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Joseph Torres

@josephtorr.bsky.social
465 followers 417 following 50 posts

Media activist, writer, Free Press/Media 2070, News for All the People: Epic Story of Race & the American Media (co-author). Boricua proud.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Joseph Torres
Jessica J. González @jgo4justice.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Further press reports indicate that this deal Bonta’s working on is extremely weak tea. Here’s @freepress.bsky.social statement: www.freepress.net/news/free-pr... We are calling for AGS to hold strong. #BlocktheMerger #NoConcessions
freepress.net
Free Press Calls on Attorney Generals Not to Cave to Ellison’s Extortion
The reported deal would abandon the thousands of creatives and workers who risked speaking out and the tens of millions of consumers the attorneys general should be fighting for.
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Joseph Torres @josephtorr.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I am an executive producer of a feature-length documentary directed by my friend, Christina DiPasquale, called Barrio Television. It was announced today that the feature-length doc is now a finalist for the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film.
deadline.com
Finalists Announced For Library Of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize For Film
The 2026 Library Of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize For Film has announced six finalists in the running for the lucrative documentary award.
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Stacy Mitchell @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
1. Amazon has built powerful pricing algorithms that have learned how to steer prices upward — not just on Amazon, but across the web. I have a new piece on how these algorithms work, and how they help sustain Amazon’s monopoly.
washingtonmonthly.com
How Amazon’s AI Algorithms Raise the Prices You Pay
Amazon can steer market-wide prices without ever colluding—exposing a gap in antitrust law that the FTC is now fighting to close.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
"Bolsonaro has begun a twenty-seven-year prison sentence for his role in January 8, while the instigator of January 6 sits in the Oval Office...Should we in the United States try a Brazilian strategy?" spoiler: I answer yes. me, for @bostonreview.bsky.social www.bostonreview.net/articles/tru...
bostonreview.net
Truth Without Reconciliation
Why did Brazil’s democratic institutions hold firm while those in the United States so quickly wilted?
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Bobby Rivera @bobbyrivera21.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Denise Oliver-Velez, RIP. Pa’lante, siempre pa’ lante!
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Ida B Wells' Winchester Rifle @dytsras.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Rest in Power ancestor ✊🏾 @deniseoliver-velez.bsky.social www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...
dailykos.com
Our Beloved Denise is now with the Ancestors…
Rest in power, dear one. So much love and gratitude to you… Update from Devin: https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-the-legacy-of-denise-oliver-velez?lid=cau1c80eosdq&utm_medium=email&
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Joseph Torres @josephtorr.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Come check out the forthcoming documentary (work in progress) on the remarkable story of how Puerto Rican activists created the first Latino bilingual public-affairs show on TV (PBS). I am the film's exe producer & will join its director (Christina DiPasquale) & producer for a discussion afterwards.
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Nora Benavidez @attorneynora.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Another killing by ICE today in Maine. The third government killing of a civilian in less than a week since Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Tyrin Johnson.
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
The Birthright Citizenship Decision Is More Evidence for Court Reform talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-b...
talkingpointsmemo.com
The Birthright Citizenship Decision Is More Evidence for Court Reform
As you’ve seen, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of birthright citizenship...
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Andrew Weinstein @andrewjweinstein.com · 30/06/2026
The real headline from the birthright‑citizenship case isn’t the outcome. It’s that four Supreme Court justices signaled they believe a president can effectively rewrite the Constitution through executive order.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
For them, it does. They cannot conceive of a world in which someone they think should belong to a suboordinate class has the same rights as them. That's also why they hate the Reconstruction amendments. bsky.app/profile/gabr...
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
The SCOTUS today reaffirmed the guarantee of birthright citizenship. In so doing, it affirms the 1898 SCOTUS decision in Won Kim Ark. United States. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Suddenly, Britain is indicating that it might put the kibosh on Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. www.reuters.com/business/med...
reuters.com
UK leaning towards intervening in $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery deal
Britain is leaning towards intervening in Paramount Skydance Corp's proposed $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery , citing concerns over the impact on ​media freedom and the provision of on-...
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Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan on X) @markanthonyneal.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
" @sjjphd.bsky.social has created a thorough and necessary survey of Black mediamakers, both past and current, and the landscape of challenges, possibilities and achievements that define their tradition." -- @jelaniya.bsky.social | @harpercollins.bsky.social www.harpercollins.com/products/a-s...
harpercollins.com
A Second Sight
"I have been waiting for a book like this, and I’m so glad it's here." — Clint Smith, author of How the Word is Passed Since the nation’s foun...
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Ruling against TPS for Haitians, the Trump justices on the Supreme Court have set a new impossible standard for proving discrimination against non-whites: if there is any other reason *in addition* to the racism, the racism doesn’t count www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Mullin now sets up an even more impossible double standard. If the government wants to discriminate against Black people, any pretext will do. “As long as there is a plausible basis—any plausible articulable basis—for the government’s action, then the Court will look to that basis as sufficient,” Aderson Francois, a law professor at Georgetown University, told me, “even in the face of evidence that government actors were motivated by animus.” If a Black person wants to prove they’ve been discriminated against, however, no amount of evidence will suffice.

