Robyn Swirling
@rswirling.bsky.social
5.3K followers 970 following 3.3K posts
Abortion, abolition, those sorts of things. Free DC.
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There is a LOT of filming going on and reporting out where feds and ICE are in DC. I know everyone means to be helpful when sharing that information, so I encourage everyone to get up to speed on the SALUTE method, which allows us to share info that is precise and doesn’t sow more fear.
S.A.L.U.T.E DOCUMENTATION
S size: How many agents/ officers/vehicles?
A Activity: What are the agents doing? Knocking on doors? Detaining someone? Attempting to enter private property?
L Location: Give an exact address, intersection and/or landmark.
U- Units: What letters, details, or patches are visible on the uniforms/jackets/vests/vehicles? Plainclothes? Masked?
Pretending to be police? Refused to identify themselves? 
T -Time: What is the date and time? This info should be shared quickly.
E-Equipment: What did agents have with them? Any weapons, flexicuffs, dogs, door breakers, LAD sound cannon, vans, SUVs, etc. Document vehicle details especially plates!

For a template go to salute.kyr.digital/en OR scan the QR code.
The generated message is what you can use when communicating with the hotlines!
Reposted by Robyn Swirling
You know you are allowed to show up to a No Kings protest in your area with flyers with how to find and join whatever your preferred form of action or activism is.
In the past our local abortion group has set up a card table and stuff to hand out, and everyone is always so excited to see us.
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Periodic reminder that the people who go to No Kings protests would do whatever else you think is a good idea or better if you actually bothered to ask them to come do it with you.
Held our first digital security study hall, sent out to all assorted lefty organizing groups in our area and it was so much fun! People installed Signal, worked on their to-do lists, and taught each other.
Gonna try to do this at least 2x a month. Feel like the social aspect is what makes it work.
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No One in the GOP Hitler Chat Was a “Kid”

They all appear to be full-grown GOP adults, in their mid 30's and late 20's.

For example, Joe Maligno (their general counsel) is thirty five. In the chat, he spoke about gas chambers and used racial slurs — repeatedly.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
No one in the GOP Hitler chat was a "kid"
We checked. Sorry, JD Vance.
www.motherjones.com
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I'm sure on Bluesky this will get a lot of "of COURSE" or "no duh" responses, but: at least out there in the real world, pointing out to people that ICE makes *every* man who loves tacti-cool and operator culture look like a Fucking Coward is...helpful.
ICE's military raids and masked kidnappings are resonating deeply/negatively in the cultural spaces we keep hearing Dems need to reach: Manosphere, Joe Rogan, country music, disengaged voters. That's rare and it gives Dems a big opening to engage.

Thoughts on this:

newrepublic.com/article/2018...
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They’ve RIF’d the DHHS Office of Population Affairs, which overseas the Title X program funding contraception for low-income women.
Trump Administration Decimates Birth Control Office in Layoffs
www.nytimes.com
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Some people might take that as a sign!
Crisis pregnancy center workers also admit at the conference that the organizations have trouble finding physicians willing to prescribe abortion pill "reversal"—and attracting qualified professionals in general to be medical directors. Pretty damning!
www.autonomynews.co/abortion-pil...
Screenshot from Autonomy News:
Part of the problem may be that CPCs appear to be having trouble attracting specialized professionals. At one point, Sandy Christiansen, medical director for Care Net, another CPC umbrella organization, reassured the crowd that they needn’t find an OBGYN to be their medical director. Any type of doctor, even a pathologist or orthopedic surgeon, could do the job, she said. “All doctors get trained in women's medicine to some extent...they can read a scan,” she said. Christiansen didn't respond to a request for comment.
But ultrasound training has only recently become common in US medical schools, and obstetric ultrasound is even more specialized. Indeed, one audience member, who identified herself as a registered diagnostic medical sonographer, said her center’s medical director was a psychiatrist. As a result, “she puts a lot of trust into us.”
Poehailos acknowledged that some physicians refuse to provide APR themselves. “Some centers, their doctors are not comfortable prescribing, and they just want to be able to provide ultrasounds for doctors who do,” she said.
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Again, it is a full-blown federal felony crime for anyone in the White House or Executive Office of the President to order tax investigations into anyone.

