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Tom Benthin

@tbenthin.bsky.social
239 followers 161 following 151 posts

Graphic facilitator, French-Intensive Biodynamic gardener, activist. California Grassroots Alliance, Indivisible Sonoma County.

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Reposted by Tom Benthin
Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
One post-election narrative is already pre-baked: Voters turned out *against Trump* not *for Dems*—ergo Dems' post-2024 reckoning must continue. The first part will be true. The second part doesn't follow AT ALL. What should follow is *doing what voters signaled they want* so that they are grateful.
offmessage.net
Swing Voters Won’t Be Grateful If Democrats Capitulate
Independents aren’t abandoning Republicans because Republicans refuse to pass message bills, but because they’ve given Trump carte blanche. We’ll know whether Democrats understand this by December.
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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 22/09/2026
solid chance he is in the 34s tomorrow
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Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Yes, this is what I think too, and likely the reason for the abrupt coordinated messaging
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Jodi Jacobson @jljacobson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
We need LEADERS with strong moral compasses willing to put people ahead of their narrow self-interests and their own pockets. Instead they stand with the rapacious billionaires and companies whose greed knows no boundaries. If we don't demand better, we may not be alive in 10 years to reconsider.
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Jodi Jacobson @jljacobson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
As but one example, @schumer.senate.gov's ENTIRE FAMILY is enmeshed with the most dangerous companies and oligarchs in the country. He cannot lead because he is both bought, and self-interested. He also enables a continuing and growing genocide. Jeffries is bought by the same actors.
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Jodi Jacobson @jljacobson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
We are a death cult intent on killing ourselves and a planet on which complex and interrelated life forms evolved over billions of years. We will obliterate all life either through nuclear war, climate change, or out of control "artificial intelligence" which may actually launch the nuclear war.
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
NAZA: 24 Israeli soldiers sit on Tel Aviv rooftops, sharing how they killed entire families, thousands of people, in Gaza. These testimonies appear in NAZA, a film that premiers in Venice today. Here are the directors, explaining why they made the film: www.972mag.com/naza-exposin...
972mag.com
‘NAZA’: Exposing Israel’s killing machine in Gaza
Our new film shows how Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian civilians was a calculated and intentional act, through the testimonies of those responsible.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Protest that endures, I think, is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence. Wendell Berry, What Are People For?
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Liam Niemeyer @liamniemeyer.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
My colleague Sarah Ladd with this remembrance: "...Wendell Berry once wrote: 'Beware the machinery of longevity. When a man’s life is over the decent thing is for him to die. The forest does not withhold itself from death.'" kentuckylantern.com/2026/08/31/k... @kentuckylantern.com
kentuckylantern.com
Kentucky writer, farmer and advocate Wendell Berry dies at 92 • Kentucky Lantern
A lover of forests, the farmer, author and former English professor died on Thursday, according to his family and the New York Times. He was 92.
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Matt Thiessen @mattthiessen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Wendell Berry: “Though we have life, it is beyond us. We do not know how we have it, or why. We do not know what is going to happen to it, or to us. It is not predictable; though we can destroy it, we cannot make it. It cannot... be controlled." www.kentucky.com/news/local/a...
kentucky.com
‘Another great light gone out.’ Kentucky author, activist Wendell Berry dies at 92.
Wendell Berry championed small farms, agrarianism and conservation for decades.
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Tibor M. Kalman @kalmantibs.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Wendell Berry, revered American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, and farmer. August 5, 1934 - August 31, 2026. Rest in Peace, sweet soul. ❤️‍🩹🕯️🕊️
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Diana Butler Bass @dianabutlerbass.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Rest in the peace of wild things, Wendell. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything, every word. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/u...
nytimes.com
Wendell Berry, Writer Who Extolled America’s Agrarian Past, Dies at 92 (Gift Article)
A Kentucky farmer, he railed against agribusiness and championed small family farms and the environment, winning widespread acclaim.
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Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it. Denounce the government and embrace the flag. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/u...
nytimes.com
Wendell Berry, Writer Who Extolled America’s Agrarian Past, Dies at 92
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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Wendell Berry is gone after a long life. I dare you to read or listen to this and not be overwhelmed by something
onbeing.org
The Peace of Wild Things
A poem by Wendell Berry.
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Jodi Jacobson @jljacobson.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
👀👀👀. Immediately.
