@donnyward.bsky.social
Donal Lardner Ward. Filmmaker, TV Writer/Producer, Unrepentant Fantasist. Dad of identical twin girls. Currently working on a memoir about growing up in Elaine’s NYC. My Life’s (still) In Turnaround.
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Wins 2025 hands down
Every legal story now is either
Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach
or
In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport
Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach
or
In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport
December 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Wins 2025 hands down
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I cannot imagine the level of moral bankruptcy to describe the actions of people whose boat has just been hit by a missile from nowhere (this was the FIRST such strike) and who were most likely making a desperate attempt not to drown in the ocean as trying to "stay in the fight."
Q: What did you see in the second strike?
Cotton: "I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat -- loaded with drugs, bound for the United States -- back over, so they could stay in the fight."
Cotton: "I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat -- loaded with drugs, bound for the United States -- back over, so they could stay in the fight."
December 4, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I cannot imagine the level of moral bankruptcy to describe the actions of people whose boat has just been hit by a missile from nowhere (this was the FIRST such strike) and who were most likely making a desperate attempt not to drown in the ocean as trying to "stay in the fight."
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This is the roughly the ratio of the foreign-born population which existed for half a century from the late 19th to the early 20th century.
/note that this chart is from 2019, the percent of the population which is foreign-born is now somewhat above 15%, which is a new high.
/note that this chart is from 2019, the percent of the population which is foreign-born is now somewhat above 15%, which is a new high.
December 2, 2025 at 6:22 PM
This is the roughly the ratio of the foreign-born population which existed for half a century from the late 19th to the early 20th century.
/note that this chart is from 2019, the percent of the population which is foreign-born is now somewhat above 15%, which is a new high.
/note that this chart is from 2019, the percent of the population which is foreign-born is now somewhat above 15%, which is a new high.
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Department of Defense Law of War Manual, Sec. 18.3.2.1 states the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders.
What’s its key example? Wait for it . . . It’s "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
What’s its key example? Wait for it . . . It’s "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
December 1, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Department of Defense Law of War Manual, Sec. 18.3.2.1 states the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders.
What’s its key example? Wait for it . . . It’s "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
What’s its key example? Wait for it . . . It’s "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
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Lindsey Graham sponsored the Afghan Adjustment Act: “This is the right thing to do. The people who were there with us in the fight who are here in America need to stay. This will be their new home. We have a moral obligation to these people and they will make great citizens.”
November 29, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Lindsey Graham sponsored the Afghan Adjustment Act: “This is the right thing to do. The people who were there with us in the fight who are here in America need to stay. This will be their new home. We have a moral obligation to these people and they will make great citizens.”
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Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
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THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
![II. Credibility
The Court next addresses the credibility of the parties’ evidence and witnesses. After reviewing all the evidence submitted to the Court and listening to the testimony elicited at the preliminary injunction hearing, during depositions, and in other court proceedings, the Court finds Defendants’ evidence simply not credible. [FN 6]
Plaintiffs submitted a mountain of evidence, providing the Court with over eighty declarations, numerous videos and articles, and other evidence. Defendants did not rebut anything that Plaintiffs set forth in their declarations or testimony, even with BWC footage.
[FN 6] In another case considering some of the same evidence presented to this Court, another court in this district also found that the perceptions of certain of Defendants’ declarants, such as Hott and Parra, were not reliable. See Illinois v. Trump, No. 25-cv-12174, 2025 WL 2886645, at *5 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 10, 2025) (noting a “troubling trend of Defendants’ declarants equating protests with riots and a lack of appreciation for the wide spectrum that exists between citizens who are observing, questioning, and criticizing their government, and those who are obstructing, assaulting, or doing violence”), motion to stay denied in part, 155 F.4th 929 (7th Cir. 2025).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2vtbmhmrwzbqcfv4we4uxzzt/bafkreifpyry2il5toxbr3iejgrsxs6kmnwve75qwnhebfp44ieyjrfpsdu@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 11:04 PM
THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
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The Kremlin disguised a nearly $100 mn payment to Trump in the form of a brokered real estate deal... and both Jeffrey Epstein and William Pulte were involved in the deal. That's very interesting.
November 12, 2025 at 9:56 PM
The Kremlin disguised a nearly $100 mn payment to Trump in the form of a brokered real estate deal... and both Jeffrey Epstein and William Pulte were involved in the deal. That's very interesting.
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November 8, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Journalism malpractice.
Three times in the past two weeks, editorials at the 'Washington Post' failed to disclose that they focused on matters in which owner Jeff Bezos had a material interest.
