I was a Young Republican for a brief time in the 1980s (for real). I promise you they talked like this back then. They didn’t know I was Jewish, so the Holocaust jokes flowed freely. It all helped radicalize me against the right.

I shared a snippet from The Spymaster’s Secret for this past weekend’s Rainbow Snippet.

www.antoniaaquilante.com/blog/rainbow...

#romancebooks #fantasyromance #romantasy #lgbtqbooks #lgbtqromance #bisexualbooks #rainbowsnippets #booksky

Turns out your assumptions about what republican group chats are like is correct www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

It is to the shame of all the male reporters in the room that they do not immediately leave

Same in DC. It’s been two months.

Still constant helicopters overhead. Abandoned work trucks where neighbors have been kidnapped by ICE. Armed national guard walking the streets. Feds posting up in former unhoused spaces to keep people away.

ICYMI: “And now, a response from the leader of the frog resistance...” 🐸 🎵 #Colbert

Mike Johnson — man of deep faith, we are told — wants pastors to be shot in the head with pepper balls.

I can't remember when I started filing Bari Weiss under "this person does not matter to me" but I've largely ignored her for a long time, so this segment was actually wildly helpful for me in understanding her and uh, fucken yikes

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieT...

Police officers who publicly declare that they’ll quit if a mayoral candidate they dislike wins the election are (1) usually bluffing—sure buddy, toss away that paycheck and pension—and (2) exactly the sort of cops cities would be better off without, ones who don’t see themselves as public servants.

The Treasury Secretary declares himself to be pro-monarchy, and promises to punish the entire country if the people exercise their First Amendment rights.

James Michael Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, is fanatically devoted to Donald Trump and expresses his adoration by endeavoring to give Trump everything he wants, despite never having heard a word Trump has written or said or any specific account of anything Trump has done.

“One of the chants that has become ubiquitous at these protests at Broadview is, ‘Love your neighbor, love your God, save your soul and quit your job,’” said Black, who pastors at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. “Everybody chants that.”

the actual story here, which the media never talks about, is that police in this country have become a discrete right-wing political operation. the story isn't about cops leaving (they're lying about that), it's about the police trying to exert influence over elections.

Abolish ICE.

If you work for ICE, you should quit to save your immortal soul.

federal agents stealing children and sending them south. where have i heard about that before?

My September reads are on the blog. What have you read and loved lately?

www.antoniaaquilante.com/blog/my-sept...

#amreading

Rep. Jim Himes on Trump blowing up boats in the Caribbean: "The White House has not shared what they believe their legal justification is. They did put out a memo. I will tell you based on what I know now and the reading of that memo, these are illegal killings."

This is infuriating. She excuses the orders as "preliminary," but that's an argument for applying settled law or preserving the status quo. Allowing POTUS to disregard Congressional appropriations and fire independent agency heads are neither, they're a radical restructuring of Constitutional order.

Great thread

No money in the red kettles. Mutual aid instead.
(And no, I'm not taking questions about this.)

Cotton Mather wholly believed in the immanent reality of Satan working through Salem's witches to achieve the destruction of the Puritan experiment in New England.

He believed in the evidence of dreams. His convictions led to the deaths of innocents.

And he was still more coherent than this bozo.

You know it's going badly for democracy when the authoritarians are like "Can you believe the shit we're getting away with?"

Let's do another round of audiobook sales on Chirp, shall we? There are some great ones in the mix today! 👀
$2.99 - $5.99

Escape into a romance or two this weekend 🎧📚❤️

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Bookish checkpoint

💜last book: All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles

💜current reads: A Little Familiar by R Cooper, The Undead Complex by Courtney Smyth

💜newest add to the TBR: Six Wild Crowns by Holly Race

💜eagerly waiting for: The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia