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Kat O’Brien

@lavidagata.bsky.social

2.4K followers 540 following 6.8K posts

Iowa-born, NYC-influenced, Spain living. Former sports journalist working in sustainability. Runner, traveler, pro-democracy, love to read. My own opinions. Signal @Democracy.23

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Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 8d

I know the vibes are beyond atrocious. A bigoted dictator regime is taking hold in the U.S., & I’ve spent all summer looking for a job.
On the latter, watch this space. I’m going to start a business, and returning to my sports origins! Please send good thoughts for business visa getting approved!

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Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 3h

The king is really a figurehead here. They have it as No Kings or No Tyrants globally. I personally like No Dictators best as I think everyone understands that word and it gets the meaning across well.

Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 4h

We’ll be out in Barcelona, too, please add to your map! And Madrid also has a protest planned @demsabroad.bsky.social - if you’re in Barcelona, please join us to protest tyranny next Saturday. Noon, Plaça Sant Jaume. People of all nationalities & speaking any language welcome, bienvenido, Benvingut!

No Tyrants. Barcelona, please join us to protest tyranny next Saturday. Noon, Plaça Sant Jaume.

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 18h

I like how the news will be like “while the President claiming Portland was ruled by a giant skeleton named Mr Nibbles is not strictly true, it does speak to the anxiety of many Americans”

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Laura Belin @laurarbelin.bsky.social · 15h

Marian Wilson Kimber: It’s painful to realize the people in charge of Iowa’s history apparently have no idea how history works. If they did, they'd know there is no way to predict what parts of the collection will be of interest 5, 20, or 100 years from now. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/10/10/t...

The theft of history

Marian Wilson Kimber: I have wondered if the box of women’s club programs that changed my life will end up in the dumpster.

www.bleedingheartland.com

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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 4h

Trump & MAGA "have capitalized on the killing of rightwing influencer Charlie Kirk to expand attacks on liberal groups, donors, Democrats, and others by tarring many critics as the 'enemy within' and 'radical left' in a move that legal scholars and historians call authoritarian and anti-democratic."

‘Page one of the authoritarian playbook’: how Trump and allies are exploiting Kirk’s killing

The president and his Maga allies have used the rightwing influencer’s killing to justify attacks on critics, experts say

www.theguardian.com

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Daniel A. Horwitz @danielahorwitz.bsky.social · 4h

Yo this is wild AF

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 1d

PERRY COUNTY, TN — a man arrested and faces felony “threatening mass violence in a school” for posting an image of Trump with his own words in a facebook group after Charlie Kirk’s murder.

His son calls it “an egregious violation of his 1A rights”
www.instagram.com/p/DPoq7b9Fez...

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

Evidently, President Trump got all the proof he needs that vaccines are safe and effective. He voted with his arm yesterday and got the highly beneficial Covid and flu shots. Amid the sea of confusion RFKJ has generated about vaccines, all Americans should know that Trump is getting vaccinated.

Renée Graham 🏳️‍🌈 @rygraham.bsky.social · 6h

Last month Trump said he wanted proof that COVID vaccines are effective. Yesterday, during his "semiannual" physical, Trump received a COVID vaccine as well as a flu shot.

That's because vaccines — which Trump's administration have made harder to get — work.

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Fonsi Loaiza @fonsiloaizap.bsky.social · 8h

El historiador Mark Bray, autor de ‘Antifa’, se ha exiliado a España tras recibir amenazas de muerte por parte de la extrema derecha y el trumpismo en Estados Unidos.

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Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 6h

Source for the stats is this: www.catholicnewsagency.com/amp/news/261...

Catholic representation in new Congress grows to over 28%: A look at the numbers

A small majority of the Catholics in both chambers of Congress are elected Democrats.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 6h

An excellent article on Pope Leo standing up for immigrants and their rights, and his urging U.S. Bishops as a group to do the same. To do otherwise is the opposite of Catholic teaching. (My add: perhaps JD Vance & the 56 Catholic Republicans in Congress & 11 Catholic Reps in Senate should listen).

When we couple the pope's remarks this week with last week's statements that people championing anti-immigration policies in America aren't pro-life, we see that the pope isn't shy about addressing the politics in this country that collide with Catholic Church teachings. He is being quietly forceful about what he is witnessing as people are being snatched off the street, taken out of their homes and imprisoned without due process.
He is, at every turn, making it clear that Catholic teaching is in opposition to these policies regarding the capture, detention and deportation of migrants in America and that his expectation is that the bishops in the United States, who have many Latinos and Afro-Latinos in their churches, will start to speak out more forcefully for their care. It's not partisan politics to state Catholic Church teachings. It is doing what the Catholic faith and tradition call them to do - help those in need.

