Thelma Young Lutunatabua

A piece I wrote to try and wrap my brain around the current realm of bended reality we're living in. Defending a shared truth is crucial - so learn about what you can do about it. Thank you @luckytran.com for chatting with me.

I’m not Romanian but it feels like Trump is in his 80s Ceaușescu phase

Opinion | I Was Supposed to Debate Charlie Kirk. Here’s What I Would Have Said.

A must read:

“A foreign policy organized around punishing and killing our supposedly sworn enemies, diplomacy be damned, conveys the terrible message that we can only kill and maim our way to achieving the world we want to live in.”

Hasan Piker

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/o...

NEW RESULT: Democrats have flipped a state Senate in Iowa.

This was a seat Trump carried by 11%, but Democratic nominee Catherine Drey has just won it by 10.4%.

This is the second legislative flip by Dems in Iowa this year. It also means the GOP loses its supermajority in Iowa’s senate.

If you want to follow the latest updates on resistance to the Trump regime -- make sure to follow @resistlist.bsky.social

Texas House Approves Redistricting Maps, Just as Trump Wanted

Just to be clear: "No votes have taken place on the House floor related to flood recovery."

Texas Republicans value racial gerrymandering over helping those affected by extreme floods.

Israel told the world they were carrying out precise strikes to minimize civilian deaths.

“Self Defense”, they said.

This is total annihilation. What Netanyahu doesn’t want the world to see: “Deprivation of the means to sustain life.”
#GazaIsGone

Solar is EU’s biggest power source for the first time ever in June 2025 | Ember

In June, for the first time ever, solar was the largest source of power in the EU.

This is very similar to conversations with Tech world oligarchs. Their egos were bruised and they weren't treated as god-like figures and so they shifted right.

How much of our current US politics is because white men have fragile egos?

Republicans Issue Arrest Warrants for Texas Democrats, But They Likely Aren’t Enforceable Read more here.

can TX republicans actually arrest democrats who left the state? can abbott really remove them from office and fill their vacant seats? can he extradite them to texas from another state?

answers to your questions here:

www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

“Among the horrors the Israel-Gaza war has brought to its people, the torture of parents seeing their children starve and being powerless to save them is surely one of the worst.”

Big tech has spent $155bn on AI this year. It’s about to spend hundreds of billions more Tech giants have spent more on AI than the US government has on education, jobs and social services in 2025 so far

There is money for climate justice and a just transition - it’s just being spent on AI

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

If you don’t count covid victims people won’t die.
If you don’t measure carbon the temperature won’t rise.
If you fudge unemployment numbers the economy will soar.

Our fool is building his paradise

yup

Rebecca @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social reminded me of this quote from Adam Hochschild "When the national census showed that his reign of terror was shrinking the country’s population, Stalin ordered the members of the census board shot. The new officials, not surprisingly, came up with higher figures."

I can’t stop thinking about how the Access Hollywood tape came out before the election even happened, yet suddenly we have people concerned that the President might have lied about being a sexual predator who were totally fine with it when he told the truth about being a sexual predator

very grim

All the assault allegations against Donald Trump, recapped Their charges range from an unwanted touch from behind to aggressive, sudden kissing to fingers groping up their skirt and into their underwear. Donald Trump and his campaign insist all of the stories...

Reminder “16 women have accused Donald Trump of various forms of sexual assault, including one accusation of rape and another, in which the accuser has not used the word “rape” but whose description meets the legal definition of rape.”

www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

He's saying the families are evil for asking why their kids are dead.

If you wondered why Trump has embraced 'religion' recently, it's not just because he thinks they're easy marks for a grift but he can blame God for shit and say it's out of my hands

Climate breakdown tripled death toll in Europe’s June heatwave, study finds Heat caused 2,300 deaths across 12 cities, of which 1,500 were down to climate crisis, scientists say

#climatecrisis tripled death toll in Europe’s June heatwave, study finds

- Heat caused 2,300 deaths across 12 cities, of which 1,500 were down to climate crisis, scientists say

theguardian.com/environment/...

@houstonchronicle.com needs to follow the lead of @texasmonthly.bsky.social
and as @latimes.com did in the fires and drop all the paywalls from flood related stories. These are stories vital to community safety and understanding. No paywalls are barriers to information

FEMA response to deadly Texas floods delayed & deficient with Noem in charge Staffers sound the alarm.

Staff at FEMA haven't received any internal communications from the agency or department leadership since the deadly floods in Texas, which is unheard of in the wake of a major disaster.

Acting Administrator David Richardson is "nowhere to be found."

Unfortunately it’s not a big step from “The forecast was wrong” to “NWS is incompetent and wasteful,” and there are strong political incentives to make that argument now regardless of the truth (see also: attacks on FEMA after Helene)

This is a brilliant thread of contextualization of this moment and what's praiseworthy about it amidst the atrocities.

Earth's climate is in the era of 'global weirding' Weather is harder to predict and more extreme

For more on how our weather is becoming more extreme and harder to predict using the tools and expertise we've developed based on past conditions, read:

Wouldn’t wish what those parents in Texas are going through on my worst enemy

Opinion | Don’t call it ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Call it a concentration camp. This facility’s purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.

I wrote about how the Everglades experiment fits into the history of concentration camps in the US and abroad, and how it will connect a domestic network of camps to an international one. We’re watching the imposition of a global concentration camp network.

Being a Texan and seeing the horrifying floods in so many places I know and have lived - I’m immediately angry at Rep. Chip Roy for voting yes on the spending bill. It’s not time for the US to pull back on clean energy transition.

A quick🧵about the devastating Texas flooding -- and how it connects to climate change. ⬇️

(Photo cred: @nytimes.com)

Unbelievable rainfall totals from this event, and it's still raining.

Several pockets of 10-20" rain totals. That's up to HALF A YEAR of rainfall that has fallen in just the last 36 hours #atxwx #txwx

Devastating flash floods slam Texas Hill Country; Tropical Storm Chantal heads for Carolinas » Yale Climate Connections Yale Climate Connections is a nonpartisan, multimedia service providing daily broadcast radio programming and original web-based reporting, commentary, and analysis on the issue of climate change.

The latest from @drjeffmasters.bsky.social and me on Friday's horrific flash flooding in Texas (followed by yet another deadly flash flood in central TX on Sat AM). We also have an update on newborn and not-too-fierce Tropical Storm #Chantal.

yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/07/deva...