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Aastha पास्ता

@aasthauprety.bsky.social
587 followers 792 following 529 posts

✍🏽 writer, editor, socialist 🌹 views are my own 🛸 editorial @rooseveltinstitute.org @rooseveltforward.org and member @nyguild.bsky.social‬ aasthauprety.substack.com 👩🏽‍💻 nyc via dc

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Aastha पास्ता @aasthauprety.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
reading the article that primetime is based on and lol what is this lede
sergeant stripes—on the sleeve of his shirt. The cameraman zooms in past the cop to the patio area beyond, to a lattice of firewood and the blur of something green. The camera stills, focuses. The blur becomes a wheelbarrow. A green wheelbarrow leaning belly-exposed against a red wall.
While the shot of this particular wheelbarrow is superfluous to the television program being filmed here today and will be edited out along with most of the rest of this raw footage, there happens to be a story about the man inside the house in which a wheelbarrow plays a much more prominent role. The story begins more than two decades ago, at a party in another house not far from this one. The man inside was there, as were many of his
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
And shame on everyone, including Bernie Sanders specifically, who talks about the importance of “securing the border” without acknowledging that it means precisely this.
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 28/09/2026
Two-thirds of real income growth in NYC has gone to the top 1% since 2019. In @nydailynews.com, Noa Rosinplotz shows why policymakers shouldn’t fear taxing the rich. “Instead, they should focus on raising the tax revenue we need to invest in affordability for everyone else.”
nydailynews.com
NYC doesn’t need to fear taxing the rich
While some New Yorkers see their fortunes rise, most aren’t getting a cut, as the cost of food, rent, and other necessities climbs faster than their salaries can keep up. City Comptroller Mark Levine ...
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Lena Bilik @lbilik.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The author uses the fact that many parents want to stay home with very young children as an argument against universal childcare. This is a false choice. At Roosevelt, we recommend paid leave AND universal childcare, so parents can stay home for a year w/ their infants. (It's also cost effective.)
rooseveltinstitute.org
Building a Vision for Universal Public Childcare: Principles for a Childcare System That Works for Workers and Families - Roosevelt Institute
In a new analysis, Lena Bilik and coauthors argue that the US needs bold, transformative public investments to create a universal early childhood care and education (ECE) system that can meet the need...
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
One thing I end up going back to over and over again is: while the criminal justice system could do so much better in protecting rights, the only thing that can adequately address a pervasive problem like this is social/cultural change. Rape arises from and reasserts rape culture/patriarchy.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Run on the platform of “public goods shared in common and distributed to everyone.” That's it.
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Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It is an absolute disgrace that every major union in California is not backing the billionaire tax. Petty ass crabs in a pot doing the work of Sergey Brin. Wake up!
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Aastha पास्ता @aasthauprety.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I fear that most liberal leaders are in deep denial about the urgency with which we need a Gaza reckoning before we save this country from fascism. Must-read interview: www.equator.org/articles/bid... @akbarshahidahmed.bsky.social @equatormag.bsky.social
equator.org
Guilty Men • EQUATOR
A new book thoroughly documents America’s complicity in genocide
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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.
Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites
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Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Someone tell me why we *shouldn't* think this is a great idea www.dropthegenocide20.org
dropthegenocide20.org
Sign the Pledge Today
Sign the Pledge to demand top Biden officials be removed from future Democratic administrations, think tanks, and academic and liberal spaces.
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Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
There's a genuine advantage to being outside the traditional DC Israel/Palestine foreign policy ecosystem because it means you don't automatically reject radical ideas like "ending the Occupation would involve ending the Occupation" and "a Palestinian state should have Palestinians in charge of it".
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World Impact News - EN/ES - ⚡ @worldimpactnews.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🧵 1/2 · Nepal's PM Balen Shah: We have built a world with flawless logistics for war and broken logistics for food. And this is not Nepal’s private misfortune. Ask Bangladesh, ask Bhutan, ask India, ask the Maldives, ask Pakistan, ask Sri Lanka,
