Erika Wittekind
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erikalyn.bsky.social
Erika Wittekind
@erikalyn.bsky.social
Freelance writer. News junkie. Former nonfiction editor. She/her.

Believer in democracy, science, gun control, local journalism, and empathy. Mom to two cats and two teen boys.

Dane County, WI
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
"a single person of this demographic may have committed a crime, therefore we must punish the entire demographic" is a policy response you may recognize from fascist governments dedicated to ethnic cleansing elsewhere.
It didn’t even take 6 hours.
November 27, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
Was not expecting this blatant xenophobia on my tv first thing in the morning...
November 27, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
A lot to admire about the wild turkey: “Despite their weight, wild turkeys, unlike their domesticated counterparts, are agile, fast fliers [and] have many calls: assembly call, gobble, plain yelp, purr, cluck and purr, cluck, cutt, excited yelp, fly-down cackle, tree call, kee kee run, and putt.”
November 27, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
"We followed everything we were supposed to do"

Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
I need everybody to read this and understand what’s going on. These are spouses of US citizens in the country legally. They have entry clearance and green cards, they’ve passed background checks and have no criminal records. ICE is taking them anyway.

Gift link:

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
An 18yo US citizen, surrounded by eight masked, armed agents of the state, taken into custody, not read his rights, not offered a chance to contact a lawyer, proof of citizenship ignored, handcuffed so tightly he later required medical attention.

Profoundly, profoundly anti-American shit.
ICE Detained an 18-Year-Old U.S. Citizen. This Is His Story.
YouTube video by The Hometown Holler
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
Uhhh, seems like the sort of thing you should make absolutely sure of before announcing!
November 26, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
A third Kentucky infant has died from whooping cough (also known as pertussis) this year as the state faces its largest spike in cases since 2012. Cases are only expected to continue to rise, highlighting the importance of widespread immunization. Learn more: publications.aap.org/aapnews/news...
November 25, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
Fun fact: Ziegler won her current 10-year term on the court running unopposed for reelection in spring 2017, at the height of Trump 1 backlash, when literally any opponent would have beaten her by double digits
Question about the dissent by (the far-right) Justice Ziegler: Does this quote actually appear in Moore v. Harper? Did Moore say that state courts' role in congressional redistricting is "exceedingly limited"? I don't think it did! vhdshf2oms2wcnsvk7sdv3so.blob.core.windows.net/thearp-media...
November 25, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
Video of her being dragged by authorities in Ghana:

www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
November 25, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
when we say we want more streets to be pedestrianized, this is what we mean
November 25, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
soylent green but with muppets: thread
November 25, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.

Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam helped pay for the Two Harbors Youth Hockey Association’s new Zamboni.
What do you call an ice-resurfacing machine partly funded by a ’90s grunge band? A Pearl Jamboni, of course.
Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam helped pay for the Two Harbors Youth Hockey Association’s new Zamboni.
bit.ly
November 25, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
President Donald Trump and his economic team often respond to concerns about the affordability crisis by touting how much cheaper gasoline is than under his predecessor. For the vast majority of 2025, this was a legitimate bragging point for the White House.

Until now. https://cnn.it/3M0s8np
November 25, 2025 at 3:01 PM
If they want air travelers to dress up they're going to have to make air travel less hellish.
Duffy on his demand that air travelers not wear slippers or pajamas: "It honors our country ... don't take your shoes off and put your feet on the chair ahead of you"
November 24, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
Free: Employment growth fm May to Sept ave <40,000 new jobs per month. A smaller population resulting fm lower immigration means a smaller economy & lower productivity. Making America less hospitable to immigrants will eventually make America poorer.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
Opinion | We’re Seeing What a No-Immigration Economy Looks Like
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
Considering that Mamdani has so consistently spoken out against and offered policy ideas on opposing antisemitism, one must ask, what is the real reason people keep asking him?
WELKER: What is your message to Jewish New Yorkers who feel you won't be tough enough in your response to antisemitism?

MAMDANI: That I am looking forward to being the next mayor and fulfilling the commitment I've made to Jewish New Yorkers to not only protect them but to celebrate and cherish them
November 23, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
If you’re a journalist who’s still on Twitter, from now on in your writing you have to replace “the American people want” with “troll bots in Eastern Europe demand”

Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
November 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
“I refuse to conserve the environment” I announce “because of the terrible associations with conservatism”
There are some truly unhinged bits in the piece about Glasman, as to be expected when dealing with Glasman, but seriously what the actual? That's...one hell of a conflation of terminology.
November 23, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
Reskeeting with alt text

Yeah this has become the utter pain of what we once had. Used to be you'd run to Google for a trusted and quick search and now I try to avoid it when I can

Legit ruined their own product to the point of being unrecognizable
November 23, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
TOOK MY CHEVY TO THE LEVEE
BUT THE LEVEE WAS DRY
November 23, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.

www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
November 22, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Erika Wittekind
Kavanaugh stop. Smashed the kid’s car windows and arrested him. He told them he was a U.S. citizen. The officer replied “I don’t care.”

www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
High school senior, a U.S. citizen, detained by ICE in Oregon
The 17-year-old was held more than five hours Friday in an ICE facility, his brother said.
www.oregonlive.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:34 AM