Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 18/09/2026It's so refreshing. He's showing us a lost art of building power in American politics, too: use government to actually help people and communicate in ways they recognize what you're doing. This creates a durable and regenerative coalition of political support for decades (a la new deal) 132
Reposted by Leo BurnettGillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026The fact that Musk himself is sponsoring so many of the anti-trans ads this cycle presents a pretty golden opportunity for Dems to point out that of course the guy who literally wants to build a gas-powered data center in your backyard wants this election to be about trans people. 373058805
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 07/08/2026If this hospital were owned by the people who pay for its services, it wouldn’t be closing. It’s closing because the executives demand profit. Let‘s not pretend this is a rational decision. It’s cruel and inhumane and simply greedy. 022
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 29/07/2026We should study the political campaign industry as a key driver of the digital advertising ecosystem, the data broker industry + loss of 4th amendment rights. Everything campaigns touch (email, texting, phone calls) they torch and ruin. 120
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Local news media ecosystem was already really bleak, but this year it appears that the Maine Wire is churning out way more racist, inaccurate clickbait - including about city councils and hyper-local stuff no one else is reporting on. That's very, very bad 111
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 22/07/2026Abolish credit scores and make data brokers illegal. This should not be a business that exists. www.404media.co/you-opened-a...404media.coYou Opened a Credit Card. ICE Now Knows Where You LiveHere's how your personal address travels from your credit card provider, through middlemen companies, and ends up with ICE. 021
Reposted by Leo BurnettMegan L. Cook @meganlcook.bsky.social · 21/07/2026I hope all of you who've become out-of-state experts on Maine and its voters in the last month will just as vocally throw your support and resource behind Troy Jackson. Because the Maine senate race IS important, and Jackson CAN win www.pressherald.com/2026/07/20/h...pressherald.comHow Troy Jackson mobilized supporters to take command of Maine’s Democratic Senate raceJackson, a longtime lawmaker, consolidated support among Democrats at weekend caucuses thanks to his campaign's organization and policy overlaps with Graham Platner. He's almost certain to be the nomi... 1133
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 11/07/2026Some entire countries hold elections in a matter of weeks. The Democratic Party being forced to create a democratic and transparent process for this is a good thing. it’s just treated as pure abject failure and chaos because the outcome isn’t determined yet. 170
Reposted by Leo BurnettMarisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 09/07/2026“But the bigger problem is how much of the media of ‘the left’ is dominated by men who appear to have no understanding of sexual abuse or intimate partner violence, but do have a pretty hefty sexist streak that they either aren’t aware of or don’t care to remedy.” YES @juliedicaro.bsky.sociallosingmyperspicacity.beehiiv.comWe have an even bigger problem than Graham PlatnerThe candidate's rise and fall perfectly illustrates the sexism in lefty media 11749481166
Reposted by Leo BurnettPrisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 26/06/2026"What I learned, from ACT-UP and the squatters movement, was that in thinking about electoral politics, ideology doesn't matter much. Only 2 questions matter. What can a person holding that position actually do? Will they do it?" - Seth Tobocman Basically. 227565
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 25/06/2026This is a great post. I keep thinking about a few interactions I've had with older boomer men being enthralled with ChatGPT. It was more than just liking it on a utility level: they are clearly getting some validation and raw emotional sustenance from having someone (a tool) think they are brilliant 110
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 25/06/2026I think a really important thing to know about the democratic party establishment and specifically the staffers is that they got their jobs by being loyal - not by being particularly talented. Some of the most incompetent people fail upwards. Most will be incapable of adapting and that is fine 140
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 18/06/2026I love that the ranked choice voting livestream is boring and just shows the inside of dimly lit office building and clerks counting votes. This is just government working. That being said I do hope they have a tiiiny bit of theatrical flair when reading the final votes. #mepolitics 151
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 09/06/2026The @workingfamilies.org has zero on the ground infrastructure in Maine yet they have sent mailers and texts in support of Jackie sartoris for DA and for the progressive gov ticket. I wish groups that have no in-state grassroots network gave $$ to in state groups or organizers instead #mepolitics 130
