Liz Vladeck🔥

Mets fan, proud mama. Tweets/opinions are mine alone.

[Liz Vladeck🔥 @LVladeck]

"Unions negotiated wages that kept pace with productivity. Pensions turned decades of labor into guaranteed income. Housing was priced for the people who lived in it, not for investors who'd never set foot inside. A single income covered a family because the economy was structured to allow that.

None of that was automatic. None of it was inevitable. It was built — by policy, by collective bargaining, by a social contract that said if you showed up and did the work, you'd be taken care of. And when we dismantled those systems, we didn't replace them with anything except a motivational poster and a 401(k) login."
https://t.co/P78qPqkgu8

[julie k. brown @jkbjournalist]

Adding: Pablo's work was so threatening that the Clippers hired "fixers" to try to smear him -- yet he continued to report on this even in the face of immense pressure, which makes the handling of this by the Times Co. all the more infuriating.

[Pablo Torre 👀 @PabloTorre]

Accountability for the wealthiest people on Earth is hard to come by.

Thank you for believing in the power of independent journalism to accomplish it.

(And, yes, more to come.)

https://t.co/xi8BD3MCzv

[julie k. brown @jkbjournalist]

It is shameful that @nytimes @TheAthletic buried the fact that the biggest punishment in NBA history was the result of an investigation by journalist @PabloTorre. And to call it the result of a "podcast episode" is a further slap in the face. He won a Pulitzer for this story and they call it an "episode" instead of, at the outset -- crediting him with exposing this scandal. Really really lame.

[Krystal Ball @krystalball]

The most consistent theme of conservatism is being completely unable/unwilling to understand how a thing is bad until it happens to you.

[max seddon @maxseddon]

NEW: Russia has been secretly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles in one of the most significant known transfers of strategic military technology from Moscow to Tehran.

with @MilesMJohnson @charles_clover

https://t.co/01SxsOypLq

[Yaroslav Trofimov @yarotrof]

🚨 Zelensky issues a warning: “Skies over Russia will close. I am warning every airline using Russian airspace, every insurance company, everyone flying into key Russian airports: the sky is becoming completely unsafe.”
Adds that Ukraine is not targeting civil aviation as such - but says that “there is no room for civil aircraft among drones.”

https://t.co/4YeA7kQCOF

[Ami Dar @AmiDar]

This piece by the great Amira Hass, published in Haaretz today, is too urgent and important to be behind a paywall, so I've copied the whole thing here. Please read and share.

* * * * * * *

Israel Isn't Debating a Palestinian State. It's Preparing for Expulsion.

Gadi Eisenkot's position on Palestinian statehood is beside the point. Across Gaza, the West Bank and Israel itself, the machinery for making Palestinian life impossible is already operating, laying the groundwork for mass expulsion

Gadi Eisenkot, the election frontrunner and leader of the Yashar party, has a stance on a Palestinian state that is ultimately irrelevant. What is at stake today is not a "diplomatic solution," but the very existence of the Palestinian people between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The Israeli forces striving to "erase" them recognize no limits or restraints. Their supporters are too numerous for us to rely solely on the steadfastness and resilience of a people that has already endured expulsion plans carried out by Israel.

The world stands by. The left is tiny, weak and hoarse from sounding too many warnings. The anti-Bibi opposition oscillates among downplaying the danger, remaining indifferent to it and outright supporting expulsion. The sporadic condemnations, prompted mainly by something the U.S. ambassador posted on X, are about as useful as a sieve in a rainstorm. The Jewish Phalangists attack constantly and everywhere, not only in Qusra.

The debate over one state, two states or a federation is more theoretical than ever. Any agreed-upon solution requires first acknowledging the problem and agreeing on what it is. Too many Jews in Israel have been conditioned to believe that the problem is the very presence in this land of a Palestinian people with roots, historical and economic continuity, cultural capital and material assets, a rich agricultural heritage and a profound love of homeland.

"Erasure" is the nightmare solution being written into reality every day. Knesset laws, politicians' declarations, military orders, school textbooks and the holy real estate battalions operating in Gaza, the West Bank and the Negev all work, together and separately, to advance this "solution" diligently and without fear of international condemnation.

Israeli policy is directed toward making life unbearable for Palestinians wherever they live, so that their emigration can be described as an act of free will. Within Israel itself, the authorities give Arab crime organizations free rein to arm themselves and kill Palestinian citizens in their homes. In the West Bank, those same Israeli authorities give "God's battalions" free rein to arm themselves, kill and expel, while the official army continues its raids day and night. In devastated and thirsty Gaza, the government and the army cultivate armed militias of criminal collaborators, while Israeli pilots continue to launch missiles of revenge and retribution that claim the lives of still more children. All these testosterone-fueled displays are interconnected.

At the same time, Israel is destroying or severely restricting Palestinians' ability to earn a living. In Gaza, that mission has been completed. A "living dead" population of aid recipients, two million people carrying the weight of some 74,000 fresh graves, families and memories, talents and professions, and evaporated savings, is crammed into roughly 150 square kilometers of scorched earth. Creativity, resourcefulness and mutual aid are dwarfed by the scale of the destruction and by Israel's prohibition on rebuilding and recovery.

In the West Bank, the Finance Ministry's financial noose is tightening around the necks of approximately three million people and the Palestinian Authority. The systematic theft of revenues is compounded by the army's campaigns of destruction in cities and refugee camps, as well as by the other methods used to prevent Palestinians from cultivating and developing their land: checkpoints, bureaucratic prohibitions, fences and Israeli-Jewish shepherds.

