Bernadette Marie Oliver
@bernadetteoliver.bsky.social
Day by day. 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🐙🐝🕷️🐞 (she/they)
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
Christmas Eve Drop:
Fed. judge quashes yet another attempt by Trump's DOJ to get the personal data of trans patients and former patients, and does so in sarcastic and angry fashion calling out the administration's ill-intent and lack of good faith.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Fed. judge quashes yet another attempt by Trump's DOJ to get the personal data of trans patients and former patients, and does so in sarcastic and angry fashion calling out the administration's ill-intent and lack of good faith.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
December 25, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Christmas Eve Drop:
Fed. judge quashes yet another attempt by Trump's DOJ to get the personal data of trans patients and former patients, and does so in sarcastic and angry fashion calling out the administration's ill-intent and lack of good faith.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Fed. judge quashes yet another attempt by Trump's DOJ to get the personal data of trans patients and former patients, and does so in sarcastic and angry fashion calling out the administration's ill-intent and lack of good faith.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
Holy shit!
December 25, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Holy shit!
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
Although authoritarian regimes have been known to do this kind of disciplining of higher education, pushing for total state control of civil society is a core characteristic of proper fascism, as I argue here: www.liberalcurrents.com/yes-its-fasc...
These are the actions of an administration that, unconstrained by law, seeks to assert authoritarian power over the institutions of civil society that it dislikes.
December 25, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Although authoritarian regimes have been known to do this kind of disciplining of higher education, pushing for total state control of civil society is a core characteristic of proper fascism, as I argue here: www.liberalcurrents.com/yes-its-fasc...
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
I'm super pleased to have a short new essay live on
@assignedmedia.org this morning. It's about surviving the holidays while estranged.
Huge thanks as always to my wonderful editor
@evanurquhart.bsky.social ...
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
Grateful to all who read and share this one.
@assignedmedia.org this morning. It's about surviving the holidays while estranged.
Huge thanks as always to my wonderful editor
@evanurquhart.bsky.social ...
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
Grateful to all who read and share this one.
Surviving the Holidays as an Estranged Person — Assigned
You may struggle over the holidays if you’re estranged from your family, but you are not alone.
www.assignedmedia.org
December 25, 2025 at 12:16 PM
I'm super pleased to have a short new essay live on
@assignedmedia.org this morning. It's about surviving the holidays while estranged.
Huge thanks as always to my wonderful editor
@evanurquhart.bsky.social ...
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
Grateful to all who read and share this one.
@assignedmedia.org this morning. It's about surviving the holidays while estranged.
Huge thanks as always to my wonderful editor
@evanurquhart.bsky.social ...
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
Grateful to all who read and share this one.
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
The response to this feels somewhat akin to the response to Hillbilly Elegy— that certain liberals must read it and praise it so that they can properly and publicly perform humility to atone for their eliteness. This is despite both of these books being written by Ivy Leaguers.
December 24, 2025 at 5:44 AM
The response to this feels somewhat akin to the response to Hillbilly Elegy— that certain liberals must read it and praise it so that they can properly and publicly perform humility to atone for their eliteness. This is despite both of these books being written by Ivy Leaguers.
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
Everyone involved in the publication and promotion of this book should be embarrassed. It's not a "harsh truth" that COVID mitigation was a mistake, it's ghoulish and false.
"In Covid's Wake" Part 1: Lyin… - If Books Could Kill - Apple Podcasts
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 06/17/2025 · 58m
podcasts.apple.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:08 AM
Everyone involved in the publication and promotion of this book should be embarrassed. It's not a "harsh truth" that COVID mitigation was a mistake, it's ghoulish and false.
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
It's a great episode and in general:
The 'lab leak' bullshit, like anti-vaxx bullshit, like anti-trans bullshit: is all about breaking science and breaking peoples' brains. It's about getting even academics and journalists and others, 'liberals', to fall for toxic misinformation.
It's eugenics.
The 'lab leak' bullshit, like anti-vaxx bullshit, like anti-trans bullshit: is all about breaking science and breaking peoples' brains. It's about getting even academics and journalists and others, 'liberals', to fall for toxic misinformation.
It's eugenics.
Everyone involved in the publication and promotion of this book should be embarrassed. It's not a "harsh truth" that COVID mitigation was a mistake, it's ghoulish and false.
"In Covid's Wake" Part 1: Lyin… - If Books Could Kill - Apple Podcasts
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 06/17/2025 · 58m
podcasts.apple.com
December 24, 2025 at 11:48 AM
It's a great episode and in general:
The 'lab leak' bullshit, like anti-vaxx bullshit, like anti-trans bullshit: is all about breaking science and breaking peoples' brains. It's about getting even academics and journalists and others, 'liberals', to fall for toxic misinformation.
It's eugenics.
