A project of @gadflypod.bsky.social that tracks fascist bills, explains why they are fascist, and notes which Democrats vote for them. Check out our work at fdt.beehiiv.com
917 followers 570 following 2,871 posts
view profile on Bluesky
On the verge of Congress returning, it feels appropriate to throw some hopeful vibes of community & togetherness into the ether: 🎵As one beleaguered people A camel being threaded through whichever blessed needle Before we forget This place was our cathedral These strangеrs were our friends🎵
A textbook example of how some accounts spread disinformation to juice engagement. The "enhanced" photo is simply a GenAI output. The distortions were added by Webb when he ran the photo thru GenAI. The flag is a giveaway. The watermark is meant to imply ownership, yet Webb owns neither image.
I desperately need people to learn the definition of oligarchy as soon as possible or I'm going to become the most boring version of the Joker
Just having worked with Schumer's office a bunch on comms reform specifically, it's a bit different than people think.
🤦 www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
Love that they clearly ran out of money for flooring in the trap door room. Not even an extra $20 for masonite.
NEW: A week or so ago, one federal agent kept popping up in videos from Trump's violent DC crackdown—so @jsweetli.bsky.social and I investigated. Turns out he's a 26-year-old US Parks Police officer, a lesser known law enforcement unit currently championed by Interior Sec. Doug Burnum. Our report:
“Nothing is more important than stopping fascism, because fascism will stop us all.” - Fred Hampton
This is the mentality we are up against, and recent events have proven him correct about the institutional response. Take this into account when you're doing your own personal calculations about surviving this era.
That said I am truly happy that you haven't been swarmed with comments from anti-trans Newsom fans. The flood that I've seen descend on other people has been nothing short of horrific.
I would recommend checking out posts by Parker Malloy and @britculpsapp.bsky.social that mention never voting for Newsom or say anything negative about his posting.
I would welcome evidence that his posting is having a positive effect, but the articles & essays that have been cited to me only point at the same three reactionary pundits being mad for a day and nothing more.
The thing though is his posting is doing far more harm than good. I've seen no evidence that his posting is even bothering the Trump admin, it's causing people to lash out against trans people who have good reason to hate Newsom, & it has given Nick Fuentes a new way to spread white nationalism.
I am bummed we never got to a series about Paulson over on @gadflypod.bsky.social. Have him on the short list if we ever bring it back.
I know my usual beat is AltNPS, but since yesterday when this Politico article dropped, I've seen a lot of chatter about the ICE List, an activist project focused on unmasking ICE officers. That's a noble goal. ICE doesn't deserve to hide. But I want to encourage some healthy skepticism here.
I mean, I'd posit that, unlike Newsom, Pat Paulson was a genuinely good person.
Both excellent addendums!
The thing about accepting Newsom's depravity against trans people or the homeless on the grounds of "Yeah, that's bad, but we have to beat Trump or it'll be worse." is that by accepting it, you mark it as acceptable, both within your mind and in the larger world around you.
That's what keeps getting me. At bare minimum its not good, just hard shoving it into a category of bad.
I maintain the unpopular opinion that defrags are too fast nowadays. Can't see what its moving where. Can't trust it. *snorts a crushed up Werther's*
Quick question for everyone because I keep going back and forth on this: is the current implementation of AI programs in government departments an example of fascism, oligarchy, a third thing, or is it too dependent on context to be definitively defined?
When I was homeless, cops used to stroll down the street and kick over our tents as a bet. They would pour out our water and laugh! I saw them rip up our books, we had so little and they still destroyed it for fun. That's what Newsom is advocating for. Kicking over people's homes.
Nice AI pfp
This rules! Thanks for the link.
Very true. Shelter was probably the wrong term for me to use. There needs to be a 24/7 housing option that addresses those issues. I think I'm envisioning a blend of shelter and specified clinics.
Truly, what I would give for free mental health and substance use programs. Also, not the 'work therapy' nonsense Salvation Army does, but evidence-based substance use programs that understand that relapse is a very common part of gaining long-term sobriety.