Within Israel itself, the "Judaization of the Galilee and Negev" was and remains code for stealing land and resources from Palestinian citizens of Israel. Discrimination against them in allocations, subsidies and employment, along with building prohibitions and demolitions, has always featured prominently in official policy within the Green Line.

Let me reiterate: The very existence of the Palestinian people between the sea and the river is now in danger. Too many active forces are creating that danger: Israel's military might and capabilities; the cult of military service under all conditions and under every government; obedience as a value; weapons and military attacks as the default modus operandi; the normalization of PTSD among soldiers and of soldiers dying by suicide; the attractions of a military career and the doors it opens; the lure of an affordable villa in a Galilee exclusionary community or a settler suburb in Samaria; the falsehoods of official and unofficial propaganda; indifference to the hell on earth Israel has created in the Gaza Strip; denial of 60 years of occupation and forced rule; the Pavlovian response, "But October 7"; the synergy among the army, the government, the rabbis and the kippa-wearing militias in the West Bank; equanimity in the face of Lebanon's destruction; disregard for the occupation of more parts of Syria; the normalization of expulsion discourse; justice and education systems tainted by secular and religious racism; and the army of jailers who abuse thousands of Palestinian prisoners, both under orders and by choice.

Together, these and similar forces are creating the material, ideological and psychological infrastructure within Israeli-Jewish society for another mass expulsion of Palestinians and for what might accompany it: mass slaughter.

The heroes of the settler militias openly declare that expulsion is their goal. They clearly recognize the readiness of large segments of Israeli-Jewish society to participate in carrying it out, actively or passively, directly or indirectly. Through their daily provocations and crimes, committed in broad daylight and made possible only by institutional support, the Phalangists constantly seek to provoke a Palestinian act of rage and revenge that "succeeds," so that it can be exploited as the match that ignites a new holy war.

The Jewish Phalangists and the right-wing organizations that fuel them are counting on broad mobilization, including from the leaders, voters and supporters of Yashar and the liberal Democrats party, for a war that could already be given the slogan: "One people, one army, one land cleansed of Arabs."

[Ruprecht Polenz🇪🇺 @polenz_r]

1/2 Heute wäre Anna Politkowskaja 68 Jahre alt geworden. Sie wurde 2006 in Moskau ermordet. Bis heute ist der Mord an dieser unerschrockenen Journalistin nicht aufgeklärt, die Korruption, Putin und den Tschetschenienkrieg immer wieder in großartigen Reportagen kritisier hat.2/2

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

Listen to the words of retired Israeli generals speaking out against Israeli settlers terrorizing Palestinians in the West Bank.

“This is ethnic cleansing."

“Once a society behaves this way, that society is doomed.”

Not another nickel for the extremist Netanyahu government.

[Wendy Weiser @WendyRWeiser]

This letter from the Joint Chiefs Chair is significant not only because it says they have no plans to send troops to the polls or to election offices, but also because it acknowledges that any order asking them to do so would be "unlawful." And it also makes clear that "state and local officials" are the ones with the fundamental responsibility to protect elections.

[Marc E. Elias @marceelias]

🚨BREAKING: A whistleblower claims in a new report that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has embarked on a “secretive, rushed” effort to implement President Donald Trump’s mail voting order ahead of the midterms, even though the order is currently blocked. https://t.co/7hRCaAoStL

[Gina Hinojosa @GinaHinojosaTX]

Texans: please check your voter registration.

https://t.co/yMeEantV3N

[Panettonye West @NewYorkMehts]

Pretty wild that the Mets biggest need is a big first baseman

[Anthony DiComo @AnthonyDiComo]

Credit where it's due: in the ninth inning of a losing game in a lost season, Carson Benge just sprinted an elite 30.2 feet/second in a failed attempt to beat out an infield hit. Not everyone would hustle in that spot. Benge did.

[Liz Vladeck🔥 @LVladeck]

@SarahLongwell25 Without disregarding the core stupudity of this altogether, still have to ask: so Clinton was average (???), Biden, Obama and Carter obviously were failures but aside from that...no presidents since 1945 rate AT ALL???

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

There are not enough baby goats on this app

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

This morning in Danbury, ICE was arresting parents at school bus stops.

But it’s more sinister. ICE waited until the kids were on the bus so when they are dropped off at the end of the day, they are alone, scared to death they can’t find their parents.

I’m heading to Danbury.

[Wu Tang is for the Children @WUTangKids]

NYC street artists work fast 🙏

[Empire State Building Observation Deck @EmpireStateBldg]

Tonight, the Empire State Building tower lights will turn to a pink sparkle at 9:25 to honor the late Dolly Parton.

Dolly was a global cultural icon whose seven-decade career reached generations of fans. Beyond entertainment, Dolly leaves a significant philanthropic legacy through the Dollywood Foundation and Imagination Library, which has provided hundreds of millions of books to children worldwide.

At Nine-Two-Five tonight, we celebrate her and her legacy 💖

[Sesame Street @sesamestreet]

Sesame Workshop mourns the passing of Dolly Parton, whose music and kindness inspired Polly Darton, a character featured on Sesame Street throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Dolly Parton was not only a musician, but a philanthropist dedicated to children's literacy. Sesame Workshop is forever grateful for her dedication to children's literacy and education. 💛💚