Susan A. Markham

At a breaking point: The impact of foreign aid cuts on women’s organizations in humanitarian crises worldwide As humanitarian crises intensify globally, women’s organizations are being pushed to a breaking point. A March 2025 UN Women survey of 411 women’s organizations across 44 crisis settings found nearly ...

A new @unwomen.bsky.social report highlights the steep consequences of shrinking humanitarian support #gender #equality www.unwomen.org/en/digital-l...

Judge explains why she spoke out against directive to pause LGBTQ+ cases An administrative judge at the federal agency that enforces U.S. workplace anti-discrimination laws explains why she spoke out against a directive to pause all LGBTQ+ cases.

A profile in courage from @npr.org - Karen Ortiz, an administrative judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission #gender #equality #LGBTQ+ www.npr.org/2025/04/15/n...

“Pink tariffs” worse for women: are Trump’s new tariffs gender-biased? Trump's new tariffs disproportionately burden women, exacerbating existing "pink tariffs" on female goods. Analysis shows higher levies on women's apparel, risking job losses and financial strain, hig...

Think change: “Pink tariffs” worse for women: are Trump’s new tariffs gender-biased? from @odi.global odi.org/en/insights/... #gender #equality

Trump is tearing up the rights of women. The message from your sisters in the Arab world? Don’t give up: resistance works | Hibaaq Osman The new administration threatens to undo decades of progress in America, but as North Africa and the Middle East have shown, there is power in female solidarity

"For women in the US who now feel under attack like never before, who sense their rights, even their bodily autonomy, slipping through their fingers, I bid a weary but warm welcome to the club." #gender #equality #reSISTERS

At UN, Trump's domestic policies enter international arena US voted against a series of resolutions at the UNGA that support development and diversity

Also, yesterday, the US government was also the sole vote against a resolution titled “Education for Democracy,” which reaffirms “the right of everyone to education” and recognizes “the importance of equal opportunities for young people, including women.” www.voanews.com/a/at-un-trum... #education

At UN, Trump's domestic policies enter international arena US voted against a series of resolutions at the UNGA that support development and diversity

The US govt voted against a resolution, “International Day of Peaceful Coexistence”, that reaffirmed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development w/US rep Edward Heartney saying “Simply put, the globalist endeavors like Agenda 2030 and the SDGs lost at the ballot box.” www.voanews.com/a/at-un-trum...

Terry Szuplat on LinkedIn: To our friends around the world asking, “What’s going on?” Well… 77… | 1,059 comments To our friends around the world asking, “What’s going on?” Well… 77 million Americans voted for Trump. 78 million voted for other candidates… So, no, it was… | 1,059 comments on LinkedIn

“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never.” #democracy

Response to Rep. Taylor Greene’s Assertions About NED - NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY NED categorically and unequivocally rejects the assertions from the February 26 hearing of the House Oversight Committee’s DOGE subcommittee.

NED’s mission is to support local actors in fostering democratic norms & institutions. We support local actors in the peaceful pursuit of their democratic goals.
www.ned.org/response-to-...

Rieckhoff: He's losing his women and children. His cities are being bombed, and we're talking about his clothes? It was victim shaming, which is what trump has been doing to Zelenskyy and Ukraine since before he got elected. It's unacceptable.

This morning it sank in that I’ve never been more appalled and embarrassed for my country than watching Putin puppets Trump & Vance mistreat hero Pres. Zelenskyy yesterday. Beyond disgraceful. This shame and stain will never be erased. 🇺🇦

Editorial: A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up. In the past several weeks, the U.S. leadership has demonstrate...

A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn’t Zelensky.

kyivindependent.com/editorial-a-...

I’m a pediatrician in Texas. Things are dire and we need your support – not your condescension | Seema Jilani Nothing I have done is more impactful than a day’s work in this battleground in the south, the graveyard of politicians’ abandoned promises

"We in the south are a multicultural populace held hostage by voter suppression, gerrymandering, & the failures of legacy media establishments who refuse to acknowledge that humanity can exist in barefoot barbecues, not just on charcuterie plates with fine wines." Seema Jilani via @theguardian.com

"A woman is like a child": MAGA turns its sights on stripping Republican women of power Conservative women believe complicity will save them, but an emboldened far-right is gunning for their rights

"45% of female voters backed Trump in 2024, despite his overt misogyny...now... male MAGA leaders are showing increasing interest in bringing Republican women to heel, both culturally and through the force of law." #gender #equality

How the Pentagon Personnel Firings Threaten Our Apolitical Military This unprecedented purge of the nation’s top brass suggests that Trump may attempt to fill these roles with officers he perceives as loyal.

