Walter Olson
@walterolson.bsky.social
Writer on law etc.; Cato Institute. Election law, Maryland civic stuff, cooking. Blogged at Overlawyered back when. No kings, no tyrants.
Reposted by Walter Olson
🤔 I suppose it is very Trump-like to prefer practitioners to researchers.
December 26, 2025 at 3:31 AM
🤔 I suppose it is very Trump-like to prefer practitioners to researchers.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Mark 15:24
“And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.”
“And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.”
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 6:43 AM
Mark 15:24
“And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.”
“And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.”
Good thing for her she’s not a disinformation researcher.
Tenet Media founder Lauren Chen, who secretly took money from two people with ties to Russian state media to involve conservative influencers in an unwitting propaganda scheme, is back in the US after being deported to Canada under President Biden. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
December 26, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Good thing for her she’s not a disinformation researcher.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Have yourself a last merry Christmas,
Let your heart be light
Let your heart be light
Trump says the people who “thought Epstein was the greatest guy on earth, only to drop him like a dog when things got too HOT” are “sleazebags.”
Trump is criticizing people who…stopped hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein?
Trump is criticizing people who…stopped hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein?
December 26, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Have yourself a last merry Christmas,
Let your heart be light
Let your heart be light
Reposted by Walter Olson
This site is *extremely* sensitive to blocking the worst accounts. You need to have someone go and block anyone who's polluting your feed with abuse (blocking aggressive sycophancy or general crankiness also recommended).
I have blocked nearly 3600 accounts. You've barely crossed 200.
I have blocked nearly 3600 accounts. You've barely crossed 200.
No shock. This app has turned my mentions, and others, into mostly hate. But there are a few people worth connecting with
CRAZY how it's easier these days to have a real discussion on X, or threads, than on here.
CRAZY how it's easier these days to have a real discussion on X, or threads, than on here.
December 26, 2025 at 2:29 AM
This site is *extremely* sensitive to blocking the worst accounts. You need to have someone go and block anyone who's polluting your feed with abuse (blocking aggressive sycophancy or general crankiness also recommended).
I have blocked nearly 3600 accounts. You've barely crossed 200.
I have blocked nearly 3600 accounts. You've barely crossed 200.
Reposted by Walter Olson
![Tucker Carlson: "What's [AOC] like?"
Matt Gaetz: "Before Jan. 6 she was incredibly chummy with Republicans, she would regularly come over to our side, sit down, hang out... after Jan. 6 she treated us all like we had horns or something."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:73t3muu2pudsajp7a2fj3aly/bafkreiagl3tmxesoqw6lydhcwey52rczco3joc2m4x3kz4yv7ojrekk6ci@jpeg)
Reposted by Walter Olson
This is one of many reasons to disband the Department of Homeland Security.
Here’s the U.S. government being officially religious in a country with no official religion.
December 26, 2025 at 1:06 AM
This is one of many reasons to disband the Department of Homeland Security.
Reposted by Walter Olson
GOP operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, convicted election fraudsters, were paid $960,000 in the second quarter to secure a pardon for a former nursing-home operator who defrauded the government of $38 million. Trump pardoned the man, Joseph Schwartz, last month.
Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon
Even some of the president’s closest advisers have been surprised by a number of the recent series of pardons.
www.wsj.com
December 25, 2025 at 10:35 PM
GOP operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, convicted election fraudsters, were paid $960,000 in the second quarter to secure a pardon for a former nursing-home operator who defrauded the government of $38 million. Trump pardoned the man, Joseph Schwartz, last month.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Merry Christmas!
The President of Peace just bombed Nigeria.
The President of Peace just bombed Nigeria.
December 25, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Merry Christmas!
The President of Peace just bombed Nigeria.
The President of Peace just bombed Nigeria.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” speech *defended* conservatives.
Paraphrasing: “Some call all Republicans racist, homophobic, and otherwise bigoted, but that’s unfair to millions. It’s only half, the rest are good people.”
But the press made calling an openly bigoted campaign bigoted a scandal.
Paraphrasing: “Some call all Republicans racist, homophobic, and otherwise bigoted, but that’s unfair to millions. It’s only half, the rest are good people.”
But the press made calling an openly bigoted campaign bigoted a scandal.
Kind of wild how the take that some of Trump's supporters were "deplorable" was some huge scandal, but regularly screaming about "radical left scum" is just a thing he'll say with no media backlash.
December 25, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” speech *defended* conservatives.
Paraphrasing: “Some call all Republicans racist, homophobic, and otherwise bigoted, but that’s unfair to millions. It’s only half, the rest are good people.”
But the press made calling an openly bigoted campaign bigoted a scandal.
Paraphrasing: “Some call all Republicans racist, homophobic, and otherwise bigoted, but that’s unfair to millions. It’s only half, the rest are good people.”
But the press made calling an openly bigoted campaign bigoted a scandal.
Reposted by Walter Olson
A government that can officially declare that Jesus is your savior can just as easily declare the opposite.
Here’s the U.S. government being officially religious in a country with no official religion.
December 25, 2025 at 7:09 PM
A government that can officially declare that Jesus is your savior can just as easily declare the opposite.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Here’s the U.S. government being officially religious in a country with no official religion.
December 25, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Here’s the U.S. government being officially religious in a country with no official religion.
Reposted by Walter Olson
I used to make this point when lecturing Cato interns on the intellectual history of liberalism (including how feminist thought fits into that tradition). From Sparta on down to modern alt-right weirdos, the folks who like war because they see it as masculine *aren't even good at war.*
every time I can recall from history that a group has centered a culture of martial virtue to the point of conflict,
the "soft intellectuals" the warriors distinguish themselves from have learned war real quick, dominate because they pay attention to details, and then go back to art and nerdy stuff
the "soft intellectuals" the warriors distinguish themselves from have learned war real quick, dominate because they pay attention to details, and then go back to art and nerdy stuff
December 24, 2025 at 10:27 PM
I used to make this point when lecturing Cato interns on the intellectual history of liberalism (including how feminist thought fits into that tradition). From Sparta on down to modern alt-right weirdos, the folks who like war because they see it as masculine *aren't even good at war.*
Reposted by Walter Olson
“Despite being the highest-profile supposedly “worst of the worst” deportees during the Trump administration, none of the CECOT deportees appear in the DHS “worst” arrests database” www.cato.org/blog/dhs-doe...
December 23, 2025 at 11:58 PM
“Despite being the highest-profile supposedly “worst of the worst” deportees during the Trump administration, none of the CECOT deportees appear in the DHS “worst” arrests database” www.cato.org/blog/dhs-doe...
Hand in hand the family dances through the house to a Christmas song in the opening scene of Fanny and Alexander {Sweden, Ingmar Bergman dir., 1982)
Fanny and Alexander Christmas Song
YouTube video by Rosalyn Caar
www.youtube.com
December 24, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Hand in hand the family dances through the house to a Christmas song in the opening scene of Fanny and Alexander {Sweden, Ingmar Bergman dir., 1982)
Reposted by Walter Olson
ICE shooting in Glen Burnie leaves 2 people hospitalized, officials say, Alex Mann reports. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)
ICE shooting in Glen Burnie leaves 2 people hospitalized, officials say
Two people were taken to the hospital Wednesday after a federal immigration agent shot someone in Glen Burnie, Anne Arundel County officials said.
www.thebanner.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:46 PM
ICE shooting in Glen Burnie leaves 2 people hospitalized, officials say, Alex Mann reports. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)
Reposted by Walter Olson
In a profile of Stephen Miller with @swin24.bsky.social, we reported he’s privately laughed off immigrant families’ “sob stories.”
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Speaking last night on Fox about the spiked CECOT story, Miller laughed about how ‘60 Minutes’ is “trying to tell sob stories."
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Speaking last night on Fox about the spiked CECOT story, Miller laughed about how ‘60 Minutes’ is “trying to tell sob stories."
December 24, 2025 at 3:30 PM
In a profile of Stephen Miller with @swin24.bsky.social, we reported he’s privately laughed off immigrant families’ “sob stories.”
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Speaking last night on Fox about the spiked CECOT story, Miller laughed about how ‘60 Minutes’ is “trying to tell sob stories."
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Speaking last night on Fox about the spiked CECOT story, Miller laughed about how ‘60 Minutes’ is “trying to tell sob stories."
Reposted by Walter Olson
Agencies across the Trump administration have taken out subscriptions in recent months to news organizations that officials had very publicly cut off this year, reversing an earlier decision to cancel them.
Despite anti-media rhetoric, the government is still reading the news
The Trump administration is spending tens of thousands of dollars on paywalled news sites, including Politico and Bloomberg, despite earlier criticism of media outlets.
wapo.st
December 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Agencies across the Trump administration have taken out subscriptions in recent months to news organizations that officials had very publicly cut off this year, reversing an earlier decision to cancel them.
Reposted by Walter Olson
“We’ve seen rapid normalization of abuses we once associated with authoritarian regimes or the old Iron Curtain countries. It’s now routine for masked, unidentifiable government agents to sweep people off the street and whisk them away in unmarked vehicles.”
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 5:02 PM
“We’ve seen rapid normalization of abuses we once associated with authoritarian regimes or the old Iron Curtain countries. It’s now routine for masked, unidentifiable government agents to sweep people off the street and whisk them away in unmarked vehicles.”
Reposted by Walter Olson
The Despot fails to silence the lawyer.
BREAKING 🚨 🚨 🚨
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a March presidential memorandum to revoke the security clearance of prominent Washington attorney Mark Zaid, ruling that the order could not be applied to him.
apnews.com/article/trum...
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a March presidential memorandum to revoke the security clearance of prominent Washington attorney Mark Zaid, ruling that the order could not be applied to him.
apnews.com/article/trum...
Judge blocks Trump effort to strip security clearance from attorney who represented whistleblowers
A federal judge is halting the enforcement of a March presidential memorandum that revoked the security clearance of a prominent Washington attorney.
apnews.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:03 PM
The Despot fails to silence the lawyer.
Jack Goldsmith @execfunctions.bsky.social is now out with an analysis of yesterday's Court ruling disallowing for now Trump's National Guard deployment in Illinois. He notes that yesterday's ruling should terminate for now Trump's Guard call-ups in California and Oregon. Other highlights: /1
Thoughts on the Interim Order in Trump v. Illinois
The administration loses but still has options for domestic military deployment
www.execfunctions.org
December 24, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Jack Goldsmith @execfunctions.bsky.social is now out with an analysis of yesterday's Court ruling disallowing for now Trump's National Guard deployment in Illinois. He notes that yesterday's ruling should terminate for now Trump's Guard call-ups in California and Oregon. Other highlights: /1
Reposted by Walter Olson
ICE is out of control.
"Her family has now been told she has been deported, despite US District Judge Brendan Hurson ruling Thursday that she could not be deported pending a hearing...attorneys said Monday that they have...confirm[ed] with the hospital she was born in Maryland." https://bit.ly/3MMdJvz
ICE detains woman whose lawyer insists is US citizen. DHS says she isn't
Federal agents arrested Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales on her way home in Baltimore, Maryland.
bit.ly
December 24, 2025 at 4:07 AM
ICE is out of control.
Charles Kuralt, 1964, on Christmas among poor people in Kentucky coal country. Mentioned in passing: a local charity raised money for school lunches by selling bootleg liquor. Here’s to reducing poverty in 2026. (27:11)
Christmas in Appalachia (1964) "The Permanently Poor" | 16mm Film Scan
YouTube video by 16mm Time Machine
youtu.be
December 24, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Charles Kuralt, 1964, on Christmas among poor people in Kentucky coal country. Mentioned in passing: a local charity raised money for school lunches by selling bootleg liquor. Here’s to reducing poverty in 2026. (27:11)
Reposted by Walter Olson
Heritage Foundation implosion has been a wakeup call for some conservatives about dangerous trends on Trump-era right. I hope they will see that nationalism is inherently prone to bigotry, and reject it in favor of universal principles of the Founding: reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Lessons of the Heritage Foundation's Implosion
The decline of this major conservative institution has been a wakeup call for conservative intellectuals. But will they draw the right lessons from it?
reason.com
December 23, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Heritage Foundation implosion has been a wakeup call for some conservatives about dangerous trends on Trump-era right. I hope they will see that nationalism is inherently prone to bigotry, and reject it in favor of universal principles of the Founding: reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Pending rule from Department of Education would bar employers from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program if they have a "substantial illegal purpose," which turns out to relate to administration bugaboos like abetting DEI, gender change therapy and assistance to illegal immigrants.
New federal student debt rule seen as tool to enforce Trump agenda - Maryland Matters
A new federal regulation to narrow eligibility for a key student debt relief program for public service workers has drawn the ire of advocates who say it's little more than an attempt to target organi...
marylandmatters.org
December 23, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Pending rule from Department of Education would bar employers from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program if they have a "substantial illegal purpose," which turns out to relate to administration bugaboos like abetting DEI, gender change therapy and assistance to illegal immigrants.