B. Safarik
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bradsafarik.bsky.social
B. Safarik
@bradsafarik.bsky.social
290 followers 620 following 430 posts
PhD, Associate Professor in Poli Sci, interested in political systems of the Global South, increasingly concerned about democratic backsliding in my own country. Polyglot. Eyes wide open.
Reposts are sometimes endorsements
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by B. Safarik
jordanuhl.com
When asked if there was anything "incriminating" in Epstein's emails, Trump pointed a finger in a female reporter's face and snapped. 'Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.'

people.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump Snaps at Female Reporter Who Asks About Epstein Files: 'Quiet Piggy'
Donald Trump Says 'Quiet Piggy' to Female Reporter Asking About Epstein Files
people.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by B. Safarik
andycraig.bsky.social
"The attorney in the New York office spoke in depth about the plan being recently updated to include mosques and liberal synagogues in the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s recent win in the New York City mayor’s race."
dianamonkey.bsky.social Erin Kane @dianamonkey.bsky.social · 10h
"Agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, ERO, and CBP intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25."
Exclusive: Trump DHS Plans Immigration Raids on Churches Over Holidays
The Trump Dept. of Homeland Security is briefing federal agencies on plans for immigration enforcement operations inside churches over holidays.
thisweekinworcester.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Reposted by B. Safarik
zeteo.com
Republican election officials and lawmakers in several states are working to upend next year’s elections in five key ways.

@justinglawe.bsky.social explains how exactly Trump and his allies plan to undermine the 2026 midterms.

Read the full article: open.substack.com/pub/zeteo/p/...
November 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
colbylsmith.bsky.social
NEW: Top supervisors at the Fed's 12 reserve banks and senior staff in Washington received a memo on Oct 29 with directives fundamentally changing how the central bank oversees banks

It is part of a sweeping overhaul led by Bowman

🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/b... @nytimes.com
Wall Street’s Top Cop Ushers In Lighter-Touch Oversight of Banks
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
marcelias.bsky.social
Since taking office earlier this year, the Trump administration and the Department of Justice have dedicated significant resources to undermining states’ abilities to run free and fair elections. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/dojs...
DOJ’s Anti-Democratic Demand for State Voter Rolls Threatens Fair Elections
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
samleecole.bsky.social
license plate data merged with credit header data, marriage records, vehicle ownership, and voter registrations, in one app for ICE agents. oh and it sends push notifications when someone they're seeking is nearby.
🆒: www.404media.co/this-app-let...
This App Lets ICE Track Vehicles and Owners Across the Country
Material viewed by 404 Media shows data giant Thomson Reuters enriches license plate data with marriage, voter, and ownership records. The tool can predict where a car may be in the future.
www.404media.co
November 17, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
stevevladeck.bsky.social
There have been at least 154 cases in which federal district courts have issued preliminary relief against a Trump administration policy.

Those rulings have come from 121 *different* judges appointed by seven presidents (including 15 appointed by Trump) sitting in 29 district courts in 10 circuits:
193. The "War" on Judges
Deputy Attorney General Blanche's attack on lower courts is an impressive combination of light on substance; shamelessly hypocritical; and profoundly dangerous. More people should be condemning it.
www.stevevladeck.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
jennycohn.bsky.social
4/ “ISI’s Collegiate Network supports over 70 student-run publications across the country *** Many influential figures have come through ISI’s Collegiate Network, including Peter Thiel…”
isi.org/students/col...
November 17, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
jennycohn.bsky.social
3/ “In his book The Case for Christian Nationalism, published by [Doug] Wilson’s Canon Press, Wolfe…calls for outright religious discrimination. ‘Non-Christians living among us are entitled to justice, peace, and safety, but they are not entitled to political equality,’ he writes.”
The New Christian Right, Antisemitism & U.S. Democracy
For years, Christian supremacist ideology was coursing through American conservatism. Now it—and its antisemitism—is out in the open, in the halls of power and scaring Jews.
momentmag.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
vermontgmg.bsky.social
Greg Bovino is leading a rebel cavalry terrorizing America—and it's important to recognize that it's in retreat. While the trauma and terror Bovino’s raiders instill is real and damaging, it’s remarkable to note how ineffective the force has turned out to be. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/trump-bord...
Trump, Border Patrol Retreat in Failure from Chicago
Five important lessons of the first six months of Trump’s immigration raids — and why CBP’s Greg Bovino is the Nathan Bedford Forrest of the Trump era.
www.doomsdayscenario.co
November 17, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
charlesornstein.bsky.social
Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content
Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content - Oklahoma Watch
The Trump administration removed a congressionally mandated report on missing and murdered Native Americans from the DOJ website, citing compliance with an executive order against DEI. Senators who ch...
oklahomawatch.org
November 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
leahlitman.bsky.social
Is it bad if a sitting federal judge was (allegedly) part of a conspiracy to commit murder? It seems bad ....
leahlitman.bsky.social Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 20h
OMFG-ex DOJ official (& now federal judge) Emil Bove was involved in the administration's plots to murder individuals via lethal strikes

