midbest
@midbest.bsky.social
You can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can't take the desire for cheap housing out of the girl. She/her!
Reposted by midbest
It’s easy to underestimate the extent to which the success or failure of an authoritarian consolidation rests on perceptions and therefore persuasion more than who controls the institutional use of force. Mass protests are a key way to persuade people that the regime is not as strong as it says.
October 16, 2025 at 5:33 PM
It’s easy to underestimate the extent to which the success or failure of an authoritarian consolidation rests on perceptions and therefore persuasion more than who controls the institutional use of force. Mass protests are a key way to persuade people that the regime is not as strong as it says.
Reposted by midbest
All of us are individually powerless. We can only form an effective opposition collectively. And when things need to happen on the scale we need them to happen, you’re simply not going to agree with every tactic every group deploys, never mind have a veto on them.
fundamentally what the people on this site who are mad about No Kings are afraid of is that it will work and things will get better without them being in charge of how it gets better
October 16, 2025 at 5:27 PM
All of us are individually powerless. We can only form an effective opposition collectively. And when things need to happen on the scale we need them to happen, you’re simply not going to agree with every tactic every group deploys, never mind have a veto on them.
Reposted by midbest
You have to fight this. You MUST fight this. This is the first fight in 8 months that you, as a person without a law degree, can personally win against the Trump Administration. We still need a bit more critical mass from Democrats. Keep calling. Demand (1) statements and (2) investigative hearings
August 29, 2025 at 9:14 PM
You have to fight this. You MUST fight this. This is the first fight in 8 months that you, as a person without a law degree, can personally win against the Trump Administration. We still need a bit more critical mass from Democrats. Keep calling. Demand (1) statements and (2) investigative hearings
Reposted by midbest
“Some activists launched ‘No sleep for Ice’ rallies, with chants and music blaring through the night, in hopes of pressuring the hotels to kick agents out.
Now, public records shared w/the Guardian show that the protests indeed sent federal agencies scrambling …” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Now, public records shared w/the Guardian show that the protests indeed sent federal agencies scrambling …” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
LA Ice protests spurred US military to identify ‘hotels to avoid’ due to ‘harassment’
Exclusive: Organizers disrupted Trump’s immigration crackdown by targeting hotels where officers were staying, documents show
www.theguardian.com
August 28, 2025 at 1:32 AM
“Some activists launched ‘No sleep for Ice’ rallies, with chants and music blaring through the night, in hopes of pressuring the hotels to kick agents out.
Now, public records shared w/the Guardian show that the protests indeed sent federal agencies scrambling …” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Now, public records shared w/the Guardian show that the protests indeed sent federal agencies scrambling …” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by midbest
Reposted by midbest
DC is FORTY-ONE PERCENT Black.
Do you understand?
Do you understand?
August 11, 2025 at 3:22 PM
DC is FORTY-ONE PERCENT Black.
Do you understand?
Do you understand?
Reposted by midbest
democracy isn’t just having elections, it’s also an ethic of distributing power across society, so that nobody has too much. expropriating massive concentrations of wealth is a democratic good in itself.
August 10, 2025 at 6:19 PM
democracy isn’t just having elections, it’s also an ethic of distributing power across society, so that nobody has too much. expropriating massive concentrations of wealth is a democratic good in itself.
Reposted by midbest
We need to think about it now because we need to get ready to stand up very loudly and clearly for gender-nonconforming homeless people and gender-nonconforming people with mental illness or substance abuse issues. That's the most likely starting place.
July 25, 2025 at 4:56 PM
We need to think about it now because we need to get ready to stand up very loudly and clearly for gender-nonconforming homeless people and gender-nonconforming people with mental illness or substance abuse issues. That's the most likely starting place.
Reposted by midbest
A reminder that *40%*of homeless youth are members of the LGBTQ+ community. Government “agents” will absolutely snatch up the trans and gender-nonconforming ones first.
I agree, but I want the trans community to push ourselves beyond fear to understand what it will look like.
Authorities won't be going door to door, committing every trans person.
But when they start committing homeless people, gender nonconforming ones will be particularly likely to be taken. 🧵
Authorities won't be going door to door, committing every trans person.
But when they start committing homeless people, gender nonconforming ones will be particularly likely to be taken. 🧵
It also feels trivially easy to label all trans people as "mentally ill". Especially considering the way that trans care works in the US currently, gender dysphoria as a diagnosis, therapist letters required for surgery, etc.