The 'lab leak' bullshit, like anti-vaxx bullshit, like anti-trans bullshit: is all about breaking science and breaking peoples' brains. It's about getting even academics and journalists and others, 'liberals', to fall for toxic misinformation.
It's eugenics.
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
This is absolutely unacceptable. Jews need to resist having our pain turned into an engine of hatred and bigotry against Muslims. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Retribution fears as Australian Muslims see surge in Islamophobic hate since Bondi terror attack
Security stepped up at mosques amid spate of targeted abuse as leaders mourn Bondi victims and say community will not ‘claim victimhood’
www.theguardian.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:36 AM
This is absolutely unacceptable. Jews need to resist having our pain turned into an engine of hatred and bigotry against Muslims. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
I started at 59k/year when I was at NYLAG as a staff attorney representing trans asylum seekers. This kind of money to target a community like this is unimaginable to me. It's infinitely more profitable to sow hate than it is to help people.
Anti-trans demagogue and fifth place swimmer Riley Gaines earned $470,000+ last year from a conservative non-profit.
Notably, $420k was incentive-based.
A neat little window into the way the transphobic grift is being compensated.
I wonder what the per-post rate is?
Notably, $420k was incentive-based.
A neat little window into the way the transphobic grift is being compensated.
I wonder what the per-post rate is?
December 24, 2025 at 1:46 PM
I started at 59k/year when I was at NYLAG as a staff attorney representing trans asylum seekers. This kind of money to target a community like this is unimaginable to me. It's infinitely more profitable to sow hate than it is to help people.
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
America “is on a “trajectory toward competitive authoritarianism: a system in which elections, courts, and other democratic institutions persist in form but are systematically manipulated to entrench executive control.”
This is the assessment of hundreds of former US intelligence officers.
This is the assessment of hundreds of former US intelligence officers.
An authoritarian movement, led by the president and reaching into Republican-led state governments and the judiciary is chipping away at American democracy.
Trans people are among the first, most often targeted - but it won't end there. Read the full analysis by @billiejsweeney.bsky.social
Trans people are among the first, most often targeted - but it won't end there. Read the full analysis by @billiejsweeney.bsky.social
Authoritarian Surge Animates Attacks on Trans Americans — Assigned
The right-wing campaign to create an autocratic state is also endangering long-held freedoms for all Americans, pushing U.S. democracy to the precipice. Trans people, its earliest targets, are among t...
www.assignedmedia.org
December 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
America “is on a “trajectory toward competitive authoritarianism: a system in which elections, courts, and other democratic institutions persist in form but are systematically manipulated to entrench executive control.”
This is the assessment of hundreds of former US intelligence officers.
This is the assessment of hundreds of former US intelligence officers.
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
“Working toward the Fuhrer” is a well established principle in authoritarian systems
Ive been wondering how many actions with media and government alike are less Trump’s orders and rather people doing what they think Trump would like to see.
December 23, 2025 at 3:33 PM
“Working toward the Fuhrer” is a well established principle in authoritarian systems
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
Supporting LGBT+ rights is political in a way that breaches the civil service code and opposing them is not political in a way that precludes charitable status is a... complex position to hold, although one managed by former LGBA hate group with charitable status trustee Kathleen Stock.
December 23, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Supporting LGBT+ rights is political in a way that breaches the civil service code and opposing them is not political in a way that precludes charitable status is a... complex position to hold, although one managed by former LGBA hate group with charitable status trustee Kathleen Stock.
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
NYC's immigration courthouses have loomed large in our reporting on ICE. Routine hearings now inspire terror for immigrants, who might be aggressively detained in the halls. However, I didn’t realize, until TPM spoke to him, that Mamdani’s father was there this spring for a citizenship interview.
December 23, 2025 at 4:06 PM
NYC's immigration courthouses have loomed large in our reporting on ICE. Routine hearings now inspire terror for immigrants, who might be aggressively detained in the halls. However, I didn’t realize, until TPM spoke to him, that Mamdani’s father was there this spring for a citizenship interview.
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
look at how little effort it takes for someone on the conservative grievance circuit to destroy a life
millions of college kids have half assed an assignment at the last minute, you eat the F and move on
but the effort to push trans people out of public life will use whatever it can get
millions of college kids have half assed an assignment at the last minute, you eat the F and move on
but the effort to push trans people out of public life will use whatever it can get
Worth noting that the student admits that she just threw the thing together in 30 minutes without reading the paper she was supposed to be responding to.