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Jodi Jacobson @jljacobson.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Again… immediately. And no hiding behind the worst Senator whoever that turns out to be. Put them ALL on record.
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Jodi Jacobson @jljacobson.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Israeli settlers beat a team of NBC journalists, putting one in the hospital. The Israeli government said and did nothing. The USG said and did nothing. Israel’s violence is metastasizing.
Eight members of an NBC News team were beaten by Israeli settlers. A group of masked settlers beat the NBC News team and “pummeled the 51year old woman they were interviewing in the head, putting her in the hospital.”
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
In possibly the fastest shift in public opinion I've ever seen, local data center approval went from -5 to -65 in less than a year heatmap.news/daily/data-c...
a graph of data center support rapidly falling
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Dan Ancona @danancona.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Part of the problem is Dems aren’t even making this case.
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Peggy Flanagan @peggyflanagan.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I am truly honored and humbled to be Minnesota’s Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. Thank you, Minnesota – for everything.
I love you, Minnesota! Miigwech, thank you for everything!
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Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Peggy Flanagan’s likely win in Minnesota should send a thunderous message to all Democrats who bent the knee to Trump in the early days of his 2.0 inauguration which unleashed the brutality of Miller/Trump’s immigration regime. Not ok. Anyone running for Prez who voted for LR will need to explain.
19thnews.org
46 Democrats voted for the Laken Riley Act. For some, it’s a liability.
The immigration law named after a murdered Georgia college student boosted the administration’s immigration powers. Eighteen months later, some Democrats are answering for it.
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Brian Straw @brianstraw.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
There is really no way to reform this kind of behavior.
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
ABOLISH ICE, PROSECUTE THE MFS
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Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Powerful point from @elienyc.bsky.social with @profmmurray.bsky.social re how Dems/progressives aren't being strategic when they are not being thoughtful re how to rebalance/reform the Roberts #SCOTUS. It is the SCOTUS stupid. W/o control of SCOTUS every progressive policy dream burns.
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
If you find yourself dooming, it's worth recalling that Trump has neither the legal nor (more importantly) the practical ability to effectively federalize & rig the midterms. But if you find yourself complacent, it's important to note he can cause a whole lot of chaos by illegally trying & failing.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 12/08/2026
Climate change is bringing more & deadlier mosquitoes to the US, but I'm told we're "hushing" about climate these days, so, uh, don't mention it.
slate.com
They’re the Most Annoying Creatures on the Planet. You Don’t Know What They’re Going to Unleash on America.
They can do a lot more than ruin your summer day.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 12/08/2026
Abolish this agency. Burn it to the ground. Scatter the ashes. Imprison those involved.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The dashcam video in the follow-up post here shows that Officer Roid Rage here was completely lying about why he blocked this woman and pulled a fucking gun on her, but of course there will be no consequences for him.
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Since Breitbart wrote a piece that largely just quotes this chapter of Let This Radicalize You (which MK and I reprinted here in my newsletter last year), I thought I would reshare the full text with you all. IMO, it's one of the best and most relevant things MK and I ever co-authored.
organizingmythoughts.org
Protest, Power, and the Violence Debate
"We are told we are experiencing peace, so long as everyone is cooperating."
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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I’m just so fucking tired of platforms like the NY Times and organizations like the Democratic Party continually insisting, no we cannot have a better world. Shut the fuck up. I’m tired.
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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
A solid majority in this country does not want maga heritage foundation supply side horse shit. They just want elected leaders who reflect this.
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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
The conventional wisdom that Democrats “have to move to the middle” to win elections is evidence-free horseshit. It’s beginning to sound like all the NFL coaches who used to argue that you just can’t start a black quarterback. You know until they did. And then they won.
Doug Williams sports illustrated
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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
If you’re not helping, you’re hurting. So get the fuck out of the way.
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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
My godson turns 1 on Friday. I need this fucking country to get its shit together so he and my nieces and nephews can have nice happy lives for decades to come. I’m tired of people who keep getting in the way of this, especially the people in the party that is supposed to be for the good stuff.
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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Will America Fall for Islamophobia and the Communist Bogeyman? The normalization and mainstreaming of Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism, and fearmongering are due to both parties using hate to silence legitimate criticism of Israel and establishment politics. thelefthook.substack.com/p/will-ameri...
