Ben Bellows
@benbellows.bsky.social
Cofounder & CBO, Nivi Inc
A Michigan farm kid a long time ago. Husband, dad, researcher, neighbor, founder.
pubs: orcid.org/0000-0001-9205-6623
#UMich #Econ #PeaceCorps #Ecuador 🇪🇨 #CDC #UCBerkeley #Epi #PopCouncil #Kenya 🇰🇪 #Zambia 🇿🇲 #digitalhealth #AI
A Michigan farm kid a long time ago. Husband, dad, researcher, neighbor, founder.
pubs: orcid.org/0000-0001-9205-6623
#UMich #Econ #PeaceCorps #Ecuador 🇪🇨 #CDC #UCBerkeley #Epi #PopCouncil #Kenya 🇰🇪 #Zambia 🇿🇲 #digitalhealth #AI
Reposted by Ben Bellows
We'll be in D.C. next week for Remove the Regime.
We are glad they are getting things warmed up for us.
(JOIN US! www.removetheregime.com)
We are glad they are getting things warmed up for us.
(JOIN US! www.removetheregime.com)
November 16, 2025 at 2:26 AM
We'll be in D.C. next week for Remove the Regime.
We are glad they are getting things warmed up for us.
(JOIN US! www.removetheregime.com)
We are glad they are getting things warmed up for us.
(JOIN US! www.removetheregime.com)
Reposted by Ben Bellows
We can never repair the damage and trauma these men suffered. We must continue to advocate for justice for these men, as well as those still there, the 36 or more Salvadoran men still there.
What happened to these men and continues with those left behind is a travesty.
What happened to these men and continues with those left behind is a travesty.
“It wasn’t right,” said our client Pedro Escobar, Pedro is one of more than 250 men forcibly removed from the U.S. & disappeared into CECOT, reflecting on his time in CECOT prison. “We should never have been sent to El Salvador. We’re migrants, not criminals.”
🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
November 16, 2025 at 2:23 AM
We can never repair the damage and trauma these men suffered. We must continue to advocate for justice for these men, as well as those still there, the 36 or more Salvadoran men still there.
What happened to these men and continues with those left behind is a travesty.
What happened to these men and continues with those left behind is a travesty.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
If voters made rational choices on the basis of economic interest, they’d likely have noticed how Trump’s promises re: “affordability” clashed w/ his pledges to 1) shrink the labor force and 2) tax imports.
“Get back to affordability” assumes a premise that election outcomes just don’t bear out.
“Get back to affordability” assumes a premise that election outcomes just don’t bear out.
And he understands fuckall about economics, including that raising taxes (tariffs) and raising labor costs (mass deportations) leads to raised prices
So he can't carry out his agenda without making things worse; one requires the other. It's inherently self-limiting
bsky.app/profile/nesl...
So he can't carry out his agenda without making things worse; one requires the other. It's inherently self-limiting
bsky.app/profile/nesl...
I thought his first term was bad.
I knew this time around would be worse, but holy crap. He's being an absolute bastard even to his most faithful followers.
I knew this time around would be worse, but holy crap. He's being an absolute bastard even to his most faithful followers.
November 16, 2025 at 2:25 AM
If voters made rational choices on the basis of economic interest, they’d likely have noticed how Trump’s promises re: “affordability” clashed w/ his pledges to 1) shrink the labor force and 2) tax imports.
“Get back to affordability” assumes a premise that election outcomes just don’t bear out.
“Get back to affordability” assumes a premise that election outcomes just don’t bear out.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Massachusetts AG Campbell: What you heard from the president and the speaker is total bullshit.
Let’s take a step back. Never in the history of this country — during a war or an emergency shutdown — has the federal government ever stopped funding SNAP benefits for our most vulnerable.
Let’s take a step back. Never in the history of this country — during a war or an emergency shutdown — has the federal government ever stopped funding SNAP benefits for our most vulnerable.
November 15, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Massachusetts AG Campbell: What you heard from the president and the speaker is total bullshit.
Let’s take a step back. Never in the history of this country — during a war or an emergency shutdown — has the federal government ever stopped funding SNAP benefits for our most vulnerable.
