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piell.bsky.social

@piell.bsky.social
583 followers 101 following 553 posts
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Reposted by @piell.bsky.social
Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I hope everyone reads this, thinks about it and then shares it. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
A few hundred noncitizen votes are a national scandal. But when states reject hundreds of thousands of ballots from eligible voters, it’s business as usual
One state rejected ballots because some voters failed to include their mother’s maiden name on the back of the return envelope.
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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We don’t spend enough time talking about just how WEIRD all these people are. This is just an incredibly weird and insecure thing to say. Imagine any other SecDef ever being this weird and insecure?!
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Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A phenomenal moment in the Senate. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., claims he has evidence Jack Smith went to a HAWKS game in Atlanta. Smith denies it. Schmitt declares he has busted Jack Smith for perjury. Smith, vexed, says he went to HAWKEYES game in Maryland. WATCH IN FULL, UNINTERRUPTED
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
🤡 Schmitt beclowns himself 🤡 Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atl for a Hawks game and to collude with Fani Willis, & flashed his "evidence" before accusing Smith of perjury. There's just one problem -- his facts were totally wrong. Here's the whole sequence:
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WinRAR Earle @tommchenry.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Psychologists explain how to work through the bigotry that made you claim never to have heard "Choosin' Texas" and could be undermining your career Not knowing Ella Langley's record-setting debut song is "worse than bringing 10 iced coffees stacked in a pyramid to the interview" say some recruiters
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is the master key to deciphering contemporary debates about free speech. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
From 16,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle. "The state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government: Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen."
nytimes.com
From 15,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle
It was the Trump administration’s latest stumble in its effort to find proof of widespread noncitizen voting, despite decades of evidence that it is extremely rare.
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JP @jpbrammer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
it's important to arrive at sturdy ethical principles that you can't be annoyed out of. people are annoying as shit
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Rose Schmits @roseschmits.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Its the whole “oh well gay marriage was a slow march of progress get over yourself“ just fully denying the fact we are going Backwards on rights and doing active persecution. The equivalent would be gay marriage being undone
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Bill Corbett @billcorbett.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
As a pragmatic centrist, I read the Niemöller poem differently. After each group mentioned I pencil in what percentage of the population they are, and if it’s a small number I cross off their names as disposable. Poetry is fine but math wins elections!!
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Paul F. Tompkins @pftompkins.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
It’s very simple and it’s been said over and over but I guess it needs saying continuously: if you deem one group too small to have equal rights you are enabling fascism, not fighting it. The people saying Dems are GREAT on trans rights are not paying attention and/or saying stuff like this.
Nichole Hiltz
The Democrats defend the Kennedy Center but not trans people.
A building.

@treewarrior.bsky....
maybe because defending everything about a super small minority of the population is not worth losing to fascists
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Evan Urquhart @evanurquhart.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This point, from my recent interview with @perrybaconjr.bsky.social for TNR, is so crucial. Trans people are desperate for relief from the relentless Republican attacks impacting all of us. When Democrats move right, they signal relief may not be coming, and that engenders a lot of despair.
And so for Democrats to say, They have a point on some of this, it is engendering a lot of hopelessness and a lot of fear in the trans community, because we have been just trying to hold on, hoping that this time would end and we would be able to get back to where we were five years, six years ago. And what Democrats are signaling is, like, No, we’re going to keep things as they are, and maybe even make them worse.
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
If trans people are so important to winning, sounds like the candidate should stop attacking trans rights. Why does this candidate want to lose???
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 17/09/2026
Called it. The father was charged with punching the child while the mother did witness intimidation to cover it up. www.wbur.org/news/2026/09...
The case was reported to the state in early 2025. Both parents were charged in connection with an incident at the family’s Southborough home in late January of that year, according to court documents. WBUR is not identifying the teenager, who is a minor.

Joseph Kutzko was accused of punching and threatening his then-15-year-old child at the family home on Jan. 28, 2025, records from Westborough District Court show. A Southborough police detective wrote that Kutzko punched the victim in the shoulder and pulled them by their hair. Kutzko later allegedly threatened to kill the victim “for not singing in tune during a birthday celebration,” according to court records.

