Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 04/09/2026My nonprofit used Santander for over ten years with no issues, as long as I was physically present in Massachusetts. New Trump regulations proved too onerous for remote banking with them and we had to close the account in 2024 I believe. 050
Reposted by Laura FokkenaMrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 19/07/2026The toxic influencer who has made "hyper-masculinity" his brand was arresting wearing Doris Day clam-digger slacks and a kicky purple blouse. 1945227584623
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Interview with SEIU President Dave Regan on the "billionaire tax" in California -- how it works, who's trying defeat it, who it will benefit if it passespca.stCan California Actually Make Billionaires Pay?Dave Regan, the president of the prominent California union S.E.I.U.-United Healthcare Workers West, joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss Proposition 40, a ballot measure that would impose a one-time,… 010
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 16/07/2026Thank you. Way back in 2005, Al Gore begged the media to stop treating "climate denial" as the ONLY climate story. The U.S. press needs to pivot to covering solutions, costs, and innovations. There's plenty of controversy in those things, too. 010
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Huh, I didn't realize you were sixty years older than me. 110
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 09/07/2026Among other things I was explaining how everyone pays a different price, sometimes even twins attending the same college. 000
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 09/07/2026When I try to explain the American college application process to Europeans I realize how bizarre it really is. #EduSky 140
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 08/07/2026Written by the friend of a friend -- feeling hope protesting the AfDtheguardian.comThrough the teargas, I saw something missing from German politics for too long: hope | Scott RoxboroughI joined thousands of people blockading the AfD’s congress. A civil disobedience movement is showing how to beat the far right, says the journalist Scott Roxborough 110
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 04/06/2026Very sad indeedfrance24.comFrench-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies of 'sadness' at 56French-Iranian author and illustrator Marjane Satrapi, best known for the book and film “Persopolis”, has died of "sadness", members of her entourage said Thursday. She was 56. 000
Reposted by Laura FokkenaSarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 15/02/2026Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources. 6474119713893
Reposted by Laura FokkenaJess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 17/10/2025“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government…” ~Patrick Henry 175113734300
Reposted by Laura FokkenaRon Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 17/10/2025I would like to thank Mike Johnson, House Republican leadership, and Karoline Leavitt for all the free publicity this week promoting our rallies tomorrow. Find one near you here. www.nokings.orgnokings.orgNo KingsAs the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the NO KINGS non-violent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power ... 12142221246
Reposted by Laura FokkenaDenny Carter @dennycarter.bsky.social · 17/10/2025French philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre knew what made fascists tick. badfaithtimes.com/its-one-long... 13367160
Reposted by Laura FokkenaJenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 17/10/2025Trump’s Department of Education actively collaborates w/ Moms for Liberty. Asked “what % of children she imagines should be in public schools going forward,” Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice told ProPublica: “‘I hope zero. I hope to get to zero.’” 1/ www.propublica.org/article/educ... 63750409
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 14/10/2025I HAD A BIG DAY, OK? But yeah, you’re probably right. 110
Reposted by Laura FokkenaPaul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 14/10/2025The people behind the inflated protests are performing a monumental service to democracy & peace in the US. The Regime wants riots, but these animal characters are not only an effective protest, grabbing attention & mocking ICE, they seem to reduce the risk of violent protests. It's perfect. 201385312
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 14/09/2025Charlie Kirk was a white man killed by a white man on a mostly white campus in a mostly white state. Explain to me how this act requires cracking down on minorities and minority organizations? 120
Reposted by Laura FokkenaAcyn @acyn.bsky.social · 03/04/2025Carney: The system of global trade anchored on the United States.. is over. Our old relationship of steadily deepening integration with the United States is over. The 80 year period when the United States embraced the mantle of economic leadership… is over. 11424171711202
Reposted by Laura FokkenaFRANCE 24 English @en.france24.com · 11/09/2025🇵🇱 PM Donald Tusk, speaking on Russian drones entering Polish airspace, told parliament it was “the closest we have been to open conflict since WWII.” 🇪🇺 The incident is closely watched in Brussels, as Dave Keating reports 154
Reposted by Laura FokkenaJosephine Riesman @josie.zone · 11/09/2025Yes, and we rightly do not blame Kristallnacht on the Jews or even Grynszpan We blame it on the Nazis who would've done something like it no matter what 216134
Reposted by Laura FokkenaThe Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 11/09/2025The Trump administration says it will withhold $350 million in grants to hundreds of colleges that serve large populations of minority students, calling the decades-old programs discriminatory.wapo.stEducation Department ends grants for some minority college studentsThe Education Department is withholding millions of dollars in grant funding appropriated by Congress for colleges that serve large populations of minority students. 57224194
Reposted by Laura FokkenaMicah @rincewind.run · 11/09/2025rarely have I more acutely felt the dynamic by which Dems are held responsible for the rhetoric of every random left-leaning person on the internet and Republicans are not even asked to answer for their own personal words 27126653192
