Auntie Kythera
@auntiekythera.bsky.social
Software engineer, game developer, writer. #Fediverse fan.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
This is a fantastic piece on how central the politics of humiliation are to understanding Trump and the MAGA movement.
The right is currently engaged in an all-hands-on-deck effort to *publicly humiliate* everyone who they dislike or assumes dislikes them.
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-politi/
The right is currently engaged in an all-hands-on-deck effort to *publicly humiliate* everyone who they dislike or assumes dislikes them.
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-politi/
The Politics of Humiliation
The politics of humiliation has moved to the center of the reactionary project under Trump II.
www.liberalcurrents.com
July 21, 2025 at 4:19 PM
This is a fantastic piece on how central the politics of humiliation are to understanding Trump and the MAGA movement.
The right is currently engaged in an all-hands-on-deck effort to *publicly humiliate* everyone who they dislike or assumes dislikes them.
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-politi/
The right is currently engaged in an all-hands-on-deck effort to *publicly humiliate* everyone who they dislike or assumes dislikes them.
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-politi/
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
Arguably the most important part of the article was this policy expert saying:
This doesn't stop in 2028 no matter what.
Once you spend so much money on growing policing + detention, that creates its own local economies. That creates demand. It's hard to wind down. It becomes the norm.
This doesn't stop in 2028 no matter what.
Once you spend so much money on growing policing + detention, that creates its own local economies. That creates demand. It's hard to wind down. It becomes the norm.
July 3, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Arguably the most important part of the article was this policy expert saying:
This doesn't stop in 2028 no matter what.
Once you spend so much money on growing policing + detention, that creates its own local economies. That creates demand. It's hard to wind down. It becomes the norm.
This doesn't stop in 2028 no matter what.
Once you spend so much money on growing policing + detention, that creates its own local economies. That creates demand. It's hard to wind down. It becomes the norm.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
Read this Q&A below, where my colleague @adrielorozco.bsky.social breaks down the budget bill and how four years of funding will embed immigration enforcement into local police, creating political incentives to keep the funding even in future years.
July 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Read this Q&A below, where my colleague @adrielorozco.bsky.social breaks down the budget bill and how four years of funding will embed immigration enforcement into local police, creating political incentives to keep the funding even in future years.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
I get the alliteration but I think that does injustice to the memory of Auschwitz.
Alligator Auschwitz...
July 2, 2025 at 1:07 AM
I get the alliteration but I think that does injustice to the memory of Auschwitz.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
Just days ago, Brad Lander called me to interpret for an Arabic-speaking asylee whose case was approved, yet ICE was still harassing him inside the building. Brad personally escorted him out to safety. He does this kind of work quietly, every day.
Lander just got detained by federal agents as he tried to escort a man out of the courtroom. Lander was taken in an elevator with masked agents, along with one member of his NYPD security detail.
June 17, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Just days ago, Brad Lander called me to interpret for an Arabic-speaking asylee whose case was approved, yet ICE was still harassing him inside the building. Brad personally escorted him out to safety. He does this kind of work quietly, every day.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
Some thoughts about the military parade in my hometown of Washington DC today -- specifically, the route. Military parades in DC are quite rare. But when they happen, they have always begun, symbolically and geographically, at the Capitol and moved outward. 1/
June 14, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Some thoughts about the military parade in my hometown of Washington DC today -- specifically, the route. Military parades in DC are quite rare. But when they happen, they have always begun, symbolically and geographically, at the Capitol and moved outward. 1/
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
This ICE agent tells an immigration attorney of her three clients: "I'm not picky so I'm giving you the options cause I have to take one. If not I'll take all."
He is quite literally saying that ICE is simply deporting people at random to meet a quota.
www.instagram.com/reel/DKzbcQe...
He is quite literally saying that ICE is simply deporting people at random to meet a quota.
www.instagram.com/reel/DKzbcQe...
June 13, 2025 at 4:37 PM
This ICE agent tells an immigration attorney of her three clients: "I'm not picky so I'm giving you the options cause I have to take one. If not I'll take all."
