Concern over low birth rates was what the theocracy in Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale used to come to power.
Cynical, RWNJ-despising, progressive Aus Gen X atheist angry at our refusal to take the urgent action the climate crisis & biodiversity collapse requires us to. Loves animals & nature… humans not so much. Hate the Greens? I’m not your gal. 🚫crypto
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Concern over low birth rates was what the theocracy in Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale used to come to power.
@atheists.org @ffrf.org @rsslmo.bsky.social
The body of evidence showing that when centrist parties adopt the priorities and talking points of the far right, they torpedo themselves is vast and powerful. Yet Keir Starmer's Labour Party seems determined to ignore it. A few examples in 🧵: theconversation.com/how-should-l...
awww… ❤️😻❤️
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Idaho's Ukrainian Welcome Center is closed ->KTVB | #RussiaUkraineWar #StandWithUkraine | More info from EcoSearch
Platner: No one cares that you pretend to be remorseful as you sell out to lobbyists. Symbolic opposition does not reopen hospitals. Weak condemnations do not bring back Roe V Wade. Maine deserves better than Susan Collins.
"officers were still investigating and had not arrested anybody" We have 15 law enforcement officers show up for every traffic stop in DC right now, but when a lunatic shoots and murders a 5th grader having harmless fun in Texas, we're "still investigating"
🎁🔗 wapo.st/4p70Lao
Thank you on this labor day!!
"The CDC saga was seen as a component of a larger story that [Democrats] could tell about Donald Trump dismantling the health care system...Another part, likely more politically potent, would be health care becoming less affordable and less accessible." www.thebulwark.com/p/democrats-...
Enormous impoundment-related changes in Trump/Vought's Circular A-11 update from Friday, which is OMB's guidance to agencies They: -removed the definition of impoundment -said GAO's impoundment determinations don't matter -claimed pocket rescission authority -claimed profound deferral authority 🧵
Sure would be great to have friends right now. Too bad we showed them all we want is extortion. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/w...
Yes, women should absolutely be taking advice on emotional stability from Elon Musk. x.com/elonmusk/sta...
Thread: this is Russ Vought giving himself permission to ignore Congress and the constitution
The National Guardners
Thanks goodness they have RFK Jr. on hand to monitor any potential imbalance in his bodily humors
To draw a connection between Michelle Obama and RFK Jr. is an act of imagination that bypasses the most dangerous aspects of RFK Jr (which the author is surely aware of, having written this also). I dunno, maybe the idea is to win over conservatives. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
Here is the piece, which emphasizes the limits of scolding corporations and nudging people. Fine as far as it goes, and represents one small part of what RFK does, but you really have to work hard to define that as "MAHA" the week after Kennedy purged the CDC. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
This is pretty remarkable but not that unusual. A lot of people want to portray RFK as having some Good Points. But no-one is objecting to more exercise and healthier foods. It is the anti-science (and specifically anti-vax) ethos that defines RFK and MAHA.
These people are unrepentant racists but also too cowardly to use the slur they so desperately want to.
"The new measures affect visas for medical treatment, university studies, visits to friends or relatives and business travel, at least temporarily." What possible justification can there by for such blanket bans? What are they punishing Palestinians for? Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/w...
After banning visas for Palestinian children seeking medical care, the Trump administration is now banning any Palestinian passport holders from entering the United States. Extraordinary bigotry being converted into US policy. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/w...
"Democrats need to avoid Blueskyism" says guy on Elon Musk's website.
Bluesky is now among and often *the* highest referer to @motherjones.com. That’s traffic that has been additive. Only Twitter has dipped btw, the rest as fairly steady state (and instagram impressions and video views on all platforms up enormously.)
Shame on the courts for going along with the pernicious fiction that American national security required stripping employees of union protections
Morning everyone. Kitty Unit Ian
Given he's doing everything the sane staffers and guardrails stopped him from doing last time, have any double XL T-shirts been delivered to the White House this week?
Anyway...Dems need to break out of the impulse to see 200 white people protesting against Covid restrictions as "the voice of the people which we must heed" while seeing 10X as many people protesting racist police violence as "a niche special interest group that's out of step with real Americans."
Have the people who put pads on their ear at the convention tattooed a big bruise on the back of their hand yet?
Anything not gold is garbage.
Just remembering when slack jaw POTUS was a red alert situation.
I just assume the White House window tosser is Laura Loomer purging more staff.
One thing they’ve been very successful at is making it so when sober experts put their careers and reputations on the line to issue grave warnings, it gets mostly a shrug.
Or would it be unseemly for an anchor to comment on a president’s cognitive state when it could matter?
