Sam Menefee-Libey
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sml47.bsky.social
Sam Menefee-Libey
@sml47.bsky.social
860 followers 1.3K following 2K posts
Antifascist. Abolitionist. Anthropology, Critical Theory, American Studies, dogs, film, music, democratic pedagogy, degrowth and bioregionalism in greater Los Angeles. This world (system) we must leave. https://boxd.it/6oFrP
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sml47.bsky.social
lol
Screenshot of a push notification from the LA Times “Federal agent injured in clash with protesters in downtown L.A. during student walkout”
February 14, 2026 at 2:51 AM
sml47.bsky.social
I have spent many hours trapped under a clingy (but adorable!) dog.
Pit mix rests her head on my chest as I take a picture Pit mix sleeps on my arm as I take a picture Pit mix with a mlem dozes by my side in a hotel room. Pit mix snuggles
February 13, 2026 at 9:44 PM
sml47.bsky.social
In 1989, Gorbachev understood there was no containing the popular uprisings without military force, so he explicitly, publicly ruled that out. No govt committees took down the Berlin Wall - people took their own initiative after being assured they would not be killed. time.com/5714770/mikh...
In Gorbechev’s own words (to be read critically): Subsequent events confirmed that the G.D.R. regime was rapidly losing ground. The protests and the political demands-from freedom of emigration to freedom of speech and the dissolution of government bodies to the reunification of Germany-were gaining momentum. The fall of the Berlin Wall was therefore not a surprise for us. The fact that it happened on Nov. 9, 1989, was the result of specific circumstances and the evolution of popular mood. In those conditions, the Soviet leadership's first step was to rule out military force by the Soviet troops stationed in the G.D.R. At the same time, we did our utmost to make sure that the process moved along peaceful lines, without infringing on the vital interests of our country or undermining peace in Europe.
February 10, 2026 at 8:20 PM
sml47.bsky.social
We are not winning. The lie that we are serves as an understandable, yet nevertheless compensatory fantasy, forged under truly heartless conditions of daily abductions and abuses, alongside the unremunerated drudgery of a resistance which we desperately hope will pay off. This copium of the masses, in which we all can't but indulge to varying degrees, offers a brief respite from facing the unbearable reality that resistance as we've been conducting it has not only failed to push ICE out, but even to keep them from killing our patrollers, while exposing many of us to the same risk. "All our efforts are failures until we win, as a deceased comrade once put it, and we haven't won until all ICE and CBP agents are out of Minnesota. Let us not be fooled by comforting but premature proclamations of victory. Concessions are never just concessions, but attempts at pacification and demobilization. The ouster of Gregory Bovino and replacement by Border Czar Tom Homan is just such an attempt. In truth, it is the practice of rapid response that harbors the most potent seeds of strategic escalation. It is not hotel noise demos, not one-day sick-outs heralded as a "general strike," not even autonomous direct action (all of which we support), and surely not LARPy, macho armed marches through the streets of South Minneapolis — but rather that most legally innocuous and inclusive mode of resistance which has so far exhibited the greatest potential in actually obstructing the deportation regime. (As an aside, it's worth noting that in the suburbs and rural areas, active patrollers and responders are disproportionately women, many of them mothers.) But the seeds gestating in the networks will only sprout when rapid response comes to recognize and realize itself as what it always has been, in all but its official codifications. The point doesn't escape our adversaries. In a viral tweet, former Green Beret Eric Schwalm plagiarizes ChatGPT to concoct a patently ridiculous but telling characterization of the "low-level insurgency infrastructure" of Minnesotans' rapid response networks.
February 10, 2026 at 1:37 AM
sml47.bsky.social
Hell yeah.
In addition to their latent insurgent potential, the Twin Cities' rapid response networks signal the possible resurgence of a proletarian civic life independent of the mainstream two-party system and the institutions of a decrepit civil society and left-wing milieu. In the suburbs especially, thousands of working-class people have glimpsed the prospect of a more meaningful experience of community, following decades of atomization and a decaying social fabric. The formation of these networks, from Minneapolis and Saint Paul to the suburbs, and even into parts of the exurbs and rural hinterland, has provided a rich supply of oxygen and nutrients to the formerly comatose brain of working-class civic life, spurring the formation of new socio-neural connections. These proto-political networks harbor the potential to mature into class institutions tasked with coordinating sustained oppositional political and economic action, while restoring a social fabric promised, but never delivered, by so many astroturfed campaigns that too often accomplish little more than channeling our longing for collective agency into transferable email lists.
