Pam Fessler
@pamfessler.bsky.social
Former NPR correspondent. Voting/poverty beat. Communications advisor, The Elections Group. Author of “Carville’s Cure: Leprosy, Stigma and the Fight for Justice.”
https://www.pamfessler.com
https://www.pamfessler.com
Reposted by Pam Fessler
The official death count in South Sudan is nearly 1,600, making it the worst cholera epidemic in the country’s history.
But that toll is a dramatic undercount.
ProPublica found newly dug, unmarked graves alongside roads and in backyards.
But that toll is a dramatic undercount.
ProPublica found newly dug, unmarked graves alongside roads and in backyards.
Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera.
Behind closed doors in Washington, top advisers made a series of decisions that had devastating repercussions for the poorest country on earth. We went to South Sudan and found people who died as a re...
www.propublica.org
December 20, 2025 at 2:40 AM
The official death count in South Sudan is nearly 1,600, making it the worst cholera epidemic in the country’s history.
But that toll is a dramatic undercount.
ProPublica found newly dug, unmarked graves alongside roads and in backyards.
But that toll is a dramatic undercount.
ProPublica found newly dug, unmarked graves alongside roads and in backyards.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
Choose love, not ICE. ❤️
NEW from Reverend @raushenbush.bsky.social & @protectdemocracy.org's @ianbassin.bsky.social in @thebulwark.com:
NEW from Reverend @raushenbush.bsky.social & @protectdemocracy.org's @ianbassin.bsky.social in @thebulwark.com:
We Need a New Great Awakening
This dire moment in our nation’s moral life cries out for a renewal of hearts.
www.thebulwark.com
December 19, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Choose love, not ICE. ❤️
NEW from Reverend @raushenbush.bsky.social & @protectdemocracy.org's @ianbassin.bsky.social in @thebulwark.com:
NEW from Reverend @raushenbush.bsky.social & @protectdemocracy.org's @ianbassin.bsky.social in @thebulwark.com:
Wonder if these words on the Kennedy Center website right now will be there tomorrow.
December 19, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Wonder if these words on the Kennedy Center website right now will be there tomorrow.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
🚨 Wrestling legend Mick Foley quits WWE over ties to INCREDIBLY CRUEL Trump
December 16, 2025 at 11:28 PM
🚨 Wrestling legend Mick Foley quits WWE over ties to INCREDIBLY CRUEL Trump
Reposted by Pam Fessler
My original thought was it’s a horror that Trump is in office for America’s 250th anniversary. Now I’m pleased that we will be reminded by our founders every day in 2026 that they fought to free themselves from a tyrannical despot and we must, too.
December 12, 2025 at 9:28 PM
My original thought was it’s a horror that Trump is in office for America’s 250th anniversary. Now I’m pleased that we will be reminded by our founders every day in 2026 that they fought to free themselves from a tyrannical despot and we must, too.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
"The Indiana state Senate’s vote against a new congressional map that President Donald Trump had pressured it to adopt is one of the most extraordinary examples to date of Republicans standing up to Trump. But it wasn’t even the only example Thursday." | Analysis https://cnn.it/4oNbB41
December 13, 2025 at 4:01 AM
"The Indiana state Senate’s vote against a new congressional map that President Donald Trump had pressured it to adopt is one of the most extraordinary examples to date of Republicans standing up to Trump. But it wasn’t even the only example Thursday." | Analysis https://cnn.it/4oNbB41
Reposted by Pam Fessler
real police state stuff
WOW. @haleaziz.bsky.social with a new scoop: ICE now gets a running list of every person who is going to be taking a domestic flight inside the United States from the TSA and runs it through their database looking for targets. This explains the Babson College student's arrest.
Immigration Agents Are Using Air Passenger Data for Deportation Effort
www.nytimes.com
December 13, 2025 at 4:06 AM
real police state stuff
Good thing Somali immigrants haven’t been able to bring their culture to the US or else we might start — I don’t know— hijacking boats.