For all the Jake Tapper jokes, it is pretty unusual when someone writes a book on a topic to not be booked to opine as an “expert” when almost the exact same situation is very relevant again. Jesus, Woodward and Bernstein are still dragged out to comment on every presidential scandal.
Portland, Maine crowd as Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner takes the stage today.
Russia, Russia, Russia!! HOAX!! Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Afterparty by invitation only at FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING 7339 State Road Philadelphia, PA 19136
Clyde turned 3 today; his little sisfur Gracie turned 1 in June and we didn't want her to feel left out 🤣
His administration is more authoritarian than ever, the red states are as aggressive as ever, the destruction of our health care system is worse than ever—and Trump doesn’t seem particularly engaged or even well. What’s up as we enter September? Tim and JVL discuss. youtu.be/N3XMfXXnD4I?...
bbc.com/news/article...
Asking the Black Democratic governor why he opposes the military occupation of urban centers and rejects the white nationalist government's attempt to subjugate blue communities as well as purge the country from anyone the Trumpists deem "un-American"... A proud moment, certainly, for journalism.
Not a very long path from "Why wouldn't you want the regime to deploy federal troops in your city when it reduces carjackings?" to "Why would you be opposed to the erection of internment camps for deviants when it reduces crime?" And a good chunk of mainstream media will just follow along.
Presidents historically became president to push an ideology or, perhaps, idealistically, to help people. Trump wanted to be president to A) avoid prison and B) make a fuckton of money.
All of this fueled by the myth of a “liberal media”. Media trips over itself to show “objectivity” or “both sides” even when there is only one truth. It’s why Dems have to move to the center to win elections but GOP never does. All they need to do is cry “left wing extremists”…
The most perverse outcome of this dynamic: The more extreme and deranged rightwing politics gets, the more elite Democrats/liberals react with ritual self-flagellation. “They are elevating RFK? Wow, we really must have angered those good folks with our crazy liberal/woke/leftist overreach!”
As a result of filtering everything that happens in American politics through the lens of “They represent authentic America, we are imposing liberals who need to plead with the Volk,” Democratic leaders constantly lend legitimacy to the Right’s claims and sabotage their own response.
This is exactly right! The Right’s core claim is that they represent an authentic, “real" America that is constantly being victimized, made to suffer under the yoke of leftist/liberal overreach, and therefore rightfully aggrieved. And too many Democrats/liberals look at that and go: “I agree.”
Here's a better response to RFK's destruction of our public health system than what Senator Schatz is offering here, from JB Pritzker (with some additional ideas thrown in from me and public health experts): newrepublic.com/article/1998...
What if they not letting Trump speak because he had a Reverse Fetterman Stroke and hes woke now
Let us celebrate the 13th anniversary of Eric Cantor's classic unclear-on-the-concept Labor Day tweet.
Can you believe some leftists are desecrating our beautiful flag? Well you can spit in their faces by wearing this $45 t-shirt that features me, the guy who inspired a coup attempt and is teasing an unconstitutional run for president in 2028, hugging and kissing the flag!
this is the guy that the modern right wing considers one of their finest intellectuals
Nobel Prize worthy 🔥👏🏽🙌🏽 www.instagram.com/reel/DOC7KBw...
$50 says that’s Stephen Miller wearing his skin
What these Schatz posts say to me is that Dem elected officials like him seem incapable of perceiving the right as a *political movement.* The response to Covid mitigation and the Floyd protests was not a spontaneous reaction...it was a right wing backlash organized by a reactionary movement.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filling an IV bag from a murky puddle near Trump National's sixth tee. "The president needs parameciums," he tells the assembled media. "It's the only treatment proven to work in real testing." His golf cart is piled high with dozens of dead birds.
If a few health professionals say something you don't like, all said it and we should destroy the CDC. If a few students say something you don't like, all higher ed said it and we should end academic freedom. If the president and his party does something, that's one guy spouting off, let it go.
Yet another GOP lawmaker was blasted by his own constituents for supporting President Trump’s agenda. This time, it was Barry Moore of Alabama, a U.S. representative and Senate candidate. He slipped out the back door as the audience chanted, “Shame!” trib.al/lVT3W8n
Senator Kelly escapes Magneto’s lair in the first X Men movie
Michelle Obama: Eat an apple! Eat some vegetables! Get some exercise! RFK Jr: Autistic people sit in the corner drooling because of vaccines! Let's ban all vaccines, bring measles back and have the survival of the fittest! American Media: Michelle Obama and RFK Jr. had the exact same agenda!
I could post about Nate Silver being a tool but instead I'm posting my cat Funky being Very Fucking Normal™
The Nate Silver bit verifies, anyway: www.huffpost.com/entry/nate-s...
Trying to give our taxpayer money to maniacs like these
Unprecedented corruption - 1500x what Hunter Biden made from his paintings and going directly to the president.
