Daniel Freed

Judge Furman rules that Maureen Comey's firing violated separation of powers. Orders backpay. Govt's arguments violate 2 centuries of SCOTUS rulings & would "unsettle the equilibrium established by this Nation's constitutional system." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Govt's attempt to upend "long-settled case law" by invoking "stray language" from Slaughter and Trump v US is without merit and "would risk a return to the spoils system that Congress has sought to end since the 19th century."

In one day, two politicians - Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vucic in Serbia - with ties to Trump have lost surprise elections thanks to high turnout. The rise of the international far-right is not inevitable.

10/25/67: Jean-Pierre Melville's masterpiece Le Samouraï w/Alain Delon NB H/Ts to noir gems Gun for Hire, Asphalt Jungle More @silviamg.bsky.social: www.criterion.com/current/post... @jpraup.bsky.social: thefilmstage.com/go-behind-th... @hoodedjustice.bsky.social: crookedmarquee.com/classic-corn...

In his acceptance speech, Lula says he will work to regulate digital platforms in Brazil. “Digital crimes must be dealt with like real-life crimes.” This comes after Meta directly interfered with the Brazilian elections, favouring Flávio Bolsonaro.

Brazil just reminded the world that fascists can be defeated at the ballot box. Our turn comes November 3. Let’s make it fucking hurt.

The whole world is watching.

I don't love AOC on every issue, but she is so much better on AI than almost all of her fellow electeds. Bernie Sanders, for example, has totally been bamboozled by the "AI safety" cultists.

Princes and Thieves, a book by investigative journalist Matthew Cole, says Dutch intelligence hacked the phone of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and watched him access a Dubai bank account holding hundreds of millions of dollars that came from a bank in Azerbaijan, Vanity Fair reports.

One of the most in-depth and fantastic pieces on higher ed I've seen in a while from @texasmonthly.bsky.social. I see clear harbingers for UNC in what's happening at UT Austin. "Morale among faculty, especially in the College of Liberal Arts, is dismal." www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Saturn from inside its shadow. On 13 April 2017 Cassini flew through Saturn's shadow: the Sun behind the planet, the rings glowing with light scattered through them, the night side lit only by the rings. More than 200 frames, rebuilt from the calibrated archive data at full resolution.

I wrote about Elon Musk's fake flying car and its mid-air collision with lazy "CEO said a thing!" pseudo-journalism:

I’ve thought about how the industrialists in the early 20th century were so philanthropic…I mean maybe it was for status or ither self-serving reasons, but they did donate to universities and libraries and the arts. The tech bros do none of that. “Miserly” (and miserable) is exactly the word

Saburo Murakami, Work, 1959 https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1137393

Orange and Yellow https://botfrens.com/collections/25/contents/4870

Starting to think it was a mistake to let the most nasty and entitled people in the universe run everything.

FBI agents who worked on Trump classified docs case sue over firings

❗️Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says Starshield is working normally again while in motion, with military units confirming connectivity has been restored. The ministry is still investigating what caused the October 14 restrictions and remains in contact with partners to establish what happened. #Ukraine

BREAKING: We just sued Jared Kushner for unlawfully acting as one of the country's top diplomats without undergoing Senate confirmation or filing financial disclosures. It’s abundantly clear that he should be blocked from performing this outsized role: www.citizensforethics.org/legal-action...

This made me laugh

Late night in Kyiv. Another drone threat has just ended. I cannot sleep. Ordered some books. The publisher whose warehouse was hit the other day suggested buying the books that survived. They have traces of fire or water damage. They called the initiative ‘The Fire Didn’t Finish Reading’.

Zelensky: "When our strikes reached Yandex’s data centers, it suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social media platforms. A lot of people noticed it. There was less hate, less division, and fewer provocations. Because there were fewer bots. It’s pretty clear where those bots were."

#UmbertoEco war einer der großen italienischen Gelehrten, seine Bibliothek ist legendär: Allein in seiner Mailänder Wohnung sammelte der Schriftsteller über 30.000 Werke. Die riesige Büchersammlung aus Mailand ist jetzt nach Bologna umgezogen – die Umberto Eco-Bibliothek hat im Sommer eröffnet.

Isamu Noguchi, Mitosis, 1962 https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1136875

Good. There’s an almost guaranteed violation inherent with this order, per tonight’s ads. If so, it will be very interesting indeed to see how they attempt to weasel out of it.

New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854

Here's a nearly 10-minute supercut of Troy Jackson taking it to Susan Collins during their debate tonight, including Jackson telling her "you can't eat road salt" and "Collins is like an arsonist who helped set the fire, and then she wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put it out"

So what, exactly, was going on at the biological weapons laboratory outside of Irkutsk? Read this.

One of those deaths I long expected due to age but it has an awful end of an era feel. I l *loved* her in "North by Northwest".

Can particles move faster than light? Have a look at the video to learn more about Cherenkov radiation – the discovery that received the 1958 physics prize. This was a key component in the experiments made by today's physics laureate Francis Halzen in his research on neutrinos.

Congress can legislate to overturn Roberts court decisions and then strip jurisdiction for the court to review. I describe this strategy here. nyulawreview.org/issues/volum...

A woman suspected of spying for China by surveilling the Taiwanese president’s son & his family has been arrested by the US before she could board a flight to Shanghai, according to the FBI, as tensions linger between the rival superpowers

Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park 115, 1979 https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1135875

Love this 👇

This is blatantly unconstitutional and an Antideficiency Act violation. Congress set the ADA penalty in 1906: 2 years in jail and/or a $5,000 fine. It would’ve taken the typical person 31,250 hours of work to pay the fine then, meaning it’s the equivalent of a $1.2 million fine today.

If and wen democrats control the senate again, I need them to really, truly, seriously stop voting to confirm Trump's nominees to the federal courts. Hold literally every single seat hostage. Talk right into the camera about the death of the American Way Of Life™ if they get confirmed. Yes, really.

Abdul El-Sayed published a health platform proposing bans on pesticides that are already banned in Europe, support for the Pesticide Injury Accountability Act, and opposition to legal immunity for agrochemical manufacturers. 🧵

El-Sayed responds to JD Vance clip: Low T JD. It's always funny, man. He just brings the energy down every time you hear him talk.

Lighthouses of the BC South Coast. Cool. mapped.earth/lighthouses/...

A recent disclosure of Amazon’s internal “employee relations” documents reveals just how extreme Amazon’s methods of warehouse surveillance and control have become.

They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

should be instructive for democrats that Magyar is living up to his promise to prosecute Orban officials for corruption and is continuing to poll extremely highly