Michael Kusek
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michaelkusek.bsky.social
Michael Kusek
@michaelkusek.bsky.social
Publisher of Different Leaf. Former Take magazine. I never have enough good sense to stay home. Always looking for art, design, ideas & trends.
Reposted by Michael Kusek
Democrats in the US (and many others in other places) seem stuck on figuring out where the wind will blow from
tomorrow instead of realizing their own power to make the weather.
The political right has been so much better at using an attention-fueled information ecosystem to their advantage…
Hey, @amyklobuchar.com and @smith.senate.gov: I'm not a senator, but if ICE thugs were rampaging through the major city in my state, I might try to impede Senate business as usual and try to bring everything to a halt until I could get answers or force some votes.

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Democrats Appear Ready to Duck a Key Fight on ICE
Top Senate Democrats are focused on other priorities in the government funding fight.
open.substack.com
January 15, 2026 at 10:57 AM
Defund ICE is the only position.
This is 10th-grader Arnoldo Bazan.

A citizen.

Immigration agents grabbed him and put him in a chokehold.

"We're from the United States bro!' he screamed.

Agents took and sold his phone

And when he finally got home hours later, his shirt was ripped, he neck had angry, red welts, and he sobbed.
January 14, 2026 at 3:27 AM
Reposted by Michael Kusek
The pivot from childless cat ladies to terrorist wine moms was pretty seamless, I'd say.
January 13, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Ok, fine. Make me like him more.
Hudson hates AI 🙂‍↕️

via variety
January 12, 2026 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by Michael Kusek
BREAKING: Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife has made a “transformational” donation to the LGBTQ+ advocacy group. This large gift comes just months after the Trump administration shut down counseling services for queer youth.

My latest for @wired.com:
MacKenzie Scott Donates $45 Million to the Trevor Project
Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife has made a donation to the LGBTQ+ advocacy group that the organization calls “transformational.”
www.wired.com
January 12, 2026 at 6:33 PM
That cross around her neck ain't getting her into heaven.
for the second time today, Leavitt calls Renee Good "a lunatic" and then she storms away from reporters
January 12, 2026 at 6:35 PM
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we have been way too tolerant of cowards: we should be demanding that far more people in power who claim to be against the murderous evil of MAGA meet the standard currently being demonstrated by Jerome Fucking Powell
Jerome Powell: "This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation."
January 12, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Reposted by Michael Kusek
There is only one terrorist organization running coordinated operations in U.S. cities, and it is the United States Federal Government.
January 10, 2026 at 9:38 PM
Ken knows what’s up. Be like Ken.
This kind of thing does point out a real ethical dilemma: block or mute?
January 10, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Michael Kusek
Renee Macklin Good's wife, Becca Good, released a statement and it moved me to sobbing tears:

archive.is/ur35j
January 9, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Michael Kusek
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
April 18, 2025 at 1:33 AM
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Amanda Gorman wrote this poem for Renee Good and that’s it for me tonight.
January 9, 2026 at 2:54 AM
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January 8, 2026 at 11:43 PM
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Respect to this lady, my God
“Emerson does not have a mother today because one of you murdered a woman in cold blood yesterday.”
January 8, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Every bit helps.
January 8, 2026 at 3:46 PM
We used to be a proper country.
[January 8th, 1986] Singer Boy George with Mr. T. during filming of television show The A-Team
January 8, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Michael Kusek
There’s another emergency rally in NYC this morning—9am Foley Square.

Kristi Noem is going to NYC today to hold a press conference. New Yorkers are showing up in mass to tell her to get the f*ck out.

Join @handsoffnyc.bsky.social in the streets. It’s time to get loud and stay loud.
January 8, 2026 at 12:12 PM
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The “prosecute the former regime at every level” candidate has my vote in 2028.
January 7, 2026 at 8:26 PM
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US artist visas are now given based on your number of social media followers
January 5, 2026 at 11:22 PM
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With thanks to @peterhuestis.bsky.social for reminding us that today marks the birthday of the great queer modernist painter Marsden Hartley, I think you all deserve a thread of his sexiest beefcake paintings. First up, "Canuck Yankee Lumberjack at Old Orchard Beach, Maine," 1940
January 4, 2026 at 1:41 PM
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January 3, 2026 at 7:32 AM
The best thing you can possibly do is just block any and all CBS accounts on all of your social media. There’s no point.
January 3, 2026 at 3:28 AM
Reposted by Michael Kusek
They gentrified the tinfoil hat
January 1, 2026 at 8:57 PM