Reposted by Laura FokkenaRyan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 08/08/2025“Perfect is the enemy of good” is not a phrase that can be applied to *human rights* and it’s really disturbing how many people don’t understand that 11571147
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 08/08/2025Hey, her mother did not die! She ran out on the family. 010
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 21/07/2025My family came from Germany a lot more recently than his did but I can still write English in English. 😀 And yeah Mary Trump is great. I still think her book is the best one written about him. I used to think Trump was unpredictable but after reading her, he's not. 010
Reposted by Laura FokkenaChris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 18/07/2025Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions. 14567312518642
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 19/07/2025Holy crap, I totally read that issue when it came out. (See what I did there?) And yes, agreed, it is always older women and younger guys in "these bisexual things." It's in the bi-laws at the meetings. 050
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 19/07/2025Exactly so. There is no soul in there. You can't hurt its feelings. 184
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 14/07/2025Content aside, why does Trump capitalize every noun like he’s writing English in German? 141
Reposted by Laura FokkenaTim Pierce @unchi.org · 14/07/2025One of the drawbacks of referring to Elon as “Elmo” for so long is that I was momentarily unable to understand what was remarkable about this tweet, not realizing it is actually about the Muppet. 1193
Reposted by Laura FokkenaNPR @npr.org · 13/07/2025A 21-year-old Florida man was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting family in the West Bank.n.prIsraeli settlers beat U.S. citizen to death in West BankA 21-year-old Florida man was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting family in the West Bank. 61786422
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 13/07/2025If parents expecting you to work hard from a young age made you rich, every kid in a third world sweatshop would be a billionaire. 130
Reposted by Laura FokkenaFrank A. Stengel @frankstengel.com · 12/07/2025As a German political scientist who used to live in the US I cannot say how deeply disturbing it is to see these masked ICE goons dragging people off the streets, and the GOP building up this massive secret police force. What a shameful moment in history this is. 13555231392
Reposted by Laura FokkenaEric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 11/07/2025New Gallup survey shows that 30% of Americans want immigration decreased, down from 55% a year ago. A record-high of 79% of Americans call immigration a good thing, a reversal from 64 percent last year. news.gallup.com/poll/692522/...news.gallup.comSurge in U.S. Concern About Immigration Has AbatedThe percentage of Americans wanting less immigration has dropped by nearly half this year to 30%, with 79% now saying immigration benefits the U.S. 41710241
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 12/07/2025“I was always worried for people in conservative states and had a lot of fear for my community as a whole. But I never thought it would directly affect me in California”theguardian.comTrans youth fight for care as California clinics cave to Trump: ‘How can this happen here?’These teens say gender-affirming care saved their lives – now they’re protesting as two leading US hospitals halt their treatments 010
Reposted by Laura FokkenaJoel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 09/07/2025I understand Holocaust inversion, but being a victim of a genocide does not prevent a group from inflicting genocidal violence against others. (Witness the modern history of the Balkans.) The standard here cannot be to never use that word to describe actions of Jews, ever, no matter the evidence. 1752366
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 07/07/2025I know this isn’t the most urgent concern in light of everything else, but cuts to NASA are another reason this bill is trash. Gift article; author is an astrophysicist.theatlantic.comAmerica Is Killing Its Chance to Find Alien LifeCuts to NASA mean that the U.S. likely won’t build the next great space observatory. 021
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 06/07/2025We are at the point where we ask companies to sign pledges not to use concentration camp labor or engage in slavery. 121
Laura Fokkena @laurafo.bsky.social · 04/07/2025Remember how we spent years debating when it was okay to call it fascism? Now let's do that with slavery. 011
Reposted by Laura Fokkenaemptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 25/06/2025Wired continues to rise to the moment. 251550495
Reposted by Laura FokkenaMehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 25/06/2025“I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was,” Sahil Lavingia told NPR's Juana Summers.npr.orgFormer DOGE engineer says federal waste and fraud were 'relatively nonexistent'NPR's Juana Summers talks with Sahil Lavingia, who worked for the Department of Government Efficiency as a software engineer assigned to the Department of Veterans Affairs, about his experience. 22173262838
Reposted by Laura FokkenaBrendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 25/06/2025Voters: can you pay 50 cents more in taxes to pay for vegetables for children and agree not to defraud the elderly on their electrical bills Wall Street Guy: OH LIKE THE KILLING FIELDS?!?! LIKE THE KHMER ROUGE?!?! 672986608
Reposted by Laura FokkenaChristopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 26/06/2025Folks can argue about the relevancy of the “Democratic socialist” label all day. But if that’s what you’re hung up on, you’re missing the larger point. People aren’t chasing labels. They’re chasing change. Real, structural, unapologetic change. 🧵 638146343108
Reposted by Laura FokkenaThe Lincoln Project @lincolnproject.us · 17/06/2025This is an insurrection. 231106493984
Reposted by Laura FokkenaOliver Ghingold @emceebois.bsky.social · 18/06/2025CLARIFICATION : The Trevor Project's hotline will still be live. But basically this means LGBTQ people can no longer be connected to it through the US national 988 suicide prevention hotline. They will need to be contacted DIRECTLY So spread this around They can be texted. They can be called. 1849235363
