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Reposted by David Atkins

Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 4h

If I were a Mainer, and I'm not a Mainer, and the Senate election were today, I'd vote for Graham Platner to take on Susan Collins. Simply put, I can't think of a metric by which Janet Mills would be better against Collins, better for Maine, or better for the Democratic Party than Platner. THREAD.

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Reposted by David Atkins

Robert Cruickshank @robertcruickshank.com · 13h

We cannot allow an American Gestapo to become normalized.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 13h

Thinking about how much of their violence has been normalized already, how scenes that caused shockwaves 6 weeks ago are now part of the rhythm of daily life. Watched a TikTok from a daughter who has to do her parents' laundry & get their groceries because they're in hiding. This is just it now

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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 13h

Millions came out for the last #NoKings protests.

These will be even bigger.

They want to scare people into not showing up.

Show up. Exercise your Constitutional rights. Be in community with all those who believe in democracy.

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Osprey Bluesky Account @caseinsensit1ve.bsky.social · 20h

Either elections still matter and we've got about a year of Trump steadily making himself more and more hated before a Dem wave causes a deadlock between Congress and the WH, or they don't and we're in the long game. Either way, undermining their popular legitimacy is step 1.

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hilzoy @hilzoy.bsky.social · 1d

At this moment, anyone who tries to convince you that it’s a good time for any kind of violence is just wrong. There is nothing Steven Miller would like more than us being violent right now.

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 1d

someone on the Internet who really wants to convince you to shine lasers at manned aircraft as a protest tactic “because they did it in Chile in 2019” is either:

1. a fascist fed, or,

2. so terminally stupid that they have become functionally indistinguishable from one

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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 22h

If Wolff is to be believed and those photos exist in the possession of the feds, the fact that the country has endured such misery from this man is utterly inexcusable.

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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 22h

I dont think they have actually thought it through.

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Reposted by David Atkins

CBS News @cbsnews.com · 22h

Coral reefs become first environmental system on Earth to pass climate "tipping point," report says

Crucial for marine life and the global economy, coral reefs are the planet's first major environmental system to cross a climate "tipping point" as the world warms.

cbsn.ws

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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 22h

He will just say it's doctored AI

David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 22h

How could it possibly be worse than Trump's birthday letter to Epstein where he essentially admits to doing the crime?

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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 22h

How bad must whatever is in the Epstein Files be, that House Republicans are going to such extraordinary lengths to cover it up?

Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 1d

👀 “The Ghost House”: Eye opening report from @punchbowlnews.bsky.social this am on how Mike Johnson has turned the House into a joke under Republican rule. He has turned House Republican leaders into Trump White House’s poodles (if you catch my drift) covering up for #EpsteinFiles.

$“The Ghost House. Speaker Mike Johnson and top House GOP leaders have kept members home since Sept. 19. While the complaints are growing louder inside House GOP ranks over the issue, Johnson insists Republicans have done their job and there’s no reason for them to be here. House GOP lawmakers passed a “clean” CR that would keep federal agencies open until Nov. 21. Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked that measure, which led to this shutdown. Democrats are demanding a vote on their own proposal to permanently extend expiring Obamacare premium credits, a rollback in massive Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the end of unilateral spending rescissions. Yet the House’s absence makes it easier for the shutdown to continue. Part of what ends shutdowns is anxiety building among the rank-and-file. Members are home, so there’s limited pressure on House GOP leaders to do anything. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and dozens of Democrats have been in D.C. throughout the shutdown. More importantly, Johnson has emerged as the “face” of the shutdown for House Republicans. He’s doing daily press conferences and more media interviews, putting himself in the center of the fracas. A C-SPAN caller begging Johnson to bring the House back last week went viral. So did Johnson’s hallway confrontation with Arizona Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly over Johnson’s refusal to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, a move that has infuriated Democrats.”$

OBBB and done. The reality is that since the OBBB passed on July 3, the House has been checked out. A virtual non-entity for more than three months. And this is the off-year, when Congress is supposed to be busy.
Since July 3, the House has only been in session for 20 days (out of more than 100 calendar days.) Even accounting for the normal August break — which began early because of the Epstein mess – the House has been AWOL.
There have been just over 90 floor votes during this period. A lot of these were amendment votes or votes on non-controversial suspension bills. Several were partisan FY2026 spending bills that have no chance of passage. All in all, very little of substance has been taken up. But as Johnson will remind you, the House did pass a CR.
The only period comparable to this in recent decades was in 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi used proxy voting to buttress the Democratic leadership’s power. Republicans yelled loudly about that at the time, even filing an unsuccessful lawsuit to stop it. But a similar thing is happening in reverse now.
If you see it, don’t say it. House Republicans have done virtually no oversight on the Trump administration, rolling over on a number of issues that their predecessors would have screamed loudly about. It’s true that House Democrats did little or nothing to rein in President Joe Biden when they controlled the House. But Trump has gone far beyond Biden in using executive authority. “Inside the White House, top advisers joke that they are ruling Congress with an ‘iron fist,’” the Wall Street Journal reported.
For an institution that has complained for years about the need to claw back power from the executive branch, it’s a sad state of affairs. And it shows no sign of ending soon.

