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Peter Birkenhead

@pbirk.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.2K following 193 posts

Bylines in The Daily Beast, The Week, McSweeney’s, The NY Daily News, Salon, LA Review of Books, US News, the Washington Post, The Awl, The Morning News, Marie Claire, MORE, Chicago Tribune, others. substack.com/@peterbirkenhead

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Peter Birkenhead
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 30/06/2026
here is what i think: we're not consumers or spectators, we are participants with agency. you should not hope that democrats will do anything. you must work to force them to do the right thing. the odds are long, but we are far from the first americans to face long odds. we will win.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
NYT is always "progressives should abandon their principles! Sell out! Sell out! SELL OUT!" This is something you will constantly find at the NYT, a piece dressed up as a news article that is editorializing frantically for a political position, not neutrally presenting the facts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/climate/democrats-climate-change-oil-gas.html
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
the vision for positive masculinity is feminism.
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Emily L. Hauser (she/her) ❌👑 @emilylhauser.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
oh my GOD I've been a Democrat my whole damn life and my whole damn life I've been told that if we demonstrated greater ~nuance~ around my right to MY OWN DAMN BODY, we'd regain/hold on to power. MY BODY IS NOT YOUR FUCKING BARGAINING CHIP.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
i really do think they believe that because they're "good" on policy that they don't owe people anything on a human level, and if you're a woman who believes in the same policies but also understands the capacity even "good" men have to be cruel then you're weak
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
The thing about the left needing a positive vision for masculinity to counter the right is … they don’t have one either. Their whole thing is “don’t be a woman” as arbitrarily defined by whatever they consider feminine. Apparently some people find this admirable and wish to imitate it
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Dear White House correspondents, It's not too late to develop flu symptoms and decide that you should stay home and miss having dinner with fascists. Think about it. Sincerely, Mark
stopthepresses.news
Cancel the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Trump will be guest of honor at the “nerd prom,” with journalists serving as suck-ups
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Turns out the Weiss-washing has been even more hands on than we thought. tinyurl.com/3ye626er
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
A fine day to say no to kings and yes to democracy!
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
When her emails provided a look behind the curtain at Hillary, we saw an integrity completely at odds with her public image of corruption. When Epstein’s emails provided a look behind the curtain at powerful men, we glimpsed corruption completely at odds with their public image of integrity.  h
open.substack.com
Serious Men and the Water They Swim In
I’ll never forget the feeling I got about an hour into reading Hillary Clinton’s emails after they were released in 2016.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Democracy dies in deference.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
No more pretense or excuses. Trump and his team have made the white supremacist foundations of this project explicit and clear. If you enable this you need to face who and what you are. But you can always choose another way. Choose humanity. Decency. Equality. Democracy.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Don't be chickenshit.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Charlie Kirk was a loathsome human being because he celebrated violence against people he didn’t like. Don’t be like Charlie.
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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
This is a demand, that if raised loudly by the base, the congressional Democrats will have an incredibly hard time avoiding or ignoring. What are they going to say? That this is a distraction? That it’s too complicated? That they can get this deal without leverage? That Latino voters can drop dead?
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Wonkette @wonkettemedia.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Trump's Birthday Card To Dead Sex Pest Epstein As Gross As We Imagined www.wonkette.com/p/trumps-bir... By Gary Legum @glegum.bsky.social
wonkette.com
Trump's Birthday Card To Dead Sex Pest Epstein As Gross As We Imagined
And other people were in on the 'joke.'
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
The new CDC director is trying to kill you. Not just “the most vulnerable”; you, me, everyone. This is a comic book-level evil scenario.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
This story is unbearable. Read it anyway.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
open.substack.com/pub/peterbir...
open.substack.com
Maureen Dowd’s Criminal Anxiety
I feel for Maureen Dowd’s sister, I really do.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
“We should all remember Washington, D.C.’s most violent day was sparked by Trump himself. What’s more, D.C.’s safety won’t come from militarization, but rather through decreasing unemployment, ending ICE’s kidnapping of neighbors, and restoring funding to Medicaid, SNAP and public schools.”
wagingnonviolence.org
Free DC models effective resistance to Trump’s takeover
DC residents’ rapid response to Trump's National Guard deployment is a masterclass in how to prepare for crises and fight authoritarianism.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
A million times this.
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
News --> Top Dems are demanding that the Pentagon disclose any/all internal memos and policy guidance involving DHS's push for more militarization of domestic enforcement. It's a response to our reporting on DHS talks w/Pentagon on this. Details in my new piece: newrepublic.com/article/1990...
newrepublic.com
“Alarming”: Trump’s Threat of Troops in Cities Just Got Much Scarier
Top Democrats are demanding that the Pentagon release documentation of internal conversations about future militarization of domestic law enforcement.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
I wrote a thing, a roundup of some of the resistance going on.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
The Holocaust Museum ushmm.bsky.social has an opportunity, as an institution not connected to the Smithsonian, to highlight Trump’s erasure of history. State control of historical narrative and its role in incipient fascism would make for a timely exhibition. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
ushmm.bsky.as
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
I have been placed in Facebook jail. If you know me on there please spread the word.
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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