“This Court sees race when it wants to, and blinds itself to racism in most other cases,” Melissa Murray, a law professor at NYU, told me. “It’s hard to imagine how egregious the statement would have to be to be considered ‘overtly racial’.”
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Free Press @freepress.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
FCC Chair Brendan Carr has turned his once-independent agency into Trump's censorship machine. Now he's exploiting his position to target trans representation under the guise of TV ratings. This is just another effort to dismantle free speech and erase DEI. Free Press' Courtney Morrison explains:
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 25/06/2026
The Supreme Court just launched one of the largest attacks on immigrants in modern American history. Thousands of Haitians and Syrians now risk losing the right to live and work in the country they call home.

This decision will cause enormous pain across the five boroughs. Here in New York, it falls hardest on our Haitian community, one of the largest in the country, alongside Syrian families.

I joined labor leaders with 1199SEIU, elected officials, and advocates to send a clear message to immigrant New Yorkers: You belong here. We will not turn our backs on you.

The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs will share additional information and resources soon. If you have questions about your status or need legal assistance, call our Immigration Legal Support Hotline at 800-354-0365.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
theatlantic.com
Conservatives Want the Antebellum Constitution Back
The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments are in trouble.
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Compare Alito's description of Trump's racist statements (on the left) to Justice Kagan's anthology of Trump's racist statements (on the right). These are passages from this morning's opinions in Mullin v. Doe.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Grok is now in the history manipulation business. And what more important history to distort at this moment than that of the 14th Amendment.
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Janai Nelson @janainelson.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
BREAKING: SCOTUS’s extremist majority has endangered hundreds of thousands of US residents from Haiti and Syria by denying them access to justice as they await asylum. For some, this is a death sentence. For all, it is a travesty of justice. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
US supreme court allows Trump administration to strip Haitians and Syrians of protected status
Decision effects hundreds of thousands of people who have permission to live and work in the US because their home countries are unsafe
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Joseph Torres @josephtorr.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Congratulations @sjjphd.bsky.social …just arrived in the mail…
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 12/06/2026
"With fees estimated at about $500mn, it’s probably not surprising that there were few warnings from the Wall Street establishment that the shares might be overvalued." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
SpaceX’s IPO is a display of Musk’s dominance
His unrivalled grip on the public imagination has transmuted into Wall Street gold
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 12/06/2026
now that's a fucking Space X IPO headline
theverge.com
The world’s first trillionaire is a killer
Elon Musk’s empire of wealth is built on suffering.
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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Well if you want to read about how many many years ago there were folks already extremely concerned about the growing editorial power and mainstream legitimization of Bari Weiss. And what happened when they tried to raise alarms, you should really read my book! It’s in there!
bookshop.org
A Second Sight: How the Wonder and Vision of Black Mediamakers Push America Toward Freedom
How the Wonder and Vision of Black Mediamakers Push America Toward Freedom
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Joseph Torres @josephtorr.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
hollywoodreporter.com
Scott Pelley Fired From ‘60 Minutes’ After Ripping New Leadership in Tense Meeting
The veteran correspondent and former 'CBS Evening News' anchor had called out Bari Weiss and new '60' EP Nick Bilton in a meeting Monday.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 02/06/2026
Peter Thiel’s move to Argentina tells you everything you need to know about how billionaires see the future. But it's important to understand where he got the idea. The Sovereign Individual: Peter Thiel, Argentina, and the Network State. www.thenerdreich.com/the-sovereig...
thenerdreich.com
The Sovereign Individual: Thiel, Argentina and the Network State
Thiel’s passport-collecting spree reflects his apocalyptic psyche. But it connects directly to his politics, which see technology as an “incredible alternative to politics.”
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
NEWS: In September, the Washington Post fired me in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk killing. This week, after eight months, I'll be heading to arbitration against the Post to challenge my termination. karenattiah.substack.com/p/my-case-ag...
karenattiah.substack.com
My Case Against the Washington Post Goes to Arbitration This Week
Eight months after challenging my termination, my case against The Washington Post will finally be heard by an arbitrator.
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Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Giants OLB Abdul Carter on why he responded critically to Jaxson Dart’s decision to introduce Donald Trump: www.usatoday.com/story/sports...
"First off, I'm going to say that some things are bigger than football, and this is one of those things. Jason is one of our leaders," Carter said.
. "He's the face of our franchise. He not only represents himself and what he does, but he represents all of us, and that goes for anybody who wears a Giants uniform.
"But if he chooses to align himself with a man like President Trump, it's my responsibility based on what I believe and what I stand on to not only show my teammates that I'm against that, but to show the world.
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Clarence B. Jones, lawyer and speechwriter who drafted part of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream” speech, has died. He was 95.
nytimes.com
Clarence B. Jones, Who Helped Shape ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech, Dies at 95
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
This gathering on tech justice and data centre organizing was the most exciting political event I attended this year - so happy the content is now live. I loved being in conversation with the brilliant Jacinta González. Sneak peak reading from mine and @astra.bsky.social's new book!
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
The NAACP is urging Black athletes and fans to “withhold athletic and financial support” from public universities in states that “have moved to limit, weaken or erase Black voting representation”
NAACP Calls on Black Athletes & Fans to Withhold Athletic and Financial Support of Public Schools in States Attacking Black Voting Rights

The NAACP today is launching the “Out of Bounds” campaign, a national call for Black athletes, families, fans, alumni, and consumers to withhold athletic and financial support from public universities in states that have moved to limit, weaken, or erase Black voting representation in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which gutted what was left of the Voting Rights Act The NAACP identified eight priority states — Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Georgia — and targeted flagship public athletic programs generating more than $100 million in annual revenue that continue to recruit Black athletes while their state governments dismantle the political power of Black communities.What these states have done is not a policy disagreement. It is a sprint to erase Black political power,” said Derrick Johnson, National President & CEO, NAACP. “These actions happened in days, in some cases in hours, of a Supreme Court ruling that gives extremist lawmakers a playbook to erode Black representation. The NAACP will not watch the same institutions that depend on Black athletic prowess to fill their stadiums and their bank accounts remain silent while their states strip Black communities of their voice. Out of Bounds is our answer: we are naming the contradiction, and we are calling on Black athletes, families, fans, and consumers to act on it. The same power that built these programs can be redirected. And it will be.”

The economic stakes of the campaign are significant. The flagship universities in the eight targeted states collectively generate billions of dollars in annual athletic revenue.
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
The U.S. is reportedly seeking to indict Raúl Castro, the 94-year-old former president of Cuba and brother of Fidel
cbsnews.com
U.S. moving to indict Cuba's Raúl Castro, sources say
The potential indictment — which must be approved by a grand jury — is expected to focus on Cuba's 1996 downing of two planes operated by a humanitarian group.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Feeling overwhelmed with all of this. LISTEN. Another Louisiana resident (Marshawn is the only name we have) testifies against the state’s racial gerrymander, speaking truth to power up and down the hearing room and predicts how this story will end. Speak your truth, fight and believe.
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FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez @agomezfcc.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
What Disney is facing is not a series of coincidental regulatory actions but a sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control. As I told their new CEO, the fight ahead may not be easy, but the law, the facts, and the public are on their side.
Full text of Gomez letter to Disney. Full text of Gomez letter to Disney. Full text of Gomez letter to Disney. Full text of Gomez letter to Disney.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 03/05/2026
WATCH: The DOJ quietly closed 23,000+ criminal cases in the first six months of the second Trump administration, abandoning hundreds of investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime, drugs and other offenses as it shifted resources to pursue immigration cases. Full story: propub.li/4tHp2Wd
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Ari Berman @ariberman.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
"The Roberts Court operates in a completely legal-free zone. They're going to reinterpret the 15th Amendment. They're going to reinterpret the Voting Rights Act. They're going to override the will of Congress just because they want to. And they're daring someone to stop them and so far no one has"
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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
I do frequently wonder what the average citizen of the U.S. knows about Reconstruction. As Du Bois would later point out, the backlash of lost cause propaganda didn’t just create mass disinformation about the civil war itself, but about the opening for actual democracy that briefly came after it.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
My latest is up! open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...
open.substack.com
SCOTUS Drops The Other Shoe on the Voting Rights Act
The Supreme Court's Decision in Louisiana v. Callais Completes the Dissemation of the Voting Rights Act
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Jane Mayer @janemayer.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
As Vernon Jordan said in 1981, “Intent to discrminate is impossible to prove.” It took 45 years but the Supreme Court chose that impossible standard today. www.nytimes.com/1981/11/16/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | DILUTING VOTING RIGHTS (Published 1981)
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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
None of us take pleasure in being right: But we are in the Second Nadir. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/m...
nytimes.com
How Trump Upended 60 Years of Civil Rights in Two Months
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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I encourage you to read the 1901 final Congressional speech of George Henry White, who would be the last Black man in Congress for 30 yrs.This “is perhaps the Negroes’ temporary farewell to the American Congress; but…phoenix-like he will rise up some day and come again… blackpast.org/african-amer...
blackpast.org
(1901) Congressman George H. White's Farewell Address To Congress
In January 1901, at the beginning of a new century, George H. White was ending his term as a Congressman from North Carolina’s Second Congressional District. Realizing that he was bringing to a close ...
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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I say it again and again: Because we don’t learn the real history of this country, we do not understand what this country is capable of. After 1870, 22 Black men served in Congress. By 1901, because of racist SCOTUS rulings, electoral coups and election cheating and violence, there were none.
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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
There are people still living who fought — and watched their compatriots be murdered — for the passage of this act and to attempt to democratize America. To see it completed felled in the span of their OWN lifetime is just absolutely devastating.
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Alex Hanna @alexhanna.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
We're coming, DC! @emilymbender.bsky.social and I will be talking about our book The AI Con on Monday, hosted by the Center for Digital Ethics and moderated by Laura DeNardis. Hope to see you there! events.georgetown.edu/digital-ethi...
events.georgetown.edu
Book Talk with Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna on their book The AI Con
Join authors Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna for a conversation about their new book The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Futur...
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Mc Nelly Torres ☕️ @watchdogdiva.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Over 500 journalists have signed this letter asking the White House Correspondents Association to meet the moment and demonstrate opposition against fascism and this fascist government. whcapetitionapril25.tiiny.site
whcapetitionapril25.tiiny.site
MESSAGE-TO-WHCA_4-25AM
MESSAGE-TO-WHCA_4-25AM
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Data Justice Hub @datajusticehub.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Jacinta González from @mediajustice.bsky.social has been sharing important findings about Palantir's role in US deportations and will be one of the presenters at our April 28th webinar, Data Activism in the Age of Trump. Register here: www.concordia.ca/cuevents/art...
concordia.ca
Data Activism in the Age of Trump | Events - Concordia University
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
The financial structure underwriting the global AI race deserves as much scrutiny as the technology itself, Hera Hyeonseo Lee writes.
buff.ly
What Regulators Should Do About The AI Industry's Hidden Financial Loop
Antitrust enforcers should be asking how a self-referential financial circuit is manufacturing the demand that justifies investments, Hera Hyeonseo Lee writes.
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 20/04/2026
Fascists hate to be called out as fascists. Too bad. Coming soon: The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War On Democracy. Yes, they are fascists. Yes, they must be crushed. Please pre-order here: www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ne...
Book cover: The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War On Democracy by Gil Duran
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 20/04/2026
The CEO of Palantir posted a fascist manifesto on X. I pointed out that it was fascist—which resulted in a permanent suspension from X (my second time!). So, when you hear the tweeters complaining that BlueSky is intolerant, remember why many of us came here in the first place.
Gil Duran tweet: TLDR: Fascism

in response to Palantir's long fascists screed on X."Your Account is Suspended" Message on X
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