iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

"For too long, politics has become about a person as opposed to a platform." - @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Mamdani Platform: I'm gonna freeze the - rent! Buses fast and - free! Universal - childcare! When your platform becomes a rallying cry, you're #Winning

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Nearly 2/3 of West Virginians on #Medicaid are already working. Another 29% are caregivers, students or have disabilities. This ain't "fraud, waste & abuse!" "These are people doing their best, often under incredibly difficult circumstances." #WV westvirginiawatch.com/2025/06/17/w...

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

WV wouldn't have a single four-lane highway if it weren't for DEI! The Appalachian Regional Commission is one of the original diversity, equity, & inclusion programs. #dei #appalachia #wvpol #wv

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

We must Block the Billionaires who seek to control our society. Whenever they keep someone else down, they get richer & we all suffer.

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

The beloved community is under attack... www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_e...

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Closing the top agency (USAID) that combats child poverty is as hostile as you can get to religious values of grace, love, & mercy. 💔 To all Bible-believing Christians & all people of good faith, please reflect deeply at what is happening in our name as Americans.

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

"Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, you should expect a separation of power,” said long-time WV Legislative Auditor Aaron Allred as he attended a rally at the WV Capitol. “If Congress is not going to be a check on Musk and Trump, we’re going to have to have people peacefully protest..."

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West Virginia Watch @westvirginiawatch.com · 17/01/2025

COMMENTARY: As a labor lawyer and community advocate in Southern West Virginia, I was inspired recently by visiting the coalfields in the south of Wales, writes @squarejustice.bsky.social.

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Lessons and hope from the coalfields of South Wales

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

My argument for investing in childcare as an economic diversification/transition strategy, based lessons from the decline of the regional coal industry in South Wales---very analogous to our current challenges in West Virginia. westvirginiawatch.com/2025/01/17/l...

westvirginiawatch.com

Lessons and hope from the coalfields of South Wales • West Virginia Watch

As a labor lawyer and community advocate in Southern West Virginia, I was inspired recently by visiting the coalfields in the south of Wales.

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

"Pride" -- the film about an historic alliance between the Welsh coal miners' union & the lesbian & gay community. Worth a watch for all of us in Appalachia & America who believe in a brighter future! youtu.be/kZfFvsKDuUU?...

youtu.be

Pride Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Bill Nighy, Andrew Scott Historical Comedy HD

YouTube video by Rotten Tomatoes Trailers

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

"If it is true ... that love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence, then any society which excludes, relatively, the development of love, must in the long run perish of its own contradiction with the basic necessities of human nature." - Erich Fromm

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

It's #SmallBusinessSaturday! Don't fritter away all your money at big retailers owned by private equity firms that are killing American jobs, local enterprises, & communities. The trinkets aren't worth those harms! #ShopSmall #HappyThanksgiving #NoCreditChristmas

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

The struggle between the #WorkingClass and Big Business is the root of all political struggle. No matter your party. No matter your place. Which side are you on? #1u

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

The struggle between the #WorkingClass and Big Business is the root of all political struggle. No matter your party. No matter your place. Which side are you on? #1u

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

“That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” #gettysburg #notinvain www.nytimes.com/2024/11/23/u...

nytimes.com

On Blood-Soaked Ground, a ‘Prayer for the Future’ of a Divided Land

Two weeks after the election, a gathering in Gettysburg commemorated Lincoln’s address, 272 words that have come to epitomize what it means to be presidential.

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

"American Coup: Wilmington 1898" @pbs.org.web.brid.gy tells the story of a deadly racist massacre and carefully orchestrated insurrection against a multiracial governing coalition — the only successful coup d’état in the history of the US. Valuable historical insights.

pbs.org

American Coup: Wilmington 1898 | American Experience | PBS

The little-known story of a deadly 1898 race massacre and coup d’état in Wilmington, North Carolina, when white supremacists overthrew the multi-racial government of state’s largest city through a cam...

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Sitting at a fast food joint in #WV, the cook/cashier (a full-time worker!) says she is cooking her family's Thanksgiving stuffing at work since she doesn't have an oven at her house. This is America, dammit. I am sick of watching our people suffer amidst such staggering wealth. #RAISETHEWAGE

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West Virginia Watch @westvirginiawatch.com · 21/11/2024

The director of West Virginia Head Start, which offers education services to thousands of low-income children, is optimistic that the program will continue despite concerns it could be eliminated under President-elect Donald Trump, reports @amelianews.bsky.social.

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West Virginia Head Start confident about its future under Trump administration • West Virginia Watch

The director of West Virginia Head Start, which offers education and wraparound services to thousands of low-income children, is optimistic that the program will continue despite concerns it could be…

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

CHART: Red states (like ours 👋🏽) that want to shutter the Dept of Ed and “send the money back to the states” — are the states that get more out than they put in and depend on it most. Again: We get ~40% of our state budget from the federal government. www.datawrapper.de/_/skaST/

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

🔥 AOC on Nancy Mace

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Reposted by Sam Petsonk

Appodlachia @appodlachia.com · 21/11/2024

If you need a starter pack for #Appalachia, we got you covered go.bsky.app/QwUpFwL

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Let's recap WV's fight on poverty: In 1960, WV's poverty rate was 50+%. A broad multiracial coalition of unions & mass movements reduced poverty by over half during the next two decades (23.5% in 1980). Poverty spiked under Reagan to 38% in 1990. Now it's 16-18%. Let's see what happens from here...

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

"This is what you shall do: love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labour to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence towards the people,

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

“I have full confidence that the Senate Democratic Caucus will prevent the Republicans from blocking this new silica rule,” Petsonk said. “But ... if control of the Senate changes in the next year, this rule may be in jeopardy.” #EndBlackLung #silicosis @aflcio.org wvpublic.org/will-the-new...

wvpublic.org

Will The New Silica Dust Standard Rule Be Implemented? - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Before a new MSHA rule to limit miner's exposure to silica dust could take full effect, opponents threw up a new roadblock.

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Sam Petsonk @squarejustice.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Court finds Consol defrauded #coal miners with false offer of lifetime retiree benefits. "An entire generation of wealth that our miners thought they had earned is now gone because of these broken promises." - Sam Petsonk westvirginiawatch.com/2024/10/14/1...

westvirginiawatch.com

Years after CONSOL ended retiree benefits, judge finds merit in case claiming miners were defrauded • West Virginia Watch

A federal judge found merit in a case alleging that CONSOL Energy engaged in a decades-long scheme to rob miners of lifetime health benefits.

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