Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
@robvgr.bsky.social
Executive Director of *culture is not optional / The Huss Project. Mennonite. Chicago sports fan.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Surviving CECOT (full documentary) | Deported to a Maximum-Security Prison | FRONTLINE + ProPublica
YouTube video by FRONTLINE PBS | Official
m.youtube.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
JD Vance cozying up to the sort of white supremacists who would consider his wife and children insufficiently white (and hence American) is pretty bleak, and says a lot about his character.
December 22, 2025 at 1:46 AM
JD Vance cozying up to the sort of white supremacists who would consider his wife and children insufficiently white (and hence American) is pretty bleak, and says a lot about his character.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
Why would anyone risk themselves to go on 60 Minutes after this? How can viewers ever trust CBS News to report fairly on topics this White House is sensitive about?
December 22, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Why would anyone risk themselves to go on 60 Minutes after this? How can viewers ever trust CBS News to report fairly on topics this White House is sensitive about?
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
she's just doing what she was hired to do
Why would you need to put a pause on a story that has been meticulously fact-checked and lawyered?
Sounds like the kind of story you’d want to run right away!
Sounds like the kind of story you’d want to run right away!
December 22, 2025 at 2:22 AM
she's just doing what she was hired to do
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
Once again a reminder: We can have trans rights, bodily autonomy, gender nonconformity, and freedom of expression, or we can have none of these things.
There’s no third option.
There’s no third option.
In addition to this administration trying to kill kids, and they're also coming for our binders? OUR BINDERS.
December 19, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Once again a reminder: We can have trans rights, bodily autonomy, gender nonconformity, and freedom of expression, or we can have none of these things.
There’s no third option.
There’s no third option.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
Hi this is the OFFICIAL STANCE OF THE HHS words cannot describe how rough 2026 is going to be for trans folks and how much we are going to need your support
"Men are men. Men can never become women. Women are women. Women can never become men."
December 18, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Hi this is the OFFICIAL STANCE OF THE HHS words cannot describe how rough 2026 is going to be for trans folks and how much we are going to need your support
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
Again, I really wish more papers would get accustomed to the form “Trump unlawfully pretends to…” when describing things Trump says he’s doing but has no legal power to do.
Like renaming the Defense Department the "War Department," the name of the Kennedy Center has not been legally changed, because Congress has not changed it-->
Kennedy Center renamed the 'Trump-Kennedy Center,' White House says www.usatoday.com/story/news/p... via @usatoday.com
Kennedy Center renamed the 'Trump-Kennedy Center,' White House says www.usatoday.com/story/news/p... via @usatoday.com
Kennedy Center renamed the 'Trump-Kennedy Center,' White House says
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington is now called the the "Trump-Kennedy Center," according to the White House.
www.usatoday.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Again, I really wish more papers would get accustomed to the form “Trump unlawfully pretends to…” when describing things Trump says he’s doing but has no legal power to do.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
I cannot emphasize how serious an assault on democracy this is. Any effort by the Trump administration to engage in false claims of fraud or mass voter suppression relies on this as a building block. As importantly, there is no legitimate reason DOJ would want this information.
🚨BREAKING: The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Georgia, Illinois, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. Thursday for unfettered access to the states’ voter registration records. The federal government has now filed lawsuits against 21 states, plus D.C.
This is a developing story...
This is a developing story...
DOJ Sues Georgia, Illinois, Wisconsin and DC, Expanding Campaign of Voter Data Lawsuits to 22
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:54 PM
I cannot emphasize how serious an assault on democracy this is. Any effort by the Trump administration to engage in false claims of fraud or mass voter suppression relies on this as a building block. As importantly, there is no legitimate reason DOJ would want this information.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
It didn't get enough attention that Susie Wiles said she had read materials protected by grand jury secrecy and other protective orders.
![Wiles told me she’d read what she calls “the Epstein file.” And, she said, “[Trump] is in the file. And we know he’s in the file. And he’s not in the file doing anything awful.” Wiles said that Trump “was on [Epstein’s] plane…he’s on the manifest. They were, you know, sort of young, single, whatever—I know it’s a passé word but sort of young, single playboys together.” (Trump started dating Melania Knauss, whom he married in 2005, sometime in 1998. Virginia Giuffre, Epstein’s most prominent accuser, who died by suicide earlier this year, first met Epstein while she was a Mar-a-Lago spa worker in 2000. Trump and Epstein reportedly had a falling out in 2004.)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreicrr4rb4hqynyivvjewudmis2jiuzqt2gruaed3bgum7lklkpkeja@jpeg)
December 18, 2025 at 12:35 PM
It didn't get enough attention that Susie Wiles said she had read materials protected by grand jury secrecy and other protective orders.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
"May have to be approved by Congress"
May?