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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 22h

How in the hell would *troops* solve the drug war?

[Of course, what they mean is just murder all the addicts]

The Independent @the-independent.com · 1d

Elon Musk calls for US troops to be sent to San Francisco for war on drugs: ‘It’s the only solution’

Musk demands US troops be sent to San Francisco for war on drugs

www.independent.co.uk

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Reposted by David Atkins

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 1d

Police officers who publicly declare that they’ll quit if a mayoral candidate they dislike wins the election are (1) usually bluffing—sure buddy, toss away that paycheck and pension—and (2) exactly the sort of cops cities would be better off without, ones who don’t see themselves as public servants.

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Reposted by David Atkins

Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 1d

Again: Elon Musk ransacked the federal government looking for the hidden switch that would turn liberalism off, and did it in order of the far right's most circulated conspiracy theories about what agency housed that switch

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 1d

Heritage president Kevin Roberts, in a truly revealing passage of his Foreword to the Project 2025 policy agenda, states that the project of “dismantling the administrative state” is not about the actual size of government at all:

The goal is to cut “the secret lifeblood of the Great Awokening.”

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society

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Reposted by David Atkins

Jacob Shamsian @jayshams.bsky.social · 1d

The Wall Street Journal reports that Ghislaine Maxwell had a meeting with an unknown person in her new prison camp, during which the entire prison was on lockdown.

Inmates say she's getting unusually favorable treatment by the prison.

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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 1d

Thing is, I dont even think this would do badly in a focus group either.

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Reposted by David Atkins

Joe Sudbay @joesudbay.bsky.social · 1d

This is real fucking talk about something horrific we all see happening everywhere

This is the energy and messaging we need rolling into 2026 and 2028, not tepid focus group tested pablum

consequences

Graham Platner for Senate @grahamformaine.bsky.social · 2d

We have armed secret police kidnapping people off the street based on the color of their skin.

When we win: we will haul them before a Senate committee. The masks will come off. There will be consequences.

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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 1d

youtu.be/JdxkVQy7QLM?...

Pachelbel Rant

YouTube video by RobPRocks

youtu.be

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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 1d

They are the sort of provincials who think Lee Greenwood has broader appeal than Bad Bunny

Reposted by David Atkins

Graham Platner for Senate @grahamformaine.bsky.social · 2d

We have armed secret police kidnapping people off the street based on the color of their skin.

When we win: we will haul them before a Senate committee. The masks will come off. There will be consequences.

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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 2d

It's not always clear whether the right believes that politics lies downstream of culture or the other way round. Far right social media capture is trying to remake the culture, but Vought et al seem to lack confidence in it and are trying to impose culture by government fiat.

Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 2d

My version of this is that Vought, Yarvin etc represent a kind of braindead right-Gramscianism, which leaves out all the interesting subtleties and treats civil society _only_ as a realm of indoctrination, where one ideological master-narrative can readily be substituted for another.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society

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Reposted by David Atkins

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 2d

What he’s railing against is a profound shift in culture, status… He’s obsessed with the idea that America is controlled by a leftist “ruling elite” - but “elite” isn’t defined socio-economically or by political power, it means something like: Getting to define “real America” and who gets to belong.

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 2d

About a month ago, the Trump administration got rid of the de minimis exemption, whereby packages valued under $800 could slide in without import duties. Now there's a backlog as the government can't process all of this paperwork, leading to UPS just destroying packages

Business Insider headline reads: UPS is telling customers that their packages coming to the US are marked for destruction.

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Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 2d

Has lived in the US since he was NINE MONTHS OLD.

Lynn Becker @cmgiulini.bsky.social · 2d

After spending 43 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, evidence hidden by the prosecution reversed his conviction. Rather than finally enjoying freedom, ICE abducted him for deportation

Depraved.

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him

Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam now faces deportation.

www.miamiherald.com

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Lynn Becker @cmgiulini.bsky.social · 2d

After spending 43 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, evidence hidden by the prosecution reversed his conviction. Rather than finally enjoying freedom, ICE abducted him for deportation

Depraved.

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him

Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam now faces deportation.

www.miamiherald.com

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