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JEM

@jem808.bsky.social
62 followers 208 following 82 posts

Interested in the ways that power is effected in society, especially in the context of technology, sports, and elections

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Reposted by JEM
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 19/12/2025
“…one of the most difficult aspects of an active surveillance state is navigating the information about ourselves — and our neighbors — that we give up of our own free will.”
rollingstone.com
ICE Raids Rely on a Surveillance State. Does Filming Them Make It Worse?
The aggressive crackdown of ICE raids have turned the average American street into a battlefield, increasing our reliance on the surveillance state.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 16/12/2025
Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it faced hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects last year. (Published July 2024)
propublica.org
School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.
Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state program...
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
The White House’s insistence on using Sabrina Carpenter’s work and image to promote their crimes against humanity is also them appealing to their base, which already uses technology to try and humiliate and puppeteer the likenesses of women who have autonomy, success, and visibility in public
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Erin Overbey @erinoverbey.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Louis C.K. is not a *cancelled performer.* He’s a sexual predator who blacklisted dozens of talented artists & women if they didn’t submit to his sexual harassment & assaults. He’s notorious in the industry for his despicable behavior & this redemptive framing sucks @newyorker.com
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John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 26/11/2025
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
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Tabatha Southey🇨🇦 @tabathasouthey.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
Massive shoutout out to whoever handles the Royal Canadian Air Force’s social media account. They responded to every single comment on their already very solid Trans Day of Remembrance post and they responded like this…
A screenshot of a Facebook post where a person named Andy ask the Well now “What the hell is transgender?”
The Royal Canadian Air Force account response with “That’s a pretty big question asked in a pretty small way, Andy.

‘Transgender’ putting  describes someone whose gender – who they know themselves to be – doesn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth. It’s not new, and it’s certainly not a fad. People have lived this experience for as long as people have existed; we’re just finally talking about it openly.

You don’t have to fully understand it right away, most learning takes time, but we can always start from a place of respect. That’s how decent folks handle things they’re still getting used to.”
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
The comparison isn’t perfect but I kind of think Olivia Nuzzi is to journalism what Jake Paul is to boxing. Influencer culture usurping institutions and turning outrage and negative engagement into maximum clicks and therefore value, plus it flatters elite interests
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Mark Goble @goblemark.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Peter Coviello isn't on Bluesky, but this definitely should be: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
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Paul Fairie @paulisci.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women 🧵
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
OK. Let's fucking go. Kat next.
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 05/11/2025
I am no longer employed so I'm not blogging Zohran tonight but I can just repeat exactly what I said in June :-) he won on the back of a pro-migrant, pro-trans, pro-working class campaign. and also: Dem pundits are full of shit
teenvogue.com
The Democratic Party Needs to Learn from Zohran Mamdani's Guts and Backbone
Zohran Mamdani did something different, and it made all the difference.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 05/11/2025
i closed out my column this week with this preemptive jab at basically every commentator currently looking for ways to say that last night didn’t count
If these elections had gone the other way — if the Democratic Party had underperformed or even lost one of these contests — then every commentator under the sun would say, rightfully, that Democrats were in disarray; that even the president’s deep unpopularity couldn’t keep them afloat with voters.

But Tuesday was a Democratic victory. And the party didn’t just win — it won by commanding majorities on virtually every field of play. In polls, in focus groups and now at the ballot box, the public is telling us something very clearly: Trump is simply too much. If this is an opportunity for Democrats to win back lost ground — and it is — then it is also a warning to a Republican Party that has tied its entire identity to the man from Mar-a-Lago.
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
This NYT story about how Mamdani dealt with the opposition by the city's elites fails to mention one particular elite institution: The NYT editorial page, which last June railed against him as "uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges... lacks political savvy" www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/n... 1/
nytimes.com
How Zohran Mamdani Beat Back New York’s Elite and Was Elected Mayor
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Stepping in here to defend Ann’s statement, which I’ve now seen framed this way by several technologists. Ann is an author. Her context is about usability, not technical capacity. On the merits of her context, she is correct. Technical specificity does not change her conclusions.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
It doesn’t matter what I think. Also, none of this would ever happen. But if I had a zillion dollars: 1. Run a “we do hard things” campaign across southern and rust belt states. Invest heavily in local, state and regional social infrastructure. Sponser later hours at a library, build a skate park…
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Today's winner of the "Please STFU" Award is Kat Abughazaleh. She was right to hang up! Don't talk about the facts of your federal indictment on a podcast! Or anywhere except your lawyer's office! Sincerely, Every Lawyer, Literally All Of Us, Heed Our Counsel And Shut The Fuck Up
Congressional Candidate Kat Abughazaleh Walked Off My Interview — Here’s What Happened
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JEM @jem808.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Very helpful, putting Lakoff into practice
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 22/10/2025
While this federal administration has been busy empowering ICE to become, essentially, an extrajudicial militia allowed to disappear people from our streets, the Bay has been organizing. We will not be beaten down.
coyotemedia.org
What We Can Do About ICE
ICE is in the Bay Area. And yes, we can all do something about it.
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Cops led us into the street as the new “protest zone” and then beat us repeatedly. Got hit in the face with a baton. Leaving to pick up my friends who were arrested. Stay safe out there.
This picture is from about 5 minutes after being hit. A visible bruise is forming on my right cheekbone and by my right eye.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14/10/2025
we’ll see how his mayoral tenure shakes out but i am convinced that Mamdani has the juice. not just the charisma to win an election but the temperament to govern and the measured pragmatism of someone who genuinely believes what they’re saying and wants to accomplish real things.
nytimes.com
Inside the Improbable, Audacious and (So Far) Unstoppable Rise of Zohran Mamdani
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David Sirota @davidsirota.com · 13/10/2025
This is some of the best political news I've seen in a very long time. There's a clear a way to end the Citizens United precedent by changing state incorporation laws - and now luminaries in both parties are forcing a vote on it in the 2026 election.
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 09/10/2025
you'd think a prominent news outlet like the New York Times might mention that "antifa" isn't an actual organization in a long story about antifa, but nope! and the subhead helps props up a false claim this professor was up to something seedy as something up for debate
NYT headline: "Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats"

subheadline: "Mark Bray was teaching courses on antifascism. Turning Point USA accused him of belonging to antifa, which he denies. His flight to Spain was canceled abruptly on Wednesday night."
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Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy. Some thoughts from my new piece: 🧵
steady.page
We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly
Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy
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JEM @jem808.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
What a story!
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Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
There is a gulf in America. I submit it is the gulf between good and evil, or at least not-evil and evil. The gulf is not just between people who oppose this and people who are indifferent to it or reluctantly accept it in support of immigration policy or see it as collateral damage. /1
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Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 24/09/2025
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it). But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
photo of paulina borsook
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Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
I wrote about the dangerous fantasy of the civility framework in political discourse. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Civility Is a Fantasy
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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
How about we not compliment people like Joe Rogan who spew the most gut bucket, fascistic, antisemitic conspiracy theories out there while “defending” free speech? www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/a...
"You don't think that the [expletive] globalist lizard people who run the world are sitting here going: 'Great, what do we got — three years? We'll wait this out. We'll wait this out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let them say the government should be involved in censoring people's speech'"
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Ethan Stark-Miller @estarkmiller.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
EXCLU: @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social will announce today he is cancelling a televised town hall with WABC News planned for Sept. 25 in the wake of the network suspending comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show last week. www.amny.com/news/mamdani...
amny.com
EXCLUSIVE | Mamdani to pull planned ABC town hall event after network suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s show | amNewYork
Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani will announce Monday that he is cancelling a televised town hall with WABC News planned for Sept. 25 in the wake of
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
As I told @newrepublic.com, "Once last week, twice today, ICE has picked me up and thrown me on the ground. Honestly, it doesn’t compare to what our neighbors who are trapped inside the Broadview processing facility are going through. They’re committing crimes against humanity there."
newrepublic.com
I’m a Congressional Candidate. I Was Assaulted by ICE.
An interview with Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old Democratic House candidate in Illinois, who was violently thrown to the ground twice at a peaceful protest in Illinois on Friday morning.
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Right-wingers are calling for my arrest. You know why? Because they know I’m the only candidate in my race who will actually stand up to ICE and Trump. And they’re right.
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🦇🎃💀 Riana-mator 💀🎃🦇 @riana.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
I have a 2-part blog post at @techdirt.com today on the FTC order to Aylo re CSAM on Pornhub. Part 1 is about the order's lurking 4th Am problem; Part 2 explains how the order is really about controlling *legal* speech online. 1: www.techdirt.com/2025/09/15/t... 2: www.techdirt.com/2025/09/15/t...
techdirt.com
The Trump FTC’s War On Porn Just Ensured That Accused CSAM Offenders Will Walk Free
Well, they finally did it. A federal agency finally shattered the precarious base that upholds the edifice of prosecutions for child sex abuse material (CSAM) in America. That agency is the Federal…
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Must read www.bostonreview.net/articles/a-g...
bostonreview.net
A General Air of Anxiety - Boston Review
The Red Scare targeted my father. He taught me the meaning of resistance.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Hawaii’s health insurers say they will cover COVID vaccinations for anyone older than six months, despite new FDA guidance that says children and healthy adults don’t need the shots.
hawaiinewsnow.com
Hawaii insurers hold firm on COVID vaccine policies
While public health advocates applaud the decision by Hawaii’s insurers, doctors and pharmacies are predicting a big drop in vaccinations.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 30/08/2025
A big difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans understand the science of political communication. Republicans dictate the topics/terms of debate while Dems (and the left) usually burn energy in constant response. Thiel and Co call this mimetics, Lakoff calls it framing.
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Walker Bragman @walkerbragman.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Just tried watching Ezra Klein’s latest NYT podcast episode on how the U.S. got to this point where vaccines are so politicized. It’s pretty clear that Klein and his guests—David Wallace Wells and Rachael Bedard—really do not understand why/how the political right turned on vaccines.
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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
