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philmaier.bsky.social
Phil Maier
@philmaier.bsky.social
400 followers 61 following 750 posts
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Reposted by Phil Maier
jonathancohn.bsky.social
11 Senate Democrats just voted to advance the nomination of a Federal Society judge who used to defend banks and payday lenders:

Durbin
Gallego
Hassan
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
King
Klobuchar
Reed
Rosen
Whitehouse
SUSAN RODRIGUEZ Susan Courtwright Rodriguez, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, is a longtime conservative lawyer whose career reflects deep partisan ties, loyalty to corporate interests, and a record of rulings that hurt workers, employees, and consumers and puts profits over people. She held multiple roles in the George W. Bush administration, including as a political appointee for the then-newly formed Department of Homeland Security, as well as with the White House counsel’s office. After a second stint at the DHS, Rodriguez spent 12 years at McGuireWoods, where she co-led the Financial Institutions Industry Team and defended banks, payday lenders, and fintech companies against lawsuits and government investigations. She now serves as a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. CORPORATE DEFENSE & FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS At McGuire Woods, Rodriguez devoted her practice to defending large financial institutions and high-cost lenders. She co-authored industry-facing publications framing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s regulatory oversight as part of a “name-and-shame playbook,” and dismissed CFPB efforts to hold corporations accountable for consumer abuses. She defended Sprint against allegations brought by CFPB and the Federal Communications Commission related to unauthorized third-party charges and represented banks accused of violating anti–money laundering laws (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Sprint Corp.). In one case, Rodriguez defended Truist Bank against claims brought by a whistleblower executive who alleged the bank failed to report suspicious wire transfers and allowed accounts linked to criminal activity to remain open (Denise WHITING, Plaintiff, v. TRUIST BANK f/k/a Branch Banking and Trust Company, Defendant). Rather than addressing systemic fraud, the bank allegedly retaliated against the executive, demoting and ultimately firing her. Rodr… Rodriguez’s leadership role on the board of Mira Via underscores her alignment with organizations that oppose reproductive rights. Mira Via explicitly affirms life “from the moment of conception,” situating Rodriguez firmly within the anti- abortion movement. Her long membership in the Federalist Society and Republican National Lawyers Association further underscores her alignment with conservative legal networks committed to rolling back reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, and other substantive constitutional protections. STAUNCH CONSERVATIVE ADVOCACY Since joining the bench, Rodriguez has issued rulings that repeatedly favor corporations, law enforcement, and institutions over individuals seeking relief. In Rodriguez v. Wipro Ltd., she ruled against a whistleblower who raised concerns about corporate conflicts of interest and later suffered retaliation that exacerbated serious health conditions, dismissing the case for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. In Puranda v. City of Charlotte, she dismissed a civil rights case brought by an 18-year-old subjected to an aggressive traffic stop, where officers allegedly drew weapons, forcibly removed him from his car, and detained him without cause. In Robey v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, she rejected claims brought by parents whose child had repeatedly disclosed self-harm to a school counselor who failed to notify them, ultimately leading to a hospitalization. In each of these cases, Rodriguez prioritized institutional protection over the workers, children, and their families who simply wanted justice when they were hurt.
December 4, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Reposted by Phil Maier
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
Trump is now selling his Trump Wine on military bases. www.forbes.com/sites/zachev...
Trump Wines Sold At Coast Guard Stores On Federal Property
Exchanges in Washington, D.C., and Virginia have stocked Trump-branded wine and cider, allowing his family’s business to earn revenue from sales on federal property.
www.forbes.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
broadwaybabyto.bsky.social
ICE agents in Chicago violently detain a non verbal autistic man for being “non compliant”

He couldn’t “comply” because of his disability…they don’t care

This is not the first time they’ve gone after a disabled person

They target the most vulnerable because it’s an easy way to meet their quota
November 8, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Reposted by Phil Maier
caitlindeangelis.bsky.social
ICE kidnapped a 7th-grader with a pending asylum claim and spirited him out of state without notifying his parents, seemingly with the cooperation of the local police in Everett, MA.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...
Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility By Marcela Rodrigues Globe Staff,Updated October 12, 2025, 44 minutes ago 31 A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia. A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia. A 13-year-old boy was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Everett after an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia, according to his mother and immigration lawyer Andrew Lattarulo. The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested. After waiting for about an hour and a half, she was told her son was taken by ICE, Berto told the Globe in a phone interview. “My world collapsed,” Berto said in Portuguese. From the police department, the boy was taken to ICE’s holding facility in Burlington on Thursday evening, where he spent a night before being transferred by car to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on Friday morning, his mother said. The juvenile facility is more than 500 miles away from Everett. The boy is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett, his mother said. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, Lattarulo said.
October 12, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
thomaszimmer.bsky.social
The regime gets more deranged every day. A rightwing conspiracy theorist assassinated a Democratic lawmaker - which the attorney general presents as an example of leftwing political violence in order to justify an authoritarian crackdown on the opposition…

We’re in incredibly dangerous territory.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Oct 10
Bondi: "We've been living through a horrific cycle of political violence in this country ... night after night antifa wrecks havoc on the streets of our cities. In Minnesota, a gunman murdered a state lawmaker and her husband."
October 12, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Reposted by Phil Maier
mrsbettybowers.bsky.social
DISNEY: "OK, we are putting Jimmy Kimmel back on the air. You can resubscribe now."

