Tom Clark
LightNews LightNews
banner
tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark
@tomsclark.bsky.social
1.2K followers 160 following 790 posts

Political scientist at Stanford University studying law, courts, policing, public safety. www.tomclarkphd.com Go birds.

Videos
Economics 30%
Law 20%
Posts Replies Media Videos

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 21h
It's really amazing how many times Trump's policy choices align with Project 2025, given that he didn't know anything about it. It's almost as if....hear me out...he was lying.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/c...
Trump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, Michael D. McDonald

kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d
Just take a look at this and remember, Pam Bondi's concern here was not with any of the victims of these crimes but with the nosy Democrats who actually gave a shit about them.
A printout of Rep. Pramila's search results "thank you for a fun night -- your littlest girl was a little naughty" and it gets worse from there

Reposted by Rebecca Solnit, Tom Clark, Robert C. Richards , and 4 more

cwnewser.bsky.social
Christopher Wiggins @cwnewser.bsky.social · 1d
A Reuters photographer captured this image of a page from Pam Bondi's "burn book," which she used to counter any questions from Democratic lawmakers during an unhinged hearing today.

It looks like the DOJ monitored members of Congress’s searches of the unredacted Epstein files.

Just wow.

Reposted by Tom Clark, Philip N. Cohen

justinwolfers.bsky.social
Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 1d
"This industry group comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing nonresidential social assistance to children and youth, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and all other individuals and families."

(The other group is the rest of us.)

Reposted by Tom Clark

benjaminpenn.bsky.social
Ben Penn @benjaminpenn.bsky.social · 1d
NEWS: DOJ lawyer who tried & failed to indict 6 Dem lawmakers over military video runs an active dance photography studio & worked for US Atty Pirro decades ago. Grand jury rejected indictment from lawyers w/ no prior DOJ backgrounds. Experts were walled off. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
Pirro Enlists Dance Photographer-Lawyer in Lawmaker Video Case
Washington’s US Attorney Jeanine Pirro tapped a dance photographer who worked for her decades ago as one of the prosecutors who tried—and failed—to convince a grand jury to indict six Democratic lawma...
news.bloomberglaw.com

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 2d
This is not an indicator of an Administration that has everything under control.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d
Bondi crashes out over Epstein: "The Dow is over 50,000 dollars! I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader as I hear, Raskin. The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records. That's what we should be talking about."

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Mattias Hallquist, John R. Hutchinson , and 18 more

atrupar.com
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d
Bondi crashes out over Epstein: "The Dow is over 50,000 dollars! I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader as I hear, Raskin. The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records. That's what we should be talking about."

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 2d
If you ask the federal government for information about food, it directs you to an AI chatbot known for created child pornography.

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, Christina Pagel

rickhasen.bsky.social
Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 2d
Just another Tuesday in the U.S. these days (via @politicalwire.com)

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, Laia Balcells , and 3 more

cingraham.bsky.social
Chris Ingraham @cingraham.bsky.social · 2d
This is the second time an ICE employee has been arrested in in a Bloomington, MN underage sex trafficking sting www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
mnhousedfl.bsky.social Minnesota House DFL @mnhousedfl.bsky.social · 2d
Police in Bloomington, MN just announced that one of the guys they arrested in an underage sex trafficking sting was a **background checker for ICE agents.**

He had a high security clearance in the Trump administration... and he was caught trying to abuse children. Sickening.

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Tom Clark, Scott L. Greer , and 1 more

donmoyn.bsky.social
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2d
A federal government MAHA website, advertised during the superbowl, is directing users to Grok to "get real answers about real food"? (Via @almsnatalie.bsky.social)
www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...
Trump’s nutrition website directs users to Elon Musk’s Grok
The inclusion of Elon Musk’s chatbot in the government website follows backlash over the chatbot creating millions of sexualized images of women and children.
www.nextgov.com

Reposted by Tom Clark, Jon Green, Henry Farrell

jacobtlevy.bsky.social
Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 4d
Yes, some of us did, but the libertarians at Reason were not prominent among them, except for the one who got fired for it.