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Laleh Khalili @lalehkhalili.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It is extraordinary that Netanyahu mentioned Hassan Piker and Mamdani in his speech; in a speech in which he also held up a pager... A deranged and utterly shameless genocidaire who has been basically given a carte blanche by the US and Europeans.
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CWA for Palestine @cwa4palestine.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We’re proud to be part of the Break the Chain coalition with @socialists.nyc and others, fighting to end the transfer of weapons to Israel through the exploitation of civilian labor and infrastructure at JFK airport. Organized labor can transform the economy itself! ⛓️‍💥✊
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whet moser @whetmoser.com · 25/09/2026
i want nathan fielder to do undecided voter focus groups
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 24/09/2026
We are at the break glass moment on the Democratic Party and its treatment of transgender people, and it is my opinion that if we don’t act now and loudly demand to be heard, we will suffer the consequences of their shift.
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Eli Valley @elivalley.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Boasting to the world of his mass terrorist atrocity:
Netanyahu showing off a pager during his speech at the UN
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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Netanyahu directly attacks Zohran Mamdani (and his wife) from the UNGA podium, calling him the "antisemitic mayor of New York City," parroting The Free Press's stories about Rama Duwaji, tying Mamdani to Hasan Piker, and claiming the mayor is "buddies" with Hamas.
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Aastha पास्ता @aasthauprety.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Billionaire talking points fed to an LLM ⬇️
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Nils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Six Nobel laureate economists, including Joseph Stiglitz and Peter Diamond, have penned an open letter backing California’s proposed one-time 5 per cent levy on billionaires, saying it could kick-start a movement to introduce wealth taxes across America and the world. www.ft.com/content/94ec...
ft.com
Nobel economists throw support behind California billionaire tax
Progressive laureates say November ballot measure could ‘start reining in the power’ of ultra-wealthy
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AIPAC Tracker @trackaipac.com · 19/09/2026
"On Thursday, organizers launched the @dropthegenocide20 pledge: A “baseline accountability commitment pledging to not hire, consult, or otherwise promote top Biden White House officials who were responsible for promoting, lying about, and covering up the Gaza genocide,”
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Victor Pickard @victorpickard.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A profound disappointment & major blow against any hope for democratic governance over our media system. Individual policymakers & media owners keep failing us, succumbing to perverse incentives. It's a systemic failure, requiring a structural overhaul of our entire media system from root to branch.
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AIPAC Tracker @trackaipac.com · 20/09/2026
The organizers said the “culture of bipartisan elite immunity” was why “Biden officials knew they could arm, defend, and cover up the genocide in Gaza for 15 months, and simply move back into liberal spaces.” #DropTheGenocide20
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"The purpose of the #DroptheGenocide20 pledge is to demand these officials be removed from future Democratic administrations." Good and important effort here. www.dropthegenocide20.org
dropthegenocide20.org
Sign the Pledge Today
Sign the Pledge to demand top Biden officials be removed from future Democratic administrations, think tanks, and academic and liberal spaces.
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Aastha पास्ता @aasthauprety.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
90% of the panic about Hasan Piker is that people who are terrified of the status quo changing don't want Americans to break through the propaganda they've been fed their whole lives
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Jaya Saxena @jayasaxena.com · 15/09/2026
A lot of people argue that AI food imagery is bad because it's gross. And I agree! But not everyone is so bothered by it. Here, I write about how focusing on aesthetics is a losing game, and how it would still suck if it were beautiful www.weareravenous.com/for-ai-food-...
weareravenous.com
For AI Food Slop, Gross Is in the Eye of the Beholder
AI food imagery would still be a problem even if it didn't look horrifying.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
www.welcometohellworld.com/i-do-not-bel...
Just once in my life I would like to see a Democrat being interviewed by right wing media like Fox News or right wing media like every single other outlet treat their questions with the contempt they deserve. I know it's not going to fix everything or maybe even anything but how much coverage and how much groundswell of excitement from the base do you think it would inspire if when asked about "boys in girls sports" or some other stupid fucking culture war distraction one of them finally said "What the fuck are you talking about man? You sound like a dumb asshole right now."

