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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Frederick Douglass could have made a fortune had he opted for self-enriching cult leadership rather than meaningful social change and liberty for all.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Have there been stupid, ugly, inarticulate cult leaders in the past? I’ve always assumed they needed to have charisma like Manson, intellect like Rand, or oratory skills like Jones.

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Reposted by Wendy Riker Purnell

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

no agreement with trump is binding, it's impossible that anyone at this point fails to understand that. All that's happening here is spineless toadies folding as anticipated bsky.app/profile/matt...

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Reposted by Wendy Riker Purnell

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Cowards. The agreement still immunizes Trump and his kids from IRS audits and any other government action for financial crimes they committed prior to this year. The only "limitation" is that it doesn't also immunize anyone and everyone else with whom they associate.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

In which Radley catalogues the shameful and "dizzying parade of shootings, beatings and abuse by immigration officers" and the despicable response by our government, then outlines how to make moves back toward a free and democratic society. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | ICE Is Out of Control. Here’s What to Do About It. (Gift Article)

Congress must push back against our inhumane immigration tactics.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Between the authoritarianism and the explosive diarrhea, Americans are literally and figuratively shitting the bed in our semiquincentennial year. Let’s get our act together and get rid of all the parasites — the bugs in our guts and the grifters enriching themselves at our expense.

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Reposted by Wendy Riker Purnell

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

New: Back in 2018, I published a summary of studies and surveys about the prevalence of racism in the criminal justice system for the Wash. Post. The idea was for it to be a regularly updated resource. The Post hasn't updated it since I left. So I've updated and reproduced it at The Watch.

radleybalko.substack.com

A guide to racism in the criminal justice system

A repository of studies, surveys, and reports on the disparate ways white, Black, and Latino people are treated by police, prosecutors, courts, and prisons

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

This nation belongs to all of us. It is our responsibility to get back to fulfilling that vision.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I’m heading to Indian Country today to advance liberty for our Native friends, neighbors, and relatives. The real merciless savages are the masked, armed ICE thugs kidnapping our neighbors and shooting them in the street.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Alas, there’s also this: “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

…pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses & usurpations…

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

…laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government…

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

This Independemce Day, re-read the 250yo Declaration & think about these words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

The other, imperfect & evolving, I swore an oath to defend against all enemies, foreign & domestic. This is America’s contract. It spells out limits on govt power, reminding all branches to protect our rights. It guarantees certain freedoms. The US govt is in breach of contract!

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

It spells out the American definition of tyranny that no American should abide.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

One of the documents I carry in my pocket every day is inspiring, aspirational & informs my core beliefs. (Save the merciless Indian savages line.) This is America’s vision statement. It reminds us that none can take our rights from us. They are inalienable.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Back in the day, as a congressional staffer, one of my jobs was to take visiting constituents on tours of the US Capitol. I'm channeling that energy again Saturday when I team up w/ historian Dale Martin to talk about eagles, bison, corn, tobacco, turkeys & symbols of liberty.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

After work, I was wowed by the beautiful and amazing ensemble performance pictured here. A powerful poetry recitation accompanied by jazz and hair sculpturing. Thank you to the Bozeman Poetry Collective, the Black Student Union, Cultures Roots, Tinworls, and Studio Wheelhouse.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

I'm late reflecting on Juneteenth, but I was busy. Plus every day’s a good day to be grateful for freedom and to continue the work of liberation. I co-hosted the campus Juneteenth celebration with my lovely colleagues at MSU Student Commons. www.kbzk.com/news/montana...

kbzk.com

Montana State University hosts Juneteenth celebration

The event included prompts for people to answer, books related to Juneteenth themes, a raffle, word searches, and red cosmos for people to plant, as well as specially-picked food and drinks.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Just me, a patriotic nerd, live-streaming C-SPAN on a Friday night. www.youtube.com/live/uZfkRJX...

youtube.com

Trump Name Removal from Kennedy Center

YouTube video by C-SPAN

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

The Great American Fleecing Bah bah BOHICA

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

She also recalls her generation’s kindness & collective effort: conserving resources; preparing meals for the hungry & unhoused, and delivering hope and comfort to grieving families. That kindness and collective effort? "That," she reminds us, "is still who we are, if we choose to be."

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

I love this poignant essay by Fran Moreland Johns b. 1933. She reflects on collective traumas of her childhood: deaths & blindness caused by measles; the lungs, limb & neurodevelopment paralyzed by polio; the rise of angry shouts and "the sounds of evil, the antithesis of 'Love they neighbor.'"

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

“For centuries, malaria has stolen children from their parents, and health, wealth and hope from communities,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general. “But today, the story is changing.”

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

What a horrible person. Can we please please please restore sanity and actual love all, serve all Christianity to this nation.? Let Bobby Jr wander the streets to scavenge raccoon dick for the rest of his days.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

When petty, petulant politicians are in charge, everyone suffers. This is not just the least Christian administration in the history of the United States, this administration is actively anti-Christian. Jesus weeps. And so do all of us who understand his teachings.

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Trump admin abruptly cancels “$11M contract w/ Catholic Charities to shelter & care for migrant children who enter the U.S. alone, ending a relationship btwn the Catholic Church & the US govt dating back to the first arrivals of Cuban exiles in South Florida.” amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

amp.miamiherald.com

Amid quarrel with pope, Trump strips Miami charity of funding to house migrant kids

The move comes amid rising tensions between the administration and American Catholics.

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Reposted by Wendy Riker Purnell

Salty MacTavish @saltymactavish.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

It’s ok to still have heroes. Jackie Robinson Day

A sepia photo of #42 Jackie Robinson who broke baseball’s color barrier on this day in 1947

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

On this day, every year, we honor an American hero.

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Trump is running an interesting experiment in how many self-identified Christian Americans have actual religious commitments and how many are just into it because it provides a means for the socially defensible expression of bigotry bsky.app/profile/bria...

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Wendy Riker Purnell @trypluralism.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

We are all Hungarians today! Köszönöm for showing us the way. Sziget is gonna be lit this year!

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