mbensonster.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Know Your Rights trainings work. Don’t even open the door. Really, to anyone. If it’s someone important and they know you, they have a cellphone, they’ll call.

submitted 11 hours ago • 3 comments

The entire business model of American R1 universities is not viable without restoration of federal funding, & every individual institution pretending it can solve this problem alone is also not viable. University presidents need to be speaking out, collectively & loudly about this, in DC, right now.

submitted 12 hours ago • 29 comments

1/ "The Trump administration has blocked key parts of the federal government’s apparatus for funding biomedical research, effectively halting progress on much of the country’s future work on illnesses like cancer and addiction despite a federal judge’s order to release grant money."

submitted 3 hours ago • 21 comments

Trump military purge. Any Congressional Democrats telling themselves they can sit back and wait for Republicans to tank the midterms are delusional. We need full opposition mode, including supporting mass rallies and direct action. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

submitted 2 hours ago • 7 comments

Something I've now heard from federal worker constituents at several agencies: Musk and Trump's mass firings are clearing out all personnel from FOIA offices and leaving them completely empty, it sounds obviously intentional.

submitted 2 hours ago • 10 comments

Musk and DOGE are closing local Social Security offices, making it hard for people with disabilities to access help. Frank Bisignano, former FISERV CEO, is Trump’s nominee for commissioner of Social Security. He is likely to expand this. www.propublica.org/article/doge...

submitted 2 hours ago • 46 comments

You told NPR on the record you were removing stuff to comply with the executive orders. This is a lie about planned revisions. The site also removed gender identity from legal services provided. Stop gaslighting us. You erased trans people and only responded when called out.

submitted 2 hours ago • 2 comments

New, from me @theatlantic.com: No, the federal government is not too big It has real human capital needs Firings are indiscriminate, weakening state capacity Creating a toxic and politicized workplace is driving away dedicated employees www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

submitted 2 hours ago • 22 comments

On this week's Coffee Klatch, we discuss Trump's latest power grabs, the backlash to DOGE's mass firings, and how Democrats should give voice to the public's anger. Plus, former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra joins us to discuss DOGE's attack on the Bureau.

submitted 3 hours ago • 24 comments

NEW: Public health teams are being gutted by Trump's purge of federal employees, imperiling crucial, lifesaving work. "We are hollowing out our government in a way that is going to hurt people and is going to get people killed." w/ @deldeib.bsky.social: www.propublica.org/article/trum...

submitted 3 hours ago • 31 comments

“If you had to guess the leading cause of death for children and young people around the world, what would you say? Malaria perhaps? Pneumonia? Suicide? They’re all high up there, but no, it’s road accidents.”

submitted 7 hours ago • 7 comments

Here come the “town hall no-show’s”. #Wisconsin wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/02/21/r...

submitted 2 hours ago • 88 comments

ok so what gets called "gender ideology" is jsut like "be who and how you want" and what gets called "not ideology" is like "follow these specific unwritten rules and perform these forbidden rituals according to the circumstances of your birth"

submitted 3 hours ago • 16 comments

submitted 13 hours ago • 2 comments

We've had reports that M&S has had so many calls asking them to stop advertising with GB News that there's now a dedicated team handling messages about this issue 👏👏👏 Lines are open from 9am to 4pm today and the number is 0333 014 8000 Let's keep this going!

submitted 8 hours ago • 23 comments

Thank you, Dr. Conway: www.theverge.com/news/617014/...

submitted 11 hours ago • 3 comments

“RESIST. DO NOT COMPLY WITH THEIR ILLEGAL MANDATES.”Judge Ortiz emailed her EEOC colleagues after the anti-trans EO. She told me, “The unknown was not as scary as being complicit and not speaking up. I can exist on cornflakes and community at the end of the day if it means that my soul is intact.”

submitted 3 hours ago • 15 comments

Hegseth’s biography is on the left, General Brown’s on the right. Go read these to someone without telling them who they are and then ask them to choose who is better qualified to hold the positions of SECDEF and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

submitted 10 hours ago • 16 comments

40 anys de la mort d'Espriu Nosaltres sabíem d'un únic senyor i vèiem com esdevenia gos. Envilit pel ventre, per l'afalac al ventre, per la por, s'ajup sota el fuet amb foll oblit de la raó que té.

submitted 3 hours ago • 1 comment

Pam Bondi Covers Up Foreign Influence Peddling and Lying to the FBI www.emptywheel.net/2025/02/22/p...

submitted 3 hours ago • 41 comments

WaPo Page One: “If you’re going to just yell at me, that’s not going to be an effective town hall,” McCormick said .. “But we’re pissed!” a woman shouted. #GA07 www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

submitted 3 hours ago • 695 comments

New 🧵with updates on the legal challenge to the blatantly illegal and unconstitutional freeze on foreign aid. Reminder: It's been a full MONTH since Trump-Musk-Marocco-DOGE decided to STOP lifesaving assistance to people around the world #SaveUSAID #saveforeignaid 1/ www.citizen.org/news/nonprof...

submitted 3 hours ago • 2 comments

The firings were part of an estimated 420 dismissals of workers in wildlife refuges nationwide, leaving 2,230 employees to oversee 850 million acres of land and water, the largest network of conservation lands in the world. www.inquirer.com/politics/pen...

submitted 3 hours ago • 7 comments

The stories keep coming. Hard to see. Eight employees managed the 32,000 acres of wildlife refuges, which draw hundreds of thousands of visitors.Any cuts would be detrimental to the team already juggling permits, manatee rescues,outreach,volunteer coordination and whatever else the day might bring.

submitted 3 hours ago • 11 comments

Cuando su admirado Hitler perdió la guerra, en 1945, Franco se cagó en los pantalones de su uniforme de militar patriota y derogó la obligatoriedad de hacer el saludo nazi. Pero al gallego y chaquetero Manuel Fraga, el fundador del PP, el demócrtata disfrazado, le seguía gustando el saludo nazi.

submitted 7 hours ago • 15 comments

RFK Jr. cannot be trusted to oversee or interpret legit scientific research.

submitted 3 hours ago • 69 comments

In the depths of the Nebraskan winter, 2400 people came out to listen to Bernie Sanders in Omaha last night. 800 had to be turned away at the door. Over 190,000 tuned into the livestream. There is a movement to be harnessed here. @sanders.senate.gov (📸 Anna Bahr)

submitted 6 hours ago • 419 comments

If you support this, you’re an awful human being

submitted 4 hours ago • 176 comments

President Donald Trump says he wants the US to have the cleanest air and water on the planet — a desire, unsurprisingly, shared by all Americans.

submitted 4 hours ago • 8 comments

STATEMENT: “This Is The Move Of A Weak And Insecure Tyrant, Not A Strong Commander-in-Chief”

submitted 4 hours ago • 42 comments

. General Mark Milley was right . . . ... and he's still right ! 💠 👊 💠

submitted 6 hours ago • 125 comments

submitted 14 hours ago • 32 comments

El govern d'Ayuso a la CAM són tant moderns que tenen el metge d'Schrödinger. Està visitant i de baixa al mateix temps.

submitted 5 hours ago • 0 comments

The UK's anti-protest laws pre-legitimise far right authoritarianism. Labour must repeal them now. My column today. www.theguardian.com/global/comme...

submitted 8 hours ago • 68 comments

NEW: Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, announces she is boycotting White House events in response to Trump’s policy on Gaza. There are deep ties between Northern Ireland, the US & the Presidency forged during the peace process. Ties Trump is clearly shredding.

submitted 17 hours ago • 16 comments

💥 Stephen Miller’s group, America First Legal, threatens Apple over its DEI initiatives. Look for Apple shareholders to destroy anti-DEI activists in their vote on Tuesday. Costco shareholders voted 98-2 percent, telling the same anti-DEI activists to take a hike.

submitted 16 hours ago • 44 comments

And we got finger-wagged by a New England journo "expert" for not staying in our lane and sticking to our knitting (his words) and leaving hard stuff to (paywalled) NYT and Wapo. So we were right, and we did the right thing, and we didn't need anyone's permission to make our own news decisions.

submitted 17 hours ago • 25 comments

AP could have been cowardly and rolled over for Trump. “We had to comply or we’d lose [funding/access/privileges]” like so many orgs are doing. It would have been easy for them to say “gulf of America” But it never stops there. They got the memo. Good job AP.

submitted 18 hours ago • 28 comments

“Shortly after Friday’s exchange, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it launched a Title IX violation investigation into Maine’s Department of Education and one of its school districts.”

submitted 17 hours ago • 226 comments

🔥 Governor Janet Mills just bench-pressed Trump’s bullying and walked out without breaking a sweat. 🔥 At the White House, Trump tried his usual mob boss routine—demanding obedience, dangling federal funds, and threatening political careers. But Mills? She didn’t flinch. She didn’t fumble. 1/1

submitted 17 hours ago • 48 comments

🚨Not just the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Trump Pentagon Purge.🚨 Trump administration fires top US general and Navy chief in unprecedented purge of military leadership www.cnn.com/2025/02/21/p...

submitted 15 hours ago • 48 comments

Judge blocks Trump administration from terminating DEI-related grants.

submitted 16 hours ago • 32 comments

Hitler destroyed German democracy in 53 days. We are on day 30. The purge of the military and FBI has commenced. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

submitted 14 hours ago • 14 comments

obvious to most people who will see this, but worth stating directly: it doesn't really matter if the person being targeted is cis or trans to the people who want this shit enforced. partly because it enforces a specific idea of gender presentation, but also because it still drives a wedge anyway.

submitted 11 hours ago • 4 comments

Gov. Mills showed precisely the sort of integrity in the face of political pressure that the majority of the party currently lacks. More importantly, she did so extemporaneously and without hesitation from a purple state where this isn't a universally popular position. www.maine.gov/governor/mil...

submitted 12 hours ago • 39 comments

This is happening because Elon Musk tweeted to kill the December funding bill & all the bipartisan health policies Congress negotiated fell apart. Expanding telehealth brings DOWN costs. It makes health care MORE efficient, and it’s SO important for rural patients.

submitted 17 hours ago • 59 comments

"Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this." -- email from Felix Sater to Michael Cohen about Donald Trump in 2015 -- HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT (2020) hidinginplainsightbook.com

submitted 16 hours ago • 17 comments

After significant outrage and blowback, Whitman Walker has restored their trans healthcare page. They've changed the terminology from gender affirming care to transgender healthcare. www.whitman-walker.org/health-servi...

submitted 12 hours ago • 16 comments

Trump's KGB Codename: Krasnov

submitted 11 hours ago • 25 comments