cactusflower
@presentprocess.bsky.social
editorial and clinical and political. I'm mad!
Reposted by cactusflower
Brief operational term of art 🧵 to help better define what we're experiencing. What we're experiencing is state terror. I've seen a lot of terms thrown around for what the Trump admin is doing w/ICE, CBP, & other federal law enforcement (LE). The now largely out of use term is state terror. 1/
January 17, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Brief operational term of art 🧵 to help better define what we're experiencing. What we're experiencing is state terror. I've seen a lot of terms thrown around for what the Trump admin is doing w/ICE, CBP, & other federal law enforcement (LE). The now largely out of use term is state terror. 1/
Reposted by cactusflower
Straight up malpractice that no one has introduced an impeachment article against Trump for Minnesota. There should be multiple ones because he’s committed multiple offenses.
January 18, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Straight up malpractice that no one has introduced an impeachment article against Trump for Minnesota. There should be multiple ones because he’s committed multiple offenses.
Reposted by cactusflower
“The unemployment rate for Black women rose significantly from the start of 2025 to December, where it stood at 7.8 percent. That pattern of dramatic job loss was not seen for other groups.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/b...
Black Women Turn to One Another as Their Career Paths Suddenly Recede
www.nytimes.com
January 17, 2026 at 8:18 PM
“The unemployment rate for Black women rose significantly from the start of 2025 to December, where it stood at 7.8 percent. That pattern of dramatic job loss was not seen for other groups.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/b...
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It's a shame more white men over 35 aren't yelling at them then. Get to work.
ICE seems to get completely flummoxed when they’re being yelled at by white men over 35. They kind of put their heads down and shuffle their feet. It’s like their kryptonite.
January 17, 2026 at 6:08 PM
It's a shame more white men over 35 aren't yelling at them then. Get to work.
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"No U.S. citizens have been deported."
Right...
Right...
ICE deports 5-year-old US citizen from TX to Honduras, group says
Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos and her mom were arrested in Austin on January 5.
www.mysanantonio.com
January 17, 2026 at 7:41 PM
"No U.S. citizens have been deported."
Right...
Right...
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I may have to officially treat Black women unemployment news the way I treat Black maternal health news. I already know the gist and reading it will just anger me so much that my blood pressure starts acting up.
It’s bad enough how many losses there have been in federal jobs, but the private sector should be ashamed of itself for being complicit in this process.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/b...
Black Women Turn to One Another as Their Career Paths Suddenly Recede
www.nytimes.com
January 17, 2026 at 7:35 PM
I may have to officially treat Black women unemployment news the way I treat Black maternal health news. I already know the gist and reading it will just anger me so much that my blood pressure starts acting up.
@repjohnnyo.bsky.social This alone! So many options for you to choose from if you were using your power appropriately! Instead you're lying to yourself, your constituents, and everyone
this alone is worth an impeachment tbh
REPORTER: Do you commit to not militarily engaging NATO partners?
TRUMP: I don't talk about that
REPORTER: You're not willing to commit to not attacking a NATO partner?
TRUMP: I don't talk about that
REPORTER: You're not willing to commit to not attacking a NATO partner?
January 17, 2026 at 5:52 PM
@repjohnnyo.bsky.social This alone! So many options for you to choose from if you were using your power appropriately! Instead you're lying to yourself, your constituents, and everyone
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Positively shocked that the house magazine of the Manhattan Institute is upset that my book refuses to attribute America's record-high homelessness to "personal choices"—rather than, say, rents outpacing income gains by 325 percent since 1985.
“There Is No Place for Us”: A Sympathetic, but Skewed, Portrait of the Working Homeless
Brian Goldstone’s new book downplays the role of personal choices.
www.city-journal.org
January 17, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Positively shocked that the house magazine of the Manhattan Institute is upset that my book refuses to attribute America's record-high homelessness to "personal choices"—rather than, say, rents outpacing income gains by 325 percent since 1985.
What exactly are you talking about representative? What do you mean when you say "public safety"? How will these funds be appropriated? Will they not be subject to impoundment?
🚨 Great news: I secured $8.2 million to make our neighborhoods safer and stronger—investing in public safety and critical infrastructure while pushing back against the reckless abuses we’ve seen over the past year.
We can still govern in a responsible and bipartisan way.
We can still govern in a responsible and bipartisan way.