STFU, RFK Jr, you ridiculous idiot. You don't care about the wellbeing of patients. You care about politics. You are actively undermining doctors' ability to protect their patients from measles and COVID. Your party forces women who have miscarried to bleed out in parking lots over your politics.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
@americanair.bsky.social We’re booked to fly from Bermuda to DC via Charlotte. Our flight has delayed by several hours & now we have been told that 2nd flight will be to Baltimore instead of DC, landing at 10:15 We cannot afford a cab from Baltimore to DC. This is completely unacceptable.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
New from me on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/peterbir...
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
We have appended an Editor’s Note to our story about President Kennedy, who was declared dead from bullet wounds in Dallas, Texas. After publication, the Times learned that he also had a preexisting back condition.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Who among us hasn’t given a birthday card to the world’s most notorious pedophile in which we draw a picture of a naked woman and write “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey. May every day be another wonderful secret.”?
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Patton Oswalt @pattonoswalt.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
“Superman is too woke!” Literally the first page of the first ever appearance of Superman:
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
People who are handcuffed and taken away without warrant, Miranda warning, or officer ID, are victims of abduction. Facilities that forcibly detain people of a single ethnicity indefinitely, without indictment, trial or conviction are concentration camps.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Hillary’s “deplorable” statement was made in the context of an argument that most Trump voters were good people deserving of empathy. Yet it ignited a firestorm of negative coverage by the NYT, which pounded on the issue for weeks, permanently branding Clinton as a hater of the white working class.
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Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
It’s appropriate that, on this especially fraught holiday weekend, my 232nd #ScholarSunday thread is my longest yet, full of so much public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy! 🗃️ americanstudier.substack.com/p/scholarsun...
americanstudier.substack.com
#ScholarSunday Thread 232
Published on July 6, 2025
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
@volts.wtf I’ve just finished this book and I think it’s brilliant. Wanted to strongly recommend it to you. mitpress.mit.edu/978026204964...
mitpress.mit.edu
The First and Last Bank
Through the ages, currencies have been based on all manner of objects—from tobacco leaves to salt to gold to collateralized debt obligations. The only ...
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Bradford William Davis @bwd.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
ICE arrested Job Garcia while he was running errands in LA. Job is a US citizen, a scholar, and a brilliant photographer. He’s also my friend. But none of that should determine his humanity. ICE must release Job Garcia immediately.
Job standing in front of a carBradford, job and two friends hanging at dodger stadium Bradford and job sitting in his carBradford, Job and two friends hanging
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 15/06/2025
the story today is of a profoundly low energy military parade being met with millions of americans in nationwide protests denouncing the dictatorial pretensions of the president
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
i’m so fucking fed up with this shit. when journalism outlets can’t even accurately and honestly say what’s happening to journalists—that they’re being attacked by cops and federal jackboots—then we are really and truly cooked. under scrutiny!!!!! i can’t. i can’t.
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Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
It's been really demoralizng how much the press mindlessly repeats the lie that the National Guard was sent to quell violence. It was sent to start violence. People know this, so just say it.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
“I received your missive with gratitude, as I and my compatriots have five hours now awaited orders to approach a moderately busy intersection in a mid-sized American city to confront as many as eleven or twelve of the enemy, all cleverly disguised as ‘dishwashers,’ ‘nannies,’ and ‘landscapers.’”
mcsweeneys.net
A Letter to Home from a Weary ICE Agent
Dearest Beloved, I received your missive of Thursday last with the greatest of gratitude, as I and my brave compatriots have five hours now awaited...
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
I’ve always liked Peter Coyote, but wow that post of his that’s going around is so wrongheaded. A protest is not an “invitation to a better world.” A protest is a disruption of the status quo. An attention-grabbing blast of sight and sound meant to be unavoidable. An insistence.
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Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Cops-- pathetic. Fuck off. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/youre-a-bu...
hamiltonnolan.com
You're a Bunch of Cowards!
We're all laughing at you.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
My piece in McSweeney’s today. www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-l...
mcsweeneys.net
A Letter to Home from a Weary ICE Agent
Dearest Beloved, I received your missive of Thursday last with the greatest of gratitude, as I and my brave compatriots have five hours now awaited...
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
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Roostie @roostie28.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
ICE is evil
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Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd. It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
Graphs showing 25 years of budgets for the National Institute of Health, NASA, and the NSF. In all cases, the proposed budget for next year is far, far below any year of the previous quarter century.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 22/05/2025
i think it should be a bigger story that the president held a meeting with a foreign head of state where he ranted about the most gutter white supremacist propaganda you can find on the internet
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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
If you don't want to be compared to the Gestapo, one neat trick is to not engage in a campaign of terror around the country wherein you kidnap people off the streets to slave dungeons in accommodation of an autocratic fascist and his nationalist movement's desire for racial purity.
Homeland Security tweets: It is absolutely sickening to compare ICE law enforcement agents to the Gestapo.
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
And the tasing sent him to the hospital. Where ICE refused to let his lawyer speak to him.
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Peter Birkenhead @pbirk.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
This lady is all of us.
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