Katherine Stewart
@katherinestewart.bsky.social
12K followers 1.1K following 510 posts
Money, Lies, and God; The Power Worshippers & other books @nytopinion, @religionreport & Forkosch awards Katherinestewart.me, https://substack.com/@katherinestewartbooks No DM, plz email at goodnewskatherine (@) gmail dot com
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Reposted by Katherine Stewart
caitlindeangelis.bsky.social
ICE kidnapped a 7th-grader with a pending asylum claim and spirited him out of state without notifying his parents, seemingly with the cooperation of the local police in Everett, MA.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...
Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility
By Marcela Rodrigues Globe Staff,Updated October 12, 2025, 44 minutes ago



31
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Everett after an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia, according to his mother and immigration lawyer Andrew Lattarulo.

The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested. After waiting for about an hour and a half, she was told her son was taken by ICE, Berto told the Globe in a phone interview.

“My world collapsed,” Berto said in Portuguese.

From the police department, the boy was taken to ICE’s holding facility in Burlington on Thursday evening, where he spent a night before being transferred by car to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on Friday morning, his mother said. The juvenile facility is more than 500 miles away from Everett.

The boy is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett, his mother said. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, Lattarulo said.
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
thebulwark.com
The Gilded Age may have revealed the excesses of an unchecked oligarchy, but at least it left behind centers of learning, culture, and philanthropy. Today’s roster of plutocrats seems uninterested in that. www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...
Why Our Tech Overlords Took a Hard Right Turn
A new book tells the story of how Elon Musk and other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs became angry admirers of authoritarianism.
www.thebulwark.com
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
katestarbird.bsky.social
I’ve seen posts claiming this “truth” is evidence of dementia, but IMO that’s not the right frame. This is strategy. Since 2021, the right has been rewriting history, bending timelines, to connect their grievances (Covid) and conspiracy theories (Jan 6, censorship, etc) to the Biden administration.
joycewhitevance.bsky.social
That’s a nice trick, since Biden wasn’t the president on Jan 6.
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
sharonk.bsky.social
thiel, man, what the fuck are you talking about

He describes the plot of Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel involving superheroes grappling with moral questions about humanity against the backdrop of impending nuclear war:

The antihero Ozymandias, the antichrist-type figure, is sort of an early-modern person. He believes this will be a timeless and eternal solution – eternal world peace. Moore is sort of a late-modern. In early modernity, you have ideal solutions, ‘perfect’ solutions to calculus. In late modernity, things are sort of probabilistic. And at some point, he asks Dr Manhattan whether the world government is going to last. And he says that ‘nothing lasts forever.’ So you embrace the antichrist and it still doesn’t work.

Thiel later finds biblical meaning in the manga One Piece, discussing how he believes it represents a future where an antichrist-like one-world government has repressed science. He believes that the hero, Monkey D Luffy, represents a Christlike figure.

In One Piece, you are set in a fantasy world, again sort of an alternate earth, but it’s 800 years into the reign of this one-world state. Which, as the story unfolds, gradually gets darker and darker. You sort of realize, in my interpretation, who runs the world and it’s something like the antichrist. There’s Luffy, a pirate who wears a red straw hat, sort of like Christ’s crown of thorns. And then towards the end of the story, transforms into a figure who resembles Christ in Revelation.

Thiel, along with a researcher and writer at Thiel Capital, explored these ideas at greater length in an essay for the religious journal First Things earlier this month.
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
marcusluther.bsky.social
Genuine question: for those enthusiastically pushing AI tools into every part of our education system—what checks/guardrails are there around algorithmic biases like this?
hypervisible.blacksky.app
The administration “is currently pressuring OpenAI and other AI companies to make their models more conservative-friendly.”
OpenAI is trying to clamp down on ‘bias’ in ChatGPT
GPT-5 is better at resisting liberal ‘pressure,’ the company says.
www.theverge.com
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
leahlitman.bsky.social
More judges speak to the press (the NYT) about what a disaster the Supreme Court (specifically the shadow docket) has been - “incredibly demoralizing & troubling”; a “judicial crisis”; a “slap in the face to district courts.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
Excerpts Excerpts
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
rbreich.bsky.social
Adelita Grijalva won her election to Congress over two weeks ago, but Mike Johnson still hasn't sworn her in.

Why the delay?

