Tessera

@camoflage.bsky.social

elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 12mo ago

A reminder that the Israeli government does not allow any international journalist into Gaza. That’s how they have killed more journalists than most conflicts combined since WWII while claiming that all the journalists they’ve killed were actually enemy combatants.

Richard Chambers @newschambers.bsky.social · 12mo ago

More than 200 journalists have now been killed by the IDF in Gaza. And so many journalists here haven’t expressed a single sliver of solidarity or outrage about it.

Big Ol’ Mush @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 12mo ago

The demonization and criminalization of people without housing is critical here. The unspoken logic that pulls this all together is the reality that poor people can’t afford bail, so they stay locked in jails without convictions, and that’s how these people *want* it to work.

The TRiiBE @thetriibe.com · 12mo ago

The president brought up no cash bail and Chicago today. Here’s a reminder: Data emerging from the Circuit Court of Cook County shows that the law is working thetriibe.com/2024/07/essa...

ESSAY: Ending cash bail shows that we shouldn’t lead with fear • The TRiiBE

The Pretrial Fairness Act has shown us possibilities; we can have safety without incarceration.

thetriibe.com

Tiffany C. Li @tiffanycli.bsky.social · 12mo ago

New report reveals human rights abuses in US detention camps, including: -a 10-year-old US citizen child recovering from brain surgery denied follow-up medical care -a 4-year-old child suffering from metastatic cancer deported w/o ability to consult a doctor www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

‘Horrific’: report reveals abuse of pregnant women and children at US Ice facilities

Report from senator Jon Ossoff’s office found 510 credible reports of human rights abuses since Trump’s inauguration

theguardian.com

me @camoflage.bsky.social · 12mo ago

@needstobebred.live hi, I think you're the Ayla that Emma was supposed to hang out with today—she fell asleep after not sleeping for like two days and it was too hard to wake her up. She semi woke up a little bit just now and says she's sorry and will try to reschedule when she's awake again later

Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 12mo ago

Marketplace platform that enables Nazis and fascists under the guise of free speech has now passed the big banks to become the most valuable company in Canada. Shopify’s leadership will now have even more resources to push for extreme right-wing political causes in Canada.

Shopify Shares Surge to Overtake RBC as Canada’s Largest Stock

Shopify Inc. surged Wednesday to become the most valuable company in Canada after reporting what Citigroup called a “blowout” quarterly performance.

bloomberg.com

me @camoflage.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Again, it should tell you all you need to know when the policy & rhetoric pushed by certain canadian municipal councillors and premiers is also now a core pillar of the Trump playbook

Sanho Tree@sanho.bsky.social · last yr.

"Trump is threatening to withhold funds from supervised drug consumption sites and potentially pursue criminal penalties against them, offering his clearest stance yet against the philosophy of harm reduction and marking a significant escalation of his rhetoric on substance use and addiction."

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Fully illegal given the temporary restraining order on "roving patrols," affirmed by the 9th Circuit just last week

Mel Buer@melbuer.bsky.social · 12mo ago

ICE raided the Westlake Home Depot in Los Angeles this morning. LATU organizers snapped some photos from the raid—one sticks out: ICE agents rolling up in a Penske rental truck. Wonder where they got the idea😬 Trying to avoid detection? Is this policy now? Are they now doing roving gangs in this?

Euan Thomson @drugdatadecoded.ca · 12mo ago

The documents were obtained after a 15-month struggle during which the FOIP request was "lost," delayed, ordered released by the OIPC, released for $1,133 payment, then delayed again. Two weeks after the order, the police chief & two deputies resigned. All resignations remain unexplained. 4/

Euan Thomson @drugdatadecoded.ca · 12mo ago

SCOOP 🧵 Two years after being caught using Clearview AI facial recognition software, Calgary police signed contracts for "image recognition" software that scours photos and videos for individuals. 1/ drugdatadecoded.ca/calgary-poli...

Calgary police "image recognition" software identifies individuals in photos & videos posted online

Documents show that two years after being caught using Clearview AI facial recognition software, Calgary police signed contracts for AI software that scours photos and videos for individuals. Have pol...

drugdatadecoded.ca

Michelle Cyca @michellecyca.com · 12mo ago

So in the absence of any official policy, a community festival was told they’d need to pay two cops $437/hour each, with no justification or oversight from the city

CTV News Vancouver@ctvnewsvancouver.bsky.social · last yr.

Vancouver community centre wants policy for policing costs after expensive bill

Claire Connelly @claireconnelly.bsky.social · last yr.

“The point of this messaging isn’t to meaningfully dispute the facts on the ground in Gaza. The point is to foment among Israel’s supporters the idea that no piece of media sympathetic to Palestinians can be trusted.”

Peter@notalawyer.bsky.social · last yr.

My latest newsletter, about The New York Times' "correction" of its story about starvation in Gaza, and what it says about their adherence to Israeli propaganda.

Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · last yr.

With Mark Carney in power, the Business Council of Canada has reclaimed its throne in Ottawa—quietly shaping national policy to serve the interests of the country’s corporate elite while sidelining the public, Parliament, and the progressive promises that got the Liberals elected.

Under Mark Carney, capital’s leading lobby group is back in the driver’s seat

With Mark Carney in power, the Business Council of Canada has re-emerged as the country’s most influential lobby group. While few Canadians know its name, the Council is advancing a pro-corporate agen...

canadiandimension.com

little lamb @puddleofbrain.bsky.social · last yr.

Would be so embarrassing to crash out on this website. Like getting in a car accident on a unicycle

me @camoflage.bsky.social · last yr.

EMMA: I remember the news saying Donald Trump drinks 6 to 12 diet cokes a day. That's not that much. Like if that's all they have on him, come on.. ME: They did have more on him, I believe

Euan Thomson @drugdatadecoded.ca · last yr.

NEW DATA: As many of us warned 4 months ago from EMS dispatch data, Edmonton set a record for overdose deaths in March 2025. No alert was issued by the government. In what is certainly an under-count, the initial data show 88 people killed by drug policy. Condolences to those surviving loss 🕯️

Drug poisoning deaths in Edmonton from 2019 to 2025. March 2025 shows the highest count ever at 88 deaths.

Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · last yr.

And here's the transcript of the clip from the Matt Bernstein video that ties into all of this

Matthew Bernstein: For people who aren't super plugged into what's going on over there, could you explain what the deal is with the New York Times and trans people?
Chase Strangio: Yeah, so I have been really focused on the way the New York Times has covered trans people, our rights, and our bodies for the last decade, because it is really striking. I think the first thing to keep in mind is that there is a very outsized focus on trans people within the pages of the New York Times.
One of the ways that political scapegoating can happen is when a group of people who are a very small minority are given outsized attention, because people have this distorted idea of how many people there are and how salient questions about their life are. This is one of the key things about New York Times coverage that we have to put into context, which is that front page coverage—both magazine and newspaper—has been devoted to trans people.
So whatever that coverage was going to be, that outsized focus for a group of people that's a very small percentage of the population should raise some alarms. And then when you look at the actual contents of that coverage, it should raise even further alarms, because a lot of it is focused on some sort of entry point of: Is there a big conspiracy about trans people? Are trans people coming for the definition of womanhood? Are there too many trans kids? How are schools dealing with the increasing number of trans people who are coming out at younger ages? Why are all these kids asking for puberty blockers?
The problem with that entry point is that it does not provide the reader with any context. It is just offering these sort of suggestions that there is a problem, that there is a change, and that there's something people should be concerned about. And then in answering those questions that they've presented in this outsized fixation, they're laundering right-wing rhetoric about trans life and making it seem more palatable.

Over time, what happens is it becomes the norm. It becomes the baseline for people who aren't steeped in a conversation about transness. And that's the sort of sea that we're living in right now, which is that there is this reflexive sense that something about trans medical care is off. There's a reflexive sense that there's just all these new identities popping up, and it's a fad. There's this reflexive sense that someone is harmed by the existence of trans people.
By creating that debate and that doubt, it has been a very fertile ground for a very well-funded right-wing movement to push a very, very insidious political and legal agenda. And those two things are working in concert and have been for the last 10 years.
Matthew Bernstein: There was this great episode of the podcast "You're Wrong About" with Tuck Woodstock that, if you're interested in more about the New York Times and their trans coverage, I think you should totally go listen to. But they'll talk to doctors who provide trans healthcare and then someone they found on IHateTransPeople123.co and be like, "Well, let's listen to both sides. And are they all equal? Maybe, let's find out."
Chase Strangio: Yeah, I mean, and I think that's one of the problems with this outsized coverage without the context. You're sort of presented this idea that there's the pro-trans medical care side and then the anti-trans medical care side.
And then on the pro side, you have the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the American Psychological Association, all the parents who know their kids. You have decades of evidence and clinical experience. And then the other side, it's like the Catholic Medical Association and people who were experts in opposition to the provision of abortion. But that context isn't provided. It's just the names of two people. And they're both doctors. And yet they're completely ideologically embedded when it comes to this opposition side.

I think that it also requires some lack of critical thinking on the part of the reader that we're increasingly seeing, which is that the story is trans people are being given healthcare easily without any thought and their parents are just going along for the ride and are all good with it. And of course we know that the majority of LGBT young people experience some tension with their families. There's a long process of their families even coming to terms with their trans identities in the first instance.
And we still live in the United States where you have the worst health system you could possibly imagine. So getting to see the doctor takes six to 12 months, and then getting to see the specialist takes another six to 12 months. And so this idea that people are walking into CVS and getting this medication alone, like it's Advil, it just really does not comport with what we should know about our health system and what we should know about our families.
Matthew Bernstein: Oh, and of course the claims that children are getting sex changes in schools.
Chase Strangio: In schools. I mean, you know, I have a 13-year-old in New York City Public Schools and there's no bathrooms that work. There's barely any art classes. And let me tell you, there are no medical procedures.
Matthew Bernstein: Yeah.
Chase Strangio: So there's no funding for band-aids or crayons, but surely they're having transgender operations in between social studies and geometry.
(sighs)

Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · last yr.

Here's a transcript of the section of the @daviddoel.bsky.social video I'm referencing. And as a trans person, it all just makes me feel really sad and helpless.

May I remind you of what the phony debate around climate caused? Back in the '80s and '90s, there was widespread perception that we should be protecting the environment, even at the risk of curbing economic growth. That was a widely held view by over 70% of the population. Then the fossil fuel industry went heavy on their propaganda around climate change around the year 2000 and beyond, which led to this massive drop in people no longer prioritizing the environment in a way that they once were.
This is back in the '80s—late '80s, '90s. That's when we addressed the hole in the ozone layer. We did that very effectively, including with conservative governments. Canada at the time had a conservative government and was one of the leaders in that charge. There was no real debate around what the issue was. The fossil fuel industry made it a debate.
Even though the debate was presented often as an equal debate—in the case of CNN here, "Debate rages over fossil fuels," this is back in November 2000—"How much the burning of fossil fuels is increasing global warming is still a matter of debate among scientists." No, it wasn't. It never was. It isn't. Yet this was how it was presented, and even though it was presented as a debate—not even saying it's phony or anything like I'm sure they were presenting on Fox News—even though it was presented as a debate, it legitimized one side of the debate that had no legitimacy.
They had these debates on CNN, on Crossfire. "It's cold outside, so CNN debates climate change," where they had on one person who was a climatologist and another person who either was a scientist or spoke from a position of reality, but it made it appear to the average viewer as if it was a debate at all, when it simply was not a debate.

