I want to convey this in no uncertain terms. The citizens of Minnesota--an entire state--are terrified right now. The federal government is responding through greater force. The federal government is not looking at its own citizens as "citizens." They are looking at us as something to "break."

A threshold has been passed. This news re: Walz & Frey needs to be viewed seriously on it own; It also needs to be combined with news about DOJ pressure on the Fed, from Jerome Powell, as well as DOJ investigation into members of Congress who told troops to disobey illegal orders. Fascism.

This is unambiguously fascism. It is here. It is happening.

"I can get loud." In the wake of the Epstein fight, Rep. Adelita Grijalva has become a voice for sexual assault survivors. "Advocacy for people that feel like they don't have a voice has always been something that I'm very comfortable with. I think that it is our responsibility."

I've said this before but it bears repetition: the consequence of allowing bigotry & other cruelty into your coalition is that everyone starts to stand up for one another a lot less. That's one reason why tolerance of bigotry &/or cruelty is the antithesis of good antifascism.

There are many differences btwn Trump 1.0 & Trump 2.0. One is the willingness of communities to stand up for one another. As well as how competing narratives have robbed us of shared truth. There are organic & inorganic factors underlying all of this. The outcome is bad for anti-fascism, regardless.

It was a different situation, but one thing I had to learn the very hard way is that sometimes you can't do anything to help someone beyond making sure they know that they're always welcome to come back to you, and that you'll always leave the light on for them when they're ready.

I was never truly alone--& I mean this sincerely--b/c I had my online friends. Social media deserves a lot of criticism but, in my case, it saved my life. The friendships I built on these sites--they saved my life. I will never forget it. Complete social isolation was never possible b/c I had you.

People I've known online for a long time have commented, over the past 2 or so years, that I seem to have disappeared, bit by bit. It's true. I did. That's what happens when you are separated from your own truth. But I am clawing my way back. And I will shine light on what I saw, from the other side

The glaring! 😂😂😂 #birds #photography

He was mad at this leaf, y'all.😂 #birds #photography

Gratitude for Joe Biden from a survivor of domestic violence:

I have escaped from domestic violence. The domestic violence was not just contained to the home, but also involved weaponization of systems. I hope to do a fuller accounting of what happened one day to bring light to this problem. For now, here is my "Thank You" note to Joe Biden & the VAWA.

This is actually very good news, if we operate from the (accurate) baseline assumptions that American voters 1) are pretty uninformed about the economy & 2) Tend to rank Republicans more highly than Dems. That big of a swing in two years--especially given discontent in Biden years--is a big deal.

Per NBC polling, Democrats and Republicans are essentially tied on the question of who would do better handling economy: 38-37. At this point in September, 2023, roughly a year before the 2024 election, Republicans had a 21 point edge. www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...

I get hives whenever someone says, "I hate to say it, but Marjorie Taylor Greene has a point" (which for some reason people love to say), but I will note that it is of political and historical interest that this dynamic could be occurring within the Republican Party. There are a few hypotheses, here

John Thune is nervous. He just spread a bunch of lies on @pbsnewshour but I noticed one thing in particular: He reassured the audience that the underlying structure of ACA would be intact. He's lying. But I don't think I've heard a Republican make a promise about ACA like that before. Have you?

They’re scared. “Could be in the thousands” is an enormous walk back from Vought’s threats.

I feel like now is as good a time as ever to say that people on social media & in the news spent infinitely more time on Neera Tandem's nomination for OMB (2021) than they ever did for Russell Vought (2025). This difference, which is a pretty clear comparison, should tell us something.

Republicans are nervous about this. Keep the pressure on them.

I'm not going to comment on what Democrats should do. I have my opinion, but I always recognize that there are no good options. Here is what I will comment on. Republicans are often, in our view, "invulnerable." JD Vance did not appear invulnerable in his commentary today. He seemed nervous.

I want to point a very important detail of this: Jeffries is holding a press conference trashing Trump. And only CSPAN is carrying it. And that is the problem with America right now. The only place Democrats get any press coverage are places where no one watches.

Hunter Biden was an imperfect victim, so we dropped the ball by not highlighting that he was being attacked by a Republican weaponized DOJ. We thought we were being high and mighty on a pedestal of purity, but we were actually allowing the DOJ to become even worse.

When we talk about crime, we often cite the fact that victims aren't "perfect." Going after Kimmel was a tactical error because he is about as "perfect" a victim as one could target for political retribution, insofar as he's not a terribly political person. Bolton is an imperfect victim, as is Comey

All within one week.