"At a DOJ conference ... Bove told drug prosecutors the ... administration wasn't interested in interdicting ... Instead... the U.S. should "just sink the boats."
At a Justice Department conference in February, then-acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove told the department's top drug prosecutors that the Trump administration wasn't interested in interdicting suspected drug vessels at sea anymore. Instead, he said, the U.S. should "just sink the boats," according to three people present for the speech.
November 17, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
zackbeauchamp.bsky.social
In this new essay on the internal culture of the right, I report on something big: allegations by a Heritage Foundation insider that the organization has allowed a toxic culture of "open misogyny and racism" to grow among a segment of the staff

www.vox.com/on-the-right...
The toxic culture behind the right’s civil war
A Heritage insider alleging “openly misogynistic and racist” conduct shines a light on the right’s inner workings.
www.vox.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
mjsdc.bsky.social
The 9th Circuit’s description of what happened after the government introduced the “metering” policy to block asylum seekers at the border. Incredibly bleak. www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/u...
Due to the metering policy, asylum seekers began to accumulate on the Mexico side of the border. Many camped near the bridges at ports of entry. In an at- tempt to impose some order, Mexican government offi- cials and nonprofits made lists of people waiting to be processed. U.S. border officials sometimes coordi- nated informally with those keeping lists, but they did not keep lists of their own. Asylum seekers waited in Mexico for days, weeks, or months. Many were subject to persecution and crime, and they often lacked adequate food and shelter. Some were murdered in Mexico while waiting for an oppor- tunity to be processed by U.S. officials. Some at- tempted to reach U.S. soil by other means, such as run- ning down vehicle lanes at ports of entry, so that they could apply for asylum. Others, including young chil- dren, tried to swim across the Rio Grande River and drowned.
November 17, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
icij.org
ICIJ's latest investigation The #CoinLaundry is a collaboration of 113 journalists from 38 media partners in 35 countries that exposes how cryptocurrency companies have empowered a shadow economy that lavishly profits from crime.

Here are our findings:
November 17, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
chrisgeeuk.bsky.social
"in spite of the efforts of good-faith actors who are participating in the plastics treaty negotiations. As fossil-fuel companies face the existential threat that is the transition to renewable energy, they are doubling down on plastics production."
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/pla...
Plastic Planet | Venus Bivar
Stalled negotiations and accelerating accumulation in the global petrochemicals industry
www.phenomenalworld.org
November 16, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by B. Safarik
zacheverson.com
New: A site licensing Trump's name is selling merch with the presidential seal — including a $20 beer-pong set with “Presidential themed balls.”

Federal law says you can’t manufacture or sell likenesses of the seal without authorization.

me, for @forbes.com

1/
Trump-Licensed Presidential Seal Beer Pong Set Could Violate Federal Law
A site affiliated with Lee Greenwood sells merchandise with the seal—such as a $20 beer pong set with “Presidential themed balls”—and pays licensing fees to a Trump LLC.
www.forbes.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
agreenberg.bsky.social
Incredible impact from @mattburgess1.bsky.social whose work put a spotlight on Starlink’s use in scam compounds in February.
November 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
oliviamesser.bsky.social
79-year-old Paul Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a WWII German refugee camp. His family legally emigrated to the U.S. when he was 5.

