Performative public lying is a hallmark of far right authoritarian regimes
Performative public lying is a hallmark of far right authoritarian regimes
This was $12 at the beginning of the year
#RFKJr wants to take away #COVID #vaccines (and then move on to #childhood #preventable #diseases). You can see it in the works now. Write to your member of #Congress now. This makes it easy to do so. @defendpublichealth.bsky.social actionnetwork.org/letters/writ...
In the cheap fun category: Trump posted this morning that he had raised $8 trillion, or $65,000 per household, from import taxes (tariffs) so far this year. Every Republican in Congress can be asked if they agree with Trump's numbers.
I’m glad @emptywheel.bsky.social wrote this. I’ve been watching Noem in recent weeks and wondering if Kilmar Abrego had an actionable slander claim against her? It seems like she has no proof for any of her slurs.
We’ve spent more time talking about nonexistent crime in 🇺🇸 cities in the last month, even as we’ve totally erased actual political violence from the National Conversation™️. Hard to overstate how disheartening & deeply unserious this has been.
Add in that the MN shooter might have been preventable if FBI and DHS hadn't refocused their domestic terrorism policing, and FBI didn't even MENTION the terrorist attack at CDC.
“Trump’s relationship to history, and so many other things, is entirely transactional,” said Daniel Feller, a professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee and former longtime editor of “The Papers of Andrew Jackson.” apnews.com/article/trum...
More people will see the bad story in the Atlantic than my grousing about it. We have to make people, especially liberals, aware of the ways in which media sucks instead of indulging the fantasy that they’re the good guys
The biggest mistake liberals make on media issues is assuming the mainstream media gives a single fuck. They don’t care. They’re rich and they’re white and they’re protected. None of this affects them. They don’t give a shit. If you understand this fact then the tone of the coverage makes sense.
The first time Buzzfeed under Ben Smith mentioned me was to call me a troll. What’s funny is that after that they loved to quote me in their roundups of social media commentary cause apparently the troll has a way with words and that’s a pretty easy way to make content.
“.. There was a period of time, briefly, where the middle-income consumer looked like they were being dragged up by all that was going well in the world. .. Then things fell off a cliff.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/economy/cons...
I will never understand why more people aren't disgusted by the rightwing's obsession with children's genitals. It's creepy. It's weird. It's disturbing. It's the kind of political stance that should make a party anathema to any voter who isn't pro-pedophilia.
Just call it the "Genital Inspection Movement"
We’ve seen this play out repeatedly across Europe. Each time, mainstream parties hoped to undercut the far right by echoing its language. Each time, the effect was to legitimise and empower the very forces they wanted to contain.
It’s a trap: if migration or identity politics is framed as the central crisis, voters who care most about it will prefer the “original” over the copy. The far right gains credibility, while centrists hollow out their own.
When centrists adopt far-right rhetoric, they don’t make themselves stronger. They make themselves look inauthentic, legitimise the far right, and shift the political debate onto terrain defined by their opponents. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
Cc @democrats.org
No idea what Trump is announcing but I would bet it’s this dumb idea to change the Department of Defense to the Department of War www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
I'm just going to keep noting that the owner and operator of Twitter -- the social media that too many politicians and pundits use to determine what's "normal" -- keeps on pushing the white supremacist Great Replacement Theory that has been the motivation for multiple mass shootings in this country.
Getting rid of Republican and full-throttle D.C. Hater Andy Harris is a mitzvah.
Elon Musk is a Nazi sympathizer with a breeding cult and it says a lot that the mainstream media works so hard to cover this up
We have no idea if it’s effective, but we do know it doesn’t cost as much as the things that are actually effective.
Perhaps the most famous lines Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) ever wrote were from this 1914 poem, “Chicago.” The toughness of commerce and vitality of labor in Chicago are inseparable from the city’s fuller character—the joyful and the unseemly aspects alike.
America’s vicious cycle: Corporations crush workers to protect their bottom lines, then use their profits to lobby for policies that allow them to keep crushing workers. Labor Day is the perfect time to remind ourselves it doesn’t have to be this way. https://youtu.be/JSralhrpK44?feature=shared
Attention Chicago: We will NOT be meeting at Federal Plaza. We now will be meeting at Ida B Wells and Michigan. Time and date depends on the arrival time of the troops: IF TROOPS ARRIVE BEFORE 3PM, PROTEST SAME DAY AT 5PM. IF TROOPS ARRIVE AFTER 3PM, PROTEST NEXT DAY AT 5PM.
As the Trump admin slashes federal funding and wreaks havoc on local economies, creating and protecting high-wage, safe, career-building union jobs is more important than ever. This Labor Day, Massachusetts Building Trades Unions President Frank Callahan & I are demanding better for working people.
The lifetime return to college remains enormous: four years of study adds more than a million dollars to expected earnings. And that yields a funny conclusion that I like to remind my students about: It may not feel like it, but these might be the highest earning years of your career.
Watching the 2017 movie “The Death of Stalin” for no particular reason.
