Jessica Pishko

@jesspish

she/her Book on sheriffs & democracy Repped by @rhaliterary DM for Signal or email jesspish@gmail.com “Women aren’t typically this crazy about politics.”

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Website Bluesky

politics writing

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Jessica Pishko@jesspish· 26d

I'm just so tired sometimes.

But what the federal government has been doing to people assumed to be immigrants is different from normal police brutality. It is a targeted campaign. We are witnessing, for the first time since Jim Crow, American death squads.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· 26d

The pictures are piles of work supplies, so sincerely, I think it's plaster.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· 26d

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· 28d

um wow what an amazing change of heart

But he had made one adjustment since his last visit, he said. “I went back to my office and I put in a rule that nobody in my office can request a three-digit sentence without my review and approval.”

He gestured toward a San Quentin resident. “I see people like this gentleman and I think, ‘You know, he doesn’t have to die here.’”

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· 28d

Everything is gender?

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jul 10

A Sign

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jul 8

We know it was written by anti-immigration advocates!

In 1996, then-president Bill Clinton signed into law the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which was heavily influenced by the contemporary anti-immigrant movement.[Footnote39] The bill was primarily drafted by a lawyer for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), one of a constellation of anti-immigrant groups in a network created by John Tanton, a Michigan ophthalmologist and self-taught eugenicist who was inspired by the “zero population growth” movement and White nationalist ideas.[Footnote40] Tanton started FAIR and these other groups in the late 1970s and 1980s to seed politics, law, and culture with nativist ideas, in order to “make the restriction of immigration a legitimate position for thinking people,” as Stanton put it in a founding proposal.[Footnote41]

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jul 6

“That’s my steak, Valence!”

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 27

i definitely mean the party as in the DNC and those who decide DNC policies. i vote Democrat but do not identify as a "Democrat."

Nate Silver Tweet from 2022
It's probably foolish to think a NYC mayor will successfully translate into being a national political figure, but I still think Eric Adams would be in my top 5 for "who will be the next Democratic presidential nominee after Joe Biden?".

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 25

Giant fart noise.

Killin is one of the 13 who signed on to the “Promise to America” initiative that commits candidates to a set of centrist principles, including capitalism, fiscal discipline, strong borders and pride in the United States.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 24

from the claremont institure when i asked about this cinematic work (i referenced the fact that the sheriff in the movie is corrupt and inadequate)

Williams: Again, it is an incorrect framing to say that we (or any normal person, for that matter) watch movies to find an “exemplar” in a character for how to live, even if characteristics are shared. Viewing and discussing John Ford’s films is a long-held tradition at Claremont. They are chosen, first and foremost, for their artistic qualities and the stories that they tell so beautifully. Seeing the development and resolution of complex dilemmas and characters makes for good art and great leisure, especially in a heavy week of intellectual activity. Finally, anyone who watches The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and concludes that it is “about a corrupt law enforcement officer” should maybe stick to contemporary pulp instead of our greatest American director.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 24

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 23

me, sobbing

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 22

This is a horrible story. Also this graf. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/n...

But records obtained by The New York Times show that Lieutenant Santos had been repeatedly warned about logging excessive overtime hours, which had inflated his pay while creating what his supervisors described as a safety risk. Interviews with former colleagues suggest that he also harbored professional resentments that seemed to intensify in the final months of his life.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 20

sorry did a spit-take on this X post

Jill Filipovic
@JillFilipovic
’m not a prison abolitionist but I have been pretty close. And I think much of it stems from the fact that American prisons are insanely torturous, much worse than those in, say, Scandinavia, and our sentences are much longer. Also people Darializa’s age (and mine) came up in an age of declining violent crime, but when prisons were still being packed full of people who committed far less serious crimes. The injustices were real. The egregious material conditions that often lead to crime - poverty, neglect - are real and particularly shameful in a rich nation. The reality of American prisons are so horrific and absurd I get how people were just like, “this is not moral or sane, it just all needs to go.”

