Middle Aged Monotropist
@relational.bsky.social
(she/they) Independent researcher, curator more than creator, academically + clinically trained chaplain, board game enthusiast. Resisting adultism and all power over dynamics. I believe a better world is possible, with care at the center.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
This is from the Washington Times. The reason he is trying to arm up ICE and DHS is because the military won't do his bidding to take over cities
‘He lost us’: Generals, senior officers say trust in Hegseth has evaporated
www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/oc...
www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/oc...
‘He lost us’: Generals, senior officers say trust in Hegseth has evaporated
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has lost the trust and respect of some top military commanders, with his public “grandstanding” widely seen as unprofessional and the personnel moves made by the former ...
www.washingtontimes.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:17 AM
This is from the Washington Times. The reason he is trying to arm up ICE and DHS is because the military won't do his bidding to take over cities
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
The best time to abolish ICE would have been in 2021. The next best time is if we win in 2028. At this point, any Democrat unwilling to abolish ICE must be drummed out of the primary.
ICE is stockpiling arms, including chemical weapons, guided missile warheads and explosive components. The spending dwarfs anything we've ever seen in the agency - a 700% increase.
The President is building an army to attack his own country.
The President is building an army to attack his own country.
October 21, 2025 at 5:10 PM
The best time to abolish ICE would have been in 2021. The next best time is if we win in 2028. At this point, any Democrat unwilling to abolish ICE must be drummed out of the primary.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
I want more people to care that SNAP benefits are being cut off on November 1. 40% of SNAP beneficiaries are children. This is callous and vile.
October 22, 2025 at 12:33 AM
I want more people to care that SNAP benefits are being cut off on November 1. 40% of SNAP beneficiaries are children. This is callous and vile.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
This isn’t just a bill.
It’s a fundamental restructuring of American society in which the poor are abandoned, and “immigration jails” outrank healthcare.
Billions taken from one and given to the other.
It’s a fundamental restructuring of American society in which the poor are abandoned, and “immigration jails” outrank healthcare.
Billions taken from one and given to the other.
Judd Legum explains 7 of the things in Trump's megabill:
1. Cuts $930B from Medicaid
2. 16M lose health ins
3. Slashes food asst for poor families by $186B
4. Lower incomes for bottom 40% of families
5. Increases deficit by $3.3T
6. $45B for new immigration jails
7. Billions for defense contractors
1. Cuts $930B from Medicaid
2. 16M lose health ins
3. Slashes food asst for poor families by $186B
4. Lower incomes for bottom 40% of families
5. Increases deficit by $3.3T
6. $45B for new immigration jails
7. Billions for defense contractors
7 things everyone should know about Trump's megabill
The Republican reconciliation legislation, which Trump calls his "big, beautiful bill," is massive.
open.substack.com
June 30, 2025 at 3:03 PM
This isn’t just a bill.
It’s a fundamental restructuring of American society in which the poor are abandoned, and “immigration jails” outrank healthcare.
Billions taken from one and given to the other.
It’s a fundamental restructuring of American society in which the poor are abandoned, and “immigration jails” outrank healthcare.
Billions taken from one and given to the other.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
I just don’t believe the American people want to lose Medicaid in exchange for building concentration camps. But I also don’t believe that most American voters know this is what’s happening. Someone should tell them.
June 30, 2025 at 3:46 PM
I just don’t believe the American people want to lose Medicaid in exchange for building concentration camps. But I also don’t believe that most American voters know this is what’s happening. Someone should tell them.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
Federal officers from across US government depts have joined ICE to execute raids, but we don't know who they are while they widely cover their faces + refuse to identify themselves.
"Masked agents in casual clothing using force against people in public is associated with police states."
"Masked agents in casual clothing using force against people in public is associated with police states."
The alarming rise of US officers hiding behind masks: ‘A police state’
Mike German, an ex-FBI agent, said immigration agents hiding their identities ‘highlights the illegitimacy of actions’
www.theguardian.com
June 25, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Federal officers from across US government depts have joined ICE to execute raids, but we don't know who they are while they widely cover their faces + refuse to identify themselves.
"Masked agents in casual clothing using force against people in public is associated with police states."
"Masked agents in casual clothing using force against people in public is associated with police states."
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
Mahmoud Khalil, finally free, speaks out
I was at the rally today, a block from Columbia, where Mahmoud gave his most extensive public comments since being freed on Friday. He called himself “a freedom fighter,” “a refugee,” “a father & husband,” & “above all… a Palestinian.”
New @motherjones.com
I was at the rally today, a block from Columbia, where Mahmoud gave his most extensive public comments since being freed on Friday. He called himself “a freedom fighter,” “a refugee,” “a father & husband,” & “above all… a Palestinian.”
New @motherjones.com
Mahmoud Khalil, finally free, speaks out
"There isn't any shred of evidence that what I did or said is wrong," he told a rally near Columbia University celebrating his release from ICE.
www.motherjones.com
June 23, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Mahmoud Khalil, finally free, speaks out
I was at the rally today, a block from Columbia, where Mahmoud gave his most extensive public comments since being freed on Friday. He called himself “a freedom fighter,” “a refugee,” “a father & husband,” & “above all… a Palestinian.”
New @motherjones.com
I was at the rally today, a block from Columbia, where Mahmoud gave his most extensive public comments since being freed on Friday. He called himself “a freedom fighter,” “a refugee,” “a father & husband,” & “above all… a Palestinian.”
New @motherjones.com
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
In this piece I argue that the myth of therapist neutrality is harming our clients—especially those living through systemic oppression.
I write about why therapists must stop pretending politics don’t belong in the therapy room.
@mad-in-america.bsky.social
I write about why therapists must stop pretending politics don’t belong in the therapy room.
@mad-in-america.bsky.social
Therapists, Neutrality Is No Longer an Option — Politics Is Tearing Us Apart
by Silvi Saxena
To my fellow therapists: stop playing neutral. Stop minimizing systemic trauma to keep your comfort intact.
www.madinamerica.com/2025/06/ther...
by Silvi Saxena
To my fellow therapists: stop playing neutral. Stop minimizing systemic trauma to keep your comfort intact.
www.madinamerica.com/2025/06/ther...
Therapists, Neutrality Is No Longer an Option — Politics Is Tearing Us Apart
To my fellow therapists: stop playing neutral. Stop minimizing systemic trauma to keep your comfort intact.
www.madinamerica.com
June 16, 2025 at 9:35 PM
In this piece I argue that the myth of therapist neutrality is harming our clients—especially those living through systemic oppression.
I write about why therapists must stop pretending politics don’t belong in the therapy room.
@mad-in-america.bsky.social
I write about why therapists must stop pretending politics don’t belong in the therapy room.
@mad-in-america.bsky.social
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
This one is important. Share it widely. "Contrary to conventional wisdom, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests this year have dwarfed those in 2017, and they have been extraordinarily peaceful." wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer...
American Spring? How nonviolent protest in the US is accelerating
Contrary to conventional wisdom, anti-Trump protests this year have dwarfed 2017 in size, and they have been extraordinarily peaceful.
wagingnonviolence.org
June 13, 2025 at 9:16 AM
This one is important. Share it widely. "Contrary to conventional wisdom, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests this year have dwarfed those in 2017, and they have been extraordinarily peaceful." wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer...
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
@prisonculture.bsky.social and I have been encouraging people to read chapter six of our book, Let This Radicalize You, which deals with the question of "violence" in social movements. We have decided to share the chapter publicly, to offer some context and grounding for the current conversation.
Protest, Power, and the Violence Debate
"We are told we are experiencing peace, so long as everyone is cooperating."
organizingmythoughts.org
June 13, 2025 at 1:49 PM
@prisonculture.bsky.social and I have been encouraging people to read chapter six of our book, Let This Radicalize You, which deals with the question of "violence" in social movements. We have decided to share the chapter publicly, to offer some context and grounding for the current conversation.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
I was at a car wash in Culver City today that was raided twice last weekend by ICE. 25 car wash workers and 1 customer have been kidnapped over the past several days, and the whereabouts of most of them is unknown. I spoke to families of the kidnap victims:
prospect.org/justice/2025...
prospect.org/justice/2025...
ICE Kidnappings Stoke Fear and Outrage Across Los Angeles
Families spoke about the horrors of having their loved ones snatched off the streets, with no knowledge of their current whereabouts.
prospect.org
June 11, 2025 at 9:22 PM
I was at a car wash in Culver City today that was raided twice last weekend by ICE. 25 car wash workers and 1 customer have been kidnapped over the past several days, and the whereabouts of most of them is unknown. I spoke to families of the kidnap victims:
prospect.org/justice/2025...
prospect.org/justice/2025...