January 17, 2026 at 4:24 PM
What exactly are you talking about representative? What do you mean when you say "public safety"? How will these funds be appropriated? Will they not be subject to impoundment?
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🧵
Based on today's CDC & Biobot data, we estimate the following for the week of Jan 19:
🔸1 in 52 people in the U.S. actively infectious
🔸25% chance of exposure in a room of 15 ppl
🔸Nearly 1 million new daily infections
🔸5 cumulative infections per person all-time (avg)
🧵1/5
🔸1 in 52 people in the U.S. actively infectious
🔸25% chance of exposure in a room of 15 ppl
🔸Nearly 1 million new daily infections
🔸5 cumulative infections per person all-time (avg)
🧵1/5
January 17, 2026 at 2:12 PM
🧵
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"Current AI systems are a death sentence for civic institutions, and we should treat them as such."
Have I ever agreed with a sentence more?
Have I ever agreed with a sentence more?
"If you wanted to create a tool that would enable the destruction of institutions that prop up democratic life, you could not do better than artificial intelligence." papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
How AI Destroys Institutions
Civic institutions—the rule of law, universities, and a free press—are the backbone of democratic life. They are the mechanisms through which complex societies
papers.ssrn.com
January 17, 2026 at 1:49 PM
"Current AI systems are a death sentence for civic institutions, and we should treat them as such."
Have I ever agreed with a sentence more?
Have I ever agreed with a sentence more?
Reposted by cactusflower
ICE raids are not the first time this was made explicit. I think people downplay how much Jim Crow was not just about controlling Black people but it was also about controlling white people. If you thought racism was dumb and acted that way you could end up with a bomb in your home
Just keep coming back to the fact that keeping people in a constant state of terror is a form of mass disablement and essential to the eugenic project that is the United States.
January 17, 2026 at 6:08 AM
ICE raids are not the first time this was made explicit. I think people downplay how much Jim Crow was not just about controlling Black people but it was also about controlling white people. If you thought racism was dumb and acted that way you could end up with a bomb in your home
Reposted by cactusflower
I've increasingly come to view cynicism as the seedbed of totalitarianism, both because it can paralyze the opposition and because it implicitly validates the might-makes-right ethic of the authoritarian.
i have been reading Tom Ricks’ “Fighting the Good War” which is a military analysis of the civil rights movement, and one thing that comes abundantly across is that movement leaders and ordinary people made it a practice to refuse to fall into despair and cynicism.
January 16, 2026 at 5:17 PM
I've increasingly come to view cynicism as the seedbed of totalitarianism, both because it can paralyze the opposition and because it implicitly validates the might-makes-right ethic of the authoritarian.
Reposted by cactusflower
When the racist meme becomes national policy
January 17, 2026 at 4:53 AM
When the racist meme becomes national policy
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I agree, and I'll say it in a way that is far more judgmental, because I am a judgmental person.
I am not a freak for loving living in a diverse, multicultural city. I am normal. The people who hate diversity, hate cities, fear anyone that isn't like them, are the freaks.
I am not a freak for loving living in a diverse, multicultural city. I am normal. The people who hate diversity, hate cities, fear anyone that isn't like them, are the freaks.
I realise I'm just a freak, but living in a multicultural city is the best thing of all time, it's just the best possible human experience and i can not understand why anyone on earth would be like "weve got to destroy this"
January 17, 2026 at 11:54 AM
I agree, and I'll say it in a way that is far more judgmental, because I am a judgmental person.
I am not a freak for loving living in a diverse, multicultural city. I am normal. The people who hate diversity, hate cities, fear anyone that isn't like them, are the freaks.
I am not a freak for loving living in a diverse, multicultural city. I am normal. The people who hate diversity, hate cities, fear anyone that isn't like them, are the freaks.
Reposted by cactusflower
Disablism and white supremacy are inextricably intertwined.
January 17, 2026 at 5:32 AM
Disablism and white supremacy are inextricably intertwined.
Reposted by cactusflower
Just keep coming back to the fact that keeping people in a constant state of terror is a form of mass disablement and essential to the eugenic project that is the United States.
January 17, 2026 at 5:30 AM
Just keep coming back to the fact that keeping people in a constant state of terror is a form of mass disablement and essential to the eugenic project that is the United States.
Reposted by cactusflower
Good morning. I read this dispatch from a comrade in Minneapolis this morning and thought that some of you might appreciate it too.