And it's not just a crime to DO it, it's even a federal crime for an employee not to REPORT such an order to the Treasury Inspector General.
26 U.S. Code § 7217 - Prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations
U.S. Code
Notes
prev | next
(a)Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for any applicable person to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.

(b)Reporting requirement
Any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service receiving any request prohibited by subsection (a) shall report the receipt of such request to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

(c)Exceptions
Subsection (a) shall not apply to any written request made—
(1)to an applicable person by or on behalf of the taxpayer and forwarded by such applicable person to the Internal Revenue Service;
(2)by an applicable person for disclosure of return or return information under section 6103 if such request is made in accordance with the requirements of such section; or
(3)by the Secretary of the Treasury as a consequence of the implementation of a change in tax policy.
(d)Penalty
Any person who willfully violates subsection (a) or fails to report under subsection (b) shall be punished upon conviction by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

(e)Applicable person
For purposes of this section, the term “applicable person” means—
(1)the President, the Vice President, any employee of the executive office of the President, and any employee of the executive office of the Vice President; and
(2)any individual (other than the Attorney General of the United States) serving in a position specified in section 5312 of title 5, United States Code.
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We’ve known for forever that they don’t think gendered violence is a really serious thing but it’s still wild to hear them say it so plainly.
Q: This has been reported for a while. Cory Mills was accused of beating a girlfriend in his DC apt. Are you concerned about these allegations?

JOHNSON: You have to ask Rep. Mills about that. He's been a faithful colleague. I don't know the details. Let's talk about things that are really serious
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Yesterday in the time it took for me to drop my son off at daycare (<5 mins) ICE showed up, kidnapped one of my neighbors, and left. I only saw them leaving the neighborhood.
They are quite purposefully less visible. Stops and arrests are happening in under 10 minutes mostly. They have been targeting construction crews and work vans, and are overwhelmingly focused in Wards 1 and 4. Here’s a video I took of FBI, CBP, HSI, and others with MPD in Petworth about 2 weeks ago.
“Carry on the kidnapping, just make sure we can see your faces while you tear families apart and shoot dogs.”
This is good: Rep Eric Swalwell tells me House Dems are now discussing making an end to mask-wearing a precondition for ICE funding.

"When we are in the majority, the masks are coming off," he says.

This is the next frontier in anti-Trump resistance.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2018...
Trump ICE Raids Take Horrific Turn in Chicago, Handing Dems an Opening
There’s one simple pledge Democrats can make to voters about ICE that’s easy to understand and will have broad support.
newrepublic.com
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Remember when @swordsjew.bsky.social and @marisakabas.bsky.social and @brooklynmarie.bsky.social were ringing all the alarms about how important it was to learn about far right Internet culture and the ways they communicate through dog whistles and references back in, like, 2016?

They were right.
It’s very possible Nick Fuentes will appear on Tucker Carlson’s show next week— the largest MAGA platform outside the White House. Fuentes has been on many large shows in recent weeks, barreling towards the mainstream at “6 million miles an hour” as he told followers last night
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you fucked around and now the Episcopalians are doing memes. are you happy now. are you
Screenshot of a Facebook post featuring three of the Portland protesters wearing inflatable frog costumes with the following text:

Episcopalians on Facebook
Elizabeth Rose Elrod • 22h •
Exodus 8:2-6
"But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs...
The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your officials."
Some people might take that as a sign!
Crisis pregnancy center workers also admit at the conference that the organizations have trouble finding physicians willing to prescribe abortion pill "reversal"—and attracting qualified professionals in general to be medical directors. Pretty damning!
www.autonomynews.co/abortion-pil...
Screenshot from Autonomy News:
Part of the problem may be that CPCs appear to be having trouble attracting specialized professionals. At one point, Sandy Christiansen, medical director for Care Net, another CPC umbrella organization, reassured the crowd that they needn’t find an OBGYN to be their medical director. Any type of doctor, even a pathologist or orthopedic surgeon, could do the job, she said. “All doctors get trained in women's medicine to some extent...they can read a scan,” she said. Christiansen didn't respond to a request for comment.
But ultrasound training has only recently become common in US medical schools, and obstetric ultrasound is even more specialized. Indeed, one audience member, who identified herself as a registered diagnostic medical sonographer, said her center’s medical director was a psychiatrist. As a result, “she puts a lot of trust into us.”
Poehailos acknowledged that some physicians refuse to provide APR themselves. “Some centers, their doctors are not comfortable prescribing, and they just want to be able to provide ultrasounds for doctors who do,” she said.
Reposted by Robyn Swirling
NEW: We obtained recordings from a crisis pregnancy center conference where anti-abortion law firms like Alliance Defending Freedom admit that CPCs are free to make referrals for abortion pill "reversal" at the same time they claim they’re being censored.
An @autonomynews.co @motherjones.com collab:
Abortion Pill “Reversal” Is a Hoax. It's Also a Powerful Right-Wing Legal Strategy.
Speakers at a crisis pregnancy center conference made rare admissions about the challenges of providing so-called abortion “reversal,” and indicate its importance as a litigation tool.
www.autonomynews.co
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The UAW has waded into the Maine Senate race with an endorsement for oyster farmer (and former Tune Inn bartender!) Graham Platner
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this is the issue with making everything about the mobilization of the national guard — ICE continues to run riot over our cities and the cops continue helping them
The action hasn’t died down in DC, they’ve just made it less visible after their shock and awe phase. I’d bet we’ll see the same in Chicago & Portland.

The “emergency” ended a month ago, but I woke up this morning to reports of 3 ICE actions within a 10 min walk of my house within 6-7:30am. #FreeDC
Did y’all not see what Markey’s team did to the last guy who tried to primary him? And that dude is a Kennedy!
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"We have a rising new Dem star who really engages with people, and is sure to win their next election."

DEM LEADERSHIP: That's fantastic.

"What are the next steps?"

DEM LEADERSHIP: Simple. Force them to step aside and throw their support behind this 80-year-old lifetime politician.
The action hasn’t died down in DC, they’ve just made it less visible after their shock and awe phase. I’d bet we’ll see the same in Chicago & Portland.

The “emergency” ended a month ago, but I woke up this morning to reports of 3 ICE actions within a 10 min walk of my house within 6-7:30am. #FreeDC
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BREAKING: Marco Rubio's State Department announces publicly that it is exercising unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in revoking people's visas based on comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Department of State v
@StateDept
g..
The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans.
The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk. Here are just a few examples of aliens who are no longer welcome in the U.S.:
5:55 PM • Oct 14, 2025 • 34.1K Views
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Yep.

We are still occupied. MPD is *still* cooperating w/the feds, despite the mayor saying they're not.

A couple weeks ago I was stopped for a "routine traffic stop" by the Secret Service (& no person they protect was anywhere nearby).

It's hell & folks are fighting.
Once again: this is also happening in DC. Still.

It feels like we’ve been forgotten, maybe because there aren’t huge confrontations to run photos of. But our neighbors are still being taken every day. Routine traffic stops are now done by 12+ feds alongside local police.

Please talk about us too.
"Residents in Chicago and Portland are living in a police state where masked armed forces kidnap who they want to kidnap, where they have to listen to public officials routinely lie about what is happening in their neighborhoods." donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...
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POLITICO: “.. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies .. and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
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🚨ATTN FEDS!🚨

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) has sued over firings on 10/10

CDC, join our local (AFGE2883) to support and get represented: www.afge2883ga.org. See below for RIF guidance & resources

Other feds, check if AFGE covers your agency: www.afge.org/about-us/age...