He is quite literally saying that ICE is simply deporting people at random to meet a quota.
www.instagram.com/reel/DKzbcQe...
He is quite literally saying that ICE is simply deporting people at random to meet a quota.
www.instagram.com/reel/DKzbcQe...
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
the plan to make america great again is to make us an impoverished garrison state dominated by trump and his oligarch buddies
*US ORDERS HALT TO STUDENT VISA INTERVIEWS: POLITICO
Trump team orders stop to new student visa interviews, as it weighs expanding social media vetting
The directive came in a Tuesday cable obtained by POLITICO.
www.politico.com
May 27, 2025 at 4:37 PM
the plan to make america great again is to make us an impoverished garrison state dominated by trump and his oligarch buddies
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
A Bronx high school student was abducted by ICE at his immigration court date and has since been disappeared across four states in five days in order to evade contact with his lawyer.
The US is now undeniably a rogue state.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
The US is now undeniably a rogue state.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
May 27, 2025 at 1:53 PM
A Bronx high school student was abducted by ICE at his immigration court date and has since been disappeared across four states in five days in order to evade contact with his lawyer.
The US is now undeniably a rogue state.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
The US is now undeniably a rogue state.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
4-year-old Bakersfield girl facing deportation could die within days of losing medical care - Los Angeles Times
Don’t ever tell me that Christians support the GOP. There is nothing Christian or Christ-like about this. Just plain old cruelty and callousness:
Don’t ever tell me that Christians support the GOP. There is nothing Christian or Christ-like about this. Just plain old cruelty and callousness:
4-year-old Bakersfield girl facing deportation could die within days of losing medical care
In 2023, a Mexican girl, 4, was allowed U.S. entry for lifesaving medical care. She and her parents, who live in Bakersfield, have been told they must leave.
www.latimes.com
May 28, 2025 at 2:37 AM
4-year-old Bakersfield girl facing deportation could die within days of losing medical care - Los Angeles Times
Don’t ever tell me that Christians support the GOP. There is nothing Christian or Christ-like about this. Just plain old cruelty and callousness:
Don’t ever tell me that Christians support the GOP. There is nothing Christian or Christ-like about this. Just plain old cruelty and callousness:
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
If they were all “monsters” you wouldn’t be afraid to afford them due process by standing in front of judge with evidence of said monstrosity BEFORE trying to ship them off to God knows where.
so the Trump administration is admitting that they're deporting migrants to South Sudan
May 21, 2025 at 2:39 PM
If they were all “monsters” you wouldn’t be afraid to afford them due process by standing in front of judge with evidence of said monstrosity BEFORE trying to ship them off to God knows where.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
Tonight, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band opened their Land of Hope & Dreams Tour. Bruce launched this run of shows with three statements about the situation in the United States, with comments preceding his songs Land of Hope and Dreams, House of a Thousand Guitars and My City of Ruins.
Land of Hope and Dreams
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
May 14, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Tonight, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band opened their Land of Hope & Dreams Tour. Bruce launched this run of shows with three statements about the situation in the United States, with comments preceding his songs Land of Hope and Dreams, House of a Thousand Guitars and My City of Ruins.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
“Either cowed by — or under the drunken influence of — MAGA authoritarianism and threats, the GOP is no longer a functioning political party. It is a cult of personality and power redolent of the Europe of the 1930s.” www.democracydocket.com/opinion/no-n...
No Surrender: The Boss is showing how to stand up to Trump
Read More here.
www.democracydocket.com
May 21, 2025 at 2:30 PM
“Either cowed by — or under the drunken influence of — MAGA authoritarianism and threats, the GOP is no longer a functioning political party. It is a cult of personality and power redolent of the Europe of the 1930s.” www.democracydocket.com/opinion/no-n...
