Arieh Kovler
@ariehkovler.com
Writer, political analyst, comms consultant. UK, Israeli, US. Politics, current affairs and technology. [email protected]. https://linktr.ee/ariehkovler
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
MAGA is at heart a terror movement
ICYMI: Following Renee Good’s murder by ICE, her son’s Minneapolis charter school was forced to go fully online due to right-wing attacks
sahanjournal.com/education/mi...
sahanjournal.com/education/mi...
January 25, 2026 at 7:57 PM
MAGA is at heart a terror movement
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
I think it is *incredibly* irresponsible for someone like @stonekettle.bsky.social, with a huge following, to claim that Signal is just as insecure as texts or other public social media.
This is a classic “making perfect the enemy of the good” error.
This is a classic “making perfect the enemy of the good” error.
January 25, 2026 at 7:17 PM
I think it is *incredibly* irresponsible for someone like @stonekettle.bsky.social, with a huge following, to claim that Signal is just as insecure as texts or other public social media.
This is a classic “making perfect the enemy of the good” error.
This is a classic “making perfect the enemy of the good” error.
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
Mass hysteria bc these people don’t understand activists made a list of plates on vehicles they’ve seen ICE driving around in. It’s like…common sense.
January 25, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Mass hysteria bc these people don’t understand activists made a list of plates on vehicles they’ve seen ICE driving around in. It’s like…common sense.
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
"Woke" Netflix owning HBO: end of the world
Trump's technofascist billionaire friend owning CNN, CBS, HBO, Discovery, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and part of TikTok: whatevs
Trump's technofascist billionaire friend owning CNN, CBS, HBO, Discovery, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and part of TikTok: whatevs
January 25, 2026 at 6:51 PM
"Woke" Netflix owning HBO: end of the world
Trump's technofascist billionaire friend owning CNN, CBS, HBO, Discovery, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and part of TikTok: whatevs
Trump's technofascist billionaire friend owning CNN, CBS, HBO, Discovery, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and part of TikTok: whatevs
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
these clowns are nothing if not predictable
January 25, 2026 at 6:48 PM
these clowns are nothing if not predictable
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
It's obviously good that citizens with smartphones can create multiple records of these shootings and undercut propaganda and government lies about them. But I find it a little deranging that being an informed news consumer in 2026 requires watching what are essentially snuff videos in slow-mo.
January 25, 2026 at 6:29 PM
It's obviously good that citizens with smartphones can create multiple records of these shootings and undercut propaganda and government lies about them. But I find it a little deranging that being an informed news consumer in 2026 requires watching what are essentially snuff videos in slow-mo.
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
hey everybody lifelong tech expert here
> "system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility
that's not how anything works they're lying and destroying evidence hope that helps
> "system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility
that's not how anything works they're lying and destroying evidence hope that helps
And what is happening inside ICE detention centers? 404 Media also learned that the federal government claimed that the day after it was sued for allegedly abusing detainees at an ICE detention center, a “system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility.
ICE Says Critical Evidence In Abuse Case Was Lost In 'System Crash' a Day After It Was Sued
The government also said "we don't have resources" to retain all footage and that plaintiffs could supply "endless hard drives that we could save things to."
www.404media.co
January 25, 2026 at 5:26 PM
hey everybody lifelong tech expert here
> "system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility
that's not how anything works they're lying and destroying evidence hope that helps
> "system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility
that's not how anything works they're lying and destroying evidence hope that helps
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
The key to the far right’s recent ascendence is the realization that if they simply go on traditional or social media and describe things that are completely false but they’d prefer to be true, many people will treat this fictitious reality as, at least, a competing theory that must be dignified.
It is fucking crazy that he’s talking about an incident on video like this. None of this is real!
January 25, 2026 at 5:22 PM
The key to the far right’s recent ascendence is the realization that if they simply go on traditional or social media and describe things that are completely false but they’d prefer to be true, many people will treat this fictitious reality as, at least, a competing theory that must be dignified.
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
Or Virginia, from [checks calendar] Tuesday:
Lobby Day draws larger pro-gun crowd as Virginia Democrats revive gun-safety agenda • Virginia Mercury
Standing just outside the iron fencing surrounding Virginia’s Capitol in downtown Richmond on Monday, Alexandria resident Gerald Vandendries hoisted a semi-automatic rifle and scanned the crowd gather...
virginiamercury.com
January 25, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Or Virginia, from [checks calendar] Tuesday:
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
Kentucky, too !
January 25, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Kentucky, too !
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
The reason I’m angry all the time is I spent the last 5 years trying to work on this with the The Adults in The Room™️ who briefly had the pretension they were taking this seriously, and they all abandoned it when it got “too political”—which was a form of surrendering to metapolitical terrorism.
It's really not that hard to draw a line from brushing off memeified social media Nazi content as "hahaha it's just a joke, lighten up, nobody takes this seriously," to murdering people in the street.
This is a good article about how pseudoarchaeological & pseudohistorical content can soften & spread extremist viewpoints. Extremists know how to weaponize & exploit this point:
"Even if a viewer doesn’t understand the underlying ideology, the memes can lead to more, and more overt, neo-Nazi dreck."
"Even if a viewer doesn’t understand the underlying ideology, the memes can lead to more, and more overt, neo-Nazi dreck."
January 24, 2026 at 5:31 PM
The reason I’m angry all the time is I spent the last 5 years trying to work on this with the The Adults in The Room™️ who briefly had the pretension they were taking this seriously, and they all abandoned it when it got “too political”—which was a form of surrendering to metapolitical terrorism.