'Washington Post' editorials omit a key disclosure: Bezos' financial ties
Three times in the past two weeks, editorials at the 'Washington Post' failed to disclose that they focused on matters in which owner Jeff Bezos had a material interest.
n.pr
October 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Journalism malpractice.
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A terrific AFP fact check uses reverse image searches to expose how a White House video took scenes from Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska and lied that they showed "Chicago is in chaos."
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....
October 16, 2025 at 2:07 PM
A terrific AFP fact check uses reverse image searches to expose how a White House video took scenes from Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska and lied that they showed "Chicago is in chaos."
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....
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When authoritarians tell you they like authoritarianism, over and over and over and over and over again, believe them
Trump on Egypt: "They have very little crime. Because they don't play games. That's why. Like we do in the United States with governors that have no idea what they're doing."
October 13, 2025 at 3:48 PM
When authoritarians tell you they like authoritarianism, over and over and over and over and over again, believe them
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welcome to the new era of CBS News, where brave truth-telling takes precedence over spelling Zohran Mamdani’s name correctly
October 13, 2025 at 3:35 PM
welcome to the new era of CBS News, where brave truth-telling takes precedence over spelling Zohran Mamdani’s name correctly
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ICE is too dangerous to be left unaccountable.
Violence & abuse against Americans is wrong.
If you see an incident occurring, get out your cellphone. Document it. Send it to your Congressperson and the press. Do it anonymously if you need to. #BeTheChange
Violence & abuse against Americans is wrong.
If you see an incident occurring, get out your cellphone. Document it. Send it to your Congressperson and the press. Do it anonymously if you need to. #BeTheChange
October 4, 2025 at 1:36 PM
ICE is too dangerous to be left unaccountable.
Violence & abuse against Americans is wrong.
If you see an incident occurring, get out your cellphone. Document it. Send it to your Congressperson and the press. Do it anonymously if you need to. #BeTheChange
Violence & abuse against Americans is wrong.
If you see an incident occurring, get out your cellphone. Document it. Send it to your Congressperson and the press. Do it anonymously if you need to. #BeTheChange
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Justice Kavanaugh: “If the person is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully
in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”
in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”
September 28, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Justice Kavanaugh: “If the person is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully
in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”
in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”
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gotta say grok might genuinely be the most useful ai tool of our time given its userbase
September 11, 2025 at 11:40 PM
gotta say grok might genuinely be the most useful ai tool of our time given its userbase
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The leadership that can’t unite behind Mamdani now is the leadership that made Mamdani possible. Their timidity in the face of a historic crisis presents a challenge and opportunity: When no one else is coming to save you, you have to save yourselves. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Democratic voters want their leaders to stop running from Zohran Mamdani
"It's so ugly, it's so cowardly, it's so stupid."
www.motherjones.com
September 9, 2025 at 4:06 PM
The leadership that can’t unite behind Mamdani now is the leadership that made Mamdani possible. Their timidity in the face of a historic crisis presents a challenge and opportunity: When no one else is coming to save you, you have to save yourselves. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
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This is what the appeasers and capitulators don't seem to get (or perhaps willfully deny): You're not going along with one awful thing, you're setting the baseline for the next awful thing, and the expectation that you'll acquiesce to that. Which forms a new baseline...
Call it out and say no.
Call it out and say no.
Once Donald Trump gets the citizens of this nation comfortable with the current atrocities committed under the color of law – what comes next?
September 8, 2025 at 12:08 AM
This is what the appeasers and capitulators don't seem to get (or perhaps willfully deny): You're not going along with one awful thing, you're setting the baseline for the next awful thing, and the expectation that you'll acquiesce to that. Which forms a new baseline...
Call it out and say no.
Call it out and say no.
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Good heads up especially for media: do not take a bunch if correlations by motivated actors seriously. If they don’t preregister their hypotheses and data, chances are the results are spurious and cherry picked
A short explanation of p-hacking and why it absolutely makes sense to ask HHS to release the study methods of their autism report in advance.
September 6, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Good heads up especially for media: do not take a bunch if correlations by motivated actors seriously. If they don’t preregister their hypotheses and data, chances are the results are spurious and cherry picked
Nonsense! We whooped Grenada's tiny little ass in 1983!
Trump Says U.S. Military Has ‘Never Fought to Win’ Since World War II www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...
Trump Says U.S. Military Has ‘Never Fought to Win’ Since World War II www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...
Trump Says U.S. Military Has ‘Never Fought to Win’ Since World War II
www.nytimes.com
September 6, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Nonsense! We whooped Grenada's tiny little ass in 1983!
Trump Says U.S. Military Has ‘Never Fought to Win’ Since World War II www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...
Trump Says U.S. Military Has ‘Never Fought to Win’ Since World War II www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...