Kutzko was arrested the next day and pleaded not guilty. In setting bail, the judge referred to three prior restraining orders against Kutzko, one of which is permanent. She did not say whether any are tied to this case.

The child’s mother, Arlene Kutzko, was charged with witness intimidation after allegedly pressuring the child to “tell the school that she was exaggerating and being stupid.”
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Assigned Media @assignedmedia.org · 17/09/2026
Car dealers are a reliable and influential power bloc for Republicans. Today on Assigned, @emarcadia.bsky.social writes that Democrats should politicize them and pursue them and other bastions of Republican power as relentlessly as Republicans have pursued the Democratic coalition.
assignedmedia.org
Consider the Car Dealerships - Assigned Media
Republicans have long waged war against Democratic constituencies. What if we turned the tables?
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Evan Urquhart @evanurquhart.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I wrote this story for Slate 3 years ago. It's an as-told-to perspective from the mom of a trans boy who accessed top surgery in Texas at 14 years old. This is the kind of Texas family who Talarico wants to ban from seeking healthcare. slate.com/technology/2...
slate.com
We’ve Been in Texas for Generations. Our Trans Kid Is Being Treated Here. It’s Getting Dark.
His doctors agree that this care is right for him.
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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My latest newsletter is a friendly bit of political advice for Democrats.
stringinamaze.net
Don't Surrender On Trans Rights
Many Democrats are running scared on trans issues. They shouldn't be.
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
LOL every single one of this opening acts and his touring band ditched him, because unlike him they aren't genocide-supporting cowards. bsky.app/profile/popb...
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Resisting was possible, he just didn't want to.
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The guy who helped kick Macklemore off Ed Sheeran’s tour was charged with soliciting prostitution, got those charges dropped with the help of Epstein’s lawyer, is a longtime friend of Trump, has taken NFL players on propaganda trips to Israel, and received a special $1 million award from Netanyahu.
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 14/09/2026
One of the more insidious phrasings I've seen with the Dems/trans rights discourse lately is the idea that trans people are being greedy and demanding a "maximalist" approach to trans rights. No, you cannot call the state of rights American trans people had as recently as 2023 "maximalist," sorry.
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Jessica Ellis @baddestmamajama.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
It’s all just a lie. I get so annoyed when I hear democrats say “well parents have real concerns…” no they don’t. Real concerns are addressed by knowledge and data. Prejudice is not. If knowledge doesn’t change their position, they’re just bigots.
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Curb Your Malthusiasm @manucleardevice.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Day 3 of hearing liberals talk like this
Back to regularly scheduled scre...
@TonyPajama
Hi, my name is John Democrat, I believe that due to biological advantages, black people should be separated from white people sports. Don't worry, I agree with you on 99 percent of other issues
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
30 Rock screenshot with the captioning reading "That's Republican, we count those."
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 11/09/2026
In an incredible move, Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta, Canada has announced a gender-affirming care clinic for trans youth, asserting tribal sovereignty and defying the region's ban. It is one of the biggest cross-movement solidarity moments in Canada. Subscribe to support our journalism.
erininthemorning.com
Canada First Nation Leaders Announce They Won’t Comply With Alberta Trans Care Ban
“This is about more than one health service,” officials wrote. “It is about Indigenous sovereignty. It is about our responsibility to care for one another.”
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
FIRE's college/state free speech rankings are a distraction from the real threat, which is from state action. See, for instance, the ridiculous disclaimer on the Florida page. rankings.fire.org/state/florid...
Some may wonder how Florida schools can earn a “green light” speech code rating or rank highly in the College Free Speech Rankings while FIRE is simultaneously litigating against the state’s Stop WOKE Act, which restricts instruction on certain concepts related to “race, color, national origin, or sex.” The answer lies in FIRE’s methodology: the speech code ratings and rankings reflect policies affecting student expression, not classroom instruction or faculty speech. Likewise, the survey component of the rankings captures the experiences of students — not faculty members — on their campuses.
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Howard French @hofrench.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Yep. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | JD Vance Doesn’t Want to Help Married Parents. He Wants to Hurt Single Mothers.
Redistributing money from single working parents to married ones is not a pro-family policy.
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
you've been shown the part of the article that shows they aren't paying influencers multiple times, so the only conclusion is that you're intentionally lying
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Jon Evans @rezendi.com · 03/09/2026
I am curious what the free speech purists who claim to be all about viewpoint diversity have to say about this one www.persuasion.community/p/i-taught-a...
persuasion.community
I Taught a Short Story. My College Fired Me For It.
Academic censorship is very real.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
It's like a parody, but it's deadly serious; the Commerce Department (which includes Census, NOAA, and others) has outright deleted "don't alter or suppress scientific findings for political reasons" from its scientific integrity rules. Seriously.
Protecting against "inappropriate influence" is no longer a "hallmark" of scientific integrity

