Chrisella Herzog
@chrisella.bsky.social
Bluesky elder. Former journalist talking about politics, climate, and disinformation. #Sewist and #knitter
My daffodils are coming up. My roses are probably going to bloom.
Salt Lake City is on track for its warmest December in more than 100 years, with highs in the 60s and little snow in sight. The unusual heat is causing plants and trees to bloom early.
SLC on pace for warmest December since tracking began in late 1800s
Salt Lake City is on track for its warmest December in more than 100 years, with highs in the 60s and little snow in sight. The unusual heat is causing plants and trees to bloom early.
www.sltrib.com
December 22, 2025 at 11:59 PM
My daffodils are coming up. My roses are probably going to bloom.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
Watching the spiked 60 Minutes episode on YouTube, thanks to @phillewis.bsky.social. It's not like the Trump admin didn't have its say. At about 4:15 mark, there is footage of Trump saying CECOT was "great facilities, very strong facilities"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lenF...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lenF...
WATCH: Segment CBS News Pulled From "60 Minutes"
YouTube video by Phil Lewis
www.youtube.com
December 22, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Watching the spiked 60 Minutes episode on YouTube, thanks to @phillewis.bsky.social. It's not like the Trump admin didn't have its say. At about 4:15 mark, there is footage of Trump saying CECOT was "great facilities, very strong facilities"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lenF...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lenF...
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
“Earlier this year, the White House falsely claimed that millions of US taxpayers’ dollars were funding “sex changes” in Guatemala — a lie used to justify gutting USAID, which has provided aid worldwide for more than 60 years.”
www.latinousa.org/2025/12/12/s...
www.latinousa.org/2025/12/12/s...
How a White House Lie About “Sex Changes” in Guatemala Helped Decimate USAID - Latino USA
False U.S. claims about funding “sex changes” in Guatemala sparked controversy, hurt LGBTQ+ groups in that country, and undermined USAID’s global work.
www.latinousa.org
December 22, 2025 at 11:30 PM
“Earlier this year, the White House falsely claimed that millions of US taxpayers’ dollars were funding “sex changes” in Guatemala — a lie used to justify gutting USAID, which has provided aid worldwide for more than 60 years.”
www.latinousa.org/2025/12/12/s...
www.latinousa.org/2025/12/12/s...
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
You can very clearly see why someone whose job it is to protect war criminals would need this pulled from the airwaves: It’s visible proof the Trump administration is operating concentration camps.
I just uploaded @jasonparis.bsky.social 's recording of the segment CBS News pulled from "60 Minutes" to YouTube:
WATCH: Segment CBS News Pulled From "60 Minutes"
YouTube video by Phil Lewis
www.youtube.com
December 22, 2025 at 11:22 PM
You can very clearly see why someone whose job it is to protect war criminals would need this pulled from the airwaves: It’s visible proof the Trump administration is operating concentration camps.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
It’s not enough to beat MAGA at the ballot box, these criminals need held accountable to ensure this will never happen again.
Anyone asking for our vote needs to commit to prosecuting Trump and his cadre of corrupt conspirators for their crimes.
jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/lock-them-...
Anyone asking for our vote needs to commit to prosecuting Trump and his cadre of corrupt conspirators for their crimes.
jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/lock-them-...
Lock Them Up: Send the Trump Administration to Prison
It's not enough to beat MAGA at the ballot box. There have to be consequences that keep this from ever happening again.
jaredyatessexton.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:53 PM
It’s not enough to beat MAGA at the ballot box, these criminals need held accountable to ensure this will never happen again.
Anyone asking for our vote needs to commit to prosecuting Trump and his cadre of corrupt conspirators for their crimes.
jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/lock-them-...
Anyone asking for our vote needs to commit to prosecuting Trump and his cadre of corrupt conspirators for their crimes.
jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/lock-them-...
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
The CBS 60 Minutes Doc confirms what we knew: The U.S. is currently using our tax dollars to imprison brown people with no criminal record in torture camps overseas.
