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A. de Villiers

@tortoise2win.bsky.social
781 followers 131 following 6 posts
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Reposted by A. de Villiers
Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 15h
I think people should listen to what the administration trying to bring back spectacle lynchings, race riots, and middle passage-esque deportation voyages are trying to tell you about themselves. bsky.app/profile/bren...
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 15h
The news just since I left work: -A planned livestream of an execution by firing squad -Trump basically trying to incite a pogrom against Somalis Nothing mysterious or complicated about what's happening.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 11h
“There was zero plan, except causing pain,” said one U.N. official about the Trump administration’s decision to stop funding the group with no notice or communication. “And that is not forgivable.” (Published Dec. 2025)
propublica.org
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
“Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.
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Status Coup News @statuscoupnews.bsky.social · 13h
🚨BREAKING: ICE vehicle RAMS through NYC protesters attempting to block it from leaving after ICE agents SHOT a man in NYC—the man’s young son was in the back seat. WE’RE LIVE ON SCENE ⬇️
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 19h
Memo to Democrats: you can't win the public's trust if you drink from the same corporate trough as the Republicans. Reject Big AI Money (and all corporate campaign contributions) and regulate AI. www.commondreams.org/news/ai-electi…
commondreams.org
Voters in Key States See AI Campaign Cash as More Politically Toxic Than AIPAC: Poll | Common Dreams
"Candidates should seek support from the AI industry at their own peril."
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Alan Sepinwall @sepinwall.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
For The New York Times, I wrote about how Rod Serling create The Twilight Zone in part because it was the only way in the 1950 and 60s for him to comment on the subjects he cared about most, and how that's a good blueprint for contemporary media to deal with our surreal current moment:
nytimes.com
Opinion | ‘The Twilight Zone’ Created a Blueprint for Surviving Our Surreal Moment (Gift Article)
With “The Twilight Zone,” Rod Serling created a durable blueprint for understanding our surreal reality.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 9h
I am angry tonight. Because tonight ICE shot a New Yorker. They shot a New Yorker while his five year old child was in the car. ICE makes this city less safe. We want them out. Now.
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Ashok Dadhwal @ashokdadhwal196.bsky.social · 8h
ZOHRAN MAMDANI: NO JUSTIFICATION FOR EXCESSIVE FORCE “There is no explanation for this.” When armed federal officers fire multiple rounds into a car with a five-year-old child inside, public safety demands answers, transparency and accountability.
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Showing Up for Racial Justice @surj.org · 8h
ICE can't be reformed. An agent shot and injured a man in New York City on Thursday afternoon with his 5 year old in the car. Our communities are not safe with ICE around. Abolish ICE.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11h
Ossoff: "I think Pete Hegseth is frankly a deeply unwell person who seems to relish this kind of brutality all the while he's running a department that is falling into chaos. The guy cannot run the military competently and is spending his time with this kind of obscene medieval spectacle."
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 12h
American "free speech defenders" pressure other people not to exercise their right to free speech www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
EU drops sponsorship of disinformation conference at Trump officials’ request
Lithuania and Canada were also pressured to withdraw, and days before #Disinfo2026, logos were wiped off website
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 14h
This afternoon in Marble Hill, a New Yorker was shot by an ICE agent in a residential neighborhood. Early reports indicate agents surrounded him and a 5-year-old child in his car before firing multiple rounds. We believe the child was physically unharmed.

This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation. I have called the President; when we speak I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.

Our thoughts are with the injured New Yorker and his family tonight. We are praying for his recovery.

Get ICE out of our neighborhoods. Get ICE out of our hospitals. Get ICE off our streets. Get ICE away from our children.