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 06/06/2026At this point you’ve got to recognize that there are two completely different discussions happening about the Platner race, depending on whether you’re in or out of the state of Maine. I have zero interest in discussing the race with someone who isn’t in the state. 470
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026My parents met working at the local newspaper (before it was sold for parts and dismantled, of course) and the newspaper kid in me is constantly impressed by the incredible work being done by @404media.co and indie journalists like @marisakabas.bsky.social. Give them your money and attention. 010
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 08/05/2026Yup. But no politician wants to be blamed for raising their own salary. Grassroot groups have to demand and campaign on this. 010
Reposted by Leo BurnettDr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 07/05/2026“On Bullshit Engines' Politics” link.springer.com/chapter/10.1... 110344
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 30/04/2026Folks outside of Maine focusing on Platner and all his ills with zero context to just how cruel and damaging Janet Mills has been to just about every single marginalized group in the state should maybe refrain from comments today. 120
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 23/04/2026When Portland's skydio drone gets used to surveil protests, I plan to send a "thank you" note to every city councilor who ignored the will of the community, plugged their ears, and voted to expand surveillance anyway. #mepolitics theintercept.com/2026/04/20/l...theintercept.comLAPD Deployed Drones to Spy on No Kings ProtestFlight records show that Los Angeles police dispatched drones 32 times over last month’s No Kings rally. 010
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 13/04/2026"For more than an hour, several employees said, workers in the facility were instructed to continue fetching totes, picking items off shelves and loading them onto trucks for delivery as the man lay dead, and management figured out their next steps." 010
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 03/04/2026"It’s exposed a gulf between those who want to have their words remembered and those who just want people to remember that they wrote." Brilliance from @marisakabas.bsky.social www.thehandbasket.co/p/refusing-t...thehandbasket.coRefusing to accept big tech's AI-poisoned 'future of journalism'Humans, however flawed, are 16911
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 19/02/2026If I had 60 hrs to spare I’d like to dig into every tech purchase made by local govs with covid relief money and how the recurring software costs for these purchases are about to hit for the first time and only go up from here on out. Surprise! 020
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 19/02/2026The magic of the thoroughly undemocratic city gov system: unelected staff make political choices with zero awareness of the political cost. Someone in the assessors office should be fired. Will they? 110
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 12/02/2026When you've given up trying to empathize or be kind to people, dogs will still love you. Even if your soul is dead inside and you're responsible for the deaths of millions, your dog will still love you. Maybe that's why. 010
Reposted by Leo BurnettKat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 10/02/2026I’m glad to see people protesting Discord forcing IDs for age verification, but what I need everyone to understand is that there’s immense bipartisan pressure to make the entire internet like this, and they are likely going to succeed unless something drastic happens 3633141284
Reposted by Leo BurnettMeridith Bolster @meribolst.bsky.social · 29/01/2026www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/a...pressherald.comA pastor searched for a missing congregant. He found a car with the keys on the floorEvaristo Kalonji, an asylum seeker from Angola who has no criminal record, vanished from South Portland. He turned up in one detention center, then another. 161
Reposted by Leo BurnettDylan Tusinski @dylantus.bsky.social · 29/01/2026Video shows ICE leaving behind an infant and broken glass after arresting a man with no criminal history. “There was a car seat in the back... There were broken glass shards all over it... There was just this tiny peanut of a baby. He was crying.” My latest: www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/i...pressherald.comICE agents shatter window, leave 1-month-old baby, mother in car after Portland arrestVideo shows federal immigration agents leaving behind an infant and broken glass after detaining a Guinean immigrant with no known criminal history. 12952033156
Reposted by Leo BurnettErin Maye Quade @erinmayequade.bsky.social · 25/01/2026We are observers, not protestors. We show up to document and film the atrocities ICE is committing. Using 5 year olds as bait. Kidnapping senior citizens. Breaking down doors without warrants. Murdering poets and nurses. Media has all of that information because *observers* were there to document it 2252351537
Reposted by Leo BurnettWilliam C. @williamcson.bsky.social · 08/01/2026Once you understand that you're dealing with murderous liars, you stop entertaining what they say as possibly credible and legitimate. The fight against them is about stopping them from terrorizing and killing by any means, not winning debates about your reality versus theirs. 142750910
