mcbenton.bsky.social
mcbenton.bsky.social
@mcbenton.bsky.social
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
Brett Kavanaugh (September 2025): The facts and how they relate to the law don’t matter. Assume ICE and other federal forces always act with integrity, always respect rights, and consistently impose minimal burden.

Brett Kavanaugh (December 2025): Should I not have done that? Was that wrong?
Kavanaugh in a footnote in today's opinion says "the officers must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity."
December 23, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy.
www.chosun.com/english/nati...
National Defense Ministry Honors 11 Soldiers for Refusing Illegal Orders
National Defense Ministry Honors 11 Soldiers for Refusing Illegal Orders Honored for rejecting illegal orders during martial law, Marine death probe
www.chosun.com
September 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
"...every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active
opposition to cruel bigotry, convulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism...nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us."
September 16, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
The adamant elite refusal to call bullshit is a big part of How We Got Here.

The prevailing cultural attitude for years is you must not, under any circumstances, treat anything as bad faith. You are obligated to find some reasonable idea and engage with that, even if you distort to get there.
August 13, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
Darnella Frazier was 17 when she had the presence of mind to document what was happening to George Floyd.

These ICE abduction videos differ but also convey an out-of-control state abusing its power.

Sometimes bearing witness is among the most important forms of civil resistance.
20-year-old U.S. citizen Adrian Andrew Martinez was swarmed by ICE in Pico Rivera while defending someone. He never hit back—just struggled—before being slammed into a CBP van. No records. No lawyer. His mom can’t find him. This is abuse of power. Keep recording. Don’t stop.
June 19, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
political press is doing a real disservice by basically not reporting the nuances of public opinion on deportations, and creating the appearance that most americans support the stephen miller-style gestapo tactics
Should we deport people who have lived here for many years without committing any crimes? 61% no, 24% yes.

Should we should deport people as quickly as possible even if it means more mistakes, or do our best to make no mistakes even if it takes longer?

Quickly: 19%
Minimize mistakes: 74%
June 15, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
what people seem to believe is that there is a large number of criminal, layabout immigrants who can be easily found and deported. they support doing so snd are dismayed by the deportation of otherwise law abiding people. the problem is that the criminal group is imaginary!
Wow. New CBS poll finds majority (55%) supports the *general goal* of deportations, but a bigger majority (56%) dislikes how Trump is carrying them out. And 63% want due process.

Again, we need a better discourse around public opinion on immigration, as I've argued:

newrepublic.com/article/1961...
June 9, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
I think reporting on, writing about and understanding of all this is a totally legitimate undertaking. Biden's decision was, indeed, consequential. But given the context of well...everything, it seems *insane* for anyone to say this is some kind of unresolved political issue Dems must address.
May 20, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
this is a letter to the editor from a high school track runner who came in second to a trans girl in a race. her state house rep in maine started talking about it. so she wrote this: www.pressherald.com/2025/05/14/r...
May 16, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
You’re allowed to argue that black people and women are genetically inferior. But you’re NOT allowed to argue they are NOT inferior because that’s divisive. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...
May 10, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
I feel like we need to keep saying this because it’s so insane: This is a legal U.S. resident who has been detained for over a month now for his political opinions.
The Department of Homeland Security denied Mahmoud Khalil permission to attend the birth of his first child, who was delivered at a New York hospital on Monday, according to emails reviewed by The New York Times.
Mahmoud Khalil’s Son Arrives After ICE Refuses to Let Him Attend Birth
Mr. Khalil, a permanent resident detained in Louisiana, had requested a monitored furlough for the birth. His request was denied in less than an hour.
www.nytimes.com
April 22, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
Any Democratic politician who doesn't understand Nayib Bukele's grave offense against the sovereignty of the American people and constitutional order and say as much publicly should have no future in elected office. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/bukel...
Bukele’s Offense Against the American People
Here’s how I look at today’s White House spectacle. I don’t really...
talkingpointsmemo.com
April 14, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
The US doesn’t have allies anymore, though. Not really. You guys threw that away too.
BESSENT: AT THE END OF THE DAY WE CAN PROBABLY REACH A DEAL WITH OUR ALLIES
April 9, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
This seems like a good time to remind folks of what Hannah Arendt once wrote:
March 25, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
American civil society is full of abject cowards, that is the issue. The government is a mafia state but it is winning because most American elite institutions are devoid of anything resembling integrity and are folding rather than stand on principles that were little more than marketing.
March 21, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
I can’t believe this has to be said, but: You cannot tell the story of Jackie Robinson—as a ballplayer, serviceman, or human—without discussing our country’s history of racism.

From Around the Horn:
March 19, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
You heard Trump’s attorney general — if you visit a Tesla dealership, she will prosecute you.

Be safe! Shop somewhere else.
Pam Bondi: "If you're gonna touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything, you better watch out, because we're coming after you."
March 14, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
A message from Zelensky through his actions. Honor and dignity. Some things can only be surrendered. They can't be taken away.
February 28, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
Remember when John Roberts gutted the Medicaid expansion because he said the *offer* of medicaid money was too coercive to the states bsky.app/profile/atru...
TRUMP: The NCAA has complied immediately. That's good. But I understand Maine -- is the governor of Maine here?

JANET MILLS: Yeah I'm here

TRUMP: Are you not gonna comply?

JM: I'm going to comply with state and federal law

T: You better do it bc you're not gonna get any federal funding at all
February 21, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
Whenever you hear someone sneer about scientific research that seems useless to them — “they’re studying the spit of lizards?!” — remind them that’s exactly how we got Ozempic.

globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
How a Canadian scientist and a venomous lizard helped pave the way for Ozempic - National | Globalnews.ca
In 1984, Dr. Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist from the University of Toronto, discovered a hormone that helped pave the way for popular diabetes drugs such as Ozempic.
globalnews.ca
February 9, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Reposted by mcbenton.bsky.social
News Happening Faster Than Man Can Generate Uninformed Opinions
theonion.com/news-happeni...
December 19, 2024 at 3:06 PM