Between the two, affordable housing is much easier, especially in states that have laws requiring all new apartment building set aside affordable units. Transitional housing is much harder, once again, because of the risk of lowering property values.
The wait-list for most affordable housing vouchers can be between 1-3 years, unless a city uses a lottery system instead. And even then you need an income to ensure you can pay rent. What the unhoused need is transitional housing, which acts as a bridge between shelter and affordable housing.
Also, quick note, because I have seen people mention Newsom's call for more affordable housing in these convos. More affordable housing is good, but it can only serve to keep the unhoused population from rising. For people currently unhoused, affordable housing does nothing.
But, very simply, without more shelter beds and a stronger guarantee of shelter, all sweeping encampments does is terrorize people who are already struggling nonstop to survive.
There is a solution to this, but it's about as politically unpopular as you can get. You build more, smaller scale shelters, across the city that can focus on specific causes of becoming unhoused & allow people to stay 24/7. Which would help the unhoused but infuriate home owners.
When the guarantee of indoor shelter is so unpredictable, most resort to options that are more dangerous, but more certain. Such an encampments. So when Newsom enacts large scale sweeps, he is removing one of the only options available for people who can't get a shelter bed.
Now, if someone is lucky enough to get a shelter bed for the night, there's no guarantee they'll get one the next night. Shelters require people to leave in the morning and allow people back in during the evening, often on a first come, first serve basis.
Second, the promise of shelter and services for people who are unhoused is depressingly empty. Across the nation, there are far more people who are unhoused than there are shelter beds. In Los Angeles, for example, there are 16,100 shelter beds. This serves an unhoused population of 46,260 people.
Sorry ahead of time because its a bit of a long answer. First and foremost, I'd highly recommend reading this article from ProPublica about how devastating sweeps of encampments are for the unhoused.
Once again, Gavin Newsom is not deserving of your support or respect, let alone your vote.
Just daily examples of why this man is not deserving of support or respect
Gavin Newsom is a blue Trump and evil piece of shit.
New: @juliannemcshane.bsky.social and I took a deep dive into how Trump (and RFK Jr) is undermining mental health research at @motherjones.com–which could lead to fewer breakthroughs in early intervention strategies. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
"The other druids STOLE MY LUTE!"
O'Neill is a "longevity guy" and is buddies with Bryan Johnson and... "He has also supported the libertarian idea of creating new geographic zones, possibly at sea, in which residents can live by their own rules (including, notably, permissive regulatory regimes for new drugs and therapies). "
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced he is sending CHP officers assigned to Crime Suppression Teams into San Diego, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Central Valley, Sacramento, and the San Francisco Bay Area. He will, among other things, use predictive policing to suppress “criminal activity.”
In deploying California Highway Patrol troops to California cities, Gavin Newsom is mirroring Trump's every move, taking advantage of the extent to which Trump has normalized fascist authoritarianism to expand state violence under Democratic branding. More police means more violence, not safety.
Also, if you want to read this bill for yourself, you can find it's full text and amendments here.
That said, this is precisely what trans people and advocates mean when they say that 'trans women in women's sports' is a trojan horse of an issue. Caving on this one issue isn't a compromise. It's a pathetic surrender that allows fascists an easy lay-up to define trans people out of existence.
This bill sets the Department of Defense's spending for 2026, which means it has a much easier path to passing than other bills. There are 649 amendments on the docket (305 by Democrats) that I have yet to read, so hopefully there is an amendment that will push to remove this section.
For all the Dems who think that banning trans women from sports is a common sense compromise, lets look at S 2296, a bill up for a vote next week. Sec 548 bans trans women from women's sports in the Army, Navy, and USAF. It then defines sex so that it federally denies the existence of trans people.
if it seems like I go off about this a lot, it's because, well, just about every day, and certainly every week, dems are presented with an opportunity to change strategies. and in almost every case, the country would be better off if they did. and then they don't, and I get mad. rinse and repeat.
this is what makes the "dems are actually resisting to the max" types so fuckin wildly detached from reality. they're out here openly saying to the press that they don't want to obstruct trump's agenda because then voters will blame them for shit. they literally are saying we aren't resisting!