Here's the response from Paul Bryant, the Black veteran and lawyer whom the govt arrested in part bc he had a legal weapon in DC, to USG attempt to get him detained. It leans heavily into the lack of Body Cam proving he shoulder checked some Guardsmen. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
NEW: This weekend in Trump's effort to make fascism happen. The Trump administration tried to illegally send children to Guatemala as troops walked aimlessly around Dupont Circle. This evening, at Law Dork:
"...fighting back matters. And many are doing so. It works — both in fact, as to specific outcomes, and also to dismantle their propaganda of fear." @chrisgeidner.bsky.social
Thank you for giving us the idea and opportunity!
for Oakland residents: what’s being done in your county
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.
Laguna Beach CA protest, Sept. 1st, 2025. Cohosted by @indivisible47.bsky.social & #50501LagunaBeach
Support for Trump amongst his youngest voters is already collapsing. And, trust me, we’re gonna keep dragging it down. 🫡
Today is the first day of public trading for Trump’s crypto scam.
9 former directors of the CDC penned an op-ed stating that what Robert F. Kennedy has done to the nation's public health system is "unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced" www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
If you are a federal employee who can confirm a rumor that some folks are sprinkling bread crumbs on the roof of the Labor Dept building where this banner was hung, I'd love to hear from you. Anonymity granted. Jen.Bendery@huffpost.com On Signal: jbendery.41
ICYMI: ICE detained a mother of 4 last month after she traveled back to the US w/ her passport + valid green card. Her attorney claims she wasn't given any justification for her detainment except a pardoned misdemeanor marijuana conviction from 22 yrs ago www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-de...
Done ✅
Let’s deploy wildfire mitigation crews across Colorado by funding three projects at risk due to uncertain federal funding. They’ll protect lives and property near Durango, Steamboat Springs, and Conifer. I’ll match the next fifty $5 donations here: www.coloradogives.org/story/preven...
JB Pritzker to CBS on Trump deploying troops: "He'd like to stop the elections in 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections. He'll just claim that there's some problem with an election, and then he's got troops on the ground that can take control if, in fact, he's allowed to do this."
Trump is now seeming to question the effectiveness of COVID vaccines — demanding in a social post that drug companies "justify the success" of the vaccines that likely have saved millions of lives.
The chaos at the CDC in the wake of last week’s firing of its Director and the resignations of four senior officials is fallout from the latest skirmish in RFK Jr.’s war against vaccines. Make no mistake, RFK Jr. is working hard to take away your vaccines, if he can. Here’s a progress report.
Rep. Carlos A. Giménez of Florida is getting really strange over on the Twitter. This all seems highly inappropriate and concerning. What exactly is going on? His map is from this Newsweek article: Map Shows Where Trump Has Sent U.S. Forces to Venezuela's Doorstep share.google/2fO2ebPMEYmK...
12/ bsky.app/profile/jenn...
Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale co-founded the University of Austin Texas (UATX) in 2021. UATX’s recent “Convocation Address” was titled, “In Defense of Inequality.” “To the class of 2029: you have chosen to rebel. Not against hierarchy, but against its abandonment.” 1/ x.com/uaustinorg/s...
In my experience, scholars of genocide study it in the hope they will never witness it.
Trust for labor unions is 20 points higher than trust for either the Democratic or Republican party.
Assassination is their game, and this is a dangerous game they are playing.
Now would be a good time for the secondary sanctions we should have put in place years ago bsky.app/profile/mcop...
What could possibly go wrong?
Washington's speculation about Trump's health is at a fever pitch. We've seen multiple reasons this summer to ask questions — and the media doesn't seem to care. What's really going on? www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/it-s-time-...
This is, of course, false. The United States exported $83 billion in goods and services to India last year alone.
BOSTON
Pope Leo XIV met with one of the most prominent advocates for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church. The Rev. James Martin said Leo told him that he intended to continue Pope Francis’ policy of LGBTQ+ acceptance in the church and encouraged him to keep up his advocacy.
NEW: This morning, DOJ's Drew Ensign confirmed that the last of 76 children the Trump administration tried to put on planes & send to Guatemala in the middle of the holiday weekend are back in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the result of a well-timed lawsuit & fast-moving judge.
“Alarm in Texas as activist faces hate-crimes trial over anti-Israel graffiti *** Experts say use of hate-crimes statute conflates state of Israel with Judaism and infringes on free speech rights” 9/1/25 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
“Top FDA official [Vinay Prasad] demands removal of YouTube videos in which he criticized Covid vaccines Channel was an attempt to ‘preserve’ what Trump officials in current Trump administration said during the pandemic” 8/31/25 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
“A MAGA influencer says there’s no space for her in women’s media.” In reality, the “womanosphere is … just one more entry into a crowded conservative media landscape, powered by the same old warped sense of victimization.” www.vox.com/culture/4595...
“The obscure Trump official behind Lisa Cook’s firing *** If Trump doesn’t like you, Bill Pulte may be looking into your mortgage soon.” 8/26/25 … 1/ www.vox.com/politics/421...
