Des Ertsen

This, but also, as a liberal I believe in freedom and human rights for all people, all around the world. That translates into rooting interests in elections where freedoms and rights are on the ballot, as they often are.

with all of my heart i hate this rat motherfucker

Damn, the last 10 years really did a number on gentle souls…

Gary Tyler, a quilt artist who spent decades on death row for a crime he didn’t commit, now has his first solo exhibit at the Grand Rapids Art Museum

this is so obviously correct it is deeply bizarre and corrosive how many people who should know better are unwilling to simply say it

The Queen

The entire Republican Party and broader conservative movement need to be smashed to bits. Donor networks gotta be exposed and disrupted. All the outside machinery needs to be dismantled. And electorally it must lose over and over and over and over. We need a truth and reconciliation commission.

There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...

Today, I see angry young men online LARPing as Catholics, often for the aesthetic. They celebrate strength and hate the weak. The use slurs against the disabled and fantasize about enacting Crusader violence against their enemies. I wish the Pope would speak directly on this.

Houston PD accounted for nearly a third of searches of one Arizona agency's Flock system, alarming privacy advocates story via @jerodmacevoy.com

This is the Stolen Neighbors Quilt. Each of the 11,000 squares represents a person taken by ICE in Minnesota.

When my grandmother was in hospice, she would cry out, “The nurses aren’t giving me my meds the doctor prescribed.” Long story, short. My grandmother was being influenced by the Dr. Oz show and she was mad that nobody would get her the supplements he was hawking.

The stadium debacle couldn’t have blown up in front of a more worthy man. I love when apoliticism is exposed.

It’s wild you’re expected to celebrate SCOTUS not allowing the president to dismantle a voting method used by tens of millions at the 11th hour — and also, at the same time, it absolutely is a big deal and couldn’t be taken for granted.

When Democrats attempt to triangulate on trans rights, it's my sense that many liberals and people in politics don't understand why many trans people are so upset. I wrote about the differences between then and now, what trans people have lost, and what we still stand to lose

I advocate for withholding your vote from the leading anti-trans Dems, the ones calling us biological males and/or declaring they will be in favor of healthcare restrictions. So of course Will, who I have never had beef with, compares our anger to a cult and drives extreme harassment my way.

Wish self-professed allies to Queer people would stop and interrogate their own rhetoric whenever they become emotionally agitated and indignant towards the people they claim allyship on.

Just go on the attack for once instead of sitting there trying to please your enemy who is in the process of trying to humiliate you. www.welcometohellworld.com/i-do-not-bel...

I do not care if you are from a traditionally red state your job as a leader is to change that. It's not to chase what people have been told they already think it's to give them something else to believe in. And the way to do that is to show you are willing to fight for everyone...

"I am for the dignity and safety and equal rights of trans people everywhere. Fuck you. The end." "I do not believe you care about this issue. You are lying. In fact you're a straight up weirdo for fixating on kids' genitals so much. That is odd behavior. Let kids run around with their friends."

im still an "adult liberal" who has made peace with all manner of the horrid contradictions that undergird american life. im not into purity tests. but this is also a crucial moment. ive got kids who have to live here and for whom these are critical issues. i deserve to have expectations

i don't believe talarico is a bigot. im pretty sure he isnt. but if he apparently "has to" answer bad faith questions in a way that appears to compromise on the rights of one group of people being repressed to get elected, it's fair to ask what else he will "have to" do once he's in office

Whatever you do, poasters do not like being reminded of their failed political campaigns.

Protect trans kids.

The most damaging political idea I've seen in my lifetime is the idea that government should be run like a business

I’m watching a documentary on World War II. The Nazi higher-ups were still praising Hitler’s genius while the Russians were only 12 miles from the city center of Berlin. Just like the Republicans still loyal to Trump as the party goes under.

Of course, it’s not just polling that matters here: Medicare-for-all would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have research showing it. For a Democrat to be unwilling to wholeheartedly embrace this policy in 2026 is disqualifying.

I don't understand Kingdom Hearts but I love it when there's news about it because my friends who do know about Kingdom Hearts sound completely insane

I’ll take it.

i personally think polymarket and all companies like it should be regulated out of existence and their assets seized by the state

AOC: Millennials are not punk kids anymore. We're grown adults with mortgages and kids, and that generation is starting to be decisive at the polls. And there is anger at being ignored, having our economic futures mortgaged by the generations that came before us and we're taking the reins

A huge part of Democratic Party angst can be traced to the fact that Millennials are the single largest part of the electorate and even more so in the Democratic Party and we have been shit on our entire lives and are simply done with this shit and are activating.

why are my taxes going toward subsidizing the police when i might never even need to be beaten up and violated

Happy Birthday to James Baldwin. A great American society critic. And then so much more. This is a great watch. Nothin better than seeing Will Buckley, getting his teeth kicked in and lunch money taken, and on, an international level. youtube.com/watch?v=dTEr...

"Numerous progressives have won in swing states and districts in the past. Neither El-Sayed nor Hong would be the first progressive candidate to win in the Midwest. Ocasio-Cortez wouldn’t be the first president with a left-wing background." newrepublic.com/article/2136...

36 years ago today, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. This came after decades of advocacy from the Disability Rights movement and changed our country and our City for the better.

Why are all new cars so hideously unintuitive? Forget electric vehicles. Electric schmelectric. My next car money will go to the manufacturer that brings back physical knobs, car door handles, and a gear shift. Make cars… cars again. I don’t want to drive a tablet.

Exciting news: I just learned that @boltsmag.org has won a Nonprofit News Award tonight. The award is for the powerful (& distressing) story reported by @burness.bsky.social on the zealous prosecution of a community of American Samoans by the state — you may remember the article:

here we go