John Refior

So, you're in favor of taxing the rich, eh? Do you really mean it, or is it just something you post on Bluesky? Because if you really mean it, you should be a zealous advocate for higher property taxes, and a vehement opponent of the SALT deduction. A short 🧵

Trump is interrupted by a protester in Mississippi: "Shove that ballroom up your fat ass!"

“Jenkins, a Republican who stands for re-election this November, has become a small-town celebrity who has been a Fox News regular and visited with Donald Trump at both the White House and Mar-a-Lago.”

“If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

Consensus EPS forecasts for Tesla have gone straight down in the last 4 years, … @soberlook financialtimes.bsky.social

A downed or forced-down Geran-5 jet-powered drone/missile in the Odesa region. Its latest iteration is fitted with a V-tail and low aspect ratio wings alongside a refined fuselage. The system represents a new branch in the evolution of Russia’s jet-powered Geran/Shahed family. #Russia

Environmentalists, Indigenous groups and climate scientists are relieved after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's reelection in Brazil.

More than 1 in 4 Americans have some kind of medical debt. Ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, several states are trying to ease this burden by requiring hospitals to provide financial aid earlier in the process.

Real screencaps from Don Jr's "hunting trip" in Mongolia with his new Kremlin handler, Umar Kremlev. Taxpayers paid $18,715 to put up his Secret Service details for 14 days, but if they were in hotel rooms, I guess they didn't get to hunt? www.ft.com/content/f41f...

❗️Ukrainian sources say Kyiv has received no update from Pete Hegseth or the Pentagon on approvals for Patriot and NASAMS missiles, with no movement reported. Zelensky said Ukraine has been waiting nearly a month for Hegseth’s sign-off and instructed his team to raise the issue again. #Ukraine

Jay-Z picks himself as Super Bowl halftime show performer.

Republicans, they're not like us.

Dan Bongino basically said this was coming as far back as May. (Hannity at the time was also hinting at a 3rd indictment, although Hannity suggested it would happen in Florida and not DC). So much of what has been churning in right wing fever swamps for months is about to become a reality.

Flávio Bolsonaro had his passport confiscated by the Brazilian fed police as his brother Eduardo told him to flee to the US. He is tied to paramilitary gangs, is being investigated & lost his legislative immunity when he left the Senate to run for president. paydayreport.com/brazilian-fe...

The Trump administration has brought a third criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, this time accusing the longtime target of President Donald Trump of unlawfully transmitting national defense information to the press a decade ago. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Kavanaugh stops in action: ICE tackled a non-verbal kid near his school, left him with injuries requiring surgery, and then left the scene when they realized he wasn't the person they were looking for www.independent.com/2026/10/23/i...

Missouri's Amendment 3 would restore an abortion ban with limited exceptions, but its ads focus on a different provision: banning gender transition care for minors. The campaign website never explicitly states it would repeal the constitutional right to abortion voters approved 2 years ago.

My heart is heavy. Walter Koenig, our Ensign Pavel Chekov, passed away early today. Walter and I met on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 1960s, and we stayed friends for nearly six decades. When Brad and I married in 2008, Walter stood beside us as our best man.

A US judge ruled that the Trump administration's firing of federal prosecutor Maurene Comey was unlawful. The judge granted Comey's request to retroactively reinstate her as a prosecutor through December 2025 so she could get back pay and retirement benefits reut.rs/4e3bZc6

174 former federal and state judges sent a letter Monday requesting the dismissal of a misconduct complaint filed last month by the U.S. Department of Justice against nearly every federal judge in Minnesota.

Unfortunately, rich people are going to be very excited about this

The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states have sued discount retailer Dollar General for allegedly charging customers more for products than advertised and failing to address the problem, the federal agency said on Monday.

The Spirit of Democracy Remains Strong open.substack.com/pub/persuasi...