I would bet everything I own that David Mamet is currently hammering out a cover letter for this job.
Sincere Engineer absolutely rules! Have yet to hear a bad song from them.
Also sorry for the rant. LiveJournal ruined me when it comes to character limits.
Also, as someone who worked in the social service world, Newsom's policies and actions towards the unhoused already made him a dangerous & cruel joke. Adding his anti-trans beliefs to it and I'm even more baffled at his emerging fandom.
Honestly, I've yet to see any evidence that Trump even cares about his posting. I've been asking for articles and evidence for the past week and all I've seen are the same 3 pundits being mad about it for a day and Nick Fuentes using Newsom's AI meme's to spread white nationalism.
Really feeling ominous that the pro-Newsom types have become more rabid and mask off this evening. Which is also a very good reason to never support an anti-trans politician with equally toxic fans.
Cis people: This is where you fucking step up. Do everything you can to support trans people in the coming days. You're going to hear horrible, hurtful rhetoric about us. Shut it down. Don't let it stand. And buy the trans people in your life a drink.
And most importantly, how is that not an example of an elected representative actively helping Trump 70% of the time?
For example, Marie Glusenkamp Perez has voted in support of 70% of the fascist legislation that has received a vote this session. Is it your stance that she should not be called out or rebuked by the party for supporting fascist policies so often?
So you support Democrats that regularly support fascism? Correct me if I'm reading that wrong.
Marie Glusenkamp Perez, Jared Golden, Henry Cuellar, Laura Gillen, Don Davis come to mind first in the House & Jeanne Shaheen, John Fetterman, Maggie Hassan, Ruben Gallego, & Mark Warner in the Senate.
Furthermore, if the Democratic Party won't fight the fascist enablers in their own ranks, then how can they be expected to fight the fascists in charge?
How do the Democratic politicians that have expressed regular support for fascistic laws and nominees fit into that sentence?
The Minneapolis / Annunciation mass shooting is the natural extent of mass shooter fandom. You've got a Loss meme, referencing a 20-year-old gamer webcomic, under the name of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooter. All of it is equally absurd and meaningless to the shooter.
A lot of bluesky liberals are engaging in trans genocide by not listening to us and denying what is happening. Listen to me then, an actual survivor of genocide in the past, bc I'm much more educated about this kind of thing than you are. real-life experiences are infinitely more real than vibes.
I think @machete.gay summed up the motivation of the recent mass shooter best with this line in a conversation: “The only "authentic" message in the whole pile is the "there is no message" written on a pistol.”
CDC Director Fired This firing increases my uncertainty (by increasing confusion and chaos) around the future practical availability of COVID vaccines — will they be covered by insurance? We just don't know.... www.patreon.com/posts/cdc-di...
New It Could Happen Here 🏳️⚧️ Mia talks with journalist David Forbes about two recent horrific anti-trans bills in North Carolina and how Democrats made them possible. @miawong.bsky.social @davidforbes.bsky.social www.iheart.com/podcast/105-...
These appropriation bills are truly something else. The vast, vast amount of this is just salary and spending stuff, but then you suddenly get jump-scared by a ban on trans women from military college sports. And then you get a ban on any commissaries buying shrimp from China.
This from Riley Gaines is why trans people freak out when Democrats try to carve out some compromise over sports. The politicians and activists attacking trans people are not interested in compromise! They're interested in our eradication from public life and are exploiting sports to that end
Also if people who are the direct targets of a fascist government are telling you not to trust or support someone for the sake of their continued existance, it might be best to heed their advice.
Truly not like anyone else used military spending as an excuse to ban trans medical care. Especially not within the past nine months.
Got to love it when an anonymous person accuses someone of being fake when their pfp fits in the realm of 'black and white picture most often found inside unwrapped picture frames.'