It’s no wonder administration shill Bari Weiss pulled this off the air: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjY7...
It’s no wonder administration shill Bari Weiss pulled this off the air: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjY7...
CANCELLED 60 MINUTES CECOT DOC
YouTube video by eoin higgins
www.youtube.com
December 22, 2025 at 11:39 PM
The CBS 60 Minutes Doc confirms what we knew: The U.S. is currently using our tax dollars to imprison brown people with no criminal record in torture camps overseas.
It’s no wonder administration shill Bari Weiss pulled this off the air: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjY7...
It’s no wonder administration shill Bari Weiss pulled this off the air: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjY7...
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
those who predicted authoritarianism were both dismissed, & deeply misunderstood, by the media
my latest for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
my latest for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
The Americans Who Saw All This Coming—but Were Ignored and Maligned
Call them the Cassandras: the people—mostly not white and male—who smelled the fascism all over Trump from jump street. Why were they “alarmists,” and how did “anti-alarmism” become cool?
newrepublic.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:26 AM
those who predicted authoritarianism were both dismissed, & deeply misunderstood, by the media
my latest for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
my latest for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
This is precisely how fascism works, by grabbing at and taking away a little more freedom whenever events lend themselves to it. Bit by bit you lose your rights, until you turn around and realize the road you're on has been long, and democracy is well behind you over the horizon.
The admin is wasting no crisis... Sec. Kristi Noem said she is suspending the diversity visa lottery program (DV-1) after the Brown University suspect entered the U.S. through it in 2017.
December 19, 2025 at 5:10 AM
This is precisely how fascism works, by grabbing at and taking away a little more freedom whenever events lend themselves to it. Bit by bit you lose your rights, until you turn around and realize the road you're on has been long, and democracy is well behind you over the horizon.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
Read this thread.
It's exactly right. But also note on the internet related stories—the banning of TikTok and the attack on Sec 230—Democrats happily helped MAGA accomplish their goals and people have cheered it on.
Democrats trying to destroy 230 are not helping you. They're helping Trump.
It's exactly right. But also note on the internet related stories—the banning of TikTok and the attack on Sec 230—Democrats happily helped MAGA accomplish their goals and people have cheered it on.
Democrats trying to destroy 230 are not helping you. They're helping Trump.
There’s a specific mechanism in authoritarian movements that we’re seeing play out in real-time across American media and tech. It’s a simple rule: "If we cannot co-opt it, we must destroy it."
It is the logic of "scorched earth." It's the logic of the Nero Decree and it's happening right now. 🧵
It is the logic of "scorched earth." It's the logic of the Nero Decree and it's happening right now. 🧵
December 14, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Read this thread.
It's exactly right. But also note on the internet related stories—the banning of TikTok and the attack on Sec 230—Democrats happily helped MAGA accomplish their goals and people have cheered it on.
Democrats trying to destroy 230 are not helping you. They're helping Trump.
It's exactly right. But also note on the internet related stories—the banning of TikTok and the attack on Sec 230—Democrats happily helped MAGA accomplish their goals and people have cheered it on.
Democrats trying to destroy 230 are not helping you. They're helping Trump.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
Once again, marginal income, capital gains, & wealth tax rates are too low & this poses an existential threat to the Republic
December 14, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Once again, marginal income, capital gains, & wealth tax rates are too low & this poses an existential threat to the Republic
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
The RFK, jr effect.
December 13, 2025 at 9:40 PM
The RFK, jr effect.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
The House is expected to vote this week on Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's bill to make providing trans youth with gender-affirming care punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Life-saving health care is on the line. Tell your members of Congress to reject this bill NOW.
Life-saving health care is on the line. Tell your members of Congress to reject this bill NOW.
Protect Trans Care Now
As wave after wave of extreme measures to criminalize and strip trans people of rights and safety continue, tell Congress to act.
action.aclu.org
December 14, 2025 at 5:27 PM
The House is expected to vote this week on Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's bill to make providing trans youth with gender-affirming care punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Life-saving health care is on the line. Tell your members of Congress to reject this bill NOW.