Dems care, and try, and for that are punished. GOP lies, hurts people, doesn't give a shit, and is rewarded.
Adding one thing: this whole dynamic is neatly replicated around the issue of climate change. Dems take shit constantly: they're acting too fast, too slow, doing the wrong things, focusing on the wrong tech, bad Dems! GOP gibbons just throw shit & lies & block all policy & that's fine I guess.
... it's their targets who must apologize. They're never held responsible for the lies. Never held responsible for getting so many people killed. Never held responsible for anything. It's just the people who care, who try, that we hold responsible, that we shit on & demonize. Never the gibbons.
I've written a million threads on this theme, it's pointless, I know. But it's insane. Dems have to try, to be responsible, to please everyone. Republicans just have to jump around like fucking gibbons, throwing shit at the wall, and if they occasionally, accidentally hit something ...
Somehow our diseased information environment has produced the net outcome that *the pandemic is considered a political problem for Dems*, not the party that lied about it & got people killed at every juncture. The party that tried, but not perfectly, to save lives, is being forced to apologize.
But it's always like this. Democrats try to do the right thing. They fall short, like humans do. Everyone teams up to shit on them. Republicans don't even bother pretending. They lie, they smear, they destroy lives, they get people killed, & they face NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT.
... even if you buy it all, surely the party that worked desperately to save lives & end the pandemic deserves more credit, a higher grade, than the party that worked desperately to spread lies & get people killed! Surely they're not the ones that should be apologizing!
And then afterward -- this is the part that makes me feel crazy -- all the retrospective analysis & discussion *shit on Democrats*. They've been on the defense ever since, criticized from all quarters for this or that decision. Much of that criticism is fact-free bullshit, but ...
At every single second, they worked their hardest to destroy trust, to foment doubt & anger & resentment, to *prevent* solidarity. And those lies mattered. The vaccine skepticism deliberately spread by the right led to 100s of 1000s of preventable deaths. Again: *they caused mass death*.
But the entire Dem professional establishment was desperately *trying* to do the right thing & be responsible. Contrast: immediately upon the arrival of the virus, the right started spreading insane conspiracy theories, attacking public health officials, & refusing to act in solidarity.
A pre-dog-walk 🧵 on the pandemic. To me, the lesson of the pandemic is a very familiar one, although as far as I can tell, no one is talking about it or learning it (which is also familiar). It's about the contrast between America's two political parties.
Think about it. "Dems were too zealous in trying to prevent the spread of the virus" is, in US politics, a greater disadvantage, a bigger problem, than "Republican lies got hundreds of thousands of Americans killed for no reason." Just a pathetic fucking country. Pathetic.
COVID was Dems' fault because they acknowledged it. Any societal disruption could've been avoided if only we pretended. First time US media and voting public didn't hold the president responsible for a bad thing on his watch. Even as he messed it up on live TV. Nothing I can think of comes close.
Trump’s response was worse than doing nothing. He downplayed it! He actively obstructed efforts to contain spread! Seriously a corpse President would have done better.
He’s both lying AND bragging about an enormous tax hike on consumers
Winning??? #nokings #nopedophiles #nonazis #nobillionaires #Defenddemocracy
It's his imagination and we're just lucky to be living in it.
lmao @ both the ridiculous idea that $15T is being invested in the US because of the tariffs or that we’d become a “third world nation” without them
This ongoing "we're mad at India for buying oil from Russia, our strategic adversary who we are neutral-to-positive about" routine is also ridiclous. India is nowhere near the only buyer of Russian oil, nor is it even the biggest!
Nine former heads of the CDC—appointed by presidents of both parties—warn the nation of the immense peril RFK Jr is putting the country in. Gift link, please send to families and friends www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
BUT BIDEN'S HEALLLLLLLTTTHHHHHHH!!!
They're going to show a picture of a pile of ashes on the golf course and MAGA will be like, "Such amazing vigor from OUR president! How does he do it?"
Remembering when the NYT went on a weeks-long bender covering a decades-old real estate deal the Clintons were involved in, in which they *lost money*.
"Whatever Trump says he wants to do, the safe bet is he will do it, law or public opinion be damned," writes columnist @rexhuppke.bsky.social. bit.ly/4oZVvFi
BREAKING: Infirm old man gives award to other infirm old man who smells like he bathes in merlot
J.B. Pritzker is 100% right. Please listen to him, pay attention, and join us in speaking out against authoritarianism and to protect free and fair elections.
That's a distinct little pattern right there
> @governor.ca.gov
“.. Memphis, after all, has long been one of the most dangerous cities in the country, with a murder rate about twice as high as the nation’s capital ..” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/u...