The cicadas are the only thing screaming more than me right now. Making a ton of coffee and prepared for what I'm assuming will be very specific rules on how to maintain aircraft and new ways to target trans people in the military & their families.
Me: Oh, right! Congress comes back from recess next week. Better look and see if any legislation is on the docket. Let's check the Senate first- *sees S.2296 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026* Me: Okay...well hopefully it isn't absurdly long... *opens pdf*
My requirements for any Democrat running for president are simple: 1. Undo/reverse every single anti-trans policy the Trump administration has implemented. 2. Pledge not to further restrict trans people's rights. 3. Support the passage of the Equality Act and make it a priority.
Also, I don't think he's ever had a series where he hasn't gotten clearly bored halfway through.
Add on the implication that only a demon would be willing to fuck Gabourey Sidibe. LaLaurie crying at footage of cops attacking civil rights protestors only for it to mean nothing one scene later. Sure there's more but those really stuck and stayed after my only watch.
Oh I would have been driven mad by the time I got to talking about how American Horror Story: Coven is just soaked in racism.
At least now I know what Vegeta would sound like if he was a Resist Dem
In another world I would have went all in on just being a hater of Ryan Murphy on YouTube and the 15k likes per video are worth the labor
Oh not again. The man has shown for over a decade that he has no idea what horror, camp, or subtlety are and they still gift him with these projects?
Got to love the confidence to wear Hooper's Choice (tm) sneakers, JNCO cut-offs, and a whole ass cauldron
I may be the world's dumbest boy when it comes to any kind of theory, but how does someone write that and still claim not to be an an-cap?
“We came up with a plan to compromise with the Gestapo” That’s what you sound like.
it is insane how much of my becoming a leftist was just staying mad about the things i was mad at bush jr for instead of going "oh it's fine now" when a dem started doing it
You got it dude. Don't forget your trilby.
...cool. Appreciate you engaging with an honest question with edgelord indifference and in no way wasting my time.
I'm mainly asking because I've seen more empirical evidence that his posting is doing far more harm than good, but if there's a citation I haven't seen that says otherwise, I'd want to see it.
Do you have any articles, essays, or citations that can back this up?
this a million times the bad people will never see your transphobic jokes, your homophobic jokes, your ableist jokes, your racist jokes, your fatphobic jokes but allllll your friends will and we’ll know exactly how you feel about us CRITIQUE THEIR WORDS AND ACTIONS THOSE ARE THE BAD THINGS
dear everyone MOCKING PEOPLE'S APPEARANCE ISN'T HOW YOU BUILD A MORE JUST WORLD MOCKING ABILITY OR HEALTH MOST *CERTAINTLY* ISN'T how many times must we cover this yes this includes "chosen" things like self-tanner FFS it doesn't matter people's SPEECH & ACTIONS are what matter GO AFTER THAT
Democratic National Committee members rejected a resolution calling for an arms embargo on Israel, but pressure continues to mount on party leaders to adopt a stronger stance against the Gaza genocide. mondoweiss.net/2025/08/in-d... #Palestine #Israel
New today: soft-launch of "Open Security Mapping Project" for documenting ICE detention facilities. Includes web scraper and data on 117 facilities, all open source. Covers ICE .gov, Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap +Wikidata. github.com/Open-Securit... -main info github.com/Open-Securit... -Python scraper
Not being snarky, but do you have any proof that proves Trump or MAGA types even care? All I've seen get mad so far are three pundits who make their living overreacting (and haven't talked about it for more than one day) & Nick Fuentes using Gavin's memes as a new way to spread white nationalism.
It would really behoove people to realize that the steps before you end up at mass murder are also categorically defined as genocide.
No amount of appearing reasonable and trying to avoid provoking them will stop them from escalating against you. The only thing you'll do is inspire revulsion in everyone else: if you won't even stand up for yourself how can you stand up for anyone else
"All communication must be made via the law office of I'm Here You Fuckass Bitch."
Whatever you say
Sure
Also hope that makes sense. I am in so much spoon debt for the day.