Norman Jefferson
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jeffnorm.bsky.social
Norman Jefferson
@jeffnorm.bsky.social
390 followers 760 following 1.2K posts
Into justice, science, birds, archery. "To win the respect of intelligent people and... earn the appreciation of honest critics.." Trying not to dwell on the others.
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jeffnorm.bsky.social
Senator King, I am so upset at your short-sightedness, naivety, and cowardice that I'm beside myself. After voting to give away everything last night, with the only "concessions" being that the GOP must do what the law requires of them anyway, you went on Joe Scarborough this morning and said "standing up to Trump wasn't working." What does "working" look like to you, if it isn't Dems winning everywhere less than a week ago? If you think standing up to him wasn't working, wait until you see how well rolling over works. When you are facing a bully, giving in doesn't make them feel conciliatory, it just gives them more power. Trump and his lapdogs now know that it they just act worse and hold out longer, Dems will cave. What we need right now is a strong opposition, not milquetoast naives who don't understand what they are up against. You and your colleagues caving did the equivalent of trying to meet your opponents halfway in a tug-o-war: congratulations, now they got what they wanted, and they are still going to pull you even further. Instead of representing a party that will fight for principles, and for their constituents, now what most Americans are going to remember from this whole episode is that a dysfunctional government made people go through hell for 5 weeks for nothing, that no one stood up for them, that no one in Washington can be trusted, and that neither party will do anything but make meaningless gestures at the public's expense. You took the Democratic party from a position of principled resistance, to just a weak, hapless group of cowards who will posture for "likes" and then acquiesce to the status quo. I've supported you for a long time, but you are not up for the job you are facing. You are still trying to navigate a world we no longer live in, and it's time for politicians who understand what the moment requires.
November 10, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
newsjennifer.bsky.social
Read every word & share with everyone you know. This is real life here in Chicago. Americans need to know this grotesque reality & stand with us.
bgrueskin.bsky.social Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 1d
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
I Want You to Understand Chicago Politics Chicago 2025-11-08 I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st. Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…
November 10, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
muellershewrote.com
Never forget who sold us out:

Hassan
King
Cortez-Masto
Shaheen
Kaine
Fetterman
Durbin
Rosen
November 10, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
jamellebouie.net
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
noethematt.bsky.social Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · 1d
If the Dems blink after all of this, for a deal that all but ensures no ACA subsidies in 2026 anyway, then what was the purpose of letting the shutdown go for 40 days in the first place?
November 10, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
charlotteclymer.bsky.social
I've looked at all the details of this deal to end the shutdown reached by a small group of Senate Democrats. I've talked to a number of friends on the Hill to see if there's anything I'm missing. Sadly, I am not.