I'm thankful Don took the time to make this case in such a methodical fashion. I found it very convincing.
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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 25/08/2025
My experience with state elected officials in Sacramento is almost universally negative to the point that I'm amazed the state functions at all. But would love to see if @chriswarcraft.bsky.social can change that...
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Chris Kluwe @chriswarcraft.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
Hey everyone, you’ve been asking me to run for office for a while, so guess what? I’m running for California State Assembly! Now, I don’t like asking for money, but we gotta pay for this somehow, and if everyone throws in $7 we’ll have the resources to run one hell of a race, so, uh, do the thing.
kluweoc.com
Donate to Chris Kluwe
Show your support with a contribution.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
It’s mind boggling how many additional people this administration is killing. “I have been in this business for over 50 years on the front lines of public health…And I can say unequivocally that this was the most dangerous public health decision I have ever seen made by a government body.”
pbs.org
Federal mRNA funding cut is 'most dangerous public health decision' ever, expert says
Many public health experts and scientists say they are stunned by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s decision to cancel nearly half a billion dollars in federal funding for future vaccine develop...
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Erin L. Thompson @artcrimeprof.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Peth Hegseth has announced that the Arlington Confederate Monument - or, as I call it, the Monument to the Myth of the Loyal Slave - will be reinstalled after its 2023 removal. Here's why that's a huge insult to Black Americans, past and present.
Peter Hegseth tweet announcing reinstallation of Arlington Confederate Monumentphotograph of the Arlington Confederate Monument before removal
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 05/08/2025
Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.
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City of Berkeley @berkeleyca.gov · 05/08/2025
Berkeley: We built a whole new Willard Park clubhouse. You: 👏👏👏 No more window peeking. Time to come inside. Join us for a tour on National Night Out: berkeleyca.gov/commu... 🏡 Willard Park Clubhouse 🗓️ August 5, 6–7:30pm 🎉 Free open house ♻️ Green features, programs, good vibes
berkeleyca.gov
National Night Out at Willard Park Clubhouse | City of Berkeley
Join us at the brand-new Willard Park Clubhouse for an open house event to see the new facility and connect with your neighbors!Celebrate community while exploring this beautiful new space—Parks, Recreation and Waterfront staff will be on hand to give tours, highlight the building’s eco-friendly features, and share info about local recreation programs, upcoming events, and rental opportunities. It’s a great chance to see what’s new, get involved, and enjoy the park with friends and family!
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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Misogyny (framing itself as a desire to 'protect' women from violent, racially-othered men) is a hallmark of fascist political cultures. It also taps into the long history of lynching in the US which was almost always justified with lies about Black men's sexual violence against white women.
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JEM @jem808.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
The Mars Room was so good
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JEM @jem808.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Just insane framing. The implication is that the NY laws “failed” when the reality is that decisions outside the state are the real policy failures.
A screenshot of a NYT headline that says “even New York’s strict gun laws couldn’t prevent midtown shooting”
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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 27/07/2025
I had to spend two and a half years fighting a frivolous lawsuit that was a direct result of Bollea v. Gawker. And that lawsuit massively decreased our capability to do what we do, so I take issue with one of Hulk Hogan's lawyers claiming that Bollea v. Gawker had no impact on journalism
Lawyer Dilan Esper writing about how amazing the Bollea v. Gawker case was for him while insisting no harm done to the 1st Amendment.

I can't say that much about our mediation strategy (it's shrouded in lawyer-client privilege and work product) but I have seen Nick Denton make accusations about it, and they are false. We were willing to settle; Gawker needed to offer a lot more than they did though.

In other words, Peter Thiel was not my client and he was not directing the litigation behind the scenes. We were actually litigating the case exactly the same way we would have had Bollea been personally paying his bills.

Thiel may have had his reasons for getting Gawker (and to be clear, he apparently paid the bills for several cases that were brought by us and others against Gawker), but the strategy doesn't work without a viable case. Gawker hung itself with its conduct towards Bollea.

The bottom line is I take a great deal of professional pride in what we did. Precisely because we actually didn't ruin the First Amendment. No outlet is prevented from doing real journalism as a result of the Bollea v. Gawker case. We simply enforced a long existing norm.

And drew a line in an era of "anything goes" content on the Internet. This was Hulk Hogan's legacy, and in a very real way, it is mine as well.
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JEM @jem808.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
Headline encapsulates it perfectly
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