The Commerce Department updated its policy for promoting a "culture of scientific integrity" in January 2025, days before Trump's second inauguration.

A new Trump administration order bans the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis from using statistical “noise,” or data for fuzzing survey results, to protect people’s privacy in their statistics.

The 2025 version included bans on attempts to shape or interfere in data collection, statistical analysis and other scientific activities "against well-accepted scientific methods and theories or without scientific justification."

The department's policy, the 2025 version said, involves ensuring scientific findings at its agencies "are not suppressed, delayed, or altered for political purposes and are not subjected to inappropriate influence," as well as making sure there's "independent review of facilities, methodologies, and other scientific activities as appropriate to ensure scientific integrity."

That language is missing, however, in the Trump administration's revision of the policy, according to an NPR analysis of text posted on the Commerce Department's website.

And while the revision adopts a definition for "scientific integrity" that is similar to the previous version, it no longer says that "protection from inappropriate influence" is among the "hallmarks of scientific integrity."
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
What possible connection would Jared Kushner have with the affordability crisis? This seems like such an obvious lie
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GeekFilter 🏳️‍🌈🐻 @geekfilter.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
If you know what JK Rowling is doing & still choose to give money to the Harry Potter franchise, you’ve made your priorities pretty damn clear. I wondered if it was my imagination that HP references were multiplying. Nope! Check out @jessiegender.bsky.social's video. youtu.be/xxD1ekkA7hc?...
youtu.be
Harry Potter Is Manufacturing Your Complicity
YouTube video by Jessie Gender After Dark
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Dave Robbins @daviddeanrobbins.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the HHS secretary sees deaths from outbreaks of diseases we had beaten or contained, such as measles and cyclosporiasis, as a form of social hygiene that kills off the weak and susceptible. #healthcare www.thebulwark.com/p/rfk-jr-tox...
thebulwark.com
RFK Jr.’s Toxic World
The HHS secretary uses fear of contamination to denigrate modern medicine and advance a project rooted in vulgar eugenics.
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Andrew Robbins @robbinsa.me · 27/08/2026
uh. no. it is not.
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Pieter T. L. Beck @ptrbck.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
We have written a statement in support of Ghent Uni's decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. We resist attempts to frame this as a punishment for "whistleblowing" or censorship of "controversial research". We invite all academics who share our views to sign our letter. forms.gle/qwN8xzEM5C7Q...
forms.gle
Open letter on the suspension of Nathan Cofnas at Ghent University
We, colleagues of Nathan Cofnas - supported by many colleagues internationally - want to respond to the negative and incorrect framing of Ghent University’s decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. With th...
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Finally, Cofnas's defenders frame calls for a disciplinary investigation as censorship of “controversial” science. In this regard, it is important to note that Cofnas does not perform research on race and IQ himself. Cofnas published two articles in which he argued that scientists should be free to investigate the connection between race and IQ, but these are not scientific articles on the matter of race and IQ itself. In his academic articles , Cofnas presents the relationship between race and IQ as merely a hypothesis: “there is nothing that would indicate that it is particularly unlikely that race differences will turn out to have a substantial genetic component.” Compare this to his language in the introduction of “A Guide”: “ a hereditarian revolution is both feasible and desirable. “Race realism” is the best term to describe the scientifically correct position. ” The problematic passages in the blogpost are not part of original research, but are ideological statements based on pseudoscientific sources and a false representation of the existing science. Cofnas is not under investigation for voicing a hypothesis in his academic writing, but for the problematic statements made in his blog and in other non-academic settings, all the while using his affiliation to an academic institution as a way to create the illusion that his views are a form of academic discourse.
