Dovie Watson, MD, MSCE, AAHIVS

Obama really gets credit for disillusioning a lot of our generation about the democrats & electoralism in general. I was in the club when he won dancing to the "Obama" remix of "A Milli" with everybody else. Finally a Black president. He ran on hope. Then he revealed himself as a neoliberal baddie.

“While there’s never any guarantee that law enforcement officers will follow the law…” is the absolute most important lesson for anyone trying to make it through this current era.

Who is doing counter-recruitment organizing for ICE? As the economy worsens, those jobs and the loan forgiveness offer will become more attractive to unpoliticized individuals. There needs to be a clear social cost for even considering joining those ranks.

“the government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and momentous social transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and its respect for the individual freedoms and human rights, that we hold as fundamental today.” 🔥

Alt text: Whitehouse.gov screenshot that reads: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) serves the President of the United States in overseeing the implementation of his vision across the Executive Branch. Specifically, OMB’s mission is to assist the President in meeting his policy, budget, management and regulatory objectives and to fulfill the agency’s statutory responsibilities.

Vought’s job is director of the Office of Management and Budget.

OMB is a Cabinet-level agency, but it’s not a household name like DOJ.

Yet OMB is powerful. Often described as the “central nervous system” of the federal gov’t. 4/
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/

The video we uncovered of Vought saying “We want to put them in trauma” has gone viral — online and off.

Senators used the word “trauma” more than 20 times at Vought’s confirmation hearing to be Trump’s budget and personnel director. 3/

“Put Them in Trauma”: Inside a Key MAGA Leader’s Plans for a New Trump Agenda Private videos reveal Trump adviser Russ Vought’s “shadow” plans for using the military on protesters, defunding the EPA and villainizing civil servants.

Our Vought scoop was one of the most prophetic stories in @propublica.org's history.

President Trump, Vought, and DOGE’s efforts to reassign or fire federal workers have left many of them feeling demoralized and — yes — traumatized. 2/
www.propublica.org/article/vide...

Last fall, @propublica.org and @documented.net broke the story that Russell Vought, Trump’s current budget chief, said he planned to put career civil servants “in trauma.”

Now, we're investigating the full extent of Vought's impact on the federal government. We need your help… 🧵 1/

Enslaved Blacks invented blue jeans A few weeks ago, on Feb. 14 to be exact, I tweeted the following:

So I vaguely recalled in the wake of Sweeney jeans ad discourse (which I was genuinely trying to avoid) that at some point I thought I learned that Black people gave us jeans — I just couldn’t recall the source until today. There is a doc which this article summarizes, with sources cited. Cheers.

What’s really going on in Texas? I give you Rep. Jolanda Jones in two parts speaking from temporary exile while they deny a quorum to state Republicans. She lays out every bit of it out - chapter and verse. These Texas Dems are the real deal. @texasdemocrats.bsky.social
Here’s Part 1:

Protect Rep. Jolanda Jones at all cost.
Part 2:

“AI vegan” is a bullshit phrase for those of us not blindly following the bunny of the profit-driven tech craze, preferring brilliant human creativity (and knowing damn well this trend won’t end well). We also prefer having actual people in paid jobs, doing the thinking, creating + making decisions.

Just want to reiterate that words mean things and it’s more important to be honest, educated, and accurate than to say things for dramatic effect.

How bout we not minimize the brutality of Fugitive Slave Laws by comparing it to Texas reps leaving the state under threat of their governor. I get it but no. Learn about slavery in its entirety, not just to make inappropriate comparisons.

AI is a lack of consent machine

i feel like hank treats women better, has better politics, and is smarter

Gin don't make you violent. For some people all it take is a Capri Sun that's not all the way cold and it's on.

Leave civil rights up to the localities

the same localities that have attacked civil rights since the beginning of society??

thanks, Pete

We're up against literal fascism. If a candidate isn't gonna fight for us - for ALL of us - they can kick rocks.

It's 2025. We're done with 2024-style triangulation and half-measures.

Stand up or sit down.

Yeah that's a big nope.

I really cannot get over the fact that a group of folks got together, studied the original, identified and fully understood their roles, practiced, and flawlessly executed this level of unserious. This is ART!!

This is why we need the arts. This is community theatre!!!

Basura

And your language sucks

If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages

Generative AI by definition is conformity. It is an averaging of anything you ask of it - quite literally guessing what the most likely version of a thing might be. It is, by definition, mainstream, as is everything it creates old and deeply ideological, as every model trains on similar data.

AI filmmaking and storytelling is punk rock. It’s hip hop. It’s counterculture. It’s a new type of creativity. It’s a new medium. It’s hated by the mainstream film and art establishment. It resists ideology. It ignores gate keeping. It’s uncomfortable. It’s scary. It’s viral. It’s accessible. It’s refreshing. It’s welcoming. It’s here.

AI filmmaking is peeing. It’s pooping. It’s throwing up. It’s a new kind of liquid coming out. It’s hated by the establishment. It’s what goes in the toilet. It’s wet. It’s what’s in the bathroom.