Shawn Whitt
@shawnwhitt.bsky.social
sometimes scribe | civil liberties | policy | long-suffering enthusiast of third amendment jurisprudence | serial semicolon abuser | begrudging distance runner
twitter: peoples_estate
twitter: peoples_estate
Loyalists turning fearful is not noise; it is a late-stage indicator of a political environment sliding directly into pre-authoritarian destabilization. And if this were happening in any other country we would be discussing it in precisely those terms.
This is a Texas Republican who was part of the January 6th mob
November 16, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Loyalists turning fearful is not noise; it is a late-stage indicator of a political environment sliding directly into pre-authoritarian destabilization. And if this were happening in any other country we would be discussing it in precisely those terms.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
Watching right-wingers suddenly discover that Trump is a bad person is wild
November 15, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Watching right-wingers suddenly discover that Trump is a bad person is wild
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
This exact same reporter was ousted from the NY Times for soliciting a $30,000 donation from Epstein— and you're telling me that as an employer, the NY Times never bothered to circle back and review this person's correspondence with a convicted pedophile?
A former New York Times staffer quietly left the paper after revealing he had solicited charitable donations from Jeffrey Epstein
Former New York Times reporter Landon Thomas Jr. told his editors he became friends with Epstein after profiling him in 2008, NPR reported Thursday.
www.businessinsider.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:41 PM
This exact same reporter was ousted from the NY Times for soliciting a $30,000 donation from Epstein— and you're telling me that as an employer, the NY Times never bothered to circle back and review this person's correspondence with a convicted pedophile?
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
No one will ever sum up Bari Weiss's career more succinctly than "what's the point of standards"
“Standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She asks ‘What’s the point of standards?’
November 11, 2025 at 3:46 PM
No one will ever sum up Bari Weiss's career more succinctly than "what's the point of standards"
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
On this Veterans Day, I pay special tribute to those who served, especially the trans service members, only to have Whiskey Pete Hegseth shit all over their service because he's an insecure, inadequate right wing white man.
November 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
On this Veterans Day, I pay special tribute to those who served, especially the trans service members, only to have Whiskey Pete Hegseth shit all over their service because he's an insecure, inadequate right wing white man.
It is a cataclysmically embarrassing indictment of us all that this individual has managed to secure a position in the upper echelons of elite media despite being so transparently unqualified literally all of the time. JFC.
“I’ve been hearing that standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She also asked openly, ‘What’s the point of standards?’” one CBS source said.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Bari Weiss wants to take down ‘too much power’ CBS News Standards unit: sources
EXCLUSIVE: Internal rumblings within the newsroom come after the S&P head resigned and the network disbanded its vaunted Race and Culture unit.
www.independent.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 3:52 PM
It is a cataclysmically embarrassing indictment of us all that this individual has managed to secure a position in the upper echelons of elite media despite being so transparently unqualified literally all of the time. JFC.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
For many years, @americanstudier.bsky.social has worked tirelessly to make scholarship more accessible to a broader audience and help interject academic observations into our political discourse.
He is now continuing that crucial mission away from Substack - and he deserves your support:
He is now continuing that crucial mission away from Substack - and he deserves your support:
In these fraught times, we need spaces & communities of our own, that we can make what we want & use to support each other & our work. &, yes, to avoid Nazis as much as possible. That's why we left Substack, & why @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social worked so hard on our new website. So+🗃️
blackwhiteandread.com
blackwhiteandread.com
Black and White and Read All Over
Where Scholarship Meets the Public
blackwhiteandread.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:20 PM
For many years, @americanstudier.bsky.social has worked tirelessly to make scholarship more accessible to a broader audience and help interject academic observations into our political discourse.
He is now continuing that crucial mission away from Substack - and he deserves your support:
He is now continuing that crucial mission away from Substack - and he deserves your support:
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
Over the last 10 months, the federal government has cracked down on political expression with a persistence and viciousness reminiscent of some of the darkest periods of U.S. history. Welcome to the Third Red Scare.
The First Amendment Won’t Go Quietly
Welcome to the third Red Scare.
www.theatlantic.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Over the last 10 months, the federal government has cracked down on political expression with a persistence and viciousness reminiscent of some of the darkest periods of U.S. history. Welcome to the Third Red Scare.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
A leader would not have lost eight colleagues tonight. This happened because you let it happen or because you’ve totally lost control of the caucus in one of the most important moments since you’ve been Democratic leader. Either way, it’s on you. You need to step down. We need someone who can lead.
Democrats have been fighting for months to address America's healthcare crisis
For the millions who will lose coverage
For people with cancer who won't get the care they need
For working families who can't afford to pay $25K more a year for healthcare
We will keep fighting
For the millions who will lose coverage
For people with cancer who won't get the care they need
For working families who can't afford to pay $25K more a year for healthcare
We will keep fighting
November 10, 2025 at 4:23 AM
A leader would not have lost eight colleagues tonight. This happened because you let it happen or because you’ve totally lost control of the caucus in one of the most important moments since you’ve been Democratic leader. Either way, it’s on you. You need to step down. We need someone who can lead.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
Never forget who sold us out:
Hassan
King
Cortez-Masto
Shaheen
Kaine
Fetterman
Durbin
Rosen
Hassan
King
Cortez-Masto
Shaheen
Kaine
Fetterman
Durbin
Rosen
November 10, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Never forget who sold us out:
Hassan
King
Cortez-Masto
Shaheen
Kaine
Fetterman
Durbin
Rosen
Hassan
King
Cortez-Masto
Shaheen
Kaine
Fetterman
Durbin
Rosen
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
Really looking forward to the Speaker of the House claiming to be unaware of the election results.
