You can’t tear down a dictator’s imagery if they don’t put one up in the first place.

“There is no clear precedent for what DeSantis and the president are doing." Experts question the legality of deploying National Guard officials as immigration judges.

People don’t merely fear what they don’t understand; they destroy it. And they cannot understand what is never properly communicated to them. History demonstrates this repeatedly, and we’re watching it unfold all over again. medium.com/@ayosogunro/...

The way Trump is decimating US civil society, I don’t think the people in charge are prepared for it. Too many peacetime CSO leaders in charge at a time that needs activism and resistance. They should be calling on colleagues in Africa to share ideas on how we thrive despite autocratic systems.

Check out how the anchors of CBS Evening News ended their broadcast tonight:

"Trump’s assault on civil society and educational institutions is hardly over. But recent events demonstrate that resistance, particularly by institutions with the greatest resources, is not only the right thing to do, but just might be effective." Lots of good thoughts in here:

➡️ Trump and his administration tell a lie. ➡️ Right-wing media reports on the lie as fact. ➡️ Trump administration cites the reporting to substantiate the lie. ➡️ Trump sees the lie on right-wing media and thinks it's actually true. 🔄 Repeat

Elon’s Grok AI is a broad hint that, given sufficient information and facts about the real world, any serious analysis about society and the human condition will lean towards wokeness. In short, the rejection of DEI and social justice values by many educated people is a deliberate choice.

Liberals used the carrot to grow DEI. MAGA used the stick to end it. Liberals boycott organisations. MAGA seizes their funding. Liberals suspend social media accounts they dislike. MAGA deports humans they dislike. One pressures via advocacy, the other mandates by force.

#HandsOff Austin, Texas

💙 DC never disappoints. #handsoff

So proud of American Resisters today! #Handsoff

Portland, ME showed up. #HandsOff

🇺🇸 Absolutely insane crowd here in Madison, Wisconsin — the Capital of Democracy! #Handsoff

Kickoff in Philadelphia. #handsoff

I’m just sayin’. St Augustine FL is a town of 14,000. In a red county. And we’re doing this. #handsoff #50501 #April5 AND we have some spicy signs!

Absolutely incredible turn out at MN State Capitol! #HandsOff

100,000+ people marched at the #HandsOff rally in New York!

Likely to be a Global North mood swing re Isreal’s territorial expansion in Gaza now that Canadian and European territory are also up for annexation by the US. Can’t keep justifying a type of injustice when experiencing the same thing. We continue to observe.

“If you’re a law firm being threatened, you might have to say, ‘We might lose some business because we stand for a principle,‘” the Democratic former president said. www.syracuse.com/politics/202...

“When Trump says he would like to run for a third term, it’s not just a distraction. It’s as close as he gets to telling the truth. He is an authoritarian who hates the Constitution and wants to be in power forever.” @atrupar.com @nberlat.bsky.social www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-thir...

Trump turns everyone into economists, security analysts, geopolitical experts, constitutional lawyers, immigration consultants, etc. I miss when Biden was there and nobody had to start googling historical and contemporary laws and policies to understand White House decisions.

One conclusive point this year is that there is no Illuminati, no secret global cabal pulling strings and oiling the NWO. Things are exactly as they’ve always been: the rich and powerful making self-invested decisions daily and resulting in a random, messy and arbitrary world.

The annual State Department human rights report “will remove all sections covering the rights of women, LGBTQ+ people, and the disabled as well as sections dedicated to discrimination against indigenous people and corruption in government.” www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/03/marc...

“The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

Must read! "The legal frameworks & civil society institutions that protect sexual & gender minorities also safeguard other fundamental democratic freedoms" by @ayosogunro.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/b4db36e... #democracy #LGBTQ #rights

If Canada, Panama, Greenland, Mexico, South Africa, Ukraine, Japan and the whole EU are all suddenly problematic countries for you, maybe you are the one that has a sudden case of bad leadership.