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
Something to keep your eye on after the birthright citizenship arguments: 2 other cases before SCOTUS- 1 involving humanitarian parole & another involving TPS- where the govt is asking SCOTUS to let it deport up to 1 million people w/o going through the proper legal process. 🧵
May 15, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Something to keep your eye on after the birthright citizenship arguments: 2 other cases before SCOTUS- 1 involving humanitarian parole & another involving TPS- where the govt is asking SCOTUS to let it deport up to 1 million people w/o going through the proper legal process. 🧵
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
If there's a masculinity crisis in America, Ground Zero is the cowardly wusses who work for ICE and HSI, covering their faces with masks, fearful of an 80-year-old congresswoman, and reeking of panic
What are the consequences for a U.S. secret police? My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
What are the consequences for a U.S. secret police? My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
Why are ICE agents such cowardly wusses? | Will Bunch Newsletter
Plus, how the Trump-Leo divide was born in the ‘80s.
www.inquirer.com
May 13, 2025 at 3:39 PM
If there's a masculinity crisis in America, Ground Zero is the cowardly wusses who work for ICE and HSI, covering their faces with masks, fearful of an 80-year-old congresswoman, and reeking of panic
What are the consequences for a U.S. secret police? My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
What are the consequences for a U.S. secret police? My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
Rümeysa Öztürk spoke briefly at a press conference held when she arrived at Logan Airport tonight.
"My dear professor and lab mates are here today. I just want to highlight that. ... My advisor sent my dissertation proposal to the prison. My lab mates have been reading me books on the phone."
"My dear professor and lab mates are here today. I just want to highlight that. ... My advisor sent my dissertation proposal to the prison. My lab mates have been reading me books on the phone."
LIVE NOW: Rümeysa Öztürk and her legal team
Best QUALITY link
Best QUALITY link
Tufts student and lawyers speak at Logan Airport after returning from Louisiana
Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk and members of her legal team spoke at Boston Logan Airport on Saturday evening, after they arrived home from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention fac...
www.wcvb.com
May 11, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Rümeysa Öztürk spoke briefly at a press conference held when she arrived at Logan Airport tonight.
"My dear professor and lab mates are here today. I just want to highlight that. ... My advisor sent my dissertation proposal to the prison. My lab mates have been reading me books on the phone."
"My dear professor and lab mates are here today. I just want to highlight that. ... My advisor sent my dissertation proposal to the prison. My lab mates have been reading me books on the phone."
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
Closely following the principles of Lysenkoism, the Trump administration is taking decisions about science away from scientists. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Institutionalizing politicized science
The opening months of the Trump administration represent a historic disruption to America’s scientific agencies. Staff have been fired or reassigned in the name of efficiency, resulting in chaos. Gran...
www.science.org
May 10, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Closely following the principles of Lysenkoism, the Trump administration is taking decisions about science away from scientists. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
At the time that insane arrest/abduction video emerged, it was hard to believe that even the Trump administration would proceed so precipitously and recklessly on the basis of year-old protected speech in the student newspaper. But that’s really all there was.
Judge Sessions says the only evidence the government produced for the detention is the op-ed.
"That literally is the case. There is no evidence here as to the motivation absent the consideration of the op-ed."
"That literally is the case. There is no evidence here as to the motivation absent the consideration of the op-ed."
May 9, 2025 at 5:32 PM
At the time that insane arrest/abduction video emerged, it was hard to believe that even the Trump administration would proceed so precipitously and recklessly on the basis of year-old protected speech in the student newspaper. But that’s really all there was.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
This Rümeysa Öztürk hearing is radicalizing.
I've been a court reporter for many years, and I've never covered anything like this: A student deeply committed to her studies, imprisoned solely over writing an op-ed, being made to testify under oath for her own freedom.
Dark, dark stuff.
I've been a court reporter for many years, and I've never covered anything like this: A student deeply committed to her studies, imprisoned solely over writing an op-ed, being made to testify under oath for her own freedom.
Dark, dark stuff.
May 9, 2025 at 3:20 PM
This Rümeysa Öztürk hearing is radicalizing.
