Matthew Espy

After years of championing "free speech," Texas lawmakers have enabled a dramatic rise of censorship in Texas universities, banning concepts, canceling courses and closing departments seen as "woke," and even using AI bots as censors. All in the name of freedom. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...

A Haitian man legally immigrated to Ohio, then was given an ankle monitor bc Trump withdrew his status. He threw himself in front of truck. The trucker, who voted for Trump, is haunted. “Pierre was doing what he was supposed to do. We did not do right by him.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

By destroying the Voting Rights Act and gutting the 14th and 15th Amendments, the Roberts Court is recycling legal arguments once advanced by Confederates and white supremacists to destroy Reconstruction, write @ariberman.bsky.social & @pemalevy.bsky.social.

The right-wing attack on birthright citizenship is not just about birthright citizenship itself. As MAGA’s reaction to the Supreme Court ruling proves, it is part of their opposition to a broader ideal, that “All men are created equal.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The new racist double standard set up by Alito in the TPS ruling: if there’s any other motive in addition to the racism, the racism doesn’t count, but if the state wants to *prevent* discrimination against black people, that is racist and unconstitutional www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

I've spent months speaking to current & retired Black service members about being part of the military in this political moment. What I found were officers and soldiers despondent at the resurgence of racism, yet often insistent that they were fighting for what this country could be, not what it is.

the country is at war and the president is leaving DC this afternoon for a weekend at his private club in Florida that he'll spend with his paying customers

The USDA sent an email to grocery stores telling them they are prohibited from offering special discounts to customers affected by the SNAP funding lapse. I'm aware of at least 2 stores that had offered struggling customers a discount, then withdrew it after receiving this email

This is what Illinois sent to Texas.

Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.

Wrote about one of the most striking poll results I've seen in quite some time — a shift that explains an awful lot about the second Trump administration. Gift link: wapo.st/45NVTQf

There are many Holy Shit moments in this piece, but I keep getting stuck on the juxtaposition of the white supremacist law student who won an award for a paper about why non-white people should be stripped of their rights, and the student who was stripped of a job for criticizing that student.

Rümeysa Öztürk wrote an op-ed critical of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. She was arrested by ICE and was in detention for six weeks. This white nationalist student wrote a paper that argued the Constitution applies only to white people. He won an award.

He said it. Yes.

Just a reminder that Kash raised money for January 6 rioters, including co-producing a benefit single in which incarcerated rioters sing the national anthem while Trump recites the pledge of allegiance.

NYT, page one: The “$1.5 billion golf complex” and “Trump skyscraper .. are the Trump family’s first projects in Vietnam — part of a global moneymaking enterprise that no family of a sitting American president has ever attempted on this scale.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/w...

In the days of grief after his wife's miscarriage in 2015, Kasper Erikson forgot to submit an immigration form. The Mississippi father thought he was on the verge of becoming a citizen when ICE arrested him in April. Now he’s in a Louisiana prison, facing deportation over the 10-year-old mistake.

500K Mexican-Americans served in the U.S. armed forces in WWII, as did millions of 1st and 2nd-gen immigrants, and 109K noncitizens. Mexican immigrant Macario Garcia won the Medal of Honor in Normandy. When he returned to the US, he was was arrested for trying to eat at a segregated restaurant.

So let me get this straight: masks are bad and un-American if worn to fight a pandemic, but good if worn by people claiming to be government agents when they kidnap people off the street

characters at this year’s met gala: thread

Open corruption

Can we stop talking throwing around words like "autocracy" and "oligarchy" when talking about America's uncertain future? According to history, political experts, and a little-known book called "a dictionary," America is ALREADY in the throes of fascism.

Need to read this.

What an extraordinary, devastating essay. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Pete Hegseth was forced to step down from both of the nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct, @janemayer.bsky.social reports.

A mistake during IVF treatment led two mothers to give birth to each other's baby girls. After bonding with them for months, the families discovered the truth — and faced a devastating choice. Should they switch their girls? nyti.ms/3OtbJG5

I love everything about this story: Tony Hawk posted a ‘70s era image of a Black girl skateboarding in the rain. Jeremy Markovich tracked her down. www.ncrabbithole.com/p/tony-hawk-...

New: Immigrants have provided a much-needed lifeline for struggling Rust Belt cities like Springfield. Vance's attack on the town's Haitian immigrants is racist dangerous. But the policies behind his attack would also cripple Springfield and the other red regions he purports to represent.

Brian Kemp 2024: Teen shooting victims are in my thoughts and prayers. Brian Kemp 2018:

absolutely wonderful story. just read it www.rte.ie/news/ireland...

great video from @katzonearth.bsky.social on dana bash’s unbelievably dishonest segment on campus protesters www.tiktok.com/@katzonearth...

this from @radleybalko.bsky.social is very good

This is getting sadder every day

www.princeton.edu/news/2024/01... This is excellent

Everything bad that left-wing students could potentially do to a college is currently being done to New College of Florida, but I get why it's not a cause célèbre in legacy media since it's being done quietly by obscure actors, like the Florida Governor who made it part of his campaign for president

ICYMI, my take on Congress’ college antisemitism hearing. Have to hand it to the Republicans, the propaganda is working spectacularly well for them. popehat.substack.com/p/stop-deman...

NEW STUDY: Broadcast, cable, and print outlets have given Donald Trump calling his enemies "vermin" a tiny fraction of the coverage they gave Hillary Clinton's 2016 remark calling some Trump supporters "deplorables" www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump...