Traven Benner
@travenb.bsky.social
MFA candidate @clark_mfa - Canadian artist living in Greater Boston
Reposted by Traven Benner
Anti-monarchical movements have always required aesthetic subversion alongside political resistance. The history of such art, from toppled statues to revolutionary paintings, reveals what’s possible, and what’s needed.
A Visual History of No Kings
From the destruction of King George III's statue to today's No Kings movement, resistance to tyranny has always demanded aesthetic subversion.
hyperallergic.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Anti-monarchical movements have always required aesthetic subversion alongside political resistance. The history of such art, from toppled statues to revolutionary paintings, reveals what’s possible, and what’s needed.
Reposted by Traven Benner
We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com.
We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.
washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.
washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
November 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com.
We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.
washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.
washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
Reposted by Traven Benner
A truly fascinating article.
Kara Walker’s work is so profoundly powerful.
(Gift article)
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/m...
Kara Walker’s work is so profoundly powerful.
(Gift article)
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/m...
How to Make Art Out of Confederate Monuments
www.nytimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:01 PM
A truly fascinating article.
Kara Walker’s work is so profoundly powerful.
(Gift article)
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/m...
Kara Walker’s work is so profoundly powerful.
(Gift article)
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/m...
Reposted by Traven Benner
This is the genius of the Portland protests - they make the claims of lawlessness look not just wrong, but comical
The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
October 9, 2025 at 10:54 PM
This is the genius of the Portland protests - they make the claims of lawlessness look not just wrong, but comical
Reposted by Traven Benner
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
buff.ly
October 8, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
Reposted by Traven Benner
When surveillance and censorship abound in the name of security, the arts tend to signal the effects of repression. The latest data should be cause for alarm: 70% of the world’s population has experienced a decline in their expressive freedom over the last decade.
New Reports Expose the Global Toll of Censorship
Two dossiers paint an urgent quantitative picture of the rapidly growing suppression of free expression and artistic freedom.
hyperallergic.com
September 26, 2025 at 3:42 PM
When surveillance and censorship abound in the name of security, the arts tend to signal the effects of repression. The latest data should be cause for alarm: 70% of the world’s population has experienced a decline in their expressive freedom over the last decade.
Reposted by Traven Benner
Graham Greene helped make the rest of the world see Indigenous people as real human beings. The first time I saw him on screen was in Dances With Wolves and the last time was in The Last of Us. What a tremendous legacy! RIP ✊🏽🙌🏽❤️
September 2, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Graham Greene helped make the rest of the world see Indigenous people as real human beings. The first time I saw him on screen was in Dances With Wolves and the last time was in The Last of Us. What a tremendous legacy! RIP ✊🏽🙌🏽❤️
Reposted by Traven Benner
If the GOP reconciliation bill passes, ICE gets through FY2029:
- $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion
- $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million
- $8 billion for hiring/retention
- Billions more.
- $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion
- $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million
- $8 billion for hiring/retention
- Billions more.
June 28, 2025 at 10:07 PM
If the GOP reconciliation bill passes, ICE gets through FY2029:
- $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion
- $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million
- $8 billion for hiring/retention
- Billions more.
- $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion
- $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million
- $8 billion for hiring/retention
- Billions more.
Reposted by Traven Benner
It's 2015. President Barack Obama has accepted a "sky palace" jumbo jet from the Qatari government, which he'll own after he leaves office. "Everybody relax," he says in an interview with the New York Times. Everyone does. The networks then televise the military parade in his honor on his birthday.
May 11, 2025 at 6:43 PM
It's 2015. President Barack Obama has accepted a "sky palace" jumbo jet from the Qatari government, which he'll own after he leaves office. "Everybody relax," he says in an interview with the New York Times. Everyone does. The networks then televise the military parade in his honor on his birthday.
Reposted by Traven Benner
In space, Venus flanks Earth on the left, with a hellfire greenhouse effect. Mars on the right, which long ago had running water. Today, it's bone dry. Something bad happened on each planet.
Seems like the wrong time to limit the Nation’s capacity to conduct climate research.
Seems like the wrong time to limit the Nation’s capacity to conduct climate research.
