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Andrea Pitzer

@andreapitzer.bsky.social

48K followers 1.1K following 4.2K posts

Books! One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World, & a Nabokov bio. Now working on Snowblind: Death on the Polar Ice. Former karateka & record store clerk. Newsletter & podcast: andreapitzer.com.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · Nov 10

I currently have a newsletter in which I write regularly about how societies devolve into authoritarianism & what that means right now in the US & around the world. It also features essays about my unsettled childhood in West Virginia. Soon, it will also include art, surprises, & links to resources.

Degenerate Art

Andrea Pitzer on politics and history, the Arctic, and Appalachian exile.

degenerateart.beehiiv.com

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 38m

Is Bsky search completely AWOL for everyone else right now, too?

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Haydon is reading The Uncertain Center, Arthur C McGill @haydonmp.bsky.social · 2h

Add it to the tally.

Seems like we’re getting up to 20+ grand jury no true bills just from what I’ve seen. Absolutely remarkable.

Seth Stern @sethstern.bsky.social · 10h

A federal grand jury declined to indict two people charged with assaulting law enforcement agents outside a suburban Chicago ICE facility, an attorney for one of the defendants said, Megan Crepeau and @benjaminpenn.bsky.social report

news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Grand Jury Declines to Indict Two Chicago-Area ICE Protesters

A federal grand jury declined to indict two people charged with assaulting law enforcement agents outside a suburban Chicago ICE facility, an attorney for one of the defendants said.

news.bloomberglaw.com

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 12h

I started Degenerate Art a year ago today, in the last weeks of the before times. Today, I wrote about the most important history and current events I've covered related to our rapidly expanding authoritarianism, and what the future is likely to bring.

State of the Degenerate union

The newsletter turned one today! What's happened and what's next.

degenerateart.beehiiv.com

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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 2h

I really believe that huge majorities of Americans don’t want masked soldiers shooting priests in the street. They don’t want naked children ripped out out of their apartments in the middle of the night and handcuffed. We win by making sure these stories get told.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2h

The same people who insisted devout Catholic Joe Biden was leading a “war on Christianity” are now cheering Trump on as his armed goons assault clergymen.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 2h

WATCH: Trump’s lawless Ice goons shoot an unarmed priest in the head with a pepper ball. Completely out of control.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 12h

State of the Degenerate union

The newsletter turned one today! What's happened and what's next.

degenerateart.beehiiv.com

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 15h

I went through one of these as a kid when we lost our home, and it was just devastating. So awful that the government did so much for kids in poverty during Covid but is actively harming families now.

Laurie Loves Data @laurelann.bsky.social · 15h

US bankruptcies have already exceeded 2020 levels.

So. Much. Winning.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 17h

Great news!

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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 19h

“Who was president in 2020?” is the question of our time

Senator Jim Banks V
@SenatorBanks
Follow g..
The 2020 Census was a fraud. The Biden admin used a shady "privacy" formula that scrambled the data and miscounted 14 states.
It included illegal immigrants and handed
Democrats extra seats. Americans deserve a fair count and l'm fighting to fix it.
Zinited Statcs SScnate
MASHNORON DEYNN
October 6, 2025
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Socretary
U.S. Department of Commerce Washington, DXC 20230
Dear Secretary Lutaick:
I urge you to investigate and correct erroes from the 2020 Census that handed disproportionntd political power to Democrats and illogal alicns. The Census Burcau adoptod a now and opaque
voting districts. As preparod by the Biden administration, the 2020 Censas roports miscountod the population of fourteen states, ' wrongly allocating six congressional scats aod Electoral
xx conwuu tmora uy, toc taroro tu mot đoo tnn Cunu lc pung t imber of votine districts. And the reoorts de aniovety inchaded ilecnl nhens widhout track those aliens' citiz enship status, If left uncorrected, these erroes will coetinue diluting the political power of American citizens.
Consus data plays a crucial role in allocating political roprescntation and goverment funding
Under the Constitution, cach state gets Congressional represcotutives and Electoeal College votes- based on "the whole number of persons" within the state." The number of persoes is in
tum clabaabod by a consttubocalty-mandalcd dcccacaal ccavas. Pcual agcco nely on census data to allocate billions of dollars in federal funding, much of which hinges ee opulation. And states use consus data to deaw congrossicnal and voting districts, »hich the
The it eiy of tie soaren alie n tor dur at ce hor inc ae oam toy ee n
nght wilbout statsica ly signilicant ciroo.
Diffcrcntial privacy is opaque and liable to mistakcn count totals. Sure cnough, the 2020 Ccnsus ovarocunted the noculation in cicht states and undercounted it in six." Tihe most extrcmi andercount was Arkansas, at 5.04%, and the larg…

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LOLGOP ❌👑❌ @thefarce.org · 18h

The people he hurt will never forget, but the people he's trying to impress will always pick the genuine fascist over the plastic imitator.

And Republicans will make up some transphobic shit to smear on him ANYWAY.

LGBTQ Nation @lgbtqnation.com · 18h

Gavin Newsom vetoes gender education bill, declines to sign other trans protections - buff.ly/MTUAV85

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 18h

Just making sure! Attiah is fabulous, and more power to her.

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 18h

While it's true that my full-time job was martial arts (karate and Krav Maga) for most of a decade, you do realize the original post was a joke, right? There are no actual fisticuffs scheduled.