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Jodi Jacobson @jljacobson.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Does anyone else wonder why as Nevada, Montana, Washington state, and even the Everglades burn, as fires are spreading across Europe, and as the Colorado river is reduced to a trickle you do not hear a fucking thing from Democrats about climate crises?
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Latest essay: Cynicism and Naïveté in the Summer of a Thousand Fires
To refuse to participate in the shaping of our future is to give it up. Do not be misled into passivity either by false security (“They don’t mean me”) or by despair (“There’s nothing we can do”). Each of us must find our work and do it.
--Audre Lorde
Some people like to strike worldly and cynical postures, perhaps because they don't realize that worldly and cynical are only too often in conflict with each other. Those striking the posture often assume that the more you know about something the darker and grimmer it will get, and therefore, having not really bothered to learn more, they can set themselves up as worldly by waxing cynical. Often they're wrong in assuming that any positive view is the result of – well the favorite word is naïveté – when often the opposite is true. There is naive cynicism, bitter naïveté, confident assumptions that things are worse than they actually are.
One arena in which this is startlingly true is climate. I have been around the climate movement for more than fifteen years. Everyone who's up to their neck in climate politics, economics, and science knows the situation is serious, alarming, dismaying – but not doomed, and so they keep doing what they can do. Their valor, generosity of spirit, dedication is so profoundly beautiful that being around these people one of the rewards for doing climate work (though our main purpose trying to protect the miraculous, gorgeous, astonishing planet and all its elegantly orchestrated systems of life and the support systems of that life).
But outside that world of informed people who are doing the work are people who throw up their hands and give up.  rest at link in next comment
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Ruwa Romman @ruwaromman.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
🫶
Photo of Abdul with “it’s time to vote blue no matter who” in black blue and red on white in front of him
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onion person @junlper.beer · 05/08/2026
he ran against the full force of the zionist establishment and won. unbelievable victory
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Jodi Jacobson @jljacobson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
MSNow just reporting that by *their* calculations there was $80 million in outside spending for Stevens. Abdul neither took nor was he supported by any corporate or dark money.
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Anat Shenker-Osorio @anatosaurus.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Going to bed believing in you Michigan. The many can beat the money.
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Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Alright, so. Abdul El-Sayed is going to be the Dem nominee for Senate, and Will Lawrence will be the Dem nominee in MI-7. For people who were supporters of other candidates, it's time to vote blue no matter who. For their supporters, we now have a chance to prove what we've been saying for years.
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Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
MI-SEN is over in my view. I'd expect media to wait until we get maybe 10-15% more in from Wayne to confirm the trend before making the call. But Stevens wouldn't have any place to make up 35K votes even if the college towns were all tapped out, which they're far from. So we're done here. AES wins.
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Leah Greenberg ❌👑 @leahgreenberg.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
the lesson of tonight is that everyone needs to lock the fuck in for @peggyflanagan.bsky.social
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Do they ever write that the victory of a moderate makes some worry that a lack of enthusiasm could hurt their chances in November? www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/us/polit…
nytimes.com
William Lawrence Wins Primary in Battleground Michigan House District
William Lawrence defeated two moderate candidates to challenge a vulnerable Republican incumbent, but some worry his views could hurt his chances in November.
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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 05/08/2026
Looks like a 10-15 point polling miss in Michigan regardless of who wins. And people have been writing a lot of electability takes using this data. It’s dangerous out there folks be safe
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Eric Blair @protecttruth.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
And that’s a real effect, not just perception. Schumer and Jeffries and Gillibrand are not fighting, and they are voting for crypto and Wall Street, and they are some of the head big money fundraisers for the party. This isn’t a coincidence
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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 05/08/2026
The numbers coming out of Detroit are not enough for Stevens. It’s a bloodbath
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Eric Blair @protecttruth.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
the Trump vote in 2024 was a change vote, a change election. The Biden vote in 2020 was a change vote. The Trump vote in 2016 was a change vote. The elections in 2026 and 2028 are also going to be change votes. i don’t think D leadership in Congress is ready
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 05/08/2026
“There is so much money right now in detaining people.” As for-profit companies battle over ICE contracts, immigrants are caught in the middle.
motherjones.com
As for-profit companies battle over ICE contracts, immigrants are caught in the middle
“There is so much money right now in detaining people.”
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