Join us Tuesday to hear Timothy Snyder, renowned historian, discuss saving our democracy. His 2017 book, On Tyranny, remains the most important guide for resisting authoritarianism. Sponsored by NOPE Neighbors and co-sponsored by Indivisible Montgomery. Sign up: www.mobilize.us/nope/event/8...
It’s crazy that he is negotiating on behalf of the U.S. at all. He has no government appointment and no one elected him and he has no business being in those meetings even without the grift
Monitoring ICE's actions in public isn't a crime — it's our First Amendment right.
Wild:
All of American history is “controversial.” It is the story of different groups contesting over their visions of how the world should be.
What makes the reaction to the SAVE America Act notable is how personal it feels. Millions of women suddenly have seen themselves in a policy. And when a group of people can picture their own voting rights being affected, they can be moved to act.
The latest from @errinhaines.bsky.social:
Honestly I need historians to be the plaintiffs in every case I cover because if they make it to discovery you just KNOW those primary sources are going public.
Exhibit A: The American Historical Association uploading video depos of the DOGE bros to YouTube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkCz...
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio meets with Secretary Rubio
Enrique Tarrio and other Proud Boys were convicted of seditious conspiracy. Trump pardoned them.
Tarrio and his men planned the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Tarrio even claimed credit for it, messaging others: “Make no mistake…We did this…”
Now he’s meeting with Sec. Rubio.
🚨BREAKING: President Donald Trump declared Sunday that he will not sign any other legislation until Congress passes the SAVE America Act, dramatically escalating his campaign to force the voter suppression bill through the Senate. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
In his State of the Union address, President Trump demanded that Congress pass the SAVE Act — an anti-voter bill that would block millions from voting. Congress must reject this attack on the freedom to vote. To learn more, subscribe to The Briefing, our free weekly newsletter: bit.ly/3Yrz5jM
Silhouette of a woman with an enormous updo hairdo, long 18th century gown, and an absurd hat perched atop.
How can you be talking about HISTORY with everything that's going on. 18th century history? Women's history? Waves hands.
Friends, it is precisely because of everything that's going on that we need to talk about history much, much more.
You only have a short time to comment. They are trying to destroy our forests to enrich a few logging company executives and the politicians they’ve paid off.
Leave your comment here:
eplanning.blm.gov/Participate-...
morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/blm-announ...
How to understand war with Iran? We must get away from propaganda. Facts suggest two interpretive frameworks: a foreign war as a mechanism to destroy democracy at home; and a foreign war as an element of personal corruption by the president of the United States.
snyder.substack.com/p/why-attack...
Don't look away from the continued cruelty and horrors. Please keep calling your representatives, please keep showing up to protest these horrific actions, please keep caring.
STOP THE SAVE ACT (Updated)
My new piece is up with lots of info about the SAVE America Act - the version of the SAVE Act that passed the House and is before the Senate this week. This is a MUST READ and then ACT.
open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...
Workers have begun restoring the slavery exhibit in Philadelphia that was removed by the Trump administration
We mourn the loss of Reverend Hagler. A frequent presence in the halls and hearing rooms of the Wilson Building, he was a vocal and unyielding advocate for the least, the last, and the lost. He will be missed.
www.washingtoninformer.com/rev-graylan-...
First public comment due tomorrow!
savingplaces.org/public-comme...
We were saddened to hear of the passing of Betty Reid Soskin, who taught about the Black experience during WWII at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, CA. At 104, she was the oldest ranger serving at the NPS.
I note that the White House originally said it was the White House Historical Association that preserved items from the East Wing. Now it says the General Service Administration and the National Park Service did. Did they? Did anyone?
Breaking: House passes new version of SAVE Act, worst voter suppression bill considered by Congress. Could disenfranchise:
-21 million Americans w/out access to citizenship papers
-69 mil married women who took partner’s name
-21 mil w/out valid drivers license
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The largest federal prison in the nation is Fort Dix, which has a rated capacity of 4,600 people. The largest of these warehouse camps may hold more than twice that number of people.