Meet Marvin Starblanket - partner, dad, son, former inmate and one of a growing number of Indigenous people bound to strict carceral rules after serving their sentences. www.reuters.com/world/americ...

Anti-LGBTQ laws as democracy's canary: "by targeting a marginalized group first, authoritarian politicians and movements minimize public resistance and test the waters for wider restrictions." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

My latest opinion piece, for @globeandmail, is a reminder that govts attack LGBTIQ+ rights always in the context of authoritarianism. The future of democracy will depend a lot on our ability to see through the smokescreen of “traditional values.” www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

There is no long term win for Musk. He will have these few years of glory then the world will right itself. He will be reviled in Lat-Am, Canada, Europe, China and Republicans will scapegoat him later on. In 20 years, he will be just a memory of a wild era, like Saddam Hussein.

Nazis had an unabashed contempt for all non-white peoples. It wasn’t unique. Many white people of the time felt this way, but Nazis implemented it in a way that horrified the rest. So, racism became taboo and the UN human rights system emerged. That system is under threat now.

Trump is not capable of being a dictator. Dictators are often suspicious of flattery and actively look keep an eye on criticism - so they can root it out. Trump is just a bully, throws a fit but very susceptible to sycophancy. The real dictator moves are being made by Musk/Heritage Foundation.

We need a Pan-African summit where our leaders can have serious conversations about African security and welfare in a post-UN world - where New York and Geneva are irrelevant to international relations. But this isn’t happening with the current crop of self-absorbed leaders.

One of the benefits of people accepting that you are very intelligent is that you can pass off your laziness or unwillingness to study an issue thoroughly as a type of intellectual efficiency. “Efficiency” as used in “department of government efficiency.”

In the end, history looks at the big picture: the moral arc, good vs evil, etc, and not the little issues: benefits to GDP, geopolitical stability, who didn’t say thanks. If you find yourself hyping the minutiae at the expense of the humane, you’re on the wrong side of history.

I have come to the conclusion that despite everything they’ve seen since 1999, Nigerians just can’t discern the manipulation of religion for political gain either by their own politicians or by politicians elsewhere.

The dystopian sci-fi plot where a single corporation controls every aspect of life on Earth is increasingly plausible. All that had been missing was a billionaire CEO wielding authority over the most powerful nation, gradually integrating his products into governance systems.

the single most un-american and anti-constitutional statement ever uttered by an american president

Don’t buy stuff on February 28. Money’s the only thing these dicks understand. #resist

“Despite the demands of Trump, Leavitt, and Big Brother, the AP is not changing their style to suit the whims of a would-be tinpot dictator. And by defying Trump, the AP has created a rallying point for other organizations and individuals to find their spines and defy him as well.”

President Donald Trump’s administration halted defunding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after Democracy Forward, on behalf of the city of Baltimore and a nonprofit, filed a lawsuit. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.” Diary of Anne Frank January 13, 1943

Ladies and gentlemen: we did it

How do 🏳️‍🌈 queer activists manoeuvre “anti-gender” narratives that seek to erase their existence, while curtailing their socio-political participation? @ayosogunro.bsky.social, Matthew Gichohi and Liv Tønnesen ➡️ Thursday 30 Jan 🕦 12:15 pm 🇳🇴 here / zoom

I had to write on this ongoing erasure: “Everything I don’t like is ‘Woke’,” or How Paul Graham Misses the Mark and Misdirects the Argument medium.com/@ayosogunro/...

I used to think that when global warming truly began to bite, deniers would face reality & we could act. Now I think it's more likely it will lead to a kind of fascism that will respond to global warming by, like, executing everyone who says global warming is real.

Yep.

I’m thankful for everyone using Bluesky, everyone building on atproto, everyone listening to our message and sharing our dream of a better social media ecosystem that puts people first. We’re going to do this together — thanks for joining us on this journey!