Life-saving health care is on the line. Tell your members of Congress to reject this bill NOW.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
This was what happened to Newsweek and it’s in the process of happening to the LA Times and the Washington Post, too.
Now look at CBS. Installing Bari Weiss to run a news division isn’t a "pivot to the center." It is a deliberate hollowing out.
Take a legacy institution, gut its standards, wear its skin like a suit. They don’t want CBS's credibility; they want to destroy the idea that credible news exists at all.
Take a legacy institution, gut its standards, wear its skin like a suit. They don’t want CBS's credibility; they want to destroy the idea that credible news exists at all.
December 15, 2025 at 1:33 AM
This was what happened to Newsweek and it’s in the process of happening to the LA Times and the Washington Post, too.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
Federal agents use chemical irritant on crowd in Somali neighborhood of Minneapolis amid Trump crackdown
Federal agents have used chemical irritant to disperse a crowd in a heavily Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. This happened Tuesday during a identification checks amid the Trump administration's cra...
www.mprnews.org
December 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
ICE PEPPER SPRAYED A ONE-YEAR-OLD because her mother was filming them.
ICE pepper-sprayed this 1-year-old girl.
Once at the hospital, the doctor had to call in a poison control specialist.
They had never seen anyone that young pepper sprayed.
Another horrific story.
More details below.
Once at the hospital, the doctor had to call in a poison control specialist.
They had never seen anyone that young pepper sprayed.
Another horrific story.
More details below.
December 15, 2025 at 1:02 AM
ICE PEPPER SPRAYED A ONE-YEAR-OLD because her mother was filming them.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
Trump’s administration wants to establish bounties and a network of informants—all seemingly refusing to rule out extrajudicial killings.
Pretty unnverving reporting here. theintercept.com/2025/12/12/t...
Pretty unnverving reporting here. theintercept.com/2025/12/12/t...
White House Refuses to Rule Out Summary Executions of People on Its Secret Domestic Terrorist List
The Trump administration ignored questions about whether it would order the killings of those on its NSPM-7 list — even while answering our other queries.
theintercept.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Trump’s administration wants to establish bounties and a network of informants—all seemingly refusing to rule out extrajudicial killings.
Pretty unnverving reporting here. theintercept.com/2025/12/12/t...
Pretty unnverving reporting here. theintercept.com/2025/12/12/t...
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
I'm not going back to a place that suppresses all my links, allows my misgendering, and stole my blue check for profit.
Elon's little serfs are quite literally begging journalists to come back because every publicly available source of data shows people have fled the platform and young people won't use it.
They are literally begging regular people to come back. Don't do it! It is a website by and for actual Nazis!
They are literally begging regular people to come back. Don't do it! It is a website by and for actual Nazis!
December 15, 2025 at 1:55 AM
I'm not going back to a place that suppresses all my links, allows my misgendering, and stole my blue check for profit.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
the AI industry powers authoritarianism, a necessity condition that allows the industry to steal, destroy the environment, monetize education, surround us with perpetual surveillance,... all uncontested
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
Trump Signs Executive Order That Threatens to Punish States for Passing AI Laws
The order creates a Justice Department task force to challenge state AI laws and directs the Commerce Department to pull future broadband funding from states that pass “onerous” legislation.
www.wired.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:44 PM
the AI industry powers authoritarianism, a necessity condition that allows the industry to steal, destroy the environment, monetize education, surround us with perpetual surveillance,... all uncontested
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
As was true with the translators I heard from in an earlier edition, copywriters never felt that they were being replaced because the AI's work was better. It was almost always worse. It was simply cheaper and faster, and deemed "good enough" by clients.