What's the worst that's going to happen the New York Times is gonna work overtime to make sure you don't get elected? They were already doing that buddy.

You simply say "Are you stupid? Do you think I am stupid? And do you think all of the people watching at home are stupid? Everyone sees through what you are doing. Using one group as a scapegoat for the very real problems everyone has – all caused by Republicans by the way – unlike this fake one you have made up. Dumb asshole."

Just go on the attack for once instead of sitting there trying to please your enemy who is in the process of trying to humiliate you.

And if you want to say something else true that almost no Democrat ever says for some reason you can top it off with a “Every single Republican in our lifetime has sought to make our lives worse in every way possible. I’d like to try to stop that.”
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Sarah Lazare @sarahlazare.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Today, a coalition of orgs including Palestinian Youth Movement, Peace Action, and DSA, announced a campaign to "Drop the Genocide 20." They identify "the top 20 officials most responsible for promoting, lying about, and covering up the Gaza genocide in the Biden White House." dropthegenocide20.org
Head shot photos of Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Brett McGurk, David Satterfield, John Finer, John Kirby, Matthew Miller, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Karine Jean-Pierre, Barbara Leaf, Dorothy Shea, Jack Lew, Lloyd Austin, Samantha Power, Stephanie Hallett, Mira Resnick, Julieta Valls Noyes, Michael Kurilla, Uzra Zeya, Deborah Lipstadt
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Bullwark @bullwark.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I love they think this is some sort of gotcha and not the most stone cold indisputable facts you've ever seen
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American Prestige @amprestigepod.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
E266 - The Biden Administration’s Complicity in Gaza w/ @akbarshahidahmed.bsky.social Journalist and author Akbar Shahid Ahmed returns to the show to talk about his book covering the Biden administration's handling of Gaza. americanprestigepod.com/episodes/390...
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Aastha पास्ता @aasthauprety.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
just so simple and beautiful
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Institute for Palestine Studies @palestinestudies.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
🧵Today we remember the 44th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila Massacres. Between 16–18 September 1982, Israeli forces encircled Beirut’s Sabra neighborhood and Shatila refugee camp, established observation posts overlooking the area, and facilitated the entry of Lebanese Phalangist forces.
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Matt Duss @mattduss.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Democratic voters are overwhelmingly anti-war, yet foreign policy hawks remain massively overrepresented in leadership roles. It’s a problem we need to fix. My piece in @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/worl...
thenation.com
The Reality Today Is That Foreign Policy Hawks Are a Minority in the Democratic Party
It is damn time we all started acting like it.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
“To play in venues that silence anyone advocating for Free Palestine is simply not an option for us… most of the audience supported @macklemore… the real enemy is the Zionist lobby. Up the workers. Free Palestine.” @edsheeran’s band Beoga reminding us what moral clarity is
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Aastha पास्ता @aasthauprety.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Should we not dream of something more for ourselves? Of safe and sustainable union jobs that build infrastructure serving the many, not the few?" Applies to a lot of industries... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Labor unions must unite against AI datacenters | Tyler Turner
Workers should start with a moratorium against building until our livelihoods and communities are protected
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Truthout @truthout.org · 15/09/2026
3 months ago Google search started to prioritize AI summaries over links, and the impact on journalism could not be more devastating. Truthout's overall readership from Google is down 54% against last year. We lost a huge chunk of our audience overnight that we painstakingly built over decades.
truthout.org
We’re Already Living Through Journalism’s Dystopian Future
AI is devouring our industry and undermining access to factual information. We all have a duty to fight back.
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Aastha पास्ता @aasthauprety.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Biden democrats enabled this
This was all presented as necessary for the sake of "protecting. Jewish students," who claimed that protest slogans like "from the river to the sea" made them feel "unsafe".