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Roger Senserrich @4freedoms.es · 15h

Tengo la sensación de que la administración Trump tiene seis crisis abiertas a la vez, y que algo va a pasar que rompa el bloqueo.

No necesariamente para bien. www.4freedoms.es/p/a-la-esper...

A la espera de algo horrible

Una crisis permanente y sin visos de solución

www.4freedoms.es

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 15h

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

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Matt Davies @mattdaviescartoon.bsky.social · 22h

Newsday.com/matt

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Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 7h

“The situation has gone beyond disaster and genocide inside the city, and the world remains silent.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Militia drone strike kills at least 30 in Sudan displacement camp, says El Fasher group

RSF paramilitary group hit Dar al-Arqam shelter on university grounds in western city, says resistance committee

www.theguardian.com

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Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 6h

This windy day is perfect for the kitesurfers, windsurfers and regular surfers. And the water temperature is still divine (75F/24C).

8 miles run and kitesurfers and windsurfers in Barcelona

Kitesurfers take advantage of a windy day in Barcelona.

Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 8h

This is chilling. I urge people to read it.

Andrew Perfors @andyperfors.bsky.social · 15h

Heartbreaking reading, but this Reddit thread gives a sense of the relentlessness of the horror inflicted by ICE, and the damage being done to so many innocent people that doesn't make the news.

From the AskReddit community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the AskReddit community

www.reddit.com

Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 9h

Buen cómico en @lavanguardia por JL Martín. Trump amenaza, ataca, amenaza, insulta, manda a la Guardia Nacional, decreta aranceles, amenaza … pues menos mal que hay ratos que se va a jugar golf. www.lavanguardia.com/opinion/2025...

Apuntes del Natural del 11/X/2025

www.lavanguardia.com

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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 12h

“There is nothing an authoritarian fears more than peaceful, organized people power. Our organizing, rooted in our First Amendment constitutional rights, threatens this regime’s grip on power…Our answer is courage, solidarity, and nonviolent resistance. That’s our strength—and that’s how we’ll win.”

Trump & Miller are smearing Indivisible to silence dissent. It won’t work.

A quick response to some batshit reporting on America's authoritarian regime

open.substack.com

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Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 9h

I covered that 2004 18-inning game in Houston. It was wild Roger Clemens coming in to pitch in relief. …
I went to Google now to checkbdetails, & the AI summary slop is so bad. It kept telling me Clemens never pitched in relief that year, only for actual game stories & box score to confirm he did.

slangsonsports.bsky.social @slangsonsports.bsky.social · 13h

Longest series-clinching wins by innings:

2022 ALDS G3 Astros (at SEA): 18
2004 NLDS G4 Astros: 18
1986 NLCS G6 Mets: 16
2025 ALDS G5 Mariners: 15
2022 ALWCS G2 Guardians: 15

Mariners: longest winner-take-all game in postseason history

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Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 15h

Every so often people still on X go “Wow, it’s really racist here now,” then go ahead and continue using the app.

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Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 18h

ICE left David, a 17-year-old boy, stranded on the side of Interstate 20 after pulling over his immigrant father, Hector, in Mississippi.

David began running in the scorching sun after the car and watched as it disappeared from sight—soon headed to a Louisiana ICE prison.

Here's their story.

ICE Stranded a 17-Year-Old on I-20 After Arresting His Father. The Mississippi Dad Now Faces Deportation.

A 17-year-old watched as ICE arrested his immigrant father, Hector, on I-20 in June. The family faces mounting legal fees and the risk of deportation.

www.mississippifreepress.org

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Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 16h

You would not fire these people—including the staff of the hugely, HUGELY important 'Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report'—if you cared at all about public health, if you wanted people to live.

And you would not let your thuggish henchmen fire people like this if you were a responsible president.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 16h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Travis Miller @travismillerx13.bsky.social · 17h

🇺🇸Brittany Brown wins the ATHLOS 100m/200m double in a 21.89 (+1.9) PERSONAL BEST! 💯

Breaks 🇯🇲Veronica Campbell-Brown's stadium record!

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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 18h

Imagine how terrifying it must be as a foreign leader or foreign intelligence service to watch a US president this divorced from actual reality or facts….

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 20h

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

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Ruth Ben-Ghiat @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social · 19h

Sign you live in a police state

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 23h

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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