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benrinker.bsky.social
GULC 2028 | UIUC 2023 https://linktr.ee/benrinker
56 posts 33 followers 77 following
Prolific Poster

Students like Emma have been advocating to expand reproductive rights on our public university campuses in Illinois. We’re eliminating barriers to seeking care due to inaccessibility, and I look forward to signing HB 3709 into law.

I’ll say it again - when *any* politician uses the ‘I haven’t read that story’ lie about something they knew they would get asked about, the interviewer has a duty to say ‘Okay, in that case I’m going to terminate this interview and you can come back when you’re better prepared.”

In a short 400 years we went from knowing we were the center of the universe to knowing that we are just one planet in one of billions of solar systems in our galaxy and our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies and I do think we haven't quite dealt with that...

My theory that most people are simply not very smart continues to pan out daily

The spreadsheet “names more than 800 firms, assigning them to one of five stark categories: “Caved to Administration” “Complying in Advance” “Other Negative Action” “Stood Up Against Administration’s Attacks” .. or “No Response.” @klasfeldreports.com www.allrisenews.com/p/skadden-st...

Perhaps an incomplete story, but more people need to understand this:

It's pretty hilarious to me that Sen. Slotkin is awkwardly trying to kinda-sorta rebrand herself and the Democratic Party in just about the least committal and vague way she can, and meanwhile, there's Buttigieg effortlessly gliding through conservative media spaces with common sense messaging.

Even the best politicians seem to falter near the ends of their careers. If only for practical reasons, I believe a great amount of respect is due to those who listen to criticism and understand it’s time to step aside.

Special knowledge, a strong sense of justice… In my experience with science and activism, an autistic person in the room is a good sign you’re in the right room. RFK Jr. should put down the pseudoscience and touch some grass.

I suggest everyone become very, very familiar with this piece by law Professor @david.noll.org. I suspect you will be referring to it often. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/if-t...

Happy Constitutional Crisis Day to those who celebrate.

And just to be obvious, if this isn’t the moment to use every parliamentary procedure possible to hold the legislative branch hostage until the executive branch is brought under control, then there is no point to having a legislature at all

You set the house on fire, watched it burn, and then lost your nerve and put it out. You now have a partially burned house. Great job.

When a person is abducted, there's a number to call to report & identify. A habeas petition challenging the abduction is electronically filed in that district, by a lawyer admitted in that district, within 30 minutes of the call. Anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day. Nothing else is good enough.

“We’re finally running America like a business!”

Our society’s inability to wrap our heads around nuance and complexity is absolutely the number one thing destroying the country right now. (I blame Trump 2 on that, too.)

Promise? 🥺

Minority Leader Booker

Going on LinkedIn feels like entering the Severed Floor.

If you had shown me this picture in a Democratic campaign ad last fall, I would have rolled my eyes at the ridiculous overkill

At lunch, I heard someone at another table shout “but her emails” and immediately knew to check my phone. That’s how I found out about the Hegseth-Signal scandal. This timeline is so stupid.

World’s worst parent and it’s a high bar.

Every member of Congress over the age of 60 should pick a young legislator or candidate to mentor and support with the expectation that the mentor leaves office within 5 to 10 years. Stop hoarding power.

Every time you see someone powerful acting like a craven coward in the face of this authoritarian menace, let it stiffen your own spine. We are all we've got.

Roses are red Violets are blue

Byte burning is just as bad as book burning. Arguably worse.

She points out that over 60% of injunctions in this century have been issued against Trump (note that I did not fact-check that and it could be a lie), as evidence that…judges are all out to get Trump. Can someone please explain Occam’s Razor to Leavitt? (if it is not too complicated for her brain)

Very accurate. Video credit: @yonsidelucas.bsky.social

Bravo. These kids are showing more spine and character than a lot of the people they work for.

New in PN: Playing a bad hand badly "Democrats left themselves with no good options, then justified their surrender on the ground that there were no good options."

Just because some people have a rotten idea of goodness doesn't mean that the idea of goodness is rotten.

"The senator ... does now face the perception that his sensibilities are antiquated; that his political dexterity has faded; and, most importantly, that he lacks the vigor to take on Trump," Lauran Egan

I’ve been thinking the exact same thing.

I've been quiet lately for... a lot of reasons. But honestly: Fuck all this shit. Gloves off. Cowards to the back.

Schumer’s fold yesterday makes me wonder how much pressure he truly put on Manchin/Sinema. Could we have gotten abortion rights, voting rights, and a more progressive agenda passed if Schumer had been tougher?

I must commend Schumer on mastering the Susan Collins strategy. Nothing demonstrates your fervent opposition to Trump quite like being very concerned, then voting for the bad thing anyway.

Among the material devastation to everyday people, Senate Dems have now blown a hole in their ability to work with the House. We had an agreed upon plan, House took immense risk, then Senate turned around midway and destroyed it w/ a fear-based, inexplicable abdication. They own what happens next.

Democrats for cloture: Cortez-Masto Durbin King Schatz Schumer Hassan Fetterman Peters Gillibrand Shaheen Their weakness is a cancer on the Democratic Party that needs to be promptly and mercilessly excised. The stakes are too high to tolerate cowardice.

Chuck Schumer and the Democrats that voted with him need to be politically destroyed. These are unprecedented times, and we can’t afford this kind of weakness in the party. Annihilate them.

This is the most chaotic vote I’ve seen since McCain killing the ACA repeal.