Kathleen Atkins

Photographer, editor, writer. Gave up reading novels for political journalism and can't sleep anymore.

[Karly Kingsley @karlykingsley]

MAGA will believe a flood was caused by a secret weather weapon, but refuse to acknowledge that flooding is statistically getting worse and that Trump defunded the thing that tells people about it and the the programs that help towns prepare. It’s all downhill from here.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

Imagine the reaction if Mamdani said this! Or Tlaib! Or Hasan Piker! (None of them of course would say this!)

But the President of the United States says it and it won’t make any headlines or provoke any stern Jonathan Greenblatt condemnations.
🤷🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

Under observation. Crow Neighbor, black and white photograph https://t.co/7LKbcgcPdW via @Etsy

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead In my opinion, Trump is the biggest bigot around. No one is so obsessed as he about DEI, his most constant theme other than his own wealth, power, & personal magnificence. Oh, & how so unfairly he has not yet won the Nobel Peace Prize.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead I don't call Republicans--as in ALL Republicans--bigots. I call the Republicans I know to be bigots what they are. I notice you have a habit of smearing all Dems with EVERYTHING you find to be objectionable, which is quite a lot of sins you heap on very many people.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead Another example: I know quite a few Dems who hold a very low opinion of Elon Musk, who think he's drug addled & that he joined forces with Trump so that he could destroy the regulators investigating his companies. They'd never dream of vandalizing a Tesla.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead Again, not all Dems share all the same priorities. I bet quite a few Dems object to trans young people who have gone through puberty competing in events as girls & women. For example. That you apparently assume all liberals think & feel exactly the same way is a mistake.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead Too many conservative people do not acknowledge that the wealth they were born into enabled a life rarely attainable by people born into poverty. This is true of a particularly Trumpy uncle of mine, who appeared to believe his inherited wealth was one of his personal virtues.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead Interesting that you think Dem policies ruin liberal areas. I think grotesque & growing income disparities ruin places--placing tax burdens disproportionately on middle-class & poor people instead of wealthy people hollows out the middle class & makes poor people poorer.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead I can't see why Bezos & Musk deserve lighter tax burdens--or no taxes at all--and more subsidies for their businesses, which they have amply received--whereas poor people must lose health coverage & the limited help feeding their children that they've sometimes received

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead You seem unaware that Dems hold widely divergent and nuanced positions about trans issues. I think it's absurd that Republicans hung the whole (tiny) trans population onto Dems despite most actual Dems would say, "don't persecute them--leave trans people alone.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead I have family members who voted for Trump; we avoid political discussions so that we can preserve affection for one another--where there is affection. Some among the Trumpiest of them do not inspire my affection because they are, sadly, conspiracy theorists, bigots, & uninformed.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead My family was Republican for generations. My mother has been an environmentalist since my early childhood--eventually, she saw that concern for the environment was less & less important to conservatives so she changed parties. I saw her point, & it has grown to be a sharper point

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead Dems have long been a coalition--they are not a monolith & opinions differ considerably, especially from one issue to another. Identity issues figure hugely among conservatives: claiming the flag for your singular selves is an identity issue: you aren't the only patriots here.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead Ah. But you have no problem with taxpayers funding a billionaire president's constant golf outings? Or that insane birthday present to himself, the military parade?

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead Biden/Harris "stained" our history? Stunning assertion. I'd say lots of things stained our history--centuries of chattel slavery, for example, and January 6th--but the reversal of Trump's sadistic border policies isn't one of them. Trump himself is a stain on our history.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead I would prefer to align with neither of them. Israel's war in Gaza is utterly barbaric--a long series of war crimes. (& Trump wants to deport the remaining Gazans so that he can take over the territory to build a Mediterranean resort. What a noble character!)

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead Source of this quote? Note "potential...gotaways" is not an absolute number. In any case, Biden's border policies were not responsible for a worldwide record for displacement of people. & you continue to not respond to my question about Trump's asylum for only white Afrikaners.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead As you say yourself, don't assume anything.

[Kathleen Atkins @kathleea1]

@PaulaWe08194941 @MsFab123 @the_jefferymead Nor should you.