Benjamin Lowe
@benjaminlowe.bsky.social
32K followers 2.2K following 1.3K posts
Brooklyn dad, recovering campaigner, improving challah baker. Brooklyn Democratic County Committee Member (the Fightin' 44th!). Strategic data insights for progressive campaigns and causes at INTRVL.
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benjaminlowe.bsky.social
A dear friend of mine asked me: "Ben ... serious question: What the fuck do we do? We ordinary citizens without access to any real levers of power."

I wrote him a lengthy reply which he said he found helpful, so I thought I'd share it here. 🧵 1/
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
Don't go fishing near Portland, I guess.
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
Presumably because they are doubled over with laughter.

And I say “presumably” because I would just assume this is the answer without asking for confirmation.
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
I feel like Jesus would be like "ok yeah time to flip some tables"
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
Not being in control of your own destiny suuucks
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
Particularly infuriating: weekends are the best time for electeds to work with the groundswell of activists trying to oppose rising authoritarianism.

Instead, Dem leadership seems committed to hiding from these grassroots movements in desperate need of support.
brandonfriedman.bsky.social
I hate that Democrats take weekends off while Republicans use weekends specifically to advance their efforts
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
Trump says he authorizes Hegseth to deploy the military to Portland, which he lyingly calls "war ravaged," and says he is authorizing "full force."
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
Imagining this being vandalized with just… direct quotations of Charlie Kirk.
mjszabo.bsky.social
The Huntington Beach City Council unanimously votes 6-0-1 (Van Der Mark absent) to form an ad hoc committee to explore the creation of a mural, statue or plaque commemorating Charlie Kirk in the city.
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
Shana Tovah! Will be making a cardamom apple challah tomorrow, but today the masses demanded garlic-mozzarella monkey bread.
A monkey bread cools in a Bundt pan on a wire rack. A close-up of the texture of an herby, cheese-filled monkey bread.
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
I read that with a Ringo Starr voice anyway.
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
Riding To the airport listening to the Hot 97 drivetime DJs explaining to their audience how media conglomeration is aligned with the rise of authoritarianism and the curtailing of free expression. What a time to be alive.
Reposted by Benjamin Lowe
joshuaerlich.bsky.social
fuck off you did this
danielsgoldman.dg4ny.co
Wake up America!

Donald Trump is pursuing a coordinated effort to destroy our democracy.

It is up to all of us to stop him.

And that includes corporate media like Disney/ABC and tech companies bending the knee.

It may be someone else today.

But it will be you tomorrow.
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
unclear if this is a comment on our national politics or an observation about undergraduate discussion sections
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
We should, in fact, deepen our divisions with ardent ethnonationalists.

We should not make space for them or normalize them or laud them for their dedication to *spirited debate* about whether Black people are mentally deficient or gay people should be stoned to death.
ezrakleinbot.bsky.social
"All I can say for me in the work I do is that I want to create a space that takes our disagreements seriously, that takes the stakes of them seriously, the consequences for people seriously, but does so without deepening our divisions irreparably. We are going to have to live here with each other"
Reposted by Benjamin Lowe
wajali.bsky.social
This is really shameful and pathetic, even for Kash Patel.

Maybe have qualified law enforcement people head the FBI instead of professional shit posters.
atrupar.com
KAMLAGER-DOVE: Dylan Roof, who followed white supremacist propaganda, murdered 9 Black parishioners in 2015. Do you deny this?

PATEL: I'm sorry. Dylan Roof? Can you give me more information?

KAMLAGER-DOVE: You're head of the FBI
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
I *wish* this were the Democratic Party’s job.

Unfortunately, its primary role is to *reelect incumbent Democrats,* which is why it focuses on amassing cash and moderating rightward rather than representing the interests of its party members from whom it derives little guidance.
espiers.bsky.social
It is the job of the Democratic party to sell and defend the policies that most Democratic voters want, not to present a candidate slate that is palatable to moderate Republicans who might switch if they hate their own candidate enough.
Reposted by Benjamin Lowe
thenation.com
Rather than offering a real alternative to the status quo, this crop of candidates is repackaging the boring, moderate politics of the Democratic establishment with inauthentic videos and forced rhetoric.
Beware the Centrist Dweebs Trying to Ape Zohran Mamdani
All over the country, young Democratic candidates are running seemingly Mamdani-style campaigns. But check the fine print.
www.thenation.com
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
They reassured us that they used general terms and didn’t use words like ”shooter” or “gun” but did acknowledge this vagueness caused some kids to be afraid whenever *anyone* knocked on the closed classroom door. Cool cool cool
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
At my kids’ elementary school PTO meeting.

The update on the upcoming active shooter drill, where our kids are taught to huddle silently in the dark, is between announcements about the cellphone policy and fall carnival, because preparing children for these horrors is just mundane and normal now.
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
huh, guess he really did love Charlie Kirk like one of his sons.
mattbinder.bsky.social
how disrespectful. let’s get this guy fired from his job.
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
By 2:15 PM today, people started lining up in front of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse to get a seat for Luigi Mangione’s courtroom appearance tomorrow.

The blue tents are paid line-sitters who apparently make about $25/hr.
A view of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse from across the street, where a line has formed.
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
No, @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social, New Yorkers are asking why NY electeds who claim to be Democratic “leadership” are getting lapped by a Maryland Senator.

Jeffries and Schumer look weaker and less relevant every day they don’t endorse the Democratic nominee for Mayor over a sex pest and a crook.
diplomatofnight.com
A spox for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who was criticized by Chris Van Hollen yesterday for not endorsing Mamdani yet and for making vague and unsatisfiable demands of him, said:

“Confused New Yorkers are asking themselves the question: Chris Van Who?”
“Confused New Yorkers are asking themselves the question: Chris Van Who?”
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
That’s good to hear. That was always my problem with AC games, it ended up feeling like the Land of A Thousand Bland Side Dishes.

Now, to actually finish E33….
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
My six-year-old’s idea. She’s very happy with the result.
benjaminlowe.bsky.social
Got to screen print a bunch of Jews For Zohran swag ahead of their 200-person JVP/JFREJ canvass in Brooklyn!
Three t-shirts screen-printed with “NYC Jews For Zohran” in the shape of a Z surrounded by the text, “CHILDCARE FOR ALL — FAST FREE BUSES — FREEZE THE RENT”