Derek Johnson
@derekjesq.bsky.social
Chaos Muppet, Order Rising. Managing Director, ResearchCollaborative.org. Young(ish) Leader, Munich Security Conference + Friends of Europe. Former CEO of GlobalZero.org. Radicalized by basic decency. Made in #Iowa with parts from #Iran. he/him 🇦🇲
Pinned
Derek Johnson
@derekjesq.bsky.social
· Sep 20
“Fascism” isn’t a slur for politics we don’t like. It’s a precise word with precise meaning. And in the face of what’s happening right now in America, it’s the most honest one we have.
I’ll lay it out as plainly as I can. 🧵
I’ll lay it out as plainly as I can. 🧵
Reposted by Derek Johnson
Likely-historic photo by NBC News of all the Epstein victims asked to raise their hands if they've not yet been asked to meet with the DOJ as Bondi testifies in foreground
February 11, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Likely-historic photo by NBC News of all the Epstein victims asked to raise their hands if they've not yet been asked to meet with the DOJ as Bondi testifies in foreground
Reposted by Derek Johnson
We are murdering people and it is basically just background noise at this point. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...
U.S. Boat Strike Kills 2 in Pacific, With One Survivor
www.nytimes.com
February 10, 2026 at 6:14 AM
We are murdering people and it is basically just background noise at this point. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...
Reposted by Derek Johnson
Another classic post-Homan day where around school dismissal time we get a flurry of ICE vehicles all across our neighborhoods. Today one vehicle led an observer to their own home and pointed at it. This is a sick game to them, but we won’t be intimidated and we won’t stop until DHS is abolished.
February 9, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Another classic post-Homan day where around school dismissal time we get a flurry of ICE vehicles all across our neighborhoods. Today one vehicle led an observer to their own home and pointed at it. This is a sick game to them, but we won’t be intimidated and we won’t stop until DHS is abolished.
Reposted by Derek Johnson
“God bless America” 🇵🇷🇲🇽🇧🇿🇬🇹🇭🇳🇸🇻🇳🇮🇨🇷🇵🇦🇦🇬🇧🇸🇧🇧🇨🇺🇩🇲🇩🇴🇬🇩🇭🇹🇯🇲🇰🇳🇱🇨🇻🇨🇹🇹🇦🇷🇧🇴🇧🇷🇨🇱🇨🇴🇪🇨🇬🇾🇵🇾🇵🇪🇸🇷🇺🇾🇻🇪🇺🇸🇨🇦
February 9, 2026 at 1:37 AM
“God bless America” 🇵🇷🇲🇽🇧🇿🇬🇹🇭🇳🇸🇻🇳🇮🇨🇷🇵🇦🇦🇬🇧🇸🇧🇧🇨🇺🇩🇲🇩🇴🇬🇩🇭🇹🇯🇲🇰🇳🇱🇨🇻🇨🇹🇹🇦🇷🇧🇴🇧🇷🇨🇱🇨🇴🇪🇨🇬🇾🇵🇾🇵🇪🇸🇷🇺🇾🇻🇪🇺🇸🇨🇦
Reposted by Derek Johnson
The Venn diagram of people who want their own halftime show and people who want their own water fountain is a circle.
February 8, 2026 at 7:13 PM
The Venn diagram of people who want their own halftime show and people who want their own water fountain is a circle.
The Venn diagram of people who want their own halftime show and people who want their own water fountain is a circle.
February 8, 2026 at 7:13 PM
The Venn diagram of people who want their own halftime show and people who want their own water fountain is a circle.
Reposted by Derek Johnson
Ossoff: "You're seeing what I'm seeing, right? The president posting about the Obamas like a Klansman."
February 7, 2026 at 11:38 PM
Ossoff: "You're seeing what I'm seeing, right? The president posting about the Obamas like a Klansman."
“America is fucked”
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"Where are your citations?"
"Where are your citations?"
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"No, you can't leave that here."
"No, you can't leave that here."
February 7, 2026 at 11:30 PM
“America is fucked”
Reposted by Derek Johnson
"By the end of the two-year period, 94% of participants reported they were housed."
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
Homeless Oregon youth got $1,000 a month for two years. Most found housing after • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon is the second of its kind in the nation to implement the direct cash transfer program after New York City.
oregoncapitalchronicle.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:12 PM
"By the end of the two-year period, 94% of participants reported they were housed."
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
Another fact that bears repeating: These are concentration camps.
There’s no better or more accurate way to describe this. And the reluctance to use that term — to say what is, to say what’s true — can only strengthen the regime’s hand by preserving a false and dangerous sense of normalcy.
There’s no better or more accurate way to describe this. And the reluctance to use that term — to say what is, to say what’s true — can only strengthen the regime’s hand by preserving a false and dangerous sense of normalcy.
In the past week we've learned ICE has secured property to build human warehouses in Merrimack, NH and Williamsport, MD. Just some facts I think bear repeating.
February 4, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Another fact that bears repeating: These are concentration camps.
There’s no better or more accurate way to describe this. And the reluctance to use that term — to say what is, to say what’s true — can only strengthen the regime’s hand by preserving a false and dangerous sense of normalcy.
There’s no better or more accurate way to describe this. And the reluctance to use that term — to say what is, to say what’s true — can only strengthen the regime’s hand by preserving a false and dangerous sense of normalcy.
Reposted by Derek Johnson
Our founders, though deeply flawed, understood that democracy requires an informed citizenry and a government accountable to it people. That’s why the press is the only profession protected by the Constitution. It’s also why autocrats and oligarchs seek to control and destroy it.
February 4, 2026 at 8:58 PM
Our founders, though deeply flawed, understood that democracy requires an informed citizenry and a government accountable to it people. That’s why the press is the only profession protected by the Constitution. It’s also why autocrats and oligarchs seek to control and destroy it.
Reposted by Derek Johnson
Kafkaesque barely begins to describe the situation of the people DHS illegally deported without due process.
Because of what it did, the government is basically saying their habeas petitions are functionally impossible to pursue.
Because of what it did, the government is basically saying their habeas petitions are functionally impossible to pursue.
New filing: "J.G.G. v. TRUMP (Boasberg: Alien Enemies Act)"
Doc #239: Response to Order of the Court
Download PDF | View Full Case
#CL69741724
Doc #239: Response to Order of the Court
Download PDF | View Full Case
#CL69741724
February 3, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Kafkaesque barely begins to describe the situation of the people DHS illegally deported without due process.
Because of what it did, the government is basically saying their habeas petitions are functionally impossible to pursue.
Because of what it did, the government is basically saying their habeas petitions are functionally impossible to pursue.
“Have you tried unplugging it and counting to 30?”
February 2, 2026 at 2:34 AM
“Have you tried unplugging it and counting to 30?”
Reposted by Derek Johnson
ICYMI: The US is currently holding three times as many people in immigrant detention as were detained in the Nazi concentration camp system in spring 1939 — six years into the Third Reich, and just before the start of World War II.
February 1, 2026 at 2:49 PM
ICYMI: The US is currently holding three times as many people in immigrant detention as were detained in the Nazi concentration camp system in spring 1939 — six years into the Third Reich, and just before the start of World War II.
Reposted by Derek Johnson
There’s a temptation to settle for less than abolishing ICE. The establishment certainly wants to stop at far less than abolishing ICE. But our future depends on its abolition. In Congress and in the streets we need to push harder than ever, not accept appeasement.
www.jphilll.com/p/reject-app...
www.jphilll.com/p/reject-app...
Reject appeasement. Reject counter-insurgency.
We can stop at nothing less that the total dissolution of ICE
www.jphilll.com
February 1, 2026 at 6:28 PM
There’s a temptation to settle for less than abolishing ICE. The establishment certainly wants to stop at far less than abolishing ICE. But our future depends on its abolition. In Congress and in the streets we need to push harder than ever, not accept appeasement.
www.jphilll.com/p/reject-app...
www.jphilll.com/p/reject-app...
First, they came for the immigrants—
And I spoke up because I know
The rest of the fucking poem.
And I spoke up because I know
The rest of the fucking poem.
January 31, 2026 at 2:43 PM
First, they came for the immigrants—
And I spoke up because I know
The rest of the fucking poem.
And I spoke up because I know
The rest of the fucking poem.
Reposted by Derek Johnson
I know all eyes are on Minneapolis, but there's a fast-approaching nightmare in Springfield, Ohio.
Trump is revoking protected status for tens of thousands of Haitians living there on Feb. 3.
Reportedly, on Feb. 4, 1000 ICE agents are arriving to remove this population. Ethnic cleansing.
