Emily TeKolste
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emtekolste.bsky.social
Emily TeKolste
@emtekolste.bsky.social
290 followers 110 following 120 posts
gardening | social justice | mental health
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emtekolste.bsky.social
In case you’re wondering, I never trust men who say “I’m sincerely curious….” They’re obviously not.

Also, very creepy that you saw me on the news and felt it was your right to stalk me on social media and send me a direct message.
Message bubble time stamped SUN 10:19 PM that says “I watched you on the news tonight, and I’m sincerely curious! You are quoted as saying…”We deserve Message cuts off.
July 24, 2025 at 1:58 AM
emtekolste.bsky.social
Reminder that the resistance is far stronger this time around. You all showed up this weekend!
Many more political protests in 2025 than 2017 Cumulative number of political protests, rallies, and demonstrations by day of the presidential term, Trump 1 (2017) and Trump 2 (2025), according to the Crowd Counting Consortium. A graph shows a red line labeled 2025 with 15,396 identified protests and a yellow line labeled 2017 with 5,043 identified protests. The red line is far sharper of an incline, with fewer initial protests and crossing the yellow line around day 18 of the administration. Note provided: Data for June 1-14 unofficial and added by author. Source: Strength in Numbers/gelliotmorris.com * Created with Datawrapper
June 16, 2025 at 11:34 AM
emtekolste.bsky.social
Still need a sign for Saturday or any one of the ongoing protests? Check out the signs from @networklobby.bsky.social, available to download and order from your local print shop at drive.google.com/drive/folder...
God’s economy has no billionaires.
June 13, 2025 at 12:04 AM
emtekolste.bsky.social
🔥

Have you seen the @networklobby.bsky.social signs? drive.google.com/drive/folder...
God’s economy has no billionaires NETWORK Advocates, inspired by Catholic sisters.
June 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
emtekolste.bsky.social
Now this is a headline. Important information at the very top. Way to lead the way in news reporting @rollingstone.com
Rolling Stone headline: “Senate bound. Trump gloats over passage of bill that will kick millions off Medicaid, food aid. Republicans are celebrating after passing the bill by the narrowest of margins. 215-214.” Photo shows Donald Trump in a navy suit with a maroon-ish tie looking down with contempt standing next to House Speaker Mike Johnson in a black suit with red striped tie speaking from outside a stone building.
May 26, 2025 at 1:20 AM
emtekolste.bsky.social
I'm so privileged to work with incredible people. Here's what @networklobby.bsky.social advocate (and winner of the Bridge Builder Award) Tom Volkert had published this morning in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Keeping the faith Thanks to Inquirer reporters Julia Terruso and Katie Bernard for their article about Sen. John Fetterman being wooed by the right-wing Club for Growth to support the GOP tax cuts for the wealthy and drastic cuts for those on Medicaid and food stamps. Although Fetterman claims he will never vote for the bill, many who voted for him now have doubts about him being the spokesperson for everyday working people. I haven't lost faith in Fetterman, but it's time he used his notoriety and big voice to highlight what a rotten deal for the working class the Republican budget is: Get a pittance for a tax cut (under $300 for someone making less than $50,000) in exchange for losing valuable health insurance for the working poor, decent healthcare for the sick elderly and those with disability, and food from your table. Maybe Fetterman won't get invited to Mar-a-Lago anymore if he speaks up, but he will be welcomed among Pennsylvanians -- including the three million who need Medicaid, and the two million who need food stamps. Tom Volkert, Philadelphia
May 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
emtekolste.bsky.social
Rapid response accountability today in Rahway, NJ. Last night Rep. Tom Kean voted to cut Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. Folks from his district are gathering this afternoon at 3:30 at the Rahway Train Station to protest his vote.

More information & RSVP: bit.ly/CodeBlue4Med...
Image with blue alarm light. Text: Code Blue Medicaid is a lifeline for children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Tom Kean just cut that lifeline.
May 15, 2025 at 1:11 PM
emtekolste.bsky.social
Indiana folks -- check out tonight's Beyond Coal campaign launch from the @sierraclub.org. Be a part of the climate crisis solution with folks from across our great state. Sign up at sc.org/indianazoom.
Indiana Beyond Coal 2025 Launch on Zoom Thursday, May 15 at 7 PM Eastern Guest Speakers: Kerwin Olson, Citizens Action Coalition Brian Flory & Abby Burnett, Solar United Neighbors Hosted by Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign Megan Anderson & Nicole Chandler Graphic on green background with photos of all speakers. sc.org/indianazoom Sierra Club
May 15, 2025 at 1:04 PM
emtekolste.bsky.social
It was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday.
April 28, 2025 at 2:14 PM
emtekolste.bsky.social
"Now, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, he [Elon Musk] will oversee a new 'Department of Government Efficiency' (DOGE), named after a memecoin."

I just love how this CNN article says that DOGE was named in honor of Dogecoin. edition.cnn.com/2024/12/11/b...
An animated dog giving side-eye is on a coin that says "WOW" in the middle and around the edges says "v. rich very currency wow much coin how money so crypto plz mine."
February 9, 2025 at 9:06 PM
emtekolste.bsky.social
And the evidence is already starting to come in - the new Department of Government Efficiency (ironically the only department with two department heads) could easily put opioid addiction treatment funding on the chopping block.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Chart titled expiring funding in 2024. Veterans’ health care $119.1 billion. Drug development and opioid addiction treatment $48.2 billion.
November 16, 2024 at 3:22 PM
emtekolste.bsky.social
It’s Rep. Rosa DeLauro!!
Representative Rosa DeLauro and Emily TeKolste standing in front of a bus that says Nuns on the Bus & Friends. Emily is holding a placard that says “NETWORK We vote for health care, living wages, democracy, climate justice, housing, racial justice.” Emily’s shirt is gray and says “Multi-Issue Voter” inside of a multi-color bar: light blue, yellow, orange, green, brown, black. Rep. DeLauro’s shirt is blue and says “NETWORK Nuns on the Bus & Friends.”
October 3, 2024 at 11:06 PM
emtekolste.bsky.social
The anti-Semitism, too. I wonder what Nick Fuentes would think if he knew Jesus was a Jew.
lead his followers in chants of “Christ is king” (and “Fuck off Jew”) from the street outside. But inside, the same message reigned. When Candace Owens spoke, the audience gave her a standing ovation, chanting “Christ is king.”
September 20, 2024 at 2:00 AM
emtekolste.bsky.social
And people thought women were being hysterical when they named "The Handmaid’s Tale" as a portrait of what could come.
There were a number of things about the interview that might have given Fradd pause: Doyle’s self-description as “an internet bigot”; his fury at women who showed up at his events wearing “little trad wife dresses” and distracting from what should be “a male environment” of young men “changing history”; his hope that Republicans will govern “like it’s The Handmaid’s Tale”; his claim that interracial pornography is a plot to convince white Christian boys they’re “being bred out of existence.”
September 20, 2024 at 1:58 AM
emtekolste.bsky.social
Now this is a really powerful framing. Influencers vs. everyday interactions, pastoral presence in the ups and downs of our lives.
These lay institutions, most of which are conservative, have “inverted the authority structure of the Church,” Millies said, noting that Catholic parishes and schools are closing nationwide for lack of funds while influential Catholic outlets, like Eternal World Television Network (EWTN) or Bishop Robert Barron’s hugely popular media ministry Word on Fire, draw more donations every year. “We have become a celebrity-driven church, where the lines between entertainment and celebrity, and pastoral ministry and formation, have become as meaningless as the line between entertainment and governing in our politics.” The result was a chasm between Catholicism the Church and “Catholicism the brand,” he continued. “And what brands need are celebrity endorsers.”
September 20, 2024 at 1:26 AM
emtekolste.bsky.social
It is bizarre to think that someone would convert to a religion in order to fight that religion.
January 6 organizer Ali Alexander announced he too was converting (to “fight the evils in Christ’s own Church”). On the day itself, a Nebraska priest exorcised the Capitol.
September 19, 2024 at 2:52 PM
emtekolste.bsky.social
It's almost like they don't read the Gospels. About sexual sin, Jesus said, "Let the one without sin cast the first stone." And about the accumulation of wealth, Jesus said "It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven."
It’s an odd time for the US Catholic Church. Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis—the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years—has faced bitter opposition. His early calls for Catholics to lessen their “obsessive” focus on sexual issues marked him as a liberal to conservative critics; his emphasis on poverty and the environment proved him a “Marxist globalist” for the same crowd. Cardinals issued formal dubia (demands for clarification); clergy called for his resignation; some declared him an “antipope”; some prayed for his death.
September 19, 2024 at 1:29 PM