Carmen Celestini
philofwrite.bsky.social
Carmen Celestini
@philofwrite.bsky.social
Researcher in conspiracy theories, religion, gender, extremism, end times, and hate. Lecturer at the University of Waterloo.

Carmencelestini.com

The Canadian Far Right and Conspiracy Theories available December 2024

https://shorturl.at/j9JtE
Pinned
My book God's Angry Men is coming out in early 2026. It follows the Christian nationalism and use of conspiracy the John Birch Society from its beginnings in the 1940s to its members founding of the moral majority, the Council on National Policy, and The Heritage Foundation.
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
DHS shutdown all but certain after failed Senate vote
DHS shutdown all but certain after failed Senate vote
Lawmakers are heading for the exits following a failed Senate vote Thursday, all but guaranteeing the Department of Homeland Security shuts down early Saturday morning. The funding lapse, which will hit parts of DHS harder than others, comes as the White House and congressional Democrats have failed to move closer to a deal after trading proposals to rein in immigration enforcement practices in the wake of two high-profile shootings in Minneapolis. Democrats called the latest offer from the White House insufficient Thursday and are expected to send a counteroffer. “Democrats have been very clear: We will not support an extension of the status quo,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote. Democrats went on to block progress on a DHS funding bill the House passed last month, which would have been the vehicle for a short-term funding punt or a larger immigration agreement. The procedural vote was 52-47, well short of the needed 60 votes. Prior to the vote, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, announced that ICE would be ending its enhanced immigration enforcement, a step that Democrats have called for. But Schumer said Thursday that “ICE’s abuses cannot be solved merely through executive fiat alone — we first and foremost need legislation.” Republicans are expected to try to pass at least one weeks-long stopgap for DHS Thursday afternoon. But because every senator would need to agree to quick passage, it is expected to be blocked on the Senate floor. While the negotiations have centered on ICE and Customs and Border Protection, a shutdown will affect a wider variety of agencies including TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that he thought the White House offer went “a long ways” toward an agreement, adding, “There are a couple of issues obviously that they’re going to have to work through and work out [with Democrats], and lines that neither side is probably going to be able to cross.” Thune added that Democrats are “posturing right now” but that “progress has been real.” With no deal close at hand, the Senate is on track to adjourn Thursday for a previously scheduled one-week recess. The House also adjourned Thursday for its previously scheduled recess, though members are on call to return within 48 hours if an agreement is reached. Thune said Thursday if a deal is struck, senators will need to get back to the Capitol within 24 hours. Some GOP senators publicly pushed to stay in session in the event of a DHS shutdown, but many others pleaded with their colleagues during a closed-door lunch earlier this week to let them go back home and campaign. Others are scheduled to leave Thursday to go on international trips, including a bipartisan group heading to the Munich Security Conference. House Speaker Mike Johnson has barred members from traveling to Munich or going on other government-funded trips over the break. Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report. Lead Art: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) looks on during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol Feb. 10, 2026. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
dlvr.it
February 12, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
Trump is systematically dismantling everything. It’s going to be hard for any future government to put all this right. Months and years to build up, seconds to be smashed to pieces.
Rejecting science, Trump reverses conclusion that climate change is harming Americans — Los Angeles Times
The 2009 endangerment finding affirms that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health and welfare. Its repeal marks one of the most significant deregulatory actions in U.S...
apple.news
February 12, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
During a congressional visit, Congressman Joaquin Castro discovered that babies as young as two months old are being held at the Dilley, Texas Family Concentration Camp. (February 10, 2026)
February 11, 2026 at 4:18 AM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
It’s always the ones you most expect.

“A Florida handyman, Andrew Paul Johnson, who received a pardon from President Trump for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been convicted of multiple state charges of child molestation and exposing himself to children, prosecutors told NPR.”
A Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by Trump was convicted of sexually abusing children
A handyman from Florida who received a pardon from President Trump for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was convicted on state charges of child sex abuse and exposing himself to a child.
www.npr.org
February 11, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
Democratic governors threatened to boycott a White House dinner after President Trump excluded some of their colleagues from the guest list, breaking with a decades-long bipartisan tradition.
Democratic governors threaten to boycott Trump dinner over exclusions
The president left some governors, including Maryland’s Wes Moore, off the guest list for an event that has traditionally been bipartisan.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 11, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
The Trump admin has stopped flying a rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument. apnews.com/article/ston...
Trump administration takes down a rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument
The Trump administration has stopped flying a rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument. That's angering activists who see the change as a symbolic swipe at the country’s first national monument...
apnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
CALL FOR CHAPTERS!

Me and @grahammacklin.bsky.social are putting together an edited collection looking at the use of pseudoscientific ideas by extremist movements. If you are interested, please send us your abstracts at this link: forms.gle/mAUtpDGNEj9i...
February 10, 2026 at 7:38 PM
I'm not a sportsball person, except world cup, and well that's gone now. I'm not watching the sportsball today, but I am cheering on Seattle and not the Patriots...for reasons.

Go sportsball
February 8, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Um. Remember when the Washington Post wasn't an example of the fear mongering insanity of breitbart?

Bad Bunny is an American not an immigrant ffs
The Super Bowl halftime show, with Bad Bunny showcasing Latin music before a global television audience expected to top 100 million, will illustrate the nation’s immigration divide whether or not the reggaeton star delivers an explicit political message.
The enthusiasm — and scorn — surrounding Bad Bunny’s star turn at the Super Bowl
The halftime show will illustrate the nation’s immigration divide whether or not the reggaeton star makes an explicit message about Trump’s deportation drive.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:47 AM
The planet will never be the same after his time in power in comes to an end
"President Trump moved on Friday to allow commercial fishing in the only marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, an area the size of Connecticut that is home to dolphins, endangered whales, sea turtles and ancient deep-sea corals."

This kind of stuff gets lost in the news cycle.

🎁🔗
Trump Opens Marine National Monument in Atlantic to Commercial Fishing
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
DHS has requested expedited deportation proceedings against family of Liam Conejo Ramos www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
DHS has requested expedited deportation proceedings against family of Liam Conejo Ramos
The federal government has filed a motion seeking to end asylum claims for the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, according to the lawyer representing the family.
www.mprnews.org
February 6, 2026 at 1:07 PM
How are we here?
February 6, 2026 at 1:39 AM
I mean will education at any level exist in the USA by 2027?
February 6, 2026 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
Over on X, the Everything App, serious conservative thinker Dinesh D'Souza shared a video of an AI-generated woman on a fake podcast he seemingly thought was real, telling the audience that young women should get with older men. Dude, wtf?
February 5, 2026 at 11:53 PM
America's leadership is led by the greatest of conspiratorial minds. Reality and facts are no longer important
February 6, 2026 at 1:24 AM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
I am speechless.

"The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a 'racist.'" 🗃️ mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...
Medgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist - Mississippi Today
Among anticipated changes to a new visitor brochure for the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument is no longer using "racist" to describe the killer of the civil rights leader.
mississippitoday.org
February 5, 2026 at 3:59 PM
He really needs someone to care for him and take him home. This is not healthy
a delusional Trump claims "we're taking in more than $18 trillion into the United States because of tariffs. The companies, the only way they can avoid them is to build here. They avoid paying the tariffs. Now they've been doing that."
February 6, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
New Mexico's legislature just passed a bill that bans local governments from joining ICE's 287(g) program *and* from hosting detention centers. On to the governor.

www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/i...
New Mexico Senate approves bill to ban ICE detention centers
The New Mexico Legislature approved the Immigration Safety Act. House bill 9 bars the state from allowing ICE detention centers.
www.elpasotimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
Senate committee approves S-209, which has become a trojan horse online harms bill that envisions giving the government the power to mandate age verification and site blocking for a myriad of websites that go well beyond just pornography sites. @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social only one to oppose it.
February 5, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
Having literally written the book on the National Prayer Breakfast -- borne of the idea that God cares more for the rich and powerful than everyone else -- I can say this is the rare instance where Trump's grotesqueness is deeply appropriate.
Trump at National Prayer Breakfast: "They rigged the second election. I had to win it. I needed it for my own ego. I would've had a bad ego for the rest of my life. Now I really have a big ego. Beating these lunatics was incredible ... The first time they said I didn't win the popular vote. I did"
February 5, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
The chair of the first law firm that bent the knee to Trump’s extortion and agreed to do pro bono work for him is featured in the Epstein Files, you say? Huh.
February 5, 2026 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
Washington Post is shuttering its book section, part of the ongoing war against literacy & knowledge.

We at Current Affairs want to pick up the slack by expanding book reviews. Writers: pitch us anytime! And if you subscribe/donate we'll use the funding to commission book coverage.
February 4, 2026 at 8:58 PM
I am grateful that I cannot fathom the amount of hatred and delusion that motivates these individuals.

I can be a but much, but I'm not devoid of humanity, compassion, and basic intellect.
a Republican witness in the GOP's "Somali Scammers" hearing details how he drives by childcare centers and looks at how many footprints in the snow there are to determine how many kids are there. Psycho stuff.
February 5, 2026 at 1:49 AM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
So, remember that Episcopal bishop in New Hampshire that told priests to get their wills in order because “we are entering a new era of martyrdom"?

I ran across historical precedent for that today.

It's from a radio transcript @rns.org produced about a Lutheran bishop in Denmark…

…in 1943.
February 5, 2026 at 1:21 AM
Reposted by Carmen Celestini
Trump's constant degradation of female reporters is unsurprising but the press corps' collective decision to treat it as background noise is actually kind of sickening
February 4, 2026 at 11:24 PM