Perhaps it's because Grijalva would cast the final vote needed to release the Epstein files.
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
kieraevebutler.bsky.social
I've worked on crazy stories, but this, with @juliannemcshane.bsky.social, might be the wildest. Joseph Ladapo, FL surgeon general who aims to end school vax laws, is influenced by 2 ppl who believe in communicating w spirits, levitating, & even weirder stuff. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
From medicine to mysticism: the radicalization of Florida's top doc
Joseph Ladapo was a normie—until he met his wife and a guru into levitating and communicating with spirits.
www.motherjones.com
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
thedailyshow.com
The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
alykatzz.bsky.social
Your timely reminder that Donald Trump tried to claim NYC residence to take a $49,000 tax break on his Manhattan condo while he and Melania lived in the White House, only to get it yanked after my colleague and I caught the misrepresentation.
EXCLUSIVE: City nixes property tax break for Trump’s NYC apartment
New York City has nixed a $48,000 tax break President Trump was set to receive on his Trump Tower condo following inquiries from the Daily News about whether he is still eligible for the savings. O…
www.nydailynews.com
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
taniel.bsky.social
a very under-the-radar thing happening in Mississippi this fall:
boltsmag.org
A federal appeals court ruled that Mississippi had to redraw its legislative maps. As a result, 14 districts affected by the new boundaries are hosting special elections this November. Democrats may flip several.
Your Cheat Sheet to the 2025 General Elections - Bolts
Four contests have come to largely define the 2025 elections this fall: the elections to lead New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, plus California’s redistricting measure. But there’s so... Read More
boltsmag.org
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
kyledcheney.bsky.social
BREAKING: A federal judge in Illinois has blocked Trump administration authorities from using force against journalists in the Chicago area — including threats or arrest or riot control weapons. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
jackjenkins.me
A lot going on here, but a religion note: DHS Assistant Sec. Tricia McLaughlin refers to Rev. Black as a "pastor" here — using quotation marks.

It's a notable slight against a faith leader's status, as Black is, in fact, an ordained minister of a church operating within the Presbytery of Chicago.
This footage is from almost a month ago. What this clipped video doesn’t show is that these agitators were blocking an ICE vehicle from leaving the federal facility—impeding operations. 

Over and over again, law enforcement ordered these agitators to move off of federal property so the vehicle could move. Law enforcement verbally warned these agitators that they would use force if they did not move and stop impeding operations. They did not comply. 

Shortly after, rioters began throwing rocks, bottles and launching fireworks at the law enforcement officers on the roof. 
 
At the time of this incident, this facility held criminal illegal aliens including gang members, drug traffickers, and other violent criminals. Obstructing law enforcement puts officers, detainees and the public at risk. If you are obstructing law enforcement you can expect to be met with force. 
 
And, as an aside, this is the same “pastor” who flipped 
@Sec_Noem
 and our team the bird when we were there last week.
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
robertmackey.bsky.social
The Oregon Republican Party tried to help Donald Trump make the case for military intervention in Portland with an image of a fiery protest — but since Portland is calm, they had to fabricate one by merging old photos of police in Ecuador and protesters in Brazil www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Republicans post fake image of Oregon protest – using photos of South America
A federal judge had blocked Trump’s request to deploy California national guard to Portland
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
jlray.bsky.social
A Texas megachurch pastor and GOP leader has been arrested for crimes against children. Not Robert Morris, a different one. Not Josiah Anthony, a different one. Not Luke Cunningham, a different one. Not Tony Evans, a different one. Not Scott Crenshaw, a different one. Not Steve Lawson, a different o
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
cathygellis.bsky.social
This is jawdropping. The idea that a state about to be invaded by out-of-state soldiers that Trump is moving around the nation like chess pieces has no standing to object to the invasion!
joshuajfriedman.com
DOJ: Well, CA NG already federalized, and ...

Judge: Anything else you want to argue?

DOJ: Yes, your honor. OR and Portland lack standing to challenge relocation of out-of-state National Guard. Only CA could possibly sue under 12406, but CA can't establish standing or irreparable harm.
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
thorbenson.bsky.social
"Oftentimes, censorship and repression that originates with the government doesn't actually have to be executed by the government," says @risenc.bsky.social
What the Red Scare can teach us today
Many of the things that happened during the Red Scare mirror what's happening today.
madness.ghost.io
Reposted by Katherine Stewart
emptywheel.bsky.social
ICE has been paying private security for 24/7 guards to watch a guy with no record whose leg they fucked up so badly he has been in a hospital for over a month, and we wonder why people were handing Tom Homan bags of cash.

Via @kyledcheney.bsky.social

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
On August 27, 2025, Petitioner was arrested at the Carson Car Wash in Carson,
California by uniformed Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) officers and unidentified
plainclothes federal agents. See Pet. ¶¶ 16, 48; Santiago Decl. ¶ 3. During the arrest,
Petitioner sustained severe leg injuries. See Pet. ¶ 48; Santiago Decl. ¶ 5. He was
handcuffed and transported by CBP to the emergency room at Harbor-UCLA Medical
Center in Carson, California. Id.
At the hospital, Petitioner was admitted under a “blackout” procedure for patients
in law-enforcement custody and was registered under the pseudonym “Har Maine UNK
Thirteen.” Santiago Decl. ¶ 7. Federal agents remained at Petitioner’s bedside during
admission, transfer to non-public treatment areas, and throughout his stay, keeping him
handcuffed to his hospital bed. Id. ¶ 6.
On or about August 27, 2025, CBP transferred custody of Petitioner to ICE. See Pet.
¶ 48. He remains detained at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center under the supervision of ICE,
which has contracted with Spectrum Detention Services (“Spectrum”) to provide guards.
See Santiago Decl. ¶ 8; Pet. ¶ 48.
Since that date, two to four uniformed guards—either Spectrum employees or ICE
agents—have been continuously stationed in Petitioner’s hospital room, monitoring him at
all times, including while he sleeps, eats, uses the restroom, or receives medical care. See
Santiago Decl. ¶¶ 9–10.