alex birnel
@alexbirnel
ppl who trust me with the aux cord/@SanAntonioDSA/anti-displacement at @LocalProgress/ Fmr: @MOVE_Texas/@sajp1948 core member/@newsguild/🇵🇦/my views only
I took a picture of my mom, so she demanded to take one of me
A little thing we like to call asset specificity
Excellent point by McKee-Rodriguez. Let the Spurs try to relocate. That’s means they’ll have to deal with another city government and try to get them to hand over $1billion. SA City Council has the upper hand, and only 3 members realize this.
Watch @ahSHEEK’s interview on @cspanwj here: c-span.org/program/washin…
The official story is that there is a short list of men who can stop the starvation of Gaza with a word, and then the rest of the world, which has no say at all. It's intolerable.
This is the way I break it down for people, because I’m continually encouraged when I see that their core expectation in a democracy is that popular will should directly translate into political power. I’m like “congrats, you’re ready to critique redistricting and so much else.”
redistricting is complex & there are many important ways to check if maps are fair, but here's a basic one anyone can use to think for themselves TX has 38 congressional seats 2024 election results in TX: trump (R) 56.2% harris (D) 42.5% how many seats should each party have?
Buddy perhaps see how your first clause (mindless as it is) may be related to the second clause. Namely that “Israel’s right to defend itself” is a slogan that—despite not involving a spooky Arabic word—has followed 1000X more killing and maiming than any evocation of “intifada”
I’ve always supported Israel’s right to exist and defend itself. That hasn’t changed. But supporting this government’s actions—allowing children to starve and firing on civilians seeking food—is something I can’t stand by. This isn’t self-defense. It must stop.
Just listened to a bit of the Texas House redistricting committee hearing. Based on questions from Rep. Spiller, there seems to be serious confusion about what the 5th Circuit’s Petteway decision means. I’ll explain 🧵 #txlege
.@emilyebytx speaking tonight at the hearing on TX redistricting, addressing one of the more absurd parts of this process: no one has actually seen a proposed map. she asks republicans to "also hear testimony on the actual maps, not just on the idea of drawing them"
Israel imposed its total siege in Oct ‘23. US cut UNRWA funding in Jan ‘24. The fact that 2 million are starving now was not only foreseeable, it was deliberately planned and executed. Obfuscating this is genocide denial
ABC, NBC, CBS News ran token reports on Gaza starvation yesterday and had all the tropes: -“Hamas-run health ministry” -Centering Israeli denials -Framing it as the unfortunate result of a new “military offensive” -Zero mention of open Israeli starvation and de-population plans
One million starved children and no shortage of food x.com/UNRWA/status/1…
UNRWA has enough food for the entire population of #Gaza for over three months stockpiled in warehouses–including this one in Al Arish, Egypt–awaiting entry. The supplies are available. The systems are in place. Open the gates, lift the siege, allow UNRWA to do its work and…
Happening now: As special session of the #txlege gets underway - Legislators, Members of Congress and advocacy group leaders - including @emilyebytx of @CCauseTexas - are gathered to denounce Greg Abbott’s dangerously misplaced priorities Watch live: house.texas.gov/videos
This week we began our @EmpirePodUK history of the Panama isthmus, and begin the story of the Peak in Darien that eventually became the Panama Canal
TODAY'S EPISODE: Panama's Brutish Conquistador Who Found The Pacific (And Lost His Head) In the early 1500s, conquistadors established the first permanent mainland settlement for the Spanish Empire in America...
I know the 2024 Dem pitch for Gaza was 10% less genocide but Trump’s been in office 6 mo’s, and accelerated the genocide for four, and the two most powerful Dems, Schumer and Jeffries haven’t issued a single criticism of Trump’s Gaza policy. Neither has Harris, Biden or Obama.
"We have to go way beyond empathy in terms of how we respond to the truths in this book. The problem of homelessness is not about a lack of empathy. It's about power and who controls access to the basic necessities we all need." @curaffairs on THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US:
Worth reading when the “defensive” versus “offensive” qualifiers are trotted out.
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s amendment does nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza. Of course I voted against it. What it does do is cut off defensive Iron Dome capacities while allowing the actual bombs killing Palestinians to…