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jenny (phire)

@phirephoenix.com

1.6K followers 540 following 780 posts

I write code for a living and words for my sins. occasional blog posts at https://phirephoenix.com, weekly newsletter for organizing/activism in Toronto at @showuptoronto.ca.

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jenny (phire) @phirephoenix.com · Aug 1

It's been almost three months since I launched Show Up Toronto and in that time I've posted 426 events from over 200 groups, which is pretty dang cool. The fact that there are consistently 100+ events a month representing the labour of thousands validates my optimism about the city. showuptoronto.ca

Show Up TO

Show Up Toronto is a hub and weekly newsletter of community organizing, mutual aid, and advocacy events from around the city.

showuptoronto.ca

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jenny (phire) @phirephoenix.com · 11h

wow they got mary magdalene

Schrödinger's Sneetch Belly @rtodkelly.bsky.social · 17h

"the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"

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elia ayoub 🌱 @ayoub.bsky.social · 11h

The IDF took 3D animations from the Scottish Maritime Museum, a cyberpunk project and other places to make shit up about Gaza, Lebanon and Iran and these were reproduced in international outlets for the past 2 years.

Thread

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 21h

NEW: Since October 2023, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit has released dozens of 3D animations illustrating alleged Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian sites

The style is now unmistakable: satellite zoom-ins, black & white wireframes, and red-textured houses - a new visual language of war

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Kristi Yamaguccimane @wapplehouse.bsky.social · 1d

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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 1d

Here's another for "the media is not covering the Ford gov't's scandals"

Ontario voters continue to eat up this gravy train of shit with a shrug.

Jack Hauen @jackhauen.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: David Piccini, the minister whose office picks Skills Development Fund recipients, was in Paris this weekend at the wedding of a lobbyist whose clients received millions from that fund.

From me and @charliepinkerton.bsky.social.

www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...

Ontario labour minister attended lobbyist’s wedding after granting his clients millions in training funds

Two clients of lobbyist Michael Rudderham have received more than $8.5 million in Skills Development Fund grants, records show

www.thetrillium.ca

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 1d

twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross

photo of Google News search results for Amazon Prime Day (the second this year)

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clyde bruckman's ghost's final repost says free link @ultralaser.bsky.social · 1d

fucked up that this is all just landlords swatting their own buildings to get rid of all the working class residents so they can raise the rent or sell to a developer who'll flip them into high end condos or w/e

like it's a real estate scam! it's a fucking land grab! a fire for the insurance money!

I'm Margaret! I'm the best! Blah Blah Blah! @vt-vagabond.bsky.social · 1d

There’s a lot in here that deserves a pull quote, but this is the most egregious. I need people to recognize the gravity of the situation here in Chicago;

SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
Donate

"The ones that are getting out are coming home to no home," Watson said.
According to her, after the raid occurred, building management stole or threw out residents belongings, including visas and important documents.

ICIRR is still trying to determine the identities of all the people detained in the raid. Castro said that the organization usually can do that by following up with family members or loved ones. "In this instance, there was nobody left to work with," she said. The only detainee name they're sure of is that of a person who passed their Venezuelan passport to a neighbor as they were being taken away.

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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 1d

So this is funny.
The administration just issued a rule slashing foreign agricultural worker wages. And to justify it, in a public filing, Trump's Labor Department alleges that Trump's immigration enforcement has devastated the Ag workforce and caused a "risk of supply shock-induced food shortages."

Trump Labor Department Says His Immigration Raids Are Causing a Food Crisis

In a filing in the Federal Register, the Labor Department argues there are “immediate dangers to the American food supply” due to a lack of migrant agricultural workers.

prospect.org

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🪲johnny🪲 [1 WEEK TO SURGERY] @gatorpond.bsky.social · 3d

"compassion fatigue," much like "emotional labor" is real, but has been co-opted. it was coined to refer to the feeling that, say, ppl in medical fields get when they're forced to work in an unfair system so they don't have the means to alleviate the suffering of others despite having the knowledge-

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 1d

According to hacked emails obtained by @dropsitenews.com, 'journalist' Douglas Murray was allegedly writing secret draft speeches for the Israeli ambassador to the UN while also pretending to be an independent 'journalist'.

David Frum, Douglas Murray Secretly Drafted Speeches for Israeli Ambassador

Leaked emails from former Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor show David Frum, Douglas Murray offering to write his speeches and a CNN producer fundraising for Israel’s Iron Dome during Israel’s 2014 war

www.dropsitenews.com

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jenny (phire) @phirephoenix.com · 1d

The October 7th edition of the @showuptoronto.ca just went out! Includes actions you can take to support the Canadians detained from the Sumud flotilla and dozens of events across the city on housing, disability justice, Bill 33, and the environmental crisis. buttondown.com/showup/archi... #toronto

Show Up Toronto - October 7, 2025

Hi friends and neighbours, Not much of a preamble today, as I'm feeling under the weather. For folks who have joined recently, thank you and welcome! A quick...

buttondown.com

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lumberjack wharfie @lumberjackwharfie.bsky.social · 2d

I guess I shouldn't be *surprised* but it is making my head spin that the feds have shot two people, with live rounds, killing one of them, in Chicagoland in recent weeks, and in both cases they were very clearly found to be lying about what happened, and essentially nothing is happening about it.

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jenny (phire) @phirephoenix.com · 2d

hey I run my own invite-only mastodon server and it's a little decrepit and in need of some sysadmin love from its somewhat neglectful landlord (me), and lord knows fedi has its own multitude of Problems™ and is not a solution, but if you want a backup space and we're mutuals dm me for an invite

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Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 2d

Really want to encourage libraries - especially school libraries - to put no-AI content into your collection development policy. At the very least, if you have a clause in there about requiring accurate information, you can use that to weed out or prevent genAI purchases.

Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 2d

“When you get a suspicious book, “you look it up to see what else the [author] has written. And you see there's 30 things, and none of them have any reviews, and they were all written in the last two years,” DeMeester-Lane says.”

How Local Librarians Keep AI Slop Off the Shelves

AI is being used to create nonsensical, sometimes dangerously inaccurate books. Local librarians are tasked with keeping these volumes out of their collections.

www.governing.com

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Phineasferatu @phineas.bsky.social · 3d

USA out of Chicago

A digital illustration of a bottle of Chicago’s local and beloved and quite vile liqueur, Malört. In this rendition the usual copy in the label has been altered to read:
Jeppson’s Malörtov Cocktail
USA Out Of Chicago
Fuck Ice
The cap of the bottle is unscrewed with a rag stuffed down the neck and three wooden matches are around the base of the bottle offering the viewer the opportunity to decide what is to be done.

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jenny (phire) @phirephoenix.com · 5d

and it's lowkey kind of a bummer that we're all like haha isn't it funny that I have no idea what my best friend does for work, because how you survive under capitalism is very impactful to your political frame!! and also if your bestie works at palantir you should tell them to quit, ok that's all

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jenny (phire) @phirephoenix.com · 5d

hot take: the social norm that "cool" people don’t talk about their jobs is bad for labour organizing because it perpetuates the idea that our work selves are severed from and unrelated to our true selves and it prevents the deepening of community relationships around labour

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jenny (phire) @phirephoenix.com · 5d

me, working in the tech industry in 2025: his....in-context learning examples....?

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The People's Fabric @peoplesfabric.com · 5d

In the past 4 weeks in Chicago, ICE/CBP have snatched hundreds of people off the streets & homes, shot & killed a single-father in his car, smashed & abandoned countless cars, and deployed chemical munitions at protesters, journalists, & now on public streets. Today they cuffed an alderperson.

