Rachel Navarre
@rnavarre.bsky.social
Displaced South Louisianan. Associate prof of PoliSci @Bridgewater StateU (MA), studies Populism, immigration policy and other depressing things. Newest book The Age of Discontent is out now.
I miss properly seasoned seafood
She/ her
I miss properly seasoned seafood
She/ her
Pinned
Rachel Navarre
@rnavarre.bsky.social
· Mar 23
Boycott any company that sponsors. Let make sure it’s just Balance of nature, my pillow and relief factor and whatever else Foxnews one
Hey @democrats.org yet another story for your ad campaign that I’m really sure you’re going to start any second now.
For all that is holy Dems, run on anti-corruption. Promise to ban individual stock trading; a constitutional amendment on campaign finance and that applies the same corruption laws to low level employees to all elected or nominated + publicize how the budget is PUBLIC as is the debates about it!
Jackson’s Rebecca Bextel gave campaign checks to some lawmakers on the House floor Monday. The move quickly became the chatter of the Capitol. Then, on Wednesday, quiet rumors spilled into a tense confrontation in the House when a lawmaker raised concerns. wyofile.com/conservative...
Conservative activist hands checks to lawmakers on Wyoming House floor. Controversy erupts. - WyoFile
Rebecca Bextel of Jackson admitted to “delivering lawful campaign checks from Teton County donors.” Republican, Democratic lawmakers cry foul.
wyofile.com
February 12, 2026 at 1:39 AM
For all that is holy Dems, run on anti-corruption. Promise to ban individual stock trading; a constitutional amendment on campaign finance and that applies the same corruption laws to low level employees to all elected or nominated + publicize how the budget is PUBLIC as is the debates about it!
This. It really does only take a few people and you have more fun that way. Also, it helps break up group think! Sometimes newbs ideas don’t work, or were already tried, but many times they just we able to look at it without the build up of how we approach this sort of thing.
i'm pretty sure I was the only non-STEM person who'd ever joined the club at the time, and they were all VERY nice.
it really just takes a few people to craft a welcoming culture capable of overcoming so much stupid shit we're culturally subjected to about who gets to be good at certain things.
it really just takes a few people to craft a welcoming culture capable of overcoming so much stupid shit we're culturally subjected to about who gets to be good at certain things.
February 11, 2026 at 5:17 PM
This. It really does only take a few people and you have more fun that way. Also, it helps break up group think! Sometimes newbs ideas don’t work, or were already tried, but many times they just we able to look at it without the build up of how we approach this sort of thing.
If your rep is a Republican here’s how to hit the greatest hits of right-wing projecting: “well how will they know I’m not an immigrant? They don’t have to bring you to court now so how do they know? I got to carry papers now? Or the Feds got a giant database of us? What do they need that for?”
ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
ICE to begin detaining immigrants inside Social Circle warehouse in April
Homeland Security plans to build warehouse detention facilities in other cities being met with opposition.
www.ajc.com
February 11, 2026 at 5:13 PM
If your rep is a Republican here’s how to hit the greatest hits of right-wing projecting: “well how will they know I’m not an immigrant? They don’t have to bring you to court now so how do they know? I got to carry papers now? Or the Feds got a giant database of us? What do they need that for?”
Just found out someone I know who’s always been incredibly nice to me has a job at one of those free speech centers. You know, the ones that exist because there’s discrimination in higher ed but they are the only ones that hire on an explicitly ideological basis?
February 11, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Just found out someone I know who’s always been incredibly nice to me has a job at one of those free speech centers. You know, the ones that exist because there’s discrimination in higher ed but they are the only ones that hire on an explicitly ideological basis?
Police who live in their communities often park their cars outside their home. Some agencies put full government names on patrol cars. CBP/ICE get paid more and do a whole lot less.
Todd Lyons, Trump's ICE chief, is testifying this morning in a House hearing.
Lyons will say in his opening remarks that ICE is somehow the victim of ICE's reign of terror and violence in Minnesota, not the immigrants too traumatized to go outside or the American citizens ICE/CBP have killed.
Lyons will say in his opening remarks that ICE is somehow the victim of ICE's reign of terror and violence in Minnesota, not the immigrants too traumatized to go outside or the American citizens ICE/CBP have killed.
February 11, 2026 at 1:30 AM
Police who live in their communities often park their cars outside their home. Some agencies put full government names on patrol cars. CBP/ICE get paid more and do a whole lot less.
Reposted by Rachel Navarre
Last week, I published a report - the "Political Disconnect" -based on interviews with 144 low-income & working-class people, across racial groups, who don't usually vote. They are the experts on why, and today I want to share their words.
www.swarthmore.edu/u...
www.swarthmore.edu/u...
February 10, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Last week, I published a report - the "Political Disconnect" -based on interviews with 144 low-income & working-class people, across racial groups, who don't usually vote. They are the experts on why, and today I want to share their words.
www.swarthmore.edu/u...
www.swarthmore.edu/u...
Read the thread if you don’t know who this person is, but once again, I’m more than willing to take a 99% tax rate in exchange for a billion dollars.