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 23/01/2026We are witnessing in #PortlandME the full scale assault and abduction of our neighbors and unsurprisingly the press coverage is three steps behind. Of course the feds are lying when they say they are rounding up criminals. Of course they are lying when they say they are here illegally. 110
Reposted by Leo BurnettMegan Piontkowski Illustration @meganpiont.bsky.social · 15/01/2026"How to Report ICE" #Maine edition is up! Print, cut, fold and distribute to help keep our neighbors safe! drive.google.com/file/d/1SYez...drive.google.comMaine-SALUTE-zine-1-15-26.pdf 46647
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 14/01/2026"ICE violence is enabled by ICE surveillance, often with help from local police and city-run surveillance systems. If local leaders want to protect their residents from ICE's gestapo tactics, one of the most immediate things they can do is roll back and limit surveillance" 010
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 09/01/2026Consistent ongoing theme that almost any regulation with the purpose of "protecting kids" or "ensuring safety" online for children or s*x workers is a backdoor for authoritarian surveillance. 020
Reposted by Leo BurnettKetan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 30/12/2025I hate these charts so much because they imply chatgpt is comparable to the internet or phones You could create the same graphic for full screen pop-up advertising on websites and make them look like ultra-rapid technology adoption when really they were just baked unavoidably into the internet 643060779
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 22/12/2025I wrote a piece in the @mainemorningstar.com on data centers and the AI debate in Maine- and why political leaders should catch on to the growing pushback to big tech #mepolitics 130
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 22/12/2025Calling it a fancy spellcheck instead of AI is both a great mockery and it’s descriptive and actually helpful in explaining what large language models actually ARE which are prediction machines and not at all intelligent 010
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 15/12/2025There are some pretty scary political applications of AI, especially with video. But as someone who has worked in the churn n' burn political biz, I think AI's largest impact won't be in the realm of persuasion but rather in further eroding the legitimacy of the entire process 110
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 01/12/2025I've noticed a new trend where the for-profit utility companies (spectruminternet, CMP electricity) are starting to send customer emails that make it seem like they are being proactive and responsive, like "we're letting you know that we're monitoring the storm" 110
Reposted by Leo BurnettCharles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · 27/11/2025Joseph Weizenbaum wrote that, "The myth of technological and political and social inevitability is a powerful tranquilizer of the conscience," and one thing I'm thankful for today is everybody working together to fight the myths of inevitability. 0227
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 13/11/2025And even in the actual "news" sections, the headline is "Dems are angry at Angus, in an unexpected and new development" as though it's just whiny partisans who are pissed their healthcare premiums are doubling. 020
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 13/11/2025Candidates whose whole politics amounts to “let’s just all be reasonable and sit around a table and calmly solve our differences” are a fascist’s ideal politician. 000
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 13/11/2025Has anyone in Maine done a search for George Mitchell in the Epstein trove yet? Elite impunity isn’t just in Washington.. #mepolitics 110
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 10/11/2025Angus King is a businessman and he leads with that perspective. Time to get back to work, everyone. Solidarity? Leverage? Fight? Foreign concepts to a guy whose entire career is one long train of forgettable, pro-corporate policies sprinkled with self-serious speeches. #mepolitics 131
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 10/11/2025Worth noting that the same ways Susan Collins is repeatedly given the fluff treatment by the Maine press (something covered in excellent detail by @collinswatch.bsky.social) is how King is treated, too. Today's Press Herald headline: "Shutdown end in sight as Maine’s King helps break stalemate" 110
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 10/11/2025Angus King and Janet Mills both could have retired comfortably and retained their reputation as fairly respected politicians. Instead both decided to cling to power into their 80s and show the entire nation their true colors. #mepolitics 152
Leo Burnett @cascobay.bsky.social · 22/10/2025Increasingly clear that more people need to understand what the cloud is and the basics of how it works. Having the entire web hosted on Amazon Web Services is a huge vulnerability - not to mention a consolidation of power and loss of democracy when AI is brought into the picture. 110