Let’s take a step back. Never in the history of this country — during a war or an emergency shutdown — has the federal government ever stopped funding SNAP benefits for our most vulnerable.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
I'm seeing people wonder why ICE is going after Charlotte.
ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018.
We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:
ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018.
We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:
“When the 8 African American sheriffs took over the largest counties in North Carolina, it became a threat to the good ol’ boy system,” says the sheriff of Charlotte. These new sheriffs broke ties with ICE.
But GOP lawmakers cracked down this week, overbidding the governor’s veto to adopt this law:
But GOP lawmakers cracked down this week, overbidding the governor’s veto to adopt this law:
North Carolina GOP Is Cracking Down on the Black Sheriffs Who Stood Up to ICE
Boosted by new supermajorities, Republicans are closing in on legislation to mandate more collaboration with ICE and preempt local policies hard-won by immigrants’ rights advocates.
boltsmag.org
November 15, 2025 at 10:43 PM
I'm seeing people wonder why ICE is going after Charlotte.
ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018.
We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:
ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018.
We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:
Reposted by Ben Bellows
related, unions opposed training WPA employees -- jensen 1989 has a story of the AFL president touring a civilian conservation corps site to show they weren't competing with union skills
November 15, 2025 at 7:21 PM
related, unions opposed training WPA employees -- jensen 1989 has a story of the AFL president touring a civilian conservation corps site to show they weren't competing with union skills
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Identity and publicize the identity of every single ICE agent who terrorizes people in our communities.
Put up flyers in their hometown, on FB and nextdoor, let their church groups know, tell their kid's school. We'll need this information for their war crimes trials anyway.
Put up flyers in their hometown, on FB and nextdoor, let their church groups know, tell their kid's school. We'll need this information for their war crimes trials anyway.
Video from nickdelacanal on Instagram of CBP trespassing on private property and giving up after a few attempts to entrap landscapers.
November 15, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Identity and publicize the identity of every single ICE agent who terrorizes people in our communities.
Put up flyers in their hometown, on FB and nextdoor, let their church groups know, tell their kid's school. We'll need this information for their war crimes trials anyway.
Put up flyers in their hometown, on FB and nextdoor, let their church groups know, tell their kid's school. We'll need this information for their war crimes trials anyway.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Anyone who advocates for impeachment is going to be popular in almost every demographic.
November 15, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Anyone who advocates for impeachment is going to be popular in almost every demographic.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Anytime somebody tries to rehabilitate the image of George W Bush you have to remember that the seeds for literally ALL this shit were planting in his administration
As someone who was alive, and adult, in the time of its founding, I will never get over how the word "Homeland", which in my 20 years in this country before then I had never heard *anyone* ever use to describe this country, all of a sudden was like "a thing".
November 15, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Anytime somebody tries to rehabilitate the image of George W Bush you have to remember that the seeds for literally ALL this shit were planting in his administration
Reposted by Ben Bellows
In an interview tonight with Sam Stein, Senator Chris Murphy went all the way there, saying Trump was, "Clearly at the center of a child sex ring."
Maybe if we're lucky Trump will sue him for defamation and we can discover whether it's true.
www.mediaite.com/politics/dem...
Maybe if we're lucky Trump will sue him for defamation and we can discover whether it's true.
www.mediaite.com/politics/dem...
Dem Senator Goes All the Way There: Trump Was ‘Clearly’ at the ‘Center of a Child Sex Ring’
"That is heartbreaking—that the president of the United States was involved in that kind of gross, craven immorality," charged Murphy
www.mediaite.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:35 AM
In an interview tonight with Sam Stein, Senator Chris Murphy went all the way there, saying Trump was, "Clearly at the center of a child sex ring."
Maybe if we're lucky Trump will sue him for defamation and we can discover whether it's true.
www.mediaite.com/politics/dem...
Maybe if we're lucky Trump will sue him for defamation and we can discover whether it's true.
www.mediaite.com/politics/dem...
Reposted by Ben Bellows
@govpritzker.illinois.gov I want you to watch this video of me slammed to the ground- why are you allowing this to happen to people you know are on the right side of history. They tied my hands behind my back and when I asked them to be loosened because I was going numb they said, “STFU.”
at one point, i watched a cook county sheriff’s officer (who appears to be in charge) point out a priest in the crowd.
he and a couple officers then went into the crowd , dragged him into the street, and arrested him.
situation is still tense as crowd jostles with police to get into the street.
he and a couple officers then went into the crowd , dragged him into the street, and arrested him.
situation is still tense as crowd jostles with police to get into the street.