President Donald Trump confirmed that the US has taken control of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
US seized oil tanker off Venezuelan coast, Trump says | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump on Wednesday confirmed that the US has taken control of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
www.cnn.com
December 11, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Good thing Somali immigrants haven’t been able to bring their culture to the US or else we might start — I don’t know— hijacking boats.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
Denmark has labeled the United States as a potential security concern for the first time in an annual report released by one of its intelligence agencies, offering more evidence of the increasingly fraught transatlantic alliance between Europe and the US.
Denmark sees US as potential security concern | CNN
Denmark has labeled the United States as a potential security concern for the first time in an annual report released by one of its intelligence agencies, offering more evidence of the increasingly fraught transatlantic alliance between Europe and the US.
cnn.it
December 10, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Denmark has labeled the United States as a potential security concern for the first time in an annual report released by one of its intelligence agencies, offering more evidence of the increasingly fraught transatlantic alliance between Europe and the US.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
NEW: GOP lawyer Eric Neff, a new DOJ attorney helping to push for state voter records, previously represented a top conspiracy theorist involved in Trump's 2020 election subversion — a tie underscoring the alarming shift in the DOJ from defending to attacking voting rights.
DOJ’s New Voting Lawyer Has Web of Ties to Election-Conspiracy Theorists
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
December 9, 2025 at 9:21 PM
NEW: GOP lawyer Eric Neff, a new DOJ attorney helping to push for state voter records, previously represented a top conspiracy theorist involved in Trump's 2020 election subversion — a tie underscoring the alarming shift in the DOJ from defending to attacking voting rights.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
This administration literally pardoned over a thousand people for doing exactly this.
Patel on J6 arrest: "When you attack American citizens, when you attack our institutions of legislation, when you attack our nation's Capitol, you attack the very being of our way of life."
December 4, 2025 at 6:48 PM
This administration literally pardoned over a thousand people for doing exactly this.
Wow. So now, verifying facts makes someone ineligible for a H-1B visa.
Holy shit.
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
December 4, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Wow. So now, verifying facts makes someone ineligible for a H-1B visa.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
NEWS: Utah Gov's budget includes funding for a massive, forced, government-run homeless detention camp.
This is a five-alarm fire. Stay tuned for ways to fight this atrocity.
www.ksl.com/article/5141...
This is a five-alarm fire. Stay tuned for ways to fight this atrocity.
www.ksl.com/article/5141...
Cox proposes $30.7B budget with funding for homeless campus, child tax credits
Utah's governor unveiled his proposed $30.7 billion state budget Wednesday, which include funds for a homeless campus and expanded child tax credits for families with young kids.
www.ksl.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:28 PM
NEWS: Utah Gov's budget includes funding for a massive, forced, government-run homeless detention camp.
This is a five-alarm fire. Stay tuned for ways to fight this atrocity.
www.ksl.com/article/5141...
This is a five-alarm fire. Stay tuned for ways to fight this atrocity.
www.ksl.com/article/5141...
Reposted by Pam Fessler
Of the 1,895 people detained by ICE, 1,271 lacked any criminal record.
Only 28 arrestees —1.5% — had been convicted of a violent felony or sex crime.
Only 28 arrestees —1.5% — had been convicted of a violent felony or sex crime.
Nearly 1,900 immigrants were detained during the first half of Operation Midway Blitz. Most had no criminal record.
Newly released federal data shows that immigration agents booked in roughly 1,900 immigrants in the first half of Operation Midway Blitz – two-thirds of whom had no known criminal convictions or pe…
trib.al
December 2, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Of the 1,895 people detained by ICE, 1,271 lacked any criminal record.
Only 28 arrestees —1.5% — had been convicted of a violent felony or sex crime.
Only 28 arrestees —1.5% — had been convicted of a violent felony or sex crime.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
The State Department has warned employees not to use government funds to mark Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day and to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels.” nyti.ms/3KhPDrA
Trump Administration Will No Longer Commemorate World AIDS Day
The State Department warned employees not to use government funds for the occasion and to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels.”
nyti.ms
November 26, 2025 at 10:35 PM
The State Department has warned employees not to use government funds to mark Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day and to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels.” nyti.ms/3KhPDrA
Reposted by Pam Fessler
Trump: “We had a meeting today that actually surprised me. He wants to see no crime. He wants to see housing being built. He wants to see rents coming down…I expect to be helping him, not hurting him…I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.”
