Alex Brandenburg
@alexbrandenburg.bsky.social
This Is Your Country Don't Let The Big Men Take It Away From You
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
"300 agents stormed the building, rappelled from a helicopter, knocked down doors and hurled flash-bang grenades. Agents ziptied and detained many US citizens for hours..."
Prosecutors have not filed a *single* criminal charge against anyone arrested that night:
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Prosecutors have not filed a *single* criminal charge against anyone arrested that night:
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
“I Lost Everything”: Venezuelans Were Rounded Up in a Dramatic Midnight Raid but Never Charged With a Crime
Authorities said Tren de Aragua “terrorists” had taken over the building. A ProPublica investigation found little evidence to back up the government’s claims. For the first time, the Venezuelans arres...
www.propublica.org
November 15, 2025 at 1:39 AM
"300 agents stormed the building, rappelled from a helicopter, knocked down doors and hurled flash-bang grenades. Agents ziptied and detained many US citizens for hours..."
Prosecutors have not filed a *single* criminal charge against anyone arrested that night:
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Prosecutors have not filed a *single* criminal charge against anyone arrested that night:
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
Through every shutdown in history, the government has still provided economic data to the American people.
They aren’t doing it this time because the numbers are fucking terrible.
They aren’t doing it this time because the numbers are fucking terrible.
November 14, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Through every shutdown in history, the government has still provided economic data to the American people.
They aren’t doing it this time because the numbers are fucking terrible.
They aren’t doing it this time because the numbers are fucking terrible.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
imagine if Joe Biden had an MRI but couldn't explain why
November 15, 2025 at 8:06 AM
imagine if Joe Biden had an MRI but couldn't explain why
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
#ResistanceRoots
Today in history, 1917: Imprisoned suffragists are subjected to brutal beatings, torture and abuse by guards at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. The event galvanized public support for the women’s suffrage movement and led to the women’s release two weeks later. /1
Today in history, 1917: Imprisoned suffragists are subjected to brutal beatings, torture and abuse by guards at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. The event galvanized public support for the women’s suffrage movement and led to the women’s release two weeks later. /1
November 15, 2025 at 12:15 AM
#ResistanceRoots
Today in history, 1917: Imprisoned suffragists are subjected to brutal beatings, torture and abuse by guards at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. The event galvanized public support for the women’s suffrage movement and led to the women’s release two weeks later. /1
Today in history, 1917: Imprisoned suffragists are subjected to brutal beatings, torture and abuse by guards at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. The event galvanized public support for the women’s suffrage movement and led to the women’s release two weeks later. /1
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
🚩Republicans, aware they are going to lose, are attempting to cast doubts about the election.
They tried to overturn the will of the voters in 2020. They are at it again.
They tried to overturn the will of the voters in 2020. They are at it again.
My statement on Republican lawmakers' request that the DOJ oversee Michigan's 2026 elections:
November 15, 2025 at 4:08 AM
🚩Republicans, aware they are going to lose, are attempting to cast doubts about the election.
They tried to overturn the will of the voters in 2020. They are at it again.
They tried to overturn the will of the voters in 2020. They are at it again.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
www.bloomberg.com/news/article.... Out of gift articles this month b/cause Trump's corruption is so frequent! Trump is using "OUT OF COURT" CORRUPT LEGAL SETTLEMENTS (FUNDED BY TAXPAYERS) to reward supporters! In 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Trump will direct the DOJ to settle.
Michael Flynn, DOJ in Settlement Talks Over $50 Million Claim
The Justice Department has been discussing settlements with two former officials from Donald Trump’s first term who — like the president — claim they’re owed major payouts from the US government as vi...
www.bloomberg.com
November 15, 2025 at 1:59 AM
www.bloomberg.com/news/article.... Out of gift articles this month b/cause Trump's corruption is so frequent! Trump is using "OUT OF COURT" CORRUPT LEGAL SETTLEMENTS (FUNDED BY TAXPAYERS) to reward supporters! In 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Trump will direct the DOJ to settle.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
Follow the money in disinfo. Facebook, by it’s own reports, collects some 15 billion in ad revenue for products that are scams. This stuff fuels the misinfo economy because it feeds into identity (eg survivalist grift) while gathering the gullible into one place.
November 14, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Follow the money in disinfo. Facebook, by it’s own reports, collects some 15 billion in ad revenue for products that are scams. This stuff fuels the misinfo economy because it feeds into identity (eg survivalist grift) while gathering the gullible into one place.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
When you look at how misinformation is monetized it usually boils down to supplements and other scams. Infowars sold BS vitamin and supplement packages for everything from weight loss to ED. Throw in reverse mortgages and gold scams and you have the largest advertisers for Fox Primetime.
November 14, 2025 at 3:20 PM
When you look at how misinformation is monetized it usually boils down to supplements and other scams. Infowars sold BS vitamin and supplement packages for everything from weight loss to ED. Throw in reverse mortgages and gold scams and you have the largest advertisers for Fox Primetime.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
Sounds great. But also hard. Why not attack the financial underpinnings of misinformation vectors by targeting the grift economy? The key moment in unleashing misinfo/disinfo on society was the 1994 passage of DSHEA which allowed people to essentially scam supplements without consequence.
