Claire
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lb395.bsky.social
Claire
@lb395.bsky.social
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lb395.bsky.social
I hadn't looked at voting by religious affiliation but yes! Surprised Pew didn't have data on Jewish voters for the previous two elections here, too, but Harris +28 is a hell of a margin.
Religious groups voted along familiar lines in 2024, even as Trump gained among Protestants, Catholics, and those who reported attending religious services on at least a monthly basis.
November 5, 2025 at 12:04 PM
lb395.bsky.social
I'm inclined to agree with you, but do wonder whether a "Trump bad" focus can do anything to help rehabilitate the Democratic Party's reputation with voters.

Seems to me that focusing on values (not policy specifics) and offering a positive vision for restoring the American dream is key.
Screenshot from Real Clear Polling showing Democratic Party Favorability from ten polls, ranging from a spread of -7 to -32. Source: https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/favorability/democratic-party
October 31, 2025 at 2:25 PM
lb395.bsky.social
Dudes like this always have a self-published autobiography. Always.
Mellon's self-published 2015 autobiography describes his political views.[38][39] Notably, it calls social safety net programs "Slavery Redux", asserting that its beneficiaries are beholden to "a new master, Uncle Sam". Mellon writes: For delivering their votes in the Federal Elections, they are awarded with yet more and more freebies: food stamps, cellphones, WIC [the U.S. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children] payments, Obamacare, and on, and on, and on. The largess is funded by the hardworking folks, fewer and fewer in number, who are too honest or too proud to allow themselves to sink into this morass.
October 25, 2025 at 4:47 PM
lb395.bsky.social
Corporate media: "Ok, but maybe this time they're telling the truth.
Blue and white graphic with red text reading “DHS lied about” in blue, followed by a list of names and phrases in red: Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Kilmar Abrego García, Andry Hernández Romero, Neri Alvarado Borges, Rep. LaMonica McIver, Los Angeles, Jaime Alanís, Sen. Alex Padilla, Portland, Brad Lander, George Retes, Francisco Longoria, Chicago, Silverio Villegas González, Miramar Martinez, taking the “worst of the worst,” and everything.
October 10, 2025 at 8:13 PM
lb395.bsky.social
I really hope being insufferably trollish goes back out of style soon.
The website provided for the halftime show currently displays a form that, aside from personal information, asks only one question: “What music genres would you like to see featured?” The options include: Anything in English, Americana, Classic Rock, Country, Hip Hop, Pop and Worship.
October 9, 2025 at 7:35 PM
lb395.bsky.social
He's not wrong.

Sure seems like they're planning to bust down a LOT of doors.
Bar chart titled “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Spending on Weapons and Ammunition.” The x-axis shows years from 2016 to 2025, and the y-axis shows total spending in U.S. dollars, ranging from 0 to 30 million. The chart displays frequent smaller spikes throughout the decade, typically under $10 million, with occasional peaks around 2017, 2020, and 2022. In 2025, spending rises dramatically to over $30 million—the highest level in the period shown. A note below explains that totals are based on Product or Service Codes for weapons, ammunition, explosives, and weapon system hardware, excluding spending on armor, tactical kits, or training aids. The source is USAspending, and the chart was created by BoycottCitizens.org using Datawrapper.
October 7, 2025 at 6:05 PM
lb395.bsky.social
If we're going to have to deal with the same inane rhetoric, we should at the very least get a bit of that Hitlerian showmanship. Miller does a single angry animatronic arm motion; I'd like to see him expand his repertoire, give the people a little razzmatazz. Really get that forehead vein popping.
A grid of 7 photos of Adolph Hitler gesturing animatedly with his hands and face.
October 5, 2025 at 7:23 PM
lb395.bsky.social
A text document titled 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action from the Albert Einstein Institution. It lists methods numbered 1–100, grouped into categories such as The Methods of Nonviolent Protest and Persuasion, The Methods of Social Noncooperation, and The Methods of Economic Noncooperation: Economic Boycotts and The Strike. Examples include “Public speeches,” “Protest meetings,” “Wearing of symbols,” “Social boycott,” “Stay-at-home,” “Consumers’ boycott,” “Farm Workers’ strike,” and many others. The document includes contact information for the Albert Einstein Institution in East Boston, Massachusetts. A text document listing Gene Sharp’s 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action, numbers 101–198, under sections titled Strikes by Special Groups, Ordinary Industrial Strikes, Restricted Strikes, Multi-Industry Strikes, Combination of Strikes and Economic Closures, The Methods of Political Noncooperation, Citizens’ Noncooperation with Government, Citizens’ Alternatives to Obedience, Action by Government Personnel, Domestic Governmental Action, International Governmental Action, The Methods of Nonviolent Intervention, Psychological Intervention, Physical Intervention, Social Intervention, Economic Intervention, and Political Intervention. The list ends with methods such as “Dual sovereignty and parallel government.” A note at the bottom explains that Gene Sharp identified 198 methods of nonviolent struggle in his 1973 work The Politics of Nonviolent Action.
October 4, 2025 at 11:42 PM
lb395.bsky.social
This is an adaptation of a tool often used to help people understand the patterns of behaviors that comprise abusive relationships.

At its core, this is a regime of abusers.
A “Power and Control” wheel illustrating forms of workplace abuse. The center circle reads “POWER and CONTROL.” Surrounding it are eight labeled sections describing different abusive tactics: Using Coercion & Threats – Threatening or carrying out harm, making work unreasonably difficult, forcing unsafe or illegal tasks, or using sexual innuendo. Using Intimidation – Making workers feel afraid through looks, actions, gestures, smashing things, or destroying property. Using Emotional Abuse – Putting workers down, name-calling, humiliation, guilt, or making them doubt their sanity. Using Isolation – Controlling who workers talk to or work with, withholding information, or segregating them physically or socially. Minimizing, Denying, & Blaming – Making light of abuse, denying it happened, shifting responsibility, or blaming workers. Using Others – Threatening layoffs, using coworkers to relay messages, ignoring complaints, or failing to address harm from others. Using Employer Privilege – Acting authoritarian, excluding input, writing unfair reviews, or creating inequitable conditions. Using Economic Abuse – Threatening to terminate or reduce pay, forcing unpaid work, inequitable pay, or damaging reputation. The outer ring labels “Physical” and “Sexual” on opposite sides, framing the entire wheel under the heading “ABUSE.”
October 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
lb395.bsky.social
The elites of America have been sowing racial division to prevent class unity since the 17th century, yet people still fall for it.
Black and white graphic that says IMMIGRANTS ARE NOT THE ENEMY
October 3, 2025 at 5:22 PM
lb395.bsky.social
A black and white single frame comic of Charlie Brown and Lucy, who is holding a football on the ground. Charlie Brown is saying "Oh no...not again!"
October 2, 2025 at 1:08 PM
lb395.bsky.social
This is an adaptation of a framework that was originally developed to depict common patterns in domestic abuse (the Power & Control Wheel).

It's all about control.
A diagram titled Power & Control depicts how authoritarian regimes maintain dominance, using a layout of eight circles arranged around the central title. The central graphic shows a silhouette of a head beneath a hand manipulating puppet strings. Each surrounding circle contains a tactic with examples: Using Economic Abuse: Arbitrary tariffs, baseless lawsuits, cutting off funding, refusing to make payments owed, withholding aid, punishing dissenters with regulations, targeting labor movements. Using Coercion & Threats: Threats of economic harm, investigations, litigation, exile, imprisonment, violence, or death; making examples of dissidents. Using Intimidation: Deploying law enforcement, military, or paramilitary groups; public raids, arrests, beatings; cheering violence against the out-group. Using Psychological Abuse: Disinformation, propaganda, name-calling, gaslighting, portraying dissenters as crazy or traitorous, “flooding the zone,” calling news fake, attacking the press to erode truth. Using Isolation: Sowing distrust, us-versus-them mentality, surveillance and controlled communication, scapegoating, encouraging people to report on each other. Minimizing, Denying, & Blaming: Lying about abuses, denying wrongdoing, shifting blame to victims, dehumanizing others, justifying violence as needed to restore order. Using Children: Framing oppressive policies as child protection or family preservation, indoctrinating youth, controlling education, firing dissenting educators. Using Privilege: Elevating the in-group as “real” citizens, enforcing misogyny, white supremacy, and rigid gender roles, justifying oppression as natural through pseudoscience or religion.