Where I am, the news is mostly focused on the massive US military buildup around Iran, with speculation that Trump might attack any day and that Iran might respond with missiles on Israel.
January 25, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Where I am, the news is mostly focused on the massive US military buildup around Iran, with speculation that Trump might attack any day and that Iran might respond with missiles on Israel.
I haven't noticed a major uptick in user activity here on Bluesky overall. I *have* noticed a lot more far right trolls trying to argue with people in the replies. It reminds me a bit of Twitter circa 2010.
January 25, 2026 at 5:45 PM
I haven't noticed a major uptick in user activity here on Bluesky overall. I *have* noticed a lot more far right trolls trying to argue with people in the replies. It reminds me a bit of Twitter circa 2010.
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
I see the 2018 disorderly conduct misdemeanor for which he got a $50 fine and apparently spent two days in ICE custody in jail before being released-- and a 2016 vehicle registration ticket. No felonies or assault in any state and unless he had expunged (and even then) they'd most likely come up.
January 25, 2026 at 5:40 PM
I see the 2018 disorderly conduct misdemeanor for which he got a $50 fine and apparently spent two days in ICE custody in jail before being released-- and a 2016 vehicle registration ticket. No felonies or assault in any state and unless he had expunged (and even then) they'd most likely come up.
The dangerous criminal that ICE were arresting when they killed Alex Pretti had only misdemeanour traffic offences from a decade ago.
Things are so bad that the Minnesota prison system has had to launch a website specifically to combat DHS lies. The first major release from DOC officials suggests Gregory Bovino outright lied about the target of the Border Patrol operation during which agents shot and killed Alex Pretti.
January 25, 2026 at 5:35 PM
The dangerous criminal that ICE were arresting when they killed Alex Pretti had only misdemeanour traffic offences from a decade ago.
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."
January 25, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
This is exactly the conclusion that myself and everybody I’ve talked to so far about this insane new 3000 foot ban on drone operations near even moving ICE convoys amounts to: you’ll find out you’ve violated the rule when they take out your drone and possibly you.
not just trying to be snarky, but genuinely what are the chances we only find out more via someone doing totally normal commercial drone work being harassed or arrested when ice drives into their work area
January 24, 2026 at 11:17 PM
This is exactly the conclusion that myself and everybody I’ve talked to so far about this insane new 3000 foot ban on drone operations near even moving ICE convoys amounts to: you’ll find out you’ve violated the rule when they take out your drone and possibly you.
I know everyone was born just eleven months ago and are therefore just tiny innocent babies, but does nobody remember, say, the Michigan protests against COVID restrictions? This was the state capitol.
January 25, 2026 at 4:22 PM
I know everyone was born just eleven months ago and are therefore just tiny innocent babies, but does nobody remember, say, the Michigan protests against COVID restrictions? This was the state capitol.
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
discussed Heated Rivalry with some friends over lunch while their three-year-old was in the room and reckon I managed to use the word "lovemaking" more in twenty minutes than I had in my whole life up until today
January 25, 2026 at 3:27 PM
discussed Heated Rivalry with some friends over lunch while their three-year-old was in the room and reckon I managed to use the word "lovemaking" more in twenty minutes than I had in my whole life up until today
A big part of this is the right wing podcaster/blue tick X feedback loop. Over in MAGAland, they're being pummelled for not being violent enough, vindictive enough. Bondi is panned as a weak sell-out. Their media environment tells them they'll be more popular if they go harder.
they have no ability to back down and recalibrate AND they lack a theory of mind for their opponents
January 25, 2026 at 3:16 PM
A big part of this is the right wing podcaster/blue tick X feedback loop. Over in MAGAland, they're being pummelled for not being violent enough, vindictive enough. Bondi is panned as a weak sell-out. Their media environment tells them they'll be more popular if they go harder.
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
the smartest thing to do right now would be to make a show of disciplining some ICE agents and quietly pull back from minneapolis. the president offers his condolences and maybe even makes a direct donation to the family. you fire bovino and replace him with someone more quietly depraved, etc.
January 25, 2026 at 3:02 PM
the smartest thing to do right now would be to make a show of disciplining some ICE agents and quietly pull back from minneapolis. the president offers his condolences and maybe even makes a direct donation to the family. you fire bovino and replace him with someone more quietly depraved, etc.
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
i think this attitude — that all opposition is illegitimate and nothing we do can be questioned— is probably pervasive in the white house and helps explain why they keep making terrible political choices
Putin pioneered this. No opposition is legitimate. Regular, decent, “ordinary” people cannot possibly be against us because only we represent “the real people.”
Tell-tale sign of authoritarianism.
Tell-tale sign of authoritarianism.
January 25, 2026 at 3:02 PM
i think this attitude — that all opposition is illegitimate and nothing we do can be questioned— is probably pervasive in the white house and helps explain why they keep making terrible political choices
What's TikTok saying about Minneappolis? What's the vibe there in the algo?
The kids are paying a lot of attention to what’s going on in Minneapolis. Most, I suspect will be outraged. It will push them to side with the protestors; others (fewer, I’d imagine) will side with the administration. Either way, this sets them on the partisan path they’ll hew to for decades.
January 25, 2026 at 3:05 PM
What's TikTok saying about Minneappolis? What's the vibe there in the algo?
Reposted by Arieh Kovler