Reposted by Tom Clark, David R. Miller

nathankalmoe.bsky.social
Nathan Kalmoe (he/him) @nathankalmoe.bsky.social · 4d
Perfect, no notes: the OpenAI Super Bowl ad costing millions is AI slop. 👇🏻
notstevenwhite.bsky.social Steven White @notstevenwhite.bsky.social · 4d
So close to setting up a chess board correctly, but the black king is on the wrong square

Reposted by Tom Clark, David R. Miller, Mark Rice , and 1 more

notstevenwhite.bsky.social
Steven White @notstevenwhite.bsky.social · 4d
So close to setting up a chess board correctly, but the black king is on the wrong square

Reposted by Tom Clark

johnathanperk.bsky.social
Jay @johnathanperk.bsky.social · 4d
U.S. Atty Gen. Pam Bondi and FBI Dir. Kash Patel have both sworn under oath that zero evidence of other people committing crimes exists within the Epstein Files.

Here are emails from people whose identities have been redacted, both attaching photos, both adding notes stating “Age 10” and “Age 11.”

Reposted by Tom Clark, Kevin Carey, Melanie C. Green , and 4 more

cingraham.bsky.social
Chris Ingraham @cingraham.bsky.social · 5d
When Republicans do it / When Democrats do it
Left: Aug 20 2025 Wapo editorial The Texas gerrymander freakout What’s happening in the Lone Star State is not a threat to democracy. Right: Feb. 7 2026 Wapo editorial Brass-knuckled hypocrisy in Virginia Voters will get a chance to reject anti-democratic gamesmanship in an April referendum.

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 5d
We need a serious reconsideration of how we enforce Americans’ rights. For the most part, the best you can do when the government violates your rights is getting a court to say “yes, they should not have done that, but they did.”
jcschwartzprof.bsky.social Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 5d
The Supreme Court has restricted the right to sue federal officers in part because agencies' internal investigations are an alternative way to deter misconduct. That (already farcical) justification is downright ridiculous if the feds shut those investigations down. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...
Prosecutors Began Investigating Renee Good’s Killing. Washington Told Them to Stop.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Tom Clark

jcschwartzprof.bsky.social
Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 5d
The Supreme Court has restricted the right to sue federal officers in part because agencies' internal investigations are an alternative way to deter misconduct. That (already farcical) justification is downright ridiculous if the feds shut those investigations down. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...
Prosecutors Began Investigating Renee Good’s Killing. Washington Told Them to Stop.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Tom Clark, David R. Miller

brendannyhan.bsky.social
Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 5d
field experiment idea - offer flight vouchers to major cities in blue states that people have only seen on Fox News/Breitbart

Reposted by Tom Clark, David R. Miller, David C. Kimball

brendannyhan.bsky.social
Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 5d
Not how the rule of law works. Precisely the opposite, in fact.

Reposted by Tom Clark, Diane Ravitch, Iveta Silova , and 2 more

timothysnyder.bsky.social
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 5d
We are deciding right now whether we want to be a country with ethnic cleansing and concentration camps.
willbunch.bsky.social Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 7d
The banality of evil is shocking. An ex-Big Lots warehouse for cheap consumer junk is bought by ICE to ship as many as 7,500 handcuffed human beings, as the Trump regime builds a U.S. gulag archipelago

The unthinkable comes to Pa. coal country. My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
From Big Lots to warehousing humans: ICE plan sparks fear in Schuylkill County | Will Bunch
A massive warehouse in Tremont. Pa. that once moved cheap goods will now detain migrants in an $119 million ICE deal.
www.inquirer.com

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, John Horgan , and 20 more

eoinhiggins.bsky.social
Eoin Higgins @eoinhiggins.bsky.social · 6d
Concentration camps: stories of as many as 50 people to a cell — men and women in some cases — with no windows and limited airflow, a single camera-monitored toilet, aluminum blankets, no showers and poor quality food.
ICE detainees from Maine being held under ‘inhumane’ conditions in Mass. facility, attorneys say
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said the allegations of overcrowding and lack of access to lawyers are false.
www.pressherald.com

Reposted by Raúl Pacheco-Vega

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 6d
This is a major, huge, humongous deal that will go largely unnoticed because of the broader chaos engulfing our politics. But, suffice it to say that the government is broken when the courts explicitly say they can't trust the administration to tell the truth.
democracydocket.com Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 6d
🚨NEW: A federal judge out of Oregon has issued a sweeping rebuke of the DOJ’s nationwide push to seize state voter rolls.

The opinion released Thursday concluded that the department can no longer be presumed to be acting in good faith and warned that its conduct threatens voters and states’ rights.
Federal judge rules DOJ can ‘no longer’ be trusted in voter roll crusade
The judge pointed to a letter from Bondi to Minnesota that tied federal immigration enforcement to demands for voter data as the smoking gun.
bit.ly

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 6d
I don't even need to re-read the decision to get that feeling.
mford.bsky.social Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 6d
Every time I re-read Trump v. United States, it feels like getting hit in the head with a mallet.
The dissents’ positions in the end boil down to ignoring the Constitution’s separation of powers and the Court’s precedent and instead fear mongering on the basis of ex- treme hypotheticals about a future where the President “feels empowered to violate federal criminal law.” Post, at 18 (opinion of SOTOMAYOR, J.); see post, at 26, 29–30; post, at 8–9, 10, 12, 16, 20–21 (opinion of JACKSON, J.).

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Ken Caldeira, Tom Clark , and 1 more

democracydocket.com
Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 6d
🚨NEW: A federal judge out of Oregon has issued a sweeping rebuke of the DOJ’s nationwide push to seize state voter rolls.

The opinion released Thursday concluded that the department can no longer be presumed to be acting in good faith and warned that its conduct threatens voters and states’ rights.
Federal judge rules DOJ can ‘no longer’ be trusted in voter roll crusade
The judge pointed to a letter from Bondi to Minnesota that tied federal immigration enforcement to demands for voter data as the smoking gun.
bit.ly

Reposted by Tom Clark, Leigh Sparks

radleybalko.bsky.social
Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 6d
Illegally withholding billions in transportation infrastructure funding to get shit named after you isn’t just an instantly impeachable offense, it should get you laughed out of public life forever.

Instead it’s just, “Well, at least he isn’t killing people.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
Officials Pressed Schumer to Help Name Penn Station, Dulles for Trump
www.nytimes.com

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 6d
Through much of our history, we’ve named things after presidents because they have used the awesome power of their office to make our lives better, and we want to honor them for it. The current occupant is instead trying to use that power to extort us into naming things for him.

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Tom Clark, Robert Black , and 9 more

mford.bsky.social
Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 6d
Every time I re-read Trump v. United States, it feels like getting hit in the head with a mallet.
The dissents’ positions in the end boil down to ignoring the Constitution’s separation of powers and the Court’s precedent and instead fear mongering on the basis of ex- treme hypotheticals about a future where the President “feels empowered to violate federal criminal law.” Post, at 18 (opinion of SOTOMAYOR, J.); see post, at 26, 29–30; post, at 8–9, 10, 12, 16, 20–21 (opinion of JACKSON, J.).

Reposted by Dorothy Bishop, Brendan Nyhan, John R. Hutchinson , and 4 more

rodger.bsky.social
Rodger Sherman @rodger.bsky.social · 7d
oh I'm sure everybody will listen to this request
International Olympic Committee Asks Fans to Not Boo JD Vance at the Opening Ceremony
The U.S. delegation will be led by the Vice President and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
www.townandcountrymag.com

tomsclark.bsky.social
Tom Clark @tomsclark.bsky.social · 7d
Think about what it says that we're not all freaking out that Trump has said he would unfreeze appropriated funds fund infrastructure if Chuck Schumer agrees to rename Penn Station and Dulles airport after Trump. www.cnn.com/2026/02/05/p...
Trump promises Schumer funding for NY tunnel project — if Penn Station and Dulles Airport are renamed after him | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last month that he was finally prepared to drop his freeze on billions of dollars in funding for a major New York infrastructure projec...
www.cnn.com