July 25, 2025 at 5:07 PM
A reminder that *40%*of homeless youth are members of the LGBTQ+ community. Government “agents” will absolutely snatch up the trans and gender-nonconforming ones first.
Reposted by midbest
I think some people have trouble seeing fascism as anything other than 1940s Germany.
But I think 'people going to a comic convention needing to have a plan in case the government's goons show up to disappear people' is a pretty good demonstration of what it can look like in 2025.
But I think 'people going to a comic convention needing to have a plan in case the government's goons show up to disappear people' is a pretty good demonstration of what it can look like in 2025.
SDCC ‘25: What to do if ICE crashes the con
If you see ICE or Border Patrol agents while attending San Diego Comic-Con, know your rights and exercise them.
If you see ICE or Border Patrol agents while attending San Diego Comic-Con, know your rights and exercise them.
SDCC ‘25: What to do if ICE crashes the con
If you see ICE or Border Patrol agents while attending San Diego Comic-Con, know your rights and exercise them.
www.comicsbeat.com
July 24, 2025 at 6:44 PM
I think some people have trouble seeing fascism as anything other than 1940s Germany.
But I think 'people going to a comic convention needing to have a plan in case the government's goons show up to disappear people' is a pretty good demonstration of what it can look like in 2025.
But I think 'people going to a comic convention needing to have a plan in case the government's goons show up to disappear people' is a pretty good demonstration of what it can look like in 2025.
Reposted by midbest
I have this thought over and over again. Even after everything, I just can't believe it.
We are seven months in, and the speed with which vital civic institutions are capitulating to authoritarian demands we once would have regarded as inconceivable in an established liberal democracy is jawdropping. I hadn't thought I was polyannaish about America, but it's really stunning.
July 26, 2025 at 1:30 AM
I have this thought over and over again. Even after everything, I just can't believe it.
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And I think such a campaign would counter the unmasking ICE ones that I don't personally think are useful.
July 26, 2025 at 1:21 AM
And I think such a campaign would counter the unmasking ICE ones that I don't personally think are useful.
Reposted by midbest
I don't have the spoons for this anymore but I really think that a blue state moratorium on any immigrant jails is the campaign to run at this time. Organize state and county legislatures and electeds to reject any new detention centers.
July 26, 2025 at 1:17 AM
I don't have the spoons for this anymore but I really think that a blue state moratorium on any immigrant jails is the campaign to run at this time. Organize state and county legislatures and electeds to reject any new detention centers.
Reposted by midbest
visa and mastercard deciding what games are allowed to be sold is an apocalyptic level threat to the games industry. phone calls are the highest impact way to help.
this is an all hands on deck situation. the enemy got results with 1000 phone calls.
we can beat them
phone numbers and a script:
this is an all hands on deck situation. the enemy got results with 1000 phone calls.
we can beat them
phone numbers and a script:
July 25, 2025 at 4:02 PM
visa and mastercard deciding what games are allowed to be sold is an apocalyptic level threat to the games industry. phone calls are the highest impact way to help.
this is an all hands on deck situation. the enemy got results with 1000 phone calls.
we can beat them
phone numbers and a script:
this is an all hands on deck situation. the enemy got results with 1000 phone calls.
we can beat them
phone numbers and a script:
Reposted by midbest
“If every single immigrant who has a baby in the U.S. has to sue to obtain citizenship, we are happy to create an army of lawyers to represent those people," Mr. DiBianco said
obvi they shouldnt have to but I really appreciate people whose response to hurdles is, aight bet, watch me clear that shit
obvi they shouldnt have to but I really appreciate people whose response to hurdles is, aight bet, watch me clear that shit
A reminder that our profession is not just big firms, and that countless lawyers are stepping up in this critical moment. GIFT LINK
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/u...
Big Law Firms Bowed to Trump. A Corps of ‘Little Guys’ Jumped in to Fight Him.