Trump is revoking protected status for tens of thousands of Haitians living there on Feb. 3.
Reportedly, on Feb. 4, 1000 ICE agents are arriving to remove this population. Ethnic cleansing.
January 28, 2026 at 11:38 PM
I know all eyes are on Minneapolis, but there's a fast-approaching nightmare in Springfield, Ohio.
Trump is revoking protected status for tens of thousands of Haitians living there on Feb. 3.
Reportedly, on Feb. 4, 1000 ICE agents are arriving to remove this population. Ethnic cleansing.
Trump is revoking protected status for tens of thousands of Haitians living there on Feb. 3.
Reportedly, on Feb. 4, 1000 ICE agents are arriving to remove this population. Ethnic cleansing.
Reposted by Derek Johnson
I’d be very interested in an expert opinion on the following question: can Trump as party to the case propose a settlement offer, and then as president direct the IRS to accept the settlement offer that Trump-as-party proposed?
President Trump has filed a lawsuit against the IRS, in which he demands that the IRS, which he as president controls, pay him $10 billion.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 30, 2026 at 2:01 AM
I’d be very interested in an expert opinion on the following question: can Trump as party to the case propose a settlement offer, and then as president direct the IRS to accept the settlement offer that Trump-as-party proposed?
These are, by definition, concentration camps. And we should all be clear-eyed and brave enough to say so.
For its next step, ICE is turning warehouses into massive detention centres, the largest of which is more than four times the capacity of the largest prison in Britain www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
ICE Begins Buying ‘Mega’ Warehouse Detention Centers Across US
Plans for ‘mega centers’ and jails in nearly two dozen communities have sparked protests over suitability, proximity to homes and schools.
www.bloomberg.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:14 AM
These are, by definition, concentration camps. And we should all be clear-eyed and brave enough to say so.
Reposted by Derek Johnson
Their leadership also refers to that restaurant as existing in a theater of war they’ve been deployed to
ICE is upset that ICE isn't welcome in restaurants after ICE ordered food at a restaurant, ate it, then arrested restaurant employees, and ICE believes this is someone else's fault, do I have that right?
January 29, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Their leadership also refers to that restaurant as existing in a theater of war they’ve been deployed to
Reposted by Derek Johnson
The violent occupation of Minneapolis started with a vlog. I've wanted to find a framework to describe Nick Shirley & others like him: "Influencer" is too quaint. "Journalist" is obviously wrong.
I landed on "slopagandist."
Gift link (open in a web browser) www.theverge.com/news/869824/...
I landed on "slopagandist."
Gift link (open in a web browser) www.theverge.com/news/869824/...
What is Nick Shirley?
Slop doesn’t need to be AI-generated
www.theverge.com
January 29, 2026 at 4:11 PM
The violent occupation of Minneapolis started with a vlog. I've wanted to find a framework to describe Nick Shirley & others like him: "Influencer" is too quaint. "Journalist" is obviously wrong.
I landed on "slopagandist."
Gift link (open in a web browser) www.theverge.com/news/869824/...
I landed on "slopagandist."
Gift link (open in a web browser) www.theverge.com/news/869824/...
Reposted by Derek Johnson
"Do not forget the police departments that used physical force against nonviolent student protesters who stood against genocide. The system is rotten to the core and we must recognize that in this moment.”
- McKenzie Forbes
www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...
- McKenzie Forbes
www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...
‘Fascism is here now’: the US athletes pushing back on Trump’s America
World Series winner Sean Doolittle, Super Bowl champion Doug Baldwin and college star McKenzie Forbes have strong opinions on a troubled era
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 2:11 PM
"Do not forget the police departments that used physical force against nonviolent student protesters who stood against genocide. The system is rotten to the core and we must recognize that in this moment.”
- McKenzie Forbes
www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...
- McKenzie Forbes
www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...
The signs and portents getting a little heavy-handed imo
January 28, 2026 at 2:53 PM
The signs and portents getting a little heavy-handed imo
If someone serves me a steak and it’s cabbage I am calling The Hague
Cabbage Steaks Recipe
Tender and crisp cabbage “steaks” are indeed vegetarian, similar to cauliflower steaks, but achieve remarkable complexity from the way they are sliced into thick planks and roasted, which chars the ou...
cooking.nytimes.com
January 28, 2026 at 2:07 AM
If someone serves me a steak and it’s cabbage I am calling The Hague