How the Pentagon Personnel Firings Threaten Our Apolitical Military "This unprecedented purge of the nation’s top brass suggests that Trump... may attempt to fill these roles with officers he perceives as loyal to him personally." from @marknevitt.bsky.social via @justsecurity.org

Opinion | The blinding contempt of the DOGE bros Terrorizing USAID isn’t reform. Here’s an inside story of Elon Musk’s takeover.

"You don’t have to work hard to convince me that we have too many agencies and too many low-impact programs. But does this really need to be done — can it be done effectively at all — by branding lifelong public servants as “criminals” and making them suffer for sport?" #saveforeignaid

Opinion | ‘We’re Just Keeping Everybody Alive’: The Damage Done by the U.S.A.I.D. Freeze (Gift Article) Testimonials from around the world show that Trump’s foreign aid funding freeze has been damaging and chaotic.

When Pres. Kennedy asked Congress to establish USAID in 1961, he rooted its mission in America’s strategic interests and its “moral obligations as a wise leader and good neighbor,” recognizing that poverty and instability threaten America’s prosperity and security. #saveforeignaid

Dems Shouldn’t Run Away From the USAID Fight—They Should Win It A party that lets the opposition dictate the terms of all the debates will inevitably lose them.

"The Democrats’ task in this fight is to stop a group of radical fanatics from dismantling the government of the United States and selling it for scrap." But we also need to be talking about American values and the positive impact of U.S. programs overseas. #democracy @tommalinowski.bsky.social

For no particular reason, what the Commonwealth of Virginia thinks about kings.

The FBI is a unique agency and, in the wrong hands, it’s dangerous The position of FBI Director is far more powerful than almost any other agency head, and the least constrained by laws or external checks.

The FBI "is entirely dependent on the good faith of the attorney general to keep Attorney General Guidelines in place and of the FBI director to adhere to and enforce them." @asharangappa.bsky.social #protectdemocracy

We are calling for impeachment—America has no kings.

Opinion | Why America should keep promoting democracy People around the world still look to the United States as a model and champion of good government.

America has good reason to champion #democracy #saveforeignaid

JPM/BofA/Citi/Goldman, WalMart, Ford/GM, ExxonMobil/Chevron, UPS/FedEx, etc. These companies aren't better off, even w/ lower taxes, if the US economy & polity, & the global economy, implode. They thrive precisely because of democracy, globalization, & international cooperation. And they know this.

Of Course It's Unfair Doesn't matter.

“I need Democratic lawmakers to understand something: there is a profound disconnect among many of you between the world as it should be and the world as it is, and we are in a moment in which many of you, bless your hearts, don’t seem to get that.” By @charlotteclymer.bsky.social

This period under Musk/Trump feels like early February in 2020—when a terrible thing was happening with breakneck speed, and the people paying close attention were hair-on-fire about it while the rest of the country carried on as normal.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Is Starving the National Endowment for Democracy DOGE has frozen funds to the organization that was instrumental in helping win the Cold War. ‘It’s been a bloodbath.’

“Nations around the world and peoples need to see that freedom and democracy are not just something to aspire to as an ideal, but as a practical matter, it works and it works better than totalitarianism.” Marco Rubio #democracy #saveforeignaid

Power moves: The women changing Africa's leadership – DW – 02/05/2025 From Ghana to Namibia, recent appointments of women to top political positions have been encouraging. But with more women in significant roles, are African nations really boosting female political rep...

Power moves: The women changing Africa's leadership #WomenInDemocracy

Where a strongman failed, women are now fueling a democratic revival COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – It was a brief remark during a mundane session of parliament. But to Harini Amarasuriya, Sri Lanka’s prime minister, it was the moment she realized that her country, wrecked not l...

Where a strongman failed, women are now fueling a democratic revival #WomenInDemocracy

The Case For USAID It does us, and others, a world of good

"The truth is that Musk and Trump are not interested in reform, reprogramming or efficiency." @adamkinzinger.bsky.social #saveforeignaid

Prebunking Elon Musk's Super Bowl Propaganda Perception is reality.

Prebunking Elon Musk's Super Bowl Propaganda by @asharangappa.bsky.social #saveforeignaid

Elon Musk reportedly spent $40M on #Superbowl ads calling #USAID wasteful. Here’s how we would’ve spent that $$:
🏈Slowed the flow of migrants to our borders by providing job training to 50K people in Central America #saveforeignaid #standwithUSAID
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqUE...