Jon Pennington
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jonpennington.bsky.social
Jon Pennington
@jonpennington.bsky.social
Pro-labor, liberalish, leftish, semi-normie antifascist

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Reposted by Jon Pennington
Also, what are you doing WSJ?

Don’t. Print. Lies. In. The. Newspapers.
Breaking this down by year, job growth in 2024 was revised down by more than a quarter (-553k jobs), and 2025 was revised down by close to 70% (-403k jobs). 2025 was the weakest year for job growth since the pandemic, and before that since the Great Recession.
February 15, 2026 at 9:07 PM
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Famously, “inflation is easing, jobs are holding up, & growth is solid” is exactly how the media covered the economy under Joe Biden in 2022-24, when all of these things were more true than they are now 🤔🧐🤷‍♂️
February 15, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
This is a popular bit of wishcasting, you see it in both left and centrist-y versions, and it is absolutely not true. Populism is about identity and exclusion, it is not people lashing out because they secretly yearn for whatever your preferred economic policy is.
"The Ascent of populist movements is telling us that governments have have strayed too far from being responsive to the working class"

This is probably the only area where AOC agrees with JD Vance and Josh Hawley.
February 15, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
While MLPS was a victory, moral and tangibly, for ICE resisters, don't call it 'a retreat.' The dystopia is just getting started

Thousands of new agents. 150 new offices in every state. And the nationwide gulag archipelago. The fight has just begun

My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
No, ICE isn’t ‘retreating.’ It’s loading up to invade your town. | Will Bunch
A much-hyped ICE pullback from Minneapolis is a blip in a looming nationwide surge of arrests, concentration camps.
www.inquirer.com
February 15, 2026 at 6:25 PM
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Just gonna say there are plenty of insurgent, anti-establishment candidates WITHOUT Nazi tattoos that the New Republic could have featured instead of Platner.

You could ABSOLUTELY make the point that Ds are mad at the centrist leaders of the party WITHOUT helping rehabilitate this particular guy.
February 15, 2026 at 6:00 AM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
Yeah, the Nazi tattoo is part of the appeal for Platner for a lot of people. His candidacy is supposed to signal the left no longer concerns itself with “woke” issues like public displays of bigotry.
Just gonna say there are plenty of insurgent, anti-establishment candidates WITHOUT Nazi tattoos that the New Republic could have featured instead of Platner.

You could ABSOLUTELY make the point that Ds are mad at the centrist leaders of the party WITHOUT helping rehabilitate this particular guy.
February 15, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
Especially in a place like Maine where there are next to no Jews or POC, it’s like, trying to explicitly “reclaim” the white working class for the left in a “AND you can have a little antisemitism and racism, as a treat” way
February 15, 2026 at 6:49 PM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
The acting director of ICE told Congress, under oath, that local law enforcement in Colorado leaked raid plans, allowing gang members to escape.

After 9NEWS questioned ICE's claim and its timeline, ICE deleted the claim from its social media platforms.
February 15, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.
February 15, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
The Nazi plan for the "Final Solution" evolved over time.

Early versions - before the Wannsee Conference - involved deporting the Jewish population to the island of Madagascar, & before that financial inducements for self-deportation, & before that widespread violence and terror to "persuade"
Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.
February 15, 2026 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
Platner's dismissive comments about sexual assault in the military were so disgusting that a candidate who had experienced assault in the service dropped out to endorse Mills rather than risk Platner getting into the senate. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/progressiv...
Progressive Candidate Has Dropped Out Of ME Senate Race
Not Platner. Daira Smith-Rodriguez
www.everythingishorrible.net
February 15, 2026 at 7:10 AM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
Remarkable: Majority of working class voters oppose deportations of undocumented immigrants with jobs/no criminal records, per new Marquette data.

Remember how pundits said 2024 meant Dems must become restrictionist to win back working class? I challenge that here:

newrepublic.com/article/2059...
February 14, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
On one side, you have trans people asking to be left alone and maintain our access to health care. On the other, a bunch of people who believe we shouldn't exist. But Cass believes both sides are the same.

This whole interview is atrocious.

www.bbc.com/news/article...
February 15, 2026 at 12:31 PM
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February 14, 2026 at 4:31 PM
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Julian Bailey, 43, is the man who was killed by U.S. Marshals in DC earlier this week.

This is a message from his family.

#JusticeForJulian
February 14, 2026 at 11:07 PM
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I think one of the real challenges in discussing anything to do with trans people is that the media simply cannot accept that the anti-position is entirely eliminationist. There is no way to "exist in public whilst trans" that they will accept, right down to celebrating a doctor quitting.
Susan Smith of For Women Scotland is quoted in this piece saying that Dr Upton leaving the NHS will be "a relief to female patients."

The employment tribunal found that Upton had done nothing wrong! She was completely innocent of any kind of harassment!

www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1592555...
Trans doc at centre of landmark Sandi Peggie court battle quits NHS
THE trans medic at the heart of a changing room war that cost taxpayers a staggering £400,000 has walked out on the NHS. NHS Fife bosses racked up the eye-watering bill in a failed bid to hush up n…
www.thescottishsun.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
Why did Texas Republican Don Huffines anonymously buy pedo Epstein's ranch in New Mexico?

www.kob.com/new-mexico/s...
Who is the new owner of Epstein's New Mexico ranch?
Texas businessman and politician Donald Huffines has been confirmed as the owner of Jeffrey Epstein's New Mexico ranch.
www.kob.com
February 15, 2026 at 4:15 AM
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February 14, 2026 at 5:21 PM
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The underlying problem is that stopping the lawless authoritarianism is ultimately not a legal problem, & there are no actual legal solutions to it. It is a political problem, & the only solution is a political one requiring a majority of votes in the House & 67 votes in the Senate.
Our court system is largely working, with the exception of the most important court
Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped.
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
February 15, 2026 at 7:05 AM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
Let me help this Nazi apologist out: absent physical coercion, one cannot get a Nazi Tattoo innocently.
This is just an absolutely ridiculous piece of text. This writer ignores known evidence while bending over backwards to excuse Nazi symbols and racism.
February 15, 2026 at 6:45 AM
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February 15, 2026 at 3:22 AM
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"It’s impossible to come away from these results without concluding that economic populism is a winning message for loyal Democrats. This was true across those who identify as liberals, moderates, or progressives." newrepublic.com/article/2060...
Rank-and-File Dems to Leaders: It’s Time to Take the Gloves Off
In TNR’s exclusive new poll, loyal Democratic voters make it plain: They want a party that goes after the people making their lives harder.
newrepublic.com
February 14, 2026 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
i have to wonder what kind of future AI hypebeasts are imagining when they say stupid shit like, "most or all of white collar tasks will be automated within 18 months". like, okay, microsoft, then who are your customers? who is purchasing O365 subscriptions when robots are doing all the work?
February 14, 2026 at 12:27 AM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
There is no way Senate Dems should vote for DHS funding while Republicans are threatening to nationalize elections and Trump is threatening to do it by executive order. ICE reforms are no longer enough. Their authoritarianism must be fought with every legislative lever available.
February 13, 2026 at 11:41 PM
Reposted by Jon Pennington
The GOP’s “Save America Act” (previously just “SAVE”) requires that states implement voter purge programs using programs such as the “SAVE” system, which had an error rate of at least 14% in one of the counties that used it, per the Texas Tribune & ProPublica. 14%! #NoOnSAVE 1/
February 14, 2026 at 6:09 AM