February 10, 2026 at 12:27 AM
sml47.bsky.social
YOUR RING CAMERA Is AN ICE AGENT. IN OCTOBER of 2025, AMAZON'S RING ANNOUNCED ITS PARTNERSHIP WITH FLOCK, an A.I. SURVEILLANCE GROUP THAT FREELY SHARES ITS FOOTAGE WITH ICE, the SECRET SERVICE, & the NAVY. FLOCK CUSTOMERS CAN USE A.I. TOOLS TO SIFT THROUGH FOOTAGE to ASSIST in ALL MANNER of OPERATIONS (DEPORTATIONS) WITHOUT a WARRANT. UNPLUG RING! MELT ICE! PROTECT YOUR NEIGHBORS! FOR MORE INFO, SEE: https://www.404media.co/ice-taps-into-nationwide-ai-enabled-camera-network-data-shows/ https://www.cnet.com/home/security/amazons-ring-cameras-push-deeper-into-police-and-government-surveillance/ https://blog.ring.com/about-ring/ring-expands-community-requests-to-additional-community-safety-partners/ https://www.404media.co/ice-secret-service-navy-all-had-access-to-flocks-nationwide-network-of-cameras/ https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/we-are-danger-rings-new-facial-tracking-feature-shown-super-bowl-ad-raises-ice-surveillance-1777457
February 9, 2026 at 8:10 PM
sml47.bsky.social
(One of) the first double feature(s) at my movie theater
The Passion of Joan of Arc (dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928) The Devils (dir. Ken Russel, 1971)
February 5, 2026 at 11:59 PM
sml47.bsky.social
Jjinandtonic @jjinandtonic.bsky.social Follow man radiates "front towards enemy" energy, just point him the right way and go 9:33 AM • Jan 12, 2026
February 3, 2026 at 8:03 PM
sml47.bsky.social
Kristi Noem has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants. /SECRETARY/ Noem, however, is constrained by both our Constitution and the APA to apply faithfully the facts to the law in implementing the TPS program.
VIl. CONCLUSION There is an old adage among lawyers. If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither, pound the table. Secretary Noem, the record to-date shows, does not have the facts on her side or at least has ignored them. Does not have the law on her side-or at least has ignored it. Having neither and bringing the adage into the 21st century, she pounds X (f/k/a Twitter). Kristi Noem has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants. Secretary Noem, however, is constrained by both our Constitution and the APA to apply faithfully the facts to the law in implementing the TPS program. The record to-date shows she has yet to do that. By accompanying Order, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' Renewed Motion for a Stay Under 5 U.S.C. § 705. Date: February 2, 2026 ANA C. REYES United States District Judge
February 3, 2026 at 2:10 AM
sml47.bsky.social
Unclear what documents ProPublica reviewed, but they sound sure in a way that must have been cleared by legal.

I really hope this woman has strong community protection.
Ochoa, who goes by Jesse, graduated from the University of Texas-Pan American with a degree in criminal justice, according to his ex-wife, Angelica Ochoa. A longtime resident of the Rio Grande Valley, Ochoa had for years dreamed of working for the Border Patrol and finally landed a job there, she said. By the time the couple split in 2021, he had become a gun enthusiast with about 25 rifles, pistols and shotguns, Angelica Ochoa said.
February 1, 2026 at 9:59 PM
sml47.bsky.social
Chapter 1 of this book is about how Freud changed his theories and methods because he wanted to avoid the implication that child sexual abuse was common amongst the bourgeoisie.
Trauma and Recovery: The aftermath of violence—from domestic abuse to political terror by Judith Herman (Basic Books, 1992)
January 31, 2026 at 9:30 PM
sml47.bsky.social
That’s definitely not true of Gelderloos, whose recent “The Solutions Are Already Here” is deeply critical of all settler legacies and colonial practices. This is the full preface.

“They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us” also persistently centers decolonial analysis.
Preface This book is about solutions to the crisis that is destroying our planet and so many of its inhabitants. It is not another warning that will only make us more depressed about the problem. Neither is it a quick fix designed to make us feel better for now, as the problem only festers. It is about staring the problem in the face and being honest with ourselves about the changes we have to make to truly solve it. Because the exploitation of the planet is interrelated with exploitation in human societies, the ecological crisis is very much a question of justice, reparations, or revolution. Consistent with the critiques I present here about climate apartheid and green colonialism, all of the author proceeds from sales of this book will go to Indigenous initiatives against ecocide and for the recovery of their territories in Indonesia and Brazil, to communities who supported this book by giving interviews and arranging for its translation into other languages.