May 5, 2025 at 7:25 PM
In space, Venus flanks Earth on the left, with a hellfire greenhouse effect. Mars on the right, which long ago had running water. Today, it's bone dry. Something bad happened on each planet.
Seems like the wrong time to limit the Nation’s capacity to conduct climate research.
Seems like the wrong time to limit the Nation’s capacity to conduct climate research.
Reposted by Traven Benner
We're watching an incredibly rapid state collapse--faster than pretty much any except those involving tanks in the streets--in real time. I say this as a person who's been in places with tanks in the streets. And as one who reads enough to know that the first lie of fascism is inevitability.
March 17, 2025 at 8:54 PM
We're watching an incredibly rapid state collapse--faster than pretty much any except those involving tanks in the streets--in real time. I say this as a person who's been in places with tanks in the streets. And as one who reads enough to know that the first lie of fascism is inevitability.
Reposted by Traven Benner
Anecdotal, but I'm definitely noticing an uptick in advocacy for violence here. About which I'll say only this: Promoting violence on social media is the work of trolls and fools, those eager to bait others into implicating themselves in the age of surveillance or fools rushing to the gulag.
March 16, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Anecdotal, but I'm definitely noticing an uptick in advocacy for violence here. About which I'll say only this: Promoting violence on social media is the work of trolls and fools, those eager to bait others into implicating themselves in the age of surveillance or fools rushing to the gulag.
Reposted by Traven Benner
Trump just invoked the Alien Enemies Act, so I’ll pass along this good explainer
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
The Alien Enemies Act, Explained
This detention and deportation power poses an alarming risk of abuse and rights violations in both wartime and peacetime.
www.brennancenter.org
March 15, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Trump just invoked the Alien Enemies Act, so I’ll pass along this good explainer
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Reposted by Traven Benner
They're moving to classify constitutionally protected speech as terrorism. This is a five alarm fire.
BREAKING: The US Justice Department is examining whether student protests at Columbia University over the genocide in Gaza violated federal terrorism laws, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said today.
March 14, 2025 at 10:38 PM
They're moving to classify constitutionally protected speech as terrorism. This is a five alarm fire.
Reposted by Traven Benner
not ideal that a big chunk of the most prominent lefty voices online are youtubers who post like once every 6-18 months www.mediamatters.org/google/right...
The right dominates the online media ecosystem, seeping into sports, comedy, and other supposedly nonpolitical spaces
As Americans increasingly get their news from online shows and streamers, the influence of this media ecosystem becomes more prominent — and Media Matters has found that the most popular of this conte...
www.mediamatters.org
March 14, 2025 at 3:44 PM
not ideal that a big chunk of the most prominent lefty voices online are youtubers who post like once every 6-18 months www.mediamatters.org/google/right...
Reposted by Traven Benner
Columbia University admins warned international journalism students to avoid publishing work on Gaza, Ukraine, and protests after a pro-Palestinian activist's arrest, saying their freedom and academic future could be at risk. “Nobody can protect you.” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/n...
March 13, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Columbia University admins warned international journalism students to avoid publishing work on Gaza, Ukraine, and protests after a pro-Palestinian activist's arrest, saying their freedom and academic future could be at risk. “Nobody can protect you.” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/n...
Reposted by Traven Benner
Who in the world might be responsible for this? That person ought to be fired, right?
JPMORGAN slashes $TSLA Q1 delivery estimates “to just ~355K, which is -8% y/y .. and -28% q/q
from 495K in 4Q24 ..
“.. We struggle to think of anything analogous in the history of the automotive industry, in which a brand has lost so much value so quickly ..”
Cuts target price to $120 (prior $135
from 495K in 4Q24 ..
“.. We struggle to think of anything analogous in the history of the automotive industry, in which a brand has lost so much value so quickly ..”
Cuts target price to $120 (prior $135
March 12, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Who in the world might be responsible for this? That person ought to be fired, right?
Both
Being a historian, people ask me if I think the US is living through Germany 1933.
I answer no, analogies are always imperfect but to me it feels more like Russia 1999: a blatant theft of state assets and liberals in a fugue state, refusing to believe the arc of progress is bending against them.
