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‘aesthetically terrifying’

@aruss-updates.bsky.social

727 followers 97 following 4.2K posts

Brooklyn and DC, Gen X, 80s sitcom fan, likes wine and social justice

‘aesthetically terrifying’ @aruss-updates.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I just finished @kashana.blacksky.app’s novel The Payback. It manages to be both ridiculous and highly credible as a statement on student loan debt. And it’s fun! Come for the fashion, stay for the social commentary. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

bookshop.org

The Payback: A Novel

When Jada Williams is relentlessly pursued by the Debt Police, she is left with no choice but to take down her student loan company with the help of two mall coworkers—from the author of the “lethally...

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‘aesthetically terrifying’ @aruss-updates.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

JD Vance’s pillow talk to the couch:

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‘aesthetically terrifying’ @aruss-updates.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

@profcrunk.bsky.social on a Banned for Life panel in Brooklyn noting w/ attacks on the federal level, we need to be local—when states rights have never been our friend. Also on the panel: @toure.bsky.social, @elienyc.bsky.social, @zerlinamaxwell.bsky.social (by video) & @drjasonjohnson.bsky.social

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‘aesthetically terrifying’ @aruss-updates.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Just started @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social’s The Originalism Trap & already want to quote everything! “The originalist ideology’s claim to singular objectivity & legal legitimacy is fascinating, b/c the Venn diagram b/t the results originalism produces & conservative policy preferences is a circle.”

Book cover for: THE ORIGINALISM TRAP
HOW EXTREMISTS STOLE THE CONSTITUTION AND HOW WE THE PEOPLE CAN TAKE IT BACK

MADIBA K. DENNIE

Page 18 of The Originalism Trap:

Originalism encourages far-right agitators throughout the government to let their reactionary freak flags fly.

The originalist ideology's claim to singular objectivity and legal legitimacy is fascinating, because the Venn diagram between the results originalism produces and conservative policy preferences is a circle-they completely overlap. The ascendance of originalism has yielded nationwide policy wins that the conservative legal movement arguably would not have achieved if it had to gain majority support through the political process. Among them are the elimination of pregnant people's right to end their pregnancies, the protection of public-school officials leading students in prayer, the novel curtailment of legislatures' ability to regulate the concealed carrying of guns outside the home, the prohibition of race-conscious admissions policies in higher education, and more. Originalists' goals are, by and large, too odious to successfully pursue democratically, so they use the courts. The alignment of unpopular conservative policy aims and "correct" constitutional interpretation would be a lovely coincidence for the far right if it were at all coincidental. In reality, it's exactly what was planned. Originalism in its present form emerged in earnest not out of some deeply held belief in fidelity to the Constitution, but as a backlash to the successes of the civil rights era.

EVERY VILLAIN HAS AN ORIGIN STORY
Most stories about originalism's rise begin with Robert Bork-the aforementioned failed Supreme Court nominee widely regarded as the intellectual father of the…

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