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Reposted by Sean’s Thumbs

TheRoadie. @roadie63.bsky.social · 6d

I just watched the video of the Portland Cop threatening to arrest an ICE agent if they drive their truck through a crowd. Now I see this where the General of the Oregon National Guard says if they get called up they will protect the protesters. People are fed up.
www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Oregon general’s testimony that National Guard troops ‘will be protecting any protesters’ gains traction online

Brigadier General Alan R. Gronewold made the comments to state lawmakers Sept. 30, and they drew notice on social media this week.

www.oregonlive.com

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Mari 🏳️‍⚧️ @mari-paige.bsky.social · 3d

For Indigenous People’s Day, I’d like to infodump about the Cahokia mound. Built near present day St. Louis around 1000 CE, it was a vast trade hub with a population of about 20,000. This made it the largest city north of Mexico on the continent, bigger than London and Paris at the time!

The Cahokia mound, located outside modern day St. Louis, Missouri. It is a large hill which is now covered in grass, under a clear blue sky.

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia

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Just Jack @just-jack-1.bsky.social · 3d

Imagine making six figures to not do anything you were entrusted to do.

…getting paid to not work while thousands of civil servants around you were getting fired.

…betraying those who counted on you to represent them, all to appease a wannabe dictator.

The GOP Congress is a helluva thing.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 4d

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 · 4d

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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Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · 7d

Careful … the ex-founder of anti-fascism’s girlfriend is being questioned as we speak.

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · 7d

Now that they’ve located the ex-founder of anti-fascism’s girlfriend I suppose the clock is ticking.

So why not spend some of that precious time learning how we got here - along with clues on how to build a better timeline - by reading this magnificent essay by author and historian Teri Kanefield?

Teri Kanefield @terikanefield.bsky.social · 12d

I finished that thing I've been writing. It looks like I've taken on some big questions.

The conclusions are what I’ve been trying to say for several years, but I believe now I've explained it better and with more context.

terikanefield.com/whyextremism...

For a blog post . . .

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Why Intolerance and Extremism Happen (and how to protect democracy in a divided world) - Teri Kanefield

Hello, and welcome. I plan to take on some big questions, including: Why do some people spiral into extremism? Why does democracy seem perpetually on the brink? Why are we so divided? What can we do t...

terikanefield.com

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Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Sep 4

Powerful words from Epstein survivor Jess Michaels ⬇️:

More on this and Trumpworld’s latest chicanery as reported by historian and author @hcrichardson.bsky.social at the link.

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

Image of text spoken at a protest on the US Capitol steps by Epstein survivors where victim Jess Michaels said:

“For 27 years, I thought I was the only one that Jeffrey Epstein raped. I believed I was alone, and I was kept silent by the shame that was inside me and by the fear outside in the world,” she said. “But I wasn't the only one. None of us were. And what once kept us silent now fuels that fire and the power of our voices. We are not the footnotes in some infamous predator’s tabloid article. We are the experts and the subjects of this story. We are the proof that fear did not break us. And we don't just speak for ourselves, but for every survivor whose story is still unspoken…. This is what power looks like. Survivors united, voices joined, refusing to be dismissed. Know this: justice and accountability are not favors from the powerful. They are obligations, decades overdue. This moment began with Epstein's crimes, but it's going to be remembered for survivors demanding justice, demanding truth, demanding accountability, and we will not stop until survivor voices shape justice, transform culture, and define the future. We are no longer whispers. We are one powerful voice, too loud to ignore, and we will never be silenced again.”

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Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Aug 23

“The president of the United States is openly admitting that his party cannot win a free and fair election.”

More from @hcrichardson.bsky.social ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

August 21, 2025

Yesterday, Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives approved a new map redrawing congressional districts to switch five seats from Democratic control to Republican.

open.substack.com

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Aug 21

“Republicans have taken away the liberty, and now the voice, of a Black woman elected by voters to represent them in … government. This is a crisis far bigger than Texas.”

@hcrichardson.bsky.social also discusses DC’s militarization & 47’s Smithsonian diatribe ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

August 20, 2025

President Donald J.

open.substack.com

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Aug 12

“Making people fear the government is key to the rise of an authoritarian.”

Historian, Author and Professor @hcrichardson.bsky.social w/more ⬇️:

Support Independent Journalism & share your sources of factual reporting 🏳️‍🌈 ✊🏾 🏳️‍⚧️

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

August 11, 2025

President Donald J.

open.substack.com

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 25

“It does not seem likely the Epstein story is going away anytime soon.”

@hcrichardson.bsky.social w/more ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

July 23, 2025

This morning, President Donald J.

open.substack.com

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 25

“Things seem a little unstable at the White House.”

Can’t imagine why 🤔

@hcrichardson.bsky.social w/more ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

Photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump together, smiling.

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 18

“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, say something! Do something! Get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble.” ~Former activist & 16-time Georgia Rep John Lewis

@hcrichardson.bsky.social w/more on Rep Lewis & “Good Trouble Day” ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

July 17, 2025

Five years ago tonight, Georgia Representative John Lewis passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 80.

open.substack.com

Reposted by Sean’s Thumbs

Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · Jul 18

Thank you for speaking up, this is a win! After growing bipartisan pressure, the Trump administration has agreed to release $1.3 billion in previously frozen federal funding for after-school programs across the country.

