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Toph

@tophburns.bsky.social
504 followers 217 following 314 posts

Musician, software/data engineer manager, LGBTQ+ ally. Woke liberal who listens, and donates to NPR, Marketplace and adjacent causes.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Toph
4fuxake @blueheartedly1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
If you're angry about the men at Cornell University, wait until I tell you about the men in the White House, the Pentagon, health and human services, and on the Supreme Court.
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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 17/09/2026
Do my Republican colleagues want future Democratic Presidents to refuse to send disaster aid to states that don't elect Democratic Senators? Trump has already weaponized disaster aid and refused help to blue states over politics. This is simply unforgivable.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
New — I wrote about this weird thing where people within the Republican party keep being exposed as Nazis and the party then tries to claim each one is an aberration. The facts, as I lay out here, indicate otherwise:
thehandbasket.co
Republicans don’t have a Nazi problem—they are the Nazi problem
A spate of recent revelations have shown the ideologies and their adherents are one and the same.
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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Corporations are not people. Their money is not speech. They should not be able to buy politicians. End Citizens United.
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Pearl Jam @pearljam.com · 03/09/2026
Gloria Steinem RIP She was a healing light in the darkness of sexism and archaic patriarchy. - Mike
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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Good job, Seattle Times Editorial Board. Excluding trans girls from sports (or telling them they have to play with boys, which is the same thing) is ritual humiliation. www.seattletimes.com/opinion/edit...
IL 26-638 would send Washington back to the days of “femininity certificates,” when amateur women athletes, including Olympic athletes, had to carry proof that they had passed visual exams and chromosome testing that proved they were women. Under this proposed initiative, parents of girls as young as 12 could be subject to this violation of privacy.

The ballot initiative states that athletes “must provide, as part of the required routine sports physical examination, a health examination and consent form or other statement signed by the student’s personal healthcare provider that verifies the student’s biological sex, relying only on one or more of the following: The student’s reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”