The federal government hasn't operated a prison camp inside the United States that large since Japanese Internment.
The CIA just stopped publishing their World Factbook and took every page, including the archived copies of previous versions!
This sucks. It was public domain, so I recovered the 2020 edition (the last one published as a zip file) and shared it to GitHub simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/5/t...
Jeff Bezos’s wealth has increased an average of $70 million every day of 2026, meaning that he could have offset The Post’s losses with what he’s made since Monday.
!["On December 2, 1783, then-Commander-in-Chief George Washington penned: “America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions.”1
More than two centuries later, Congress reaffirmed President Washington’s vision by establishing the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a (TPS statute). It provides humanitarian relief to foreign nationals in the United States who come from disaster-stricken countries. It also brings in substantial revenue, with TPS holders generating $5.2 billion in taxes annually. See Part VI.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has a different take. [screenshot of tweet].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nwnlnixtjh3qhkwpz2uy5uwv/bafkreicrroq5taft777rmau2ffjlsphbcatlxnwwigf2yekoke533yycim)
"On December 2, 1783, then-Commander-in-Chief George Washington penned: “America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions.”1 More than two centuries later, Congress reaffirmed President Washington’s vision by establishing the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a (TPS statute). It provides humanitarian relief to foreign nationals in the United States who come from disaster-stricken countries. It also brings in substantial revenue, with TPS holders generating $5.2 billion in taxes annually. See Part VI. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has a different take. [screenshot of tweet].
So says the official responsible for overseeing the TPS program. And one of those (her word) “damn” countries is Haiti. Relevant here, three days before making the above post, Secretary Noem announced she would terminate Haiti’s TPS designation as of February 3, 2026. See 90 Fed. Reg. 54733 (Nov. 28, 2025) (Termination). Plaintiffs are five Haitian TPS holders. They are not, it emerges, “killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies.” They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching Alzheimer’s disease, Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl. (SAC)) ¶ 1; Rudolph Civil, a software engineer at a national bank, id. ¶ 2; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology department, id. ¶ 3; Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major, id. ¶ 4; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse, id. ¶ 5. They claim that Secretary Noem’s decision violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2), and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Government counters that the Court does not have jurisdiction, and, in any case, the Secretary did not violate the law. Plaintiffs seek to stay the Secretary’s decision under 5 U.S.C. § 705 pending the outcome of this litigation. See Dkt. 81 (§ 705 Mot.). To decide their motion, the Court considers first whether it has jurisdiction. It does. See Part II. It then considers: whether Plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; whether they will be irreparably harmed absent a stay; and whether a merged balance of the equities and public interest analysis favors a stay. See Part III. Each element favors Plaintiffs. See Parts IV, V, and VI. Plaintiffs charge that Secretary Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants. This seems substantially likely. Secretary Noem
![has terminated every TPS country designation to have reached her desk—twelve countries up,
twelve countries down. See Section IV.A.2. Her conclusion that Haiti (a majority nonwhite
country) faces merely “concerning” conditions cannot be squared with the “perfect storm of
suffering” and “staggering” “humanitarian toll” described in page-after-page of the Certified
Administrative Record (CAR). See Section IV.A.3.a. She ignored Congress’s requirement that
she “review the conditions” in Haiti only “after” consulting “with appropriate agencies.” 8
U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(3)(A); see Section IV.A.1. Indeed, she did not consult other agencies at all.
See id. Her “national interest” analysis focuses on Haitians outside the United States or here
illegally, ignoring that Haitian TPS holders already live here, and legally so. See Section
IV.A.3.b. And though she states that the analysis must include “economic considerations,” she
ignores altogether the billions Haitian TPS holders contribute to the economy. See id.
