President Trump has ended collective bargaining rights for more than one million federal workers. Unions have sued to block the move, but agencies are terminating contracts as litigation continues.
Politics & People @19thnews.bsky.social. She/her. Author of YOU MUST STAND UP on first year post Dobbs. https://a.co/d/9HS7ife Forever Nieman Nation. OH-IN-NY-CA-DC-WV/OH abecker @ 19thnews.org OR https://signal.me/#eu/TDWZNUaLcAcViX9p9xtLbZ6HaLscAgQ1si8
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President Trump has ended collective bargaining rights for more than one million federal workers. Unions have sued to block the move, but agencies are terminating contracts as litigation continues.
And for me the real inflection point is Celine Song’s Materialists. Today became A24’s 3rd highest grossing movie ever nearing $100 million on a supposed budget of $20m & way less than Civil War’s marketing spend. This idea that ‘middle range’ movies are dead is bullshit!!! Celine keeps proving it.
Most profitable movies of 2025 so far look like Sinners, Weapons, Materialists, & Minecraft. Nearly all them were not expected slam dunk hits with huge marketing campaigns. In case of Sinners, there was a weird insider whisper campaign to torpedo it before release! www.vulture.com/article/is-s...
Wowa! We printed 200+ “How to Report Ice” zines & got them in 41 Little Free Libraries in Takoma, Columbia Heights, Mt. Pleasant, Capitol Hill, H St, & Trinidad! If you see any tag us & let us know! Print (in linktree above), fold, & get some in a little library near you 🤗
I bought my first lotto ticket in idk how many years bc why not give myself a chance at billionaire-dom and realized all I’d immediately spend on myself is building the mountain house I plan to anyway and upgrading to an outback from a crosstrek. Then, of course, fund many causes I care about.
A 76% point gap between how satisfied Republicans are with the country versus how satisfied Democrats are. The largest partisan gap ever. news.gallup.com/poll/694370/...
Trump is trying to repeal a roadless rule that prevents loggers from denuding National Parks—something they just announced and which public only has a few weeks to speak against insideclimatenews.org/news/3008202...
AJC today: The war at CDC features the entire staff on one side, RFKJr on the other
This whole thing is great but the highlighted bit made me laugh out loud. 😂 Marlon on Snoop:
It’s been very disappointing watching members of my profession parrot political talking points that aren’t backed up by reality.
NRSC fundraising texts have gotten quite menacing.
“Over the past 20 years, Paris has undergone a major physical transformation, trading automotive arteries for bike lanes, adding green spaces and eliminating 50,000 parking spaces. Part of the payoff has been invisible — in the air itself.” Leadership, strategy, real action, common sense. #Paris
"When the public asks, 'How did we get here?' after each mass shooting, the answer goes beyond NRA lobbyists and Second Amendment zealots. It lies in large measure with the strategies of firearms executives like Richard Dyke." www.propublica.org/article/how-...
No but he is a favorite — I even made a Slack emoji of him!
I had the chance to talk with @scottdetrow.bsky.social for “All Things Considered” about my belief that an important line was crossed in America this month: www.npr.org/2025/08/30/n...
The United States, just months before its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism.
Nope! Far better 🤡
Who can guess what movie-themed costume I’m preparing for this Halloween?
“A respected network of hospitals and cancer centers is halting enrollment in clinical trials for children with brain cancer after the federal government said it would no longer provide funding to the group”
Art depicting “Sandwich Guy” now at the scene of the alleged misdemeanor.
Major update: As of this morning, CVS says it's decided it can offer the vax in 13 of the 16 states IF you get a prescription. Still a big new barrier for many people, but a change from its "no vaccines at all in these states" position yesterday. The three remaining absolute-nos are MA, NV and NM.
This story has it all: aquaculture, Black Flag, Bernie Sanders, Star Trek as policy, John Hodgman, male tears, and a candidate citing Luthen’s monologue from Andor. Meet Graham Platner, the Maine oysterman trying to crack the senate. @grahamformaine.bsky.social newrepublic.com/article/1996...