Abolish ICE.
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OPB @opb.org · 13h
Columbia Riverkeeper and Northwest Environmental Defense Center released a three-page memo that claims NXTClean Fuels, a Houston-based company, has failed to pay corporate taxes, owes millions to creditors and investors and has defaulted payments on a property it purchased in Columbia County.
opb.org
Company behind massive renewable fuels refinery on Columbia River seems to be in financial trouble
NXTClean Fuels wants to build a $2.5 billion renewable diesel refinery right next to the Columbia River near Clatskanie. But financial troubles could cloud the company's ability to move forward.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13h
Ossoff: "They've unleashed federal agents to kill Americans on the streets of our cities with impunity. That's Mike Collins's immigration policy. And that's what you'd expect from the bigot congressman who called for executed immigrants by throwing to their deaths out of helicopters."
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13h
OSSOFF: Mike Collins is one of the most extreme members of Congress. He's a Trump puppet election denier. I want to hear if Mike still believes the 2020 election was stolen. What do you say Mike? COLLINS: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 13h
Women who resist rape are punished so disproportionately because men understand that rape is the lynchpin of their social power, and they will go to any lengths to defend it. www.cnn.com/2026/10/08/u...
cnn.com
‘Shocking’ swatting incident and death threats against Jane Doe | CNN
Jane Doe’s Attorney Thomas Giuffra tells CNN’s Kaitlan Collins the swatting incident that left Doe’s family at gunpoint was “one of the most shocking things” he’s seen.
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Nandita Sharma @nsharma101.bsky.social · 13h
Public executions are always used by states as a demonstration of their power to get away with murder. They are also a way to inure us to the state’s violence. We allow them to happen at our peril.
wapo.st
Fort Hood shooter’s execution will be live-streamed, Defense Dept. says
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday about the firing squad execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 13h
Feels to me like the U.S. government livestreaming the shooting death of a guy in a wheelchair is going to be in all the history books, and hopefully framed as the end of an era that was very bad, and not the start of an era that was much, much worse
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Ashok Dadhwal @ashokdadhwal196.bsky.social · 13h
When those entrusted with law and order become a source of fear, public trust collapses. The video raises disturbing questions about police conduct and the use of force. Accountability must be transparent, impartial and evidence-based. No one is above the law—not even those who enforce it.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14h
a livestreamed execution is just a lynching
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13h
Ossoff: "If John Lewis were marching today from Selma to Montgomery, Mike Collins would be grabbing a billy club"
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14h
The Trump administration wants to lift sanctions on a Russian company to benefit mostly Middle Eastern investors (who also happen to be Trump family business partners) www.nytimes.com/2026/10/08/w...
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 15h
Just today: - The Trump admin announced the first public execution since 1936. - Trump tried to incite a race war against Somalis. - Trump said anyone using the phrase AI is "THE ENEMY" - The NYT reported on a potential ICE plan to deport migrants on military boats and ferries.
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 15h
Turning state violence into a public spectacle is a very fascist move BTW.
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Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 17h
Interesting! Hey why were these figures under sanctions and what exactly about Dayton do they want to rexamine www.ft.com/content/c163...
"
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	https://www.ft.com/content/c163a470-e73f-4fdb-91fb-426004b21f22?syn-25a6b1a6=1
"Over the past two years, Republika Srpska has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Maga-aligned lobbyists, seeking to lift sanctions on Bosnian Serb political figures and to promote a re-examination of the Dayton peace accords, which ended the war in Bosnia in 1995."
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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 16h
Airplanes, trains, and automobiles have been used far more often than ships as transport for mass detention or deportations of those denied due process, but what history there is... is not good.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 17h
Whoa. @haleaziz.bsky.social has the scoop on a truly insane plan to use some military training ships for deportations, with people presumably shackled or locked in cells for days at a time as they transit to Central and South America. Each journey would be staggeringly expensive — and dangerous.
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Considers Using Ships to Deport Immigrants (Gift Article)
Journeys to destinations including El Salvador and Venezuela could take days and cost millions. Officials cautioned that discussions are still preliminary.
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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 16h
The damage, documented in a Congressional Budget Office report, comes as Trump faces criticism over war's cost.
aljazeera.com
At least 81 US aircraft worth up to $3.3bn lost or damaged in Iran war
The damage, documented in a Congressional Budget Office report, comes as Trump faces criticism over war's cost.
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Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 20h
I'm all out of bubble gum substack.com/@sarahkendzi...
substack.com
Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior)
Old photo of me with my daughter while I was pregnant with my son. Only realizing now I spent 2010 dressed like Rowdy Roddy Piper in THEY LIVE.
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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 20h
Immigration lawyers said they believe the government is arresting children because it wants to remove as many immigrants as possible, regardless of their age or vulnerability. Published in partnership with @themarshallproject.org:
theguardian.com
‘Chaos and cruelty’: the kids trapped in Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign
Children are being detained in record numbers, sometimes alone and where lawyers and family cannot find them
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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 20h
Many of those children have been detained in locations where lawyers and family members couldn’t find them, such as hotels and hold rooms in office buildings.
A chart showing children in ICE detention rose sharply under Trump between January 2025 and July 2026, with a massive expansion of the arrest of older children, as well as babies/toddlers, compared to the period between January 2024 and January 2025 under Biden.
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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 20h
ICE arrested more than twice as many children this year through July as it did in the same period last year. Thus far in Donald Trump’s second term, ICE has arrested more than 8,500 children. 🧵
A bar chart showing ICE arrests of children reaching a new high of 1,177 in July 2026.