We can think of four different kinds of ground/methods for “truth”:
Cville peeps, it's time to make your voice heard! Charlottesville city council is considering an action that will, in effect, criminalize homelessness in city limits. We keep each other safe. Act now—there are simple steps in the thread below—and tell council to reject the police chief's request!
My dive into right wing piss pants baby culture Why are conservatives such cowards? www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
You guys see where this is going? Right?
Honestly, the hour-long run and march of people shouting “Free DC” up 14th Street today is the energy I needed this morning. I love you, DC.
Happy Labor Day.
Okay. I just came back to this and you aren’t calling these efforts resegregation yet, you absolutely should be
I watched Katrina: Come Hell and High Water on Netflix. Fuck everyone for trying to rehabilitate anyone from the George W. Bush administration.
Why more and more people are tuning the news out: ‘Now I don’t have that anxiety’
Those of us paying attention are in the real bubble
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake has shaken eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
An 11-year-old boy was fatally shot in Houston after a prank in which he rang the doorbell of a home and ran away, police said Sunday.
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:
My hope is Massachusetts is doing the same
I used to be really poor and I looked forward to 9/1 the most because the streets of Boston are lined with all kinds of stuff now that the student invasion is upon us. I scored multiple iPods, stereos, barely broken laptops, lots of toiletries, desk stuff… Alston Christmas never disappoints.
NEW: DOJ reports that 76 children are involved, with 16 back with the Office of Refugee Resettlement and the 60 remaining to be with ORR by 10:30 p.m. (split as detailed). storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Wait! I thought Trump was supposed to be “ending homelessness.” HUD just announced a nationwide audit of Section 8 “citizen status.” Mixed-status families could lose rental assistance, even when kids are U.S. citizens. Families including children could be thrown into eviction & face homelessness.
Wise advice to cities targeted or shall I say invaded by ICE Small towns are also seeing these unlawful kidnappings too Spread the word! All it takes to stop them is a few arrests Show the video to your local DA
So federal agents are suppressing this massive crime wave in DC. By busting people smoking weed, jaywalking, committing traffic violations, writing on sidewalks. 🙄
Public safety in California is on the rise. Last year, California had the second-lowest homicide rate since at least 1966, decreasing by nearly 12% overall since 2023. We're going to drive that progress forward up and down the state.
Mark Knoller, longtime CBS News correspondent, dies at 73
Trump says Chicago is an undesirable ‘hellhole,’ but tourists and transplants keep coming - @thetriibe.com
Lawyers for the children say they're still on planes in El Paso. SOOKNANAN: "I have the government attempting to remove minor children from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend. That's surprising." www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
BREAKING: A federal judge has *blocked* the Trump administration from abruptly deporting 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children — perhaps within a matter of hours — granting an emergency restraining order after advocates called the plan illegal + dangerous. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
If you prefer to read this thread on our site, here’s the link: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/emer...
Anna has had excellent coverage of this developing case in which the Trump administration tried to use the holiday weekend to secretly and illegally deport children.
Trump is working hard for Russia & China, now trying to push India into their alliance. Trump has not imposed any tariffs on Russia & now less on China than the 50% tariff war he has launched on India, ending all US attempts to engage with India. This is worse than stupid.
Medicare for all, paid leave, universal childcare. Busting up big corporations and tackling Wall Street’s greed. Getting big money out of politics. Supporting unions and fighting for higher wages. If Dems want to win back working people, this is the agenda they must support.
Who IS this guy? Oh, he is a GSA-17 Grifter Special Assistant #17
A good question to ask oneself politically is 'what do I need to ignore in order to maintain my commitment to x, y, and z?' Because if you, for example, need to ignore a whole group of people's humanity in order to vote for a horrible politician, then it may be too costly to your soul.
And of course the tried and true pathway from claiming to be a civil rights lawyer to “seeing the light” and deciding you love Trumpism. The Damascus road paved w/a lucrative TV deal. The journey in 4 panels:
"Arias Cristobal never set out to be part of a national political debate, but that too has been a tricky component of life after detention. She certainly didn’t imagine that her story would come to exemplify the excesses of a presidential administration."
Terrific and terrifying piece by William J. Broad for the @nytimes.com: “'Trump once said he wanted the generals that Hitler had,' Dr. Josephson wrote. 'He’s certainly working on getting the science that Hitler and Stalin had.'” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/s...
Right now, your ability to get access to a COVID vaccine this fall is in jeopardy, whether or not you fit the new, restricted eligiblity criteria. Please send a letter to your member of Congress here. And spread the word. @defendpublichealth.bsky.social actionnetwork.org/letters/writ...
“It’s important that the American people know that their state leaders have their backs. It’s crucial for the American people to know that in many places at the local and state level, public health is alive and well.” Public health expert @gregggonsalves.bsky.social, to me, in this piece:
Wild that a museum would install a new Emmett Till exhibit called, “yeah, we’re covering up this murder too.”
GORKA: Instead of blaming an inanimate object, which is the weapon, how about addressing the human being instead? KEILAR: DHS cut funding in July to the Minnesota Dept of Safety and the Hennepin Country Sheriff's Office in July that is the kind of funding used to assess mass violence threats