iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

In short, it's not them and the city they've created that's driving precarity, anxiety, and abandonment. And when the resulting misery threatens the stability of their own profits, the solution is jail cells, zero tolerance, ALPRs, drones, private security, better response times, and camp sweeps.

1193

Reposted by David Forbes

It's not breweries on every corner, it's someone getting high on the corner to numb the pain of displacement. It's not city leaders meeting in secret, it's activist being disruptive at city council. It's not TDA funds unspent on neglected infrastructure, it's cops who aren't getting enough praise.

1141

Reposted by David Forbes

The Asheville Chamber of Commerce has done more to shape our city than almost any other unelected body, which is why it has to fight so hard to convince us that someone *else* is to blame for Asheville's enshitification. It's not hotels, it's that guy who sleeps in a tent...

1152

Reposted by David Forbes

We also get prosecution of crime "regardless of the cause"—a not subtle hint that poor and marginalized folks are being punished too infrequently for survival behaviors. The authors want less consideration of economic / social determinants and more "boot stamping on a human face" (to quote Orwell).

1153

Reposted by David Forbes

And which nonprofit service providers should face "consequences" for not providing security? The Chamber of Commerce is stoking a narrative that harm reductionists and shelters are driving social decay, and should be acting (more) like extensions of the policing and surveillance apparatus.

1171

Reposted by David Forbes

David Forbes @davidforbes.bsky.social · 4h

"What changes would have the greatest positive impact on your business?" Response options are written to boost specific Chamber of Commerce policy goals—and those goals are uniformly carceral. We don't get healthcare, opportunities for youth, traffic calming, mediation programs, etc.

7. What changes would have the greatest positive impact on your business? (Required.)
Option: Putting non-profit organizations on equal footing with businesses for consequences if they don’t provide security while providing services
Option: More activation of areas that have seen frequent problems
Option: Better lighting of areas that have seen frequent problems
Option: Prosecution of criminal activity, regardless of the cause
Option: More public safety officer presence
Option: Other

2202

Thread. The chamber of commerce basically calls the shots in Asheville city hall, to a degree ridiculous even by local government standards, so this is worth watching. Worth noting #avlgov has already hiked taxes and cut services to pour even more cash into the police department post-Helene.

22613

Reposted by David Forbes

Ahana the Sun Goddess ☀️ 🌞 @antisanitygirl.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I do not care what Leo says into a mic until it's "all the total trans healthcare bans in the Catholic Church's massive hospital networks are immediately repealed."

2383145

Reposted by David Forbes

Pope Francis, the darling of the liberal left, was viciously transphobic and did as much if not more to disseminate anti-trans panic as the likes of JK Rowling and Elon Musk.

113155

Reposted by David Forbes

David Forbes @davidforbes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My latest is a hard reality check about the absolute abyss between the gentry-marketed "recovered" Asheville and the actual, struggling city most of us live in. Evictions restarted before the water was even back on and city hall's far more obsessed with spying on locals than aiding them.

18334

David Forbes @davidforbes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

18334

Reposted by David Forbes

Piper Furiosa 🇵🇸🏴🌲🏴‍☠️ @piperfuriosa.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It's very important that none of us share her name. Not even in "awareness" of what has been done to her. Not in sharing images of her doxxing. She's Jane Doe unless *she* chooses not to be. Then, we pursue vengeance against all rapists & their enablers until none of them are fucking left.

7414134

Reposted by David Forbes

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @mady.cat · 30/09/2026

One more to the list of creepy transphobic scientists who wanted to be funded by Epstein

0488

Reposted by David Forbes

Madisyn Parisi (they/them) @madisyn-writes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Third Way is literally trying to turn a big dial that says “Transphobia” and constantly looking back at the audience for approval like a contestant on The Price is Right 😭

0273

Lol have they met the gentry? Ripest marks under the sun every last goddamn one.

1358

I do not care what Leo says into a mic until it's "all the total trans healthcare bans in the Catholic Church's massive hospital networks are immediately repealed."

2383145

Reposted by David Forbes

Robin LeBlanc, from work @robinfromwork.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

From experience in survivor work, the default to "restorative justice" is just part of rape culture. It uses more academic and supposedly liberatory jargon in spaces where traditional patriarchal and religious excuses for abuse wouldn't get as much traction, but to the exact same ends. Nothing more.

310029

Reposted by David Forbes

The film is written, directed, and co-stars Hitoshi Ozawa, a legendary Yakuza actor who is a villain in Yakuza 0, who got his fellow legends involved. This was his passion project inspired by one of his best friends, a trans woman, and he worked with the community for representative casting.

3270782720

Reposted by David Forbes

Amelia Carhartt @theschwall.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We're not allowed to point out that the liberal justices on the Supreme Court helped pave the way for this when they voted unanimously that trans women are not women under Title IX

edsource.org

UPDATE: U.S. Department of Education ends Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students

The latest education news updates from EdSource.

015273

I Travel Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 29/09/2026

Hey, remember how us radical trans extremists were warning that you have to go on the attack against transphobic Dems immediately because otherwise other politicians will take the lack of consequences as permission and the bigotry will spread? Yeah...

3385166

Reposted by David Forbes

Yeah, the idea of “nerdy” spaces being made for a particular type of white guy is due to constant and vigorous policing of who gets to belong. It’s why outrage at seeing Black women in particular, but marginalized people in general, in Marvel movies & games is such an effective vector for the right.

619840

310029

A friend of mine needs some help, y'all.

045

Thread. Notable that contrary to the "male loneliness" nonsense we so often hear, these all involve guys not being coddled: facing full consequences for actions, being held accountable and gender equality not being optional.

13811

Tawni Marshall @tawnimarshall.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Honestly, in the way that snitches and quislings are key to fascism, pieces like this are far more damaging than far-right hate screeds. Every single individual involved in the publication of this story should face consequences accordingly.

3465

Reposted by David Forbes

Worth noting that the Title IX rules that were rescinded didn't include protections for trans student athletes, because Biden withdrew that part on his way out of office. That didn't stop McMahon from framing it that way though.

The Biden administration on Dec. 20 withdrew a proposed rule that would have extended Title IX protections to transgender student athletes, acknowledging that public sentiment and legal challenges made finalizing the rule too difficult.

“It’s exactly how we enforce Title IX,” McMahon said in a video released over the weekend. “It was boys in boys sports and girls in girls sports, and now the Biden rules and regulations are being rescinded and it is a full return to the Trump administration’s Title IX ruling, as has been upheld by many courts.”

210454

Reposted by David Forbes

nick @unionnick.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

On the *same day* the Cornell Seven drugged and raped Jane Doe, Cornell banned four students (including the President of Cornell JVP) from campus for three years for nonviolent, pro-Palestine protests. The same Cornell officials let the rapists off with apology essays.

4450482010

Reposted by David Forbes

David Forbes @davidforbes.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Ok, timeline cleanse. History nerds: what are you reading/would recommend right now? I'm re-reading Ray Huang's masterpiece "1587: a year of no significance" a portrait of the Ming dynasty's decline. One of the best books ever, imo, on how the predatory nature of empire makes its fall inevitable.

The cover of "1587: a year of no significance" by Ray Huang, showing a version of the patch - with two cranes flying high - worn by high-level Ming officials

85912

Reposted by David Forbes

Abuse culture is an ideology. It is not a mistake or a personal flaw. It is an intentional agenda repeatedly, deliberately carried out, especially by those in power. Even those who disagree on other fronts will often unite to preserve it. Only inflicting consequences on a massive scale will stop it

013042

David Forbes @davidforbes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

My first real journalism was investigating extensive rape cover-ups at the state college I was at. A decade later a journalism start-up funded me going back to investigate another scandal over rape cover-ups that had started to hit national news. That's a small glimpse of how pervasive it is.

27016

Reposted by David Forbes

David Forbes @davidforbes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Queer spaces could, overall, have the best conflict resolution practices possible and there would still be occasional fallouts and angry disputes because that's reality among millions of people spread across many communities. Expecting otherwise is delusional. Kill the collaborator in your head.

1899

Reposted by David Forbes

David Forbes @davidforbes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

An actual problem among queer communities, including too many radicals, is reacting to this kind of obvious bullshit with an appeasing crouch and frantic self-criticism rather than the hard contempt our enemies deserve.

19414

David Forbes @davidforbes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Sad I have to point to this sign for multiple days in a row about a blatant smear planted by rabidly anti-trans figures, pretending like conflict at a random lesbian bar is any sort of wider issue. Have some sense, y'all. At least the bare minimum so fash can't play you like a goddamn fiddle.

0229

Reposted by David Forbes

eva (^_^)/ @eva.computer · 27/09/2026

really hope that the message people take away from all the EA sex parties stuff is "don't import inherently coercive real life employer/employee or mentor/mentee dynamics into your edgeplay kink spaces" and not "THEY DO THE IMMORAL KIND OF SEX DISGUSTING"

16847201

Reposted by David Forbes

Ⓐnarchohoodism 🐈‍⬛ 🏴 @161bklyn.myatproto.social · 28/09/2026

"For starters, violations of any kind against incarcerated trans people are generally ignored, uninvestigated, and treated as insignificant. Freedom of speech, expression, and religion is nonexistent. Solidarity and protection for trans people has become extinct behind bars.

truthout.org

“Restrictive Housing” Is Wielded as Punishment Against Trans People in Prison

I am being locked up 23 hours a day with no human interaction. I believe I am being punished for being transgender.

13412

Reposted by David Forbes

Charlotte @fireantprincess.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I feel like instead of now listening to the detrad (haha) wives we should maybe listen to the feminists that all along said that this was fascist propaganda doomed to fail because fascism always sells fantasies that have no connection to reality for the sole purpose of upholding existing hierarchies

218652

Reposted by David Forbes

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The most useless form of news is “CEO says.” Can this tool actually do what it says or is the company just trying to profit off fear?

1132506360

Reposted by David Forbes

Abra / Jessica Conwell, Carmella Creeper's Gender Doula🏳️‍⚧️ 🇲🇽🌼 @pairofclaws.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Some advice from when I was working at a private university: Yes, call, email, write letters, etc. now. But most private universities have some big fundraising week or month that is very important to them. That's when to hit them again and keep their lines busy and systems flooded.

19125

Reposted by David Forbes

Anodyne @anodynesix.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"The national security exception to the [US] Constitution operates through ... statutes vague enough to criminalize charity and speech; informants and undercover agents who manufacture crimes they later 'disrupt'; classified evidence defendants cannot see; mass surveillance; [etc.]"

02312

Reposted by David Forbes

Honestly, one of the reasons harsh consequences for fascists and their collaborators are so essential is to deter exactly this.

1518

Wondering why anarchists are...skeptical of social democracy? The most prominent social democratic politician in america promising to arrest a genocidal war criminal, then publicly passing the buck, then cops from his city government crushing protests against said war criminal...is a handy example

3499

jadehawk "FREE ŁINK" @jadehawk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Honestly, one of the reasons harsh consequences for fascists and their collaborators are so essential is to deter exactly this.

1518

Reposted by David Forbes

Karen Quantico

052

Reposted by David Forbes

Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 27/09/2026

Every three weeks it’s like but white supremacists who mostly care about testosterone and killing minorities were supposed to fix the economy

231928457

Reposted by David Forbes

Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

To want anything as much as bluesky wants to dump its trans users and return to the days of a bunch of technofascist sex pest crypto bros

119522

Reposted by David Forbes