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Tess Owen

@tessowen.bsky.social

52K followers 1.7K following 450 posts

Words in New Yorker, NY Mag, WIRED, Guardian & more. VICE News alum. Reporting on extremism, disinfo, political violence, subcultures etc. more fun than I sound. send tips/ say hello at [email protected], IG: tess_owen_, or signal : tessowen.77

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · Nov 11

I wanted to share a story I wrote for NY Mag last month, about jailed January 6ers, and the cult-like community they'd formed behind bars.

The story starts with a scene from inside the DC jail, when J6ers watched Trump get shot on live TV.

nymag.com/intelligence...

Inside the Patriot Wing

January 6 rioters are running their jail block like a gang. They’re leaving more radicalized than ever.

nymag.com

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 3d

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 6d

A question that hovers above a lot of these kinds of DHS X posts: who is the audience, exactly?

Is the idea to demean those they see as their opponents (which have included U.S. citizens) in order to garner support from the right? Or is it a recruitment tool?

Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 6d

Judging by the responses to this DHS post, its goal seems to be to mock the physical appearance of a (presumably) American protester.

I wonder if we can think of another political movement in history that was obsessed with the physical appearance of its citizens

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 6d

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Andy Campbell @andybcampbell.bsky.social · 8d

Slow news day for the right-wing grievance machine

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 10d

This is absolutely horrific. To attack a synagogue and kill people, and that too on Yom Kippur. Vile and inexcusable.

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 10d

BREAKING: Two people have died and three others are in serious condition after a synagogue attack in the UK, police say.

Police are at the scene of a reported stabbing at a synagogue in English city of Manchester

Police are at the scene of a reported stabbing at a synagogue in Manchester, northwest England. Andy Burnham, the mayor of the Greater Manchester Area, said Thursday that the “immediate danger appears to be over” after reports of the incident in Crumpsall, north of the city.

bit.ly

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 10d

My biggest takeaway from the last ten years is believe these people when they tell you what they want to do

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 10d

hats going for $50 each via the official trump store, being advertised with the caption "the future looks bright! rewrite the rules with the Trump 2028 high crown hat"

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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 11d

feels like we're living through some kind of cultural gas leak

The Verge @theverge.com · 13d

Microsoft launches ‘vibe working’ in Excel and Word

Vibe working is all about Office’s new Agent Mode.

buff.ly

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 11d

though all part of the same story

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 11d

sort of wild that the government shutting down is among the least shocking things that have happened in the last few weeks

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 11d

fair

Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 11d

Feel slightly insane that elected dems just aren’t really doing or saying anything? shouldn’t they at least have a press conference saying “we are alarmed” at minimum?

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 12d

The president just gathered the highest ranking officers in the military to tell them that he may order them to kill American citizens -- and that they better follow his orders. All in response to a series of crises that have no basis in reality.

I don't know how to yell any louder.

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 12d

An unprecedented violation of our civic and Constitutional traditions. Calling every military leader in the world back to the U.S. to hear a wildly inappropriate partisan campaign speech followed by a fascist call to use the military against Americans.

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 12d

and the interplay of crisis pr with increasingly influential fandom culture

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 12d

must read @annasilman.bsky.social's fascinating and delicious dive into the very curious world of crisis PR:

www.gq.com/story/how-th...

How the Crisis PR Machine Shapes What You Think About Celebrities

The disinformation age has hit Hollywood, and the celebrity-industrial complex is armed to the teeth. Meet the crisis publicists, right-wing wranglers, and trolls for hire who are influencing what we ...

www.gq.com

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Sandhya Dirks @audiosand.bsky.social · 15d

these are all symbolic targets...
Portland (and Berkeley) is where west coast neo nazi/ white wing/ right ring folks liked to go to do "violence" and provoke moments /images that could be framed as "violent" and "anti free speech" to play as propaganda on fox news and etc...

Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 15d

Portland hasn’t even really been a flashpoint for years. Sure it has a long tradition for leftist activism. But it’s also vilified by the right, and holds mythical significance. This is pure red meat for the base.

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 15d

As well as an obvious effort to bait local activists into chaotic direct action

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 15d

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 18d

It’s 5 o clock somewhere !

Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 18d

Feels like calculated disrespect and erasure of the victims.

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 18d

Immediate follow, thank you

Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 18d

smoking is starting to sound very good again

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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 18d

Great point.

And also: Patel didn't have to show this photo today. The FBI isn't seeking tips amid some massive manhunt.

The gunman is, by all accounts, dead in a suicide.

This morning just before 7am local time, an individual fired multiple rounds at a Dallas, Texas ICE facility, killing one, wounding several others, before taking his own life. FBI, DHS, ATF are on the ground with Dallas PD and state authorities.

While the investigation is

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Tess Owen @tessowen.bsky.social · 18d

Oh man I can’t imagine - I have some friends who also got plunged into intense stress with that announcement. You hanging in there alright?