Ben Bellows
@benbellows.bsky.social
3.1K followers 2.7K following 950 posts
Cofounder & CBO, Nivi Inc A Michigan farm kid a long time ago. Husband, dad, researcher, neighbor, founder. pubs: orcid.org/0000-0001-9205-6623 #UMich #Econ #PeaceCorps #Ecuador 🇪🇨 #CDC #UCBerkeley #Epi #PopCouncil #Kenya 🇰🇪 #Zambia 🇿🇲 #digitalhealth #AI
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Reposted by Ben Bellows
Make it make sense. [Cartoon by Adam Zyglis]
Reposted by Ben Bellows
The rule in Trump’s America appears to be that if you’re famous and you say nice things about Trump, you cannot go to jail, and if you’re famous and you say mean things about Trump, you will go to jail
TRUMP: JUST SIGNED A COMMUTATION, RELEASING GEORGE SANTOS FROM PRISON, IMMEDIATELY
Reposted by Ben Bellows
The “I’m not sure what you’re doing here” comment was directed at Michael Froman, the president of CFR, which was literally hosting the event
Q: In 2018, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. Two years later, there were 1,000 more steel workers and 75,000 fewer manufacturing workers in the sectors dependent on steel

PETER NAVARRO: I dispute those facts

Q: That's a Ball State study

NAVARRO: I'm not sure what you're doing here
Reposted by Ben Bellows
For tomorrow’s #NoKings protests: if you’re attending, send me your news and photos - DMs or in the feed. I’ll make sure they’re circulated.

Feel free to share.
So someone would have to be really off their rocker to suggest that the President, in his or her official capacity, is not subject to restraint by the Constitution.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Suddenly remembered this passage from Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's 2006 decision in ACLU v. NSA, holding that President GW Bush could not rely on his Commander-in-Chief powers to authorize warrantless wiretapping. www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/safefree/nsamemo.opinion.judge.taylor.081706.pdf
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If y'all are sick of the most ignorant, hateful, hate-filled people embarrassing and trying to oppress us day in and day out, please please please get involved with The Work.

DM me if you don't know how you can plug in to defeat the clownass stupidest people on the planet.
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Laughable. The base of the party is made up of frogs, unicorns, teletubbies, zebras, chickens, raccoons and sharks. We have seen the battle footage coming out of Portland.
Leavitt: "The Democrat Party's main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals."
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If protests didn’t work they wouldn’t be so obsessed with making our right to protest sound sinister af.
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Trump will negotiate with Hamas, Putin, and North Korea but won’t negotiate with Democrats.
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Trump gutted USAID, stopping critical lifesaving assistance around the world, in order to save money, and is now putting more than that much money into interfering in Argentina's domestic politics by bailing out the ruling party.
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[FOUNDER'S BRIEF - @rhettayersbutler.bsky.social]

Patamona elder Mamai Lucille Williams, evicted after miners destroyed her home in Guyana’s North Pakaraimas, became a symbol of resistance to illegal mining.

She is remembered for her courage and for helping preserve the Patamona language.
Mamai Lucille Williams, a quiet symbol of dignity amid destruction, has died, aged about 93
When the miners came, Mamai Lucille Williams was well into her eighties. Her house in Karisparu, a Patamona village high in Guyana’s North Pakaraimas, stood on the same patch of ground where she had…
news.mongabay.com
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The writer who coined the term "enshittification" lays out how things got so bad—and where we go from here—in his new book.
Yes, everything online sucks now—but it doesn’t have to
Ars chats with Cory Doctorow about his new book Enshittification.
arstechnica.com
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This makes sense coming from the guy whose son monitors his porn consumption
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson calls Sunday's naked bike ride in protest of the Portland ICE facility and and Trump troop deployment "the most threatening thing I’ve seen yet"

www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
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TOMORROW is #NO_KINGS_DAY!!! Give me your Tired, your Poor, your Huddled Masses of Frogs, Unicorns, Pandas, T-Rexes, Mushrooms, Sharks, SpongeBobs & everyday Folks yearning to peacefully protest a clownishly incompetent buffoon of a Prez who, if there were any justice, would be in jail. 🤡
#BeThere
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On Wednesday and Thursday, three more college presidents joined MIT's in saying they could not sign Trump's "compact" for higher ed as written. The list of decliners now includes Brown and the Universities of Pennsylvania and Southern California.
U. of Southern California Declines to Sign Current Trump Compact, Bringing Rejections to 4
A letter from the interim president said that USC “would be eager to contribute its insights and expertise” to a conversation with the federal government about higher ed’s future.
chroni.cl
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Goddamn @theamynicholson.bsky.social COOKED with this FRANKENSTEIN review. Bow down to one of the greats. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
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BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV is set to effectively disband Opus Dei in the coming weeks.

This would be the most sweeping internal reform of his pontificate — and a dramatic continuation of Pope Francis’s legacy.
NEW: Pope Leo Set To Break Up Opus Dei
If Pope Leo does indeed approves a plan that effectively dissolves Opus Dei’s structure, it would be the most significant internal action of his short pontificate to date.
open.substack.com
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There is a history of fascists fleeing there after they’re ousted from power 🤔
#Pinks #ProudBlue
If Scott Bessent and his oligarch friends are so interested in helping Argentina and not their own country, why don’t they just move there. I’m sick of Republicans destroying our country to make Oligarchs richer.
apnews.com/article/trum...
US is working on doubling aid to Argentina to $40 billion by tapping private funding sources
The Trump administration is looking to provide an additional $20 billion in financing for Argentina.
apnews.com
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All happening before our eyes, thanks to MAGA.

"The United States is 'on a trajectory' toward authoritarian rule, according to a sobering new intelligence-style assessment by former US intelligence and national security officials"

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
US ‘on a trajectory’ toward authoritarian rule, ex-officials warn
A network of former intelligence and security officers says democratic decline is accelerating under Trump’s rule
www.theguardian.com
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Wow. New Economist poll finds only 34% of Americans say ICE's use of force has been justified, vs 51% who say it's been excessive. And they oppose agents wearing masks by 52-35.

Yep, ICE is becoming a pariah agency, and that's gaining deep penetration in the culture:
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...
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Internal DHS memo shows Trump plans to keep paying ICE agents and Border Patrol officers throughout the shutdown, while other feds go without pay.

Even the DHS administrative staff processing the paychecks won't get theirs, employee tells me.
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
Trump Plans To Keep Paying Immigration Agents While Other Federal Workers Go Without Paychecks
The move amounts to special treatment for Trump’s favorite constituency within the federal bureaucracy.
www.huffpost.com
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Everyone sing along!

🎶Don’t cry for us, Argentina.
We’re like Canada, only much meaner.
And we gave up healthcare,
For your peso to be finer,
So you could steal our soybean exports.
That went to China.🎶