December 23, 2025 at 5:53 PM
look at how little effort it takes for someone on the conservative grievance circuit to destroy a life
millions of college kids have half assed an assignment at the last minute, you eat the F and move on
but the effort to push trans people out of public life will use whatever it can get
millions of college kids have half assed an assignment at the last minute, you eat the F and move on
but the effort to push trans people out of public life will use whatever it can get
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
like, "trump bought a teen pageant so he could creep on girls in the dressing room" is an established thing he just said on the radio
but all the fancy people are like, "i'll pretend i don't know that," because they live in an epistemic bubble where no one's *really* a rapist til they're cast out
but all the fancy people are like, "i'll pretend i don't know that," because they live in an epistemic bubble where no one's *really* a rapist til they're cast out
there is a lot of value in mapping out epstein's entire network of rapist associates, but it's kinda painful how much we have *always* known trump is a pedo rapist and all of the discourse about him is just fishing for some kind of special signifier that makes it ok for powerful people to say it now
December 23, 2025 at 7:03 PM
like, "trump bought a teen pageant so he could creep on girls in the dressing room" is an established thing he just said on the radio
but all the fancy people are like, "i'll pretend i don't know that," because they live in an epistemic bubble where no one's *really* a rapist til they're cast out
but all the fancy people are like, "i'll pretend i don't know that," because they live in an epistemic bubble where no one's *really* a rapist til they're cast out
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
If you wanna listen to the entire thing, see the link below.
(Our podcast is in German but we run the clips from English interviews in English).
podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/p...
(Our podcast is in German but we run the clips from English interviews in English).
podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/p...
Impfen | Es wird noch viel schlimmer werden
Podcast Episode · Pandemia · 22/12/2025 · 40m
podcasts.apple.com
December 23, 2025 at 12:42 PM
If you wanna listen to the entire thing, see the link below.
(Our podcast is in German but we run the clips from English interviews in English).
podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/p...
(Our podcast is in German but we run the clips from English interviews in English).
podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/p...
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
His view on the future is pretty bleak. He thinks much of what public health has achieved in the US will be dismantled:
"We've entered this, like, dark age and it's going to get worse. It is going to get so much worse."
"We've entered this, like, dark age and it's going to get worse. It is going to get so much worse."
December 23, 2025 at 12:18 PM
His view on the future is pretty bleak. He thinks much of what public health has achieved in the US will be dismantled:
"We've entered this, like, dark age and it's going to get worse. It is going to get so much worse."
"We've entered this, like, dark age and it's going to get worse. It is going to get so much worse."
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
"It is going to get so much worse."
For the first of two end-of-the-year episodes of @pandemia.bsky.social, I talked to @drdemetre.bsky.social about what happened in 2025 at the CDC and how he thinks about the future of vaccines and public health in the US.
A quick 🧪🧵
For the first of two end-of-the-year episodes of @pandemia.bsky.social, I talked to @drdemetre.bsky.social about what happened in 2025 at the CDC and how he thinks about the future of vaccines and public health in the US.
A quick 🧪🧵
Impfen | Es wird noch viel schlimmer werden
Podcast Episode · Pandemia · 22/12/2025 · 40m
podcasts.apple.com
December 23, 2025 at 11:52 AM
"It is going to get so much worse."
For the first of two end-of-the-year episodes of @pandemia.bsky.social, I talked to @drdemetre.bsky.social about what happened in 2025 at the CDC and how he thinks about the future of vaccines and public health in the US.
A quick 🧪🧵
For the first of two end-of-the-year episodes of @pandemia.bsky.social, I talked to @drdemetre.bsky.social about what happened in 2025 at the CDC and how he thinks about the future of vaccines and public health in the US.
A quick 🧪🧵
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
not something you ever want to hear from past CDC leadership, but it’s the truth
His view on the future is pretty bleak. He thinks much of what public health has achieved in the US will be dismantled:
"We've entered this, like, dark age and it's going to get worse. It is going to get so much worse."
"We've entered this, like, dark age and it's going to get worse. It is going to get so much worse."
December 23, 2025 at 2:38 PM
not something you ever want to hear from past CDC leadership, but it’s the truth
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
This is totally underreported. Trump is not just going after "illegals." He's going after people who were here legally, by changing their status.
These are people who entered the US the right way, and never broke a law. Now they are subject to Trump's whim, his ICE goons, and inhuman detention.
These are people who entered the US the right way, and never broke a law. Now they are subject to Trump's whim, his ICE goons, and inhuman detention.
Trump has revoked legal status for at least 1.6 million immigrants over the past year by cancelling programs like TPS and student visas.
Remember: these are people who entered the country legally.
Trump never cared about “legal immigration" — just inflicting cruelty.
Remember: these are people who entered the country legally.
Trump never cared about “legal immigration" — just inflicting cruelty.
December 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
This is totally underreported. Trump is not just going after "illegals." He's going after people who were here legally, by changing their status.
These are people who entered the US the right way, and never broke a law. Now they are subject to Trump's whim, his ICE goons, and inhuman detention.
