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Sophia Tesfaye

@sophiatesfaye.bsky.social
273 followers 113 following 61 posts

Politics Writer at Salon.com

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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Earlier this week, I agreed to interviews with two USA Today journalists. They wrote fantastic articles about the Cornell case that I'm proud to have been a part of. What I did not know is that their employer considers interviews to proprietary and opens up recordings to be used by any journalist.
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Salon.com @salon.com · 01/10/2026
MAGA media was ready to amplify the Missouri senator's conspiracy theory. It turned out to be laughably false.
salon.com
Eric Schmitt's failed Jack Smith gotcha exposes GOP propaganda
MAGA media was ready to amplify the Missouri senator's conspiracy theory. It turned out to be laughably false
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
Kristi Yamaguccimane @wapplehouse.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
new meme template
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Salon.com @salon.com · 23/09/2026
“Hayes said that Texas’ long-running Republican experiment has produced a contradiction: Policies that helped make Texas affordable, fast-growing and attractive to newcomers are also changing the electorate and straining the coalition that built the model in the first place.”
salon.com
Chris Hayes says GOP's domination of Texas is coming back to bite them
MS NOW host explains how turning Texas into a lab for "right-wing state policy" ultimately backfired
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Spoke with @chrislhayes.bsky.social about Texas, Republicans and James Talerico’s chances this cycle.
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Never noticed Susie’s wig www.salon.com/2026/09/20/s...
salon.com
Susie Wiles is Trump's chief enabler
The White House chief of staff has done little to rein in the president's worst impulses
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I have so many more questions...
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
There’s a reason ESPN let Ted Cruz get booed on air for 10 minutes www.salon.com/2026/09/15/t...
salon.com
The billion-dollar reason Disney let Ted Cruz hijack ESPN's “GameDay”
ESPN sacrificed its signature show to save Disney's broadcast empire
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
This was the best week for corporate media in years. From NBC standing up for Kristen Welker to Bret Baier defending Fox reporters from Trump’s attacks to Maria Bartiromo getting the boot. The era of corporate complicity looks like its coming to an end www.salon.com/2026/09/05/m...
salon.com
Maria Bartiromo’s Fox exit exposes breakdown of Trump’s media machine
The Bartiromo break up shows where Fox’s loyalty actually ends
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The institutions that complied in advance are now standing firm in defiance. It’s a significant shift — and it’s clearly getting to Trump. www.salon.com/2026/09/01/t...
salon.com
Trump's attacks on the press suddenly sound more frantic
From the president to the Pentagon, the administration appears to be in a spiral.
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
“The FBI is willing to give candidates a pass on prostitution, as long as they have not hired sex workers three or more times” www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-can...
cbsnews.com
At the FBI, a history of hiring prostitutes or stealing from employer may no longer be a barrier to being hired
In June, the FBI quietly lowered some of the standards it uses when it conducts background checks on would-be federal agents and other personnel.
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 27/08/2026
Three staffers at Stars and Stripes, including the publisher and editor in chief, sued the Defense Department, saying their recent firings were illegal and violated their free-speech protections under the First Amendment.
washingtonpost.com
Stars and Stripes employees sue Pentagon over firings at military newspaper
The publication’s publisher, its editor in chief and a reporter allege that the government violated their First Amendment rights to free speech.
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
tomwellborn3rd @wellborn.net · 27/08/2026
To prove strangers can steal votes, O'Keefe put on a costume, faked an accent, and handed poll workers the name of a real registered voter who found out from the video. Nobody in the crew cast a ballot. Falsely signing that oath in Minnesota carries a five-year penalty.
salon.com
MAGA influencers are still paying for the Big Lie
Dinesh D'Souza, James O'Keefe, Scott Presler and others face legal liability for election shenanigans
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
tomwellborn3rd @wellborn.net · 27/08/2026
The Justice Department is 0 for 23 on voter roll cases, unable to document the fraud epidemic it keeps invoking. The man who filmed the pictures that sold it settled with one of his mules and apologized. The federal apparatus is being built anyway.
