power
*The US already has scores of diplomatic vacancies
December 25, 2025 at 12:24 AM
I never again want to hear about how the Republican Party is the party of national security. You don’t incinerate our diplomatic capacity & violate all of our treaty commitments if you care about national security.
This is an asinine take. People who are elected in districts different from the ones we live in can still have enormous impacts on our lives.
Where do you live? If you don’t live in Texas or DC have her be your member of Congress. She’s got as much of a tie to your district as she has to mine.
Also
I really really really really really fucking hate dishonesty.
Also
I really really really really really fucking hate dishonesty.
December 27, 2025 at 3:21 AM
This is an asinine take. People who are elected in districts different from the ones we live in can still have enormous impacts on our lives.
These ICE scum need to pay for their crimes.
ICE detain father shopping on Christmas Eve—then steal his family's groceries.
Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.
Yakima, Washington
Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.
Yakima, Washington
December 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM
These ICE scum need to pay for their crimes.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
More of this please!
Shame the goon squad.
Shame the goon squad.
ICE agent recognized out Christmas shopping—throws tantrum when citizens profile him.
"We're trying to prevent you from kidnapping our neighbors," they say.
"I'm not doing anything but walking, leave me alone!" he yells.
"Not right now you're not—but the past 5 days you have."
Philadelphia, PA
"We're trying to prevent you from kidnapping our neighbors," they say.
"I'm not doing anything but walking, leave me alone!" he yells.
"Not right now you're not—but the past 5 days you have."
Philadelphia, PA
December 26, 2025 at 2:39 AM
More of this please!
Shame the goon squad.
Shame the goon squad.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
While people are generally aware that potatoes, corn, and tomatoes didn’t spread worldwide until the colonization of the Americas, I feel like we sometimes forget that peppers - including all the spicy varieties - were also domesticated here, & only recently introduced to most cultures and cuisines…
December 25, 2025 at 7:59 PM
While people are generally aware that potatoes, corn, and tomatoes didn’t spread worldwide until the colonization of the Americas, I feel like we sometimes forget that peppers - including all the spicy varieties - were also domesticated here, & only recently introduced to most cultures and cuisines…
Any elected Democrat who refers to their "friend across the aisle" should be primaried.
there is one and only one political strategy, and that is: “hang trump like an anchor around the neck of every single elected republican and the party itself.” no ‘friends across the aisle.’ no ‘the fever will break.’ anyone not on board with that has to go. no exceptions
woof
December 24, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Any elected Democrat who refers to their "friend across the aisle" should be primaried.
@radleybalko.bsky.social:
"If you had suggested 10 years ago that federal agencies would use Nazi, fascist, and white nationalist iconography and allude to explicitly white supremacist literature in their social media posts...you’d also have been called overwrought. But this, too, is happening."
"If you had suggested 10 years ago that federal agencies would use Nazi, fascist, and white nationalist iconography and allude to explicitly white supremacist literature in their social media posts...you’d also have been called overwrought. But this, too, is happening."
So I have the cover story in next month's TNR.
I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol.
They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.
I interviewed the heads of police groups; immigration defense attorneys, ex-judges and ex-prosecutors; former DOJ and DHS officials, and the former head of Border Patrol.
They're all horrified at what we've seen, and they all fear what's coming.
Trump’s Immigration Nightmare: It Is Happening Here
With astonishing speed, the administration has toppled the most cherished pillars of a free society. And the experts agree: It’s all going to get much, much worse.
newrepublic.com
December 24, 2025 at 10:18 PM
@radleybalko.bsky.social:
"If you had suggested 10 years ago that federal agencies would use Nazi, fascist, and white nationalist iconography and allude to explicitly white supremacist literature in their social media posts...you’d also have been called overwrought. But this, too, is happening."
"If you had suggested 10 years ago that federal agencies would use Nazi, fascist, and white nationalist iconography and allude to explicitly white supremacist literature in their social media posts...you’d also have been called overwrought. But this, too, is happening."
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
concentration camps.
ICE documents reveal plan to hold 80,000 immigrants in warehouses
The Trump administration wants to build seven large-scale deportation hubs to speed up deportations, internal ICE documents show.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 1:55 PM
concentration camps.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
With that smug smile on the interviewer’s face, you’d barely know that this is about the kidnapping, torture, and sexual assault of innocent people.
Stephen Miller wants everyone at 60 Minutes who “engaged in this revolt” (aka told the truth) fired
December 24, 2025 at 12:49 PM
With that smug smile on the interviewer’s face, you’d barely know that this is about the kidnapping, torture, and sexual assault of innocent people.
Wow.
greatest generation update; ex-Marine traumatised in combat on Okinawa may have been both the Black Dahlia perpetrator *and* the Zodiac killer: www.latimes.com/california/s...
An amateur codebreaker may have just solved the Black Dahlia and Zodiac killings
Two retired LAPD homicide detectives say that both notorious cases are solved -- with a single culprit -- thanks to the work of a novice sleuth.
www.latimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Wow.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
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 Hank Hoffman
Brett Kavanaugh (September 2025): The facts and how they relate to the law don’t matter. Assume ICE and other federal forces always act with integrity, always respect rights, and consistently impose minimal burden.
Brett Kavanaugh (December 2025): Should I not have done that? Was that wrong?
Brett Kavanaugh (December 2025): Should I not have done that? Was that wrong?
Kavanaugh in a footnote in today's opinion says "the officers must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity."
December 23, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Brett Kavanaugh (September 2025): The facts and how they relate to the law don’t matter. Assume ICE and other federal forces always act with integrity, always respect rights, and consistently impose minimal burden.
Brett Kavanaugh (December 2025): Should I not have done that? Was that wrong?