I answer no, analogies are always imperfect but to me it feels more like Russia 1999: a blatant theft of state assets and liberals in a fugue state, refusing to believe the arc of progress is bending against them.
March 7, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Both
Reposted by Traven Benner
“Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part.” — John Lewis
February 24, 2025 at 2:41 PM
“Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part.” — John Lewis
Reposted by Traven Benner
Part of the point of the past month was to overwhelm the system — journalists, the civil service, lawyers, NGOs, etc. It was to make Trump seem prepared, powerful, and disciplined.
But his movement is none of those things. Their victory is not a foregone conclusion.
But his movement is none of those things. Their victory is not a foregone conclusion.
Something is shifting. They are still breaking things and stealing things. And they will keep trying to break and to steal. But the propaganda magic around the oligarchical coup is fading. (1/2)
February 22, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Part of the point of the past month was to overwhelm the system — journalists, the civil service, lawyers, NGOs, etc. It was to make Trump seem prepared, powerful, and disciplined.
But his movement is none of those things. Their victory is not a foregone conclusion.
But his movement is none of those things. Their victory is not a foregone conclusion.
Reposted by Traven Benner
Five things I accomplished last week:
1. Sued Musk & DOGE (repeatedly)
2. Got Musk blocked out of Treasury
3. Sued Trump (repeatedly)
4. Helped persuade SCOTUS to leave anti-Trump injunction in place
5. Got booked @theweekendmsnbc.bsky.social
Join us at 9 AM ET Sunday morning to discuss!
1. Sued Musk & DOGE (repeatedly)
2. Got Musk blocked out of Treasury
3. Sued Trump (repeatedly)
4. Helped persuade SCOTUS to leave anti-Trump injunction in place
5. Got booked @theweekendmsnbc.bsky.social
Join us at 9 AM ET Sunday morning to discuss!
February 23, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Five things I accomplished last week:
1. Sued Musk & DOGE (repeatedly)
2. Got Musk blocked out of Treasury
3. Sued Trump (repeatedly)
4. Helped persuade SCOTUS to leave anti-Trump injunction in place
5. Got booked @theweekendmsnbc.bsky.social
Join us at 9 AM ET Sunday morning to discuss!
1. Sued Musk & DOGE (repeatedly)
2. Got Musk blocked out of Treasury
3. Sued Trump (repeatedly)
4. Helped persuade SCOTUS to leave anti-Trump injunction in place
5. Got booked @theweekendmsnbc.bsky.social
Join us at 9 AM ET Sunday morning to discuss!
Reposted by Traven Benner
C-PAC is a cult gathering, not a convention!
This “Third Term Project” poster at CPAC is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. The same people who were screaming about “the deep state” are now openly fantasizing about a dictator-for-life.
This “Third Term Project” poster at CPAC is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. The same people who were screaming about “the deep state” are now openly fantasizing about a dictator-for-life.
February 22, 2025 at 8:42 PM
C-PAC is a cult gathering, not a convention!
This “Third Term Project” poster at CPAC is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. The same people who were screaming about “the deep state” are now openly fantasizing about a dictator-for-life.
This “Third Term Project” poster at CPAC is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. The same people who were screaming about “the deep state” are now openly fantasizing about a dictator-for-life.
Reposted by Traven Benner
Trump fires Black joint chiefs chair Hegseth accused of promoting diversity
Trump fires Black joint chiefs chair Hegseth accused of promoting diversity
US secretary of defense had questioned whether history-making air force general CQ Brown Jr got job because of race
Donald Trump abruptly fired the air force general CQ Brown Jr as chair of the joint chiefs of staff on Friday, sidelining a history-making…
www.theguardian.com
February 22, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Trump fires Black joint chiefs chair Hegseth accused of promoting diversity
Reposted by Traven Benner
President Donald Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q. Brown, as part of a broader shakeup of top military officers.
Trump Replaces a Top Military Commander Amid Widespread Shakeup
President Donald Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q. Brown, breaking with decades of precedent as part of a broader purge of senior military leaders chosen by his predece...
www.bloomberg.com
February 22, 2025 at 3:25 AM
President Donald Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q. Brown, as part of a broader shakeup of top military officers.