This gets to the issue now of trans rights, where it's simply an issue of human rights, human decency, kindness, and awareness, yet it has been turned into a debate to the point where people are shifting their perspective on trans rights in the negative because of the amount of propaganda being thrown at them through the media—the amount of debates being had on this—when again, this is not a debate. We're talking about human rights, human decency.
Pew Research here, from earlier this year: "Americans have grown more supportive of restrictions for trans people in recent years." We can go issue by issue here. I have some examples relating to at least one of these, but "require trans athletes to compete on teams that match their sex at birth"—people have become more restrictive of that. "Make it illegal for health care professionals to provide minors medical care for a gender transition"—this has existed for years and years and years, only recently became an issue. Look at the amount of people that are now wanting to restrict trans rights.
"Require trans people to use public bathrooms that match their sex at birth." I have some stories related to this, but look—we're talking everyone here. Democrats, Democrat-leaning people as well, are now more pro-restricting, or I should say anti-trans rights, than they were before.
"Make it illegal for public school districts to teach about gender identity in elementary schools." We're talking about an issue of awareness, free speech, education. People are more restrictive of just the education of it.
"Protect trans people from discrimination in jobs, housing, public spaces such as restaurants and stores." Support for that has gone down across the board.

"Require health insurance companies to cover medical care for gender transitions." It's gone down, despite the fact that we are talking about a tiny portion of the population, and it goes a long way to allowing trans people to live healthy lives—mentally healthy lives—and people are restrictive of this, largely, at least partly due to the level of propaganda that they are being told.
On the issue, for example, of bathrooms—these sorts of perspectives hurt trans people most, I think that goes without saying, but it also impacts all people. "Cis woman mistaken as transgender records being berated in bathroom. Woman says Boston hotel guard told her to leave bathroom because she was a man. Cis woman confronted by police officers in Arizona Walmart restroom for looking too masculine speaks out."
These sorts of anti-trans positions clearly, as I said, impact trans people most, but they impact society in a way where people become insane. Case in point: Pedro Rodriguez, who is a Spanish footballer, had to disable comments on Instagram after facing criticism for sharing photos from his son Mark's birthday. Mark chose to celebrate wearing a dress and a tiara inspired by a Lilo & Stitch theme. This became a massive story because his son wanted to enjoy his birthday party.
As Evie on Twitter reacted here, saying: "Transphobes scream 'let kids be kids' and then force strict gender roles and stereotypes onto them and shame them for doing something that makes them happy but doesn't fit into society's strict idea of gender."
This is simply an issue of people being allowed to be themselves. Why are we making this a political issue? It's not a political issue. It's an issue of human decency, human rights. This doesn't hurt you. Trans rights don't affect your life at all, but they do impact trans people's lives. Yet we have made it into a political issue where we are demonizing trans people to the point that perspectives have shifted in a way where people no longer support trans right…

This gets to the PBS News story here: "Why anti-transgender political ads are dominating the election airwaves this season." In lieu of the Republican Party and Trump having any real message for anything, they focused a lot of their commercials on trans people. Less than 1% of the U.S. population identifies as transgender, but this election year Republicans spent a considerable amount of money on ads demonizing transgender people. From October 7th to 20th, Trump's campaign and pro-Trump groups spent an estimated $95 million, and more than 41% of those ads were anti-trans.
It's very easy to fearmonger around issues that people don't quite understand than it is to actually address issues of affordability, healthcare, any actual political issues. This is an issue of human rights, and they use it as a scapegoat to try and fearmonger.
Now, if you actually look at the results of the election and exit polling, most people voted because of the economy—they thought somebody else would do a better job. Their vote largely wasn't because of their anti-trans position, but my concern isn't about the vote in the election. My concern is about general feelings around trans people and trans rights and how it has been impacted by this level of propaganda.
This gets to why I did not do this debate that I was invited to do. This is from last year. I shared this on Bluesky and Twitter where I got this email from Jubilee inviting me to do a debate called "Men's Rights Activists vs Feminists," and they included an example of the sorts of debates they hold. I turned it down. They replied back saying, "Thanks for letting me know, is there any other topic that could pique your interest?" And I replied saying, "Appreciate it, but I'm not interested. I just don't fundamentally agree that every issue has two sides worth engaging with. There's often an actual right and wrong, and that gets lost in these sorts of staged debates where we pretend both perspectives should be valued." I'm also nowhere…

Eli Valley @elivalley.bsky.social · last yr.

