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ansleyskipper.bsky.social
Ansley Skipper
@ansleyskipper.bsky.social
24 followers 63 following 5 posts
Comms @protectdemocracy.org. Fmr comms @accountablegop.bsky.social + Kaine for Virginia. Bylines @ The Bulwark, Tennessean.
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ansleyskipper.bsky.social
Ansley Skipper @ansleyskipper.bsky.social · 1d
Come for @raders.bsky.social’s shirt, stay for Beau’s optimism.

www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/courage-ma...
'Courage matters'
Beau Tremitiere and Ben Raderstorf break down the ongoing domestic deployments, what they mean, and how we can push back
www.ifyoucankeepit.org
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
raders.bsky.social
Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · 22d
Read @ansleyskipper.bsky.social on the National Guard deployment you're probably not paying much attention to — and why you should be following more closely www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/domestic-d...
@protectdemocracy.org
Domestic deployment blues
The National Guard deployment to Memphis might be easy to ignore — don’t
www.ifyoucankeepit.org
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
nytpitchbot.bsky.social
NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · Sep 9
We rule that the mass executions may proceed while the larger Constitutional case works its way through the court system.

by John Roberts, joined by Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Barrett, and Kavanaugh (2026)
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
nytpitchbot.bsky.social
NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · Sep 9
Joe Biden wrote the Violence Against Women Act. Donald Trump says domestic violence should not be considered a crime. Can the two parties find common ground?
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · Sep 3
Courts are really clearing their throats in the past five days.
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
raders.bsky.social
Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · Sep 3
American politicians are unfathomably, remarkably old. And the likely explanation is clear: it's our electoral system.

Read this by @leedrutman.bsky.social. The gerontocracy is literally a policy choice. leedrutman.substack.com/p/why-americ...
Why America Has the World's Oldest Politicians
How our creaky electoral system created the most advanced gerontocracy on earth.
leedrutman.substack.com
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ansleyskipper.bsky.social
Ansley Skipper @ansleyskipper.bsky.social · Aug 28
New from me, on the well-trod path of state and local resistance to federal government overreach — something we need more of these days.

www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/the-long-h...
The long history behind Trump’s war against blue states and cities
States and cities have been resisting federal incursions for centuries
www.ifyoucankeepit.org
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
raders.bsky.social
Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · Aug 28
There's nothing new about @govpritzker.illinois.gov and @governor.ca.gov standing up to federal incursions of liberty. In fact, they're tapping into a literally centuries-long tradition going back to the Fugitive Slave Act. @ansleyskipper.bsky.social explains: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/the-long-h...
The long history behind Trump’s war against blue states and cities
States and cities have been resisting federal incursions for centuries
www.ifyoucankeepit.org
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
thebulwark.com
The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · Aug 12
In today's Bulwark Podcast, @amandacarpenter.bsky.social talks Trump's Nvidia "deal" with @timmiller.bsky.social: "Authoritarian shakedown kind of stuff."
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
thebulwark.com
The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · Aug 13
"There are many other steps you could take to solve these specific crime issues....he isn't doing them because that is not what this is about."

@amandacarpenter.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social on today's Bulwark Podcast:
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
raders.bsky.social
Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · Aug 8
Oh, and the @nytimes.com is currently re-upping what is probably the best piece on PR ever written — this masterwork from Jesse Wegman and Lee Drutman www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
raders.bsky.social
Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · Aug 8
All essentially make the same point. Look around at the redistricting wars. They're only going to get worse. There's only one way out.

Reform: protectdemocracy.org/work/proport...
Proportional representation, explained
Proportional representation is an electoral system that elects multiple representatives in each district in proportion to the number of people who vote for them.
protectdemocracy.org
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
raders.bsky.social
Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · Aug 8
- @protectdemocracy.org / Drew Penrose and
@ansleyskipper.bsky.social www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/how-to-end...
- @newamerica.org / @leedrutman.bsky.social
leedrutman.substack.com/p/what-the-a...
What the Apportionment Act of 1842 tells us about today's gerrymandering wars
And why reform might be closer than you think
leedrutman.substack.com
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
raders.bsky.social
Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · Aug 8
- @prospect.org / @ddayen.bsky.social prospect.org/politics/202...
- @rstreet.bsky.social / @jhmadison.bsky.social www.rstreet.org/commentary/p...
-Arkansas Times: arktimes.com/arkansas-blo...
-Ventura County Star: www.vcstar.com/story/opinio...

Cont./
The Redistricting Mess Shows How Our Election System Doesn’t Work
With our winner-take-all elections, the ideal of a ‘fair’ map is impossible. Proportional representation is the only answer.
prospect.org
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
raders.bsky.social
Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · Aug 8
The times, they are a-changin'.