These are people who entered the US the right way, and never broke a law. Now they are subject to Trump's whim, his ICE goons, and inhuman detention.
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
Interesting that Justice Kavanaugh decided he had to add footnote 4 to his concurrence, which addresses the "State’s underlying objections to the activities of federal immigration officers when they make immigration stops."
![The State and the Government disagree about whether the immigration officers have violated the Constitution in making certain immigration stops and arrests. The basic constitutional rules governing that dispute are longstanding and clear: The Fourth Amendment requires that immigration stops must be based on reasonable suspicion of illegal presence, stops must be brief, arrests must be based on probable cause, and officers must not employ excessive force. Moreover, the officers must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity. Cf. Whren v. United States, 517 U. S. 806, 813 (1996) (“[T]he Constitution prohibits selective enforcement of the law based on considerations such as race”). This application does not require us to delve into the parties’ underlying dispute and to determine whether any particular immigration encounter or series of encounters in Illinois has violated those basic constitutional principles.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:iv73mapy52ilxfjnetqatnvu/bafkreiam3tsfxtxu4atn73qvjbdcuuxkcanqxsuj2cenme5r2dwisi2tgm@jpeg)
December 23, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Interesting that Justice Kavanaugh decided he had to add footnote 4 to his concurrence, which addresses the "State’s underlying objections to the activities of federal immigration officers when they make immigration stops."
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
my first @theguardian.com: I wrote about this year's "Drag Queen Christmas" tour stop in Pensacola, FL, which from the 1950s-70s hosted America's biggest LGBTQ event; the state AG tried to get the "demonic" show canceled.
I talked to Florida drag queens and supporters that refuse to go underground:
I talked to Florida drag queens and supporters that refuse to go underground:
A Florida official wants to cancel a sold-out Christmas drag show. The queens are performing anyway
A Drag Queen Christmas, featuring artists from RuPaul’s Drag Race, will stop in Pensacola despite the state attorney general’s efforts to stop it
www.theguardian.com
December 23, 2025 at 10:21 PM
my first @theguardian.com: I wrote about this year's "Drag Queen Christmas" tour stop in Pensacola, FL, which from the 1950s-70s hosted America's biggest LGBTQ event; the state AG tried to get the "demonic" show canceled.
I talked to Florida drag queens and supporters that refuse to go underground:
I talked to Florida drag queens and supporters that refuse to go underground:
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
Genuinely shocked at a rule-of-law based result from this Court.
NEW: By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court blocks Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago to assist immigration agents. A majority holds that he likely lacks authority to do so. Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
![The Government asked this Court to stay the District Court's order. After the response and reply were filed, JUSTICE BARRETT referred the application to the Court. We directed the parties to file supplemental letter briefs on an issue that the District Court had addressed but the parties' initial briefs had not: the meaning of the term "regular forces" in §12406(3). In its supplemental brief, the Government argues that the term refers to civilian law enforcement officers, such as those employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Federal Protective Service.
Respondents, echoing the District Court, maintain that the term refers to the regular forces of the United States mili-tary.
We conclude that the term "regular forces" in §12406(3) likely refers to the regular forces of the United States mili-tary. This interpretation means that to call the Guard into active federal service under §12406(3), the President must be "unable" with the regular military "to execute the laws of the United States." Because the statute requires an assessment of the military's ability to execute the laws, it likely applies only where the military could legally execute the laws. Such circumstances are exceptional: Under the Posse Comitatus Act, the military is prohibited from "execut[ing] the laws" "except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress."
18 U. S. C. §1385. So before the President can federalize the Guard under §12406(3), he likely must have statutory or constitutional authority to execute the laws with the regular military and must be "unable" with those forces to perform that function.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h7b2i6ttw3l4t7pvbvxdith/bafkreiftbhzwvn3vgwhqsi7k2paizvdw4t26ailljvovso3chqupnmj364@jpeg)
December 23, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Genuinely shocked at a rule-of-law based result from this Court.
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
the samizdat 60 minutes report www.theverge.com/policy/84943...
The 60 Minutes report on CECOT that Bari Weiss censored is now internet contraband
Once again, the Streisand effect is Streisanding
www.theverge.com
December 23, 2025 at 12:06 AM
the samizdat 60 minutes report www.theverge.com/policy/84943...
Reposted by Bernadette Marie Oliver
Kavanaugh tries to put the "Kavanaugh Stops" genie back in the bottle
Kavanaugh goes out of his way to pen a footnote not having to deal with the case at hand.
He appears to be trying to narrow the forces he unleashed with his prior opinion allowing for race- and ethnicity-based #KavanaughStops
He appears to be trying to narrow the forces he unleashed with his prior opinion allowing for race- and ethnicity-based #KavanaughStops
December 23, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Kavanaugh tries to put the "Kavanaugh Stops" genie back in the bottle