Don't. Print. Lies. In. The. Newspapers.
🤷♂️🤦♂️
May?
Don't. Print. Lies. In. The. Newspapers.
🤷♂️🤦♂️
That’s quite a peppy headline for yet another outrageous dictator move.
December 19, 2025 at 1:13 AM
"May have to be approved by Congress"
May?
Don't. Print. Lies. In. The. Newspapers.
🤷♂️🤦♂️
May?
Don't. Print. Lies. In. The. Newspapers.
🤷♂️🤦♂️
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
so far tonight msnbc has interviewed two students from brown university that are also survivors of separate high school shootings.
insanity.
insanity.
December 14, 2025 at 1:28 AM
so far tonight msnbc has interviewed two students from brown university that are also survivors of separate high school shootings.
insanity.
insanity.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
I’ll keep banging the drum for getting rid of the second amendment. None of you need a gun.
December 13, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I’ll keep banging the drum for getting rid of the second amendment. None of you need a gun.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
Socially punishing trans ppl depends on the idea that literally every single person knows who is and isn't trans on sight.
But they don't. They rely on stereotypes. Which means that hating trans ppl just means hating ppl who break gender rules, which causes individuals to fear breaking those rules.
But they don't. They rely on stereotypes. Which means that hating trans ppl just means hating ppl who break gender rules, which causes individuals to fear breaking those rules.
I understand that a lot of folks have been misled by fear-mongering and powerful regressive voices but it’s still astonishing to me that so many have fallen for the idea that oppressively policing other people’s gender identity and expression could in any way be part of an enlightened future.
December 14, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Socially punishing trans ppl depends on the idea that literally every single person knows who is and isn't trans on sight.
But they don't. They rely on stereotypes. Which means that hating trans ppl just means hating ppl who break gender rules, which causes individuals to fear breaking those rules.
But they don't. They rely on stereotypes. Which means that hating trans ppl just means hating ppl who break gender rules, which causes individuals to fear breaking those rules.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
“Supreme Court reform is now the sine qua non of any reformist program in the United States, any program to re-implant/re-secure civic democracy in the United States.” talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/court...
Court Reform: Breaking the Corrupt Rule of the Six GOPers Is Everything
I’ve become something of a broken record on this. But repetition sometimes...
talkingpointsmemo.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:30 PM
“Supreme Court reform is now the sine qua non of any reformist program in the United States, any program to re-implant/re-secure civic democracy in the United States.” talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/court...
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
This lady was the Steve Jobs of the Online Death Threat Industry for like 10 years. Not to be a dick, but fucking spare me.
Marjorie Taylor Greene claims she shared with Trump death threat she received that he incited, and his response was "extremely unkind"
December 8, 2025 at 3:26 AM
This lady was the Steve Jobs of the Online Death Threat Industry for like 10 years. Not to be a dick, but fucking spare me.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
Yesterday, I held a music festival in my district to register voters and speak directly to young people who don’t usually attend political events. 4,500 tickets. Music + advocacy go hand in hand. Madsoul Festival 2025 was a success.
December 8, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Yesterday, I held a music festival in my district to register voters and speak directly to young people who don’t usually attend political events. 4,500 tickets. Music + advocacy go hand in hand. Madsoul Festival 2025 was a success.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
Abolish ICE.
“Guzmán’s daughter was still in the NICU, unable to eat or breathe independently. The doctors had planned a meeting to review the baby’s prognosis and care plans… As Guzmán went to buckle her seatbelt, she looked out the window and noticed they were surrounded.”
Her baby was in the NICU. She was in ICE detention.
Before Trump took office, postpartum immigrants were rarely detained by ICE. Nayra Guzmán was detained while her 15-day-old baby was in the NICU.
19thnews.org
December 8, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Abolish ICE.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
Look, I'm just gonna tell cishet white people right now--Newsom ain't the one. You got Walz and Pritzker out here. You do not need a Bill Clinton clone wearing Mitt Romney's skin.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that the Democratic Party needed to be “more culturally normal” and “less judgmental.”
