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Canary in the Coal Mine

@vaelis.bsky.social

930 followers 190 following 3.4K posts

GenXer who grew up on PBS in a small town & ended up in Fortune 5s. I have very strong feelings about our failed government, media, tech, fascism .. and video games. Not here for clout, just old and treat this like it’s a BBS 🙂

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Canary in the Coal Mine @vaelis.bsky.social · Feb 26

This is an excellent compilation of resources for folks looking to take action. Thank you Laura for putting it together.

Laura @tutusntinyhats.bsky.social · Feb 23

One of my favorite things about Bluesky (or at least my little corner of it) is that people are always sharing resources for taking action.

So here's a pinned thread collecting those resources, some made by me and some made by others.

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 11h

Americans have gotten more than $21 billion back in their bank accounts after being cheated and scammed by big corporations, thanks to the CFPB.

But Trump and his Administration love grifters and scammers.

So they're trying to kill the agency holding them accountable.

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Hunter @hunterub.bsky.social · 11h

There's literally no reason for Congress to exist if any random freak in the presidential orbit can nullify laws and seize federal funds. All of this is plainly illegal, but Mike Johnson leads the most corrupt Congress in US history (and by a wide margin.)

Reuters @reuters.com · 16h

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers reut.rs/4qjMIyT

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers

White House budget director Russell Vought said he wants to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and expects to do so within the next two to three months.

reut.rs

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Canary in the Coal Mine @vaelis.bsky.social · 11h

People remember they disavowed the Nazis and klan without remembering they had to keep doing it because they kept being caught hanging around with them.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 11h

the extent to which media elites treat liberal americans as if they do not count in the body politic is a real problem

Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 13h

I read the piece. You shouldn't. He dismisses the "No Kings" protests as liberals in blue cities. He invokes Rosa Parks, as if rural white people in the 60s loved everything that the movement then was doing. "We need a movement but not this one" is a core centrist tact these days.

Ezra Levin ❌👑 @ezralevin.bsky.social · 13h

Is this a joke. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 13h

very funny that JD Vance has so little to do with his time that he goes on podcasts to defend 30-year-old men for saying how much they love Hitler

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17h

JD Vance dismisses Young Republicans who in a group chat said "I love Hitler" and joked about slavery and rape as "a bunch of kids" who "told stupid jokes" and adds that "most of the stupid things I did when I was a teenager and young adult, they're not on the internet."

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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 12h

the president using the office to punish americans that didnt vote for him should really be one of the biggest scandals in americas history

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 20h

Trump is upfront in saying he will use the shutdown to punish Democrats, and here are the receipts. About $27.2 billion cut from Dem districts compared to about $0.7 billion in GOP districts.
We all complain about the media, but need this type of in-depth journalism.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Trump Halts Billions in Grants for Democratic Districts During Shutdown (Gift Article)

The Trump administration has frozen or canceled nearly $28 billion primarily located in Democratic-led districts, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

www.nytimes.com

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 12h

shame and stigma are extremely powerful forces in american society, the issue is just that we stigmatize all the wrong stuff, like having a job that actually improves society (like teaching elementary school or working in sanitation)

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 17h

some colleagues have suggested to me that shame is irrelevant because the people on the "other side" don't know or care what "we" (on whatever "this side") think of them. I have...not gotten that impression

Kurtbert Barlowko @albertburneko.bsky.social · 18h

"disliking me is persecution" describes so incredibly many people's entire outlook these days defector.com/free-press-r...

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Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 13h

Every time you see Mike Davis do Mike Davis things, think about Gorsuch reportedly helping land Davis a job at DOJ, then choosing him as a clerk when he was on the 10th Circuit, then choosing him as a clerk when he was on the Supreme Court.

Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 15h

Hakeem Jeffries posted pictures of two Rep. Members posing with “Young Republicans” who were part of a racist text thread (as reported by Politico).

In response, Mike Davis (well-connected in Trump World & on the Hill) called Jeffries a “house slave” for George Soros - proving Jeffries’ point.

