e.c. barrett
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ecbarrett.bsky.social
e.c. barrett
@ecbarrett.bsky.social
writer, teacher, printmaker, lit crit. reviews editor for Reckoning. queer, nd, they/she. For Reckoning reviews email me: [email protected]
Reposted by e.c. barrett
And please also, AGAIN, never forget that they are inherently unethical to use because no one gave permission for their research or writing to be used in it. It is all stolen, and if you're using the plagiarism machine, please keep that in mind.
My friends, I say this with all the love in my heart: Right now might not be the moment for “But we should be TOLERANT and NUANCED about the plagiarism machines!”

Your tolerance and “nuance” will be weaponised by the grifters and their apologists. Please respect yourselves more.
December 20, 2025 at 3:07 PM
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Happy solstice.

Remember always that the light returns as the cold sets in.

Hope returns even as everything gets worse.
December 22, 2025 at 1:45 PM
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CBS paid the president of the United States millions in bribe money and now they censor news reports so it does not annoy him. I don’t know how much plainer we can put this.
December 22, 2025 at 12:14 PM
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The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality.

And trans lives are grounded in reality.

We see y'all. No matter what.

www.popsci.com/science/tran...
First-of-a-kind study shows encouraging data for trans kids who socially transition
Ninety-four percent of participants in a new study stood firm in their trans identity after five years, and "detransitioning" is rare.
www.popsci.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:16 PM
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As of this morning 4,500 Starbucks workers are on strike. Don’t cross their picket line.

No Starbucks. NO Starbucks gift cards!
JUST IN: This morning, hundreds of baristas have joined our national ULP strike.

☕ The solidarity is strong: For every one barista on strike, dozens more allies have shown up in force to back our cause.

Our strike continues to grow in strength and power! #NoContractNoCoffee
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.

Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
December 18, 2025 at 2:29 PM
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"The administration is claiming that a bureaucratic rule change has the power to nullify the democratically enacted protections of 'safe' states, attempting to shatter the legal firewalls these states have built to protect transgender youth and their families." via @erininthemorning.com
Nationwide Trans Youth Care Ban Imminent As Trump Admin Announces "Nuclear Option" Federal Rule
The new federal rule formalizes previous threats to hospitals to pull Medicaid funding, and represents a significant legal stretch by this administration.
www.erininthemorning.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:10 PM
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To all the young people in New York and across our country who count on gender-affirming care:

I won't let this administration come for you, your doctors, or your lifesaving health care. 

Your health care is still legal and protected. 