Source: The Marshall Project analysis of Deportation Data Project data
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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 20h
As in 1968, when student protests triggered nationwide strikes, today’s crisis is about generational discontent.
aljazeera.com
‘This is a crisis of hope': Echoes of 1968 as France's students rise up
As in 1968, when student protests triggered nationwide strikes, today's crisis is about generational discontent.
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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 20h
Originating with enslaved Africans, the banjo is now being reclaimed by Black musicians in contemporary music
theguardian.com
How Black banjo players are changing Americana music
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Brennan Center @brennancenter.org · 20h
A presidential order has activated the post-9/11 machinery of federal-state-local cooperation to target the administration’s political opponents. bit.ly/4AZMLoU
brennancenter.org
Co-opting Local Police to Suppress Dissent
A presidential order has activated the post-9/11 machinery of federal-state-local law enforcement cooperation to target the administration’s political opponents.
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Oregon Capital Chronicle @oregoncapitalchronicle.com · 18h
Aiming to make up for lost revenue from federal benefit cuts, a coalition of powerful Oregon advocacy groups announced Thursday that they will pursue a 2028 ballot measure to approve a wealth tax on some of the state’s richest households while cutting taxes for low-income residents. buff.ly/r6AgT0W
buff.ly
Progressive groups, unions announce wealth tax initiative aimed at 2028 Oregon ballot  • Oregon Capital Chronicle
The proposed Oregon initiative would target individual taxpayers, but it could inspire dueling ballot measures and fierce opposition.
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Will Saletan @saletan.bsky.social · 22h
My intrepid colleague @willsommer.bsky.social has found the Tate brothers violating morays again. www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...
thebulwark.com
Republicans Have an Andrew Tate Eel-Sex Problem
Horrifying new allegations put the spotlight on the media stars and Trump insiders who championed him.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 22h
White supremacy is, above all, an ideology of stolen valor bsky.app/profile/seth...
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Saudi Arabia spent years bribing Trump (and Kushner) but now the war with Iran Trump started—and is losing—has expanded, and the US under Trump can’t/won’t fulfill its side of the deal. I talked about the Iran war, Yemen, the Houthis, Saudi Arabia, oil and Trump with @thebradblog.bsky.social.
bradblog.com
Saudi Arabia’s Trump Family Bribes Not Paying Off as War Expands in Middle East
Guest: Nicholas Grossman, foreign affairs professor at Univ. of IL; Also: Big Oil's big SCOTUS battle against state climate liability lawsuit; And much more toil and trouble...
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
The First Amendment wasn’t actually “first.” The original First Amendment was meant to ensure that the House of Representatives grew in loose proportion to the country. Instead, the House’s size hasn’t changed since 1911. Today’s “One First” on that history—and the problems a capped House creates:
stevevladeck.com
Bonus 256: The Original “First” Amendment
The only provision from the original Bill of Rights that was never adopted would've grown the House in proportion to the country. We should revisit it.
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
“What most political analysts miss is how strong and specific the authoritarian appeal is for white evangelicals, and how critical it is to at least weaken it.” You Can’t Run From Christian Nationalism By @hollybfletcher.bsky.social
liberalcurrents.com
You Can't Run From Christian Nationalism
White evangelicals are the single most influential voting bloc in American politics. They cannot be ignored.
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Brennan Center @brennancenter.org · 22h
Imposing 18-year term limits for justices would improve the Supreme Court by ensuring no single person has generational power, by giving each president two appointments per four-year term, and by lowering the stakes of the confirmation process. bit.ly/47DWAuZ
brennancenter.org
3 Charts that Show the Need for Supreme Court Term Limits
Interactive data visualizations analyzing changes in Supreme Court tenure, unequal numbers of presidential appointments, and narrowing Senate confirmation votes make the case for reform.
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Le Monde in English @english.lemonde.fr · 08/10/2026
'Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya believed that a society that accepts lies ends up accepting violence as well'
lemonde.fr
'Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya believed that a society that accepts lies ends up accepting violence as well'
Twenty years ago, the journalist was murdered at the instigation of Russian security services. Documentary filmmaker Eric Bergkraut, who knew her well, recalls in an opinion piece for Le Monde her fight for truth and against Kremlin propaganda – a struggle that is more necessary than ever as Vladimir Putin continues to kill.
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Julie K. Brown @jkbjournalist.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
NEW: Maybe it's time to take a good look at all these deaths in the Epstein-Trump orbit. jkbjournalist.substack.com/p/dead-men-t...
jkbjournalist.substack.com
Dead men tell no Epstein-Trump tales
When witnesses, whistleblowers and accusers die, it’s time to look at whether they have anything in common. Here is a list of some of the recent deaths.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Just five giant conglomerates now control 90 percent of the media. The reason this is so dangerous might not be what you think.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Shouldn't the Democrats have something like an Elon Donations Tracker posted on all of their websites and social media? Make this SALIENT? Might it make sense to point out repeatedly that he is a white supremacist and ask the public why he would be backing the GOP?
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Part (but far from all) of what's horrific here is: a woman weighing the consequences of speaking up about being sexually assaulted, because speaking up imposes burdens and costs (and so does not speaking up).
phoenixnewtimes.com
Congressional candidate is raped while repairing her campaign signs
Embarrassed, she initially didn’t want to report attack. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office's investigation is ongoing. A Phoenix New Times exclusive.
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
🚨BREAKING: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the past year investigated hundreds of nonprofits across the U.S. that help people register to vote, according to new records analyzed by Democracy Docket. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
ICE  probed hundreds of voter registration groups across the U.S.
The agency also contemplated deploying undercover agents to "initiate prosecutions" against the groups and "dismantle" them.
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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This is not the kind of thing you worry about if you're leaving office and accept the other party might win an election in a couple of years.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
It took three years for these thugs to release the body cam footage. Now we know why. bsky.app/profile/al.c...
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