GA girl. #1u poli(cy/tics) #chicago & #twill. works for @afscme31. #catholic. wife. mama. @agnesscott, @hhhschool alum. 🧵 galore. views mine.

✶✶✶✶, il
Joined January 2011
Pinned Tweet
Replying to @DriXander
Never gets old. 😍
Nothing like a day at the Botanic Gardens. One of Cook County’s treasures.
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Me, getting online after spending time with the kids: Damn, is he trying to do all of Project 2025 in the first 12 hrs?!? Eff a first 100 days, I guess.
Replying to @DriXander
Heritage staffer group chats have been filled in recent days with tweets admitting that, actually, the Trump agenda has always been Project 2025. notus.org/2024-election/heri…
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Foreign service officials up for promotion were asked who they voted for in the 2016, 2020 & 2024 presidential elections, raising concerns the agency is violating a federal law that bars politicized personnel decisions within the nonpartisan ranks. washingtonsun.com/administra…
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Wagner Group leaving Mali after heavy losses but Russia’s Africa Corps to remain: apnews.com/article/mali-wagn…
Replying to @DriXander
Fighting alongside Malian soldiers, Wagner mercenaries have massacred civilians & burned their villages in northern Mali, fueling a fast-growing refugee crisis. washingtonpost.com/world/202… They’re there to combat Tuareg separatists + militants loyal to al-Qaeda & the Islamic State.
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Russia is escalating its information war in Africa: economist.com/middle-east-an… 90% of the Russian officials expelled from Europe had been reassigned to the continent. A growing # of African students are moving to Russia, recently surpassing the peak during the Cold War.
Replying to @DriXander
The Africa Initiative is part of an opaque network of groups that Western officials & analysts say the Kremlin uses to spread Russian influence in Africa. washingtonpost.com/world/202…
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On the European Union’s landmark deal to regulate AI: reuters.com/technology/stall… The major point of disagreement during final discussions was on law enforcement biometrics usage. wired.com/story/eu-ai-act/ Seems Congress is going in a diff direction than the EU: washingtonpost.com/technolog…
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AI Is Embedded in Your Election Experience. So Are Its Dangers. Efforts to blunt its harms are uneven. 🎁nytimes.com/2026/10/22/busin… 1 in 5 voters plans to use AI to look into a race on their ballot, 2x that have already received election details through an AI search summary.
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More: America Is About to See What Happens When Voters Turn to AI theatlantic.com/technology/2…
Replying to @DriXander
AI Is Embedded in Your Election Experience. So Are Its Dangers. Efforts to blunt its harms are uneven. 🎁nytimes.com/2026/10/22/busin… 1 in 5 voters plans to use AI to look into a race on their ballot, 2x that have already received election details through an AI search summary.
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Bilingual Education Returns To California. Now What? A look at the practical implications of CA's Prop. 58: n.pr/2fLvOYT
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How California’s Ultrarich Are Trying to Stop the World’s First Billionaire Tax: 🎁nytimes.com/2026/10/14/magaz… + “A butter knife against a nuclear arsenal” but they still may win: latimes.com/california/story… Didn’t realize two other propositions would nullify it if they got more votes.
Replying to @DriXander
Architect of billionaire tax tried to ‘extort’ support for the measure & targeted women, union reports find. SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West President Dave Regan denied the allegations: latimes.com/california/story… Sad that I remembered this guy’s name for all the wrong reasons 👇🏾
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Why Are Poland’s Nationalists So Popular? Ask a Local Librarian. nytimes.com/2018/03/03/world… Most of the articles I’ve read on Law & Justice focus entirely on the ways they’re curbing democracy, they’ve delivered some very concrete benefits which result in them polling btwn 40-45%.
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Poland’s new president is positioned to make history — or rewrite it: Karol Nawrocki, a 42 yo conservative Catholic & historian backed by Trump, can block the agenda of the centrist, pro-EU PM, Donald Tusk. washingtonpost.com/world/202…
Replying to @DriXander
The Historians Under Attack for Exploring Poland’s Role in the Holocaust: newyorker.com/news/our-colum…
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Poland’s parliament votes to ease abortion ban by removing some penalties for those helping women access abortion, but faces likely veto from president: theguardian.com/world/2026/o… + Pro-choice women took to the streets in >20 Polish cities: apnews.com/article/poland-ab…
Replying to @DriXander
I knew about the pregnancy registry, but it’s news to me that the Polish government is using laboratory tests to detect abortion drugs: nytimes.com/2023/09/14/opini…
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Vast gaps in Venezuela’s labor market are causing a breakdown in daily life, and robbing this nation of its future. *So far this year,* 48k teachers — or 12% of all staff at elementary and high schools nationwide — have quit. washingtonpost.com/world/the…
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Caracas Is Eerily Safe After Deadly Police Raids in Venezuela Killed *Thousands* 🎁 nytimes.com/2026/10/16/world… Venezuela is now withdrawing from the International Criminal Court as it investigates this blood-soaked campaign. It’s giving Brasil on steroids, more on that below.
Replying to @DriXander
Where the Police Wear Masks, and the Bodies Pile Up Fast: The police killed an average of 17 people every day in Brazil last year, and rogue officers are killing even more off duty. nytimes.com/2019/12/20/world…
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Missed this completely: Anti-govt protests resume against Serbia's populist leader. Protesters marched through downtown Belgrade demanding more democracy & media freedom in Serbia. Such marches have been held every Saturday since last December. pbs.org/newshour/world/anti-…
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Student movement takes Serbia's Vučić to the wire in neck-and-neck parliamentary election: bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm1d… + Beatings, cyberattacks & threats ahead of vote: reuters.com/world/europe/bea… + It’s 1st time an opposition list has led a nat’l poll in 10+ yrs. politico.eu/article/serbia-s…
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New Zealand’s government, which says it wants more than 20% of the country’s population to speak basic Maori by 2040, has pledged to provide Maori lessons in all New Zealand schools by 2025, despite a dearth of teachers who can speak the language. nyti.ms/2D46Z7U
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To save endangered languages, tech companies like Apple are working with Indigenous communities to meet the next generation where they type. How Apple Puts Indigenous Languages on the iPhone Keyboard: wired.com/story/how-apple-pu…
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What Does It Mean to Be Inuit Now? In Iqaluit, the only city in Canada’s Arctic, a new generation of Inuit writers and artists is turning questions of language, land and identity into books, films and even tattoos. nytimes.com/2026/10/11/world…
Replying to @DriXander
The Inuit agree on a common writing system: economist.com/the-americas/2… A task-force took eight years to achieve it & implementation will surely be slow.
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Didn’t have a 🧵for none-IL 2026 Congressional races…Wow, has this Maine candidate flamed out spectacularly: lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/202… + “How do you expect to win young people? How do you expect to win back men…Good luck winning over those demographics.” semafor.com/article/10/21/20…
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In Trump’s Second Midterm, Democrats Are Looking for Fighters: Attitudes in the party have shifted, Democrats say, with a growing appetite for outsider candidates vowing to overhaul the system. Some worry that the trend could be costly in November. nytimes.com/2026/07/06/us/po…
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GOP congressman David Valadao voted to cut Medicaid. It covers 62% of residents in his central CA district. Can he win? npr.org/2026/10/21/nx-s1-600…
Replying to @DriXander
Forgot to post last week: >400 hospitals across the US @ high risk of closing or cutting services because of Medicaid cuts in BBB, new report finds. Together, they provide care for nearly 7M patients. nbcnews.com/health/health-ne… Cuts just getting started, more to come in 27 & 28.
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When Idaho Banned Abortion, OB-GYNs Fled. From childbirth to miscarriages, women’s health care there is increasingly dangerous. 🎁 nytimes.com/2026/10/20/magaz… Since 2023, 3 rural hospitals shuttered L&D b/c of staffing shortages. ⚠️ On the nose description of stillbirth included.
Replying to @DriXander
Organizers of a referendum to repeal an abortion ban in deep-red Idaho are far more focused on how the ban has broadly affected health care in the state: Longer waits, higher costs & less access to preventive care for all Idahoans, not just pregnant ppl. nytimes.com/2026/09/18/us/po…
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A cheat sheet on elections around the world from Foreign Policy: Next year’s contests are set to bring populist reckonings, parliamentary headaches, & a possible democratic crisis or two. foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/30…
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The Bukeleization of Latin America Has Arrived: Bukele’s notoriously harsh & wildly popular security crackdown in El Salvador is spawning imitators & remaking region. 🎁 nytimes.com/2026/10/23/world… Costa Rica surprised last week, more context: apnews.com/article/costa-ric… Bukele 🧵below.
