Sign in

benjdm.bsky.social

@benjdm.bsky.social
224 followers 106 following 94 posts
PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
We’ve been talking about this for years. None of these far-right movements are organic.
454194496895
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Chris Kluwe, adjudicated poaster @chriswarcraft.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
So here’s some actual video of my opponent hanging out with white supremacists (it’s at the bottom, is about 15 minutes long)
thetruthoc.com
Gracey Van Derk Mark isn’t just crazy. She’s vile.
Racist? Check. Anti-Semite? Check. Homophobe? Check. Book banner? Check. Assemblywoman? Hells to the no.
1025154
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 10/10/2026
Elite impunity is perhaps the single greatest problem in American politics going back to Gerald Ford’s Watergate pardons. These people keep getting away with it. This needs to stop.
261302297
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
CalMatters @calmatters.org · 11/10/2026
Gavin Newsom backs measure to kill the billionaire tax and ban future wealth taxes Gov. Gavin Newsom isn't just fighting the billionaire tax. He's backing Prop. 42, which would ban future wealth taxes in California, too.
cal.news
Gavin Newsom backs measure to kill the billionaire tax and ban future wealth taxes
Gov. Gavin Newsom isn't just fighting the billionaire tax. He's backing Prop. 42, which would ban future wealth taxes in California, too.
3961942827
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Erik Loomis @erikloomis.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
This Day in Labor History: October 11, 1979. OSHA fined the chemical company American Cyanamid $10,000 for coercing women workers into sterilization if they wanted to work in jobs where they would be exposed to lead and chemicals. Let's talk how companies forced women to be sterilized in the 70s!
48554
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
talia jane @taliajane.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
NYPD keeps insisting it’s not working with ICE in the narrowest scope of not literally participating in kidnappings but then goes silent when people present evidence of ICE using their precincts/parking lots, of NYPD doing crowd control. Big difference in technical and de facto assistance.
5461110
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
No more hypotheticals anymore, we’re here.
415142
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
tferg23.bsky.social @tferg23.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Between this and the AES debate tonight, it's refreshing to hear this from democrats. I'm glad every question is not treated as an opportunity to pivot to "kitchen table issues," but is instead met with all the reasons why the R is a gigantic piece of shit.
41310111
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 09/10/2026
Troy Jackson: "The gentleman's name was Johan Sebastian Guerrero. He had a 3 year old daughter. The only mistake he made that morning was going to work. Because Sen. Collins is not willing to stand up to Donald Trump, he was murdered in the streets of Biddeford for doing nothing wrong."
14390962664
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 07/10/2026
Black text on white background 
"This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.
 
The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them – all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.
 
Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.
 
To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity."
294126292666
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Billie Jean Sweeney @billiejsweeney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
That same nyt reporter this week cast the deep problems in US politics as a product of “polarisation.” Not the extremity of radical Republican actions.
1204
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Billie Jean Sweeney @billiejsweeney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
NYT ME Carolyn Ryan’s portfolio includes oversight of political coverage. Ryan directly oversaw coverage of the 2016 campaign. In between, Ryan oversaw the nyt’s propagandistic coverage of trans ppl, which spread medical falsehoods and right-wing fabrications
15814
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Arienne Childrey @ari4ohio.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Today, I resigned as Vice Chair of the ODP Pride Caucus. The state party expects us to be a sales team, censoring our voices when we beg candidates not to trade on trans lives. I am still a Democrat, but I will not value party approval over true, defiant advocacy. Full text below. 👇
Part 1 of an open letter of resignation by Arienne Childrey, stepping down as Vice Chair and member of the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) Pride Caucus. She states that party leadership treats the caucus as a recruitment and sales team rather than a representative body. She cites an incident where the ODP censored and denied permission for the caucus to post a letter by two trans leaders addressing harmful comments made by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton. The State Party Chair reportedly called the letter an "unwelcome distraction," which Childrey notes demonstrates how little party leadership values the voices and dignity of LGBTQ+ Democrats.
Since that decision, every Caucus plan, every potential post, and every path forward has been filtered through a lens of strict compliance and ODP approval. That may very well be the party's rule, but following those rules right now is a dereliction of our duty to the LGBTQ+ community.

For me, any rule that silences advocacy for the trans community during this time is an unjust rule, and I see no obligation to follow it. In alignment with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail:

“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

We are living in incredibly dangerous times for the trans community. We are in an era where the GOP has so thoroughly weaponized trans lives that even some formerly self-professing allies within our own party have fallen prey to the rhetoric. Looking at the national trend towards Democratic anti-trans triangulation, as well as our own internal conversations, it is clear to me that this shift is much more than a simple coincidence.