Palestinian students were threatened with deportation and bodily harm because pro-Israel students said they felt threatened by words. All the news could do was parrot manufactured hysteria about "campus
antisemitism". Meanwhile, it felt like the Palestinian students were being hunted, one by one.
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Stereogum @stereogum.com · 15/09/2026
Ed Sheeran openers drop off tour in solidarity with Palestinian people
stereogum.com
Ed Sheeran Openers Drop Off Tour In Solidarity With Palestinian People
Following Macklemore’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s tour due to the rapper’s outspoken pro-Palestine activism, fellow openers Finneas and Aaron Rowe have dropped off the tour. Finneas made a statement on...
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John Kostyack @kostyack.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
AI will kill us all (IF we let it). Not talking here about rogue AI agents, I'm talking about rogue tech oligarchs helping to torch the planet with major new investments in fossil fuel infrastructure.
bloomberg.com
US Data Centers Set to Burn More Natural Gas Than Most Nations
Data centers in the United States will consume more natural gas than most countries within a decade, according to a new outlook from BloombergNEF.
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Jacobin @jacobinmag.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Americans’ muted reaction to the quarter-century anniversary of 9/11 reveals a waning zeal for the American imperial project. We tolerate it only because we believe it can’t end. But it can.
jacobin.com
Why Is It So Hard to Imagine the End of American Empire?
Americans’ muted reaction to the quarter-century anniversary of 9/11 reveals a waning zeal for the American imperial project. We tolerate it only because we believe it can’t end. But it can.
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Courthouse News @courthousenews.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Mahmoud Khalil sues Columbia over ‘shocking’ disregard for safety of Palestinian students @uebey.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/mahmoud-khal...
courthousenews.com
Mahmoud Khalil sues Columbia over ‘shocking’ disregard for safety of Palestinian students
After spending more than 100 days in ICE detention, the 31-year-old Palestinian activist is continuing to fight the Trump administration’s efforts to deport him.
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Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 14/09/2026
EXCLUSIVE: Macklemore Dropped From Ed Sheeran Tour After Onstage 'Free Palestine' Statements Story: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 14/09/2026
With our national debt hitting historic highs, the austerity hawks are again circling with talks of cutting social programs and public investment. This proposal is far fairer and more fiscally sound: Rebuild the tax code so policymakers have more flexibility to raise revenue as conditions change.
The line graph displays the historic and projected Debt-to-GDP ratio from 1960 to 2060. The y-axis represents the ratio percentage, ranging from 0 to 250, and the x-axis covers the years. A solid green line represents historical data until approximately 2020, then projections are shown with dashed lines from various sources: CBO pre-OBBBA, CBO post-OBBBA, Auerbach & Gale, and Yale Budget Lab. The Roosevelt Institute logo is at the bottom left.
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Noah Hurowitz @noahhurowitz.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
BREAKING: Tonight, a United Airlines flight from Newark to Tel Aviv is set to carry onboard 5 cargo shipments destined for the weapons giant Elbit Systems. Past shipments by United — on passenger flights! — have included parts for fighter jets and tanks theintercept.com/2026/09/09/u...
theintercept.com
United Airlines Ships War Materiel to Israel Aboard Passenger Flights
Unfriendly skies: On United, checked bags might ride next to tank parts bound for Israel. Direct flights to Israel are set to resume tonight.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13/09/2026
Abdul El-Sayed: "Weijia, with all due respect, this is the third time you've asked about a Twitch streamer ... their whole game is to make us fight culture wars so that we don't pay attention to the fact the president has made $2.2 billion ... "
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Aastha पास्ता @aasthauprety.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"Letting go of empire is hard, but being forced to relinquish empire will be even harder." zeteo.com/p/the-burnin...
zeteo.com
The Burning Towers Foreshadowed a Burning World – Viet Thanh Nguyen on the 25 Years After 9/11
On this anniversary, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author describes how the horrific Sept. 11 attacks exposed the simultaneous power and vulnerability of the American empire and its imperial citizens.
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