@brendoncosta.bsky.social
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in 2023 when I was organizing parents against our archbishop’s transphobic new school guidelines, one dad asked how loud I thought it was prudent for us to be, given how punitive the Archbishop is. I was like “loud enough that all the trans/nb kids at your parish see it” and he was like “…. oh”
Every time you speak up - and every time you don't - there are people watching and learning about you and the world you help create.
The drunk uncle theory.
You don’t argue with the casually homophobic uncle at Thanksgiving dinner to change his mind; you argue so that the closeted cousin at the kids table knows there’s safe people and better possibilities out there
You don’t argue with the casually homophobic uncle at Thanksgiving dinner to change his mind; you argue so that the closeted cousin at the kids table knows there’s safe people and better possibilities out there
February 17, 2026 at 4:10 AM
in 2023 when I was organizing parents against our archbishop’s transphobic new school guidelines, one dad asked how loud I thought it was prudent for us to be, given how punitive the Archbishop is. I was like “loud enough that all the trans/nb kids at your parish see it” and he was like “…. oh”
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Yanno, "deportation" is just the modern, cleaned up way to say "banishment." For most of human history, banishment was a punishment reserved for the worst crimes, and considered a slightly kinder equivalent to the death penalty.
Changing the name has not made it less severe.
Changing the name has not made it less severe.
February 17, 2026 at 2:44 AM
Yanno, "deportation" is just the modern, cleaned up way to say "banishment." For most of human history, banishment was a punishment reserved for the worst crimes, and considered a slightly kinder equivalent to the death penalty.
Changing the name has not made it less severe.
Changing the name has not made it less severe.
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The neat thing about embracing class-based internationalism is that … well, billionaires already have.
February 17, 2026 at 7:46 AM
The neat thing about embracing class-based internationalism is that … well, billionaires already have.
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The US is deliberately denying Cubans access to fuel and lecturing China on authoritarian supply chains.
February 17, 2026 at 7:11 AM
The US is deliberately denying Cubans access to fuel and lecturing China on authoritarian supply chains.
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"I'm fine with not having a PS6" OK that's fine but you need a phone. Lot of people do! I'm all for simpler, disconnected tech but nothing comes out unscathed here.
February 16, 2026 at 7:52 PM
"I'm fine with not having a PS6" OK that's fine but you need a phone. Lot of people do! I'm all for simpler, disconnected tech but nothing comes out unscathed here.
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I understand framing the AI bubble RAM supply crisis in terms of stuff like video game consoles because nerds can conceptualize that but the framing does really undersell the sheer magnitude of how it's going to fuck up everything that even touches a computer.
February 16, 2026 at 7:49 PM
I understand framing the AI bubble RAM supply crisis in terms of stuff like video game consoles because nerds can conceptualize that but the framing does really undersell the sheer magnitude of how it's going to fuck up everything that even touches a computer.
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This is fucking despicable. They’re copypasting their abuse of trans people onto new targets now (and many of the same targets, given how much overlap there is).
I had to fight for a shared care agreement with the ADHD meds that I fucking need to function. Taking them from anyone is beyond cruel.
I had to fight for a shared care agreement with the ADHD meds that I fucking need to function. Taking them from anyone is beyond cruel.
Henry Shelford, chief executive of charity ADHD UK: it is "hateful and cruel how badly the overall NHS treats people with ADHD”.
ADHD patients stripped of NHS prescriptions under crackdown
GP practices are increasingly withdrawing from shared-care agreements with patients diagnosed by private clinics
giftarticle.ft.com
February 17, 2026 at 9:06 AM
This is fucking despicable. They’re copypasting their abuse of trans people onto new targets now (and many of the same targets, given how much overlap there is).
I had to fight for a shared care agreement with the ADHD meds that I fucking need to function. Taking them from anyone is beyond cruel.
I had to fight for a shared care agreement with the ADHD meds that I fucking need to function. Taking them from anyone is beyond cruel.
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When people hear "it saved my life", there’s a presumption made that we mean without it we would quite literally die. And for many of us, that's absolutely true... But for those of us who rely upon it regularly.... it means our lives are made so much better now that they actually feel worth living."
Since Cass is again making the rounds for expounding on all the ways we might make fewer trans kids, here’s a piece on how this discourse erases the lives of trans people doing extraordinary specifically because they embraced who they are. Whose rich lives wouldn’t have happened in the closet.
In defense of trans quality of life — Jessica Kant
Today trans people exist in an atmosphere where it has become normal for strangers to demand of us that we extemporaneously provide inarguable, indisputable proof that without very safe medical care w...
jessk.org
February 16, 2026 at 9:43 PM
When people hear "it saved my life", there’s a presumption made that we mean without it we would quite literally die. And for many of us, that's absolutely true... But for those of us who rely upon it regularly.... it means our lives are made so much better now that they actually feel worth living."
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We should all be saying this, that immigration is good.