The problem of course is there was no real vision of what to create in its place, nor any recognition that serious violence has been a fixture of the human condition since forever, and actually we’ve become less interpersonally violent, but we do actually need a way to remove truly bad actors from society and to penalize truly bad actions.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 18

The NYT article does gesture at this. At NSA, Mullins said he wanted mass deportation to be "invisible." Here, he says "quieter" (shhshh folks!) and mentions "existing space."

The new secretary, Markwayne Mullin, who had privately expressed skepticism about the plan, has said publicly that he wants the agency to be quieter about how it carries out immigration enforcement.

“From Day 1, D.H.S. has remained singularly focused on removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the United States and is always evaluating the best methods to do so,” the Homeland Security Department said in a statement for this article. “These heinous criminals, once arrested, should be removed at lightning speed, not housed on American soil at the taxpayer’s expense. D.H.S. is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners.”

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 18

🙄

Swank said he did not recognize the authority of the legislature to control sheriffs and told lawmakers that if they tried to remove him from office, his supporters would surround the sheriff's office building to protect him.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 17

All the dudes prosecuting this cop.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 15

Also gonna need a ruling on these suits from @dieworkwear.bsky.social

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 15

Baby birds in a nest above our front door.

A nest of mud and leaves with a baby bird point out his head.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 10

I just got into more than one fight with someone because I said, actually, CA voting is fine because more people can vote. Is it the median position that we need to determine voting procedures by "how long it takes to count"? You realize no matter HOW voting happens, they will say its fraud, right?

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 10

Then MarkWayne brought "Lance" on stage, who is ex-highway patrol (OK I think) but now works for DHS. Poor Lance lumbers onstage, scaring MarkWayne by walking behind him ("DAGUN Lance!") He really wanted them to see Lance.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 10

MarkWayne said that Donald Trump doesn't let him wear his hat at the White House.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 8

the technical definition of nullification is about states' rights. i do think since COVID, we have more of a local nullification because of how political power works in rural regions.

In essence, these legalistic theories are based on a reading of the Constitution and select writings by the Founding Fathers that argue states are entitled to resist or nullify laws that contradict the Constitution. As opposed to a court order declaring a law unconstitutional, nullification and interposition refer to the act of refusing to follow the law in question.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 8

While some of the sheriffs, including Mack, use interposition to justify resistance to gun laws, not desegregation, he is wrong to say that the doctrine has ever been anything but deeply racist. Despite some writers and scholars who might claim that left- wing resistance, like the nonenforcement of marijuana laws, which mostly rely on noncooperation, constitutes something like interposition, there is just no evidence this is so. It’s important to bear this in mind throughout the book because the false claims that interposition and nullification are grounded in history and are race- neutral— like the office of sheriff itself— are a main reason why the constitutional sheriff movement has been so successful. Constitutional sheriffs argue that they are resisting tyranny and restoring the original purpose of the Constitution when they interpose; they do not see what they do as rebellion. To the contrary, they see their purpose as respectable and within the bounds of ordinary governance.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 8

AFAIK I am one of the few people to actually tackle "nullification" rather than just blow it off as "enforcing law they like." it is NOT enforcing laws they like. it's very specific. it's intended to be anti-democratic.

While Calhoun’s method did not carry the day, it did force the federal government to compromise, which he considered enough encouragement to continue to press the idea of nullification as a form of “concurrent government” to protect the “different interests, orders, classes, or portions, into which the community may be divided.” In other words, nullification remained a way for Southern planters to retain control when faced with a federal government that sought to limit slavery as an institution. This was immensely appealing to the Confederacy, which would lose the fight to retain slavery if democracy ruled the day.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 8

don't tell me it's "like sanctuary cities" because i will scream. the left and the right don't use this ideology the same.

Another legacy of William Potter Gale and the Posse Comitatus movement that Mack would adopt for his own constitutional sheriff ideology were the two theories of nullification and interposition. Both ideas justify resistance to the federal government, historically as a means to preserve chattel slavery and segregation. In essence, these legalistic theories are based on a reading of the Constitution and select writings by the Founding Fathers that argue states are entitled to resist or nullify laws that contradict the Constitution. As opposed to a court order declaring a law unconstitutional, nullification and interposition refer to the act of refusing to follow the law in question.

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 4

never forget

Jessica Pishko@jesspish· Jun 3