Since federal agents started policing the streets of Washington, D.C., in large numbers, crime has fallen. But a review by The New York Times suggests that the operation has been more of a sprawling dragnet of arrests for minor offenses than a targeted crime-fighting operation. nyti.ms/4fZXcyl
Iowa's Joni Ernst won't seek reelection to Senate in 2026, sources say www.cbsnews.com/news/joni-er...
“Denmark summoned the head of the U.S. Embassy … after allegations emerged that three Americans with close ties to President Trump were running ‘covert influence operations’ in Greenland.” Is there a Nobel prize for creating a conflict by threatening to seize the territory of a democratic ally?
[AlertDC] MPD reports there are rolling and stationery road closures on Dupont Circle, NW, traveling eastbound on P Street, approaching 18th Street, NW, due to First Amendment activity.
Just tried to rewind live TV. That is how infrequently I watch TV.
"Washington, D.C., residents are the most powerless canary in the most authoritarian coal mine. And I’m not sure people outside of Washington fully grasp how bad things are, why they should care, or how we got here." newrepublic.com/article/1996... via @newrepublic.com
My latest in @newrepublic.com: an urgent plea to recognize the humanity of DC residents, their longtime second-class citizenship and need —should democracy not already be lost forever—for statehood. “Washington, D.C., residents are the most powerless canary in the most authoritarian coal mine.”
The Trump administration says they're the "most transparent" in history. But when I asked the Department of Homeland Security who writes their social media posts, something extremely weird happened: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
When did caring for America’s most vulnerable kids become political? 19thnews.org/2025/08/head... via @19thnews.org
Anti-abortion groups have a new strategy to end telehealth abortion 19thnews.org/2025/08/anti... via @19thnews.org
Single moms found a foothold in trade jobs after Hurricane Katrina. That progress is in jeopardy. 19thnews.org/2025/08/hurr... via @19thnews.org
After the Department of Health and Human Services said Susan Monarez is no longer the CDC director, her lawyers said she did not resign and had not been fired, accusing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of “weaponizing public health for political gain.”
Monarez is playing her weak hand perfectly, and should be a model for institutional resistance for the next four years: 1. Make them fire you 2. Don’t go along to get along 3. Don’t apologize, have confidence in your own integrity and the importance of your role 4. Always escalate the conflict
The White House said late Wednesday that it had fired Susan Monarez, the new CDC director, after a tense confrontation in which Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to remove her from her position and she refused to resign.
As I predicted at the time of his arrest, "sandwich guy" is free. The DC AG's office should just give up because they are not gonna be able to get an indictment on arrests protesting a militarized occupation that 80% of the city does not want: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...
Trump is arming the National Guard and taking them away from their jobs and families to pick up trash around Lafayette Square, the National Mall, and the Tidal Basin. www.fox5dc.com/news/nationa...
🧵 Great article here with a focus on the Feds targeting of black community in specifically young black men & teens. The tactics deployed on them and the trauma it’s causing. (M-14s & Unmarked cars w/Uber & Lyft signs) It highlights the networks that were already in place & their response. 🎁🔗
Who is Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve governor targeted by Trump? 19thnews.org/2025/08/lisa... via @19thnews.org
“Limes from certain countries give her allergies.” Bulllllshit. I'd book these detestable people a one-way flight to somewhere I never intend to go. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/s...
To raise fertility rates, it’s not women who need to step up — it’s men — New research found that countries where men do more housework and child care have higher fertility rates. 19thnews.org/2025/08/fert... via @19thnews.org
Ready for Halloween
❤️❤️❤️
President Trump said he is firing Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve governor, "effective immediately." It's his most direct assault yet on Fed independence -- and a step that it is far from clear he can legally take. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u... #EconSky
Jay Carey, who was detained for burning a flag outside the White House in protest of the new no-flag-burning executive order, was an E-7 MiTT team leader in the Baghdad Belts during the Iraq surge
Using DC as a template, Trump threatened to send federal law enforcement back into Los Angeles, and to Baltimore, Chicago, Oakland and New York — all cities led by Democratic Black mayors, including Barbara Lee in Oakland. @amandabecker.bsky.social and @bcrodriguez.bsky.social for @19thnews.org
INBOX: Post Local: National Guard now armed & first day of school in D.C.