We have to speak up—loudly, strongly, and unapologetically—or I fear what our 2028 choices may look like. The ODP would like everyone to believe they are a "big tent" party. However, their successful efforts to silence even the Pride Caucus—even in cases where we are simply begging our candidates not to trade on our lives for perceived electoral advantage—has proven otherwise. The tent hasn't gotten any bigger; it has simply shifted, leaving many trans individuals, progressives, and allies out in the rain.

I will continue to advocate, organize, and fight for our community with everything I have. But I can no longer compromise my own moral principles by remaining part of a caucus that appears more interested in party approval than in true, defiant advocacy.

Sincerely,
Arienne Childrey
522174477
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Earlier this week, I agreed to interviews with two USA Today journalists. They wrote fantastic articles about the Cornell case that I'm proud to have been a part of. What I did not know is that their employer considers interviews to proprietary and opens up recordings to be used by any journalist.
5847091400
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Elizabeth Anne, PhD @lacksauthority.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
never the wrong time for this classic
Screenshot of a tweet by @RobbtKraft reading “scientist: "does everyone here know what Watson and Crick discovered?" 
me from back of room: "Rosalind Franklin's notes"”
56120203573
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
In Austin, a 9-year-old watched ICE detain and drive away with his mother, leaving community members to scramble to find him care. Senate Republicans just blocked a bill that would bar ICE from making arrests at school bus stops. Their cruelty is endless.
commondreams.org
'It Has to Stop': Community Members Condemn ICE Arrests at Bus Stops After GOP Blocks Bill to Protect Kids | Common Dreams
Republicans in the US Senate blocked a bill to protect school bus stops from ICE arrests, leading to outrage in Pennsylv
25057362793
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Status Coup News @statuscoupnews.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
BREAKING: Anti-ICE activists are outside NJ Gov Mikie Sherrill’s office demanding to speak with her. Protesters are demanding she take more aggressive action against Delaney Hall ICE Prison. TheDemands Below. -Public report of findings from Health Dpt Inspection -Governor meeting with DH Detainees
323570
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
ceej @ceej.online · 04/10/2026
“how do we win back trump voters in 2026” we don’t. we create an environment where admitting to voting for trump is so socially embarrassing as to render them completely inert. you don’t “win back” trump voters. you demoralize them into staying home. you make it a dunce cap
152108572344
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I’m gonna put my fist through a wall
1789138
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
WuTangIsForTheChildren @wutangforchildren.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Jack Smith….man of the people at the Power to the People concert hanging out on the lawn….no fancy pavilion seats or backstage laminate pass
1071244425230
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
You can read Jamal’s work here. It was the honor of my life to have been his editor at the Washington Post. Rest in peace, Jamal. And I’m sorry the Washington Post opinions page ended up betraying what we both stood for. www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-...
washingtonpost.com
Opinion | Read Jamal Khashoggi’s columns for The Washington Post
Jamal Khashoggi, a veteran Saudi journalist who Turkish officials say was killed in Istanbul after walking into the consulate of Saudi Arabia, had been writing a column for The Post since last year.
151148251
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Everyone involved in this process — including the Palantir employees — have to be investigated and probably go to jail.
22997313098
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It is totally fair to accuse the Post of making something seem partisan when it's actually not partisan at all.
1487
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
He is not defying the Democrats. He is defying the US Congress, aka the people. A president cannot legally or constitutionally spend money however he wishes to. Congress appropriated the funding. Previous presidents signed those appropriations into law. Trump is lawless. That's the story here.
314557
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Miaganga @miaganga.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
333144634015
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 01/10/2026
He shielded the CIA's torturers from scrutiny and prosecution: journals.law.harvard.edu/ilj/2009/04/... He reneged on his promise to shut down Gitmo: www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
journals.law.harvard.edu
Obama Publishes ‘Torture’ Memos, Immunizes CIA Staff
The Obama Justice Department has released four memos detailing the harsh techniques used on some detainees during the Bush administration.  The memos – three written in 2005 and another in 20…
2956
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Michael Harriot @michaelharriot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Sunday's @washingtonpost op-ed on why “The Great aWOKEning is over" was so absurd, I thought it was a parody article... Until I saw who wrote it 9 years ago, that same columnist wrote a piece whitesplaining why I should "be careful" who I called a white supremacist
dlvr.it
Throwback Thursday: Megan McArdle Can’t Tell Me Shit About White Supremacy
Before Jeff Bezos hired her, the whitest white woman who ever whited dedicated an entire column warning me to “be careful” who I called a white supremacist.
310622
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yes, you voted for this if you voted for Trump. He told you he’d be a dictator. He told you he’d punish America for voting him out in 2020. Don’t blame Trump. Blame yourself.
25323
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 01/10/2026
The “states’ rights” people in the past knew it was bullshit back then too, because slaver states wouldn’t let free states pass laws protecting self-emancipated people within their borders.