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Zoë “Baddie Proctor” Quinn @unburntwitch.com · 13h

It’s almost like GamerGate was openly a push to transform young republicans into the openly hitler loving groypers and Steve Bannon specifically did all that shit to me to make it happen

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 14h

Once again, I ask - without trying to being overly alarmist - what anyone has seen since January to make them believe the 2026/28 elections will be free, fair, & democratic by any meaningful definitions of the words.

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · 14h

Oopsie!

The Supreme Court Case That Could Hand the House to Republicans

www.nytimes.com

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utopia deferred @utopia-defer.red · 17h

Another good way to think of this moment is that the American secret police are increasingly comfortable black bagging American citizens on camera and in broad daylight with no basis of detention. The mere act of criticism, no matter how petty and silly, is its own justification for brutality.

Robby Roadsteamer @roadsteamer.bsky.social · 19h

🚨 *Breaking News* Robby Roadsteamer has been detained by ICE Portland after singing Rod Stewart with the Portland Frog! We need your help!

Please support Robby's campaign and lawyer fees at robbyroadsteamer.com link on bio 💙🦒🦒🦒

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Patrick Cosmos @veryimportant.lawyer · 15h

Black 17-year-olds are adults, white female 15-year-olds are adults and white male 30-year-olds are children. The republican mind has no problems with age as a complicated social construct

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 15h

Vance on public outrage over the "I love Hitler" group chat: "Grow up! Focus on the real issues. Don't focus on what kids say in group chats... The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys — they tell edgy, offensive jokes. That's what kids do."

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ghost malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 16h

he is one million percent in these chats

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Jen Taub @jentaub.bsky.social · 16h

They are not children. These men are adults. If you care about children release the Epstein files.

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 17h

We got $20 billion for Argentina though.

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Annika Brockschmidt @ardenthistorian.bsky.social · 16h

1.) One of those „kids“ is a state senator in Vermont. (They’re not kids)
2.) kids are bigots is a weird stance
3.) going full boys will be boys about the „I love Hitler“ chat is quite a choice
4.) What else to expect from a guy who still follows Bronze Age Pervert on X? (Rhetorical question)

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Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 16h

Not for nothing, but every time three 18 year olds at Harvard start a petition, the entire Right Wing commentariate goes absolutely feral.

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Bill Corbett @billcorbett.bsky.social · 16h

Any white dude under 50 years old is a young boy.

Any Black kid over 6 years old is a dangerous thug.

Caucasianity!

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 16h

Old enough to remember when kids being anti-semitic was the basis for a federal government assault on higher education

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Canary in the Coal Mine @vaelis.bsky.social · 16h

Ah yes the good ’ol boys will be boys defense, applied to 40 year old Nazis.

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 16h

Very straightforwardly detained by secret police for speech. I honestly don't know what establishment figures are telling themselves any more to avoid cognitive dissonance over this shit.

Jeff Yang @originalsp.in · 17h

ICE arrested comedian Robby Roadsteamer for singing a parody of Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” in a Jeffrey Epstein the Giraffe costume outside their facility.

He sings “If you hate brown people / and you are a Nazi” and ICE thugs grab him and drag him into detention. No violence—just speech.

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Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · 16h

We live in a racist country and have racists who sit on the Supreme Court, making racist decisions that impact 350 million people for decades.

First they abolish the New Deal; then they abolish the Great Society - just so White men can stay in power.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

NYT homepage of 5 stories about how SCOTUS "appears skeptical of key provisions of Voting Rights Act"; a graphic showing without section 2 of the VRA, democracy loses to Republicans in the South.

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 16h

Apparently $20B of our taxpayer money wasn't enough to bail out Argentina.

Now Trump wants U.S. banks to divert ANOTHER $20B away from lending to American businesses, farmers, and families to prop up Milei's corrupt presidency and failing economy.

So much for America First.

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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 17h

The dominant business plan these days seems to be let’s turn everyone into slaves, who famously never revolt

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