“Mayor Bowser better get her act straight or she won’t be mayor very long because we’ll take it over with the federal government,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Friday, calling D.C. a “crime-infested rat hole,” though violent crime at 30-year low: 19thnews.org/2025/08/blac... via @19thnews.org
BREAKING: Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Gaza killed at least 15 people, including three journalists, one of whom worked for Reuters, Palestinian health officials said reut.rs/45OFPfr
Four journalists were killed by an Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital today, including Mariam Dagga, a freelancer with the @apnews.com. She has a 12-year-old son, who was evacuated from Gaza earlier in the war. She was a true hero, like all of our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza. tinyurl.com/3cn5c9vb
More cities; greater degree of control over inhabitants.
Years after her "ascent into evangelical lady subculture," author Jen Hatmaker opens up about her new book, her divorce, and her faith at this point in a recent @nytimes.com interview: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/23/m...
The right wing has wanted militarized policing in blue cities — places they do not live but want to control — for most of the time I’ve covered politics. This isn’t just about Trump but a decades-long project coming to fruition.
John Shin, a well known and respected violinist from South Korea, who received Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the University of Utah for violin performance, was detained by ICE. John Shin has been a violinist and teaches students in Utah. He is being detained in Colorado.
Trump’s power grab in the nation’s capital, and his threat to expand his militarized takeover to other Democratic-led cities, is setting up a high-stakes showdown over the country’s democracy that pits him prominently against a familiar political foe: Black women. 19thnews.org/2025/08/blac...
It’s almost like the Democratic Party leadership is completely out of step with its base, which “want[s] progressive candidates with conviction.” www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
A judge has ruled that the Trump administration cannot deny funding to Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and 30 other cities and counties because of policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration efforts.
Just found the time to figure out why MAGA is mad at Cracker Barrel and what horrifyingly woke thing they possibly could have done and it's merely to remove the human figure from their logo? Eg-no-ra-moose vibes. IYKYK.
NEW: DOJ has released a transcript of Todd Blanche’s interview with Ghislaine Maxwell. Read it here: www.justice.gov/storage/audi...
A POTUS hasn't sent the Nat Guard—much less "regular military"—to a state w/o its gov asking in 60 yrs. The last instance was LBJ sending NG to protect civil rights activists marching when Alabama Gov. Wallace would not. The cities on Trump's list all have Black mayors. 19thnews.org/2025/08/blac...
White House pool report: "FIFA president Infantino hands Trump the trophy, says "only winners" can hold it. Trump asks: "Can I keep it." says trophy would fit well into new Oval Office deco"
My 3- and 5-year-old nieces are getting so much auntie time lately because they and my pets are the only things keeping me even close to functional In These Times.
My take on what it's like being a resident of D.C. during Trump's police takeover, and what it means to people in other cities: open.substack.com/pub/danvock/...
FLAG: Trump says he might declare a national emergency to keep National Guard troops in D.C. "If I have a national emergency, I can keep the troops there as long as I want."
“This is in many ways a political warning ... to say to these Black women and other Black mayors ... ‘Your leadership can be challenged, too.’” Trump said today that DC Mayor Bowser: "better get her act straight or she won’t be mayor very long because we’ll take it over with the federal gov't."
“This is in many ways a political warning, a political message, to say to these Black women and other Black mayors and other women of color mayors, ‘Your leadership can be challenged, too.’” 19thnews.org/2025/08/blac...
19thnews.org/2025/08/blac...
Violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low: “Mayor Bowser better get her act straight or she won’t be mayor very long because we’ll take it over with the federal government,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Friday, calling the city a “crime-infested rat hole.” 19thnews.org/2025/08/blac...
Why cities led by Black women are the first targets of Trump's political power grab: 19thnews.org/2025/08/blac...
