Short clip (courtesy of the Roanoke Times) of Winsome Earle-Sears getting loudly booed at Buena Vista's Labor Fest earlier today bluevirginia.us/2025/09/trou...
Learning & teaching about American Religions and History of Christianity. Also: bourbon, basketball, bricolage, (participation-level) trophy husband, corralling two boys.
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Short clip (courtesy of the Roanoke Times) of Winsome Earle-Sears getting loudly booed at Buena Vista's Labor Fest earlier today bluevirginia.us/2025/09/trou...
Fatality.
The Democratic Party has badly lost its way.
Also, precisely what Hannah Arendt described as inebriation and torpor inculcated by the strategic disinformation campaign that MAGA has been waging since 2015, befouling the while epistemic ecosystem. Exactly the outcome Arendt predicted the “masses” being manipulated into… @gtconway.bsky.social
Insofar as we were a democracy, we will have to look at “us” as one contributing factor, either by ignorance, apathy, decadence, or malice— we’re the problem it’s us. Many of us have been too insulated by our comfort, as long as it didn’t come for is directly…
Against the culture of death, we have to inoculate against a “pandemic of arms”: www.americamagazine.org/vatican-disp...
He’s weak, folks, we need to attack, rhetorically and argumentatively. Not just sit around and wait for the latest stream of deceptions, diversions, and delusions.
Celebrations on finding truth and freedom, Rich! Admire your important work. To reclaim our democracy from authoritarian darkness, we’ll still have to persuade, accompany, and include those who’ve realized their error. Will be hard for those of us who saw MAGA evil from the start, but necessary.
3 years ago today, I left MAGA. Today’s message is a longer one, but I hope you’ll bear with me.
The Rev took attendance…
“This is our moment to reassert what it means to be American by speaking out and pushing back. The victory of the weak, malignant and unprincipled man is not inevitable.” www.americaamerica.news/p/its-villai...
“…I am infuriated that the Air Force plans to grant military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt. She did not die defending the Constitution. She died trying to overturn it.” My latest in @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/honoring-a...
Canada is different than the US. But don’t think it can’t happen there. We thought it wouldn’t happen here. Stand up and fight now. Apathy or decadence will let it continue to rise, and don’t cave to the inevitable normalizers and bothsidesers who will emerge…
This afternoon, I visited Kilmar Abrego Garcia and other detainees at the Farmville Detention Center to deliver letters from his family. He wants to keep fighting for justice.
Yes!
Words cannot adequately describe what a colossal disappointment our mainstream media has been during our slow descent into authoritarianism.
I look forward to participating in this important conversation about Catholic social teaching about migrant justice alongside scholars, immigration justice activists, and four Catholic bishops at Georgetown University on September 11, 2025. Join us in person or via livestream.
No one should feel bad for law professors. It is nonetheless true that anyone teaching constitutional law who isn't dead between the ears or a right-wing ideologue is spending the last few days of summer trying to figure out how to tell the truth without wanting to quit
Pritzker: To the members of the press who are assembled here today and listening across the country, I am asking for your courage to tell it like it is. This is not a time to pretend here that there are two sides to this story.
Send this article to everyone in your life, who a might still care about the US constitution and living in a pluralistic democracy that values the common good. The only thing that will change this will be mass mobilization @vermontgmg.bsky.social www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...
…along with recognizing a variety of vicious actors, corporate villains, money skews, captures, etc. And it’s a culture, not just politics. But I still like to think we have a clear majority who don’t want this; we’ll have to be awakened to fight for it….
Yes: insofar as we were a democracy, we have to look at “we the people” as one contributing factor, either by ignorance, apathy, decadence, or malice. Unlike most public commentators, we’ll have to reckon with “us,” we’re the problem it’s us …
…But the end result is if we don’t get tough and drastic in mobilization, government of the people, by the people, for the people might not reach its 250th celebration…
Of course, we’ve been “on the road,” since Jan 6, 2021. In historical retrospect, we’ll examine various thresholds, b/c democracy is not like a toggle switch, but a convergence of values, institutions, commitments, and practices….
An utterly clarion argument from ace historian that we are in authoritarianism. Not “on the road to,” “flirting with,” “creatively expanding federal power,” or other euphemisms that will continue to be proffered. Only question is how long will we stay there? Will depend on how we act and respond…
They gaslit you all throughout the election.
“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
Our beloved local toy store that has lots of distinctive & educational toys for kiddos is shuttering. Tariffs eviscerated profit margins, on top of unsustainable rent. There will be a bloodbath for small businesses if those travesties don’t change. Are we “great” again?
Joy in service for the common good: Spanberger campaign shows up at the Blue Ridge Food Bank in Staunton, VA @abigailspanberger.com
It’s all about sending a message. The raid is the message. It’s all about retribution. He is the retribution president. As with troops on our streets, it’s all about normalizing fascism. This is fascism. Fascism is here. Too many Americans are too “busy” to care. But it’s here.
“The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.” Hannah Arendt
"A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." —The Declaration of Independence
Increasing housing supply has broad, bipartisan support among Virginia voters. My bill with @helmerva.bsky.social to rapidly increase stock has 67% approval. It’s a few local, special interests who hold us back. Let’s side with Virginians! It’s the right thing to do for working folks!
President of U.S. Bishops Conference Calls for Special Collection for Humanitarian Relief and Pastoral Support in Gaza | @usccbofficial.bsky.social www.usccb.org/news/2025/pr...
We have some economic power, people, if we’re willing to act together and make small sacrifices. We’re going to need it:
What I came to understand about the President is that there is very little he does not lie about. Lying is his toxic superpower.
One month from today, the very first votes will be cast in Virginia’s election this year! Be the first to fill out and submit your ballot — make a plan to vote early today: iwillvote.com/va
For so many parents and educators I meet across the Commonwealth, strengthening our schools is their top priority — and it’s one of mine, too. Read my Strengthening Virginia Schools plan here: abigailspanberger.com/issue/new-ab...
WOW. @marcelias.bsky.social goes off on the failures of legacy media: "We have an absolute collapse and failure by the institutions that have promised us that democracy would not die in darkness, that in fact, they stand for the proposition that democracy will die in plain sight of daylight."
More intrigue on the #UVA hatchet job, and the attempt, still in progress, to sabotage one of the nation’s great public universities. Any reasonable minded Virginian should be furious: airmail.news/issues/2025-...
Hawks have often weaponized "Munich" every time the U.S. doesn't go to war. But they forget the real betrayal of Munich - two big countries meeting to carve up the borders of a smaller one to give to an aggressor without that nation present.
Wow: as a historian I’m not sure an American president has ever been so utterly emasculated on the world stage; the postwar order really might be sabotaged…
Apparently, my opponent is still “trying to figure out” if she broke Virginia ethics rules by failing to disclose a free private plane trip. It's simple — either she lied on her financial disclosures, or she's lying to Virginians now.
Heavy on my mind tonight is A11 and A12. Looking out the window I’m reminded that some dark clouds can have bright linings. Many of the strengths of the Cville community now were born from the dark crucible of that summer of hate
🧵 50501 Virginia’s Statement on the Authoritarian Invasion of Washington D.C. Our friends with 50501 DC said it best: “our city is not a war zone.” Neither was Los Angeles in June.
Really savored the Puritan when we used to live in Manchester!
If you live in Virginia or have some connection to #UVA, consider joining: www.wahoos4uva.com. Current action seeks to prevent any disastrous agreement, like Columbia did, that will acquiesce to authoritarian ideological control & damage this great public university for years to come.
#UVA student council also voices no confidence in the Board of Visitors, surrounding the resignation of President Ryan. This was a direct attack on one of our greatest public universities, and, so far, its current board is floundering & flailing in response: www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
The CEO of a a multi-trillion dollar company went to the White House, openly handed the US president a gift made of gold, and his company got a special exemption to tariffs the president has illegally imposed. Also, the Founders took bribery so seriously the Constitution bans it 3 separate times.
Good morning. Trump is protecting Epstein files. The confederacy lost and they were traitors, mRNA vaccines are the future, cops shouldn’t wear masks, Trump cut taxes for the rich and ripped benefits from the poor. Have a weekend
Sure, shitting on both parties is easy. You may feel superior saying both parties suck. But you're wrong. Only one party - the Republican Party- is a threat to our founding principles. I don't have time right now to dream about a third party. I've got to help defeat that threat.
Retired professors now “no confidence” in current #UVA board of visitors! Including former University Professors (our highest academic achievement) & many from the putative glory days that President Ryan was ostensibly abandoning: www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...? @scvanvalkenburg.bsky.social
Once again, my fellow nerds, I am begging you to remember that giving into bullies only guarantees they'll be back. You've got to punch Biff Tannen in the face, McFly, or he'll rule over you forever.
#UVA alums overwhelmingly livid and disenchanted with events surrounding the resignation of President Ryan! 83% of 1,900 responses oppose these trends: uvamagazine.org/articles/sad...?
My Democratic colleagues and I just left the state of Texas to break quorum and stop Trump’s redistricting power grab. Trump is trying to rig the midterm elections right before our eyes. But first he’ll have to come through us. It’s time to fight back.
@mehdirhasan.bsky.social absolutely eviscerates Mulvaney, almost feel bad for him. Beyond that: just how utterly vacuous, bankrupt, and contemptuous MAGA apologists have become; all they have left is visceral emotions at the facts or entrenching in false equivalence: m.youtube.com/watch?v=wolq...
I’m sorry but I really have to stand up for myself and independent media here. Everyone is crediting Ken Delanian for the Maxwell sex offender waiver story, but I was hours ahead of him. Hours. Independent media is important.
“How many false idols—gold, monuments and Trump himself—do Americans want to worship? Could this be the trigger for rising social unrest and mass protest? Is there a breaking point?” open.substack.com/pub/america/...
Really glad sanity won out and @georgemasonu.bsky.social kept a guy who is objectively making our #1 university for social mobility even better. It was also inspiring to see so many people and organizations across Virginia stand up for President Washington!
Some generations were asked to storm beaches. Ours is being asked to stay engaged. That’s not too much to ask. I wrote this piece not just as a veteran or former congressman but as a dad. We are not the generation that lets this flame die. Not on my watch adamkinzinger.substack.com/p/we-are-not...
The time for negotiations to start is now, and anything jeopardizing peace must be rejected, Pope Leo XIV said.
Underneath MAGA’s atrocious policies is a putrefying moral rot of the culture. Reich begins to get to this. It will not be enough to combat and defeat the politics; we will have to find new ways to renew and rejuvenate a formation of goodness, truth, and beauty: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The question I’m asked every day.👇
A different way of practicing politics is possible - where we vigorously fight for what’s right while inviting people into our coalition, rather than pushing them away.
Leaving MAGA’s billboard now in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. Some who stopped by thanked us, and some demanded we leave town. But we’re staying all day into the evening!
Even before their release, the Epstein files have exposed millions of Americans who have continued to move the goalpost for what they deem morally allowable when it comes to the vile, predatory, spray-tanned object of their cultic fervor. johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/the-epstei...
A collective amnesia and abandonment to our darkest nihilistic impulses…it will be stunning to interpret on historical retrospect, and utterly tragic…
So you’re telling me @wsj.com that the placeholder president is a sexual abuser, law-breaker, narcissist, liar…exactly what any of us who did a modicum of research knew 10 years ago…Great decade, America… www.wsj.com/politics/jus...
To be clear, this now a massive cover up involving the President, the Attorney General, the FBI Director, and the GOP Congress.
“I am going to win!” - so excited for the candidacy of @mike-pruitt.bsky.social! Lets finally #Flipthe5th
Mike Pruitt can bring compassion, competence, intelligence, integrity, backbone back to the VA-5, where they’ve been brutally absent. Many fresh, impressive candidates for Congress out there trying to salvage congress and restore democracy. This is one to pay attention to @mike-pruitt.bsky.social
Hate is powerful. In fact it’s powerful enough to convince people to destroy the programs they benefit from, to give more money to the very rich, because they somehow believe it hurts the people they don’t like.
This boulder is rolling! Phenomenal reporting documenting the cravenness we all suspected was there.
This is such fresh public rhetoric and aesthetic that enticingly cuts across so much of the bogus, hackneyed political discourse out there:
That’s a predictable contortion. For the premills scheme, anything that serves such hastening can be re-integrated as necessary…
Donald is currently treating MAGA like he treats everything he can no longer use--with disdain and disrespect.
Prophecy:
Cville Good Trouble. Memory eternal John Lewis, a rare gem of an American #GoodTroubleLivesOn, #Cville @indivisiblecville.bsky.social
A damning op-ed about an AG putting MAGA before Virginia. And in the process ruining our institutions. Vote for @jonesjay.bsky.social
😉, true story!
Outstanding piece from Cavalier Daily about the reverberating carnage from the authoritarian take down of President Ryan: #UVA: www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
“New hires are rethinking joining our ranks” at UVA (per 12 of 14 deans). Still silence from our Board of Visitors as their top-secret “negotiations” continue. (Again, great work from the student journalists at the Cav Daily: www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...)
@sallyforsupervisor.bsky.social SHOWS UP for Cville/Albemarle at the food bank!
Abigail Spanberger’s campaign has service to community in its DNA. Here’s the CD#5 volunteer team packing boxes at the Food Bank, the campaign itself embodying service now, not waiting till November. @abigailspanberger.com @sallyforsupervisor.bsky.social
As the mom of three daughters in Virginia public schools and the product of Virginia public schools myself, education is personal for me. As Governor, I’ll work every day to make Virginia’s public schools the best in the country.
Trump's plan to gut the Department of Education is a direct attack on Virginia students and parents — and unfortunately, the Youngkin-Sears Administration refuses to stand up for our kids.
Right-wing publications called for ousting George Mason University's president just after a federal probe was launched. “When you start seeing these hit pieces come out one after another in a matter of days, you know it’s coordinated,” said a faculty member.
Genius politics:
Absolutely astute commentary on #UVA events
We are paying dearly for the absence of civics education.
Friday night Tequila tweet.👇
The Democratic Party Must Be Big Enough For Zohran Mamdani – And Me
NEW: When university president Gregory Washington received notice that the Trump administration had opened an investigation into complaints of antisemitism, he was “perplexed.” But there are signs it may be part of a coordinated campaign to oust him.
On June 17, 2012, following the unjustified forced resignation of an effective university president, the University of Virginia’s Faculty Senate voted 68 to 2 to demand her reinstatement. Nine days later, the president was reinstated. Today the Faculty Senate votes on the same issue again.
Of course you were 😉