Aside from the humiliation and violation of privacy, testing for genes and hormones isn’t cheap, which would keep girls without means out of competitive sports.
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rgrrl.bsky.social @rgrrl.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
heir.dev blog.google/security/how... #privacy #cryptography
blog.google
How Google is Making Private AI Practical with Homomorphic Encryption
Today we're excited to showcase HEIR, the latest powerful tool added to our Private Computing Toolkit. HEIR is an open source compiler that unlocks cryptographically-sec…
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Hillary Rodham Clinton @hillaryclinton.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Local man suggests jailing own boss.
Screenshot of an Aaron Rupar clip of J.D. Vance saying on Fox News: "If you are committing fraud against the American people, all of us in public leadership should be trying to stop it and throw you in prison for enriching yourself off the American taxpayer"
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
We actually had the 16th highest mortality rate in the world and it largely resulted from the ignorant asshats who were *resisting* the common sense protection measures Fauci was promoting like masking and distancing. What a colossal asshole.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Evil. www.ctinsider.com/news/article...
ctinsider.com
5-year-old spent 118 days on her own in federal immigration custody in CT
On any given day there are more than two dozen immigrant children detained without a parent or guardian in programs run by Connecticut nonprofits.
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Ilhan Omar @ilhanmn.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
ICE has fatally shot 11 people since Donald Trump's second term began. These are not isolated incidents. They are the predictable result of a cruel, violent system. Abolish ICE.
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Kate Burns @katerqburns.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I dont believe you www.nbcnews.com/health/women...
nbcnews.com
Arsenic, lead and other metals in tampons aren’t harmful, FDA report concludes
Previous research had raised safety worries over whether trace amounts of toxic metals in the menstrual products pose health risks.
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Brian Floyd @brianmfloyd.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
it was built in everett, just like every other 747 ever made
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 29/05/2026
Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says.
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Skye @simplyskye.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Mark Kelly: “We’ve gotta get this corporate money out of our political system. If there is one thing I could do, snap my fingers and change, it would be that. Citizens United & just get all the corporate money out. That would allow us to fix so many problems”
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) at a press conference (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Hassett, translated: Now that we have fewer immigrants, we have fewer jobs. When we said that immigrants were taking your jobs, it's because we were lying that there's a fixed pool of jobs. You rubes fell for the lump of labor fallacy.
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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 01/05/2026
The Fifth Circuit just told millions of women that three judges know better than the FDA, their doctors, and 25 years of evidence. They don't. This restriction on medication abortion is a nationwide abortion restriction, full stop. I have no intention of letting this stand.
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Jeffrey Lebowski @jeffreylebowski420.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
We live in stupid times, ruled by stupid people.
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California Dreamin’… 😎 @jerasikehorn.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
I don't know if the assassination attempt was staged or not but I do know that Donald Trump is mentioned more than 38,000 times in the Epstein files… So, let’s talk about that. 😎✨
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TizzyWoman @tizzywoman.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Anouska de Georgiou is an Epstein survivor. Listen as she talks about how damaging the patriarchy is. You have a right to set boundaries. Even if you’re afraid. Don’t stop talking about the #EpsteinFiles.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 15/04/2026
Happy Tax Day, New York. We’re taxing the rich.
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Dr. Mar @boldnewme.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Look at the women at NASA. They are the ones pushing the boundaries of science, solving problems most people can’t even understand, and carrying this country forward, while our politicians right now posture and stumble through talking points. And they are doing it all with joy.👇
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Toph @tophburns.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
I wonder which narrative will prove correct. AirBnB: “You can make a fortune!” Forbes: “Yeah, maybe not?” www.forbes.com/sites/suzann...
forbes.com
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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 01/04/2026
Conversion therapy is child abuse. It should be banned nationwide—and I have a bill to do just that. I’m not going to stop fighting for a world where every person, no matter their gender or sexual orientation, can live with dignity and without fear.
apnews.com
Supreme Court rules against Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for LGBTQ+ kids
The Supreme Court has ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that banned the discredited practice.
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Brennan Center @brennancenter.org · 31/03/2026
Breaking: The president has signed an executive order on mail voting. He has no lawful authority to write the rules that govern our elections. He tried a year ago; we sued him; we won. A year later, he has tried again. He can expect the same result. 1/2
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Econ Analytica @econanalytica.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Cartoon by @andertoon.bsky.social
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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
I showed this graph in class yesterday on how measles cases in the United States plummeted dramatically after the vaccine was licensed in 1963. It’s not subtle and I could not resist observing: “This stunning design in measles cases was not thanks to vitamin A. It was not due to beef tallow.”
A graph titled “the public health success of the measles vaccine” that shows the number of measles cases in the United States plummeting after the vaccine was introduced in 1963
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Omg! Huge shoutout to San Francisco, CA! Ocean Beach, you crushed it! 🌊
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Johanna T 👻 📚 @johannamation.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Meanwhile, I had my first encounter with an all-genders public restroom in Seattle (all stalls, no urinals), and was surprised by how thoroughly mundane and unremarkable a co-ed restroom actually is in practice when the people involved are normal and not, yknow, paranoid gender-policing creeps.
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Ms. Magazine @msmagazine.com · 26/03/2026
"As a woman, to speak first, or even early, in the effort to push against injustice or to expose an ugly truth, is to risk scorn and, almost certainly, to undergo scathing attacks."
msmagazine.com
Sinead O’Connor Was Right: It’s Time to Revisit Some of Pop Culture’s Most Maligned Women
Sinead O’Connor was right: An excerpt from Allison T. Butler's The Judgment of Gender: How Women Are Centered and Silenced in Pop Culture
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Lots of suspicious trades in oil/equities just ahead of Trump tweets backing off his ultimatum. Sure looks like somebody close to Trump knew he was about to TACO, and exploited that inside information to make huge, instant profits From @pkrugman.bsky.social: paulkrugman.substack.com/p/treason-in...
paulkrugman.substack.com
Treason in the Futures Markets
People close to Trump are trading based on national secrets
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The Needling @theneedling.com · 24/03/2026
ICE Agents Just Making Sure They’re the Only Terrorists at Airport: tinyurl.com/yky47eh2
Four ICE agents loitering around airport's security checkpoint
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Julie Cohen ❌👑 @filmmakerjulie.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Now THAT’S what I call a special guest! Bruce Springsteen joins Amy Goodman on stage to perform Streets of Minneapolis and celebrate @democracynow.org 30th Anniversary.
2 icons side by side on a church stage.
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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 23/03/2026
I voted NO on Senator Mullin's nomination to lead DHS. We need a Secretary who can clean up the mess that Noem left, rein in the out-of-control masked federal agents, and focus on real accountability & transparency. That's not Mullin.
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Skye @simplyskye.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Pramila Jayapal: “What people are facing is a complete destruction of their ability to live decent lives — are we addressing any of that here?”
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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 18/03/2026
I just voted to END the war with Iran, but Republicans blocked our effort to stop this conflict. Why is there money for a war no one asked for, but no money for health care here at home? I'll keep voting to end this war again and again. NO WAR WITH IRAN.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 13/03/2026
Let there be as much outrage from politicians in Washington when kids go hungry as there is when I break bread with New Yorkers.
Senator Tuberville on x writing a response to the @endwokeness account 