The Government’s primary response is that the TPS statute gives the Secretary
unbounded discretion to make whatever determination she wants, any way she wants. And, yes,
the statute does grant her some discretion. But not unbounded discretion. To the contrary,
Congress passed the TPS statute to standardize the then ad hoc temporary protection system—to
replace executive whim with statutory predictability. See Section I.A.
As to irreparable harm, the Government contends that, at most, the harms to Haitian TPS
holders are speculative. But the Department of State (State) warns [screenshot]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nwnlnixtjh3qhkwpz2uy5uwv/bafkreid3cmawech25ummuj2tjvgxsrvufma2kmrijlfpglalwddd3qkikq)
has terminated every TPS country designation to have reached her desk—twelve countries up, twelve countries down. See Section IV.A.2. Her conclusion that Haiti (a majority nonwhite country) faces merely “concerning” conditions cannot be squared with the “perfect storm of suffering” and “staggering” “humanitarian toll” described in page-after-page of the Certified Administrative Record (CAR). See Section IV.A.3.a. She ignored Congress’s requirement that she “review the conditions” in Haiti only “after” consulting “with appropriate agencies.” 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(3)(A); see Section IV.A.1. Indeed, she did not consult other agencies at all. See id. Her “national interest” analysis focuses on Haitians outside the United States or here illegally, ignoring that Haitian TPS holders already live here, and legally so. See Section IV.A.3.b. And though she states that the analysis must include “economic considerations,” she ignores altogether the billions Haitian TPS holders contribute to the economy. See id. The Government’s primary response is that the TPS statute gives the Secretary unbounded discretion to make whatever determination she wants, any way she wants. And, yes, the statute does grant her some discretion. But not unbounded discretion. To the contrary, Congress passed the TPS statute to standardize the then ad hoc temporary protection system—to replace executive whim with statutory predictability. See Section I.A. As to irreparable harm, the Government contends that, at most, the harms to Haitian TPS holders are speculative. But the Department of State (State) warns [screenshot]
Dkt. 100 (§ 705 Reply) at 20–21.4 “Do not travel to Haiti for any reason” does not exactly scream, as Secretary Noem concluded, suitable for return. And so, the Government studiously does not argue that Plaintiffs will suffer no harm if removed to Haiti. Instead, it argues Plaintiffs will not certainly suffer irreparable harm because DHS might not remove them. But this fails to take Secretary Noem at her word: “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.” See Section IV.B.2.b. Finally, the balance of equities and public interest favor a stay. The Government does not cite any reason termination must occur post haste. Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our healthcare system. Her answer? Turn the insured into the uninsured. This approach is many things—in the public interest is not one of them. For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Renewed Motion for a Stay Under 5 U.S.C. § 705, Dkt. 81.
Even if you don't have time to read all 83 pages of Judge Reyes's opinion barring the Trump administration from rescinding Temporary Protected Status for 350,000+ Haitians, please at least check out the four-page introduction.
It's a tour de force:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
University of Illinois college republicans advocate for executing protesters as “traitors” with art that takes a disturbing killing and makes it even more extreme.
dailyillini.com/news-stories...
A reminder that the Kennedy Center is the literal and legal and congressional designated presidential memorial to JFK. This would be like Trump tearing down the Lincoln Memorial to build something “better.”
Suffragists picketing for the vote.
The conflation of political activism with marches and rallies is problematic flattening history into simple progress narratives and oversimplifying the work of scholars. This limits the vision of modern-day organizers. Let's complicate our understanding of social movement history.🧵
#sschat 🗃️
I talked to the brilliant @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social about the sentence he has been repeating for months, "I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win." We discussed anti-Trump organizing and the important of sharing resistance successes. newrepublic.com/article/2059...
Let me reiterate: THEY DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH GUYS TO PERSECUTE LARGE NUMBERS OF DISSENTERS. What they are doing, instead, is using fear and paranoia as a force multiplier: they don’t have to persecute us if we keep ourselves home because someone told us we can’t walk in public without being terrified.