December 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM
As was true with the translators I heard from in an earlier edition, copywriters never felt that they were being replaced because the AI's work was better. It was almost always worse. It was simply cheaper and faster, and deemed "good enough" by clients.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
Copywriters working across the field shared accounts of clients abandoning them or their agencies for cheaper AI output en masse. They've seen freelance work and rates plummet. Many were made to write the copy to train their own AI replacements. Whole businesses have closed their doors.
December 12, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Copywriters working across the field shared accounts of clients abandoning them or their agencies for cheaper AI output en masse. They've seen freelance work and rates plummet. Many were made to write the copy to train their own AI replacements. Whole businesses have closed their doors.
I ran a marketing business heavily reliant on copywriting. Once AI was released, client work dried up almost completely.
When the AI boom began, copywriters were singled out as one of the jobs most vulnerable to AI. Now, three years later, I wanted to hear from workers on the frontlines of the industry, to hear what had actually taken place on the ground.
For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.
For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.
"I was forced to use AI until the day I was laid off." Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry
Copywriters were one of the first to have their jobs targeted by AI firms. These are their stories, three years into the AI era.
www.bloodinthemachine.com
December 12, 2025 at 10:02 PM
I ran a marketing business heavily reliant on copywriting. Once AI was released, client work dried up almost completely.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
SCOOP: The Trump administration is providing the names of all travelers passing through U.S. airports to immigration officials in search of people with deportation orders, a substantial expansion of government efforts to draw on data to hunt down immigrants.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
Immigration Agents Are Using Air Passenger Data for Deportation Effort
www.nytimes.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
SCOOP: The Trump administration is providing the names of all travelers passing through U.S. airports to immigration officials in search of people with deportation orders, a substantial expansion of government efforts to draw on data to hunt down immigrants.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
On this Human Rights Day, I explore how the Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Orr–that prevents gender diverse people from obtaining accurate passports–violates our obligations under international human rights law and court precedent.
www.lawyersforgoodgovernment.org/blog/2025/12...
www.lawyersforgoodgovernment.org/blog/2025/12...
Do Human Rights Extend to Transgender Americans? — Lawyers for Good Government
Written by: Allison Chapman, Civil Rights & Health Equity Project Fellow ––– At Lawyers for Good Government, we aim to help this country do better by all of its residents – and part of doi...
www.lawyersforgoodgovernment.org
December 10, 2025 at 10:22 PM
On this Human Rights Day, I explore how the Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Orr–that prevents gender diverse people from obtaining accurate passports–violates our obligations under international human rights law and court precedent.
www.lawyersforgoodgovernment.org/blog/2025/12...
www.lawyersforgoodgovernment.org/blog/2025/12...
In context, his son-in-law Jared Kushner is leading the push, with Saudi money, for Trump's buddies at Paramount to buy WBD, HBO, and CNN.
Trump: "I think the people that have run CNN are a disgrace. I think it's imperative that CNN be sold because you certainly wouldn't want to just leave those people with some money so they can spend even more spending poison. It's lies. I wouldn't want to see the same company end up with CNN."
December 10, 2025 at 9:38 PM
In context, his son-in-law Jared Kushner is leading the push, with Saudi money, for Trump's buddies at Paramount to buy WBD, HBO, and CNN.
Reposted by Chrisella Herzog
New from me for the @wired.com Politics Newsletter. I broke down how the push to combine data across the government in the name of immigration enforcement has lots of possible unintended consequences, not just for undocumented immigrants, but for everyone.
www.wired.com/story/dhs-da...
www.wired.com/story/dhs-da...
The DHS Data Grab Is Putting US Citizens at Risk
As the US government rapidly merges data from across agencies in service of draconian immigration policies, citizens increasingly risk being caught up as well.
www.wired.com
December 10, 2025 at 4:59 PM
New from me for the @wired.com Politics Newsletter. I broke down how the push to combine data across the government in the name of immigration enforcement has lots of possible unintended consequences, not just for undocumented immigrants, but for everyone.
www.wired.com/story/dhs-da...
www.wired.com/story/dhs-da...