Liselle Baker
@elles-bells.bsky.social
320 followers 290 following 1.3K posts
Educator. Writer. Beagle Guardian. Not me, Us. Look for the Helpers. Ceasefire Now!
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elles-bells.bsky.social
“Despotism doesn’t impose itself on everyone all at once. It creeps inward from the margins of society. We need to remind ourselves, constantly, that in the median experience of tyranny, life’s largely unchanged. Even the median experience of those being tyrannized can be free of intolerable forms..
brianbeutler.bsky.social
Watching so many people in high places go through the motions of polling and median-voter whispering can make you feel like you're in Bodysnatchers. It's worth a reminder that the typical experience of tyranny is...basically normal life. Which means we have to will ourselves to fight harder.
The Median Experience Of Tyranny
If the politics of tyranny were self-discrediting, we wouldn't need mantras like "never again."
www.offmessage.net
elles-bells.bsky.social
“…eliminate them from the existence of American society.”
thebulwark.com
Noem: “We are hoping…we will get more and more information about the network and how we can route them out and eliminate them from the existence of American society…Antifa is just as sophisticated as MS-13, as TDA, as ISIS, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, as all of them. They are just as dangerous.”
elles-bells.bsky.social
You can obey in advance, OR you can defy in advance.
elles-bells.bsky.social
free of intolerable forms.”
elles-bells.bsky.social
“Despotism doesn’t impose itself on everyone all at once. It creeps inward from the margins of society. We need to remind ourselves, constantly, that in the median experience of tyranny, life’s largely unchanged. Even the median experience of those being tyrannized can be…

bsky.app/profile/bria...
brianbeutler.bsky.social
Watching so many people in high places go through the motions of polling and median-voter whispering can make you feel like you're in Bodysnatchers. It's worth a reminder that the typical experience of tyranny is...basically normal life. Which means we have to will ourselves to fight harder.
The Median Experience Of Tyranny
If the politics of tyranny were self-discrediting, we wouldn't need mantras like "never again."
www.offmessage.net
elles-bells.bsky.social
Autocratic Legalism replaces the ‘rule of law,’ where the law constrains the powerful, with ‘rule by law,’ where the law becomes a weapon for the powerful.”
elles-bells.bsky.social
“The strategy is tragically elegant, not unlike a retrovirus that hijacks the body's own immune cells to destroy the immune system from within-Autocratic Legalism-a process where leaders use the democratic mandate from elections to systematically dismantle the constitutional order they inherited.
adambonica.bsky.social
As the Supreme Court term begins, keep this framework in mind: Autocratic Legalism.

Instead of “rule of law” (law constrains the power), we get “rule by law” (law as a weapon for power).

Authoritarians usually have to install allies. Trump started his second term with that step already complete.
The only effective opposition is through the language of morality and documented harm—not legal technicalities that can be swept away with a 6–3 vote.” The text is centered on a neutral background, with “morality” and “documented harm” slightly emphasized to underscore the moral and empirical contrast with “legal technicalities.”
elles-bells.bsky.social
“The Administration’s demand is thus not merely an attack on academic freedom but a direct assault on the rule of law.”
lkfazio.bsky.social
Strong argument against the Compact from former national security professionals who have served under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

'The Administration’s demand is thus not merely an attack on academic freedom but a direct assault on the rule of law"

substack.com/inbox/post/1...
An Open Letter to the Presidents of American Colleges and Universities from The Steady State
October 7, 2025
substack.com
elles-bells.bsky.social
Kinsley gafferama

bsky.app/profile/cweb...
cwebbonline.com
Stephen Miller said the quiet part out loud. Trump has “plenary authority,” then suddenly went silent. Their plan wasn’t to be public yet. Clearly, someone hit the panic button in his earpiece.

