Silja JA Talvi
@sjat.bsky.social
Forced exile from U.S.; survived severe human rights abuses. Veteran investigative journalist, lecturer & author: “Women Behind Bars.” Multi-minority. Emphases: Prisons, racism, misogyny, refugees. Documentary: https://youtu.be/lbBMriSDEwg?feature=shared
More refugees than ever before bc of proxy wars; climate change, the widening gap b/w the very poor and the obscenely rich. More billionaires than ever before. More linkeages between the violent far-right than ever before. More trafficking of humans than ever before. Not good.
BREAKING: New cruel way to torment immigrants. “The change is likely to affect hundreds of thousands of people. It could also lead to more family separations as spouses or relatives wait for application decisions.” #MomSky
Green Card Seekers Must Leave U.S. to Apply, Trump Administration Says
nytimes.com
Once acted upon, terrorism self-perpetuates & lingers for months or years, eating away at ideas of security in a general or target population. State terrorism is NOT better than group terrorism. ICE or ISIL. CIA, Stasi, FSB. It’s all designed to terrify, destabilize & destroy your sense of calm.
Sometimes I sit & ponder what it is to assume you are somehow entitled to own, possess, abuse, control & decide the fate of anyone you deem to be of lesser value. I can understand it intellectually as a pathological delusion w/ terrifying consequences. I cannot understand it on any other level.
When my time here ends, I know I did one thing right: I never stopped fighting for the right of EVERY single human being & creature to be treated with basic dignity, w/ basis of constitutional/intl human rights, common decency & lack of cruelty. No exceptions. No murder. No rape. No torture. Ever.
1/ Take a note of SPEED with which the U.S. returned to overt rule rich whyte men running gov’t, Cabinet, Congress, corporations & just about anything else. Same ppl embrace the #GreatReplacement mov’t in which fears of a takeover by non-Christians, refugees & POC are at a point of hysteria.
Every preventable death in custody is a tragedy. Every murder, every suicide, every murder made to look like a suicide. Every death resulting from lack of health care. BE enraged by #ICE. But don’t forget: there are over 5,000 deaths in U.S. #jails & #prisons annually.* FIVE THOUSAND deaths.
Steve Held@peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 6mo agoAnother person has died in ICE custody. 33-year-old Denny Adán González died on Tuesday in Georgia. Authorities claim he died by suicide. González is the 18th person to die in ICE custody this year—this is also the 18th week of 2026.
I was standing in a Finnish park just the other day, giving thanks for the bee that was buzzing around, reminded of how many I used to see as a child. No longer true. Bees are a measure of life itself. When they disappear, so does our future.
eugeniat2.bsky.social@eugeniat2.bsky.social · 6mo ago🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 Save the BEES! 🌺 World 🌎 Bee 🐝 Day is May 20 🐝 #bees 🐝 A Bee #Haiku A bee staggers out of a peony. — Matsuo Basho 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 We must Save the bees
Do not underestimate the Great Replacement movt. It can be likened to a quick-moving virus that is truly sweeping the globe. It’s acting as a POWERFUL recruitment tool. Wherever and whenever possible, have factual responses ready to go when you come across these ppl & their GR sloganeering.
Right Wing Watch @rightwingwatch.bsky.social · 6mo agoRep. Mary Miller promotes the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, telling people to stop voting Democrat because "they opened the southern border, they facilitated the invasion of our country to replace you."
Very grateful for all the new follows! I do check every account to familiarize myself w/ who you are … hence the delays in following back. I AM open to DMs re: story ideas, leads & interview suggestions —or questions from other journos facing repression but honestly not here for men, players, etc.
Seeking sharp #literaryagent for an “investigative memoir” of a thousand lives lived in one. From the Finnish forest w/ no electricity, phone or running water to organizing U.S. demonstrations that made headlines & writing cover stories that sent me into exile —it’s a story that needs to be told.
#WandaSykes has an incisive, brilliantly funny mind & a truly intersectional understanding of the myriad pathological political games being played by dictators like Herr Trump—at the expense of all who suffer. “Legacy” (out now on Netflix) makes me feel like I belong somewhere. RESPECT! ✊🏽
1/ Since Xmas ‘25 I’ve been tte target of massive cyberattack designed to cut me off from my sources. The likely offenders—3 letter agencies—are no doubt ecstatic to have put my investigative work into a tailspin. The win 4 me has been something far deeper: liberation from fear …
Inherited wealth is the least discussed facet of US capitalism & classism. Omnipresent in all major American cities, wealthy suburbs & gated communities, inherited wealth is what TRULY separates haves from the have-nots: they’ll try to convince you it’s about your acumen & intelligence. It’s not.