None of this reactionary centrist, status quo pablum saying immigrants are divisive and we have to understand the people that hate them. F**k that. Immigrants are good and that’s what America IS
None of this reactionary centrist, status quo pablum saying immigrants are divisive and we have to understand the people that hate them. F**k that. Immigrants are good and that’s what America IS
February 16, 2026 at 10:37 PM
We should all be saying this, that immigration is good.
None of this reactionary centrist, status quo pablum saying immigrants are divisive and we have to understand the people that hate them. F**k that. Immigrants are good and that’s what America IS
None of this reactionary centrist, status quo pablum saying immigrants are divisive and we have to understand the people that hate them. F**k that. Immigrants are good and that’s what America IS
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Did Hillary say immigrants are good and we need more of them and the country was built on immigration and pluralism and liberal values and multiculturalism?
If not she should be saying that
If not she should be saying that
February 16, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Did Hillary say immigrants are good and we need more of them and the country was built on immigration and pluralism and liberal values and multiculturalism?
If not she should be saying that
If not she should be saying that
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this is true, and what we should all be saying is simple:
Immigrants are good, ICE is bad
Immigrants are good, ICE is bad
Man, this entire talking point is so fucking dumb. The deportations under Clinton and Obama were because of rapid removals and repatriations of people who had just crossed the border during a surge of hundreds of thousands of migrants. Not AT ALL the same as Trump's ethnic cleansing.
Hilary Clinton over at one of those Davos/Epstein class panels arguing that Democrats are better than Republicans at deportations so perfectly, ironically, and unwittingly encapsulates how we got to this moment. Democrats need wholesale leadership change. And quick.
February 16, 2026 at 10:31 PM
this is true, and what we should all be saying is simple:
Immigrants are good, ICE is bad
Immigrants are good, ICE is bad
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Sometimes you wonder. Bloomberg this morning saying that you can't both believe that AI is a big deal and that we're in a bubble. But you absolutely can! That's exactly the story of the tech bubble of the 90s, major economic impact but not big profits. Sigh.
February 16, 2026 at 11:59 AM
Sometimes you wonder. Bloomberg this morning saying that you can't both believe that AI is a big deal and that we're in a bubble. But you absolutely can! That's exactly the story of the tech bubble of the 90s, major economic impact but not big profits. Sigh.
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And I think a certain kind of pointed and insidious and dangerous violence is being done to the very concept of creativity if we lose sight of that, or start talking about this as if it is or could be
February 16, 2026 at 10:36 PM
And I think a certain kind of pointed and insidious and dangerous violence is being done to the very concept of creativity if we lose sight of that, or start talking about this as if it is or could be
He just let people reveal themselves through their own words and actions, and depending on the subject, it could hilarious, disturbing, heartbreaking, or give you hope. Near Death helped me deal with the loss of a family member while Juvenile Court angered me like few films ever have.
For anyone who hasn't seen Wiseman's documentaries, begin with his 1975 film Welfare, an early and defining masterpiece.
Welfare
A profile of the welfare system that illustrates the staggering diversity of problems that constitute welfare: unemployment, divorce, housing, medical and psychiatric problems, abandoned and abused ch...
www.filmlinc.org
February 16, 2026 at 10:52 PM
He just let people reveal themselves through their own words and actions, and depending on the subject, it could hilarious, disturbing, heartbreaking, or give you hope. Near Death helped me deal with the loss of a family member while Juvenile Court angered me like few films ever have.
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In film after film, Frederick Wiseman watched with preternatural patience as systems revealed themselves through the tenacious, irreducible vitality of the people inside them.
I kept returning to his films while reporting my book, hoping to absorb some of that patience.
Such a profound loss.
I kept returning to his films while reporting my book, hoping to absorb some of that patience.
Such a profound loss.
Frederick Wiseman Dies at 96: The Documentary Legend Was One of Cinema’s Greatest Masters
Wiseman's 50-plus year career started with a bang, "Titicut Follies," and only got better.
www.indiewire.com
February 16, 2026 at 10:21 PM
In film after film, Frederick Wiseman watched with preternatural patience as systems revealed themselves through the tenacious, irreducible vitality of the people inside them.
I kept returning to his films while reporting my book, hoping to absorb some of that patience.
Such a profound loss.
I kept returning to his films while reporting my book, hoping to absorb some of that patience.
Such a profound loss.
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Continually disgusted not only by the blatant Islamophobia and racism, but also by the Republican Party’s embrace of Fine and his views.
Utterly disqualifying in a United States Congressman, as it would be in any job.
newrepublic.com/post/206611/...
Utterly disqualifying in a United States Congressman, as it would be in any job.
newrepublic.com/post/206611/...
MAGA Congressman Makes Sick Post About Muslims and Dogs
Republican Representative Randy Fine twisted a harmless joke into a racist attack on Muslims—just days before Ramadan.
newrepublic.com
February 16, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Continually disgusted not only by the blatant Islamophobia and racism, but also by the Republican Party’s embrace of Fine and his views.