January 17, 2026 at 12:29 PM
Good morning. I read this dispatch from a comrade in Minneapolis this morning and thought that some of you might appreciate it too.
Reposted by cactusflower
Two white friends tail me home if it's outside the hours when people are out and about. I'm damn near third generation Minnesotan. It's not just "you're a citizen you'll be fine." I'm a black woman alone. Who knows what they will do.
I don’t think people quite understand that the occupation by ICE in the Twin Cities has more or less erased non-white people from public life. They cannot safely exist in any space accessible to the public and moving between private places leaves folks vulnerable to kidnapping by armed masked goons.
January 16, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Two white friends tail me home if it's outside the hours when people are out and about. I'm damn near third generation Minnesotan. It's not just "you're a citizen you'll be fine." I'm a black woman alone. Who knows what they will do.
Reposted by cactusflower
sign below the mailbox, “we don’t dial 911”
Stunning photos from Minneapolis, including this one by John Locher for the Associated Press. www.theatlantic.com/photography/...
January 15, 2026 at 9:02 PM
sign below the mailbox, “we don’t dial 911”
Reposted by cactusflower
Look at this absolute queen
January 16, 2026 at 12:22 PM
Look at this absolute queen
Is it really fair to call them "moderate"? I think you're supporting the tyrannical authoritarian regime if you don't take this position, @repjohnnyo.bsky.social
Incisive commentary in New Republic.
"During fascism’s ascent, you endlessly insist on more immigration enforcement. More funding, more powers, more agents. Once in power, you then have a premade apparatus of violent control."
“Abolish ICE” Is Not a Fringe Position newrepublic.com/article/2052...
"During fascism’s ascent, you endlessly insist on more immigration enforcement. More funding, more powers, more agents. Once in power, you then have a premade apparatus of violent control."
“Abolish ICE” Is Not a Fringe Position newrepublic.com/article/2052...
Memo to Moderate Democrats: “Abolish ICE” Is Not a Fringe Position
For goodness’ sake, Democrats: Bill Kristol is in favor of ICE abolition. Can you really not get there?
newrepublic.com
January 16, 2026 at 12:34 PM
Is it really fair to call them "moderate"? I think you're supporting the tyrannical authoritarian regime if you don't take this position, @repjohnnyo.bsky.social
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This could be the unified Dem position. It is wildly popular. Puts the regime on defense on two fronts at the same time. Good policy, good politics.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of nearly 100 House Democrats, will announce later today that it's formally endorsing legislation to strip $175 billion from ICE and put it toward affordable housing. www.huffpost.com/entry/doj-fe...
Progressive Caucus Backs Bill To Redirect ICE Money To Affordable Housing
www.huffpost.com
January 16, 2026 at 9:29 AM
This could be the unified Dem position. It is wildly popular. Puts the regime on defense on two fronts at the same time. Good policy, good politics.
Reposted by cactusflower
Tressie McMillan Cottom has talked about part of the reason the right has targeted certain sectors/industries, is punishing Black women for radicalizing white women, and I think there’s a freight train full of truth in that.
A big part of why the Right is furious at White women right now is because they're increasingly using their Whiteness as shield and a weapon and it's honestly fucking great.
what a legend lmao
January 16, 2026 at 1:54 AM
Tressie McMillan Cottom has talked about part of the reason the right has targeted certain sectors/industries, is punishing Black women for radicalizing white women, and I think there’s a freight train full of truth in that.
Reposted by cactusflower
I’m seeing posts from people (outside of MN) about how US citizens should carry their passports.
And let me say that *inside* MN, we are calmly responding to requests with: “No, I don’t have to show you any documentation.”
Because that’s how you protect everyone, regardless of immigration status.
And let me say that *inside* MN, we are calmly responding to requests with: “No, I don’t have to show you any documentation.”
Because that’s how you protect everyone, regardless of immigration status.
January 16, 2026 at 12:17 AM
I’m seeing posts from people (outside of MN) about how US citizens should carry their passports.
And let me say that *inside* MN, we are calmly responding to requests with: “No, I don’t have to show you any documentation.”
Because that’s how you protect everyone, regardless of immigration status.
And let me say that *inside* MN, we are calmly responding to requests with: “No, I don’t have to show you any documentation.”
Because that’s how you protect everyone, regardless of immigration status.