Ellie Kona
banner
elliekona.bsky.social
Ellie Kona
@elliekona.bsky.social
Progressive fact-based supporter of democracy, fairness, and rule of law. Here to support grassroots, amplify good political messages, and energize glimmers. 💙
Reposted by Ellie Kona
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2 to 1 that President Trump's firings of Democratic members of the Merit Systems Protection Board and the National Labor Relations Board were lawful. n.pr/3McCEbp
Appeals court hands Trump a victory, OK'ing firing of two independent agency heads
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2 to 1 that President Trump's firings of Democratic members of the Merit Systems Protection Board and the National Labor Relations Board were lawful.
n.pr
December 5, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
The Trump administration, which has railed against what it describes as "woke" policies, removed MLK Day and Juneteenth from next year's list of fare-exempt days for visitors at dozens of national parks. n.pr/48oR7tq
National parks fee-free calendar drops MLK Day, Juneteenth and adds Trump's birthday
The Trump administration, which has railed against what it describes as "woke" policies, removed MLK Day and Juneteenth from next year's list of fare-exempt days for visitors at dozens of national parks.
n.pr
December 6, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
Mounting evidence casts doubt that those killed—who now number over 80—were even trafficking drugs to the United States. And now, Trump is pardoning the Honduran ex-president convicted of crimes relating to flooding the U.S. with cocaine.

What’s the case for these bombings? trib.al/tf60iFD
Trump Boat Bombings Suddenly on Shakier Ground as Damning Info Emerges
Will Republicans give us a real investigation into Trump’s bombings, now that we just learned horrific new details about them? Or are they seriously going to fall on their swords for Pete Hegseth?
trib.al
December 6, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
Justin Pope won the special runoff election for Mississippi Senate District 24 on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, replacing retiring Sen. David Jordan.
Justin Pope Wins Mississippi Senate District 24 Runoff, Replacing Sen. David Jordan After 33 Years
Justin Pope will be the new state senator for Mississippi Senate District 24, located in Panola, Leflore and Tallahatchie counties.
buff.ly
December 6, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
It’s been a wonderful first week of our Year-end Impact Drive! On Tuesday, our friend Marni Grossman generously offered to match $15,000 in donations dollar for dollar. There are still matching funds available, and we don’t want you to miss out. Donate today, and your gift will be matched!
Support our nonprofit newsroom | Donate to The 19th
Join hundreds of others already supporting our mission with their membership. Your financial support helps make our journalism possible.
19thne.ws
December 6, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
To deliberately kill “survivors on a vessel who pose no immediate lethal threat to our armed forces,” Broglio said, is “illegal and immoral.”
religionnews.com/2025/12/03/c...
Catholic military archbishop calls 'intentional killing of noncombatants' illegal and immoral
(RNS) — Archbishop Timothy Broglio called on political and military leaders ‘to respect the consciences of those who raise their right hands to defend and protect the Constitution by not asking them…
religionnews.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
Frank Gehry: maximalist master who created instant icons like the Bilbao Guggenheim
Frank Gehry: maximalist master who created instant icons like the Bilbao Guggenheim
He made buildings that looked like slouching drunks and quarrelling couples but it was the Spanish museum that secured his ‘starchitect’ status – a creation that became something of a curse
www.theguardian.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
The Supreme Court greenlit Texas Trump-approved congressional gerrymander, determining that the measure was a partisan — as opposed to an illegal racial — gerrymander. The map will now be used in next year’s midterms.
https://bit.ly/4pmuueY
SCOTUS Allows Texas to Use Racially Gerrymandered Map in 2026 Midterm Elections
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
Two Florida migrant detention centers may have violated international standards by imposing conditions that could amount to torture of detainees, a human rights organization claimed in a report released early Thursday morning ohiocapitaljournal.com/briefs/copy-...
'Copy of Guantánamo': Human rights group alleges torture, inhumanity at 'Alligator Alcatraz,' Krome • Ohio Capital Journal
Two Florida migrant detention centers may have violated international standards by torturing detainees, a human rights organization claimed in a bombshell report released early Thursday morning.
ohiocapitaljournal.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
Consumers have increasingly shifted their attention away from legacy brands toward healthier, independent labels, experts and companies say. That shift has brought considerable growth for Chicago’s smaller food brands like Mush and Farmer’s Fridge.
Chicago food companies like Mush, Farmer's Fridge flourish as consumers move away from processed foods
chicago.suntimes.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
ACA marketplace subsidies, which allowed millions of people to afford private health insurance, are set to expire by the end of this year.