January 27, 2026 at 5:59 PM
sml47.bsky.social
January 26, 2026 at 4:06 PM
sml47.bsky.social
TIME JAN 25, 2026 1:59 AM CET Iran Protest Death Toll Could Top 30,000, According to Local Health Officials by Kay Armin Serjoie, Roxana Saberi, and Fatemeh Jamalpour
January 25, 2026 at 4:21 PM
sml47.bsky.social
Reading up on what needs to be expunged, rebuked, and comprehensively replaced in reconstruction
Replenishing the Earth: The Settler Revolution and the Rise of the Anglo World, 1783-1939 by James Belich (Oxford University Press, 2009)
January 25, 2026 at 7:42 AM
sml47.bsky.social
(One of) the first double feature(s)at my movie theater
The Great Dictator (dir. Charlie Chaplin, 1940) Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
January 25, 2026 at 4:43 AM
sml47.bsky.social
A preview of adolescence 😬
Meme of stages of dog development 0-4 months: adorable puppy 4-24 months: velociraptor 24 months +: adorable dog
January 23, 2026 at 11:36 PM
sml47.bsky.social
(One of) the first double feature(s) at my movie theater
Triumph Over Violence (dir. Mikhail Romm, 1965) The Dawn of the Damned (dir. Ahmed Rachedi, 1965)
January 21, 2026 at 8:45 PM
sml47.bsky.social
PRISONS ARE FOR BURNING.
January 20, 2026 at 12:43 AM
sml47.bsky.social
If you want to think through the complex legacies of “nonviolence” and what they mean for the current polycrisis, this book is very helpful. www.akpress.org/nonviolence-...
NONVIOLENCE AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE: UNARMED INSURRECTION AND THE RHETORIC OF RESISTANCE SHON MECKFESSEL
January 19, 2026 at 6:36 PM
sml47.bsky.social
If you want deeper historical context for Birmingham, this is a truly great work of historical, political, and geographic analysis of one locality of US apartheid. www.ugapress.org/978082035627...
(GEOGRAPHIES OF JUSTICE AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION 46) America'sJohannesburg: INDUSTRIALIZATION AND RACIAL TRANSFORMATION IN BIRMINGHAM BOBBY M. WILSON FOREWORD BY RUTH WILSON GILMORE
January 19, 2026 at 6:29 PM
sml47.bsky.social
January 19, 2026 at 4:46 PM
sml47.bsky.social
Hands holding the assembly instructions for a flat-pack guillotine
January 19, 2026 at 8:34 AM
sml47.bsky.social
(One of) the first double feature(s) at my movie theater
Streetwise (dir. Martin Bell, 1984) The Decline of Western Civilization: Part III (dir. Penelope Spheeris, 1998)
January 18, 2026 at 4:44 AM
sml47.bsky.social
I’m thinking a lot about this section of Paul Gilroy’s “After Empire” today, thinking about what it means for national political cultures to try and leave behind the narcissistic impulse to try and make an imperial country “great again.”
These telling words illuminate a larger cultural problem. They encapsulate what has become a widespread desire—to allocate a large measure of blame for the Empire to its victims and then seek to usurp their honored place of suffering, winning many immediate political and psychological benefits in the process. Much of this embarrassing sentiment is today held captive by an unhealthy and destructive postimperial hungering for renewed greatness. Colley is again right in seeing that during the twentieth century, this desire feeds Britain's vicarious investments in U.S. preeminence. She is not, however, inclined to connect the desire for recovered greatness with the magical appeal of restored racial and ethnic homogeneity. The appeal of being great again was central to Mrs. Thatcher's premiership, particularly after her South… (pg 103) Gilroy, Paul - After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture? (Routledge, 2004) The Mitscherlichs made a long, contentious, and complex argument, and I must inevitably oversimplify it here. They warn that melancholic reactions are prompted by "the loss of a fantasy of omnipotence" and suggest that the racial and national fantasies that imperial and colonial power required were, like those of the Aryan master race, predominantly narcissistic. From this perspective, before the British people can adjust to the horrors of their own modern history and start to build a new national identity from the debris of their broken narcissism, they will have to learn to appreciate the brutalities of colonial rule enacted in their name and to their benefit, to understand the damage it did to their political culture at home and abroad, and to consider the extent of their country's complex investments in the ethnic absolutism that has sustained it. The multilayered trauma—economic and cultural as well as political and psychological—involved in accepting the loss of the Empire would therefore be compounded by a number of additional shocks. Among them are the painful obligations to work through the grim details of imperial and colonial history and to transform paralyzing guilt into a more productive shame that would be conducive to the building of a multicultural nationality that is no longer phobic about the prospect of exposure to either strangers or otherness. This new phase of psychological and ethical maturity has emerged very slowly and unevenly among the political class. In marked contrast… (pg 108) Gilroy, Paul - After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture? (Routledge, 2004)
January 17, 2026 at 9:07 PM