Over 2,000 alumni from Vivek’s all-boys catholic high school in Cincinnati have signed and circulated a petition demanding that he pull the ad and issue a public apology for “ignoring the moral responsibilities” of his Jesuit education. I think he’s pretty cooked.

Even though Trump caved in to great pressure over Starlink/Starshield, it doesn’t change the basic fact that the US is more and more an open ally of Russia. The US is still refusing to deliver purchased Patriot missiles, buying Russian diesel, has neutered Graham-Blumenthal, and there is more…

Lula’s win is the first good news for the planet in a while! I bet it shaves a tenth of a degree off how hot our earth eventually gets, which will save millions of lives Thank you Brazil!

US retailers face record holiday delivery prices from surcharges tied to costlier diesel reut.rs/4dXONfc

Oil spill off UAE widens, satellite images show, prompting more beach closures reut.rs/4eu5Fue

I was having conversations with journalists just a few months ago about whether democracy was doomed. Look at this year: Orban defeated. Vukic defeated. Bolsonaro Jr defeated. Trump heading to likely defeat in midterms. That’s the beauty of democracy. Voters can respond. Don’t count it out yet.

More than 5 million people have lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits since President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill passed last year. That has meant many more people are turning to food banks for support. https://to.pbs.org/47Sb4rd

One benefit of holding leaders accountable for crimes is that if Flávio Bolsonaro tries to overturn this election, he knows exactly where he’d end up. In prison, next to his father.

Congrats to Lula on overcoming Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump to defeat Hospital Pervert Jr., even as his opposition literally blocked off roads and turned off bus service during election day. Fascists are scary but they are always, 100% of the time, ultimately gigantic fucking losers.

Jaron Alexander remains only one cog in a deportation machine for which the federal government has earmarked $240 billion. Today 1,900+ agencies in at least 30 states have signed up for ICE’s task force model, with more than 29,000 deputized officers. @mckenziefunk.com @francescadnunz.bsky.social

The second good news this afternoon! Vuvic's defeat is particularly important since one of the main catalysts for his ouster was his corrupt deal allowing the Trump family to tear down national monuments to erect tacky playgrounds for the ultra-wealthy.

Lula leading by 3% with 88% of vote in. Lula appears headed to victory!

With 83% of the vote counted nationwide, Lula has stretched his lead to 2.8 million votes. That's a lead of 51.4% to 48.6%. That puts him on track for a victory that could be larger than his 1.8% win four years ago, which would be an immense comeback. He's even up in Minas Gervais now, by 0.6%.

Brazil’s three leading newspapers report that Lula has been re-elected.

I can’t prove it. Yet I’m sure Trump never could have won the GOP nomination if not for Facebook. One more reason to #BoycottMeta

Lula down by .28% with 42% of the vote coming in and Northeast coming in

Wonderful to see that Alexander Vucic's semi-authoritarian and utterly corrupt regime lost the elections in Serbia. Congratulations, Serbia! This election will turn Serbia away from Russia and toward the EU. www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...

A Brazilian union member complains that Meta blocked her union's account for supporting Lula (Subtitles)

Today's Food Not Bombs menu was a hit. We will continue to be outside every Sunday until December, when the winter warming center opens up. The sign is why we do what we do. Corporations waste tons of food while our neighbors are starving. Not on our watch. We aren't stopping for anything.

OBAMA: "Trump is focused on enriching himself & his family/friends. A Venezuelan billionaire wanted a pardon, so he paid a Trump lawyers $50 million — and lo & behold! The pardon falls out of the sky... We’ve never seen a president straight-up grifting on your dime like this."

Trump Accounts would allow corporations or their owners to make donations by zip code. So, for example, a company trying to set up a data center could give money to families in that region. This is the logic of the bribe state which Trump has enabled and supports. bsky.app/profile/atru...

This @juliacurlee.bsky.social piece on how Russia's 2016 operation might be the most successful covert op in history came out before 1) Kash Patel criminalized keeping US safe from foreign interference by charging Nikki Floris and Brad Benavides. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...