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Canary in the Coal Mine

@vaelis.bsky.social

920 followers 190 following 3.4K posts

GenXer who grew up on PBS in a small town & ended up in Fortune 5s. I have very strong feelings about our failed government, media, tech, fascism .. and video games. Not here for clout, just old and treat this like it’s a BBS 🙂

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Canary in the Coal Mine @vaelis.bsky.social · Feb 26

This is an excellent compilation of resources for folks looking to take action. Thank you Laura for putting it together.

Laura @tutusntinyhats.bsky.social · Feb 23

One of my favorite things about Bluesky (or at least my little corner of it) is that people are always sharing resources for taking action.

So here's a pinned thread collecting those resources, some made by me and some made by others.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 7h

vought's view is that the president is an elected dictator and lo and behold he is seizing outright the power of the purse

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 8h

Unconstitutionally taking money that the law says must be spent on one purpose & using it for something else—when it's to establish personalist control over the FUCKING MILITARY—is about as dangerous a constitutional crisis/failure as you can imagine

Via: www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

The Office of Management and Budget sent a notification to Congress about their intent to use research and development funds to pay members of the military, two sources with direct knowledge tell NBC News.

A spokesperson for the OMB confirmed to NBC News that it plans to use the research and development funds and that there are two years' worth of funds available within the Department of Defense.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 10h

boy the tiktok ban has really turned out to be one of the most singularly stupid things ever passed, huh? as if these people needed more help controlling the entire information environment

what a shitshow

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 1d

Trump said he deserved a cut for brokering the TikTok deal, and at once there was agreement that his son Baron would have a top executive slot... though he hasn't asked for it, and has no apparent qualifications to hold it. This is how Trump 2.0 works. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025...

Barron Trump tipped for top TikTok job

US president’s 19-year-old son could be appointed to the app’s board

www.telegraph.co.uk

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No More Robots @nomorerobots.io · 2d

Here's how we handle manchildren on the Steam forums at No More Robots:

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 11h

“We can give $20 billion to Argentina but we can’t afford the CDC’s measles experts” is a hell of an argument

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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 12h

We will need Nuremberg-like trials

LongTime🤓FirstTime👨‍💻 @longtimehistory.bsky.social · 14h

ICE secretly kidnap autistic boy during bathroom break—never notify parents.

Mother reported him missing a week ago—turns out ICE had him detained the whole time.

He was helping sell fruit and asked to go to the restroom—by the time she was done helping a customer he was gone.

Houston, Texas

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Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 18h

More judges speak to the press (the NYT) about what a disaster the Supreme Court (specifically the shadow docket) has been - “incredibly demoralizing & troubling”; a “judicial crisis”; a “slap in the face to district courts.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

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Lupita Nihongo @otsumamiboy.bsky.social · 11h

Disappointingly On Brand that after industrialization capitalists were presented with a choice between innovation & breakthroughs that would enshrine eternal prosperity or prospectors who voraciously extract & destroy beyond repair in exchange for a rapid but finite payout & they chose the latter.

Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 16h

Everyday now there is new information detailing just how economically unviable AI is. Data centers will be the new abandoned Walmarts, but on an even larger scale.

futurism.com/future-socie...

AI Data Centers Are an Even Bigger Disaster Than Previously Thought

An investment manager realized he made a crucial mistake — and that his grim prediction about AI investments may not have been cynical enough.

futurism.com

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Canary in the Coal Mine @vaelis.bsky.social · 11h

Which is the larger issue with the D party writ large. They seem to think the media is an accurate representation of their constituents as if this was still 1980 and they are reading one of the multiple outlets that still existed for local and state politics. It absolutely is not.

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 17h

Is it just me, or does it seem the press is actually and completely terrified to report about Donald Trump's physical and mental health the way it would have if anyone else were president?

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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 14h

Mamdani talking lucidly and passionately about trans rights and history in a video that should frankly shame every politician who has hemmed and hawed and triangulated and said, "Well, but sports..." It's not that hard to tell the truth and stand for what's right. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEvV...

Until It's Done: Sylvia Rivera

YouTube video by Zohran Mamdani for NYC

www.youtube.com

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Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 15h

I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning:

www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 14h

New — Video shared with me shows ICE officers in DC detaining a man on Friday.

Bystander filming asks man for his name. ICE agent lies and says he’s not allowed to speak to him “by law” and another says “We’ve arrested American citizens for being too close…If he gets any closer, put him in cuffs.”

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14h

an incontestable fact of the second trump administration is it is actively trying to sicken and kill as many americans as it can

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 17h

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

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Canary in the Coal Mine @vaelis.bsky.social · 14h

Because they can’t create for shit. All they can do is destroy, whine, and complain while pretending it’s about the content vs. pushing a regressive, bigoted worldview and attempting to punish corporations for not catering solely to them.

Canary in the Coal Mine @vaelis.bsky.social · 14h

That &, they convinced themselves that female characters in video games started having more realistic proportions because of feminism and not things like “increased trends towards realism in graphics” or “using motion captured actresses” so this is also about to porn addled mental 12 year olds.

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1d

Is it cancel culture when they threaten to kill you?

www.nj.com/news/2025/10...

Sold-out Ta-Nehisi Coates speaker appearance in N.J. canceled over security reasons

Organizers canceled a sold-out Ta-Nehisi Coates event in Montclair citing undisclosed security concerns.

www.nj.com

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Canary in the Coal Mine @vaelis.bsky.social · 14h

This shit has been going on since the 80s where these right wingers pretend they are keeping an eye out for the next student revolution of the 60s when what they really are is a bunch of pedophiles and bigots obsessing about and policing the sexual attractiveness and gender norms of teens.

Canary in the Coal Mine @vaelis.bsky.social · 14h

What’s infinitely worse is grown ass men in their 50s spending this much time thinking about what teen girls on college campuses look like or are doing. The fact that this got normalized without anyone being like uh dude what do you think the age of consent should be is insane.

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John Panzer @johnpanzer.com · 1d

This wildly illegal action is also a betrayal that will, almost certainly, kill someone you love.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 15h

Trump’s chaos will punish students.

It’s not the billionaires’ kids who will suffer.

It's working families' kids who will fall further behind.

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Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 15h

They're talking about killing leftist activists. They're talking about murdering people organizing in defense of immigrant communities, doing mutual aid work, and protesting their violence. They are talking about murdering people like me and my friends. We must do more than acknowledge it's fascism.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 3d

My gosh. After the US bombed multiple boats in the middle of the ocean, murdering people on grounds that they were allegedly "carrying drugs," the US Attorney General says "Just like we did with cartels, we're going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa."

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darth™️ @darthbluesky.bsky.social · 1d

that johnson is more terrified of seating a duly elected democrat who could force an epstein vote than having the entire government shut down really makes me wonder about that epstein vote tbh

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Solomon @solomonmissouri.bsky.social · 1d

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

The shameless GOP lying about the No Kings gatherings scheduled for next Saturday reveals how deeply hostile much of the Republican Party is to “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” I look forward to our local No Kings event, and urge my fellow Americans to attend in their communities.

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 17h

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

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