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
This thread is important to read. Where we are in American history is deeply rooted and I strongly feel adds to how we are all easily dehumanized, and dehumanize each other, especially with how we're viewed as workers (or not workers!). Antiblackness is at the core of it.
Read up!
Read up!
if you know about slave patrols and don’t see that they’re the basis of ICE and policing in the US, maybe you shouldn’t be announcing your intention to “sit this one out.” it’s not a day party. it’s the material reality in which we all live.
June 11, 2025 at 4:11 PM
This thread is important to read. Where we are in American history is deeply rooted and I strongly feel adds to how we are all easily dehumanized, and dehumanize each other, especially with how we're viewed as workers (or not workers!). Antiblackness is at the core of it.
Read up!
Read up!
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
BREAKING: A few minutes ago, a vehicle of three people was rammed by a truck belonging to federal immigration authorities in Boyle Heights, CA. According to security footage shown to me, they deployed chemical munitions & detained the driver at gunpoint. All are US citizens according to the wife.
June 11, 2025 at 6:00 PM
BREAKING: A few minutes ago, a vehicle of three people was rammed by a truck belonging to federal immigration authorities in Boyle Heights, CA. According to security footage shown to me, they deployed chemical munitions & detained the driver at gunpoint. All are US citizens according to the wife.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
"What we are witnessing in Los Angeles is not only a protest; it is self-defense." Fuck yeah, @melissagiragrant.com. Read and share this. newrepublic.com/article/1963...
The Los Angeles Protests Are an Act of Self-Defense
Residents of L.A. aren’t merely protesting ICE; they’re attempting to protect their communities from ICE’s raids.
newrepublic.com
June 10, 2025 at 6:46 PM
"What we are witnessing in Los Angeles is not only a protest; it is self-defense." Fuck yeah, @melissagiragrant.com. Read and share this. newrepublic.com/article/1963...
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
NEW: The Trump admin has plans to send thousands of foreigners to Guantanamo beginning as early as this week, including citizens of close allies UK & France, with no intention of notifying their home governments in advance, per sources and documents
June 10, 2025 at 8:57 PM
NEW: The Trump admin has plans to send thousands of foreigners to Guantanamo beginning as early as this week, including citizens of close allies UK & France, with no intention of notifying their home governments in advance, per sources and documents
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
I'ma tell you all what I tell my clients.
You feel bad because it is bad. You are unmotivated to go to work because the world is on fire & the government is sending people to kidnap children and adults & maiming people who try to stop them.
You are having a normal reaction to obscene circumstances.
You feel bad because it is bad. You are unmotivated to go to work because the world is on fire & the government is sending people to kidnap children and adults & maiming people who try to stop them.
You are having a normal reaction to obscene circumstances.
June 10, 2025 at 3:31 AM
I'ma tell you all what I tell my clients.
You feel bad because it is bad. You are unmotivated to go to work because the world is on fire & the government is sending people to kidnap children and adults & maiming people who try to stop them.
You are having a normal reaction to obscene circumstances.
You feel bad because it is bad. You are unmotivated to go to work because the world is on fire & the government is sending people to kidnap children and adults & maiming people who try to stop them.
You are having a normal reaction to obscene circumstances.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
Telling ICE (an organization that acts no different from every secret police force in dictatorships throughout history) to fuck off isn’t just noble, it’s a civic duty; it’s mandatory.
June 10, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Telling ICE (an organization that acts no different from every secret police force in dictatorships throughout history) to fuck off isn’t just noble, it’s a civic duty; it’s mandatory.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
Be careful, friends, when you read accounts of what is happening in LA. We will hear a lot about violence, and it is essential to remember who is defining that term.
"When state actors refer to peace, they are really taking about order..." (@prisonculture.bsky.social and @mskellymhayes.bsky.social)
"When state actors refer to peace, they are really taking about order..." (@prisonculture.bsky.social and @mskellymhayes.bsky.social)
June 9, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Be careful, friends, when you read accounts of what is happening in LA. We will hear a lot about violence, and it is essential to remember who is defining that term.
