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Claire Willett

@clairewillett.bsky.social

46K followers 1.1K following 19K posts

Chaos Muppet. Raconteuse. The internet’s gay Catholic aunt. Covering arts philanthropy at orartswatch.org. Writing books and plays at clairewillettwrites.com. Mentoring lefty grantwriters at tinyurl.com/8thHousePDX. I wish ill upon JK Rowling.

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · Jul 24

here’s your Claire World freshman orientation:

1. gay shit
2. Catholic shit
3. Star Trek
4. Watergate
5. morally ambiguous female characters over forty
6. Billy Joel
7. fuck TERFs

welcome, please send these people some money

chuffed.org/project/1133...

The Refaat Alareer Camp - by The Sameer Project

The Sameer Project, a mutual aid organization led by three Palestinians in the diaspora, are the proud directors and funders of a tent encampment in Central Gaza that provides shelter and specialized ...

chuffed.org

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 1h

“Things are always happening that have the potential to change you.” 🔥

The Transfeminine Review @thetransfemininereview.com · 9h

"You make the best of it all and hope you can help make it a little better for the gurl after you."

- Miss Major, 2023 💔

One of the things I hear with some younger trans people I know is they feel, "I'm gonna get this surgery, and I'm gonna learn that way of speaking, and I'm gonna be done." You're never done. If you're a straight, cisgender person, you're never done. Things are always happening that have the potential to change you. So all I am today is not who I'm gonna be tomorrow, because of the things that happened to me today and later tonight. People forget that. "Oh, after I transition, I'm gonna be through." Well, good luck with that. 'Cause if you're through, then it's time to leave, you know, and I don't wanna go anywhere yet.
I'm in my seventies. Why didn't I stop? Number one is community. My gurls. I've had moments of thinking about stopping, but I didn't. I made sure I would step back, reju- venate myself, and then got back out there, and that's how you make a way. Our stories are not all the same, but the destination is: to get some place where we have some peace and harmony, and we can be at ease with ourselves and the people around us. You make the best of it all and hope you can help make it a little better for the gurl after you.

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Luke Seaber @thelong1930s.bsky.social · 18h

Lord Peter Wimsey is the narrative voice of The Waste Land.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 22h

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 18h

“No Kings” is great , but we really don't get a functioning democracy back until we internalize, bone deep, the instinctive response to this and every other statement like it: “I don’t care what that rich guy thinks.”

Make it your morning affirmation. Say it ten times at the top of every hour.

The Independent @the-independent.com · 18h

Elon Musk calls for US troops to be sent to San Francisco for war on drugs: ‘It’s the only solution’

Musk demands US troops be sent to San Francisco for war on drugs

www.independent.co.uk

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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 1h

The EU has provided the first €10 million for a Special Tribunal to ensure Russian war criminals don’t escape justice.

EU Foreign Affairs head Kaja Kallas: “The evidence of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine is plain to see.
Unpunished crimes only encourage new atrocities.”

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JVG 骨 @jasonv.bsky.social · 14h

LGBTQIA+ is rebranding as LGBTQIA MAX

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Lisa Will @dustchick.bsky.social · 4h

I've always said this, but since last November, I've been pointing this out frequently in whatever venues to whatever audiences I can: "The planet NASA studies most is Earth."

Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 12h

A lot of comments on Mars rovers or Moon landings, but it's important to remember that the planet NASA studies most is Earth. This is less about cutting flashy things like moonwalks and more about keeping communities in the dark on climate, weather, agriculture, pollution, natural hazards, and more.

Reuters @reuters.com · 15h

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers reut.rs/4302N2L

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 5h

legit cannot wait to see how many frogs turn up nationwide. it’s going to make ICE lose their minds. they are more scared of looking Not Tough than anything else in the world

50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 8h

Find a frog gathering near you this Saturday, October 18

No Kings

As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the NO KINGS non-violent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power ...

Nokings.org

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Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 19h

The story he wants (and is getting!) at the moment is that he Ended the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and Brought World Peace. Any reminder that he did no such thing is annoying to him. That’s it. That’s all of it. He has not learned anything.

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Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 19h

Oh my God stop this. Trump has one goal always: getting shiny things he wants. The shiny thing he currently wants is a Nobel Peace Prize, and he thinks Bibi mouthing off could keep him from getting that. He will forget about it in a month.

Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.bsky.social · 22h

I have strong doubts that the 'ceasefire' will hold and lead to an actual peace deal, but it seems like, maybe, somehow, Trump kinda learned a lesson here...?

Screenshot from CBS news:

Trump tells Netanyahu to be "nicer … you're not at war anymore"
President Trump jokingly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in remarks at the Knesset to be "nicer," as "you're not at war anymore."

"Only by embracing the opportunities of this moment can we achieve our goal of ensuring that the horrors of recent years will never happen again. You don't want to have to go through this again," Mr. Trump said, turning to address Israeli lawmakers.

