Edward Perez

Edward Perez

@eddie1perez.bsky.social

176

Posts

Democracy. Elections. Voting. Tech. Ex-Twitter director for civic integrity. Research, analysis, commentary. Likes: civil society, facts.

http://linkedin.com/in/eddie1perez
Board of Directors at nonpartisan nonprofit @oset.bsky.social

Posts Replies Media

This. 👇👇👇

Musing on Vance as the VP choice for Trump, and on his drastically shifted rhetoric over the past eight years… which reaffirms an observation that perhaps the most impactful dynamic of the last decade isn’t the top-down radicalization of the electorate, but the bottom-up radicalization of “elites”.

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“What is most exceptional about the Americans is not the voluminous record of their violence but their extraordinary ability in the face of that record to persuade themselves that they are among the best behaved and best regulated of peoples.” - Richard Hofstadter, American Violence, 1970 🗃️

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Opposition to authoritarianism is *not* “violent rhetoric.” Authoritarianism implies violence: uses of state violence against the people and political opponents without due process. A passionate defense of democracy is the *opposite* of violent political rhetoric.

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Great time to remember, not the odds but the stakes.

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Just going to note, regarding "political violence" that three and a half years ago, Trump was encouraging a mob of people who wanted to hang his own VP.

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A second insurrection. Stop comparing these people to the founders. They are the Confederacy.

A second American Revolution, this one aimed at unwinding democracy in favor of a monarchy. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Analysis | The target of the right’s ‘revolution’ is pluralistic democracy itselfwww.washingtonpost.com The president of the Heritage Foundation said, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

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"Academics researching online misinformation in the US are learning a hard lesson: Academic freedom cannot be taken for granted." @rcalo.bsky.social & @katestarbird.bsky.social: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

American academic freedom is in perilwww.science.org Academics researching online misinformation in the US are learning a hard lesson: Academic freedom cannot be taken for granted. They face a concerted effort—including by members of Congress—to undermi...

New British PM Keir Starmer is an atheist. And he is the Prime Minister. Without ridiculous gnashing of teeth. That’s a civilized country.

Just gonna leave this here. Notwithstanding the Revolutionary War and sovereignty and all of that, our British predecessors got some things very, very right. cc: Any would-be anti-democratic fascists. You know who you are, assholes.

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I also fundamentally think Americans don't understand what democracy is -- the profound significance of it -- & don't understand what happens if we lose it. We need people to address that fact. To talk about embracing diversity & tolerating disagreement. To communicate a vision for who we can be.

I honestly don't think people have been taking this threat seriously, due to America's long and storied history of believing in "American exceptionalism" & "it can't happen here." I still get resistance to the idea that democracy is in danger. People really haven't come to grips with where we are.

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The harassment that has been simultaneously underway in the parallel civil suit to Murthy in the same court, by the same plaintiffs should result in sanctions. The effect of this nefarious and targeted litigation on these researchers and research in this field generally has been the real censorship

As a person being sued by the same defendants in that same district court, “good” doesn’t come close. Hopeful that one gets thrown out on standing next week. I can’t imagine what kind of case they think they have now. The “facts” in both cases are the same.

Mark Hamill makes the world a better place. His spirit, and Luke Skywalker’s, reminds us that light defeats the dark side.

I think everyone is just exhausted. The never-ending cycle of polarized, manufactured outrage is just a grind. We become numb to it. But the presidential election in November really is that important. Vote for democracy.

In case you ever wonder, the right-wing backlash is very real. And here they’ve been successful in pressuring those who expose their methods. I’m heartbroken 💔.

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This story is horrifying on multiple levels. (1) It very likely cost lives in Philippines and around the world, including here in the US due to diminished trust in vaccines. (2) When democratic govs employ this kind of info operation, they undermine the values and trust that sustain democracies.

Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic www.reuters.com/investigates...

Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to incite fear of China vaccineswww.reuters.com The covert effort began under Trump and continued into Biden’s presidency, Reuters found. Health experts say it endangered lives for possible geopolitical gain.

it’s a problem that too many people on social media are here because they want others to think they are cute/snarky those posts are not going to stop one of the two major national parties in the United States of America from killing democracy in America

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Get this. The U of MN is catching flack for trying to hire an Israeli scholar to head its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Why? Because he’s critical of Israel www.startribune.com/university-o....

University of Minnesota pauses search for Holocaust center director amid controversywww.startribune.com Two board members quit in opposition to the hiring of Raz Segal.

it’s all just so horrifying what bad people have done to our country

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expand the court it is just a suggestion

Why don’t more people talk about how AI is like a weak, sniveling, parasitic vampire that sucks the blood of content and value from its victims — and then brags about how great it looks after shameless exploitation and victimization of its hosts?

“Anytime Donald Trump talks abt political extremism & a reporter doesn’t mention that he’s the candidate of America’s fascists, Neo-Nazis, Neo-Confederates & all-around white supremacists — who’ve committed 95% of non-Islamist domestic political murders in the last decade — you are seeing a choice.”

The courts have given media a freebie to start using basic words for Donald Trump and assume basic facts are in evidence. When you don't see that, you're seeing a choice.

How Not to Report on Donald Trump - Truthdigwww.truthdig.com A.G. “Dash” Sulzberger’s Silicon Valley-inflected skepticism and open-debate pieties are a recipe for dangerously irresponsible journalism by omission.

Worth your time! 👇👇👇

Smart stuff as always from John Ganz. "This is the key difference between Trumpism & traditional conservatism, which still paid lip service to minimal, formal universal mediums like the rule of law, citizenship, & the market. To Trump those words are just bullshit." substack.com/home/post/p-...

The Shadow of the Mobsubstack.com Trump's Gangster Gemeinschaft

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Me on what FBI secretly running own chat app shows: "The future of policing now is compromising these entire platforms ... and it happened without any sort of debate on whether we even want the FBI or other agencies to be doing this." www.inc.com/jennifer-con...

The FBI Created Its Own Startup--and Used It to Stage a Massive Sting Operationwww.inc.com Netflix is adapting Joseph Cox's book 'Dark Wire,' which recounts what happened when FBI agents ensnared criminals with a phone that secretly copied their messages.

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📢 App Version 1.85 is rolling out now (1/6) We’re very excited for this release. • Lots of visual improvements • You can now temporarily deactivate your account • Posts can be DMed to other users • And more! Read on for details 🧵

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strong contender for Skeet of the Year

computer scientists: we have invented a virtual dumbass who is constantly wrong tech CEOs: let's add it to every product

Today’s affirmation for democracy: “The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural.“ — Star Wars, “Andor”

Gateway Arch National Park. An engineering marvel, by Finnish-American architect and industrial designer Eero Saarinen. My childhood home, STL.

Campaign plan/messaging, all day, every day, through Tuesday, November 5, 2024… He’s a convicted felon. That’s it. That’s all that needs to be said. Don’t stain our Constitution with this filth. All day. Every day. I should’ve been a producer.

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Guarantee this is a better read than any of the 1,000 purely speculative and deeply stupid "What Trump's Conviction Means for November" pieces that every major media outlet seems intent on grunting out today.

The Doubts Were Not Reasonable | Defectordefector.com Welcome to Margin of Error, a politics column from Tom Scocca, editor of the Indignity newsletter, examining the apocalyptic politics and coverage of Campaign 2024. Donald Trump committed crimes and a...

Fuck. YEAH. 👏👏👏 (Christmas is not Christmas without Anchor Christmas Ale and a beautiful label.)

(Anchor's back!)

San Francisco’s Iconic Beer Company Anchor Brewing Has a New Ownersf.eater.com Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani, has purchased the legendary brewery along with its Potrero Hill factory, brewing equipment, and intellectual property