Brett Allin
@brettallin.bsky.social
Oregon appellate public defender, rafter, runner
Portland OR
Portland OR
Reposted by Brett Allin
He gets grilled about it because the political consensus within the Democratic Party on the issue is breaking down and as a result elite backlash against the ascendant POV is at an all time high. Trump doesn't get grilled about anything because Republicans aren't actually held to a standard at all.
Particulars of Israel-Palestine aside, it's a bit surreal seeing a mayor get grilled on foreign policy while everyone shrugs when the actual president appears to be throwing darts at a map blindfolded to decide our next war. Sorry, Cameroon. Nothing personal.
November 7, 2025 at 12:45 AM
He gets grilled about it because the political consensus within the Democratic Party on the issue is breaking down and as a result elite backlash against the ascendant POV is at an all time high. Trump doesn't get grilled about anything because Republicans aren't actually held to a standard at all.
Reposted by Brett Allin
The more democratic elements of the American constitutional and economic order are actually throwing up road blocks to Trumpism. Protests and boycotts and low level courts and juries and cetera. Elite actors on the other hand are all too frequently caving. Fascinating study in who actually cares!
BREAKING: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT EATS A LOSS IN 'SANDWICH GUY' CASE AS JURORS FIND DEFENDANT NOT GUILTY www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
Jury acquits D.C. 'sandwich guy' charged with chucking a sub at a federal agent
Sean Dunn faced single misdemeanor offense after federal grand jurors refused to indict him on the felony charge sought by prosecutors.
www.nbcnews.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:30 PM
The more democratic elements of the American constitutional and economic order are actually throwing up road blocks to Trumpism. Protests and boycotts and low level courts and juries and cetera. Elite actors on the other hand are all too frequently caving. Fascinating study in who actually cares!
Reposted by Brett Allin
For years, but especially for the past year, Democrats have been in thrall to the idea that they need to chase an imagined median voter, and adopt that voter’s positions. Mamdani’s victory shows another way: hold principles, and persuade people to share them.
I wrote about Zohran’s victory. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Mamdani’s victory is a rebuke to the failed strategies of the Democratic party | Moira Donegan
The Democratic party appears listless and unprincipled, unwilling to fight because they do not believe in anything. Zohran Mamdani is the opposite of this
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:13 AM
For years, but especially for the past year, Democrats have been in thrall to the idea that they need to chase an imagined median voter, and adopt that voter’s positions. Mamdani’s victory shows another way: hold principles, and persuade people to share them.
Reposted by Brett Allin
1. There are three very important constraints on tonight's Mamdani victory you have to keep in mind when we're looking at what he's going to be able to do in office (taking him in good faith as someone who wants to make life better for people and discounting Trump).
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
November 5, 2025 at 2:44 AM
1. There are three very important constraints on tonight's Mamdani victory you have to keep in mind when we're looking at what he's going to be able to do in office (taking him in good faith as someone who wants to make life better for people and discounting Trump).
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Reposted by Brett Allin
Mamdani: "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."
November 5, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Mamdani: "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."
Reposted by Brett Allin
Three examples in one 24-hour period of people threatening to use the power of the state against those holding them to account.
www.pbump.net/o/these-are-...
www.pbump.net/o/these-are-...
These are all the same thing.
1. When ProPublica emailed questions for a profile of the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, they received a response from the communications director of the state Republican Party. He...
www.pbump.net
October 31, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Three examples in one 24-hour period of people threatening to use the power of the state against those holding them to account.
www.pbump.net/o/these-are-...
www.pbump.net/o/these-are-...
Reposted by Brett Allin
A real prosecutor would be embarrassed by losing cases like this, wasting taxpayer resources on a hopeless and partisan case But a trump loyalist doesn't care about that and knows just indicting someone can ruin their life (and cost them $10,000s in legal fees to defend even a joke case)
Indicted for shit posting on Blue Sky but the jury said nah
Jury Acquits Man Accused of Soliciting Trump’s Murder on Bluesky
A jury took about two hours Tuesday to acquit a man accused of soliciting President Donald Trump’s assassination on social media, a setback for the Justice Department office led by Trump’s newly-insta...
news.bloomberglaw.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:23 AM
A real prosecutor would be embarrassed by losing cases like this, wasting taxpayer resources on a hopeless and partisan case But a trump loyalist doesn't care about that and knows just indicting someone can ruin their life (and cost them $10,000s in legal fees to defend even a joke case)
Reposted by Brett Allin
This is a real thing that a judge had to say to the Chief of US Customs and Border Protection.
