#Committees
"An organized urban wing of the [Underground] railroad called vigilance committees focused on protecting, supporting, and learning from fugitives."

Jesse Olsavsky for @hammerandhope.bsky.social's latest, just released issue

hammerandhope.org/article/unde...
The Black People Who Fled Slavery Had a Lot to Teach Their Northern Allies
Black-led vigilance committees not only protected and aided fugitives but also learned from the formerly enslaved as they built a movement pedagogy together.
hammerandhope.org
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM Everybody can reply
130 reposts 6 quotes 320 likes 45 saves
U.S. law provides the Intelligence Committees the tools for bipartisan oversight of the CIA's covert action programs. Tools that can be used to avert disasters.

The question is: Are they going to use them for activities in Venezuela, writes Stephen R. Weissman
www.justsecurity.org/123701/intel...
Intelligence Committees and the CIA Covert Action in Venezuela
U.S. law provides the Intelligence Committees with tools to evaluate covert action programs and spur potential legislative action.
www.justsecurity.org
October 31, 2025 at 1:35 PM Everybody can reply
53 reposts 1 quotes 120 likes 2 saves
"Requesting that a hearing be done out in the open is a classic bit of gamesmanship, designed to portray your critics as the ones having something to hide. And, naturally, some Republicans on the committees were irate." www.thebulwark.com/p/jack-smith...
Jack Smith Wants a Spectacle. Will Republicans Play Ball?
The former special counsel says he wants any testimony he gives to be public. In an interview with The Bulwark, Rep. Jamie Raskin outlines why it matters.
www.thebulwark.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:00 AM Everybody can reply
170 reposts 3 quotes 660 likes 8 saves
October 29, 2025 at 10:30 PM Everybody can reply
8 reposts 1 quotes 56 likes
"The Black abolitionists who formed vigilance committees believed that mainstream antislavery societies, which were focused on speeches, lectures, and petitions (“moral suasion”), had not been sufficiently concerned with the increasing number of runaways coming to northern cities."
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM Everybody can reply
2 reposts 39 likes
Footage of RSF crimes in Darfur (that they took themselves) are being erased from social media apps like Facebook.

So Elfashir Resistance Committees have created a website to document everything.

sudan-genocide.org

Share far and wide!

#KeepEyesOnSudan #Sudan #Elfashir
Home | sudan genocide
sudan-genocide.org
October 30, 2025 at 4:40 PM Everybody can reply
50 reposts 2 quotes 55 likes 5 saves
"Vigilance committees were antislavery organizations that began forming in northeastern cities in the 1830s, often supported by Black churches...Their work took on new urgency after the revamped Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 unleashed terror in Black neighborhoods."
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM Everybody can reply
2 reposts 29 likes
Would be useful for congressional armed services committees to dig into the departure of the SOUTHCOM commander.
Admiral Alvin Halsey left his post atop the Pentagon’s Southern Command after a tense meeting with Hegseth over Caribbean boat strikes

Since then, the U.S. has moved far closer to war in Venezuela. The next step could be attacks on land www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
The U.S. Is Preparing for War in Venezuela
More U.S.-military firepower is headed to the Caribbean as Trump escalates his anti-Maduro rhetoric.
www.theatlantic.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:42 AM Everybody can reply
7 reposts 28 likes 2 saves
We also need an inquiry into how the EHRC has been allowed to be captured by bigoted ideologues, and why the govt has chosen to overrule two parliamentary committees in appointing another bigot to chair, ensuring the EHRC does not meet the Paris Principles of NHRIs.
October 31, 2025 at 3:38 PM Everybody can reply
2 reposts 40 likes
Thanks for this. A point of disambiguation: in the South, organizations to do the opposite- keep the enslaved down - were also called vigilance committees. So it can be confusing without knowing their location.
October 31, 2025 at 10:22 PM Everybody can reply
2 reposts 19 likes 1 saves
Or rather we don't really have a party at all. It's a bunch of campaign committees stacked up in a suit. So we'll know next year how it shakes out.
October 31, 2025 at 12:50 AM Everybody can reply
18 likes
The Democratic party and allied political action committees have given more than $1 billion to right-wing media.