November 15, 2025 at 5:34 PM
@govpritzker.illinois.gov I want you to watch this video of me slammed to the ground- why are you allowing this to happen to people you know are on the right side of history. They tied my hands behind my back and when I asked them to be loosened because I was going numb they said, “STFU.”
Reposted by Ben Bellows
President Trump has removed tariffs on coffee and bananas to make breakfast affordable for the American people. Why don’t Biden and Obama do this?
by Hugh Hewitt
by Hugh Hewitt
November 15, 2025 at 7:25 PM
President Trump has removed tariffs on coffee and bananas to make breakfast affordable for the American people. Why don’t Biden and Obama do this?
by Hugh Hewitt
by Hugh Hewitt
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Trump is rewarding his brownshirts.
NEWS: President Trump has issued a *second* pardon for Jan. 6 defendant Dan Wilson.
Wilson, a militia member, remained in prison on a firearms conviction unrelated to the Capitol attack. But Trump's new pardon explicitly covers the gun charges. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Wilson, a militia member, remained in prison on a firearms conviction unrelated to the Capitol attack. But Trump's new pardon explicitly covers the gun charges. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 15, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Trump is rewarding his brownshirts.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
This made me wonder about the etymology of quack.
“…short for quacksalver (1570s), from obsolete Dutch quacksalver (modern kwakzalver), literally ‘hawker of salve’”
“…short for quacksalver (1570s), from obsolete Dutch quacksalver (modern kwakzalver), literally ‘hawker of salve’”
November 15, 2025 at 6:12 PM
This made me wonder about the etymology of quack.
“…short for quacksalver (1570s), from obsolete Dutch quacksalver (modern kwakzalver), literally ‘hawker of salve’”
“…short for quacksalver (1570s), from obsolete Dutch quacksalver (modern kwakzalver), literally ‘hawker of salve’”
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Some military service personnel have started seeking outside legal counsel about the missions Trump has assigned them.
At least two members of the National Guard have already said they will defy orders to unlawfully occupy Oregon.
This is what we need.
Good people standing up to fascism.
At least two members of the National Guard have already said they will defy orders to unlawfully occupy Oregon.
This is what we need.
Good people standing up to fascism.
Military personnel seek legal advice on whether Trump-ordered missions are lawful
Military service personnel have been seeking outside legal advice about some of the missions the Trump administration has assigned them. The strikes against alleged drug traffickers and deployments to...
www.pbs.org
November 15, 2025 at 4:35 AM
Some military service personnel have started seeking outside legal counsel about the missions Trump has assigned them.
At least two members of the National Guard have already said they will defy orders to unlawfully occupy Oregon.
This is what we need.
Good people standing up to fascism.
At least two members of the National Guard have already said they will defy orders to unlawfully occupy Oregon.
This is what we need.
Good people standing up to fascism.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Don’t waste your time fact-checking these numbers, don’t engage Vance's vile propaganda as if he was advancing an argument in good faith.
Call out the underlying political project: A violent, authoritarian blood-and-soil nationalism that defines “America” as a white Christian homeland.
Call out the underlying political project: A violent, authoritarian blood-and-soil nationalism that defines “America” as a white Christian homeland.
JD Vance: "A lot of young people are saying housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought by right go to American citizens."
November 15, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Don’t waste your time fact-checking these numbers, don’t engage Vance's vile propaganda as if he was advancing an argument in good faith.
Call out the underlying political project: A violent, authoritarian blood-and-soil nationalism that defines “America” as a white Christian homeland.
Call out the underlying political project: A violent, authoritarian blood-and-soil nationalism that defines “America” as a white Christian homeland.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
"What's happening here is evil."
I wanted to share probably the most important sermon I’ve given and it’s while I’m being arrested. It’s torture pure and simple what happens at #Broadview. I’m ok, though I was thrown to the ground and choked with my pectoral cross. A review of the video shows I was peaceful - did I deserve this?
November 15, 2025 at 4:40 PM
"What's happening here is evil."