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Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 18

“Today, Trump called chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell a ‘terrible Fed chair’ and added: ‘I was surprised he was appointed.’

Trump was the president who appointed him.“

@hcrichardson.bsky.social w/more on Trump’s struggles ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

July 16, 2025

After years of covering Donald J.

open.substack.com

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 16

“When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it.” ~Justice Sonia Sotomayor

This and much more from @hcrichardson.bsky.social ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

July 15, 2025

Without any explanation, the right-wing majority on the Supreme Court yesterday granted a stay on a lower court’s order that the Trump administration could not gut the Department of Education while th...

open.substack.com

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 16

“… [It] appears the American people simply want to fix a sixty-year-old mistake in the nation’s immigration laws.”

@hcrichardson.bsky.social on how the US really feels about immigration, bringing *all* the receipts via recent polling and historical context ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

July 14, 2025

Trump appointees insist they have a “mandate” to drive undocumented immigrants out of the U.S.

open.substack.com

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 14

Not for nothing, but:

“For the first time ever, Trump got ratioed on his own platform, meaning that there were more comments on his post than likes or shares, showing disapproval of his message.”

@hcrichardson.bsky.social on the emergent Epstein/Maga rift ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

July 13, 2025

This weekend saw the development of an extraordinary rift in MAGA world.

open.substack.com

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 14

Politics break. Bats shouldn’t exist.

Hunh.

@themarginalian.org.web.brid.gy

www.themarginalian.org/2025/07/11/b...

Why Bats Shouldn’t Exist: The Limits of Knowledge, the Pitfalls of Prediction, and the Triumph of the Possible Over the Probable

Prediction is the sharpest tool the human animal has devised — the chisel with which we sculpted survival out of chance, the fulcrum by which we lifted civilization out of survival. Among the…

www.themarginalian.org

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 14

There it is in three paragraphs. Factual reporting —> BS spin —> More factual reporting. It gets better from there ⬇️:

Excerpted from @hcrichardson.bsky.social’s July 12 newsletter (viewable at the link).

Support independent journalism, now more than ever!

🏳️‍🌈 ✊🏾 🏳️‍⚧️

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

An image of text that reads:

“ On July 5, the day after the Texas floods hit, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) received 3,027 calls from survivors and answered 3,018 of them, about 99.7%, according to Maxine Joselow of the New York Times. But that day, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did not renew the contracts for four call center companies that answered those calls. The staff at the centers were fired. The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or about 35.8%. On Monday, July 7, FEMA received 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, around 15.9%.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said: “When a natural disaster strikes, phone calls surge, and wait times can subsequently increase. Despite this expected influx, FEMA’s disaster call center responded to every caller swiftly and efficiently, ensuring no one was left without assistance.”

Marcy Wheeler of EmptyWheel notes that one reason Noem has been cutting so ferociously at FEMA is because she has run through the money Congress allocated for HHS with her single-minded focus on immigration.”

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Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 11

“I can think of no moment in his ten year political career where Trump so obviously lost his cool because he was helpless to direct attention where he wanted it.

And it’s likely to only keep Epstein at the center of attention.”

@emptywheel.bsky.social ⬇️:

www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/08/a...

"Are You Still Talking about Jeffrey Epstein?" - emptywheel

More than perhaps any moment of his ten year career, Trump just lost his cool -- about a Jeffrey Epstein question -- because he is helpless to dictate the focus of attention.

www.emptywheel.net

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 11

“NOW is the time to tell your airline: ICE flights are unsafe and inhumane, and if you contract with them, I will refuse to fly.”

Call to action and recommended read from journalist/former flight attendant @gbrockell.bsky.social’s Hard-G History ⬇️:

hardghistory.ghost.io/a-call-to-ac...

A call to action for airline workers to stop ICE’s “deportation machine”

NOW is the time to tell your airline: ICE flights are unsafe and inhumane, and if you contract with them, I will refuse to fly.

hardghistory.ghost.io

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 11

“This is not jurisprudence; it’s blocking and tackling for a dictatorial executive.”

About time the dreaded “D” word reared its head in US reporting. This Supreme Court enabled 47’s putsch, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson isn’t having it.

@contrariannews.org ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

Undaunted in calling out the worst Supreme Court in modern times

KBJ won’t allow accept its pretense of impartiality

open.substack.com

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Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 11

“Well-informed concern and vigilance that lead to action? Good. Relentless doomscrolling and freakouts that induce catatonia? Bad.”

And

“It’s hard to mount an effective resistance if your hair’s on fire 24/7.”

Sagacious words from @borowitzreport.bsky.social ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/borowitz...

Are We Thinking Too Much About Politics?

It's worth asking.

open.substack.com

Sean’s Thumbs @seansthumbs.bsky.social · Jul 11

“Noem didn’t sign off on the deployment of FEMA teams until Monday, more than 72 hours after the flooding started.”

That laissez-faire lack of urgency from Noem just screams “let them eat cake.”

More on the week’s events from @hcrichardson.bsky.social ⬇️:

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

July 10, 2025

Just a week ago, Republicans in the House of Representatives passed the nearly 1,000-page budget reconciliation bill President Donald Trump demanded, and at the signing ceremony for the bill the next ...

open.substack.com