Paul in Philly
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paulsocolar.bsky.social
Paul in Philly
@paulsocolar.bsky.social
Recently retired, still resisting. Working for justice in public education and at large. Indy media veteran (at Public School Notebook) and media specialist. Grew up in NYC, but Philly and the Phillies won my heart. He/him.
Reposted by Paul in Philly
A reminder that seven years ago almost to the day, the CIA determined that Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the killing of @washingtonpost.com journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination
Audio recordings, intercepted phone calls and other intelligence link Mohammed bin Salman to killing that Saudis say was conducted by rogue elements.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
#Philly folks at the polls – send your voter counts to 66 wards for their turnout tracker. Turnout so far doesn’t look bad.

www.jonathantannen.com/turnout_trac...
Turnout Tracker
www.jonathantannen.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Rob earned this. Smile!
#Phillies
September 16, 2025 at 5:31 AM
The takedown of Stonewall Jackson has taken an interesting and dramatic turn. Kudos to Walker and Walker.
Kara Walker Deconstructs a Statue, and a Myth
www.nytimes.com
September 14, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Reposted by Paul in Philly
Unlike what some of his obituaries claim, Charlie Kirk was "not a champion of free speech," says @jeffsharlet.bsky.social, who details Kirk's support for McCarthyist censorship.
September 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM
"Minutes after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at an event in Utah on Wednesday, far-right influencers and extremist communities lit up social media with calls for violence against the left."
September 11, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Reposted by Paul in Philly
Trump: fascism time

Bmore Mayor: fuck off

Md Governor: fuck off

DC Mayor: “DC Mayor Bowser on Wednesday credited President Trump's directed surge of fed. law enforcement. ‘We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what MPD has been able to do in this city.’”

We have a Vichy mayor
August 28, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Paul in Philly
"The top story of the moment is the one story that our most influential newsrooms won’t touch: That the United State has become an authoritarian state." — Dan Froomkin @froomkin.bsky.social

presswatchers.org/2025/08/we-h...
August 27, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Land of the free?
“Jimenez Rosa, a legal permanent resident and mother of four U.S. citizens, was detained over what her lawyer believes was a decades-old, personal-use marijuana charge, which is no longer a crime in Massachusetts today… “I was just like, ‘Girls, we might never see your mother again in this country’”
ICE released this Mass. mom with no phone, 30 miles from home in the rain after detainment for a sealed marijuana conviction
Federal authorities refused to tell the Canton woman's husband or lawyer on what grounds she was being detained until shortly before her release.
www.masslive.com
August 24, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Reposted by Paul in Philly
6 months ago, in the shadow of the night, Israeli soldiers took 16-year-old American Muhammad Zaher Ibrahim from his family. He’s been imprisoned ever since. He’s suffered from scabies & lost 25 pounds.

Remember Sayfollah Musallet, the young American killed by settlers last month? They’re cousins.
A US Teenager Has Been Locked in an Israeli Prison, With No Trial, for 6 Months. Where’s the Outrage?
The family of 16-year-old Muhammad Zaher Ibrahim, who was taken by Israeli soldiers in the middle of the night, says they feel abandoned by the Trump administration.
zeteo.com
August 23, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Much voter education needed in PA this fall.
The most important election you’re not talking about? The PA Supreme Court retention election on 11/4.

Join us & @pa4moderncourts.bsky.social @committeeof70.bsky.social on 9/8 for a chat w/Justices themselves to understand what’s at stake before you vote.

RSVP: PAyouth.Vote/PASupremeCourtChat
August 22, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Avelo Airlines has a contract with ICE to fly deportation flights for profit.

Join the Hell No, Avelo campaign.

Avelo is expanding. Their "Philadelphia" flights operate out of Wilmington.

Sign the pledge. Spread the word. This must stop. Hell no, Avelo. #OneMillionRising

www.GroundAvelo.org
ground avelo
www.GroundAvelo.org
August 14, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Reposted by Paul in Philly
Israel's massacre of Palestinian journalists has been unconscionable.

And the silence of western journalists has been an utter abomination to our profession. And to humanity.

www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/...
Anas al-Sharif among five Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel in Gaza
Al Jazeera staff killed in targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists near al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City.
www.aljazeera.com
August 11, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Paul in Philly
This is an interesting spreadsheet that @maggiekat.bsky.social shared. It’s the work of @jonathancohn.bsky.social and it shows the percentage of times Democratic Senators voted against Trump. Senator Ed Markey is the winner!

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Tracking Senate Votes 2025
docs.google.com
August 2, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Reposted by Paul in Philly
Lemme just say if President Bernie Sanders had unilaterally imposed, by executive fiat, hundreds of billions of new taxes, personally browbeat executives about job cuts and investments and then fired the head of BLS, the Chamber of Commerce and the business orgs would not be sitting idly by.
one thing that keeps happening is Trump taking major steps which impose large, often asymmetric costs on American business, and American business doing fucking nothing in response
Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history. Trump is firing the head of the BLS, a longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today
August 1, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by Paul in Philly
The very clear message is that the BLS head will be fired if they do not produce numbers that meet Trump's approval.

In related news, these are the last set of BLS job numbers we can assume have not been doctored.
Corrupt. Dangerous. Deeply deeply damaging.
August 1, 2025 at 6:39 PM
One small but impactful retreat by this cruel regime.
Trump administration releases billions in education funding after a weekslong freeze
The funding delay had schools scrambling to figure out how they might fill an unexpected budget gap, and some after-school programs abruptly closed.
www.chalkbeat.org
July 25, 2025 at 9:47 PM
"The answer came back days later in an email from Spencer Chretien, the highest-ranking official in the State Department's refugee and migration bureau, saying the program is intended for white people."
July 25, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Reposted by Paul in Philly
Behold, Philly Hoagie Roll Rat!
July 23, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Paul in Philly
a rough translation of the final sentence: “Since AFP was founded in August 1944 we’ve lost journalists in conflicts, and have had wounded and imprisoned co-workers, but none of us have any memory of having to watch a colleague die of hunger.”
🚨BREAKING: The last journalists working for AFP in Gaza have said they can no longer work for the news agency.

They are out of energy and they are starving to death.

I have never seen a statement from a news organisation like it.

🧵
July 21, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Why is the @nytimes.com reporting that Trump is said to have a “benign condition“ without noting that CVI is actually a progressive disease? Is it that hard to point out obviously false statements?
July 18, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Interesting call to action from Terry Moran
Justice for Jeffrey Epstein’s 1,000-plus Victims
The issue that unites all decent Americans
substack.com
July 17, 2025 at 6:35 PM
I was just with ~100K people on the #OneMillionRising call, learning about authoritarianism & how people power & acts of noncooperation can stop the attacks on our basic rights & our democracy

You can learn more, there are 2 more calls in this series. Sign up!
www.mobilize.us/mobilize/eve...
July 17, 2025 at 1:38 AM
July 16, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Have you told your PA legislator we need cyber charter funding reform now?

"If the legislature punts... they're going to really harm a lot of students and a lot of districts."
With budgets already approved, some Pa. school districts are banking on cyber charter reform • Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Public school districts across Pennsylvania faced a deadline of June 30 to approve a budget for the coming fiscal year. Many balanced their budgets, banking on the legislature’s approval of a proposal...
penncapital-star.com
July 15, 2025 at 10:43 PM