Raj Thamotheram

Why Palestine Matters So Much to Queer People Palestinian identity can “upend the whole world order, if done right, if spun right, if we activate it enough. And I think queerness is a very similar kind of identity.”

“Solidarity with Palestine reflects the very realities that queerness is not just about sexuality or identity but about dismantling oppressive structures globally, and that is a common understanding within queer liberation and Palestine liberation movement.”

Palestine matters to queer folk.

🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

According to a new study, members of Congressional leadership perform 47% better in stock market trades than their rank-and-file peers, thanks to access to nonpublic information.

Today would be a great day to ban ALL elected officials from trading stock, don't you think?

Elon Musk has tweeted nonstop about white babies, white genocide, population decline, and fertility rates for the past week.

This is what it's all about, folks. The supervillain plot is tweeted in real time.

White supremacy. Fear. Anxiety. Hatred. A loathing of diversity.

"The Pro-Death March: How the Ultra-Wealthy are Using Eugenics and Political Power to Cull the Herd"

An Unholy Alliance of MAGA Politics and Billionaire Eugenics Threatens Public Health, Democracy, and the American Working Class

open.substack.com/pub/thelefth...

The headline, the main takeaway from a European viewpoint is this:

The transatlantic relationship as we know it is over. Yes, we kinda knew this. But this is now official US White House policy. Not a sppech, not a statement. The West as it used to be no longer exists.

Reform accepted £9 million from a former Boris Johnson backer & crypto-multimillionaire.

Today, Nigel Farage postures as a righteous defender of the same democracy he actively undermines.

Democracy should never be for sale. It's time for a cap on political donations.

This is getting stupid now.

We're at the point where Labour acknowledge both the damage caused by Brexit AND that rejoining the Customs Union (more accurately, joining A Customs Union) would boost growth.

And yet they still reinforce their red lines.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Better data driving action on methane emissions, but more work needed Nairobi, 22 October 2025 – Government and industry responses to UNEP’s more than 3,500 satellite methane alerts climbed from one to 12 per cent in the past year. Nevertheless, action must accelerate t...

A UN Environment Programme satellite watches for super-emitter events of methane (the main component of natural gas and a fast/potent greenhouse gas) and alerts the people responsible. Out of 3,500+ alerts since 2022, UNEP "documented 25 cases of mitigation action."

That's a 0.7% action rate. 🤦

Five corporations control 90% of the US media market.

Airlines merged from 12 major carriers in 1980 to 4 today.

Four giants control 80% of meat processing.

The evidence of corporate consolidation is everywhere.

It means more power for them and less freedom for you.

Last week, Comptroller Lander recommended NYC’s pension funds drop BlackRock + 2 other public asset managers due to inadequate decarbonization plans.
 
After evaluating the pension systems’ 49 managers, only 3 failed to submit plans with the seriousness we expect.
comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/com...

Farage rescued (for now) by mega donor Reform lands £9 million from one man...

Labour had ample opportunity to use their majority to protect us from this David and Goliath situation. @writesbright.bsky.social gets Reform's mega-donation into perspective. It's so clearly anti-democratic that one person can so disproportionately buy into politics

New Report Warns of Critical Climate Risks in Arab Region - Inside Climate News Foundations of daily life, including farms, reservoirs and aquifers that feed and sustain millions, are being pushed to the brink by human-caused warming.

"Across northwestern Africa’s sun-blasted rim, the Maghreb, six years of drought have slashed wheat yields, forcing countries such as #Morocco, #Algeria and #Tunisia to import more grain, even as global prices rise."

#ClimateEmergency

🚨New publication with Kristijan Kotarski:

Enduring Structural Power? Assessing the Dominance of the Anglosphere in Global Finance Before the Trump Turn

Includes novel visualizations of global finance (banking, portfolio inv & FDI) showing persistent US centrality

hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/487488

75% of Reform UK’s donations have come from just three rich men Calls grow for donation caps as Democracy for Sale research reveals that three-quarters of Reform’s funding comes from a trio of wealthy donors

🔴 Nigel Farage’s Reform is more reliant on super-rich backers than any major party in modern British political history

75% of *all* Reform donations *ever* have come from just three rich men

Is this what democracy looks like?

New on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/75-of-refo...

US solicitor general tells Supreme Court to reject Duke Energy antitrust appeal “This appeal arises out of a campaign by an established monopolist to stop a more efficient rival from disturbing its long-dominant hold over a regional energy market,” U.S. Solicitor General John Sau...

You're going to want to sit down and take a deep breath before you read this.

A regulated monopoly is actively working to prevent competition.

I know, it's hard to believe. But it's true.
www.utilitydive.com/news/solicit...

Forty years ago, 90% of media outlets were spread across 50 companies.

Now, just 5 companies control 90% of the media market.

This consolidation hurts consumers and helps oligarchs. 🧵

this shit is just beyond parody, man

🤮

Almost half of Americans say cost of living is ‘worst it’s ever been’, new poll finds – live Trump said earlier this week that the issue of affordability for Americans is a ‘fake narrative’ conjured by Democrats

MAGA and MAHA suck..

This is exactly what churches should be doing, calling out injustice.

📌 Lake Street Church Nativity: a bold social justice statement with ICE-like Roman soldiers, the Virgin Mary in a gas mask, baby Jesus zip-tied, Joseph on the ground, pushing viewers to think about immigration.

The top-10 carmakers by market cap make up 75% of global passenger car sales.

Tesla makes up less than 2%.

The Tesla bubble will be widely documented in history books.

This Giving Season, Nonprofits Should Address the Chill in the Air | Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice. This holiday season, organizations should talk about the importance of protecting civil society from the chilling effect of anti-democratic government abuses.

“Our ability to exercise [our] freedoms…is not supposed to be limited solely by our particular viewpoints or the popularity of our beliefs.” Read more about why government attempts to chill opposing voices threatens our democracy — and how nonprofits can stay resilient in this environment.

"ICE is arresting the worst of the worst."

Everything this administration tells us is a lie.

These are good moments to remember that the CEOs of all the biggest companies in America are happy to go to White House dinners and slap this guy’s back. They do not care about this. Remember this, years from now, when they want you to forget.

So far, in less than one year, Donald Trump has issued over TEN TIMES as many pardons as he did in his entire four-year first term. That’s a lot of criminals released onto our streets.

@rupertread.bsky.social 🤷🏾‍♂️

Normalising deprivation – when charity is the default response to poverty The rise of foodbanks shows how charity has filled the gaps of a failing system and now risks normalising hardship

We’re relying on foodbanks to fill the gaps left by a shrinking welfare state. This article by Community Organisers CEO Nick Gardham explains why that risks normalising deprivation.

@eastangliabylines.co.uk @nickgardham.bsky.social

Jacob Frey: "If we are now at the point where the federal govt is deploying agents on legal American citizens with a goal of uprooting people who have formed lives here, have families here, started businesses here, definitively made Minneapolis a better place, everybody should be speaking out."

Women’s Institute will no longer accept trans women as members from April Exclusive: CEO says decision taken with ‘utmost regret and sadness’ after supreme court ruling on definition of a woman

Trans women has been welcomed at the Women's Institute since the 1970s and one member is in her 80's and has been a member for decades. This is pure bigotry pushed by legal threats backed monetarily by JK Rowling.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...