Nick P

At the end of the day, the Black Lives Matter era was about whether people should be killed in the street, and lots of people decided yeah and put those little blue flags on their cars. It spread to everyone because it stopped for no one.

On MLK Day, we’ll hear a lot of quotes from people actively dismantling his legacy, including the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

Dr. King’s work was never finished. It was interrupted.

Dr. King believed our democracy would only make sense when every child was fed, every mind was educated, and every community had dignity and freedom.

That vision is still unfolding. So, on this MLK Day, let us recommit to the work of building the world he dared to imagine.

Everyone thinks of 1944 auschwitz and not 1933 Dachau. It didn't start as extermination camps. It's a process to get there and one the Trump administration is starting now.

W.E.B. Du Bois on Robert E. Lee:

“Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel–not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity’s God.”

It’s weird to live in a time when basic principles like cruelty is wrong, cheating is empty & the idea that curiosity, generosity, originality, the satisfaction of earned accomplishments & loving intimacy are the center of a good life feel like countercultural concepts

This shit gives me life.

YouTube video by Chicago Opera Theater COT "I'm on my journey" from Freedom Ride

A week ago I visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, which everyone who can should, and which got me thinking again about the essential work of the Freedom Riders. Some music here arising from that history:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfCN...

Practice Democracy

Misinformation isn't random - it's strategic. 🧵

In the first cross-national comparative study, we examine 32M tweets from politicians.

We find that misinformation is not a general condition: it is driven by populist radical right parties.

with @julianachueri.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1177/1940...

"Celebration of ignorance."

Key generational divide here: to young people, there is no distinct thing called "news." There's just stuff on screens.

You're not going to be able to develop a highly informed, nuanced take on every conflict in the world, but I'll give you a good heuristic

Always, in every circumstance, be opposed to the wanton slaughter of civilians, no matter what elaborate excuses folks throw up about why this time is different

important description of "audience gathering" in disinfo- a tactic threat actors use early in the disinfo process. we used to call the use of hashtags for this ops "follow trains" on the other app 👇

I'm a teacher in a neighboring district and some of us might have used cat litter for the same thing. In 2019 a mandate for buckets for kids to use during lockdowns was instituted, so we thought this was a good way to manage that horrifying hypothetical. I've never referred to a kid as an animal.