Truly insane to take a moment and compare how we react to the indictment of James Comey today vs. how we reacted to the firing of James Comey in 2017, a multi-week/month news story. There are both historical & psychological factors at play here, all of which should be noted.

Two-party recording consent is tough on DV survivors. My ex contained his violence and threats to settings where in Illinois he had a lawful expectation to privacy. In other words, as a lawyer, he planned his abuses carefully enough to prevent the accumulation of certain types of damning evidence.

Another thing the police officers said when they were drawing up the false charges was, "What's she going to do? Trump's coming." I will remind people that Trump has ceased many Civil Rights investigations into police. PA's AG office, like many other states, does not handle police misconduct.

The major fascist move was from Nexstar and Sinclair. Both of them have many affiliates of all broadcast networks. SInclair and Nexstar have been the ones putting pressure on ABC. All Sinclair and Nexstar stations should be boycotted, NOT JUST the stations that are ABC affiliates!

Just asking questions for dibble-dabbling purposes

CBS 6 in Albany, NY is Sinclair

My wife watches local news at dinner time and I’ve steered her away from WJLA in DC.

Yes, we should make a comprehensive list. I don't think I'm the best person to take on this job, but I will try if I don't see anything like it. We need to recognize that market power exists; We need to use it.

Turn off the TV. We have economic power. We should not give that up. Disney is paying attention. Turn off all Sinclair-associated ABC affiliates. Do not watch them. That is an anti-fascist move.

Logically the next step is to look at the 25% of ABC affiliates where Jimmy Kimmel is not going to be aired and to either cancel streaming and/or turn of the TV on those affiliates. This puts pressure on ABC. Put pressure on ABC to cut off Sinclair.

Important data. I truly believe we need to have discussions about police, jail, & court-process reform that move beyond debates about slogans. I think when we spend a lot of time on slogan-debate, we move further away from making many changes that could improve the system.

I was arrested 14 days after the 2024 presidential election. I was a victim of IPV, but the police didn't believe me. When they were writing up the false charges against me--& these were really false, more than "victim mis-id," they laughed & said, "Bet she's proud of those Kamala Harris signs now."

I've never been good at practicing "mindfullness," but I am trying. Watching the last bumble bees of the season in my mom's garden makes it easier. I observed one today with pollen sacks, a feature the others lacked. I am told this bee may have been a "very thorough queen preparing for winter."

I researched Catherine Parr the other day. Turns out she studied linguistics too. Very interesting historical figure.

Here is something I posted on twitter two days ago. I mean it. There is so much beauty in the world. I suppose it required extreme trauma for me to see it. But it is everywhere.

-Note that the far-right & Republicans are spreading disinfo about the shooting in MN, despite the fact that the shooter is at large -Note they did this during hurricane disaster response, too -Note that all of this comes after the spread of disinfo during COVID + vaccination

#FunFact: Democrats have overperformed by an avg. of 15 pts in Special Elections so far this year. 📣 There's over TWO DOZEN more coming up! 6/03: SC HD-050 6/10: OK HD-071 OK HD-074 MA HD-Bris03 FL SD-19 FL HD-003 FL HD-032 Donate TODAY! #Blue25 secure.actblue.com/donate/speci...

New paper in PSPB! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... Well, actually, not "new". We first put this paper online way back Dec 2022... in any case, we think it's really cool! We find that conspiracy believers tend to be overconfident & really don't seem to realize that most disagree with them

I don't take it as snarky. I want us to have honest conversations about this. Social media absolutely drives people to various extremisms. It's also a known fact that Russian troll/bots take advantage of this, amplifying extant extremism & division, etc.

Some disconnected thoughts: I think I need some help from anarchists; like real anarchists, not larpers or blow-shit-up-for-boners dudes; ones who are willing to work w/ liberals & others over common causes. Like anti-fascism. Are there any good anarchist sub-reddits that discuss Russian bots?

A moment from 2020 that sticks in my memory was watching a Buttigieg rally where protestors unfurled a giant banner that said something like "Buttigieg is a murderer" and he responded with a genuinely sad sounding "What? No I'm not! That's really mean!" I think it encapsulated the moment well.

Great thread. Intra-group polarization. I’d be curious to hear from @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social This reminds me of Hetherington and Weiler’s Authoritarianism and Polarization . And Mason’s Uncivil Agreement.