Remember that fascists, especially genocidal fascists, will NEVER be satiated. NEVER. Columbia can rename itself KKKolumbia and expel all Muslims and anti-fascist Jews, and they will still demand more.

Tweet by group called "Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students":
The government called for major reforms at
@Columbia
. Instead, we have a deal where half of the "reforms" are agreeing to comply with existing laws, while letting discriminatory, terror-supporting faculty maintain their leadership positions. This is embarrassing.
**
Most of this agreement is just
@Columbia
"agreeing" to comply with existing laws. Title VI coordinator is NY state law. "Incorporating" IHRA is required by the Ed Dept. Other parts, like race-blind admissions and foreign gift reporting, are also the law. This is ridiculous.
more here ------https://x.com/CUJewsIsraelis/status/1948179892517978288

lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · last yr.

the whole article is a fascinating insight into the addled minds of tesla cult holdouts and i'm most fixated on this guy's choice to use the phrase "REpopulate mars"

Emoji Caresser@lizrummy.bsky.social · last yr.

Feels like this applies to more than this event

karen ward @kwardvancouver.bsky.social · last yr.

the fact that BC Housing is NOT measuring the levels of respiratory viruses and CO2 in the air while they're measuring the amount of fentanyl in the air tells us that this is the production of evidence for a decision that's already been made 🖍️ www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

‘Grossly exceeded’: Fentanyl in air at Vancouver supportive housing offices

The presence of second-hand fentanyl smoke is so severe at some British Columbia supportive housing facilities that workers cannot escape “substantial exposure,” even if they stay in their offices and...

ctvnews.ca

The Imminence Of A Revelation Which Does Not Occur@nataliereed84.bsky.social · last yr.

I guess one more thing I would add to all this is that good ventilation in workplaces and public housing is a very important thing, and Covid should have already taught us that lesson. :P

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · last yr.

Evicting people for smoking fentanyl in public housing is bad policy that will kill people without making anyone safer. Smoking, rather than injecting, is a form of harm reduction that reduces overdose, infections, & deadly/costly complications. Ppl smoke inside because it’s illegal to do outside 🧵…

karen ward@kwardvancouver.bsky.social · last yr.

this is the policy trajectory vancouversun.com/news/b-c-eye...

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · last yr.

The amount of negative attention these stories always get can be depressing. It does not minimize the risks of fentanyl use to say it is not a risk to people who don’t use drugs. It does not make people safer from fentanyl to lie about the risks of fentanyl. People who use fentanyl deserve housing

Ryan Marino, MD@ryanmarino.bsky.social · last yr.

“For someone who’s not using drugs, not ingesting anything in any way, the risk of a second-hand exposure, toxicity, overdose, whatever you want to call it, from fentanyl is pretty close to zero.”

me @camoflage.bsky.social · last yr.

Really sad and shocking. Apparently a bat bit his head off

Culture Crave 🍿@culturecrave.co · last yr.

Ozzy Osbourne has passed away at the age of 76

me @camoflage.bsky.social · last yr.

This is rlly what it comes down to. Columnists, pundits, etc tend to have a particular type of cheap vanity where they indulge in off-putting "politically incorrect" "heterodox" blah blah positions partly just to feel like their brain is so curious &serious that it will touch what their peers won't

Reconstructionist@unavaleable.bsky.social · last yr.

I think this a function of intra-elite signaling where being a racist baiting contrarian allows pundits to make themselves out to be Free Thinkers and therefore morally and intellectually superior to their colleagues who annoy them

Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social · last yr.

It is pretty unequivocally true to say that the American punditocracy and intelligentsia vastly prefer the company and input of race scientists and Nazis to "woke" liberals. I don't think there's really any argument about that, it's extremely clear up and down the board.

Adam Gurri@adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com · last yr.

Here’s Barro sharing a Nazi’s post with approval