Utterly disqualifying in a United States Congressman, as it would be in any job.
newrepublic.com/post/206611/...
Utterly disqualifying in a United States Congressman, as it would be in any job.
newrepublic.com/post/206611/...
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Gawker also covered Jeffrey Epstein before Peter Thiel bankrupted them. There was information in the public domain for many years.
/2 Anyway, this is what the Smoking Gun was reporting TWENTY YEARS AGO in 2006. It was horrifying then and it’s still horrifying and it unequivocally shows child abuse.
www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/se...
www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/se...
Billionaire In Palm Beach Sex Scandal
JULY 26--Prepare to take a shower after reading this remarkably sleazy probable cause affidavit filed in the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier who was arrested Sunday for soliciting s
www.thesmokinggun.com
February 16, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Gawker also covered Jeffrey Epstein before Peter Thiel bankrupted them. There was information in the public domain for many years.
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The NYTimes often doesn't quote Trump at all, instead reframing his words with a summary falsely suggesting coherent thought, in contrast to the gibberish he actually said. They also don't mention how he routinely mumbles and slurs even prepared remarks, like here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zsd...
Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?
February 16, 2026 at 8:09 PM
The NYTimes often doesn't quote Trump at all, instead reframing his words with a summary falsely suggesting coherent thought, in contrast to the gibberish he actually said. They also don't mention how he routinely mumbles and slurs even prepared remarks, like here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zsd...
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COVID ripping through ICE detention facilities seems overdetermined
February 16, 2026 at 10:26 PM
COVID ripping through ICE detention facilities seems overdetermined
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Trump is going after institutions & it will have long last consequences
NEW:
One of the most progressive institutions in the U.S., The New School, has begun destroying its humanities departments.
They have cancelled one of their most popular classes, "Global Soccer and World Politics."
We are going to teach it anyway.
karenattiah.substack.com/p/the-new-sc...
One of the most progressive institutions in the U.S., The New School, has begun destroying its humanities departments.
They have cancelled one of their most popular classes, "Global Soccer and World Politics."
We are going to teach it anyway.
karenattiah.substack.com/p/the-new-sc...
The New School Cancelled Their Class on Global Soccer and World Politics. We Are Going To Teach it Anyway.
When institutions abandon critical thinking, we build our own classrooms.
karenattiah.substack.com
February 16, 2026 at 8:38 PM
Trump is going after institutions & it will have long last consequences
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Vast majority of this wealth is an untaxed, unrealized capital gain. Some of these billionaires borrow against their immense wealth at low rates for living expenses to avoid paying tax. When they die, the capital gain is no longer taxable. The strategy is known as “buy, borrow, die.”
February 16, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Vast majority of this wealth is an untaxed, unrealized capital gain. Some of these billionaires borrow against their immense wealth at low rates for living expenses to avoid paying tax. When they die, the capital gain is no longer taxable. The strategy is known as “buy, borrow, die.”
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My three main issues:
- Neither man has heard of the Fourth Amendment.
- Sanchez did not explain that administrative warrants do not involve a judge.
- Sanchez did not explain and Alford ignored that this was a change secretly implemented by DHS in this administration.
- Neither man has heard of the Fourth Amendment.
- Sanchez did not explain that administrative warrants do not involve a judge.
- Sanchez did not explain and Alford ignored that this was a change secretly implemented by DHS in this administration.
Rep. Mark Alford: "If you tie a judicial warrant to what ICE is doing, it will never happen"
February 16, 2026 at 8:18 PM
My three main issues:
- Neither man has heard of the Fourth Amendment.
- Sanchez did not explain that administrative warrants do not involve a judge.
- Sanchez did not explain and Alford ignored that this was a change secretly implemented by DHS in this administration.
- Neither man has heard of the Fourth Amendment.
- Sanchez did not explain that administrative warrants do not involve a judge.
- Sanchez did not explain and Alford ignored that this was a change secretly implemented by DHS in this administration.
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The successful effort to force Biden out signaled to elite media that they had a veto over Democratic Party primary voters. Whether they successfully exercise it or simply try to in 2028 is an open question but bet your sweet nippy they’re going to try.
Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?
February 16, 2026 at 8:04 PM
The successful effort to force Biden out signaled to elite media that they had a veto over Democratic Party primary voters. Whether they successfully exercise it or simply try to in 2028 is an open question but bet your sweet nippy they’re going to try.
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“Oh we’re such cool people how could you possibly think we’re not on the same team”
Disturbing news for Texas music lovers. The Music Venue Alliance - Texas (whose founding members include premier venues such as White Oak Music Hall, The Heights Theater, and Antone’s) is endorsing Greg Abbott for governor.
February 16, 2026 at 8:55 PM
“Oh we’re such cool people how could you possibly think we’re not on the same team”
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No one knows what Dems stand for and until that changes, the fascists will control the narrative
February 16, 2026 at 8:57 PM
No one knows what Dems stand for and until that changes, the fascists will control the narrative