Twirling towards Freedom
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twirlingtofreedom.bsky.social
Twirling towards Freedom
@twirlingtofreedom.bsky.social
340 followers 800 following 1.5K posts
Sometimes I rage against the machine. Sometimes I anxiety bake. But always I'm twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom. Grew up in Texas, lived in NYC, live in Colorado, survive in the USofA
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Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
"70%+ of people in immigration custody have no criminal past. Although ICE has not released data on how many of them left children behind when they were arrested, the fact that an est. 6 million kids in the US have at least one parent without legal status suggests that this is the case for many."
As Trump’s deportation campaign continues, thousands of detainees with no criminal record are being detained. But “for every person arrested whose name and story we’ve learned, there are thousands we haven’t heard about,” Caitlin Dickerson reports.
The Deportees Whose Stories We’ll Never Know
Amid the president’s fast-moving deportation campaign, the stories of most people being swept up are missed.
bit.ly
Our govt is disappointing, yet again. Rock out to this distraction:
npr.org NPR @npr.org · 2d
Meet Georgia South and Amy Love, the London rock duo known as the Nova Twins. These "massive pedal nerds" turn all the way up for Tiny Desk. n.pr/4nKv1G7
Nova Twins: Tiny Desk Concert
Meet Georgia South and Amy Love, the London rock duo known as the Nova Twins. These "massive pedal nerds" turn all the way up for Tiny Desk.
n.pr
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
The original Dem demands were:
1) Permanent ACA subsidies
2) Medicaid funding restored
3) No more blank checks for the regime (rescission)

They dropped Medicaid immediately. Went silent on rescission. Cut back to 1 year of subsidies on Friday. And surrendered today.

The Senate Democrats!
The ripple effect of Trump's destructive decisions will be felt for decades.

- WHO typically foots the bill for the shipment of many samples around the globe. But Trump pulled out of the org, accusing it of being "owned & controlled by China" and blew a billion-dollar hole in the org's budget.
Why next year's flu shot might not be as good as it should be
America's withdrawal from the World Health Organization is affecting the ability of U.S. scientists to track flu and other pathogens. That could be a blow to the development of the 2025 flu vaccine.
www.npr.org
"I grew up seeing this logo of USAID on the cooking oil can and food boxes — knowing that Americans are the people who can support us in food, education, in medicine, in everything. America benefits, but they don't know that they are benefiting. They benefit because the people trust them so much."
They were promised a lifeline to 'graduate' from poverty. Then it was taken away
Thousands of South Sudanese refugees and impoverished locals in Uganda saw a brighter future with a new USAID-funded project. They'd get $205 and coaching to build a business. Then came the cuts.
www.npr.org
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
The average SNAP benefit per month is $177 a person.

The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.

People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.

And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
CICERO, IL — Trump’s ICE goons pepper spray into a family’s car and hits a 1 year old baby girl.
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
Schumer can be removed from his Dem leadership role this week - 23 Dems (and/or independents) just have to vote to depose him

And they should, given this is his fault.
This is a lovely sentiment but Schumer isn't up for re-election until 2028 and he knows this. At which point he will be 77/78. There's no mechanism to recall a sitting senator AFAIK.
Let’s be clear: Chuck Schumer is the one ending this shutdown, no matter how the votes read.

Chuck Schumer is claiming that he’s voting no, while letting other Senators (Fetterman, Kaine, King, etc) do HIS dirty work.

He must be removed from his leadership & primaried for the sake of this country
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
Important to understand this. There's a reasonable chance that your Dem Senator who voted against it and is acting mad now was in on the play. It's the same reason why they scheduled the surrender for AFTER the election this week. They didn't want people pissed at Dems right before an election.
The caucus meeting was just to orchestrate who would fall on the sword but not be up for a vote in 2026.
so currently defectors are:

Kaine (2030)
Shaheen (Retiring)
Hasan (2028)
Fetterman (2028)
Durbin (Retiring)
CCM (2028)
Rosen (2030)
King (2030)
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
A reminder - last March, republicans promised to restore $1.1B in funding to DC in exchange for funding the government, and Mike Johnson never took it up in the House.
a cartoon girl in a blue dress is kneeling in a field holding a bag
ALT: a cartoon girl in a blue dress is kneeling in a field holding a bag
media.tenor.com
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
My statement on the spending legislation and Republican healthcare crisis.
☎️CALL YOUR SENATORS to tell them NOT TO CAVE on the government shutdown -- they must stand up for affordable healthcare for their constituents!

And if you have one of these senators, shame them vociferously into doing the right thing!
John Fetterman, Angus King, Maggie Hassan, Dick Durbin, Jon Ossoff, Jeanne Shaheen, Kirsten Gillibrand, Catherine Cortez Masto, Mark Warner, Cory Booker, and of course Chuck Schumer. Maybe others not top of mind. Not all responsible will publicly vote for the cave - that's not how this works.
"If Trump wants to save the lives of Nigerian Christians, the good news is that he doesn’t need to spend billions of dollars on charging “into that now disgraced country, guns-a-blazing.”... All he has to do is restore the American aid estimated to save the lives of 270,000 Nigerians each year.
Opinion | Trump Aid Cuts Kill More Christians Than Jihadists Do
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
Trump just got massively booed and flipped off by the crowd at the Commanders game.

(Video: Marisa Schultz)
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
Dems backed Trump into a corner where he’s advocating for starving Americans and hemorrhaging support. If they vote to let him off the hook in exchange for nothing it’s a cataclysmic failure. I know people are in pain but insulating Republicans from political consequences is not the answer.
Reposted by Twirling towards Freedom
New York City Mayor-elect Mamdani is kicking off with a big move: bringing former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan to co-chair his transition team.

It's a strong suggestion that he’s willing to take on powerful corporate interests as mayor. trib.al/eOjgHfD
Mamdani Brings Lina Khan Onto His Team After Historic Election Win
Zohran Mamdani has named his transition team—and it’s amazing.
trib.al
"Key Lime’s ICE flights involve the transportation of dozens of detainees who are loaded on & off planes in shackles, with their personal belongings apparently collected in white trash bags... These “shuffle flights” can harm detainees’ mental health, family connections & access to legal services."