ME: "I unsubscribed because you immorally bowed to fascism. I'm not going to resubscribe because you immorally bowed to finances."
September 22, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
furbyhancock.bsky.social
Too late, Batman. Once this Tylenol floods the city's water supply, my wiki won't run out of editors ever again
September 22, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
karenattiah.bsky.social
Some personal news:

I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.

Thread incoming.

substack.com/@karenattiah...
The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced.
I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.
substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Reposted by Phil Maier
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
Trump threatens to withhold federal funding from NY if NYC elects Mamdani. An impeachable offense for any other president in any other era. In this one it’s just another Monday.
September 15, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Phil Maier
georgetakei.bsky.social
Yet more of the levers slipping into the hands of the few.
September 13, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
georgetakei.bsky.social
It’s almost like there’s a pattern we should watch for more carefully.
September 13, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
thejenniwren.teamlh.social
Brian Kilmeade just openly endorsed killing homeless people on FOX.

This is a chilling call for state-sanctioned murder of the most vulnerable among us.

Dehumanizing rhetoric like this feeds violence. It cannot be normalized.

Share this. Demand accountability.

Human lives are not disposable.
September 13, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
velshi.com
The Supreme Court just greenlit ICE racial profiling in LA.

@profmmurray.bsky.social says we are moving “dangerously close” to “real tyranny” #Velshi
The shadow docket ruling Melissa Murray says brings us ‘dangerously close’ to ‘real tyranny’
The Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority this week effectively greenlit racial profiling during ICE sweeps in Los Angeles, undermining the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches. Individuals can now be targeted if they “look” like they don’t belong—a move Melissa Murray calls “after-the-fact justice.” She warns we are “moving dangerously close" into real tyranny and explains how Justice Kavanaugh's concurrence plays “fast and loose with other people’s lives,” ignoring the Constitution’s commitment to individual dignity and rights.
www.msnbc.com
September 13, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
This is the guy who is supposed to be in charge.
September 12, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Reposted by Phil Maier
manik.bsky.social
hey the people that stormed the capitol and erected gallows to murder elected leaders want you to know that political violence is not ok
September 12, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by Phil Maier
zeteo.com
“These people are full of shit.”

Ilhan Omar @ilhanmn.bsky.social, who faced multiple death threats from people who've since been convicted, calls out Trump +allies for weaponizing Charlie Kirk’s killing against the left.

Watch @mehdirhasan.bsky.social's full interview: zeteo.com/p/full-of-sh...
September 11, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
libradunn1.bsky.social
President of a country found guilty of attempting a coup. God I've prayed for that headline here in America, looks like Brazil beat us to it.
www.npr.org/2025/09/11/n...
Brazil's Supreme Court votes to convict ex-President Bolsonaro of a coup plot
A historic conviction: Brazil's Supreme Court delivers a majority vote to convict former President Jair Bolsonaro over a plot to overthrow the government.
www.npr.org
September 11, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
nycjayjay.bsky.social
This you, just days ago?
September 11, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
drewharwell.com
All this suggests is that the shooter wants people to believe they're a far-left ideologue. Maybe they are; without more evidence, we don't know. But a far-right "accelerationist" wanting civil war, more hatred, more violence would do the exact same thing.
Ammunition in Kirk Shooting Engraved with Transgender, Antifascist Ideology: Sources By Sadie Gurman and James Fanelli Investigators found ammunition engraved with expressions of transgender and antifascist ideology inside the rifle that authorities believe was used in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, according to an internal law enforcement bulletin and a person familiar with the investigation. The older-model .30 caliber hunting rifle was discovered in the woods near the scene of Wednesday’s shooting at Utah Valley University, wrapped in a towel with a spent cartridge still in the chamber, the sources said. There were also three unspent rounds in the magazine, all with wording on them. Kirk, 31, was onstage going back and forth with a student about mass shootings involving transgender people when he was targeted, according to videos of the attack. The student has not been publicly identified. https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/charlie-kirk-shot/card/ammunition-in-kirk-shooting-engraved-with-transgender-antifascist-ideology-sources-pdymd1sXXMSlVRhpvR4b
September 11, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
parismarx.com
Liberals are doing the right’s job for it.

By lionizing Charlie Kirk and refusing to acknowledge his real political project, they’re giving power to the right’s completely predictable effort to use his death to forward their goal of an authoritarian, fascist state.
September 11, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
notalawyer.bsky.social
“awful people don’t deserve to be killed, but they don’t deserve to be praised, either” is apparently a thought too complex for the pundit mind
September 11, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
isaacbutler.bsky.social
I feel like I am taking crazy pills. Charlie Kirk’s ultimate goal, which he said time and time again, would have been the suppression, through threat of violence and the use of state power, of the rights of those he disagreed with, including freedom of expression.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/o...
Opinion | Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way
www.nytimes.com
September 11, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Phil Maier
sifill.bsky.social
“Kirk & I were on different sides of most political arguments. We were on the same side of the continued possibility of American politics.”

So it’s personal? B/c if you were a Black woman or transgender, Kirk would not imagine you having any role in the future of American politics.
September 11, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Phil Maier
nytpitchbot.bsky.social
I ignored the murder of Melissa Hortman. Here’s why I’ll be talking about the murder of Charlie Kirk all day today.

by most liberal pundits
September 11, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Phil Maier
markharris.bsky.social
You can write this only if, by virtue of your income, identity, or both, you are utterly removed from the consequences of politics. To pretend that the racist, misogynistic, anti-gay vileness that Kirk spent his life spreading is secondary to the fact that he spread it "the right way" is appalling.
September 11, 2025 at 12:21 PM