Shona/sparkette
sparkette.bsky.social
Shona/sparkette
@sparkette.bsky.social
Happy quirky dyke. I work at the Rebuilding Center in Portland and teach people how to do basic electrical, plumbing and other DIY repairs. Check out our classes at https://www.rebuildingcenter.org/education
Pinned
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
December 9, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
See:
At @inthesetimes.com, we've been following how tenant unions are adapting strategies from organized labor.

Here's a fascinating story about the flipside: a corporate landlord taking a page from anti-union employers, even hiring a "union avoidance" firm. (1/8)

inthesetimes.com/article/tena...
As Tenants Organize, Landlords Embrace Old-School Union-Busting
Tenant union members say they’ve faced threats, surveillance and retaliation from their private equity landlord, which has retained a notorious “union avoidance” firm.
inthesetimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Karma is on the way.
🧵 Marco Rubio ordered the State Department to cancel Calibri font, citing DEI.

The font was put in place 2 years ago to assist those who are visually impaired.

American Foundation for the Blind: "51.9 million American Adults age 18 and older reported experiencing some amount of difficulty seeing."
December 11, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
Gender inequality is "one of the most entrenched & significant problems of our time."

Women work longer & earn just 32% of what men get per hour, when paid & unpaid labor are taken into account. Even when unpaid domestic labor is not included, women only earn 61% of what men make.
‘The patriarchy runs deep’: women still getting a raw deal in the workplace as equality remains a dream
Women work longer and per hour earn a third of what men are paid, in figures that have changed little in 35 years, UN report shows
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
Someone recently asked what wealth inequality and oligarchy has to do with fascism and why we should focus on regulating billionaires and balancing the wealth inequality and not fascism. So I’m going to create a thread explaining how wealth inequality helps drive the fascism. It’s connected. 🧵
December 11, 2025 at 4:10 PM
www.wweek.com/news/health/...

OHA is urging Tdap vaccinations—for young children, adolescents and adults, and particularly for those who are pregnant
Whooping Cough Cases in Oregon Surpass Annual Record
Vaccination rates have been declining—a “dangerous trend,” an official says.
www.wweek.com
December 11, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Support Charles Gaba's work -- and shop around
It's Giving Tuesday, and all I can offer is a reminder.

If you're one of the millions of Americans who get coverage in an ACA marketplace, your rates could double soon.

Please don't let your plan auto-renew. And check out Charles' work to see if you can get a cheaper, comparable, or better plan.
👀👀👀 Murphysboro: How $1 can cost $65,000, or why even a Republican who won by 50 pts could be in trouble next year*

*(ok, not really)

acasignups.net/25/12/01/mur...
December 2, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
Walmart and McDonald’s are among the top employers of workers who rely on food stamps.

McDonald's CEO raked in $18.2M last year — over 1,000x the company's median employee pay.

Walmart's CEO pocketed $27.4M — 930x the company's median employee pay.

See the problem?
November 30, 2025 at 5:30 PM
My mom married my dad and they raised 3 kids. She didn't go through the naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen until Dubya was in office. ICE agents wouldn't have looked at her twice, despite her Scottish accent. What's happening now is disgusting and wrong.
"We followed everything we were supposed to do"

Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
1. The Dems wanted renewed Obamacare subsidies.
2. Trump said no.
3. Then he said actually yes, I want them. I *need* them.
4. *His* party said no.
5. Trump said he never wanted them in the first place.

Some 24M Americans are in a jam because of this fool.

www.editorialboard.com/trump-now-wa...
Trump now wants what the Democrats wanted on health care. Just one problem: his party.
Some 24 million Americans are in a jam thanks to his carelessness.
www.editorialboard.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
November 22, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
First revealed in spy photos, a #BronzeAge #city emerges from the steppe

An unexpectedly large city lies in a sea of grass inhabited largely by nomads.

arstechnica.com/science/2025...

#archaeology #Kazakhstan
First revealed in spy photos, a Bronze Age city emerges from the steppe
An unexpectedly large city lies in a sea of grass inhabited largely by nomads.
arstechnica.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
50501 is firmly anti-fascism, which requires us to be anti-genocide in all cases.

Whether it’s the Kherson human safari (Russian genocide of Ukrainians), the Genocide in Gaza, the Darfur Genocide, Trump’s plan for immigrants, or the Holocaust, we must oppose oppression in all its forms.
November 18, 2025 at 6:16 AM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
If you call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ but support the pepper-spraying and arresting ministers, then thou art staggeringly full of crap.
November 16, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
For over 5 years, Marjorie Taylor Greene was one of the people in Congress most disliked by Democrats.

No death threats.

It was only when she turned on Donald Trump that she got death threats.

Just like Senators only received threats of violence after they wavered on Trump's cabinet nominations.
November 17, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
.
Abolish ICE !

Cartoon by @mluckovich.bsky.social

💠 👊 💠
November 16, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Contact your Congresscritters. Demand that they release ALL of the files.
Epstein survivors just dropped a powerful message for Congress, and it hits like a warning: no more waiting, the truth is coming, ready or not.

Watch till the end
@housedemocrats.bsky.social
@houserepublicans.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
As more Bellingham residents face food insecurity amid the government shutdown, Community Loaves "empowers local bakers to support their community with their own two hands, in this very tangible way."
Bellingham bakers combat food insecurity by donating homemade bread | Cascadia Daily News
Community Loaves volunteers bake hundreds of pounds of bread, cookies for food banks
www.cascadiadaily.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
November 15, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
"300 agents stormed the building, rappelled from a helicopter, knocked down doors and hurled flash-bang grenades. Agents ziptied and detained many US citizens for hours..."

Prosecutors have not filed a *single* criminal charge against anyone arrested that night:

www.propublica.org/article/chic...
“I Lost Everything”: Venezuelans Were Rounded Up in a Dramatic Midnight Raid but Never Charged With a Crime
Authorities said Tren de Aragua “terrorists” had taken over the building. A ProPublica investigation found little evidence to back up the government’s claims. For the first time, the Venezuelans arres...
www.propublica.org
November 15, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
“Parents who, after consulting with a doctor and a psychologist, allow their 15-year-old child to transition commit child abuse. The child is too young to consent!”

--Megyn R. Kelly

“Grown men who have sex with your 15-year-old? Big whoop! It’s not like she’s 8. LOL!”

--Also Megyn R. Kelly
November 15, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
This whole thread.
There is absolutely nothing old or consolidated about *multiracial, pluralistic democracy* in America. It only started 60 years ago.

And the conflict over whether or not it should be allowed to endure and prosper has been the central fault line in U.S. politics ever since.
From 2022:
November 15, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
Have any tips about Trump's businesses or other money-in-politics info?

Email: z_everson@protonmail.com
Mobile/Signal: 202.804.2744
OnionShare (requires Tor): 224medfh4632g3ze5otkskg5onhe27ssw3vghy3swknmdng5yj4n3eqd.onion

Suggested reading—
Here’s how to share sensitive leaks with the press
Thinking about securely leaking information to news organizations? This guide will show you how.
freedom.press
November 11, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by Shona/sparkette
According to Fox News, if you are a racist Young Republican you are still a "kid" when you are 34, but if you are an Epstein victim, you are an adult when you're 15.
November 15, 2025 at 5:25 PM