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Ithax

@pyrsophia.bsky.social
163 followers 410 following 874 posts

"The ending is nearer than you think, and it is already written. All that we have left to choose is the correct moment to begin." — Alan Moore

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Reposted by Ithax
Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Jeffrey Epstein to Bill Gates in December 2016: “come to visit the island. new adminstration people visiting” (www.justice.gov/epstein/file...)
From: "jeffrey E." <jeevacation@gmail.com
To: Bill Gates
Subject:
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2016 10:14:35 +0000
come to visit the island. new adminstration people visiting
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Reposted by Ithax
The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
So dark — Tennessee-based @CoreCivic wants to be making even more money on ICE detentions. “ICE was our first customer 43 years ago, and has been our largest customer for over a decade,” CoreCivic CEO Patrick Swindle said on the earnings call. theappeal.org/ice-geo-grou...
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
The choice now is to transform the party’s strategy to meet the scale of the threat, or to fail. In this contest, failure is not just an electoral defeat; it may be the end of democratic self-governance.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Every democracy facing this challenge has learned you don’t defeat authoritarians by being more reasonable. You defeat them by being more determined and by uniting the country against their most visible vulnerability: their corruption.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
This requires not moderation but mobilization, not positioning but purpose, not just messaging but genuine reform to prove that Democrats will fight for democracy itself by first attacking the corruption that rots it from within.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
the old rules are dead. In a nationalized media environment with an authoritarian movement capturing one major party, electoral politics has become existential conflict.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
The false choice between “moderate” and “progressive” has trapped Dems in an irrelevant debate. The real divide isn’t left vs center—it’s whether Trump is an aberration to be waited out or an authoritarian threat that requires an extraordinary response. www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...
bostonreview.net
How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism
Moderation used to help Democrats win, but its advantages now have been greatly exaggerated.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
pay attention how her gender and sexuality constituted the real threat to Ross, Vance, Miller and MAGA, a smiling queer woman tell him, “I’m not mad at you.” After shooting her three times, agent mutters, “Fucking bitch!” That says it all. www.bostonreview.net/articles/ren...
bostonreview.net
Renee Good's Murder and Other Acts of Terror
An interview with Robin D. G. Kelley on how to think about ICE—and the broader history of police violence.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Breaking companies from ICE is a winnable struggle that can put serious pressure on the administration by raising the political cost of mass deportations and damaging ICE’s ability to function. No administration can survive long without the consent of corporate America.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The key is providing people with concrete, outward-facing activities they can take right now, while building an escalating national campaign that can culminate in larger coordinated days of nonviolent disruption—for example, on May 1, 2026.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
pressure campaigns can start with petition gathering and social media callouts, then escalate to coordinated one-day boycotts. Workers have even more leverage: Employees can circulate internal petitions calling on their CEOs to cut ties with ICE and organize collective actions like sick-outs.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
most important thing for pro-democracy is to peel away a regime’s “pillars of support.” Even the most despotic of regimes can’t rule without the backing or consent of powerful external institutions. the biggest ones in the US are collaborating with Trump to support his rule
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
ICE relies heavily on the private sector to help carry out its Gestapo-like crusade against immigrants and their allies. Without the logistical, financial, and political support of business, its capacity to terrorize our communities would crumble. www.thenation.com/article/acti...
thenation.com
Want to Stop ICE? Go After Its Corporate Collaborators.
ICE can’t function without help from the private sector. So we should force the private sector to stop helping.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
The moral is that, to get America’s president to retreat, you have to convince him that you will impose a price on him. In most of their dealings with Mr Trump, European leaders have treated him with sycophancy truffled by the odd, muted objection. This time, they were more assertive and it worked.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
NATO has succeeded because it was founded on mutual benefit as well as values. The only time its Article 5 mutual-defence pledge was invoked was to support America after 9/11. Denmark lost more troops in Afghanistan than America did. Europe provides America with bases, defends American interests.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
That is a travesty of NATO’s history and EU’s future. - Trump said America paid 100% for NATO and never got anything in return. Scott Bessent gripes that US spent $22trn more than freeloading EU on defence. The admin’s security strategy warned that EU faces “civilisational erasure” from immigration.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Proliferation would curb the value of America’s own arsenal and inhibit its statecraft. China and Russia will not agree with Mr Trump on where America’s influence ends and theirs begins. All this might lead to a war so devastating that America could not stay out.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Europe should warn Americans about the hostile world Mr Trump is willing into existence. Unable to trust America, Germany, Japan, Poland and South Korea would rearm even faster and perhaps seek nuclear weapons. www.economist.com/leaders/2026...
economist.com
The true danger posed by Donald Trump
Despite a tactical retreat, great risks remain
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Reposted by Ithax
The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 23/01/2026
Americans are more or less inured to Donald Trump’s incoherent ramblings and political theatre. After his speech in Davos, stunned Europeans are inclined to call his behavior what it is: out of control. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/IOTmJO
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
It’s Time to Talk About Donald Trump’s Logorrhea
How many polite ways are there to ask whether the President of the United States is losing it?