Remarkable wave of op-eds on proportional representation this week *alone*:
-WaPo / @ishaantharoor.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
-Kansas Reflector / @rpund.bsky.social kansasreflector.com/2025/08/02/i...

Cont./
Column | Texas redistricting crisis has foreign echoes — and foreign solutions
Many countries with nominally healthy democracies have something the United States does not: A strong, independent election authority at the national level.
www.washingtonpost.com
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
protectdemocracy.org
Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · Aug 8
Our country’s forever redistricting wars are heating up again. But there’s a way out of this doom loop — proportional representation — and it’s not as complicated or hard to achieve as one might think.

Join us in spreading the word: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/how-to-end...
How to end the forever redistricting wars Gerrymandering is made possible by this one choice
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ansleyskipper.bsky.social
Ansley Skipper @ansleyskipper.bsky.social · Aug 8
Second, I had the pleasure of making my first ever podcast appearance. If you want to hear more about why the Trump administration's takeover of UVA is bad for democracy, listen here:

Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7iMz...
Episode 178 - Not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead with Ansley Skipper
Podcast Episode · A Gentlemen’s Disagreement · 08/05/2025 · 54m
podcasts.apple.com
ansleyskipper.bsky.social
Ansley Skipper @ansleyskipper.bsky.social · Aug 8
A couple of exciting updates:

First, read my latest piece, co-authored with electoral reform expert Drew Penrose, on why proportional representation is the only way out of the redistricting doom loop: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/how-to-end....
How to end the forever redistricting wars
Gerrymandering is made possible by this one choice
www.ifyoucankeepit.org
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
raders.bsky.social
Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · Aug 8
"Proportional systems are much harder, if not impossible, to gerrymander... It’s easy to make the opposition a minority in any given district. It’s impossible to draw them out entirely." - @ansleyskipper.bsky.social & Drew Penrose
www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/how-to-end...
How to end the forever redistricting wars
Gerrymandering is made possible by this one choice
www.ifyoucankeepit.org
1 6 10
Reposted by Ansley Skipper
thebulwark.com
The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · Aug 7
"At the end of the day, for Conservatism Inc., the only non-negotiable tenet of conservatism is that however bad a Republican might be, the Democrats are always worse." From the archives, and it hasn't changed a bit:
Conservatism Inc. Is Breaking Up With Trump. Again.
They just can’t quit quitting him.
www.thebulwark.com
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
dieworkwear.bsky.social
derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · Aug 4
still thinking about the Montana knife maker who said you don't have to worry about tariffs if you buy american. and then three months later, he realized he imports swedish steel and german equipment. and even MiUSA equipment costs $100k more now because of tariffs
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
hollybfletcher.bsky.social
Holly Berkley Fletcher @hollybfletcher.bsky.social · Aug 1
When one of your favorite writers reads your book 😍☺️🤯 and of course nails the summary.
@jvl.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
protectdemocracy.org
Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · Jul 25
Trump is openly musing about building a mass detention system under his direct and sole authority — and the rapid expansion of ICE is the start. Ansley Skipper analyzes the risks of prolonged detention and the creation of a parallel carceral system altogether.
www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/ice-may-be...
BY THE NUMBERS Why Mass Deportation also means Mass Detention Trump is building a parallel prison system ripe for autocratic abuse A DANGEROUS BUILD UP Trump plans to dramatically expand immigrant detention into a parallel prison system accountable primarily to him. ICE detention facilities will have almost double the annual budget as the Bureau of Prisons. ICE Detention Facilities $14B Bureau of Prisons $8.6B Sources: Bureau of Prisons, Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025; ICE Detention Facilities, Annual funding average from FY2025 to FY2029, Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 and One Big Beautiful Bill Act, EOIRA as of 6/30/25, DHS, Office of the Chief Immigration Judge LIMITED OVERSIGHT ICE is flooding investment into mass deportation and detention without corresponding support for oversight. Detention +308% Transportation & Removal +500% Oversight +0% DHS has further dismantled existing oversight offices. Office of the Immigration Ombudsman  Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties BACKLOG TO GROW Prolonged detention is likely as an expansion in enforcement far outpaces judicial capacity. +10,000 Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents +130% +100 Immigration Judges +14% 3.8 million backlog of immigration cases Subscribe at IfYouCanKeepIt.org
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ansleyskipper.bsky.social
Ansley Skipper @ansleyskipper.bsky.social · Jul 25
New from me for @protectdemocracy.org www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/ice-may-be...
ICE may be building a parallel prison system
We need to talk about prolonged detentions
www.ifyoucankeepit.org
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Reposted by Ansley Skipper
raders.bsky.social
Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · Jul 25
Many scary things about the ICE expansion, but this graph is terrifying.

Expanding enforcement without expanding adjudication almost certainly means unfathomable numbers of detainees.

@ansleyskipper.bsky.social explains: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/ice-may-be...
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