This is a shit deal. It's a betrayal. It's cowardice.
November 10, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
dumocracy.bsky.social
Typical US politics. The right wing break things and left wing complain. Then the left wing gives in to stop the pain and its base say never again to them. My God is it any wonder right wingers remain in power.
November 10, 2025 at 2:06 AM
jeffnorm.bsky.social
Some day their obituaries will read “Reached a meaningless compromise on the country’s path to fascist authoritarianism.” @senangusking.bsky.social @shaheen.senate.gov @hassan.senate.gov @kirstengillibrand.bsky.social
djrothkopf.bsky.social David Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social · 1d
You'd think standing up to a bunch of fascists who were gutting the economy and causing the suffering of tens of millions of Americans all in order to further enrich a bunch of billionaires would be pretty straightforward. They're the bad guys. We should be the good guys. But no...
November 10, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
djrothkopf.bsky.social
You'd think standing up to a bunch of fascists who were gutting the economy and causing the suffering of tens of millions of Americans all in order to further enrich a bunch of billionaires would be pretty straightforward. They're the bad guys. We should be the good guys. But no...
November 10, 2025 at 1:40 AM
jeffnorm.bsky.social
Whatever bipartisanship these Dem Senators think they are embodying, died a decade ago. The GOP is a criminal organization and they need to be opposed, not bargained with. Every compromise you make gives Trump more power. Thanks, we are cooked. @senangusking.bsky.social @shaheen.senate.gov
November 10, 2025 at 1:36 AM
jeffnorm.bsky.social
I am disgusted that @senangusking.bsky.social is supporting this WEAK-ass compromise with the GOP. We’ve had 5 weeks of shutdown and achieved NOTHING. The GOP was taking the blame, but now Trump will continue to spend or withhold whatever $ he wants, knowing there is NO OPPOSITION in Congress.
November 10, 2025 at 1:31 AM
jeffnorm.bsky.social
@shaheen.senate.gov @schumer.senate.gov
You have to be kidding me with this caving to Trump. YOU WILL NOT GET ANYTHING YOU WANT. He renegs on deals, he spends or doesn’t spend whatever he wants. The public RIGHTFULLY blames the GOP. Let THEM fix this. If you cave, this was all for nothing. Again.
November 9, 2025 at 9:56 PM
jeffnorm.bsky.social
Seems like he’s having a chill Sunday morning.
lawrencehurley.bsky.social Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 2d
The president seems to have been briefed on how the tariffs oral argument at SCOTUS went:
November 9, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
50501movement.bsky.social
A man rushed to the Broadview ICE facility searching for his wife. They followed every legal step, but ICE took her into another room and she vanished. He tracked her phone there when the signal died. Police told him to “look up her name online.” He sat in the parking lot, weeping, with no answers.
A
November 9, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
nicholasgrossman.bsky.social
Federal agents forbidding faith leaders from praying sounds like a violation of religious freedom.

But then I remember that “religious” means “white Christian identity politics,” and “freedom” means “Christian nationalists’ unrestricted ability to impose their beliefs on others.”
November 8, 2025 at 2:25 PM
jeffnorm.bsky.social
Et tu, KBJ?

This country is a fucking shit-show.
November 8, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
citizensforethics.org
It’s our job to track all this—and that’s what we will continue to do—but we’re not going to pretend it’s not depressing to watch the standards for the presidency erode so dramatically.

The scandal scale has completely broken.
November 7, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
katiephang.bsky.social
This part here really bothers me:
November 7, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
oxfamamerica.bsky.social
Hunger should never be used as a political tool. The Trump admin must make food assistance payments and follow the law; no family should have to worry about going hungry.
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Judge orders Trump administration to deliver full SNAP benefits to states by Friday
A federal judge in Rhode Island has ordered the Trump administration to deliver SNAP payments in full to states by Friday
www.nbcnews.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
anneapplebaum.bsky.social
Hundreds of thousands of people, dead because of a decision made by the world's richest man
November 7, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Norman Jefferson
rikleen.bsky.social
A) there are elements of this story that mirror descriptions of the Burlington MA ICE facility.

B) what is described in this thread is unconstitutional & human rights abuses. Our society will not be able to move forward unless the people responsible face justice for their crimes.
lyndab08.bsky.social Lynda Lopez @lyndab08.bsky.social · 4d
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
November 7, 2025 at 1:14 PM
jeffnorm.bsky.social
There’s no such thing as corruption in Trump’s America. He told his supporters he was going to “drain the swamp” but what they didn’t realize was that it was just so the monsters could walk on dry land in the light of day.
November 7, 2025 at 3:45 PM
jeffnorm.bsky.social
While the US is out there threatening diplomats to protect the lamp oil industry, China is leading the world in light bulbs.
dpcarrington.bsky.social Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 4d
China is “reshaping the world’s energy outlook, geopolitics and its capacity to limit the catastrophic effects of #climatechange”, says @economist.com

- "China is now making more money from exporting green technology than US makes from exporting fossil fuels'

$
www.economist.com/leaders/2025...
China’s clean-energy revolution will reshape markets and politics
The world’s biggest manufacturer now has an interest in the world decarbonising
www.economist.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:35 PM
jeffnorm.bsky.social
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
November 7, 2025 at 1:28 PM
jeffnorm.bsky.social
⬜️🟨⬜️🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
November 7, 2025 at 1:26 PM