Zach Jones
@zachlj.bsky.social
830 followers 1.7K following 1.6K posts
Dad. Runner. Georgia and Emory grad. A lot of politics, some religion, and a sprinkling of college football.
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zachlj.bsky.social
As I’ve said repeatedly on this site, I think conditions are ripe for a social democratic movement. My evolving thought is that whatever form that movement takes will have distinct American characteristics (eg, free market emphasis with massive social safety net).

bsky.app/profile/zach...
zachlj.bsky.social
🧵In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King writes that nonviolent resistance “fosters tension” and “dramatizes” the stakes such that injustice can no longer be ignored.

In a weird way that exact sentiment is giving me hope as I watch this regime willingly burn the country down. 1/
zachlj.bsky.social
This is like the most perfect creative writing prompt.
ellisor.net
I think the Dem governors and mayors can and should do more, legally and nonviolently. some ideas off the top of my head
- order DOT to close roads near ICE facilities
- conduct routine power and water maintenance to facilities
- mire them in endless legal knots
- refuse any support whatsoever
Reposted by Zach Jones
pbump.com
The most fundamental political debate of our time: You are integrated into and have responsibility for our complex, imperfect society vs. Nuh-uh.
zachlj.bsky.social
“Love your neighbor, love your God, save your soul and quit your job”

religionnews.com/2025/10/07/i...
"One of the chants that has become ubiquitous at these protests at Broadview is, 'Love your neighbor, love your God, save your soul and quit your job,'" said Black, who pastors at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. "Everybody chants that."
zachlj.bsky.social
3/ There’s something so monstrous about this regime’s cruelty and about not just the violence but *the active enjoyment and celebration of it* that is stomach-turning. ICE laughing while shooting non-lethals at praying clergy really does capture the moment perfectly.
zachlj.bsky.social
2/ Which made religious demonstrations of protest and solidarity all the more important because they threw in stark relief the absurdity of joining the way of Jesus with the way of racial terror, violence, and domination.

The demonstrations @jackjenkins.me reports on carry on that legacy.
zachlj.bsky.social
1/ A book I think about a lot is Charles Marsh’s God’s Long Summer, following religious activists in 1960s Mississippi: Fannie Lou Hamer, Ed King, Medgar Evers (among others).

As was true then and true now, white supremacy cloaked itself in Christianity…
koltai.bsky.social
There is reading @jackjenkins.me's article where he describes a minister being hit in the head with pepper balls by agents on a roof while praying, and you hope that this is an exaggeration. But seeing it verifies that it is exactly as described.
zachlj.bsky.social
Speaking for a lot of us living through this moment:

"Well, I think there's just this disconnect between the work that I'm doing and my interior life. And at that time, the contradiction was so profound. It's incredible that I survived it at all."
zachlj.bsky.social
Bernie goes from socialist to GE executive
zachlj.bsky.social
Folks we’re just speed running regime collapse right now.
fintwitter.bsky.social
ADP EMPLOYMENT CHANGE (SEP) -32K VS 51K EXPECTED
Reposted by Zach Jones
brendelbored.bsky.social
It’s probably a good thing that comedy is going to have a reckoning about comedians pretending they’re dangerous or edgy when their definition of those words is that they whitewash repressive government regimes for money but also make gay jokes
zachlj.bsky.social
My friend, Dr. Kyle Lambelet, Associate Professor of Ethics and Director of the St. Nicholas Center for Faith and Justice at VTS, is facilitating a FREE 5-week course on mercy, justice, the Gospel, and contemporary politics.

Sign up here: www.eventbrite.com/e/have-mercy...
Have Mercy
This free online course will explore how mercy, justice, and the Gospel can shape faithful leadership in today’s political landscape.
www.eventbrite.com
zachlj.bsky.social
7/ And that we rebuild on the other side, with resolve to never let this happen again and with gratitude for the many thousands who work to keep us well.
zachlj.bsky.social
6/ And that's just a small list that doesn't begin to scratch the surface of what we can and should do--Medicare for All included. My one hope is that this wanton destruction of healthcare reinforces how necessary, vital, and special that sector is, as are the people who work in it.
zachlj.bsky.social
5/ These problems require political solutions to incentivize growth in primary care and not just high-end specialities, to reform reimbursement practices and help level the field for adult and pediatric medicine, to ensure midlevel providers can operate at the top of their licenses.
zachlj.bsky.social
4/ One thing I wish more of the US understood is just how fragile our healthcare system is. I know academic medical systems operating at losses of *hundreds of millions* or chasing 2% margins and that was *before* the federal cuts.
zachlj.bsky.social
3/ Reduced access to care. Further system consolidation (with higher prices for patients). Longer delays. Higher rates of burnout and turnover among medical providers and staff. Increases in workplace violence and safety issues--especially for nurses and techs working in EDs.
zachlj.bsky.social
2/ This isn't breaking through beyond regional news orgs, but it should, because it's just the beginning of what's coming for other parts of the country--including Georgia where I call home--and the consequences will be significant.
zachlj.bsky.social
1/ Caught up with a dear friend who is a leader at a major academic medical center. They informed me their system had just laid off several hundred staff and that two other peer institutions had done the same due to federal healthcare cuts.
zachlj.bsky.social
“This Court has listened carefully to the reasons given by Öztürk’s captors for masking-up [and] rejects this testimony as disingenuous, squalid and dishonorable. ICE goes masked for a single reason—to terrorize Americans into quiescence.”

This is how to use an English degree for maximum effect.
klasfeldreports.com
Judge SLAMS the masking of federal agents in ruling finding Trump admin violated pro-Palestine protesters' rights:

"To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan."
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
And there’s the issue of masks. ... ICE goes masked for a single reason -- to terrorize Americans into quiescence. Small wonder ICE often seems to need our respected military to guard them as they go about implementing our immigration laws. It should be noted that our troops do not ordinarily wear masks. Can you imagine a masked marine? It is a matter of honor -- and honor still matters. To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police. Carrying on in this fashion, ICE brings indelible obloquy to this administration and everyone who works in it. “We can not escape history,” Lincoln rightly said. “[It] will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.”
zachlj.bsky.social
The real LOL here is reading 1984 and deciding the government that disappeared citizens, rewrote history, and controlled the populace through mass surveillance, torture, violence, and citizen informants is the ideal state.
zachlj.bsky.social
Really grateful to know Ruwa and know the sincere care she has for her constituents and for this state. It’s time to believe in the possibility of something (and someone) new, because the old ways of the Democratic Party are not serving us.
ruwaromman.bsky.social
Now is the time to be brave. Republicans in Georgia have controlled our state for over 20 years leading to underfunded schools, closing hospitals, & low wages stuck at $5.15.

I'm running for Governor to change that.