November 21, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Trump: “We had a meeting today that actually surprised me. He wants to see no crime. He wants to see housing being built. He wants to see rents coming down…I expect to be helping him, not hurting him…I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.”
Reposted by Pam Fessler
Oopsie.
Trump tariffs to reduce US deficits by $1 trillion less than previous estimate, CBO says reut.rs/3LT5Ofm
Trump tariffs to reduce US deficits by $1 trillion less than previous estimate, CBO says
President Donald Trump's tariff increases on imports from foreign countries will reduce U.S. deficits by $3 trillion if they are maintained through 2035, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated on Thursday, instead of the $4 trillion the agency projected in August.
reut.rs
November 21, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Oopsie.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
Fascistic. Only way to describe it.
this defies parody. also helps explain why Sec Bessent bizarrely blamed immigrants when confronted with a question about high beef prices
November 21, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Fascistic. Only way to describe it.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
A bill being considered by a small group of senators in South Carolina could allow judges to sentence women who get abortions to decades in prison.
Group of South Carolina lawmakers look at the most restrictive abortion bill in the US
A bill being considered by a small group of senators in South Carolina could allow judges to sentence women who get abortions to decades in prison.
bit.ly
November 18, 2025 at 4:30 PM
A bill being considered by a small group of senators in South Carolina could allow judges to sentence women who get abortions to decades in prison.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
Johnson says the Trumped DOJ has reviewed the Epstein files and declared them "non-credible." But Trumped Attorney General also declared that the files will be used as the basis for a new investigation, solely of Democrats.
I am no TrumpLaw scholar, but I see something of a contradiction there.
I am no TrumpLaw scholar, but I see something of a contradiction there.
Mike Johnson expresses concern that requiring the Epstein files to come out "could ruin the reputations of completely innocent people, such as those who may just have known Epstein but knew nothing of his crimes or whose names he exploited and used to try to get close to his intended victims."
November 18, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Johnson says the Trumped DOJ has reviewed the Epstein files and declared them "non-credible." But Trumped Attorney General also declared that the files will be used as the basis for a new investigation, solely of Democrats.
I am no TrumpLaw scholar, but I see something of a contradiction there.
I am no TrumpLaw scholar, but I see something of a contradiction there.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
".. at all costs."
November 17, 2025 at 4:13 PM
".. at all costs."
Reposted by Pam Fessler
Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content
Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content - Oklahoma Watch
The Trump administration removed a congressionally mandated report on missing and murdered Native Americans from the DOJ website, citing compliance with an executive order against DEI. Senators who ch...
oklahomawatch.org
November 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content
Reposted by Pam Fessler
As long as a detainee had no criminal history or prior removal order, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said he would allow their release on a $1,500 bond, pending the outcome of immigration proceedings.
Federal judge says he’ll order release of hundreds of ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ arrestees on bond
A federal judge in Chicago said he plans to grant bond to hundreds of immigrants whose arrests under “Operation Midway Blitz” allegedly violated a consent decree against “warrantl…
www.chicagotribune.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:35 PM
As long as a detainee had no criminal history or prior removal order, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said he would allow their release on a $1,500 bond, pending the outcome of immigration proceedings.
Reposted by Pam Fessler
Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias.
He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was ProPublica reporter @josh-kaplan.bsky.social.
(Published January)
He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was ProPublica reporter @josh-kaplan.bsky.social.
(Published January)
A Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias. This Is What He Found.
Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends....
www.propublica.org
November 11, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias.
He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was ProPublica reporter @josh-kaplan.bsky.social.
(Published January)
He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was ProPublica reporter @josh-kaplan.bsky.social.
(Published January)
Reposted by Pam Fessler
A Reagan-appointed judge has quit the bench so he can speak out against assaults on the rule of law (he is a senior judge so it doesn’t create a vacancy):
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 9, 2025 at 3:00 PM
A Reagan-appointed judge has quit the bench so he can speak out against assaults on the rule of law (he is a senior judge so it doesn’t create a vacancy):
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...