B. Safarik
@bradsafarik.bsky.social
260 followers 580 following 370 posts
PhD, Associate Professor in Poli Sci, interested in political systems of the Global South, increasingly concerned about democratic backsliding in my own country. Polyglot. Eyes wide open. Reposts are sometimes endorsements
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Reposted by B. Safarik
repsummerlee.bsky.social
We will not allow ICE to operate in the shadows while they surveil us and violate our rights.

Our responsibility is to protect civil liberties, not surrender them. @repshontelbrown.bsky.social, @repyassansari.bsky.social and I are demanding answers about their use of spyware against US citizens.
Lawmakers Demand Information About Potential Use of Paragon Spyware by ICE
The lawmakers warned that allowing ICE to use spyware “threatens Americans’ freedom of movement and freedom of speech.”…
truthout.org
Reposted by B. Safarik
matthew.flux.community
There is no left-wing violence in Chicago or Portland. It simply is not happening.

It's so not happening, in fact, that Republicans in Oregon took footage from two South American countries to create a hoax photo about Portland.

They have no actual violent footage to put forward.
Republicans post fake image of Oregon protest – using photos of South America
A federal judge had blocked Trump’s request to deploy California national guard to Portland
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by B. Safarik
aubreygilleran.bsky.social
Nothing makes me angrier than this. Senseless, pointless destruction, and for what? Because some billionaire thought he got his hands on the switch that would turn liberalism off and then some cowardly officials decided to go along with it and retroactively justify it.
Reposted by B. Safarik
jackjenkins.me
Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.
(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.
Reposted by B. Safarik
mskellymhayes.bsky.social
CW: protester being struck in the head by a pepper ball

Footage I took earlier of the moment Reverend David Black, a regular protester outside of the Broadview Detention Center, was shot in the head with a pepper ball by ICE agents on the roof of the facility.
Reposted by B. Safarik
joshmcelwee.org
Pope Leo told U.S. bishops visiting him at the Vatican on Wednesday that they should firmly address how immigrants are being treated by President Donald Trump's hardline policies, attendees said, in the latest push by the pontiff on the issue. For @reuters.com:
www.reuters.com
Reposted by B. Safarik
johnpfaff.bsky.social
Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.
flglchicago.bsky.social
Here’s video of the incident
Reposted by B. Safarik
famousartthief.bsky.social
reminder that the justice department did a huge study on domestic terrorism and when it turned out to be almost wholly a right wing phenomenon they turfed the study www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
bradsafarik.bsky.social
Movement conservatives aligned with Dominionists are all fully engaged in a collective effort to bully & threaten any independent media sources, trying to further tilt an uneven playing field to manipulate truth and basic facts towards a conservative world view. Authoritarianism 101
Reposted by B. Safarik
rbreich.bsky.social
ICE will reportedly hire contractors to surveil social media platforms 24/7 to target people for deportations.

The information would then be funneled into an existing ICE database built by Palantir (founded by Trump ally Peter Thiel).

"The party of small government,” folks.
Reposted by B. Safarik
tusk81.bsky.social
When US citizen Leo Garcia Venegas tried to prove his identity by showing federal agents his REAL ID, they dismissed it as a fake and kept him detained, releasing him only after they bothered to run his Social Security number.

Just a few weeks later, they detained him again:
Mass Deportation Is A Threat To Us All
Aided by the Supreme Court and the insidious "Kavanaugh stop," the administration's chaotic mass deportation operations are sweeping up Americans – including children and U.S. military veterans.
americasvoicecnn.substack.com
Reposted by B. Safarik
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
Ten years and five months apart
Greg Abbott & @GregAbbott_TX
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I've ordered the Texas State Guard to monitor Jade Helm 15 to safeguard Texans' constitutional rights, private property & civil liberties
2:21 PM • 4/28/15
Reposted by B. Safarik
thcarter123.bsky.social
EPPC -DC’s far right Catholic think tank & Leonard Leo front. Princeton’s Robbie George on board. Mary Hasson, wife of founder of Becket Fund (Leo sits on board) is a fellow & board member of Napa. Google Ed Whelan & Christine Blasey Ford

@alexaronson.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/courtacc...
The Anti-Abortion Machine Again Tries to Use Fake Science to Take Down Mifepristone
Subscribe to Court Accountability’s newsletter, Tilted Scales, here.
open.substack.com
Reposted by B. Safarik
tusk81.bsky.social
“In one case, a Florida state trooper tried to tase a US citizen in a vehicle stop as the citizen shouted, ‘I’m from here!’

'You’ve got no rights here. You’re illegal, brother,’ a trooper is heard saying on video, a phrase that is simultaneously factually incorrect and deeply chilling.”
vermontgmg.bsky.social
Another successful “Kavanaugh Stop,” just as the good Justice intended!

www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/welcome-to...
Reposted by B. Safarik
judiciarydems.senate.gov
Sen. WHITEHOUSE: Did the FBI find photographs of Donald Trump with half-naked young women that were shown by Jeffrey Epstein, according to a witness?

Bondi: *silence*

Whitehouse: You don’t know anything about that?
Reposted by B. Safarik
jennycohn.bsky.social
The CIA’s deputy director has “abruptly demoted” the CIA’s acting general counsel & installed himself in that role, thus taking “control of making legal judgments for the agency while continuing to help lead it…” (This follows Hegseth’s termination of top military legal officials in Feb.) 10/6/25 1/
C.I.A. Deputy Director Has Replaced Agency’s Top Legal Official With Himself
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by B. Safarik
globalextremism.bsky.social
For years, Turning Point USA’s Professor Watchlist fueled harassment against educators. Under Trump’s Project 2025, the same tactics have become state policy — transforming ideological intimidation into official government enforcement.

Read more:
Project 2025 October 2nd Update
This week, we track how Project 2025 policies target educators through coordinated watchlists, and examine what State Department nominee Jeremy Carl tried to hide by scrubbing 5,000 social media posts...
globalextremism.org
Reposted by B. Safarik
indivisible.org
“Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.”
Opinion | Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr.
We took an oath to declare dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.
wapo.st
Reposted by B. Safarik
atrupar.com
Murray: "If House Republicans were here, I'd make sure they understood over 3/4 of the families on the exchanges actually live in R states. And I'd make sure they understand the 10 states where families will face biggest average premium increase hikes when the ACA credits expire are all R states."
Reposted by B. Safarik
factpostnews.bsky.social
Cousin of man taken by ICE: They just randomly showed up. He didn't do anything wrong. They just took him forcefully. They're scaring everybody around now. So I feel like a target too, even though I'm a US citizen.
Reposted by B. Safarik
rightwingwatch.bsky.social
As an added bonus, ICE agents "also get to throw libs to the ground too."
Reposted by B. Safarik
jilldlawrence.bsky.social
@schiff.senate.gov v Bondi, and he's got all the cards, to coin a phrase. What a mess we're in.
atrupar.com
"This is supposed to be an oversight hearing" -- Schiff helpfully ticks through all of the incriminating questions -- and there are many of them -- that Bondi refused to answer during today's hearing
Reposted by B. Safarik
mongabay.com
Brazil’s antitrust regulator, CADE, decided to suspend the Amazon soy moratorium from Jan. 1, 2026.

Depending on the probe’s course of action, this could dismantle one of the nation’s most important private sector pacts credited with slowing deforestation of the rainforest for soy plantations.
Brazil soy deal that curbs Amazon deforestation to be suspended in 2026
Brazil’s antitrust regulator, CADE, on Sept. 30 decided to suspend the Amazon soy moratorium from Jan. 1, 2026. Depending on the probe’s course of action, this could dismantle one of the nation’s…
news.mongabay.com
Reposted by B. Safarik
prospect.org
Trump’s Treasury secretary announced he would not penalize entities who fail to report beneficial owners of shell corporations, allowing oligarchs to continue to hide about a trillion dollars in uncollected taxes each year. Robert Kuttner reports:
trib.al/y5hKLzJ
How Scott Bessent Enables Oligarchy
The Treasury secretary has gutted the most important anti-corruption reform legislation in a generation—the 2020 Corporate Transparency Act.
trib.al