That's far more than Elon Musk or Sheldon/Miriam Adelson have given to Trump.

This is outrageous. And it must stop.
October 27, 2025 at 10:17 PM Everybody can reply
65 reposts 1 quotes 300 likes 3 saves
The Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees condemned the Pentagon’s plan to draw down American troop levels in Romania, saying the decision was made without consultation with lawmakers.
Top Republican defense lawmakers denounce US troop downsizing in Romania
The Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees say the move to draw down troops in Romania lacked consultation from Congress.
www.stripes.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:03 PM Everybody can reply
7 reposts 2 quotes 30 likes 1 saves
guy inside the wall: you have to follow all these rules and be on at least three committees including one with krog the talkative

guy outside out wall: fucking hell

gitw: but we've got dried fish for the winter and mushrooms that can take you to the moon

gotw: ok you sonofabitch I'm in
October 31, 2025 at 3:36 AM Everybody can reply
3 reposts 34 likes
And we learn that GOP members of Congress were briefed on this today. Not Congress, not the appropriate committees. Just the GOP.
October 30, 2025 at 12:24 AM Everybody can reply
2 reposts 18 likes
Spend your dollars at home; build up your community, not theirs.

Vote — and better yet, run.
Run for local office. School boards, councils, committees.
That’s how we shape Canada’s future from within — not by shouting from the sidelines, but by stepping into the arena.
October 31, 2025 at 1:45 PM Everybody can reply
2 reposts 22 likes
I have, in person, watched her give evidence to HoC Committees three times. And I would agree.
October 28, 2025 at 9:43 PM Everybody can reply
14 likes
I call myself an interdisciplinary scholar, and my research tends to underscore that, but maybe the most meaningful metric is that I've sat on graduate committees in eight (8) different disciplines, which has been such a cool experience.
October 29, 2025 at 11:09 AM Everybody can reply
29 likes
Based on a current BASE salary, an MP in the HoC makes $100.87/hr assuming a standard 40 hr work week 52 weeks per year.

When you see an MP “perform” in the HoC, committees, etc. ask yourself as their employer:

“Am I getting my money’s worth in this moment?”

#cdnpoli
October 30, 2025 at 1:18 PM Everybody can reply
14 reposts 4 quotes 33 likes
The Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on Wednesday condemned the Pentagon's plan to draw down U.S. troop levels in Romania, saying the decision threatened to undermine deterrence against Russia. (from @svetashko.bsky.social)
Top Republican defense lawmakers denounce US troop downsizing in Romania
The Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees say the move to draw down troops in Romania lacked consultation from Congress.
www.stripes.com
October 30, 2025 at 6:00 AM Everybody can reply
7 reposts 15 likes 1 saves
From El Fasher resistance committees. I don't have space to translate it all but:

"Today the city has fallen but it's dignity remains. The bodies are gone but it's spirit remains, soaring over the walls and streets, guarding what remains... every stone bears witness that [we] did not surrender...
October 28, 2025 at 6:14 PM Everybody can reply
16 reposts 19 likes 1 saves
This should have been done by Congress, as mandated, and there would have been committees advising on how to handle the legal fallout from this. Nope just chaos
November 1, 2025 at 12:27 PM Everybody can reply
6 likes
she sits on several committees, she is not powerless
October 28, 2025 at 8:22 PM Everybody can reply
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I think because of new data center demand, this issue is now white hot.

Protocol committees, building code councils, zoning boards, permitting offices, PUCs: @volts.wtf is always working to make bureaucracy sexy, which we need a lot more of
October 30, 2025 at 4:26 PM Everybody can reply
5 reposts 14 likes 1 saves