Sam G. Howard
@samghoward.riliberator.com
2.2K followers 930 following 5.4K posts
Rhode Islander, education union data organizer and Democratic ward committee member. Recovering comms pro, RI's leading vexillologist (probably). Occasionally blogs at riliberator.com
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Reposted by Sam G. Howard
normative.bsky.social
There is no conceivable argument that these ships, even if we assume they were carrying narcotics, could not be dealt with in some other way. I think we can just drop the caveats and say: This is mass murder.
chrislhayes.bsky.social
Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.
amaramarasingam.bsky.social
The military has now killed 27 people as if they were enemy soldiers in a war zone and not criminal suspects. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/u...
samghoward.riliberator.com
Is there a (preferably free) solution we should consider for next year’s forum, particularly given it will be an election year?
samghoward.riliberator.com
Would you have preferred it later or earlier, because I can see drawbacks with either of those? Like I know I have a very narrow 5-6 window where we could maybe attend something with the 1-yr-old in tow, but everything else requires childcare or risks a bedtime disaster.
samghoward.riliberator.com
With 5 folks, it took us about an hour to run through intros + 3-5 questions, and now the electeds are answering 1:1 questions individually.
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
atrupar.com
Q: Politico reported on a group chat of young Republicans. Does this just reflect some bad apples?

HOCHUL: Some bad apples? These are the future of the GOP. This is so vile it's hard to find the words to put into context ... there's gotta be consequences ... this bullshit has to stop.
samghoward.riliberator.com
Great turnout for this Ward 3 Democratic Party forum with the ward’s elected officials.
A group of Providence Ward 3 neighbors listening to Councilor Sue AnderBois; State Rep. Edith Ajello; and State Sens. Sam Zurier, Tiara Mack, and Meghan Kallman
samghoward.riliberator.com
FWIW, Providence Police have a pursuit policy in place that prevents them from getting into most pursuits (in order to prevent outcomes like this).
www.providenceri.gov
samghoward.riliberator.com
Second time ICE has caused a crash in Providence. www.wpri.com/news/local-n...
Providence
Police respond to crash involving ICE agents in Providence
by: Jusolyn Flower

Posted: Oct 14, 2025 / 02:22 PM EDT

Updated: Oct 14, 2025 / 03:37 PM EDT
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
kathleenclark.bsky.social
Airports refusing to play DHS Secretary Noem’s Hatch-Act-violating video (blaming the government shutdown on Democrats)

a 🧵
charlotteclymer.bsky.social
Growing list of airport authorities who are refusing to play the Kristi Noem video for travelers that blames Democrats for the shutdown:

Portland International Airport
Seattle–Tacoma International Airport
Buffalo Niagara International Airport
Niagara Falls International Airport

(cont'd)
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
chrislhayes.bsky.social
Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.
samghoward.riliberator.com
I've always said that Hammurabi was an un-American pinko.
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
cwarzel.bsky.social
watching the government's social media accounts spit out groyper stuff on main this whole last year, this is how i imagined the behind the scenes chats were going
politico.com
EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
www.politico.com
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
pbump.com
The understood solution for the decline of print revenue, particularly for a paper with limited geographic footprint, was to build a national digital audience. The issue is less that the print number dropped than that the paper upended its national audience on a looooongshot bet.
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
jlray.bsky.social
they just had to spend six months defunding state universities and forcing our National Guard into unpaid labor in Illinois first
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
michaelhobbes.bsky.social
Thinking fondly of all the pre-election fact-checks that said we couldn’t possibly know whether Republicans wanted to get rid of pre-existing condition protections.
• New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said that Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, "want to ... repeal the Affordable Care Act and elim nate protections for preexisting conditions." It's unclear what Trump would do, since he hasn't released a plan to replace the ACA. He said he would do so, if "we can come up With something that's better." Schumer, meanwhile, was wrong to
say, as he did on the Senate floor April 28, that the bill goes "back to the day when insurance companies could deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions." perorats and Republicans have made
competing claims on whether the latest version of the GOP health care bill maintains protections for people with preexisting medical conditions. President Trump has said, "Pre-existing conditions are in the bill. And I mandate it." Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer has said that
"insurance companies could deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions."
Neither of those comments quite gets it right. The latest version offers lesser protections than the Affordable Care Act, but it doesn't allow insurers to deny coverage to someone with a health Who's right? Like everything else in health care, it's complicated.
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
mtsw.bsky.social
You're living through one of the biggest technological transformations in world history and it has nothing to do with AI
janrosenow.bsky.social
Grid scale batteries are changing our electricity system. Excellent new visual story on batteries in FT today shows just how far this technology has evolved.

Fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning.

ig.ft.com/mega-batteri...
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
donmoyn.bsky.social
"Residents in Chicago and Portland are living in a police state where masked armed forces kidnap who they want to kidnap, where they have to listen to public officials routinely lie about what is happening in their neighborhoods." donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...
strictlychristo.bsky.social
Federal Secret Police and plainclothes ICE agents kidnap multiple people from a neighborhood in Chicago. They then deploy teargas and brutally beat neighbors who come out to express their concern.
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
jonmladd.bsky.social
This is an essential. "Democrats need to beat the Trumpists in elections that we ensure are free" is the best strategy for the next 2-4 years. But it is not a long-term strategy! The only possible long-term strategy is that someone else needs to defeat the Trumpists for control of the Repub Party.
jakemgrumbach.bsky.social
“Win every election” is not a viable strategy for preventing authoritarianism
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
beijingpalmer.bsky.social
I don't understand why U.S. reporters so regularly seem to let politicians get away with 'I haven't seen that' about stuff a) they obviously know and b) is directly relevant to their job. Did they sign some kind of agreement never to ask a follow-up question?
atrupar.com
REPORTER: We know the president moved forward with mass layoffs. We're also learning there were significant cuts to staff at special education services. Are you comfortable with those cuts?

MIKE JOHNSON: I haven't seen the specifics of that and I don't know
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
jakemgrumbach.bsky.social
“Win every election” is not a viable strategy for preventing authoritarianism
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
darinself.com
I got to meet Catherine this past week (she's brilliant and you should all follow her) and this was a topic that kept nagging at me.

In some places, the center-right is collapsing making room for the far right, but in others, its the center-left.
catherinedevries.bsky.social
Scholars & pundits have focussed a lot on the electoral demise of center left, but in doing so we paid to little attention to the electoral problems of the center right.

Case-in-points here not only British conservatives or center right in France, but increasingly also the center right in Spain.
CIS
Reposted by Sam G. Howard
lukeoneil47.bsky.social
It's a nice gesture I guess but can't deny this is an especially Hell World billboard I saw in Providence.

Feed Children in Gaza when you buy $13.99 Grab'n Go Meals Sept-Oct.
Bill board reading Feed Children in Gaza when you buyt $13.99 Grab'n Go Meals Sept-Oct.