www.nytimes.com
July 22, 2025 at 4:12 PM
“If every single immigrant who has a baby in the U.S. has to sue to obtain citizenship, we are happy to create an army of lawyers to represent those people," Mr. DiBianco said
obvi they shouldnt have to but I really appreciate people whose response to hurdles is, aight bet, watch me clear that shit
obvi they shouldnt have to but I really appreciate people whose response to hurdles is, aight bet, watch me clear that shit
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I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I genuinely think the safest way to engage with AI is, so far as possible, not to touch it at all. Do not let it into your life. Do not let it digest you
July 19, 2025 at 2:52 PM
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I genuinely think the safest way to engage with AI is, so far as possible, not to touch it at all. Do not let it into your life. Do not let it digest you
Reposted by midbest
This administration is much, much weaker than they would like you to believe. In many cases they're making themselves weaker through incompetent self-sabotage. Claiming they've successfully brought about a fascist regime because they've committed lawless acts of cruelty is doing their work for them
July 19, 2025 at 5:11 AM
This administration is much, much weaker than they would like you to believe. In many cases they're making themselves weaker through incompetent self-sabotage. Claiming they've successfully brought about a fascist regime because they've committed lawless acts of cruelty is doing their work for them
Reposted by midbest
US Races to build concentration camps
US races to build migrant tent camps after $45 billion funding boost, WSJ reports reut.rs/3IApUcK
US races to build migrant tent camps after $45 billion funding boost, WSJ reports
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is racing to build migrant tent camps nationwide after receiving $45 billion in new funding, aiming to expand detention capacity from 40,000 to 100,000 beds by year-end, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
reut.rs
July 19, 2025 at 8:04 PM
US Races to build concentration camps
Reposted by midbest
I don’t know whether the AltNPS account is active disinformation or just someone with a loose and crumbling grip on reality, but either way, it is not a reliable source of information and should not be regarded as any more authoritative than a shitpost.
The Alt National Park Service account calls itself the official "resistance" team of the US National Park Service. With 887k followers, is one of the biggest accounts on Bluesky. It is the 11 most followed account according to some trackers.
This thread will dive into its activity.
🧵 1/x.
This thread will dive into its activity.
🧵 1/x.
July 19, 2025 at 6:08 PM
I don’t know whether the AltNPS account is active disinformation or just someone with a loose and crumbling grip on reality, but either way, it is not a reliable source of information and should not be regarded as any more authoritative than a shitpost.
Reposted by midbest
israel has killed and continues to kill thousands of palestinians and we’re supposed to be hung up on an american politician’s interpretation of a phrase related to the region. the former should shut down the latter but because people’s brains are so thoroughly cooked, we’re told they’re equivalent.
July 20, 2025 at 1:28 AM
israel has killed and continues to kill thousands of palestinians and we’re supposed to be hung up on an american politician’s interpretation of a phrase related to the region. the former should shut down the latter but because people’s brains are so thoroughly cooked, we’re told they’re equivalent.
Reposted by midbest
Jacob Frey’s one and only strategy is to run away in the face of adversity.
Fateh endorsed on second vote, a show-your-badge vote. The Frey folks tried to walk out to deny quorum but didn’t have the numbers so it just made the vote stark and obvious.
July 20, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Jacob Frey’s one and only strategy is to run away in the face of adversity.
Reposted by midbest
As @lynxwyze.bsky.social points out below, we need people viewed as the Letter-Writing Class to use their time, credibility, and privilege to fight for Omar Fateh in traditional publications. This general election could be high energy and low info. We cannot let the Strib set the terms of debate
The Strib is gonna go full bore on Omar Fateh
July 20, 2025 at 2:54 AM
As @lynxwyze.bsky.social points out below, we need people viewed as the Letter-Writing Class to use their time, credibility, and privilege to fight for Omar Fateh in traditional publications. This general election could be high energy and low info. We cannot let the Strib set the terms of debate
Reposted by midbest
What if everyone eager to throw money at a "liberal joe rogan" that doesn't exist instead bought one failing local newspaper and hired a handful of real reporters and simply told them to go do journalism and print it.
i wish i had the power or the money to like hire thousands of out of work journalists and put them (us?) to work doing what we do best ie chipping and scraping at the lies people in power tell. horse race commenters not welcome
July 18, 2025 at 4:56 PM
What if everyone eager to throw money at a "liberal joe rogan" that doesn't exist instead bought one failing local newspaper and hired a handful of real reporters and simply told them to go do journalism and print it.
Reposted by midbest
There is a beautiful and powerful trans community in Puerto Rico, please support trans organizations if you are able to.
Thread incoming
Thread incoming
July 18, 2025 at 7:15 PM
There is a beautiful and powerful trans community in Puerto Rico, please support trans organizations if you are able to.
Thread incoming
Thread incoming
Reposted by midbest
Polls show most people voted based on Israel, the economy, and immigration. Democrats have flat out ignored the hard swing against Israel and recently, in support of immigration. So polling doesn't actually matter to them.
July 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Polls show most people voted based on Israel, the economy, and immigration. Democrats have flat out ignored the hard swing against Israel and recently, in support of immigration. So polling doesn't actually matter to them.