salon.com
MAGA influencers are still paying for the Big Lie
Dinesh D'Souza, James O'Keefe, Scott Presler and others face legal liability for election shenanigans
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
We’ve had a raft of awful election news this week. Here are three cases to restore some faith in our system. Stories of Republicans hoisted with their own petards you may have missed. www.salon.com/2026/08/27/m...
salon.com
MAGA influencers are still paying for the Big Lie
Dinesh D'Souza, James O'Keefe, Scott Presler and others face legal liability for election shenanigans
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
tomwellborn3rd @wellborn.net · 18/08/2026
Fuckface sued the BBC for ten billion, then dropped the money claim the moment they asked to see his books, and now his kids and Kushner are subpoenaed over what he meant by fight like hell. Process servers got turned away from the Miami house by cops and the Secret Service.
salon.com
Trump sued the BBC — now Jared and Ivanka may pay for it
Secret Service agents blocked the subpoena at the door, but Trump's suit could still force testimony
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 14/08/2026
This is the coverage of Arday **just in the Telegraph** in the UK. This is only the first four pages of results, just in one outlet.
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Jason Arday found dead
2 hours ago — Mr Arday was found •unresponsive• at an address in Battersea. south London. on Froy
afternoon. He was uter pronounced dead at the scene. A Read rnore
Jason Arday says he was an illiterate, mute child. His .
6 hours ago — Jason Arday says he was an i&erate. mute child. Cambridge's youngest-ever black
professor in 2023. Arday attended from the age of four to 11
r— mm-WI 3
A PhD is no longer a sign of brilliance — take it from Dr Arday
1 day aeo — Juon Arday resigns from the Unwersity of Cambrdge after The Telegraph reports he had
falseb• claimed to have pubåshed a book
We are all Jason Arday now
S days ago — Jason Arday resons from the University of Cambridge after The Telegraph reports he had
falsew cGimed to have published a book Aug 7.2028. Read more
Cambridge professor claimed he was on Seven Up..
2 Aug 2026 — He was not bom until 1985. Prof Arday is at the centre of a row about academk
plagiarism after The Tekgragh that he had been accused
The Jason Arday 'memoir' that now appears to be more .
7 days ago — Instead of tales of triumph over adversity. the now-fomer Cambridge professors
autob"qraphy is a case study in self-rnythobgising,
Arday failed to mention 'months-long coma' in autobiography
8 days ago — Jason Arday toz publishers he was k•ft a three-month coma fohwhg a car gash. but
never wrote about the ordeal his memoirs_
Jason Arday is living proof that you reap what you sow
6 Aug 2028 — The Cambridge professor feed plagiarism alegations and made fantastical clä'ns about
his life. so what did he expect woUz happen? Read rmre
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Arday 'accused student of Miite privilege' after she
4 days ago — Forrner Cambrdge professor alleged* htplied that Roehamptm student was racist after
cornplaint about essay SOOre.
Jason Arday is rnerely a symptom of the Leffs corruption
Aug 2026 — Lab-curs on school standards is on the same toxic assumptions that created his
academic career.
Cambridge hired Arday after 'listening to black stu…
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Douglas Moran @dougom.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
@sophiatesfaye.bsky.social This tendency goes back to at least the Victorian era, where they believed being poor was a moral failing, rather than the results of industrialization and the consolidation of power by robber barons. www.salon.com/2026/08/13/m...
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
On the anniversary of Charlottesville’s Unite the Right rally www.cnn.com/2026/08/12/p...
cnn.com
Exclusive: Former employee at Southern Poverty Law Center arrested on fraud charges | CNN Politics
A former employee of the Southern Poverty Law Center has been arrested in California on charges that she oversaw secret payments to informants inside of White supremacist groups, one of whom she was a...
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Those who are going to vote for Republicans this year are going to do so completely independent of anything they say
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Craig Calcaterra @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Nicholas Johnston of Axios, who wrote this, has an English degree from Georgetown University and has worked in media for over 25 years. Yet here he is admitting that he can't read a book that, traditionally, is assigned to 15 and 16 year-olds in school, so he has AI do it for him.
axios.com
Robot book club
Reading books with an AI partner
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
Matt Pearce @mattdpearce.com · 11/08/2026
I’m learning that the people who gamified paragraphs are having trouble reading books. www.axios.com/2026/08/11/r...