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April Glick Pulito @aprilglick.bsky.social · 8h

I was thinking about Nicole tonight because she also did mutual aid. I remember once I got let go when a restaurant I worked at closed right before rent was due, and she literally kept me in my apartment. I was just a person she sort of kind of knew on Twitter.

Miss her energy. A good take.

Drunk On Mystery @drunkonmystery.bsky.social · 7d

This was doubly weird, because Nicole Cliffe was basically the platonic ideal of that-era Twitter account.

An incredibly wealthy elite who was smart enough to act occasionally embarrassed about it, and who was also sort of insane but in a fun, rather than violent or scary, way.

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 7d

I remember people went absolutely ballistic about this and it was partially why Nicole Cliffe left Twitter. It's kind of infuriating how people lost their damn minds about it. (Also, remember when people thought a Nigerian fan of Buttigieg was a sock puppet account?)

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 9h

Christopher Columbus himself was a monster, but Columbus Day was instituted in 1892 to combat rising anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic bigotry after the lynching of eleven Italian-Americans. The same revanchists defending Columbus Day as "part of our US heritage" in 2025 would have opposed it in 1892.

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 8h

we just really hate fun!

Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 8h

And so many AI memes of Trump

they also tend to be the ones who resent being told not to use fatphobic or ableist jokes about him

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 10h

"We have an economy where a handful of modern-day robber barons wield extraordinary power. They hold enormous control over our paychecks, our bills, our time, and our futures.

...But the good news is that nothing about any of this is inevitable." - Lina Khan

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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 10h

I would love to be able to just fucking post but you people absolutely will not let me.

scottmacs @scottmacs.com •12m
You use the app?
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Erin Biba• @erinbiba.bsky.so...
• 10m
O she/her
Night Owl
Buffalo Bills
Science Journalism
Buffalo Bills
Are you being judgmental about how i access this website? Because you might wanna rethink that.
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scottmacs
@scottmacs.com
I'd never be judgmental about accessing the Web. Apps are not the Web. Sir Tim is shaking his head at you.
October 13, 2025 at 8:22 PM

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 10h

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy passed away today according to the House of GG. She was a veteran of the Stonewall rebellion and a lifelong organizer for the safety and dignity of trans people, sex workers, and the incarcerated. She came from the same generation and milieu as Marsha and Sylvia. She was 78.

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 10h

Nikki Haley didn’t have the juice but that was operator error. she pulled the trigger on distancing from Trump too early and didn’t wait for the vibe shift. MTG is enough of a screeching maniac to hold together the Screeching Maniac Caucus, and there are a lot of Republican white women voters!

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Alex H. Nagler @nagler.bsky.social · 10h

This sentiment, the "we do not demobilize" is what this campaign needs to preach from here on out. Getting the work done is going to require EFFORT. Taking the campaign's infrastructure and applying it to advocacy and political pressure will be crucial - mobilization is the right word.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 10h

"After we win in November, we do not demobilize. The rich and corporate interests who tried to buy this election with the millions they stole from our pockets will want to see us fail.

We won’t let them." - Chi Ossé

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 10h

I'm telling y'all, the joy of re-humiliating the two Dem women who lost might supersede even systemic misogyny in this case

they'd eat Marjorie's face eventually, of course, but they'd get to have some fun with Hillary ads first

Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 10h

okay BUT

there's a non-zero number of right wing men whose misogyny would extend to cover a Republican woman - even if they would have preferred a male nominee - out of the sheer malicious glee of taking something away from Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris and getting to gloat at them again

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 10h

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 10h

I can only be friends with people who are old enough to remember the annoyance of suddenly having to use area codes even for local domestic calls

we used to only have to remember seven digits!

bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 17h

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 10h

could not tell you most of my family members' CURRENT phone numbers but i can instantly rattle off what it was in 1986

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 11h

btw I can't stop thinking about @chanda.blacksky.app suggesting that this is her lining up a 2028 run and I'm now terrified she's seeing numbers that show her a growing anti-Israel bent among libertarians and independents who might be dumb enough to fall for another Trump-style renegade campaign

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 11h

extremely curious whether EVERYONE backed off already from "those big mean Democrats closed down the government" or whether the National Archives just slipped through the cracks or whether they actually had someone in the driver's seat going "yeah no we won't be embarrassing ourselves like that"

screencap of an error message over the National Archives website:

"Due to the shutdown of the federal government, National Archives facilities are closed, websites and social media are not being updated or monitored, and activities are canceled, with the following exceptions, which remain open and operational (barring holiday closures): Federal Records Centers (including the National Personnel Records Center), Federal Register, the museums only for the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum (open through 10/15/25, and may be extended), the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, the George H.W. Bush Library and Museum, and the privately run George W. Bush Museum. The Research Rooms and administrative offices for the aforementioned Libraries will be closed during the entire shutdown of the federal government."

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 11h

"even MTG is condemning the Gaza genocide!" false. absurd. the words of a maniac. she has simply determined that at present, her wholly unchanged Christofascist white supremacist goals are served more effectively by opposing Israel. in your heart you know she loses no sleep over dead Muslim children

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