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 19h

Played this in front of my dog, and he got up and left the room. Got the vibe that he didn't want to be judged by unrealistic standards for dogs.

WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 20h

This is Eeyore. He led a sheriff's deputy to his grandma after she fell during their walk. We are awarding him the incredibly rare 15/10 (FB: OkaloosaSheriff)

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 19h

My dear friend @bethmacy.bsky.social's PAPER GIRL is out today! It's the moving story of how much harder it is for poor kids today than when she and I were kids, the ways that political propaganda tore up her family, and her return to her hometown to try to understand our shattered country.

Penguin Press @penguinpress.bsky.social · 23h

Paper Girl by @bethmacy.bsky.social is on sale today! The Washington Post Raves: "There couldn’t be a timelier book than Beth Macy’s searching and deeply reported Paper Girl… searingly poignant, essential.”

www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...

Review | To understand our divided America, she started with her hometown

In “Paper Girl,” Beth Macy describes returning to Urbana, Ohio, once a key stop on the Underground Railroad, now a place where Confederate flags abound.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 20h

Unfortunately, I'm the current heavyweight champion of journalisms, and Bari Weiss has to defeat me in hand-to-hand combat to win the news.

max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 1d

Bari Weiss introduced herself to CBS News staff today on the network's 9AM call, saying she wants to "win," which requires restoring trust to CBS. She also said she was excited for staff to get to know the Free Press, and ended her remarks by saying: "Let's do the fucking news."

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 21h

Throw in the "taco truck on every corner" that we were threatened with back in 2016, and it would be paradise.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

Trump: "If we didn't win this election. If we had these people that were running that were ruining our country, destroying our country with their open borders and men playing in women's sports and transgender from everybody and windmills all over the place ... I'm not sure we'd even have a country."

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 22h

I’m a career prosecutor who took a $25,000 check from an affiliated entity of Donald Trump’s while investigating Trump University and later left my lobbying firm to become Donald Trump’s personal impeachment lawyer, White House aide, and Attorney General. So don’t you DARE question my integrity.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22h

Bondi to Blumenthal: "You lied. How dare you? I'm a career prosecutor. Don't you ever challenge my integrity. Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial."

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

Every shameful era of history gets the quislings it deserves.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

crazy that one of the most storied institutions in american journalism is going to be run by two people with basically no experience to do it

Exclusive | CBS News taps Adam Rubenstein — once ostracized at NY Times for liking Chick-fil-A — as new deputy editor

Sources expect Rubenstein will effectively run the Free Press now that Weiss will be busy steering the editorial direction of shows like “60 Minutes,” “Face The Nation” and …

nypost.com

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 1d

eventually politicians need to start advocating for criminal and civil penalties for people involved in fabricating stories to get citizens incarcerated.

or, put another way: a society that would like to keep functioning has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 1d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

Agent, manager, musician.

Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 1d

Editor in chief, city editor, features editor

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Julia Barton @bartona104.bsky.social · 5d

I procured a copy of Readers Digest, January 1962. It is definitely trolling us.

Headline: Good-By, Measles! A new vaccine promises to abolish the long-held supposition that this annoying disease is an evitable part of growing up. (Condensed from Parents' Magazine, J.D. Ratcliff)

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

This is lovely. "...hustlers and prettyboys; rakehells and wastrels; idlers and spongers; serving boys and confidence men, all packed together like scales on a fish."

Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 2d

For the Mid-Autumn Festival, I translated the 17th century failson, epicure, and memoirist Zhang Dai's account of the annual Mid-Autumn singing competition on Tiger Hill in Suzhou. www.burninghou.se/p/mid-autumn...

Mid-Autumn, Tiger Hill, Late Ming

"Everyone was perfectly silent, even the mosquitoes."

www.burninghou.se

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chelsea g. summers @chelseagsummers.bsky.social · 1d

Given that Bari Weiss is somehow the head of CBS News and given that ICE is strategically targeting press at protests and given that the Trump administration is gleefully pro-censorship, now an excellent time to support the independent media of your choice.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 2d

I hope that Oregon will provide protection for Immergut.

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 2d

HAPPENING NOW: Judge Karin Immergut hears emergency arguments as California and Oregon seek to block President Trump's deployment of federalized California National Guard troops to Portland. 🧵

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 2d

NEW: Judge Immergut schedules a hearing TONIGHT, in 45 min, to hear arguments on SECOND TRO to block federalized California National Guard from deploying in Portland, Oregon. www.courtlistener.com/docket/71481...

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 2d

Every major police agency in the country bans this.

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 2d

1/ This is so f'ing outrageous. You cannot safely restrain people on their stomachs. They're going to kill people.

This is very well known now.

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 2d

ICE is hog tying protesters in Portland and removing them on Dollies.

This is dangerous and could cause serious injury.

The Department of Homeland Security thinks it’s a joke.

They’ve shared this video with the tagline “Refuse to Walk? We’ll give you a ride”.

Stay strong Portland.

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Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 2d

This landed briefly in Luanda, Angola, a likely fuel stop, and is now about three hours from Eswatini.

All told, the migrant passengers will spend at least 26 hours shackled in handcuffs and leg irons attached to a chain around their waists.

A flightradar24 map of Southern Africa showing a Gulfstream IV heading southeast from Luanda, Angola, to Mswati III airport in Eswatini, which I circled in red.

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