November 5, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Really looking forward to the Speaker of the House claiming to be unaware of the election results.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
Tonight's even more proof the mainstream reporters who are still on Twitter are suffering from a brain problem akin Havana Syndrome that is preventing them from accurately doing their jobs. They are being cooked alive by a snuff-focused apartheid algorithm.
November 5, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Tonight's even more proof the mainstream reporters who are still on Twitter are suffering from a brain problem akin Havana Syndrome that is preventing them from accurately doing their jobs. They are being cooked alive by a snuff-focused apartheid algorithm.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
Had to happen at some point, but this is the worst rebuke of an FBI director by the rank and file that i have ever seen. A typical FBI director in a typical DOJ wouldn't be able to survive it.
www.axios.com/2025/11/04/k...
www.axios.com/2025/11/04/k...
FBI agents rip Kash Patels' firings: "erratic and arbitrary retribution"
The agents association urged Patel to "deal in facts," in line with industry standards.
www.axios.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Had to happen at some point, but this is the worst rebuke of an FBI director by the rank and file that i have ever seen. A typical FBI director in a typical DOJ wouldn't be able to survive it.
www.axios.com/2025/11/04/k...
www.axios.com/2025/11/04/k...
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.*
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
From Bovino's deposition: (1) he calls protestors "violent" if they articulate views hostile to ICE, even if no violence is manifested; (2) he instructs his forces to attack and arrest protestors who express "hyperbolic comments," which is to say, criticism of ICE and Bovino.
November 4, 2025 at 5:19 PM
It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.*
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
NYT is beyond parody at this point; nothing more than shameless stenography.
President Trump said he had an MRI earlier this month, telling reporters Monday that the results had been “perfect” but declining to say why his doctors had ordered the scan. He also reiterated that he was interested in serving a third term.
Trump Says a Recent M.R.I. Scan Was ‘Perfect,’ and He’d ‘Love’ a Third Term
President Trump made the comments on the second day of his trip to Asia. The Constitution limits presidents to two terms, but Mr. Trump has suggested he might try to circumvent it.
nyti.ms
October 27, 2025 at 2:48 PM
NYT is beyond parody at this point; nothing more than shameless stenography.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
JOURNALISTS AND POLITICIANS STILL ON TWITTER: You have pathetic engagement. You get tens of likes on major news stories. You exist for one reason only - to validate the site and enhance the profile of the tens of thousands of neo-Nazis to whom the site owner steers massive engagement.
October 22, 2025 at 6:50 PM
JOURNALISTS AND POLITICIANS STILL ON TWITTER: You have pathetic engagement. You get tens of likes on major news stories. You exist for one reason only - to validate the site and enhance the profile of the tens of thousands of neo-Nazis to whom the site owner steers massive engagement.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification.
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
October 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification.
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
Congratulations to the new commander of SOUTHCOM, Admiral George Santos.
October 17, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Congratulations to the new commander of SOUTHCOM, Admiral George Santos.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
October 7, 2025 at 11:29 PM
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
This was taken two nights ago outside Portland’s ICE facility. According to the Trump administration a guy in a chicken suit counts as a reign of terror.
October 3, 2025 at 8:48 PM
This was taken two nights ago outside Portland’s ICE facility. According to the Trump administration a guy in a chicken suit counts as a reign of terror.
Otherwise known as Brett Kavanaugh's “brief stops for questioning."
JUST IN: A new class action lawsuit challenges ICE's warrantless immigration arrests in Washington, D.C., which they say are occuring without probable cause and based largely on perceived ethnicity.
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
September 25, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Otherwise known as Brett Kavanaugh's “brief stops for questioning."
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
Tylenol has learned its lesson
by Susan Collins.
by Susan Collins.
September 22, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Tylenol has learned its lesson
by Susan Collins.
by Susan Collins.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
hadn’t seen the actual letter. this is a dream exhibit. a unicorn.
WHAT THE HELL
September 16, 2025 at 2:26 AM
hadn’t seen the actual letter. this is a dream exhibit. a unicorn.
Reposted by Shawn Whitt
I’m more used to saying this to people on the Left than people on the Right, but, “hate speech” is not an exception to the First Amendment. “Hate speech” is protected by the First Amendment unless it falls into a traditional established exception.
Attorney General Pam Bondi: "There's free speech and then there's hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society...We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech."
September 16, 2025 at 1:00 AM
I’m more used to saying this to people on the Left than people on the Right, but, “hate speech” is not an exception to the First Amendment. “Hate speech” is protected by the First Amendment unless it falls into a traditional established exception.