4916285
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I hope the survivors who came forward years or decades ago know that they are the reason the Cornell case is resonating the way it is. Every single one of you helped pave a path for people to understand the harms of rape and institutional betrayal. Thank you. I know it’s hard. But thank you.
229753
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The 988 suicide prevention hotline's Press 3 option — which provides specialized services to LGBTQ callers — has been restored more than a year after the Trump administration shut it down. Confirmed by HHS and the office of Senator Tammy Baldwin, who led on legislation that forced its restoration
3433581065
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
NPR @npr.org · 30/09/2026
Disabled kids make up the largest group in foster care. They have the worst outcomes. They stay in foster care longest. They're the most likely to die. n.pr/4hVoNDu
n.pr
Foster care often fails kids with disabilities. Consider these cases
Disabled kids make up the largest group in foster care. They have the worst outcomes. They stay in foster care longest. They're the most likely to die.
418071
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 12/09/2026
The vitriol directed at me and other members of the trans community for having the audacity to declare our votes are not to be taken for granted. By cisgender people who otherwise have called themselves allies. I wish it weren’t so utterly predictable.
1745052688
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 29/09/2026
If you’d asked me to parody how silly and broken legal journalism is, I genuinely don’t think I could have come up with “so the best-known ‘nonpartisan’ Supreme Court outlet is now run by an ex-Trump DOJ flack who had her longtime personal friend Brett Kavanaugh officiate her wedding”
ballsandstrikes.org
The Conservative Takeover of SCOTUSblog Is Just What the Supreme Court Needed
SCOTUSblog used to cover the Supreme Court. Now, it cheers for it.
9674205
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The empathetic folks at Mar-a-Lago react to hearing you lost your healthcare, your child has measles, and you can't afford to gas up your truck:
28362321834
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If attendance at a major women's conference was down 80% due to a boycott fighting against trans *inclusion*, it would be all over the Times, Telegraph, Mail etc. This last weekend, attendance at a major women's conference was down 80% due to a boycott fighting against trans *exclusion*. Crickets.
132500832
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
HUGE: Autozone workers just won the first ever union at the company. Despite Autozone spending an estimated $210,696 and using every tactic in the book to stop just 11 workers from forming a union, the small shop in New York chose to unionize today. These workers will now join the @uaw.org.
11973131624
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
NYT you better credit me as reporting this first this time I swear to God
556153
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
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.
753772739
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 23/09/2026
Incredibly important message from the heroes protesting NYU Langone's denial of health care to trans youth: "WAKE UP, WAKE UP, THIS IS YOUR FIGHT TOO "WHEN THEY'RE DONE WITH US, THEY'RE COMING FOR YOU"
1327104
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
ProPublica @propublica.org · 24/09/2026
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 a ProPublica reporter. (Published Jan. 2025)
propublica.org
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....
4927671129
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 24/09/2026
The cervical punch biopsy and colposcopy was easily the worst pain I’ve felt in my entire life.
829105562129
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We can’t allow this man to get within striking distance of a viable presidential candidacy.
12748711144
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
The Listening Politician @barmanpolitics.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
End billionaires. There is absolutely no reason a human being needs a billion dollars. The idea that one human (and they're entirely without fail completely unethical people with no morals or respect for fellow humans) needs multiple billions is beyond rational explanation. Just no, never, ever.
211141
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Athul K. Acharya @athul.acharya.cc · 23/09/2026
You voted for your daughter’s death and it should torment you until you meet your own
382452384
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 23/09/2026
Someone tell him that tens of thousands of active duty service members are on food stamps.
299103493165
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
TALARICO: “The richest 1% now owns more wealth than the entire middle class. 3 dudes (Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos) now own more wealth than 165 million Americans combined… they aren’t just buying yachts and jets anymore. They’re now buying power.” 🇺🇸 (From @teamtalaricohq.bsky.social )
12247311814
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Kaitlin Is Just Getting Started @gothamgirlblue.com · 14/02/2024
The real distinguishing feature of Grant and Sherman was that they fought the Confederacy to fuck them up, not to placate them. That’s the exact energy Democrats need to have with the ideological heirs of the Confederacy in the GOP.
12384112
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Kentucky Public Radio @kentuckypublicradio.org · 22/09/2026
Kentucky State University women’s basketball player Amina Seck remains detained by ICE six weeks after her arrest while going through security at the Louisville airport. Her attorney says Seck has been in four different detainment facilities.
weku.org
Lawyer of KSU basketball player detained by ICE says the student missed court date for surgery
Kentucky State University's Amina Seck has been in ICE custody since Aug. 7, according to her lawyer.
1011060
Reposted by @benjdm.bsky.social
Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This is not great
61972681985