Sqepticism
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sqep.bsky.social
Sqepticism
@sqep.bsky.social
410 followers 840 following 1.9K posts
All humans deserve full bodily autonomy
male female and intersex <3
YourWholeBaby.org
Social Democrat, Secular Humanist, American
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sqep.bsky.social
Sqepticism @sqep.bsky.social · Dec 15
It's fascinating to me how so called 'people against circumcision' are also against you ever mentioning it, ever, unless its specifically on the nearly nonexistant organic mentions or articles that go viral.

Bodily autonomy? Not topical enough. Genital cutting? Somehow, still not topical enough.
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nicholasgrossman.bsky.social
Of the biggest scandals in US history just this week, I think I’d rank them:

1) Federal paramilitaries invade US city based on racist lies, murder US citizens

2) Slush fund for the president from stolen foreign resources held in Qatar

3) Whatever FBI and DNI are doing re: 2020 election in Georgia
January 29, 2026 at 2:52 AM
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rollforphobia.bsky.social
“Leftists have no theory of mind for conservatives!” and then it’s just endless ”You do too believe in natural immutable hierarchy! Stop pretending you don’t!”
January 29, 2026 at 1:27 AM
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ericumansky.bsky.social
Underappreciated banana-pants news of the day.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/u...
January 29, 2026 at 2:22 AM
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reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
HUGE news! This is about a Trump admin effort to arrest thousands of screened and vetted refugees in Minnesota and fly them to Texas to be jailed and then interrogated.

After the interrogation is over, people are being dumped on the street and told to find their own way back.
NY Times headline and photo + caption They Had Done Everything Right? ICE Detained Them Anyway. Dozens of refugees with valid status have been sent from Minnesota to Texas to be revetted, prompting a lawsuit. Those released have had to pay their way back. Underneath is a photo of DHS officer with a kiss and a gun getting out of a car. The caption reads as follows: “More than 100 refugees with no criminal record from about a dozen countries have been detained in Minnesota by agents in recent weeks.”
January 28, 2026 at 11:17 PM
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gregsargent.bsky.social
Good to see: Rep Jamie Raskin is encouraging whistleblowers inside DHS and DOJ to approach Dems and share info about failure to investigate ICE murders.

"We are now being far more direct in asking whistleblowers to come forward," Raskin tells me.

In my new piece:

newrepublic.com/article/2057...
January 28, 2026 at 12:00 PM
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collie.bsky.social
The right has been crashing out for weeks because they never expected white people to fight and die for their neighbors.
whstancil.bsky.social Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 1d
Jesus Christ you freak, they’re just my neighbors
January 29, 2026 at 1:04 AM
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carlquintanilla.bsky.social
“.. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks on the phone while standing inside a vehicle loaded with boxes outside the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center after the FBI executed a search warrant there.”

@reuters.com
January 29, 2026 at 12:47 AM
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reuters.com
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that he attended last week's Supreme Court arguments over President Trump's effort to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook because of the case's importance to the U.S. central bank.
January 29, 2026 at 2:24 AM
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mkraju.bsky.social
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, who has called on Trump to fire Secretary Noem and senior adviser Stephen Miller, on Trump calling him a “loser.”

“I am thrilled about that. That makes me qualified to be homeland security secretary and senior adviser to the president.”
January 29, 2026 at 2:16 AM
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crampell.bsky.social
Latinas for Trump cofounder "worried for the first time that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents might stop her son, a young adult, because he looks Hispanic"
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...
‘Latinas for Trump’ Co-Founder Warns Immigration Will Cost G.O.P. the Midterms
www.nytimes.com
January 28, 2026 at 4:49 PM
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bgrueskin.bsky.social
Tuesday morning:
New CBS boss promises “huge emphasis on scoops.”

Tuesday evening:
CBS Evening News anchor interviews his mom.

www.yahoo.com/entertainmen...
‘CBS Evening News’: Tony Dokoupil Under Fire for Interviewing His Own Mom
Viewers accuse CBS News of 'dumbing down.'
www.yahoo.com
January 28, 2026 at 2:33 PM
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joeberkowitz.bsky.social
Incredibly, this is an actual photo New York Post used for the guy who attacked Ilhan Omar.
MAGA fuckface in cozy red sweater, holding dog also wearing sweater, against a background of vivid red foliage. Endlessly useful Zack Fox tweet from 2018: this how photos be lookin in headlines when a white man kills his entire family. (it's a guy on a jetski with wife and daughter.)
January 28, 2026 at 2:59 PM
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usili.bsky.social
Bilbo looking at his phone top on bottom is ChatGPT After all, why not? Why shouldn't I keep it? You're absolutely right — you found it, it's been with you a long while, and it's only natural to feel fond of something that's served you so well, especially when someone like Gandalf suddenly seems to want it for himself.
January 28, 2026 at 1:51 AM
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tom.medsky.social
Downfall Bovino Edition. You're welcome.
January 27, 2026 at 5:36 AM
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normative.bsky.social
"Can I keep my job now, sir?"
Pinhead from Hellraiser
January 28, 2026 at 12:39 AM
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brasidas.bsky.social
This is 20 years of COIN manifesting in ways that only we have eyes to see.
mjfree.bsky.social Morgan J Freeman @mjfree.bsky.social · 4d
BREAKING: The Minnesota National Guard is handing out coffee and donuts to Anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis, after governor Tim Walz called them in to help out.

The good guys!
January 26, 2026 at 12:51 AM
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bgrueskin.bsky.social
Meanwhile the WSJ editorial page says that Pretti — a nurse — “foolishly” tried to assist a woman who was being gassed, and that his actions “warranted arrest”

www.wsj.com/opinion/time...
Videos of an event aren't always definitive, but this is how it looks to us. pretti attempted, foolishly to assist a woman who had been pepper-sprayed by agents. Multiple agents then tackled Pretti, and he had a phone in one hand as he lay on the ground. An agent discovered a concealed gun on Pretti, and disarmed him. An agent then shot Pretti, and multiple shots followed. Pretti made a tragic mistake by interfering with ICE agents, but that warranted arrest, not a death sentence. The agents may say they felt threatened, but it's worth noting the comments over the weekend by police around the country who say that this isn't how they conduct law enforcement.
January 26, 2026 at 1:12 AM
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wrigleyfield.bsky.social
This is one of the things that I find is most shocking to people outside Minnesota who don’t realize it yet—the scale at which everyone who isn’t white has been forced into a spectrum of hiding.

Very good article drawing out the Tahrir Square comparison.
Knutson mentioned in passing that his neighbor had “an adopted brown kid down there; they hid her in the basement yesterday.” This kind of thing no longer sounds weird in Minneapolis. Many people are hiding indoors—so many that, in a city with a substantial minority population, I hardly saw any Black or Latino faces on the street.
January 26, 2026 at 4:01 AM
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passantino.bsky.social
News: The Washington Post is preparing to slash upwards of 300 staffers, incl sports, metro and foreign desks @nataliekorach.bsky.social reports.

“The newsroom is being punished for absolute incompetence from the owner and publisher,” one staffer told @status.news
www.status.news/p/washington...
Post Parting Depression
Looming cuts at The Washington Post threaten to decimate key coverage areas as staffers question the motives and commitment of billionaire owner Jeff Bezos.
www.status.news
January 26, 2026 at 1:53 AM
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jessicaperthwa.bsky.social
January 25, 2026 at 1:28 AM
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reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.
1. I am a resident of the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am over 18 years of age. I am a children's entertainer who specializes in face painting. 2. On Saturday, January 24, 2026, at about 8:50 am, I was getting ready to go to work when I heard whistles outside. I knew the whistles meant that ICE agents were in the area, so I decided to check it out on my way to work. I've been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors. Connecting to your local community and knowing who your neighbors are is something I profoundly value. 3. I drove to Nicollet Ave. and 26th where I could hear the whistles coming from. I turned south onto Nicollet. There were already several ICE agents there and they'd set up a sort of vehicle convoy on Nicollet and 28th. There were also about 15 observers there, recording and observing ICE. 4. I saw ICE agents surrounding cars and punching car windows. I also saw them stopping vehicles further down Nicollet, so I backed up because I didn't feel safe continuing on. 5. I noticed a man sort of acting to help traffic move more smoothly. He helped me find a place to park. I got out with my whistle and my camera. I went over to him and said something like, "I'm going to film and use my whistle." 6. It seemed like most ICE activity was happening a little farther down the street from us, near 27th. Someone was being thrown to the ground. 7. I started recording. There was an agent by a car across the street. Two observers were a few feet away from the agent, blowing their whistles. One was wearing a backpack. 8. I and the man who was observing and helping direct traffic were standing in the street. There was a phone in the man's hand recording a video. 9. An agent approached and asked us to back up, so I moved slowly back onto the sidewalk. 10. The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray. The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out. I didn't see him reach for or hold a gun. 11. Then the ICE agent shoved one of the other observers to the ground. Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over. The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him. 12. Then the man tried to help up the woman the ICE agent had shoved to the ground. The ICE agents just kept spraying. More agents came over and grabbed the man who was still trying to help the woman get up. All three of the observers looked to have been badly affected by the pepper spray. I could feel the pepper spray in my eyes. 13. The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn't see him touch any of them-he wasn't even turned toward them. It didn't look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn't see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times. 14.1 don't know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him. 15. The video I recorded of what happened accurately depicts the events leading up to the agents shooting him and several minutes afterwards. The video is attached as Exhibit 1. 16. I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground. 17. I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and I don't feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me. I don't know what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they're not telling the truth about what happened. I've heard that other witnesses might have been arrested and taken to the Whipple Building. 18. I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state. I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bear witness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny. This is a struggle to protect our freedom and democracy, those things are on the line. He lost his life for those values. I declare under penalty of perjury that everything I have stated in this document is true and correct. Dated and signed on Jan 24, 2026 in Hennepin County, State of Minnesota.
January 25, 2026 at 1:15 AM
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crampell.bsky.social
F.B.I. Agent Who Tried to Investigate ICE Officer in Shooting Resigns www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/u...
F.B.I. Agent Who Tried to Investigate ICE Officer in Shooting Resigns
www.nytimes.com
January 24, 2026 at 12:43 AM
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jackjenkins.me
Police have arrived. Arrests seem imminent. The crowd chants “let them pray” and “Minnesota nice means prosecute ICE”
January 23, 2026 at 4:57 PM
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andylevy.net
nine years old
“I am Puerto Rican,” she says. “I send my kids with their passports to school. I’m having conversations with them about safety: Am I safe at school? A week ago we had an incident where there was a school bus with the STOP sign open and kids were getting on the bus and it was surrounded by ICE agents. And this is 7:20 in the morning and — just — you get that fight-or-flight response.” At first her 9-year-old was carrying her passport in her backpack; now it’s in her back pocket. “I have to prepare them for it if they get stopped,” she says. “I said, Do not engage. This is not the time to be cussing at anyone. But she said, Mom, if I create enough noise, my friends can get away.”
January 23, 2026 at 3:41 PM