AXIOS

Al has become my reading buddy as I've plowed through my summer book list, helping me keep track of plots and characters, unpack themes, and make sense of wordy, old prose.
• Why it matters: The way many of us actually read books - a few pages before bed, a chapter at the beach, another on a plane - makes it easy to lose the thread. Al can help you pick it back up without starting over.
Ш I really got into using Al while reading James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans." The text was far too dense for casual vacation reading. My first prompt asked:
• "T'd like a guide as I read The Last of the Mohicans who can help me understand what I've read and where the story is, without giving spoilers or getting ahead of my progress. Can you do this, chapter by chapter?"
• The robot agreed: "Cooper's sentences are long and his diction is archaic."
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
www.salon.com/2026/08/10/h...
salon.com
He’s eligible for up to $480K for being wrongly imprisoned for 42 years. The GOP AG says no.
Elvis Brooks’ conviction was tossed after prosecutor admitted hiding evidence. Liz Murrill maintains he’s guilty.
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, who has publicly raised concerns regarding US military vulnerabilities and critical munition shortages, is being punished by the Pentagon.
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The upcoming season of “60 Minutes” is off to a rough start www.salon.com/2026/08/08/t...
salon.com
The ghost of “60 Minutes” is about to haunt Bari Weiss
Former correspondents Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi may be teaming up to get the last word
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
The headline is straight to the point, but @amandamarcotte.bsky.social has packed a whole lot into this one www.salon.com/2026/08/03/m...
salon.com
Mitch McConnell is never coming back to the Senate
The likeliest reason for the Kentucky senator's ruse is also the most pathetic
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
onekade @onekade.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
In Wisconsin, a police officer allegedly used Flock to check whether his ex-girlfriend had gone to an abortion clinic, according to a police affidavit for a case set for trial this month.
In Kansas, a police chief who tracked his ex through Flock sneaked up on her while she was intimate with another man, a state police certification body alleged, leading to his firing.
In Florida, a deputy speeding to stop a young actress he’d added to a watch list for a license-plate tool called Guardian nearly caused a head-on crash, according to a police report and video from his dashboard camera. The deputy was arrested in March, and his attorney declined to comment.
And in California, prosecutors said a former deputy, Alexander Vanny, used Flock as part of a months-long campaign of “stalking” and “humiliating” his former fiancée that also involved following her around town and installing a hidden camera in her roommate’s bathroom, according to a sentencing brief.
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darth™️ @darthbluesky.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
this photo lol
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Salon.com @salon.com · 27/07/2026
Andrew Tate's rise to conservative political icon didn't happen by accident. The right-wing media ecosystem built him up, and his collapse could now drag the president's youngest son into a congressional investigation.
salon.com
Andrew Tate's arrest causes trouble for Trump's youngest son
The manosphere influencer has lost the president's support — but he could pose a threat to Barron
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
Salon.com @salon.com · 26/07/2026
How did Andrew Tate go from right-wing icon to disgraced influencer — and why could his collapse now pull the president's son into a congressional spotlight? @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social traces the conservative media machine that made it happen.
salon.com
Andrew Tate's arrest causes trouble for Trump's youngest son
The manosphere influencer has lost the president's support — but he could pose a threat to Barron
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
This week alone offered multiple remarkably different examples of the same phenomenon. It’s not just that MAGA has grifters. It is that the grifters now help define the terms of power. www.salon.com/2026/07/19/m...
salon.com
MAGA's influencer class is breaking Trump's White House
Republicans are now paying the price for a government run by clout chasers
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Is Trump still speaking? Looks like Fox News cut him off
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
An important read @salon.com. So thankful to editor @jasonkylehoward.bsky.social for helping this find a home www.salon.com/2026/07/10/w...