"Kids dressed in halloween costumes walking to a parade" do not present an immediate threat to law enforcement officer and riot control measures may not be used, Ellis says.
October 28, 2025 at 3:20 PM
This is a real thing that a judge had to say to the Chief of US Customs and Border Protection.
Reposted by Brett Allin
Greetings from the Dirksen federal courthouse, where Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino is set to appear before U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis.
What you need to know, for @wttw.bsky.social:
What you need to know, for @wttw.bsky.social:
Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, Who Fired Tear Gas at Little Village Crowd, Set to Face Federal Judge
U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis ordered Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino to appear in her courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
news.wttw.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Greetings from the Dirksen federal courthouse, where Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino is set to appear before U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis.
What you need to know, for @wttw.bsky.social:
What you need to know, for @wttw.bsky.social:
Reposted by Brett Allin
🚨BIG changes happening -- ICE leadership is being purged tonight. The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Gregory Bovino's "Midway Blitz" style.
Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.
Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.
October 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
🚨BIG changes happening -- ICE leadership is being purged tonight. The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Gregory Bovino's "Midway Blitz" style.
Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.
Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.
Reposted by Brett Allin
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 Brett Allin
A lot of people who were panic mongering about a woke cultural revolution are conspicuously quiet about a youth activist denouncing a professor for wrong think and that professor being fired as part of a campaign of public shaming by political leaders.
Update on the Texas A&M professor / cell phone video situation: the professor has been fired by the A&M president
president.tamu.edu/messages/an-...
president.tamu.edu/messages/an-...
September 10, 2025 at 11:43 AM
A lot of people who were panic mongering about a woke cultural revolution are conspicuously quiet about a youth activist denouncing a professor for wrong think and that professor being fired as part of a campaign of public shaming by political leaders.
Reposted by Brett Allin
If you had told me in 2012 that Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign manager would be posting like this 13 years later i would not have believed you
August 30, 2025 at 3:27 PM
If you had told me in 2012 that Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign manager would be posting like this 13 years later i would not have believed you
Reposted by Brett Allin
Probably doesn't matter much in the grand scheme. But I suppose the only useful thing left to do if you're on this Court, and KBJ seems to have this impulse, is shred their pretense of good-faith legitimacy and normalcy. Mock them, denigrate them, call them dishonest, and make them publish it.
August 22, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Probably doesn't matter much in the grand scheme. But I suppose the only useful thing left to do if you're on this Court, and KBJ seems to have this impulse, is shred their pretense of good-faith legitimacy and normalcy. Mock them, denigrate them, call them dishonest, and make them publish it.
Reposted by Brett Allin
Our political media is simply not equipped to handle a situation where the voters were unambiguously wrong in a way which morally implicates the electorate.
A man coughing up blood. Men zip-tied face down on a wet floor. CCTV turned off. Men forced to eat off of a chair like animals while handcuffed. Solitary confinement if you complain. This is just three paragraphs from a new report.
July 23, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Our political media is simply not equipped to handle a situation where the voters were unambiguously wrong in a way which morally implicates the electorate.
Reposted by Brett Allin
My mom and stepdad are from the same diaspora group as Zohran Mamdani’s dad (same like “my stepdad was kicked out of the same town and knows some of his classmates”) and apparently the New York Times doesn’t understand how diaspora works, so I am going to tell you a little about my mom’s people!
July 3, 2025 at 11:25 PM
My mom and stepdad are from the same diaspora group as Zohran Mamdani’s dad (same like “my stepdad was kicked out of the same town and knows some of his classmates”) and apparently the New York Times doesn’t understand how diaspora works, so I am going to tell you a little about my mom’s people!