December 7, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Look, I'm just gonna tell cishet white people right now--Newsom ain't the one. You got Walz and Pritzker out here. You do not need a Bill Clinton clone wearing Mitt Romney's skin.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
@handsoffnyc.bsky.social is training thousands of New Yorkers on how to protect their neighbors from ICE. Today, they are currently running two trainings in Brooklyn and the Bronx, both of which hit capacity because interest was so high.
This is the way, y’all—we protect each other, and we know it.
This is the way, y’all—we protect each other, and we know it.
December 6, 2025 at 7:10 PM
@handsoffnyc.bsky.social is training thousands of New Yorkers on how to protect their neighbors from ICE. Today, they are currently running two trainings in Brooklyn and the Bronx, both of which hit capacity because interest was so high.
This is the way, y’all—we protect each other, and we know it.
This is the way, y’all—we protect each other, and we know it.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
There has been no debate here among constitutional scholars, historians, political scientists, anyone with a pulse really.
Any telling you that this very straightforward point, one that has been universally accepted for a century and a half, is now an "abstruse" issue is just a liar and a hack.
Any telling you that this very straightforward point, one that has been universally accepted for a century and a half, is now an "abstruse" issue is just a liar and a hack.
Anyone who knows this history should know there’s no contested issue.
December 7, 2025 at 12:50 AM
There has been no debate here among constitutional scholars, historians, political scientists, anyone with a pulse really.
Any telling you that this very straightforward point, one that has been universally accepted for a century and a half, is now an "abstruse" issue is just a liar and a hack.
Any telling you that this very straightforward point, one that has been universally accepted for a century and a half, is now an "abstruse" issue is just a liar and a hack.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
It’s truly hard to reconcile a lifetime of believing that the purpose of government in the United States is to help citizens with the hatred ICE and other federal agencies have displayed for Americans in Chicago, LA, DC and other US cities
In Elgin, ICE agents have been in a standoff with the community as they’re trying to arrest a man. Here’s an altercation between the feds and residents ending with arrest and pepper spray. Video from Sophia Peterson
December 7, 2025 at 2:30 AM
It’s truly hard to reconcile a lifetime of believing that the purpose of government in the United States is to help citizens with the hatred ICE and other federal agencies have displayed for Americans in Chicago, LA, DC and other US cities
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
There is no sight that more efficiently puts the lie to immigration “court” than the common sight of children “representing themselves.” Children too small to climb into the chair, children in pajamas who don’t know where they are, children not yet old enough to speak.
Three-year-old child forced to serve as her own attorney in Tucson immigration court
More than a dozen undocumented minors were forced to make their case in front of an immigration judge as the Trump administration ramps up removal proceedings.
coppercourier.com
December 6, 2025 at 5:18 PM
There is no sight that more efficiently puts the lie to immigration “court” than the common sight of children “representing themselves.” Children too small to climb into the chair, children in pajamas who don’t know where they are, children not yet old enough to speak.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
Read this: www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
December 7, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Read this: www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
No, saying "oligarchy" isn't the problem. No, the "faculty lounge" isn't the problem. No, a lack of Doing A Popularism isn't the problem. No, the Democratic Party not being "culturally normal" enough or too "judgmental" is not the problem.
We don't have to keep doing this. It's exhausting.
We don't have to keep doing this. It's exhausting.
December 7, 2025 at 2:40 AM
No, saying "oligarchy" isn't the problem. No, the "faculty lounge" isn't the problem. No, a lack of Doing A Popularism isn't the problem. No, the Democratic Party not being "culturally normal" enough or too "judgmental" is not the problem.
We don't have to keep doing this. It's exhausting.
We don't have to keep doing this. It's exhausting.
Reposted by Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
SCOTUS has spoken. Right? Every blue state needs to get onboard with this. And hurry the hell up.
If gerrymandering were illegal nationwide, Republicans would struggle to hold the House at all. The only thing propping them up all these years are rigged maps.
If gerrymandering were illegal nationwide, Republicans would struggle to hold the House at all. The only thing propping them up all these years are rigged maps.
December 5, 2025 at 1:07 AM
SCOTUS has spoken. Right? Every blue state needs to get onboard with this. And hurry the hell up.
If gerrymandering were illegal nationwide, Republicans would struggle to hold the House at all. The only thing propping them up all these years are rigged maps.
If gerrymandering were illegal nationwide, Republicans would struggle to hold the House at all. The only thing propping them up all these years are rigged maps.