What it means to have a woman in a wheelchair featured on U.S. currency 19thnews.org/2025/08/stac... via @19thnews.org
JD Vance: "We're in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton ... if we think Ambassador Bolton committed a crime, of course eventually prosecutions will come ... there's a broad concern about Ambassador Bolton."
Joining Cincinnati Edition at the top of the noon hour to discuss Trump's militarized takeover of D.C. and Ohio Gov. DeWine's deployment of the state's National Guard www.wvxu.org/show/cincinn...
Trump on FBI raiding Bolton's house: "I could know about it. I could be the one starting it. I'm actually the chief law enforcement officer."
Truly some of the worst political strategy I’ve seen in awhile.
YES: "Press secretaries and public information officers are the government officials who are appointed to interface with the public. Journalists are often a stand-in for the public." www.lpm.org/investigate/...
Trump’s power grab in the nation’s capital, and his threat to expand his militarized takeover to other Democratic-led cities, is setting up a high-stakes showdown over the country’s democracy that pits him prominently against a familiar political foe: Black women. 19thnews.org/2025/08/blac...
“This is in many ways a political warning, a political message, to say to these Black women and other Black mayors and other women of color mayors, ‘Your leadership can be challenged, too.’” 19thnews.org/2025/08/blac... via @19thnews.org
Julie Delpy as a far-right French president is fantastic casting. (Started The Hostage)
Federal judge orders closure of Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigration jail, finding it is causing severe harm to Florida Everglades www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
"Before Donald Trump had started his political ascent promulgating the false story that Barack Obama was a foreign-born Muslim, while my nephew, Stephen, was famously recovering from the hardships of his high school cafeteria in Santa Monica..."
"I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew, an educated man who is well aware of his heritage, has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundation of our family’s life in this country." www.politico.com/magazine/sto...
My video started playing after that so didn't even see it! TY
Same! and I moved during that time.
Wild to me Target didn't see this coming when they capitulated on DEI. Know your customer base. www.cnbc.com/2025/08/20/t...
Texas classrooms won’t have to display the Ten Commandments — for now 19thnews.org/2025/08/texa... via @19thnews.org
Juan Jamón at Bad Bunny continues to bring me joy. I think we went to the same dance school, Juan. I also want to raid your closet. www.tiktok.com/@flaminhotch...
Literally not a single part of this is true.
Today I learned that The Kids™️ are calling John Hamm "Juan Jamón" due to his love of Bad Bunny (he's been jamming at the Puerto Rico residency) and this is a thing bringing me joy today. www.tiktok.com/@ariannagdav...
How Rep. Nicole Collier’s Capitol protest sparked solidarity among these Texas women 19thnews.org/2025/08/nico... via @19thnews.org
Commentary: What Pandora’s Box has Ohio Gov. DeWine opened by sending National Guard troops to DC? His participation in Trump's military occupation of the nation's capital to target American civilians makes DeWine directly complicit in whatever comes next. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/08/20/o...
People in DC "understand the assignment," #FreeDC co-founder @keyachatterjee.bsky.social told me this week. In this case, Columbia Heights. 19thnews.org/2025/08/free...
Damn Weapons is good. Between this and Sinners is a fine year to be a fan of the overall genre.
his stature is baffling
This isn't all just a "distraction" from Epstein; all of this has always been the plan.
Gabbard revokes the security clearances of 37 former intelligence officials. The move comes as her office has placed escalating scrutiny on Obama administration officials involved in a review of Russian election interference.
i hate it! it's like a forrester bastard. i want the station wagon back!
Y'all we have GOT to convince Subaru to abandon it's 2026 Outback redesign and go back to the good stuff for 2027.
States administer elections, not the president, or the federal government.
Senate Probe Uncovers Allegations of Widespread Abuse in ICE Custody Led by US senator Jon Ossoff, the investigation cites hundreds of reports since January, including accounts of miscarriages, child neglect, and sexual abuse at ICE detention centers in dozens of states www.wired.com/story/senate...