Original tweet from @EndWokeness - “less than 25 years apart”
Image 1 - the twin towers as they are hit by a the planes on 9/11/2001
Image 2 - Mayor Mamdani sitting on a prayer rug while hosting an Iftar  at city hall

Quote tweet from Senator Tuberville - “the enemy is inside the gates.”
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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
I love the idea that *this* US government, which has been nabbing landscapers and five year olds knows where Iranian sleeper cells are but just hasn’t gotten around to doing anything about it yet.
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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 11/03/2026
BREAKING: Senate Republicans just blocked my bill to fund TSA and FEMA... AGAIN. This isn't complicated: if Republicans won't agree to rein in ICE & CBP, they should AT MINIMUM work with us to fund TSA. But they won't.
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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
I was in a 2 hour briefing today on the Iran War. All the briefings are closed, because Trump can't defend this war in public. I obviously can't disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are. 1/ Here's what I can share:
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Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Just a reminder that Muslims have been on this continent since the first arrival of non-Indigenous people. They were among the first generation of Americans, and have been here ever since.
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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 09/03/2026
We are a secular democracy. If you don't like the freedom of religion, you are welcome to move somewhere else. In America, you can be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or anything else. It's written into our Constitution. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Get lost with this garbage.
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Tim Murphy @timothypmurphy.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
i work with words for a living, so I am biased, but I really think we've got to bring back words. really useful if you imbue them with meaning and arrange them properly!
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
🔥Ex-CIA Ex-Marine congressional candidate @adamduniganva8 : “This is now a regional conflict involving 17 countries… incompetence, lack of planning, and an inability to understand the scale of the crisis they’ve created… Trump spent more time with Epstein than planning for war.”
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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 06/03/2026
And that’s just his immediate family.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
The video of a United States Senator joining the violent removal of U.S. marine from a hearing and hideously breaking his arm in a door is an example of what has been unleashed in this country. They’re tapping in to get in on the violence. And then he bragged about it on X later.
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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
I'm sorry, if you're going to make a big show about how you've got a Department of WAR helmed by a Secretary of WAR and staffed by WARfighters, it's totally inane to then claim that your massive bombing of a foreign country constitutes something other than a war.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
This is Trump's former AI adviser
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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
When you think about it for more than 5 seconds, it really is both insane and outrageous that *HILLARY CLINTON* - a woman who apparently has never met with nor corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein was one of the first people deposed.
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 27/02/2026
Science is still under attack in America and it won't get any better, not if we don't do something about it! BUT WE ARE! Join us in our NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION to TAKE BACK OUR SCIENCE on SATURDAY, MARCH 7th Rally in WASHINGTON D.C. and NATIONWIDE! Learn more at standupforscience.net/march7
standupforscience.net
Stand Up for Science: March 7th, 2026 — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE
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