Ben Barber

Still waiting for it to trickle down...

Text card: Listen for dangerous words. Be alert to the use of the words extremism and terrorism. Be alive to the fatal notions of emergency and exception. Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary. #OnTyranny

One of the lessons I discuss in "On Tyranny":
Listen for dangerous words.

Keep taking videos of what ICE is doing. @govpritzker.illinois.gov is right, document what’s happening. This is why they hate journalists so much.

🗳️Democracy is strongest when everyone has a voice.

Last month we released the Blueprint for a Stronger Democracy — a bold plan to defend and expand democracy in NC.

40+ bipartisan policies to protect voting rights & ensure every voice counts.

Learn more: www.southernstudies.org/2025Blueprint

I’m horrified by Trump’s order to send 300 National Guard troops to Chicago. We’re only nine months into a four year term and already the president is trying to invade an American city. If you’re in the Guard, you can and should refuse these orders.

Who could ever have imagined when I played a fictional rebel who joined the Resistance to oppose a criminal Authoritarian & wannabe King, it would be happening in real-life?

#TwentyfiveFortyseven

Amidst Violent Immigration Raids, DHS Turns to Big Tech to Silence Dissent | TechPolicy.Press Free Press advocacy director Jenna Ruddock says the Trump administration is targeting anyone monitoring its expanding immigration enforcement operations.

the Trump admin just deported an award-winning journalist known for his reporting on ICE and got Apple to block ICE-spotter apps — all while churning out highly-produced social media content from violent ICE raids in Chicago. it’s their media or no media. www.techpolicy.press/amidst-viole...

One thing that comes through awfully clearly in these ICE videos is how many of these goons gravitated toward the job because being able to assault people with impunity is a big thrill for them.

BREAKING: We're suing ICE for refusing to comply with our FOIA request for information about the agency's plans for expanding immigration detention in the D.C. region.

We have a right to know how our taxpayer dollars are being used to fund ICE's abusive detention machine.

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated' The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

My god.

“Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”

No Dollars for Dictatorship Americans must stand against Trump’s shutdown agenda.

"Trump wanted this shutdown. This isn’t speculation — it’s strategy... Russ Vought, has openly embraced using a shutdown to permanently fire tens if not hundreds of thousands of public servants". Read @joetrippi.bsky.social on why this shutdown is different: www.lincolnsquare.media/p/no-dollars...

Raskin: "It's not lost on anyone that shutting the government down allows them not swear in our new colleague, Ms Grijalva from Arizona, who would be the 218th signature to discharge the Epstein files and to put a vote on that on the House floor."

Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere.

Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself.

Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj

From defamation to detention and assault, Trump administration threatens journalism Friends of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker:The Tracker team is working to verify and document around a dozen aggressions against …

Lawsuits against the media + ICE agent assaults = Journalism under attack.

And much more in this month’s Tracker newsletter from Managing Editor @kamccudden.bsky.social:

ICE Just Detained the Superintendent of Iowa’s Largest School District It’s still not clear why Dr. Ian Roberts was detained—or where he currently is.

Superintendent Ian Roberts of Des Moines Public Schools was detained Friday by federal agents. The reason for his detention was not clear, according to the school district.

Roberts’ whereabouts are also, alarmingly, unclear. trib.al/ifiCl4B

Millions of Americans Are Becoming Economically Invisible Broad swaths of the workforce may no longer have the spending power to meaningfully affect the statistics.

Broad swaths of the American workforce may no longer have the spending power to meaningfully affect the economic statistics. That has far-reaching consequences (via Bloomberg Opinion)

What Does Duke Owe Durham? Free talk with @davarianbaldwin.bsky.social on Friday, Sept. 26, 2-3pm at Asbury United Methodist in Durham. Sponsored by @southernstudies.bsky.social and @durhamrising.bsky.social. More information and RSVP: www.southernstudies.org/davarianbald...

NC advocates release 'Blueprint' to strengthen democracy A group of 20 state and national advocates has released a report outlining a pro-democracy agenda for North Carolina. Issues range from voting access to combating corruption, protecting court independ...

🚨 Democracy in NC and nationwide is under threat. Our new Blueprint for a Stronger Democracy outlines 40+ reforms to protect and strengthen our institutions. NC has a proud history of democratic innovation with proven, bipartisan solutions,w e can lead again.

👉 www.facingsouth.org/2025/09/nc-a...

Tax the ultra-rich Urge lawmakers to enact bold tax reforms that put people over profits and ensure the ultra-rich and corporations pay their fair share.

It’s long past time for billionaires and big corporations to pay their fair share. Sign our petition to urge Congress to tax the ultra-rich #ad

act.oxfamamerica.org/page/85354/p...

Glad to have contributed to the Blueprint for a Stronger Democracy report, which offers bold, practical steps to ensure North Carolina’s democratic system can be inclusive and sustainable.

So thrilled to be back in Durham to help strategize and build people power, so that our wealthiest local institutions truly lean into community responsibility beyond symbolic gestures...let's go ✊🏿!!!

What Does Duke Owe Durham? Join us Friday 9/26 at 2pm for a forum featuring @davarianbaldwin.bsky.social about how Duke University can support workers and the community. Visit here for more info and to RSVP: www.southernstudies.org/davarianbald... @durhamrising.bsky.social

Today, I'm breaking down everything you need to know about how Trump and the Republicans plan to interfere with the 2026 and 2028 elections. Support independent journalism by becoming a Democracy… URGENT: Trump's Plan To Steal The 2026 Election Revealed

📽️VIDEO: Marc Elias breaks down everything you need to know about how Trump and the Republicans plan to interfere with the 2026 midterm and 2028 presidential election.

What can YOU do to stop it? Watch our latest to learn more👇

GOP lawmaker makes blockbuster claim: FBI has at least 20 names of suspected Epstein clients “We know these people exist in the FBI files, the files that you control.”

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie told the House Judiciary Committee that the FBI has the names of at least 20 people tied to Jeffrey Epstein, including prominent figures in the music industry, finance, politics and banking.

Democracy depends on a fearless and free press.

Corporations or ultra-wealthy individuals with many other business interests should not be allowed to control our media.

They cannot be trusted to prioritize the public’s right to know over their own financial interests.

Just now, 11 state and city lawmakers were arrested by DHS police on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza after a hour of demanding access to the ICE lock up on the same floor. @thecity.nyc

Cancel your Disney subscription.

If Democrats ever get power again there needs to be a proper reckoning. Criminals need to be indicted, prosecuted and convicted for trying to subvert our democracy and rights for Trump.

There is no room for Merrick Garlands and milquetoast centrists anymore.

You need accountability.

You can never appease a tyrant.

We need to call it what it is: a president using government coercion to silence voices he doesn't agree with is authoritarianism, plain and simple.

It's the Orbán playbook, the Putin playbook, and now the Trump playbook. And it should alarm every American.