Among many other investigative stories I was pursuing before having to flee the U.S. was related to In-Q-Tel, the tech venture capital “front” org for the #CIA. One of its most successful projects? #Palantir, now rolling in $ billions from the U.S. govt: www.fastcompany.com/91446398/cia...
From CIA cash to local police: How Palantir got its start
After making millions with PayPal, Peter Thiel launched a startup focused on counterterrorism and tapped his friend Alex Karp to run it. In an exclusive excerpt from his new biography of Karp, Michael...
fastcompany.com
🌊 🇺🇸 #FairMaps@kdjs-1.bsky.social · 6mo agofed-spend.com/blog/palanti...
Nearly 200,000 American #youth are incarcerated during the course of each year. Over 200,000 US residents are incarcerated in #solitary or #lockdown right now. The U.S. has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of its #prisoners. #IncarcerationNation #PrisonIndustrialComplex
#Geo & #Core Civic (formerly CCA) got their start running private prisons & juvenile detention. They would compete with each other for contracts: the cheapest bid per prisoner won out. Everything they’re doing now to ppl in ICE captivity has its origins in the privatization of #massincarceration.
Nearing 30, I asked my then-husband about having a child. “What would we do, roll it around in the carpet?” An unforgettable response. His expression was one of confusion mixed w/ repulsion. I never got my child. I never remarried. G-d made sure that generations of abuse & trauma ended w/ me.
When #sextrafficking of children, teens & women is one of the world’s biggest businesses, we SHOULD be asking: who are all the buyers? They aren’t just corrupt politicians, billionaires & royal families. They’re your neighbors, cops, judges, guards, teachers, holy men & CEOs. #EndSexTrafficking
In every generation, we have a new opportunity to learn we are NO ONE’s property. An opportunity to self-define independent of parental abuse, male “ownership” or societal rules re: behavior, education & appearance. Yet we are STILL being abused, groomed & forced into submission. #Liberation 🙋🏾♀️👨🏽🦽➡️👩🏽❤️👩🏾
Solitary confinement is inhumane. Solitary confinement is torture. Solitary confinement causes psychosis, neurological atrophy and countless physical ailments. Solitary confinement is cruel & unusual punishment. Solitary confinement is as American as apple pie. #EndSolitaryConfinement
It’s a truism in our profession that the harder ppl come after you—through malicious slander & defamation, persecution, abuse, lawsuits, threats, arrests—the BIGGER their secret(s). The ppl seeking to silence journalists get more aggressive the closer we get to the truth. #Muckrakers
Theme of the day: Bloodied but unbowed. When #protest music coursed through every fiber of our being. I wish the same for you. The unbowed part. The protest part. (The “bloodied” part isn’t a good time, but it’s been an integral part of my life.)
Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. Excerpted from poem, “Invictus,” W.E. Henley
Every preventable death in custody is a tragedy. Every murder, every suicide, every murder made to look like a suicide. Every death resulting from lack of health care. BE enraged by #ICE. But don’t forget: there are over 5,000 deaths in U.S. #jails & #prisons annually.* FIVE THOUSAND deaths.
Steve Held@peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 6mo agoAnother person has died in ICE custody. 33-year-old Denny Adán González died on Tuesday in Georgia. Authorities claim he died by suicide. González is the 18th person to die in ICE custody this year—this is also the 18th week of 2026.
We were all told to stay indoors this morning in #Finland bc of #drones. This hasn’t happened b4 during the #Ukraine war. But to say there is no military threat is inaccurate. Putin is unstable & paranoid, esp after we joined NATO & thus allied us w/ the US. www.politico.eu/article/alex...
Finland faces no ‘direct military threat’ despite drone scare, president insists
Helsinki scrambled fighter jets after an unmanned aerial vehicle entered Finnish airspace.
politico.eu
Cultural differences have always intrigued me. Americans are almost always asked what we do for a living immediately after being introduced. In 15 years, not one #Finn has EVER asked me what I do for a living. It’s considered irrelevant & even insulting, as work doesn’t define your existence.
1/ While Americans love to watch thrillers about intelligence agency programs gone awry (eg the Bourne series), the majority are still in a state of denial about the omnipresence of #masssurveillance & the dangers to EVERYONE in light of #paramilitary forces on the streets: Deportations, deaths.
Non-fiction writers w/ journalism backgrounds & readers who respect the work of progressive journos, this question is for you! Which publishing houses do you respect the most these days? @Haymarketbooks.org? @SevenStories.bsky.social? My groundbreaking new book will need a good home. Thoughts? ✍🏽