salon.com
What a subway ride with white supremacists taught me about America
Surrounded by masked Patriot Front members on the DC Metro, I considered what it means to be an American
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Why is every Democrat in Maine a former Republican
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Andi Zeisler @andizeisler.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
“Instead of treating history as a static, unyielding marble monument to be worshipped blindly, the nation is encouraged to treat it as a shared inheritance — one that has been unevenly distributed across generations, but that remains collectively owned.” from @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social
salon.com
A Fourth of July in Kamala Harris’ USA
A celebration of what could have been if the 2024 election had gone differently
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Since Donald Trump has turned our nation’s 250th anniversary into a celebration of himself — complete with grift — let’s imagine a Fourth of July that might have been @salon.com www.salon.com/2026/07/04/a...
salon.com
A Fourth of July in Kamala Harris’ USA
A celebration of what could have been if the 2024 election had gone differently
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
The initial ruling came on the eve of Juneteenth abcnews.com/Politics/cou...
abcnews.com
Court clears way for Trump admin to 'immediately' replace slavery exhibit in Philadelphia ahead of July 4
On the eve of July 4, the Trump administration is seeking to replace the slavery memorial at the President’s House in Philadelphia. Here's what could change.
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Ian Carlos @ianxcarlos.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
This is a good read on the exact type of double standards that are turning everyone, including me, into the joker. It’s frustrating because I feel like the biggest reason for this is the GOP threatens, attacks, and insults (and even sues) journalists who do their job while Dem folks… don’t
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Erin Keane @erinkeane.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
"Unexplained gaps in representation are inherently newsworthy." — @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social in @salon.com www.salon.com/2026/07/02/w...
salon.com
Why the media lets Republicans keep medical woes a mystery
The lengthy absences of Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Tom Kean Jr. raise a congressional double standard
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
My latest for @salon.com on how Mitch McConnell and other Republicans get away with unexplained, taxpayer-funded absences from their job www.salon.com/2026/07/02/w...
salon.com
Why the media lets Republicans keep medical woes a mystery
The lengthy absences of Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Tom Kean Jr. raise a congressional double standard
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Media Matters for America @mmfa.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Trump may have lost his case before the Court, but right-wing media has gained something valuable: another resentment they will turn into a rallying cry in the run-up to the midterms.
salon.com
MAGA is turning SCOTUS loss into the existential crisis it needed
The Court's birthright citizenship ruling is fueling the right-wing media machine ahead of the midterms
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Far from settling the issue, the Supreme Court’s ruling on birthright citizenship looks to have guaranteed that the right will become even more rabid. www.salon.com/2026/07/01/m...
salon.com
MAGA is turning SCOTUS loss into the existential crisis it needed
The Court's birthright citizenship ruling is fueling the right-wing media machine ahead of the midterms
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Doug Burgum looks like a founding father
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
The stores are already stocked with Halloween decor. What are we doing here?
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Reposted by Sophia Tesfaye
Molly White @molly.wiki · 29/06/2026
fuck with consumers all you want but anything that could threaten the justices' net worth is just a step too far
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ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Ugh. Supreme Court rules in Slaughter, 6-3 that Trump can fire people from the FTC. But in Cook, Court rules 5-4 that Trump cannot fire everybody from the Fed. Roberts writes both majority opinions There's no real difference between the FTC and the FED other than Roberts likes the Fed.
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amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
“Loitering is not permitted in this area. Please proceed to a designated location. Thank you for your cooperation,” a surveillance machine tells a small cluster of National Guard members as they patrol the fenced off Reflecting Pool in the rain.
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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
"The board also cut a detailed explanation of how Jim Crow laws perpetuated segregation, and renamed the Tulsa Race Massacre, believed to be the worst case of racial violence in American history, to the “Tulsa Race Riots.”
cmf.houstonchronicle.com
Texas social studies rewrite would trim back lessons on slavery and civil rights
The board voted to cut proposed lessons that would explain racial segregation, slave...
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Michelle Chappell she/her @michellechap76.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
The National Park Service is closing Dupont Circle for DC Pride weekend because Republicans hate joy #FreeDC www.nps.gov/nama/learn/m...
nps.gov
Notice to the Public. Temporary Closure of Dupont Circle - National Mall and Memorial Parks (U.S. National Park Service)
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Sophia Tesfaye @sophiatesfaye.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Never forget the terrorist fist jab
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