David Bates (he/him)

Looks like both of our NH senators are about to sell out the people they represent.

@shaheen.senate.gov
@hassan.senate.gov

Beshear: Let me be clear. The president has both the funding and the authority to fund snap during a shutdown. In fact, every other president in every other shutdown has done so. People going hungry in this instance is a choice that this president has made.

The disappearance of America’s leadership class at a time like this means that the rest of us have to be leaders. We can no longer wait to be led by those with the power and authority to lead. You must lead, I must lead, all of us must lead. We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese getting off a plane while wearing slim black pants, black boots, and a black Joy Division t-shirt.

how it feels explaining early 2000s hipster history to young people

Justice Department Will Monitor Elections in California and New Jersey

The reshaping of the playing field is underway
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/u...

Of course it is! Every public appearance he has been remarkably unprepared. He doesn't know what's in the exec orders he's been signing. He doesn't give a fuck about the job. All he wants to do is be the host at Mar a Lago North. What's the over-under that he'll tear down the White House to do it?

Elder scrolls map with various titles across them

Wow. Trump's masked federal agents tear-gassed a crowd in Chicago and ended up gassing a bunch of local Chicago cops who were there to *deescalate tensions.* One local cop was captured on film washing out his eyes with a hose:

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Tim Walz: "It's almost unimaginable that he's got Milei in there, giving him $20 billion, so that they can undercut us and China can buy their soybeans from them. And now China has learned they can replace our markets."

Los Angeles County declares state of emergency over immigration raids Los Angeles County officials voted on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency over ongoing federal immigration raids.

To be clear:

LA County has declared a state of emergency BECAUSE OF the federal government.

The Feds, LA County is (correctly) saying, have CAUSED the emergency.

This is a striking political moment of internal collapse. Local govts feeling compelled to protect their ppl from … their own govt.

Headline reads: Altman says ChatGPT will soon allow erotic for adult users.

You gently run your hand through the rack. You can feel it—pure cotton, rich wool, Irish linen. The plump buttonholes are handsewn; the buttons attached with a firm shank. You flip the price tag over. It's affordable

You buy the jacket and go home, which is only 15 mins away. Your apt is $600/month

JB Pritzker looking at prosecuting ICE agents in Chicago Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has suggested that state prosecutors might examine the conduct of ICE agents.

Good. Even if this doesn’t work, it’s time to go on offense.

www.newsweek.com/jb-pritzker-...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

Oh hey, check this out. They talk the same way in their private chats as they do on Twitter www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Again, every time this happens, we literally have no idea if the masked, plainclothes people are actual government agents, or private citizens acting in party-affiliated paramilitaries. The whole point of IDs & uniforms & no masks is that we know these things.

The concentration of wealth in the hands of a few isn't just bad for our economy. It's corrosive to our democracy.

When the wealthy and well-connected control our political system, regular people don't have a voice.

The result? The demagoguery and corruption we're seeing now.

This was once the kind of shit we cited to differentiate ourselves from authoritarian countries. It’s just who we are now.

The Beacon of Democracy Goes Dark For nearly 250 years, America promoted freedom and equality abroad, even when it failed to live up to those ideals itself. Not anymore.

"We always think about America’s postwar role in Europe as an act of great generosity, the defense of allies from Soviet aggression. But by putting democracy at the center of our international identity, we also helped strengthen our own political system"
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

We have armed secret police kidnapping people off the street based on the color of their skin.

When we win: we will haul them before a Senate committee. The masks will come off. There will be consequences.

a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society

JB Pritzker's forceful, defiant response to Trump's threat to jail him confirms the points I tried to make in the piece and thread below about the role of conflict and attention in the public battle over Trump's authoritarian takeover:

I’m shocked.

Those are some of the fattest runs I’ve ever seen

Pritzker: "People of Illinois, we need your help. Get our your cell phones, record and narrate what you see. Put it on social media. Peacefully ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors. We need to let the world know that this is happening and that we won't stand for it."

People of Illinois, we need your help.

Get your cell phones out – record what you see. Put it on social media. Peacefully ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors.

We need to let the world know this is happening – and that we won’t stand for it.

'A despot': Ken Burns signals danger of 'greatest existential threat' to the US right now (AlterNet) Filmmaker Ken Burns, whose latest documentary focuses on the American Revolutionary War, tells the New York Timesthat the greatest existential threat to the ...

l.smartnews.com/p-6ioNyGUU/o...

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

Karishma Manzur takes pro-Palestine stand in Senate primary | CloseUp Karishma Manzur is establishing her position on the conflict in Gaza as she competes with fellow Democrat Chris Pappas in the race for U.S. Senate.

Karishma Manzur is establishing her position on the conflict in Gaza as she competes with fellow Democrat Chris Pappas in the race for U.S. Senate.

An incredibly important election in a tiny country just went the right way. Moldova has resisted a huge Russian disinformation campaign and will not become a Russian puppet state.