I've been a court reporter for many years, and I've never covered anything like this: A student deeply committed to her studies, imprisoned solely over writing an op-ed, being made to testify under oath for her own freedom.
Dark, dark stuff.
I've been a court reporter for many years, and I've never covered anything like this: A student deeply committed to her studies, imprisoned solely over writing an op-ed, being made to testify under oath for her own freedom.
Dark, dark stuff.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
Crucial that the judge released her on her own recognizance. ICE wanted her to be on an order of supervision with travel restrictions and possibly even an ANKLE monitor.
Not going to put travel restriction on her because she poses no flight risk.
She's an academic and engaged in her career, so she will likely need to travel.
I order that she will be released on her own recognizance and the Burlington Center for Justice may supervise her.
She's an academic and engaged in her career, so she will likely need to travel.
I order that she will be released on her own recognizance and the Burlington Center for Justice may supervise her.
May 9, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Crucial that the judge released her on her own recognizance. ICE wanted her to be on an order of supervision with travel restrictions and possibly even an ANKLE monitor.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
And that's it.
"All rise" as judge leaves the bench.
In the Zoom gallery, I see Ozturk stand.
She hugs her attorney, smiling.
"All rise" as judge leaves the bench.
In the Zoom gallery, I see Ozturk stand.
She hugs her attorney, smiling.
May 9, 2025 at 5:24 PM
And that's it.
"All rise" as judge leaves the bench.
In the Zoom gallery, I see Ozturk stand.
She hugs her attorney, smiling.
"All rise" as judge leaves the bench.
In the Zoom gallery, I see Ozturk stand.
She hugs her attorney, smiling.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
Whatever impostor syndrome you may have once had, dispose of it fucking immediately. If these people run the country, you deserve that promotion, you can run for city council, you can start that business. If this is the baseline, shit, you can do surgery drunk in an alley and you will do less harm.
The entire administration is going to be staffed by Fox News hosts
May 8, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Whatever impostor syndrome you may have once had, dispose of it fucking immediately. If these people run the country, you deserve that promotion, you can run for city council, you can start that business. If this is the baseline, shit, you can do surgery drunk in an alley and you will do less harm.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
So many (apparently) new followers or non-followers responding w/ a version of "they won't comply."
I have a strong position on this: This is dangerous & undermines the rule of law. The *expectation* is that they will follow the ruling. Make them justify each and any failure or refusal to do so.
I have a strong position on this: This is dangerous & undermines the rule of law. The *expectation* is that they will follow the ruling. Make them justify each and any failure or refusal to do so.
May 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
So many (apparently) new followers or non-followers responding w/ a version of "they won't comply."
I have a strong position on this: This is dangerous & undermines the rule of law. The *expectation* is that they will follow the ruling. Make them justify each and any failure or refusal to do so.
I have a strong position on this: This is dangerous & undermines the rule of law. The *expectation* is that they will follow the ruling. Make them justify each and any failure or refusal to do so.
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
just so we’re all clear: the reason they keep using dolls as their example is because they’re trying to frame caring about material stuff as feminine and thus inherently shameful
Bessent says that little girls who are sad about having fewer dolls should just have it explained to them that they will have a better life for it
May 6, 2025 at 11:30 PM
just so we’re all clear: the reason they keep using dolls as their example is because they’re trying to frame caring about material stuff as feminine and thus inherently shameful
Reposted by Auntie Kythera
I have no doubt that Trump’s hateful words are not behind me. I am certain he will escalate his campaign of political retribution. But, for my part, I will not stop fighting. I will never back down. And I will always speak out. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/my-t...
My Time on 60 Minutes and Why I Refuse To Stay Silent
From Marc | From the opening words of Judge Beryl Howell’s opinion to the 60 Minutes closing credits, this has been an emotional weekend for me personally.
www.democracydocket.com
May 6, 2025 at 12:16 PM
I have no doubt that Trump’s hateful words are not behind me. I am certain he will escalate his campaign of political retribution. But, for my part, I will not stop fighting. I will never back down. And I will always speak out. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/my-t...