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
but, just as powerfully, would convey a deeper message: that the country’s leaders value all its citizens. Without them, the world will remain locked in an endless cycle between democracy and authoritarianism. An anti-humiliation agenda may be the only way out.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
If&when former Trump supporters and political allies revert to support for constitutional democracy, they should be afforded the same implicit bargain that Adenauer offered in Germany. Policies that foster income equality and improve opportunity would materially improve the lives of the left behind
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
cycle of democratization and rising authoritarianism in the early 20 century holds lessons, a warning for policymakers in the early 21. Then as now, the rise of right-wing authoritarianism is due by the left behind by the emerging political and economic order. www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
foreignaffairs.com
The Power of Grievance
What history reveals about authoritarianism’s animating force.
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Reposted by Ithax
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 21/01/2026
Neighborhood watch is taking on a new form in Minneapolis and other cities under occupation by federal immigration agents: ICE Watch. These folks, who're tailing federal agents as they make arrests, are passionate, determined, and just about everywhere—and ICE is getting frustrated.
motherjones.com
Meet the Minneapolis neighbors standing up to ICE by the thousands
Local resistance is "growing exponentially," says Defend the 612's Andrew Fahlstrom.
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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Yo, Philly journalist here. Literally the only sourcing on this is tweets from well-meaning left-leaning folks who’d be the LAST people on earth to have inside info from ICE Not a serious article www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
independent.co.uk
ICE is rumored to be heading for Philadelphia. Everyone is saying the same thing
‘Philly people are a different breed,’ wrote one user, while another added: ‘Bro ice is going to be protesting’
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Reposted by Ithax
Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 22/01/2026
America's top censor is at it again. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/b...
nytimes.com
Federal Regulators Take New Aim at Late-Night TV
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Reposted by Ithax
Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Neither are particularly good, tbh.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 13/01/2026
NEW: Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken. “I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold. The government won’t say if any agents have been punished.
propublica.org
We Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing
Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken. “I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold. The government ...
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Reposted by Ithax
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 14/01/2026
President Trump made an obscene gesture with his middle finger and mouthed “f--- you” twice to a person who can be heard yelling “pedophile protector” at him during a tour of a Ford factory in Michigan — a reaction the White House said was “appropriate.”
washingtonpost.com
Trump makes obscene gesture, mouths expletive at Detroit factory heckler
A cellphone video captured Trump twice mouthing “f--- you” and raising his middle finger toward someone shouting at him inside the Ford factory.
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Raw Story @rawstory.com · 13/01/2026
A Department of Homeland Security whistleblower has released the identities of about 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol employees Tuesday in what has been called potentially the largest agency data breach for the department.
bit.ly
Whistleblower drops 'largest ever' ICE leak to unmask agents: 'The last straw'
A Department of Homeland Security whistleblower has released the identities of about 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol employees Tuesday in what has been called potentially the largest agency data breach for the department.The killing of 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross last...
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Vice signals are not just cultural messages or aesthetic poses. They also come with a body count. Performative cruelty may have started with the Trump administration, but it did not and will not end there. www.bostonreview.net/articles/emp...
bostonreview.net
Empire of Vice
In a perverse twist on virtue signaling, the Trump administration is training Americans in the politics of raw domination.
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Reposted by Ithax
The Guardian @theguardian.com · 10/01/2026
Indonesia blocks Musk’s Grok chatbot due to risk of pornographic content
theguardian.com
Indonesia blocks Musk’s Grok chatbot due to risk of pornographic content
Move comes after governments and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned the AI tool and some have opened inquiries into sexualised content Indonesia temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot on Saturday due to the risk of AI-generated pornographic content, becoming the first country to deny access to the AI tool. The move comes after governments, researchers and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned and some have opened inquiries into sexualised content on the app. Continue reading...
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Reposted by Ithax
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 09/01/2026
Minnesota officials renewed their calls on Friday for state agents to be allowed to help investigate the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE officer earlier this week. State investigators so far have been denied access to evidence, they said. trib.al/Iqy2KA4
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NPR @npr.org · 09/12/2025
Democrats have become the party of the status quo, says Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. He's urging members of his party to craft sharper election messages and back new voices in the party. n.pr/3KH1RKn
n.pr
Sen. Van Hollen urges Democrats to stand for something — not just be anti-Trump
Democrats have become the party of the status quo, says Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. He's urging members of his party to craft sharper election messages and back new voices in the party.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 09/12/2025
NEW: Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) calls for an investigation into the Trump administration's "repeated, blatant" abuse of power to achieve partisan redistricting goals, alleging it violates federal law. This renewed demand comes after his first request rendered no updates.
democracydocket.com
Trump’s 'Repeated, Blatant' Hatch Act Violations Over Gerrymandering Must Be Investigated, Sen. Padilla Demands
Read more here.