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 25/08/2026
A consistent pitch by the makers of ai wearables is that they solve the problem of getting to know your child. www.businessinsider.com/parents-brea...
Molly, who runs a startup to help parents book activities for kids, is willing to use AI for logistics, like meal planning or sorting through her email to surface the most important messages from their daughter's school. Sean, who works in tech sales, wants to go further. He has his eyes on Omi necklace, an AI wearable that listens in on your day and includes a feature called Parent Whisperer. It records and analyzes interactions between parent and child, logging things like school assignments and supplies to order. The device also picks up on tone, alerting parents when their kid may be unhappy — registering everything from "from toddler tantrums to teenage mood swings," per its ad copy — and offering "expert-backed guidance" on how to respond.
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Congrats!
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
BREAKING: After the Washington Post fired me last year for speaking the truth in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing, I fought back. And I'm happy to announce: I won my case against the Washington Post. They have been ordered to reinstate me immediately. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/b...
nytimes.com
Washington Post Ordered to Rehire Fired Columnist Karen Attiah
An arbitrator ordered the newspaper to reinstate Karen Attiah, who was fired after posting about “white men who espouse hatred and violence” following Charlie Kirk’s killing.
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
If someone doesn't want to be known for signing the bad faith letter defending an open racist, they probably shouldn't have signed the bad faith letter defending and open racist and then doubled down repeatedly defending it. This is, in fact, where he decided to make a stand
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Which makes it all the more obvious what's happened when defending Cofnas is where you decided to make a stand
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Yes, you've given me plenty, you aren't slick
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
because you aren't doing "in addition to", its just the racist you're really concerned with defendings
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damniel spookradski @self.agency · 23/08/2026
there are now almost 600 signatories to the pro-cofnas letter. of the first 100 i examined, _two_ spoke out against campus crackdowns on pro-palestinian speech. 75 said nothing and 23 spoke out _in support of the crackdowns_!
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roterote @roterote.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Here is the full suspension letter from UGent that was sent to Nathan Cofnas, it shows ample reason for his suspension and potential termination. Including breach of contract, using the University of Ghent’s name and legitimacy to promote his racial supremacist views and causing reputational damage.
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Evan Urquhart @evanurquhart.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
They said we needed to protect purveyors of depraved, hateful ideas to ensure true, pro social ideas would be safe. Now, the true, pro social ideas are under attack. And we're still being lectured about the need to protect gutter racists even as their ideology twists and degrades our world.
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
So, the answer is "never". The only time you do anything is when it's a about a racist. Guess we know what gets you moving!
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I don’t think a good definition of “viewpoint diversity” is “you must lower your standards specifically for anti-science, anti-truth, bigots, and fascists — a healthy intellectual community needs those voices and they can’t clear the bar otherwise.”
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 21/08/2026
For my newsletter, I wrote about how everyone misremembers "Woke 1" and how all the things people hate about it are just outgrowths of modern internet culture (and things the right does every day still) www.burnsnotice.com/everyone-mis...
burnsnotice.com
Everyone Misremembers "Woke 1"
For the first time in the internet age, minorities were able to exercise power publicly, that's why the right wants you to remember "Woke 1" as out of control
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piell.bsky.social @piell.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
"Open white supremacist who publicly says many racist things" is the more accurate title for what happened
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