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Ashley C. Ford @smashfizzle.bsky.social · 6d

What Klein couldn’t seem to admit was that his core political analysis is born of his personal experience, and nothing about his personal experience prepared him to face the complexity of the current moment. What he could not cope with acknowledging, is that he never thought that would matter.

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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 5d

Hey! LiftED is a Toronto literacy foundation I volunteer for by helping organize the fun & funny Leacock Debate, their annual fundraiser. It's next Wed - there are few more tickets available in the next hour or so if you want some laughs for a good cause.
Talent!
liftededucation.org/wp-content/u...

Micheal Healy, Evira Kurt, Robyn Doolittle & Miguel Rivas debating "Be it resolved: Boomers are more entitled
than millennials.

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Nora Loreto @nolore.bsky.social · 5d

Two Indigenous women MLAs in Winnipeg have had their offices firebombed in the past six weeks. And yet, it hasn't been national news. Hear about this and more on today's 7-minute Daily News podcast.

sandyandnora.com/daily-news-o...

Daily News – Oct. 3, 2025

Story 1 – Someone is firebombing the offices of two Indigenous women MLAs in Winnipeg Story 2 – New Auditor General report in Ontario strongly suggests corruption in Ford’s government Story 3 -A new s...

sandyandnora.com

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Micah Lee @micahflee.com · 6d

I have criticisms of ICEBlock, but this is authoritarian bullshit, and the fact that nearly all smartphone use one of two app stores controlled by US corporations does not bode well for the future

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 6d

There's nothing illegal about ICE block. This is solely about Apple appeasing the Trump regime.

With Google removing sideloading next year, these companies will have total control over what runs on your phone.

www.businessinsider.com/apple-iceblo...

Apple removes ICEBlock app from App Store

Apple on Thursday removed the immigration enforcement tracking app, ICEBlock, from the App Store, citing "safety risks."

www.businessinsider.com

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 6d

“Fuck them kids.”

That’s literally what an ICE agent said when ICE, the FBI et al. raided an apartment in Chicago, including with a Blackhawk helicopter, separated children from their parents, and zip-tied them to each other.

abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...

bangs.

"They was terrified. The kids was crying. People was screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner, because they was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other," Watson said. "That's all I kept asking. What is the morality? Where's the human? One of them literally laughed. He was standing right here. He said, 'f*** them kids.'"

Watson said trucks and military-style vans were used to separate parents from their children. Other neighbors said agents destroyed property to get in the building.

"They had a big, 15-inch chainsaw with round blade on it, cutting this fence down," said witness Darrell Ballard. "We're under siege. We're being invaded by our own military."

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Brandy Schillace @bschillace.brandyschillace.com · 6d

Police shot two and killed one of the people bravely barring the door so the attacker couldn’t gain entry. The attacker did not have a gun.

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 6d

Two victims in Manchester attack were shot by police on.ft.com/42KdNBd

Two victims in Manchester attack were shot by police

Greater Manchester police say one of those shot by officers has died

on.ft.com

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John Carpenter’s ‘Halloran’ @profhalloran.bsky.social · 6d

If you’re in Illinois and you’re disturbed by the images that you’re seeing of the Illinois State Police in Broadview this morning, please call now. It will honestly take 30 seconds. I spoke to a real person.

Here are the phone numbers:

312-814-2121

312-814-2122

217-782-6830

217-782-6831

John Carpenter’s ‘Halloran’ @profhalloran.bsky.social · 6d

FYI:

A screencap of an Illinois state webpage with information about how to contact Governor Pritzker’s office.

Contact the Governor
To contact the Governor's Office, please use the following information:
Constituent Affairs Help Line:
Phone: 217-782-0244
Springfield
Office of the Governor
401 S. Spring St.
Springfield, IL 62704

Phone: 217-782-6830 or 217-782-6831

Chicago
Office of the Governor
555 W. Monroe St., 16th Floor
Chicago, IL 60661

Phone: 312-814-2121 or 312-814-2122

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