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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth
@ainsw0rth.bsky.social
1.1K followers 6.1K following 490 posts
Clinical psychologist in the Rust Belt.
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · Sep 19
Curtis Evans, of Evanston, a military veteran (USMC intelligence) during President Reagan’s era, carries a U.S. Flag through gas deployed by federal officers as they clear protesters from the entrance of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview on Sept. 19, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 1d
Without question
Reposted by Ainsw0rth
jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d
seems that RFK is clearing the path for his CDC to do tuskegee syphillis experiments as a matter of course. in other news, RFK is a genuine monster who relishes in the pain and suffering of those he feels he has control or dominion over
jlynch13.bsky.social Julia Lynch @jlynch13.bsky.social · 1d
RFK is undoing human subjects protections so he can conduct placebo trials of vaccines. That means infecting people knowingly. I wonder who will “volunteer” for these trials? If history is any guide, a lot of incarcerated and other powerless people.
drugmonkey.bsky.social Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 1d
Dismantling the Institutional Review Board (IRB), that oversees all human subjects research, is bad. Really bad.
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Reposted by Ainsw0rth
johnjharwood.bsky.social
John Harwood @johnjharwood.bsky.social · 11d
in 40 years of covering politics and government, i've never encountered anyone as sinister as Stephen Miller

my @zeteo_news column

please read, share and subscribe

zeteo.com/p/who-is-ste...
Sinister, Malevolent, Venomous: Stephen Miller Is Like No Other White House Aide in Modern US History
Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff, has never hidden his disfigured and dangerous psyche. But now Donald Trump has empowered him to execute his fascist impulses.
zeteo.com
41 280 960
Reposted by Ainsw0rth
jamisonfoser.bsky.social
Jamison Foser @jamisonfoser.bsky.social · 3d
absolutely love that this guy showed up tonight all ready to start some shit and everyone just blocked him and kept right on posting about Shohei Ohtani
merrittk.com merritt @merrittk.com · 3d
thinking about the guy running the us govt bluesky accounts. thats his friday, trying to troll people on a relatively niche social media site because they won twitter and it made them miserable. catastrophic loser energy
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 4d
Philly Union up and down the spine 👀
Reposted by Ainsw0rth
gregsargent.bsky.social
Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 4d
ICE's military raids and masked kidnappings are resonating deeply/negatively in the cultural spaces we keep hearing Dems need to reach: Manosphere, Joe Rogan, country music, disengaged voters. That's rare and it gives Dems a big opening to engage.

Thoughts on this:

newrepublic.com/article/2018...
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Reposted by Ainsw0rth
whstancil.bsky.social
Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 4d
It creates an environment of all-consuming bad faith where every statement has to be couched in endless performative caveats and to-be-sures, and half the time even that doesn't work, because people aren't really interested in ideas or information but playing the social signaling game
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Reposted by Ainsw0rth
markjacob.bsky.social
Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 4d
A terrific AFP fact check uses reverse image searches to expose how a White House video took scenes from Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska and lied that they showed "Chicago is in chaos."
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....
Post from WH about Chicago "in chaos," showing scene from another state.
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 4d
Can confirm
Reposted by Ainsw0rth
bbkogan.bsky.social
Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 5d
By an entire parsec, the Trump administration has undertaken the most illegal set of budget actions in history. This is why we desperately need guardrails to restrain and go after budget malfeasance from the White House.
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Reposted by Ainsw0rth
luckytran.com
Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 5d
15 US states and territories have formed a new Public Health Alliance, which will counter the absence of federal leadership by tracking outbreaks, issuing guidance, buying vaccines and more.

Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.
Map: Governors Public Health Alliance * Guam is also a member of the alliance Updated October 15, 2025 Map: @luckytran • Created with Datawrapper
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Reposted by Ainsw0rth
adamkeiper.com
Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 5d
"We are a decade into Trumpism. These Young Republicans have never known any other type of Republicanism....We’re talking about a full generation of Republicans who *only* understand politics in the context of an authoritarian project."
www.thebulwark.com/p/all-the-pr...
All the Pretty Little Nazis
The shape of things to come.
www.thebulwark.com
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
No Kings 1 led to No Kings 2, which seems like it could be even bigger

& If that's true, where could it go from here? Do we expect people to get more animated or less?

I bet more
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
In closing:

In keeping with the theme of behavioral theory, I think one of the main tests to distinguish between performative versus substantive protest is, does this action make it MORE likely or LESS likely that people will take other actions against the regime in the future?
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
7. Creates spatial memories of protest locations

"Last time he did this, hundreds of us gathered at the corner of Street & Ave, I bet that's where the action is gonna be"
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
6. Makes future remobilization a little quicker & easier
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
Rights aren't just nice ideas, they're real things with real-world implications

Hard to believe otherwise when thousands are in the streets
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
5. Constitutional practice

Mass public demonstrations of people practicing & demanding their Constitutionally protected rights (assembly, speech) makes the Constitution look like a real, tangible thing that we could lose if we don't protect it
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
-> "I marched today but I didn't have a sign, there were next time I should bring a sign"

-> "Next time I should bring signs for other people, in case they don't have any"

-> "Next time I should bring other people, maybe we can have a party the night before and make a bunch of cool signs"

Etc.
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
5. Behavioral theory

Well-coordinated low-risk protests activate basic "little" political behaviors

Little behaviors repeated over time become more automatic, start chaining into one another

Complex behaviors = many chains of highly well automated and coordinated "little" behaviors
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
"So-and-so seemed like they really knew how to speak to the crowd, they got everyone organized and kept the energy up, I wonder where they learned that, maybe I could learn that too"
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
4. Social network theory

Attending protests builds weak social ties: "I saw you out here last time, good to see you again!"

Weak social ties are the precursors to stronger social ties like group membership, attending future protests, canvassing, etc.
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
(Cf. Epstein jokes -> Epstein memes -> Grijalva standing outside Johnson's office calling for action & accountability)
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ainsw0rth.bsky.social
Ainsw0rth @ainsw0rth.bsky.social · 5d
(Cf. Portland Frog -> inflatable costumes everywhere)
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