He’s been taken by ICE in Florida.

www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/s...
Sanford grandfather, born in refugee camp, nabbed by ICE after 70 years in U.S.
Paul Bojerski never gained official residency, but he checked in regularly with ICE for years. Then in July, at age 79, he was detained and sent to Alligator Alcatraz.
www.orlandosentinel.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
smotus.bsky.social
Why the nation was gripped by the NYC mayoral race
November 17, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
donmoyn.bsky.social
Absolutely no way to read this and not conclude that the Department of Justice has been deeply corrupted. And this is from a time when career lawyers were in place, pushing back against illegality. With firings and resignations, the politicization will just get worse.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
60 Attorneys on the Year of Chaos Inside Trump’s Justice Department (Gift Article)
Sixty former staffers describe an environment of suspicion and intimidation within the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency.
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
mikesacks.bsky.social
This whole piece is all the actual horribles on parade, and this one is just infuriating
April 7 Brian McEntire, Civil Rights Division: My goal was always to become an attorney in the Civil Rights Division. That was my dream. I ended up working a lot on fire department cases. In Cobb County, Ga., we got information that even though African Americans and whites were applying for positions at about an equal rate over the previous decade, 90 percent of the hires had been white and 10 percent had been African American. And we didn't quite understand why that was. So we did an investigation and found out that there was a credit check that was disproportionately knocking out African Americans, particularly for student loan debt. And when we asked them why they were doing that, their response was essentially, Well, if a firefighter is deeply in debt and he's fighting a fire, he might steal grandma's pearls. So we brought suit. In February, we got a note saying that the attorney general wanted us to withdraw the case. The next day, division leadership insisted that we put additional language in the notice of dismissal that implied it was all about reverse discrimination. I didn't know, quite frankly, if I could sign it. If I have to say what I argued before was illegal, then I could have been accused of misleading the court, which could have ended up with me being disciplined, sanctioned and my bar license revoked. So I did not sign it. My colleagues didn't sign it. They pulled us all into a room, and we were all prepared to get fired because none of us were going to sign. My boss signed a modified version of the notice of withdrawal on our behalf. We also had a racial-discrimination case involving the sole African American attorney working for the Mississippi State Senate, who, during the years she worked there, was paid less than half of what her similarly situated white colleagues were making. It was as clear-cut a case of disparate racial treatment you could find. The Senate stalled the case until Trump's appointees could come in and order our section to drop it. When you talk about the rule of law and treating people fairly and equally, that's obviously a slap in the face.
November 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
bradsafarik.bsky.social
It's sick that Emil Bove, Mr. "lie to the courts", is one of the major forces behind US gov't-sanctioned murder in int'l waters. The GOP Senate has murdered Latinos are on their hands for confirming such a despicable character for a lifetime appointment, ripping up the foundations our own Republic
rgoodlaw.bsky.social Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 21h
"Nine current and former U.S. officials who worked to combat transnational crime....

They questioned the legality of the deadly strikes — many referred to them as murder. ... Several of them said it may ultimately prove counterproductive."

🧵
Justice Department official told prosecutors that U.S. should 'just sink' drug boats
NPR interviews with current and former officials reveal more of the backstory around the military's strikes in the Caribbean.
www.npr.org
November 17, 2025 at 2:46 PM
bradsafarik.bsky.social
Kavanaugh wrote the opinion first the conservative majority. Kavanaugh put it to words, but other other conservative justices fully endorse racial profiling too. Don't give them a pass.
sifill.bsky.social Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 21h
This practice was endorsed by a Supreme Court Justice.
#KavanaughStop
royalpratt.bsky.social Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 22h
US citizen Maria Greeley, a Latina who was adopted, was walking home from work downtown when masked agents zip tied her. They said she “doesn’t look like a Greeley.” This is how the government treats people under current deportation policies.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/15/l...
November 17, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by B. Safarik
nicholasgrossman.bsky.social
The US is not a liberal democracy, and hasn’t been since January. Constitution, rule of law, checks and balances, individual rights — all not in operation.

It’s now a mixed regime, autarky, competitive authoritarianism.

Not at risk. Not could be. Is.

Doesn’t mean that’s forever. But it is now.
dennycarter.bsky.social Denny Carter @dennycarter.bsky.social · 22h
This whole NYT account about the weaponization of DOJ is beyond disturbing. Kinda feels like the US government fell in January.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
February 5 Lawyer, National Security Division: Bondi signaled the Foreign Agents Registration Act would be enforced only in very limited circumstances after the Justice Department had done a lot over the last decade to give it teeth. At its core, FARA is a transparency statute, to let the American public know when foreign actors engage in political activities or try to influence U.S. discourse. If you're concerned about foreign money and influence in politics, it's a bad time to go dark.
November 17, 2025 at 2:29 PM