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Holy shit. They're really doing it. They're doing "actually pedophilia is good now." The debasement of the American Right is complete.
MEGYN KELLY IS RIGHT ABOUT EPSTEIN - Catholic League
Bill Donohue
www.catholicleague.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Holy shit. They're really doing it. They're doing "actually pedophilia is good now." The debasement of the American Right is complete.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Dems should promise not only to prosecute the Trump family for enriching themselves at the expense of the country but also to use the tools of government to seize the wealth they’ve illegally accrued during his presidential terms.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/w...
Trump Organization Is Said to Be in Talks on a Saudi Government Real Estate Deal
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Dems should promise not only to prosecute the Trump family for enriching themselves at the expense of the country but also to use the tools of government to seize the wealth they’ve illegally accrued during his presidential terms.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/w...
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Translation: They’re afraid they’re about to get their asses kicked in a fair fight so are running to Daddy to protect them.
A group of 22 Michigan Republican lawmakers asked President Donald Trump's U.S. Department of Justice to deploy monitors to vote-counting facilities and to provide general oversight for the state's upcoming elections in 2026. www.detroitnews.com/story/news/p...
GOP lawmakers ask U.S. Department of Justice to oversee Michigan's 2026 elections
The unusual request for federal supervision came ahead of what will be a pivotal election in the battleground state next year.
www.detroitnews.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Translation: They’re afraid they’re about to get their asses kicked in a fair fight so are running to Daddy to protect them.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Kevin Roberts: Like Nick Fuentes, Madison was a man of his times. It’s not our place to judge or cancel, but rather to understand. And also, Heritage is manning the barricades against the violent left that wants to destroy the timeless principles of Western Civilization that America is founded on.
November 15, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Kevin Roberts: Like Nick Fuentes, Madison was a man of his times. It’s not our place to judge or cancel, but rather to understand. And also, Heritage is manning the barricades against the violent left that wants to destroy the timeless principles of Western Civilization that America is founded on.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
We here at the Heritage Foundation are 100% pro-freedom and pro-family, which is why we can’t stand idly by when Montpelier points out that James Madison wrung his wealth out of the unpaid labor of physically brutalized people whose families he regularly destroyed by selling their kin for profit.
November 15, 2025 at 3:08 PM
We here at the Heritage Foundation are 100% pro-freedom and pro-family, which is why we can’t stand idly by when Montpelier points out that James Madison wrung his wealth out of the unpaid labor of physically brutalized people whose families he regularly destroyed by selling their kin for profit.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
I know McSweeney’s is satire, but they’re not wrong. He’s an old man with serious health issues. IT will happen soon.
"It’s impossible to say when IT will HAPPEN. But it can’t be too long until IT HAPPENS. Looking at the data, it is statistically plausible that IT will HAPPEN in the next thirty-six months. Eighteen, if you factor in hamburger consumption and all the weird bruising."
When It Happens
It’s been so long, you sometimes forget that eventually, IT will HAPPEN. It’s impossible to say when IT will HAPPEN. But it can’t be too long until...
buff.ly
November 15, 2025 at 3:02 PM
I know McSweeney’s is satire, but they’re not wrong. He’s an old man with serious health issues. IT will happen soon.
Reposted by Ben Bellows
In case you wondered why the state just keeps building bigger and bigger prisons…
November 15, 2025 at 2:35 PM
In case you wondered why the state just keeps building bigger and bigger prisons…
Reposted by Ben Bellows
Trump and Hegseth's "Department of War" rebranding is more than just a name. It signals their vision of a force that disdains legality, as if whoever commits the most war crimes wins.
But as new research by @doncasler.bsky.social and @robertralston.bsky.social shows, the change is very unpopular,
But as new research by @doncasler.bsky.social and @robertralston.bsky.social shows, the change is very unpopular,
Most Americans oppose the ’Department of War’ rebranding
Even 42% of Republicans are no fans of the change.
goodauthority.org
November 15, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Trump and Hegseth's "Department of War" rebranding is more than just a name. It signals their vision of a force that disdains legality, as if whoever commits the most war crimes wins.
But as new research by @doncasler.bsky.social and @robertralston.bsky.social shows, the change is very unpopular,
But as new research by @doncasler.bsky.social and @robertralston.bsky.social shows, the change is very unpopular,