Replying to @DriXander
Nayib Bukele’s Content Machine Is Reshaping Latin America: How El Salvador’s authoritarian leader loomed over Colombia’s Presidential race. newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…
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Playing catch up: Digital surveillance and control spread across Latin America under governments of all stripes english.elpais.com/internati…
Replying to @DriXander
A NYT investigation reveals the story behind how Mexico became the first & most prolific user of Pegasus. Despite promising to stop, Mexico has continued to use Pegasus to spy on people who defend human rights, even in recent months. nytimes.com/2023/04/18/world…
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Fine, I'll make a mayoral candidate thread even though it's too early. On Mendoza, I'll just say no one should be surprised about the places she's willing to go on crime. youtu.be/yLe6DtXmGeA?si=dgEc… xitter.cf/SharoneMitchJr/status/…
The SAFE-T Act did not create the presumption of innocence, a bedrock principal of our oft-challenged democracy that’s pretty important everywhere, but especially in a region that has such a long and painful history of wrongful convictions and police misconduct.
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The Mayor is filing, but it’s not the first day & he’s turning in less than John Kelly & Willie Wilson. 🤷🏾‍♀️ But, all you gotta do is have sigs good enough to get on, extras don’t help in that regard.
OFFICIAL: Amid chants of “Four More Years,” Brandon Johnson @Brandon4Chicago is filing for re-election for Mayor today. His campaign tallies 33K signatures and say it’s been down to the wire. #CHImayor27 @fox32news
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Before 9/11 I believed in "just war," then I saw the lengths folk went to to justify war...
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How the Catholic Church Is Rethinking War: Just-war theory, which has guided Vatican teaching for centuries, may be on its way out. theatlantic.com/culture/2026…
Replying to @DriXander
Pope Leo warns of AI fueling warfare in first major theological document: edition.cnn.com/2026/05/25/e… + Magnifica Humanitas condemns ‘culture of power’ that fuels war: cruxnow.com/vatican/2026/05/… + Pope Leo calls on Catholics to 'move beyond' just war theory: religionnews.com/2026/05/25/…
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A Philosopher of War Changes His Mind: Michael Walzer wrote “Just and Unjust Wars” half a century ago. The war in Gaza made him rethink one of its fundamental principles. newyorker.com/culture/person… Bigger than the underpinnings of theory, on how we challenge our priors & evolve.
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Whoa whoa whoa: Alaska Gov. Bill Walker has dropped out of the state's gubernatorial race, saying he believes he couldn't win the three-way race "in the time remaining" before Election Day. huffingtonpost.com/entry/ala…
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A Democrat could become governor of Alaska for the first time in over 20 years: 🎧 npr.org/2026/10/21/nx-s1-599… + This 37 yo could become Alaska’s first Dem gov in a generation — and the youngest in the young state’s history: nytimes.com/2026/10/21/us/po… Fascinating guy.
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A Warming Climate Is All Over Alaska’s Senate Race. The Candidates Hardly Mention It. insideclimatenews.org/news/2… + Mary Peltola, whose campaign could determine whether the Democrats retake Congress, mostly just wants to talk about fish, especially salmon. newyorker.com/news/the-polit…
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Some of this is plain stunning: ‘Bullet Caucus’ in Brazil Signals Political Shift to the Right nytimes.com/2015/01/15/world…
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Brazil spent years targeting electoral lies on the internet. Now, artificial intelligence is stumping election authorities & reshaping a high-stakes race. Could AI Videos Sway the Vote? 🎁nytimes.com/2026/10/21/world… More on my AI 🧵regarding how it’s popping up in campaigns.
Replying to @DriXander
This was from Dec. on AI in campaigns: AI is eminently capable of political persuasion & could automate it at a mass scale. We are not prepared. www-technologyreview-com.cdn… 2 studies show chatbots shifted voters’ views by a substantial margin, far more than traditional political ads.
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Brazil’s small towns like Nanuque, w/big agricultural businesses & a surging evangelical Christian movement, are swinging to the right. nytimes.com/2026/10/23/world… The town is in the bellwether state of Minas Gerais, which backed the winner in every presidential election since 1988.
Replying to @DriXander
Child preachers help evangelicals surge in Catholic Brazil: Ester Souza, the 8-year-old daughter of pastors in rural São Paulo state, has millions of social media followers. washingtonpost.com/world/202…
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