November 14, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Sounds great. But also hard. Why not attack the financial underpinnings of misinformation vectors by targeting the grift economy? The key moment in unleashing misinfo/disinfo on society was the 1994 passage of DSHEA which allowed people to essentially scam supplements without consequence.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
HOLY COW. Basically, as folks note in the comments. Halligan allowed the court reporter to believe they were done for the day but then called the Grand Jury back. There is no judge, etc at these. So very likely she reconvened with no court reporter.
I can't see how charges stand if that's true.
I can't see how charges stand if that's true.
Today, the judge deciding the legality of Lindsey Halligan's appointment said the court reporter stopped transcribing grand jury proceedings in the Comey case at 4:28 PM. That's over TWO HOURS that's missing.
November 13, 2025 at 8:18 PM
HOLY COW. Basically, as folks note in the comments. Halligan allowed the court reporter to believe they were done for the day but then called the Grand Jury back. There is no judge, etc at these. So very likely she reconvened with no court reporter.
I can't see how charges stand if that's true.
I can't see how charges stand if that's true.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
I don't think it gets mentioned enough that Bovino is a member of the civil service. He is not a political appointee. Yet he still engages in constant open partisanship while in uniform and with a DHS flag behind him.
Bovino: "Whether they were criminals or individuals that were taking jobs from Americans -- you name it, that's what they were doing. And I'll tell you what's gonna happen. We're gonna go even harder on the streets. If he releases those 650, we're gonna apprehend 1,650 on the streets of Chicago."
November 13, 2025 at 9:07 PM
I don't think it gets mentioned enough that Bovino is a member of the civil service. He is not a political appointee. Yet he still engages in constant open partisanship while in uniform and with a DHS flag behind him.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
2023: "They're taking advantage of a 16-year-old MINOR!! I have a daughter close to that, if you come near her as a 31-year-old man, we're going to have a SERIOUS PROBLEM!!"
2025: "He was not a pedophile; he was into the barely legal type. Like he liked 15-year-old girls... that is what I believe."
2025: "He was not a pedophile; he was into the barely legal type. Like he liked 15-year-old girls... that is what I believe."
November 14, 2025 at 3:50 AM
2023: "They're taking advantage of a 16-year-old MINOR!! I have a daughter close to that, if you come near her as a 31-year-old man, we're going to have a SERIOUS PROBLEM!!"
2025: "He was not a pedophile; he was into the barely legal type. Like he liked 15-year-old girls... that is what I believe."
2025: "He was not a pedophile; he was into the barely legal type. Like he liked 15-year-old girls... that is what I believe."
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
when i think back to the free speech “debates” and campus moral panics of the last ten years i feel incandescently angry
all of it was in bad faith and fake! they were lying the whole time! now it’s 100x more oppressive and censorious than it ever was before but we don’t have to question that
all of it was in bad faith and fake! they were lying the whole time! now it’s 100x more oppressive and censorious than it ever was before but we don’t have to question that
Very sad to see professors (and journalists) falling for the argument that this policy is a real effort to remove "advocacy" or "ideology" from the classroom, and debating that point. That's like when they said they oppose affirmative action because it's racist. They. Are. Lying.
Texas A&M Tightens Rules on Talking About Race and Gender in Classes
www.nytimes.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:11 AM
when i think back to the free speech “debates” and campus moral panics of the last ten years i feel incandescently angry
all of it was in bad faith and fake! they were lying the whole time! now it’s 100x more oppressive and censorious than it ever was before but we don’t have to question that
all of it was in bad faith and fake! they were lying the whole time! now it’s 100x more oppressive and censorious than it ever was before but we don’t have to question that
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
In Male Fantasies (1977), Klaus Theweleit read personal letters of Freikorps members to show how the violence at the core of fascist masculinity escalates as their fear of losing control grows. They get more extreme when confronted with potential “feminized” accountability for violent domination.
Really unnerving point from Nicole Hemmer, historian of the right: Trump's Epstein fiasco could drive MAGA to push him to go even fuller authoritarian, because the whole project is now in such serious doubt. She's so good on MAGA's future.
Check out this exchange:
newrepublic.com/article/2031...
Check out this exchange:
newrepublic.com/article/2031...
November 13, 2025 at 8:43 PM
In Male Fantasies (1977), Klaus Theweleit read personal letters of Freikorps members to show how the violence at the core of fascist masculinity escalates as their fear of losing control grows. They get more extreme when confronted with potential “feminized” accountability for violent domination.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
“The American people should ask themselves just what the president meant when he concluded every issue of Time Pedophiles with the motto ‘Three cheers for molestation, and may every historical era be another wonderful secret!’”
Trump Denies Writing 36-Volume Comic Titled ‘Don And Jeff: Time Pedophiles’
WASHINGTON—Dismissing the swashbuckling sci-fi romp as “a total hoax” amid growing scrutiny over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, President Donald Trump made remarks Tuesday denying that he had ...
theonion.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:16 PM
“The American people should ask themselves just what the president meant when he concluded every issue of Time Pedophiles with the motto ‘Three cheers for molestation, and may every historical era be another wonderful secret!’”
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
@codyjohnston.bsky.social used the example of "semi-loaded nachos" to describe the issue
("if I'm selling pizza, and those guys are selling fully-loaded nachos, and I want to get the most customers, I should stop selling pizza and sell semi-loaded nachos!")
("if I'm selling pizza, and those guys are selling fully-loaded nachos, and I want to get the most customers, I should stop selling pizza and sell semi-loaded nachos!")
October 23, 2025 at 4:19 AM
@codyjohnston.bsky.social used the example of "semi-loaded nachos" to describe the issue
("if I'm selling pizza, and those guys are selling fully-loaded nachos, and I want to get the most customers, I should stop selling pizza and sell semi-loaded nachos!")
("if I'm selling pizza, and those guys are selling fully-loaded nachos, and I want to get the most customers, I should stop selling pizza and sell semi-loaded nachos!")
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
So we have this whole elaborate story from the mods with this super complicated methodology about who gets backed by what PAC or whatever and it's all just totally tangential to reality or voters winning or anything. It all looks like a big CYA for the Harris strategy. She moved right. She lost.
Also, please read and vigorously share this response. Move to the center has won a few skirmishes but lost many more, and this strategy is losing the war.
The New York Times Argues “Moving to the Center Is the Way to Win.” But the Data Shows the Strategy Is Tapped Out.
Democrats already run moderates in nearly every swing district. It's not enough. A data-driven response to the case for centrism as a core electoral strategy.
open.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 5:59 PM
So we have this whole elaborate story from the mods with this super complicated methodology about who gets backed by what PAC or whatever and it's all just totally tangential to reality or voters winning or anything. It all looks like a big CYA for the Harris strategy. She moved right. She lost.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
this is exactly the kind of thing that Kate Manne describes as "himpathy"—the tendency of people to identify with [white] men in positions of power, especially in cases of sexual assault.
the nyt frames this so it's the teenager who damages Gaetz, rather than the other way around.
that's a disgusting way to present this story.
that's a disgusting way to present this story.
A teenager in Florida with a homeless parent wanted money for braces and ended up having sex for money with powerful men, setting off a chain of events that would have a dramatic impact on her life and help upend the political career of Representative Matt Gaetz. nyti.ms/49PSkL9
November 14, 2025 at 12:35 AM
this is exactly the kind of thing that Kate Manne describes as "himpathy"—the tendency of people to identify with [white] men in positions of power, especially in cases of sexual assault.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
Remove the Regime happens 11/20-11/22 in D.C. We know that most of you can't travel to D.C. (and that's okay)!
To maximize the impact, we are organizing call-in campaigns on 11/20 while those in D.C. are physically knocking on Congress's doors, and again on 11/24 to keep the pressure on.
To maximize the impact, we are organizing call-in campaigns on 11/20 while those in D.C. are physically knocking on Congress's doors, and again on 11/24 to keep the pressure on.
November 14, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Remove the Regime happens 11/20-11/22 in D.C. We know that most of you can't travel to D.C. (and that's okay)!
To maximize the impact, we are organizing call-in campaigns on 11/20 while those in D.C. are physically knocking on Congress's doors, and again on 11/24 to keep the pressure on.
To maximize the impact, we are organizing call-in campaigns on 11/20 while those in D.C. are physically knocking on Congress's doors, and again on 11/24 to keep the pressure on.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
Being a Republican definitionally means being cool with child rape
November 14, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Being a Republican definitionally means being cool with child rape
JFC
He’s a eugenicist, and funded a lot of scientists with similar ideas.
Jeffrey Epstein Hoped to Seed Human Race With His DNA (Published 2019)
www.nytimes.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:47 AM
JFC
Literally the perfect metaphor.
You don't need a degree in cognitive neuroscience to get this. I started out knocking on doors. I hated it, but even I have to admit I learned a lot about how normal people understand things. For most normal, persuadable, gettable voters, politics is a TV that's on loud in another room.
November 13, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Literally the perfect metaphor.
I want to repost this in the sky, humongous.
Just one example of the thinking we'd like to see change. These ads got around $4M each in AZ and OH. Party brands are open source. Everyone gets a say. But it's possible the image of the party might improve if we stop spending millions of dollars each cycle telling voters how wrong we are.
November 13, 2025 at 9:21 PM
I want to repost this in the sky, humongous.
Reposted by Alex Brandenburg
Just one example of the thinking we'd like to see change. These ads got around $4M each in AZ and OH. Party brands are open source. Everyone gets a say. But it's possible the image of the party might improve if we stop spending millions of dollars each cycle telling voters how wrong we are.
November 10, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Just one example of the thinking we'd like to see change. These ads got around $4M each in AZ and OH. Party brands are open source. Everyone gets a say. But it's possible the image of the party might improve if we stop spending millions of dollars each cycle telling voters how wrong we are.