Brett Kavanaugh (December 2025): Should I not have done that? Was that wrong?
"Why do people think crime is so high?"
Because media covers murders and criminal violence but ignores news about serious violent crime falling (and falling significantly).
🧵 by @johnpfaff.bsky.social
Because media covers murders and criminal violence but ignores news about serious violent crime falling (and falling significantly).
🧵 by @johnpfaff.bsky.social
These declines are MASSIVE.
And the comparative silence in media coverage is absolutely DAMNING.
“Why are ppl always so afraid of crime?”
THIS is why. When crime goes up, media trips over itself to report it.
Falls to pre-war (!!) levels? Just CRICKETS.
And the comparative silence in media coverage is absolutely DAMNING.
“Why are ppl always so afraid of crime?”
THIS is why. When crime goes up, media trips over itself to report it.
Falls to pre-war (!!) levels? Just CRICKETS.
I count 10 cities in 2025 that are on track to have the fewest murders since at least 1970. Newark is on pace to have the fewest murders since 1956 (though only have data through Oct this year) and San Francisco is on pace to have the fewest murders since 1942.
December 23, 2025 at 10:53 PM
"Why do people think crime is so high?"
Because media covers murders and criminal violence but ignores news about serious violent crime falling (and falling significantly).
🧵 by @johnpfaff.bsky.social
Because media covers murders and criminal violence but ignores news about serious violent crime falling (and falling significantly).
🧵 by @johnpfaff.bsky.social
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
Oh yeah, that footnote is entirely unnecessary to the case in hand otherwise. Definitely agree with Lee‘s read.
Check out the Kavanaugh FN 4; I think it's pretty clear that the Kavanaugh Stop thing has gotten to him:
December 23, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Oh yeah, that footnote is entirely unnecessary to the case in hand otherwise. Definitely agree with Lee‘s read.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
They're drowning. Throw these assholes an anchor. Share the letter everywhere.
December 23, 2025 at 7:57 PM
They're drowning. Throw these assholes an anchor. Share the letter everywhere.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
Kavanaugh has spent months watching masked street thugs brutalize Latinos on TV for the crime of being Hispanic in America, watching the entire Latino population of America turning on his party, and realizing it was all directly attributable to him. I bet he’s wanted to melt into the floor.
Interesting that Justice Kavanaugh decided he had to add footnote 4 to his concurrence, which addresses the "State’s underlying objections to the activities of federal immigration officers when they make immigration stops."
![The State and the Government disagree about whether the immigration officers have violated the Constitution in making certain immigration stops and arrests. The basic constitutional rules governing that dispute are longstanding and clear: The Fourth Amendment requires that immigration stops must be based on reasonable suspicion of illegal presence, stops must be brief, arrests must be based on probable cause, and officers must not employ excessive force. Moreover, the officers must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity. Cf. Whren v. United States, 517 U. S. 806, 813 (1996) (“[T]he Constitution prohibits selective enforcement of the law based on considerations such as race”). This application does not require us to delve into the parties’ underlying dispute and to determine whether any particular immigration encounter or series of encounters in Illinois has violated those basic constitutional principles.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:iv73mapy52ilxfjnetqatnvu/bafkreiam3tsfxtxu4atn73qvjbdcuuxkcanqxsuj2cenme5r2dwisi2tgm@jpeg)
December 23, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Kavanaugh has spent months watching masked street thugs brutalize Latinos on TV for the crime of being Hispanic in America, watching the entire Latino population of America turning on his party, and realizing it was all directly attributable to him. I bet he’s wanted to melt into the floor.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
The Cracker Barrel thing was THIS YEAR. We have three more years of this shit. Anybody who makes it to 2028 without looking like Nosferatu will be required by the state to start a skincare brand.
December 23, 2025 at 5:39 PM
The Cracker Barrel thing was THIS YEAR. We have three more years of this shit. Anybody who makes it to 2028 without looking like Nosferatu will be required by the state to start a skincare brand.
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
1 - the exec branch can't decline to spend $ Congress appropriated
2- the fed govt can't use federal $ to extort states over policy/political disagreements
3-the fed govt can't use federal $ to impose conditions unrelated to the funding program
4-the fed govt can't use federal $ to coerce states
2- the fed govt can't use federal $ to extort states over policy/political disagreements
3-the fed govt can't use federal $ to impose conditions unrelated to the funding program
4-the fed govt can't use federal $ to coerce states
Sean Duffy on blue states: "What I can do is I can pull their money. That's the leverage I do have ... I guarantee you that the federal taxpayer is not going to fund their roads and bridges and their systems when they are putting illegals on the roads."
December 23, 2025 at 2:32 PM
1 - the exec branch can't decline to spend $ Congress appropriated
2- the fed govt can't use federal $ to extort states over policy/political disagreements
3-the fed govt can't use federal $ to impose conditions unrelated to the funding program
4-the fed govt can't use federal $ to coerce states
2- the fed govt can't use federal $ to extort states over policy/political disagreements
3-the fed govt can't use federal $ to impose conditions unrelated to the funding program
4-the fed govt can't use federal $ to coerce states
Reposted by Hank Hoffman
Although fascist activist Bari Weiss is leading the charge as chief MAGA censor at CBS News, the Ellisons also installed a SECOND Trump mouthpiece there. It's a fully fascist propaganda outlet now, CBS News is gone.
variety.com/2025/tv/news...
variety.com/2025/tv/news...
December 23, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Although fascist activist Bari Weiss is leading the charge as chief MAGA censor at CBS News, the Ellisons also installed a SECOND Trump mouthpiece there. It's a fully fascist propaganda outlet now, CBS News is gone.
variety.com/2025/tv/news...
variety.com/2025/tv/news...