I'll always fight for you.
December 18, 2025 at 4:22 PM
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nothing can put a bigger smile on my face than reading that Microsoft has to scale back its AI ambitions because NOBODY uses copilot.
December 15, 2025 at 10:40 AM
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Apropos to a post I'm not going to quote: no, you are not fucking obliged to battle the fucking right on fucking social media, or go to where they are. Why make yourself miserable shouting at bots (who don't care) or trolls (who get off on your misery). Make your fucking social media enjoyable, FFS.
December 15, 2025 at 5:56 PM
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shoutout to the crowd that insisted it was a political loser to stand up for abrego garcia’s rights
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an ordinary man, has defeated the great might of the US Government
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free. every bit of cruelty, boasting, slander, and persecution was for absolutely fucking nothing.
December 12, 2025 at 12:38 PM
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I’m running for Congress because we need leaders who will fight, not fold. I recognize this moment, and I’m ready to meet it. #FightDontFold #LanderForNYC #LanderForCongress
December 10, 2025 at 10:49 AM
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New today from @reckoningmag.bsky.social's special #neurodivergent reprints collection A CHORUS, DIVERGENT is "Swimming Whole" by @ecbarrett.bsky.social , a story about small, would-be tyrants & the importance of local resistance - both individual & collective.
reckoning.press/swimming-who...
Swimming Whole | Reckoning
First Jeff Martin bought the narrow strip of land between the river and Banks Road from the town, then he spider-webbed caution tape between the trees and nailed posted signs to their bark. The swimmi...
reckoning.press
December 8, 2025 at 2:29 PM
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Why can't the right win without gerrymandering?
Why can't the right uphold free speech when it isn't about them?
Why can't the right mind their own business?
Why is the right the party of Fuck Your Feelings until it's time to joke about that mediocre podcaster who caught one in the neck?
The real question is not "Why is Bluesky so left-coded," the real question is "Why can't the right exist in a social media environment without algorithmic assistance, where people can ignore them"
December 2, 2025 at 4:03 PM
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This cross-pollination IS how new ideas happen. EVERY field needs humanistic thinking, that's why they call PhDs "Doctors of Philosophy"
Alt text for those who need it. This is amazing.
December 2, 2025 at 11:38 AM
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All of this. Incredible people like Marissa & the editors of these magazines are being forced to make hurtful choices because MRM is determined to turn the short story market into a Hollywood & foreign market IP goldmine, and they really think authors should be happy to be cut out for 8cents a word.
Friends, I'm in tears over this. Sheila is the first editor I ever worked with. I was 20. She deserves better bosses than this. She and Trevor and Sheree have all proven themselves again and again to be really good and decent people in this field. MRM should not use them as reputation shields.
November 18, 2025 at 7:23 PM
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it is almost as if accommodating and conceding to far right ideas legitimizes them and signals to voters that the far right is a legitimate choice for governance
The Danish Social Democrats are currently on course for their worst election result since at least the Second World War, despite their brand of far-right accommodationism being touted as a blueprint for other centre-left parties.
November 18, 2025 at 2:24 PM
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Priorities.
November 13, 2025 at 7:31 PM
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Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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Cornell agreed to pay $30m, hand over admissions data with demographic breakdowns, produce annual "campus climate" surveys to check on antisemitism and changes "since October of 2023," and—here's the dumbest part they agreed to—that the govt can open new investigations whenever it wants.

Appeasers.
November 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM
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I hope the centrists learned a hard lesson last night. No more reaching across the aisle to people who have been spitting in our faces for decades. Run young people, run socialists, run on actionable ideas that seek to make our lives better.
November 5, 2025 at 12:04 PM
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Deeply saddened and more than a little shocked that we've lost Celeste Rita Baker. I had the privilege of editing her once—do read “De MotherJumpers” in Strange Horizons! strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...
November 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
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Nazi tat affair useful because anyone doing bizarre prevarications atm re how its totally normal to have a Nazi tattoo, good actually, not a big deal that'd matter in an election, if anything its cringe you care, etc etc, has revealed you never need to take their politics opinions seriously again.
October 22, 2025 at 5:48 AM
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The Maine primary is in what, June? People really wanna die on the unrepentant Nazi tattoo hill instead of, idk, using the next eight months to support somebody else?
October 21, 2025 at 10:22 PM
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meanwhile, the top 1% will receive an average tax cut of ~$80K
"researchers have estimated that the end of enhanced tax credits will lead to 7.3 mill people losing their ACA coverage in 2026, of whom 4.8 mill would become uninsured. The loss of the additional subsidies are projected to increase how much...enrollees must pay...from an avg of $888 to $1,904/year"
Expiring ACA Premium Tax Credits Could Lead to Nearly 340,000 Jobs Lost Across the U.S. in 2026
Unless Congress acts quickly to extend the enhanced ACA marketplace premium tax credits, nearly 5 million people could lose health insurance coverage in 2026.
www.commonwealthfund.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
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The very imperfect ACA is how I got to stay being a writer, one not reliant on somebody else's health insurance.
The ACA is not perfect but it’s much much much much much better than what came before it (more or less *nothing*, for all intents and purposes), and people saying anything different are either 1) too young to know any better, 2) dumb, or 3) Republicans. Combinations of 1-3 are also valid.
October 20, 2025 at 1:40 PM