"When state actors refer to peace, they are really taking about order..." (@prisonculture.bsky.social and @mskellymhayes.bsky.social)
"When state actors refer to peace, they are really taking about order..." (@prisonculture.bsky.social and @mskellymhayes.bsky.social)
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
"Nothing / none" is the second most frequent response. We are not breaking through.
If you care about health care (Medicaid,, Medicare, the ACA), if you care about SNAP, if you care about ordinary Americans, this ought to be very alarming.
If you care about health care (Medicaid,, Medicare, the ACA), if you care about SNAP, if you care about ordinary Americans, this ought to be very alarming.
NEW: We asked over 1200 survey respondents for the news story they've heard about the most in the past week
Only 44 respondents mentioned the GOP budget bill.
Of those, only 14 mentioned cuts to social programs like Medicaid.
www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2025/6/...
Only 44 respondents mentioned the GOP budget bill.
Of those, only 14 mentioned cuts to social programs like Medicaid.
www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2025/6/...
![The Most Heard News Story From May 30–June 1 Was Tariffs
Tariffs / TACO: 270 mentions (highest)
Nothing / none: 167
[All other items]: 106
DOGE / Elon Musk leaving administration: 102
Court rulings on Trump policies: 67
Immigration / deportations: 67
Blank / unintelligible: 66
General comments about Trump administration: 45
Pardons (Hoover, Chrisleys, etc): 45
GOP budget bill / Taxes / Cuts to social services: 44 (with a note highlighting that 14 responses specifically mention cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, or Social Security)
Harvard / Education funding / Student visas: 38
Russia-Ukraine: 26
Israel-Gaza: 25
Joe Biden (health, cancer, "autopen", etc.): 24
Foreign policy (not Ukraine or Gaza): 23
Don't know: 20
Sean "Diddy" Combs trial: 20
Crime: 19
Weather: 17
General economic concerns (inflation, stock market, etc.): 16
Qatari jet: 15
New Orleans prison escape: 10
Data for Progress survey conducted May 30–June 1, 2025.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ltzetlayeqsp4qu7pb4irz24/bafkreibxasrnucsxgyptajkitl475tlqbh7n757d5tx65cnv77edmhlfve@jpeg)
June 4, 2025 at 4:30 PM
"Nothing / none" is the second most frequent response. We are not breaking through.
If you care about health care (Medicaid,, Medicare, the ACA), if you care about SNAP, if you care about ordinary Americans, this ought to be very alarming.
If you care about health care (Medicaid,, Medicare, the ACA), if you care about SNAP, if you care about ordinary Americans, this ought to be very alarming.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
THREAD. A lot of attention is rightly going to Medicaid cuts and other very bad things in Trump's bill passed by the House, but there's something else that isn't getting enough attention, that is very difficult to find in any news coverage, but that will fundamentally alter life for all of us.
May 24, 2025 at 4:25 PM
THREAD. A lot of attention is rightly going to Medicaid cuts and other very bad things in Trump's bill passed by the House, but there's something else that isn't getting enough attention, that is very difficult to find in any news coverage, but that will fundamentally alter life for all of us.
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
Gift link to a detailed account of how the Heritage Foundation, the think tank behind the authoritarian Project 2025, plays a key role in the despicable campaign (eagerly adopted by the Trump GOP) to cast any objection to Israel's slaughter of civilians as "antisemitism" or "terrorism": is.gd/q1OT2n
Inside the Heritage Foundation’s Plan to Crush the U.S. Palestinian Movement (Gift Article)
Even before President Trump was re-elected, the Heritage Foundation, best known for Project 2025, set out to destroy pro-Palestinian activism in the United States.
is.gd
May 20, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Gift link to a detailed account of how the Heritage Foundation, the think tank behind the authoritarian Project 2025, plays a key role in the despicable campaign (eagerly adopted by the Trump GOP) to cast any objection to Israel's slaughter of civilians as "antisemitism" or "terrorism": is.gd/q1OT2n
Reposted by Middle Aged Monotropist
"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing."
Malcolm X was born #OnThisDay in 1925.
Malcolm X was born #OnThisDay in 1925.
May 19, 2025 at 5:01 AM
"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing."
Malcolm X was born #OnThisDay in 1925.
Malcolm X was born #OnThisDay in 1925.