It gets weirder: CNN uploaded the interview with the “plenary authority” comment edited out.
1/2
elles-bells.bsky.social
elles-bells.bsky.social
“Despotism doesn’t impose itself on everyone all at once. It creeps inward from the margins of society. We need to remind ourselves, constantly, that in the median experience of tyranny, life’s largely unchanged. Even the median experience of those being tyrannized can be free of intolerable forms..
brianbeutler.bsky.social
Watching so many people in high places go through the motions of polling and median-voter whispering can make you feel like you're in Bodysnatchers. It's worth a reminder that the typical experience of tyranny is...basically normal life. Which means we have to will ourselves to fight harder.
elles-bells.bsky.social
chrismurphyct.bsky.social
We aren't on the verge of an authoritarian takeover. We are in the middle of it.

But I worry people don't see the whole scheme. They just pay attention to each new daily outrage. So I went to the Senate floor to explain Trump's plan.

Here's a 🧵of the speech. It's important.
elles-bells.bsky.social
“We have to will ourselves to fight harder.”
elles-bells.bsky.social
“We’re not gonna stop at just arresting the ‘violent’ criminals we see in the streets.”
premthakker.bsky.social
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."
elles-bells.bsky.social
Or, is he an AI video(s)? 😵
elles-bells.bsky.social
nicholasgrossman.bsky.social
Fascists are desperate for violent disruption they can use an excuse for state violence and power grabs.

They have trouble with mockery, goofiness, and fun.

That holds across just about every type of authoritarianism. They like being feared for cruelty. They hate being laughed at and humiliated.
courtneyvaughn.bsky.social
Streets are still closed off in front of the Portland ICE facility at 8:30pm. Protesters have gathered on a side street. Dance party in progress.
elles-bells.bsky.social
of oppression. If we wait until the abuses become severe and widespread enough to register in our standard analytic tools, it will be too late.”
elles-bells.bsky.social
“Despotism doesn’t impose itself on everyone all at once. It creeps inward from the margins of society. We need to remind ourselves, constantly, that in the median experience of tyranny, life’s largely unchanged. Even the median experience of those being tyrannized can be free of intolerable forms..
brianbeutler.bsky.social
Watching so many people in high places go through the motions of polling and median-voter whispering can make you feel like you're in Bodysnatchers. It's worth a reminder that the typical experience of tyranny is...basically normal life. Which means we have to will ourselves to fight harder.
The Median Experience Of Tyranny
If the politics of tyranny were self-discrediting, we wouldn't need mantras like "never again."
www.offmessage.net
elles-bells.bsky.social
“All that rapid growth has fueled global concerns over the fire risk inherent to these often hastily constructed facilities, and the question of who pays the cost.”
Reposted by Liselle Baker
dropsitenews.com
🔴 Gaza Municipality spokesman warns that the city is facing “a starvation more brutal and devastating than anything we’ve previously endured,” with hundreds of thousands still trapped as markets sit “virtually empty,” scarce goods priced beyond reach, cash running out, and, most importantly...
elles-bells.bsky.social
“They did the Monster Slash” 👻
luckytran.com
🎵 They did the Monster Slash 😭 @ellecordova.bsky.social
Reposted by Liselle Baker
katieprout.bsky.social
At least 6 unhoused Chicagoans have been abducted by federal agents since September: 2 have been released, while the status of the remaining 4 is unknown. But the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness is investigating reports of an additional 19 people disappeared.

chicagoreader.com/news/make-it...
Make It Make Sense: ICE targets Chicago’s homeless community
Plus: state and local leaders crack down on anti-ICE protesters and advocates ask the chief judge to keep ICE out of county courthouses.
chicagoreader.com
elles-bells.bsky.social
“Living and working through the genocide.”
msf.ca
What is one thing our colleagues lost, miss and cannot escape in #Gaza? Hear our staff reflect on living and working through the genocide.

Doctors Without Borders calls for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the bloodshed.
Reposted by Liselle Baker
govpritzker.illinois.gov
I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?
Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.
elles-bells.bsky.social
From forcible displacement of encampments to forcible displacement of apartment dwellers to forcible displacement of…

www.apha.org/policy-and-a...
Displacement of Encampments
www.apha.org