Reposted by Brett Allin
“In Cell 15, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia and 20 other Salvadorans were forced to kneel from approximately 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM, with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion. During this time, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself…”
July 2, 2025 at 9:35 PM
“In Cell 15, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia and 20 other Salvadorans were forced to kneel from approximately 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM, with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion. During this time, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself…”
Reposted by Brett Allin
as for the upshot of the decision, the republican court has put the citizen children of non-citizens in a position similar to that of free blacks during the antebellum period. their right to enjoy the privileges and immunities of american citizenship will vary according to state borders
June 27, 2025 at 2:34 PM
as for the upshot of the decision, the republican court has put the citizen children of non-citizens in a position similar to that of free blacks during the antebellum period. their right to enjoy the privileges and immunities of american citizenship will vary according to state borders
Reposted by Brett Allin
Every word of this is depraved beyond belief.
ICE abducted a six year old with leukemia, threatened him with a gun such that he wet himself, and has denied him medical treatment.
I don’t know what to say.
www.tpr.org/border-immig...
ICE abducted a six year old with leukemia, threatened him with a gun such that he wet himself, and has denied him medical treatment.
I don’t know what to say.
www.tpr.org/border-immig...
June 27, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Every word of this is depraved beyond belief.
ICE abducted a six year old with leukemia, threatened him with a gun such that he wet himself, and has denied him medical treatment.
I don’t know what to say.
www.tpr.org/border-immig...
ICE abducted a six year old with leukemia, threatened him with a gun such that he wet himself, and has denied him medical treatment.
I don’t know what to say.
www.tpr.org/border-immig...
Reposted by Brett Allin
never forget that mamdani’s campaign started to surge after calling tom homan a bitch to his face
June 25, 2025 at 4:26 AM
never forget that mamdani’s campaign started to surge after calling tom homan a bitch to his face
Reposted by Brett Allin
Truly horrified by this order in way that is deeper and darker than I have felt over many truly awful merits decisions.
"SCOTUS allows Trump admin to deport people to random countries with no notice"
Honestly still can't believe that I wrote this headline today, let alone that the U.S. Supreme Court's majority did so.
Honestly still can't believe that I wrote this headline today, let alone that the U.S. Supreme Court's majority did so.
SCOTUS allows Trump admin to deport people to random countries with no notice
Justice Sotomayor called the order a "gross ... abuse" of the court's authority. Also: Law Dork in the media.
www.lawdork.com
June 24, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Truly horrified by this order in way that is deeper and darker than I have felt over many truly awful merits decisions.
Reposted by Brett Allin
The fact that so many people think celebrating the end of slavery in the US is “DEI” is actually clarifying of what they mean when they use DEI. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/06/...
Juneteenth: How cities are scaling back celebrations after Trump-era DEI rollbacks | CNN
Despite Juneteenth’s status as a federal holiday, celebrations across the country are being scaled back or canceled, as organizers cite safety problems and mounting resistance to diversity, equity and...
amp.cnn.com
June 19, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The fact that so many people think celebrating the end of slavery in the US is “DEI” is actually clarifying of what they mean when they use DEI. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/06/...
Reposted by Brett Allin
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander was just arrested by Trump’s ICE agents because he asked to see a judicial warrant.
This is fascism and all New Yorkers must speak in one voice. Release him now.
This is fascism and all New Yorkers must speak in one voice. Release him now.
Here's a longer video of Brad Lander's detention just now inside 26 Federal Plaza as he tried to walk a man out of immigration court, by masked federal agents.
June 17, 2025 at 4:54 PM
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander was just arrested by Trump’s ICE agents because he asked to see a judicial warrant.
This is fascism and all New Yorkers must speak in one voice. Release him now.
This is fascism and all New Yorkers must speak in one voice. Release him now.
Reposted by Brett Allin
Here's a longer video of Brad Lander's detention just now inside 26 Federal Plaza as he tried to walk a man out of immigration court, by masked federal agents.
June 17, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Here's a longer video of Brad Lander's detention just now inside 26 Federal Plaza as he tried to walk a man out of immigration court, by masked federal agents.