February 10, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Read the thread if you don’t know who this person is, but once again, I’m more than willing to take a 99% tax rate in exchange for a billion dollars.
Reposted by Rachel Navarre
1/ This type of government spending is well within my area of expertise, so let me offer my two cents. Long story short, there's a very important and somewhat dangerous way in which this pattern of spending isn't normal, and a one interesting way in which it is very normal. 🧵
In the last month ICE has bought warehouses in:
- Hagerstown, MD: $102 million
- Surprise, AZ: $70 million
- Hamburg, PA: $87 million
- Tremont, PA: $120 million
- San Antonio, TX: $82 million
- El Paso, TX: $123 million
- Social Circle, GA: price unknown
This is unprecedented.
- Hagerstown, MD: $102 million
- Surprise, AZ: $70 million
- Hamburg, PA: $87 million
- Tremont, PA: $120 million
- San Antonio, TX: $82 million
- El Paso, TX: $123 million
- Social Circle, GA: price unknown
This is unprecedented.
February 9, 2026 at 10:43 PM
1/ This type of government spending is well within my area of expertise, so let me offer my two cents. Long story short, there's a very important and somewhat dangerous way in which this pattern of spending isn't normal, and a one interesting way in which it is very normal. 🧵
Reposted by Rachel Navarre
Riffing on this idea…
We need security force defections. We do not win until rank and file ICE agents quit and join us.
So how do we accomplish that? How do we create a message that will “encourage” this result?
And I may have stumbled on an idea…
We need security force defections. We do not win until rank and file ICE agents quit and join us.
So how do we accomplish that? How do we create a message that will “encourage” this result?
And I may have stumbled on an idea…
Why protest at an ICE detention center if you’re gonna face the speakers toward the street and talk about the horrors of ICE?
They know more about conditions in those buildings than we do. We should be pounding on them that THEY are the monsters but THEY can change that.
They know more about conditions in those buildings than we do. We should be pounding on them that THEY are the monsters but THEY can change that.
February 8, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Riffing on this idea…
We need security force defections. We do not win until rank and file ICE agents quit and join us.
So how do we accomplish that? How do we create a message that will “encourage” this result?
And I may have stumbled on an idea…
We need security force defections. We do not win until rank and file ICE agents quit and join us.
So how do we accomplish that? How do we create a message that will “encourage” this result?
And I may have stumbled on an idea…
If you want more antebellum and Civil War Era knowledge that seems eerily familiar with today, I strongly suggest this book. My most recent heavy sigh and staring at the wall was caused by “but even condemning a physical attack became partisan….”
bookshop.org/p/books/char...
bookshop.org/p/books/char...
February 9, 2026 at 5:09 PM
If you want more antebellum and Civil War Era knowledge that seems eerily familiar with today, I strongly suggest this book. My most recent heavy sigh and staring at the wall was caused by “but even condemning a physical attack became partisan….”
bookshop.org/p/books/char...
bookshop.org/p/books/char...
Reposted by Rachel Navarre
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 12:25 PM
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Reposted by Rachel Navarre
A confidential agreement provides yet more evidence of the administration’s campaign to interfere with upcoming elections. bit.ly/46tX4nd
“Confidential” Agreements Show Trump Administration’s Plans for States’ Voter Data
At least 10 states have handed over their full voter files to the Justice Department.
www.brennancenter.org
February 9, 2026 at 2:00 PM
A confidential agreement provides yet more evidence of the administration’s campaign to interfere with upcoming elections. bit.ly/46tX4nd
Reposted by Rachel Navarre
From the bestskeeting author of the Bluesky-famous six-week Bad Bunny 101 comes this essential close reading of the halftime show! 🧵
First shot: sugarcane
The backbone of Puerto Rico's agricultural economy since colonial times
Still used to make rum of course!
The backbone of Puerto Rico's agricultural economy since colonial times
Still used to make rum of course!
February 9, 2026 at 3:54 AM
From the bestskeeting author of the Bluesky-famous six-week Bad Bunny 101 comes this essential close reading of the halftime show! 🧵
Adding this to the slides. Also as a South Louisianan, ewwwww.
"prohibition in the united states" has this time lapse map that switches from folksy banjo music to ominous industrial sci-fi for the 15 seconds when alcohol was illegal nationwide
February 9, 2026 at 1:31 AM
Adding this to the slides. Also as a South Louisianan, ewwwww.
What on god’s green earth did that Dunkin’ commercial do?
February 9, 2026 at 1:13 AM
What on god’s green earth did that Dunkin’ commercial do?
Holy crap. Right after that my feed was nothing but “omg wtf Dunkin” so I’m guessing the first will be needed no matter what.
So is it looking like I need to prepare for grief counseling or being the only person in the classroom this week bc all of the students are drunk in town?
February 9, 2026 at 1:04 AM
Holy crap. Right after that my feed was nothing but “omg wtf Dunkin” so I’m guessing the first will be needed no matter what.
So is it looking like I need to prepare for grief counseling or being the only person in the classroom this week bc all of the students are drunk in town?
February 9, 2026 at 1:03 AM
So is it looking like I need to prepare for grief counseling or being the only person in the classroom this week bc all of the students are drunk in town?
MOR PUPPY BOWL PICS
Don’t know who needs to hear this but one of the puppies on the Puppy Bowl this year is named Chappell Bone
February 8, 2026 at 10:41 PM
MOR PUPPY BOWL PICS
Reposted by Rachel Navarre
What *about* that 5-year-old US citizen? Finish the sentence, Congressman. What does that hypothetical child have to do with Liam Ramos? Spell it out. Don’t just say “but what about our kids” and stop there. Explain your logic.
Gonzales on Liam Ramos and his family: "They're not gonna qualify for asylum. So what do you do with all the people that go through the process and do not qualify for asylum? You deport them. I understand that 5-year-old and it breaks my heart. I also think, what about that 5-year-old US citizen?"
February 8, 2026 at 4:30 PM
What *about* that 5-year-old US citizen? Finish the sentence, Congressman. What does that hypothetical child have to do with Liam Ramos? Spell it out. Don’t just say “but what about our kids” and stop there. Explain your logic.
Once again, a place I know about. I had a deeply personal, it’s on sight, reason to vote against the Williamson County Sheriff in 2015 (Leander is in WilCo). I had to vote in the GOP primary to do so bc whoever won that primary would win the election. Local politics context to follow
Late result for anyone still awake: Na’Cole Thompson, the Democratic candidate in the mayoral race today in Leander, Texas, has won the election.
She got 57% and won’t need a runoff, with two Republicans adding up to 43%.
She got 57% and won’t need a runoff, with two Republicans adding up to 43%.
February 8, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Once again, a place I know about. I had a deeply personal, it’s on sight, reason to vote against the Williamson County Sheriff in 2015 (Leander is in WilCo). I had to vote in the GOP primary to do so bc whoever won that primary would win the election. Local politics context to follow
This is the core of populism!! All opposition is illegitimate and bad, if not evil. They love elections and referendums when they win, but since they have a unique connection w/the people and “know” what they want, any loss is not “authentic”. (Insert Maduro/Trump in the Spider-Man pointing meme)
Secondly, ideological hardliners like Stephen Miller simply don’t believe there is such a thing as an authentic, organic protest. If MAGA is the embodiment of “real America,” then by definition those who object are not actually “American.” They can be identified and purged from the “Volk.”
February 8, 2026 at 2:36 PM
This is the core of populism!! All opposition is illegitimate and bad, if not evil. They love elections and referendums when they win, but since they have a unique connection w/the people and “know” what they want, any loss is not “authentic”. (Insert Maduro/Trump in the Spider-Man pointing meme)
Also I deleted my skeet about LA’s election. I still think it matters bc yeah the old guy was a Dem but that literally means nothing in Louisiana; Landry would not appoint a liberal Dem to anything, and would only do it if he expected another conservative Dem or possibly GOP would win.
February 8, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Also I deleted my skeet about LA’s election. I still think it matters bc yeah the old guy was a Dem but that literally means nothing in Louisiana; Landry would not appoint a liberal Dem to anything, and would only do it if he expected another conservative Dem or possibly GOP would win.
So I am not a Bad Bunny fan, but bc of SNL, I know that he’s hilarious- you can understand the skits even if you only speak English OR Spanish. I can’t help but think there’s people that are going to see pictures and be like, wait, that’s Bad Bunny? That’s who this was about?
Trump is badly losing the war over ICE, not just on the streets, but also in the culture. As Bad Bunny shows, this has become a culture war unto itself. Trump-MAGA's initial hubris has been utterly deflated.
I've got fresh data illustrating the point. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2062...
I've got fresh data illustrating the point. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2062...
Trump Rages at Bad Bunny—and Accidentally Exposes a Big MAGA Weakness
MAGA’s hatred of the Super Bowl halftime performer reflects a hubris about what parts of the culture are “theirs.” But those assumptions are proving more wrong every day.
newrepublic.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:15 PM
So I am not a Bad Bunny fan, but bc of SNL, I know that he’s hilarious- you can understand the skits even if you only speak English OR Spanish. I can’t help but think there’s people that are going to see pictures and be like, wait, that’s Bad Bunny? That’s who this was about?
Reposted by Rachel Navarre
Ok which muppets are on your panel and what are you presenting on?
I'd watch a muppet show movie where the muppets infiltrate an academic conference.
February 8, 2026 at 12:49 AM
Ok which muppets are on your panel and what are you presenting on?
Y’all. My partner just called from upstairs in a very cautious voice to say “hey, babe, you should check your social media.” I freak out a bit— what nonsense did I post?
I open the app to 30+ notifications as he continued “ @jamellebouie.net just reskeeted you”
RIP my mentions.
I open the app to 30+ notifications as he continued “ @jamellebouie.net just reskeeted you”
RIP my mentions.
February 7, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Y’all. My partner just called from upstairs in a very cautious voice to say “hey, babe, you should check your social media.” I freak out a bit— what nonsense did I post?
I open the app to 30+ notifications as he continued “ @jamellebouie.net just reskeeted you”
RIP my mentions.
I open the app to 30+ notifications as he continued “ @jamellebouie.net just reskeeted you”
RIP my mentions.