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404 Media @404media.co · 09/12/2025
New videos and photos shared with 404 Media show a Border Patrol agent wearing Meta Ray-Bans glasses with the recording light clearly on. This is despite a DHS ban on officers recording with personal devices...
404media.co
Border Patrol Agent Recorded Raid with Meta’s Ray-Ban Smart Glasses
New videos and photos shared with 404 Media show a Border Patrol agent wearing Meta Ray-Bans glasses with the recording light clearly on. This is despite a DHS ban on officers recording with personal ...
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
fpif.org/venezuela-is...
fpif.org
Venezuela Isn’t the Global Threat, Trump and Rubio Are - FPIF
Will the U.S. government push forward with regime change in Venezuela?
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Xi doesn't need to do anything except holding tight and Trump will handle everything Xi needs to him, including destroying the US. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Trump, After Call With China’s Xi, Told Tokyo to Lower the Volume on Taiwan
Japan, a U.S. ally that had angered China on Taiwan, found the message worrying.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Trump and MAGAs leave no space to either freedom nor justice, or democracy. their goals are fundamentally against all others, sometimes even themselves. If people still thinking of a compromise for mutual interests, they must be completely out of their minds. www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
bostonreview.net
The Conservatives Who Think Trump Isn’t Going Far Enough - Boston Review
MAGA’s base is more fractured than it looks.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Under the banner of "patriotic tech", this new bloc is building the infrastructure of an integrated system we call the Authoritarian Stack. It is faster, ideological, and fully privatized: a regime where corporate boards, not public law, set the rules. www.authoritarian-stack.info
authoritarian-stack.info
The Authoritarian Stack
How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next
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WIRED @wired.com · 18/10/2025
Donald Trump has vowed to deport millions and jail his enemies. To carry out that agenda, his administration will exploit America’s digital surveillance machine. Here are steps you can take to evade it.
wrd.cm
The WIRED Guide to Protecting Yourself From Government Surveillance
Donald Trump has vowed to deport millions and jail his enemies. To carry out that agenda, his administration will exploit America’s digital surveillance machine. Here are some steps you can take to…
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Abrego Garcia v. Noem: A Hearing Diary, Oct. 10. A live-blog of the evidentiary hearing on whether Abrego is being unlawfully detained for punitive and political reasons. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/abre...
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Most US military personnel need no reminder of their constitutional duty. But they do need some reassurance that they have support from their chain of command to resist illegal orders. the rest of us should do everything we can to let them know that we will stand with them.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Congress, so far, has been useless in restraining Trump: The Democrats are too timid, and the Republicans are too compromised. Only by standing together can the senior military officials warn Trump away from leading America into a full-blown civil-military confrontation.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
some military commanders are trying to figure out if they face legal exposure for acting as Trump’s personal hit squad. Their questions are likely more difficult to answer since Trump and Hegseth fired the top military lawyers who would have helped field such queries.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Only the military remains outside Trump’s grip. Despite the firing of several top officers—and Trump’s threat to fire more—the U.S. armed forces are still led by generals and admirals whose oath is to the Constitution, not the commander in chief. But for how long?
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
To capture a democratic nation, authoritarians must control three sources of power: the intelligence agencies, the justice system, and the military. Trump and his circle of would-be autocrats have made rapid progress toward such purpose. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
theatlantic.com
The Civil-Military Crisis Is Here
The leaders of the U.S. military may soon face a terrible decision.
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
"I was told by a source close to Trump, there is a growing fear that someone in his own inner-circle may whisper the words “25th Amendment,” end the Trump presidency and usher in “The Age of Ultron” — I mean Vance. That, more than anything else, has Puff Donny scared."
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
He is the proverbial New York sewer rat, cornered and lashing out in a desperate attempt to survive. He also knows he is becoming more vulnerable. But it’s not just his own mortality, shrinking mental acuity and the Jeffrey Epstein case that is scaring him. www.salon.com/2025/10/03/i...
salon.com
I've covered Trump for years — and I've never seen him this scared
As the shutdown shifts the focus, JD Vance waits in the wings
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Ithax @pyrsophia.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
the U.S. turn toward illiberalism would hardly have surprised Carl Schmitt, his version of history that is currently playing out in the US. And it is by his principles that the Trump administration is turning the country in an ever more authoritarian direction. www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
foreignaffairs.com
Reading Schmitt in Beijing
How China’s rise provoked America’s illiberal turn.
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