For contractors and freelancers in particular, the expiration of these enhanced subsidies could decide whether or not they can afford health insurance.
For many contractors, losing ACA subsidies means losing health care
The GOP's unprecedented premium hikes put chronically ill workers—especially freelancers—in peril.
www.motherjones.com
December 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
The New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow was correct when he said Donald Trump was involved in as many as 60 "catch and kill" operations during the 2016 presidential election in which Trump first won power, former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen said.
Trump stories involving Melania and the Mob were ​caught and killed: Ex-Trump lawyer
The New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow was correct when he said Donald Trump was involved in as many as 60 “catch and kill” operations during the 2016 presidential election in which Trump first won power, former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen said.“I never actually added them up, but I wouldn't ...
bit.ly
December 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
As @whitehouse.senate.gov posted on this platform, "The real action is in the DOJ files." The rest of it may be a just a distraction by the Trump administration.
Federal judge orders release of Jeffrey Epstein grand jury records in Florida
The big question is whether, as another judge suspected, this is just a DOJ distraction.
www.motherjones.com
December 6, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses.
Medical Leaders Decry Kennedy Panel's Pullback on Support for Hepatitis B Shots for Babies
Medical leaders are criticizing a federal vaccine advisory committee pulling support for hepatitis B vaccines for babies on the day they’re born.
buff.ly
December 6, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
Contrary to popular reports, DOGE has “burrowed into the agencies like ticks,” government sources tell WIRED.
DOGE Isn’t Dead. Here’s What Its Operatives Are Doing Now
Contrary to popular reports, DOGE has “burrowed into the agencies like ticks,” government sources tell WIRED.
wrd.cm
December 6, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
The Chicago-based American Medical Association is blasting a federal vaccine advisory committee’s decision Friday to no longer recommend that all babies get the hepatitis B vaccine when they’re born.
Chicago-based American Medical Association slams committee’s hepatitis B vaccine recommendations
The government has long advised that babies be vaccinated against hepatitis B right after birth to prevent serious liver damage that can be caused by the infection.
trib.al
December 5, 2025 at 7:36 PM
ICYMI Xplisset is one of the most erudite commenters on @hcrichardson.bsky.social Letters from an American and has his own well written Substack.
GTFO with this WaPo “digital media army” nonsense. They plaster Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s face dead center on the artwork… then never mention her name once in the article. You didn’t just miss her, you ERASED her. I broke down the receipts in today’s XVOA post. www.xplisset.com/p/waspost-pu...
WasPost Put Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s Face On It, Then Erased Her Name
You don’t erase a woman this visible by mistake; you do it because her clarity costs you something.
www.xplisset.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
Can you imagine Mitch McConnell saying something positive about Joe Biden in 2021?

The reason you can't is because Mitch McConnell was good at his job and Hakeem Jeffries isn't.
Jeffries: "The border is secure. That's a good thing. It happened on his watch. He wants to claim credit for it, of course he'll get credit for that. In terms of making sure that we actually deal with the issues that matter, including on immigration, there's a lot that's left to be desired."
December 3, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
Hegseth put troops at risk by sharing sensitive plans on personal phone, Pentagon watchdog finds
Hegseth put troops at risk by sharing sensitive plans on personal phone, Pentagon watchdog finds
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. troops at risk by sharing sensitive military plans on his personal phone.
www.1011now.com
December 5, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
President Trump this on Truth Social evening declared that pardons and other measures that former President Biden signed using the autopen are no longer effective.
What to know about Trump's claim that Biden's autopen-signed docs are now "null, void"
Trump made the declaration on Truth Social, but a president can't rescind a predecessor's actions using social media.
www.axios.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
The family of a Colombian man believed to have been killed in a US strike in the Caribbean has filed what’s believed to be the first complaint against such attacks with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Colombian family files first known formal complaint over deadly US strike in Caribbean | CNN
The family of a Colombian man believed to have been killed in a US strike in the Caribbean has filed what’s believed to be the first complaint against such attacks with the Inter-American Commission o...
www.cnn.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
1/ On this Giving Newsday, we’re excited to announce that our friend Marni Grossman has generously offered to match the first $15,000 in donations dollar for dollar.

Support our nonprofit newsroom today, and your impact will be doubled! https://19thne.ws/makeanimpact
Support our nonprofit newsroom | Donate to The 19th
Join hundreds of others already supporting our mission with their membership. Your financial support helps make our journalism possible.
19thne.ws
December 2, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin next week to block nutrition assistance funding for states led by Democrats that have not provided data on fraud in the program, Secretary Brooke Rollins told President Donald Trump at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, reports @fischler.bsky.social.
Trump administration threatens to yank food stamps funding from Democratic-led states • West Virginia Watch
The USDA will begin next week to block SNAP funding for states led by Democrats that have not provided data on fraud in the program.
westvirginiawatch.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
ICE ordering fleet of 20 armoured vehicles from Brampton firm
ICE ordering fleet of 20 armoured vehicles from Brampton firm
The procurement document says only Roshel, which is headquartered in Brampton, Ont., meets the department's requirements and can complete the order within 30 days.
www.thestar.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Reposted by Ellie Kona
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was dragged Tuesday over appearing at a cabinet meeting with a misspelled name placard, a misspelling that some critics alleged to be an intentional "wink at Nazis.
‘Is this real?’ Pete Hegseth accused of open ‘wink at Nazis’ during cabinet meeting
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was dragged Tuesday over appearing at a cabinet meeting with a misspelled name placard, a misspelling that some critics alleged to be an intentional “wink at Nazis.”Hegseth was seated next to President Donald Trump during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting in the White House, a...
bit.ly
December 2, 2025 at 11:20 PM