October 2, 2025 at 2:36 AM
lb395.bsky.social
Miller's definitely got those Goebbels mannerisms down, but I think we'd all like to see a bit more razzmatazz. It might be outside his comfort zone, but I really think he could pull off some of that Hitlerian drama if he put his fascist little mind to it.
Black and white photo of Joseph Goebbels in uniform, mouth open. His arm is held up with a finger pointed, gesturing as he speaks. Hitler practicing wild and dramatic hand gestures in a series of 6 black and white photos.
October 1, 2025 at 11:00 PM
lb395.bsky.social
At its core, it's a regime full of abusive bullies.

Not sure I've seen a better framework for understanding their actions than the power and control wheel used to illustrate domestic violence dynamics (and this adaptation showing how it applies to authoritarianism).
A black-and-white diagram titled “Power and Control Wheel.” At the center is a circle labeled “Power and Control.” Surrounding it are eight segments describing abusive tactics: Using Coercion and Threats – threats to hurt her, leave, commit suicide, report her, drop charges, make her do illegal things. Using Intimidation – making her afraid with looks, actions, smashing things, destroying property, abusing pets, displaying weapons. Using Emotional Abuse – putting her down, name-calling, making her feel guilty, humiliating her, playing mind games, making her think she’s crazy. Using Isolation – controlling what she does, who she sees and talks to, limiting outside involvement, using jealousy to justify actions. Minimizing, Denying, and Blaming – making light of abuse, not taking concerns seriously, denying abuse, shifting blame, saying she caused it. Using Children – making her feel guilty about children, using children to relay messages, using visitation to harass, threatening to take them away. Using Male Privilege – treating her like a servant, making all big decisions, acting like “master of the castle,” defining men’s and women’s roles. Using Economic Abuse – preventing her from working, making her ask for money, giving allowance, taking money, hiding or controlling family income. Around the outside ring are the words “Physical Violence” and “Sexual Violence.” A diagram titled Power & Control depicts how authoritarian regimes maintain dominance, using a layout of eight circles arranged around the central title. The central graphic shows a silhouette of a head beneath a hand manipulating puppet strings. Each surrounding circle contains a tactic with examples: Using Economic Abuse: Arbitrary tariffs, baseless lawsuits, cutting off funding, refusing to make payments owed, withholding aid, punishing dissenters with regulations, targeting labor movements. Using Coercion & Threats: Threats of economic harm, investigations, litigation, exile, imprisonment, violence, or death; making examples of dissidents. Using Intimidation: Deploying law enforcement, military, or paramilitary groups; public raids, arrests, beatings; cheering violence against the out-group. Using Psychological Abuse: Disinformation, propaganda, name-calling, gaslighting, portraying dissenters as crazy or traitorous, “flooding the zone,” calling news fake, attacking the press to erode truth. Using Isolation: Sowing distrust, us-versus-them mentality, surveillance and controlled communication, scapegoating, encouraging people to report on each other. Minimizing, Denying, & Blaming: Lying about abuses, denying wrongdoing, shifting blame to victims, dehumanizing others, justifying violence as needed to restore order. Using Children: Framing oppressive policies as child protection or family preservation, indoctrinating youth, controlling education, firing dissenting educators. Using Privilege: Elevating the in-group as “real” citizens, enforcing misogyny, white supremacy, and rigid gender roles, justifying oppression as natural through pseudoscience or religion.
October 1, 2025 at 7:18 PM
lb395.bsky.social
Adapted here for authoritarianism
A diagram titled Power & Control depicts how authoritarian regimes maintain dominance, using a layout of eight circles arranged around the central title. The central graphic shows a silhouette of a head beneath a hand manipulating puppet strings. Each surrounding circle contains a tactic with examples: Using Economic Abuse: Arbitrary tariffs, baseless lawsuits, cutting off funding, refusing to make payments owed, withholding aid, punishing dissenters with regulations, targeting labor movements. Using Coercion & Threats: Threats of economic harm, investigations, litigation, exile, imprisonment, violence, or death; making examples of dissidents. Using Intimidation: Deploying law enforcement, military, or paramilitary groups; public raids, arrests, beatings; cheering violence against the out-group. Using Psychological Abuse: Disinformation, propaganda, name-calling, gaslighting, portraying dissenters as crazy or traitorous, “flooding the zone,” calling news fake, attacking the press to erode truth. Using Isolation: Sowing distrust, us-versus-them mentality, surveillance and controlled communication, scapegoating, encouraging people to report on each other. Minimizing, Denying, & Blaming: Lying about abuses, denying wrongdoing, shifting blame to victims, dehumanizing others, justifying violence as needed to restore order. Using Children: Framing oppressive policies as child protection or family preservation, indoctrinating youth, controlling education, firing dissenting educators. Using Privilege: Elevating the in-group as “real” citizens, enforcing misogyny, white supremacy, and rigid gender roles, justifying oppression as natural through pseudoscience or religion.
October 1, 2025 at 7:14 PM
lb395.bsky.social
At its core, it's a regime full of abusive bullies.

Not sure I've seen a better framework for understanding their actions than the power & control wheel used to illustrate domestic violence dynamics.
A black-and-white diagram titled “Power and Control Wheel.” At the center is a circle labeled “Power and Control.” Surrounding it are eight segments describing abusive tactics: Using Coercion and Threats – threats to hurt her, leave, commit suicide, report her, drop charges, make her do illegal things. Using Intimidation – making her afraid with looks, actions, smashing things, destroying property, abusing pets, displaying weapons. Using Emotional Abuse – putting her down, name-calling, making her feel guilty, humiliating her, playing mind games, making her think she’s crazy. Using Isolation – controlling what she does, who she sees and talks to, limiting outside involvement, using jealousy to justify actions. Minimizing, Denying, and Blaming – making light of abuse, not taking concerns seriously, denying abuse, shifting blame, saying she caused it. Using Children – making her feel guilty about children, using children to relay messages, using visitation to harass, threatening to take them away. Using Male Privilege – treating her like a servant, making all big decisions, acting like “master of the castle,” defining men’s and women’s roles. Using Economic Abuse – preventing her from working, making her ask for money, giving allowance, taking money, hiding or controlling family income. Around the outside ring are the words “Physical Violence” and “Sexual Violence.”
October 1, 2025 at 7:13 PM
lb395.bsky.social
Jane Goodall's was a life well-lived, to the very end. We're lucky you were here.
A photo of a young Jane Goodall holding binoculars in front of a lush backdrop of leaves. Jane Goodall later in life, smiling sitting on the ground next to a chimp, leaning against her.
October 1, 2025 at 6:28 PM
lb395.bsky.social
Found this one from Blind Low Vision NZ. Would you add/subtract anything for Bluesky?
[Image description] A bright yellow infographic with a large, rounded white rectangle in the center. The title at the top is "Accessible social media checklist" in bold black text. Inside the white box is a numbered checklist with red, unchecked boxes beside each item, advising on best practices for accessible social media. The items are: Videos: Add captions with contrasting colors, avoid background text/images, and keep all text left-aligned. Emojis: Use sparingly and place at the end of sentences. Hashtags: Use #CamelCase (capitalize each word) for increased access. Alt text: Provide short alt text for screen readers. Image description: A detailed explanation of the content for all viewers. The background includes decorative elements like an orange heart, curved black arrow, and orange starburst shapes.
September 30, 2025 at 8:04 PM
lb395.bsky.social
Sorry about that. Here they are with alt text.
A black-and-white diagram titled “Power and Control Wheel.” At the center is a circle labeled “Power and Control.” Surrounding it are eight segments describing abusive tactics: Using Coercion and Threats – threats to hurt her, leave, commit suicide, report her, drop charges, make her do illegal things. Using Intimidation – making her afraid with looks, actions, smashing things, destroying property, abusing pets, displaying weapons. Using Emotional Abuse – putting her down, name-calling, making her feel guilty, humiliating her, playing mind games, making her think she’s crazy. Using Isolation – controlling what she does, who she sees and talks to, limiting outside involvement, using jealousy to justify actions. Minimizing, Denying, and Blaming – making light of abuse, not taking concerns seriously, denying abuse, shifting blame, saying she caused it. Using Children – making her feel guilty about children, using children to relay messages, using visitation to harass, threatening to take them away. Using Male Privilege – treating her like a servant, making all big decisions, acting like “master of the castle,” defining men’s and women’s roles. Using Economic Abuse – preventing her from working, making her ask for money, giving allowance, taking money, hiding or controlling family income. Around the outside ring are the words “Physical Violence” and “Sexual Violence.” A black-and-white diagram titled “Power and Control Wheel” adapted to workplace abuse. At the center is a circle labeled “Power and Control.” Surrounding it are eight segments describing abusive tactics at work: Using Coercion and Threats – threats to hurt the worker, make work exceptionally difficult, shut down the facility, or force workers into illegal/unsafe work. Using Intimidation – making workers afraid through looks, actions, gestures, smashing things, or destroying property. Using Emotional Abuse – putting workers down, name-calling, humiliating them, making them feel guilty or crazy, playing mind games. Using Isolation – controlling who workers see, talk to, what they read, and where they go; limiting outside involvement. Minimizing, Denying, and Blaming – making light of abuse, denying it happened, shifting responsibility, blaming workers. Using Co-Workers – making workers feel guilty about others’ workloads, using co-workers to relay messages, threatening to terminate co-workers if tasks aren’t done. Using Employer Privilege – treating workers like servants, making decisions without input, acting authoritarian, deciding tasks and work levels. Using Economic Abuse – threatening termination, reducing pay, damaging reputation, forcing volunteer work, or withholding pay. Around the outer ring are the words “physical abuse” and “sexual abuse.”
September 30, 2025 at 2:32 PM
lb395.bsky.social
At its core, this is a regime of abusers.

Not sure there's a better framework for understanding their actions than the Power & Control Wheel commonly used to depict DV/bullying dynamics.
September 30, 2025 at 2:14 PM
lb395.bsky.social
No one should ever take his claims at face value. Everything he ever says should have an asterisk next to it.
Graphic with black & white photo of JD Vance over text that says, "The Guardian: JD Vance admits he is willing to 'create stories' to get media attention"
September 29, 2025 at 11:09 PM
lb395.bsky.social
Screenshot of a tweet from Gov Newsome Press office with an image from Cinderella, where the glass slipper is placed on her foot. Over her head is a photo of Stephen Miller's face. Over the glass slipper is printed the word 'fascism'
September 29, 2025 at 10:57 PM
lb395.bsky.social
Some passage or other from this book feels all too relevant at least once a week.
Screenshot of book excerpt: And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.” ― Milton Sanford Mayer, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45
September 29, 2025 at 7:55 PM
lb395.bsky.social
September 27, 2025 at 11:52 PM
lb395.bsky.social
I love them.
September 27, 2025 at 11:26 PM