Pro-democracy advocate Blue voter MBA+MS Psych Retired consultant/retired rancher
Joined September 2008
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- Following5.2K
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Helen retweeted
A real cancer breakthrough this week: petosemtamab plus pembrolizumab HALVED the risk of death in a phase 3 head and neck cancer trial.
Humans, not mice.
No ivermectin in sight
ir.genmab.com/news-releases/…
Helen retweeted
Why be so mean? Is this what they teach in your church?
Sen. @DarlineGrahamSC (R-SC) on opponent Annie Andrews (D): "She's just plain old bat shit crazy."
Helen retweeted
Oh my god. This is quite literally extortion and Elon should be in jail for doing it.
NEW: Our reporting found the recent Starlink outage in Ukraine could be part of an elaborate upsell.
When U.S. officials asked Musk's company about it, they were told the problem could be fixed by upgrading to a new contract.
@isaacstanbecker @TheAtlantic
theatlantic.com/national-sec…
Helen retweeted
An excellent, VERY sensible post from a Democratic transgender voter. 👇👇👇
Over the past few months, I’ve had folks—most often complete strangers—reach out and ask me some version of the following question:
“This Democratic candidate took an anti-trans position. Should I still vote for them?”
Folks, I acknowledge that you want to be thoughtful about all this. I appreciate that you want to get a trans person’s opinion. I understand that y’all take allyship seriously, and I’m grateful for that. I truly am.
Fortunately for all of us, the moral and ethical calculus here are very simple.
An election cycle is split into two parts: the primary season and the general election.
The primaries are over. A lot of candidates across the political spectrum stepped up, offered their ideas, and pitched the voters. The ballots were cast, and some of those candidates won and most of those candidates lost.
We are now in the general election portion of the cycle, and almost every U.S. Senate and U.S. House race offers a straightforward choice: there is a Republican and there is a Democrat.
One of those two candidates will win, and ONLY one of those two will win.
There is no third potential outcome.
On the Republican side, you have a political party led by a sociopathic pedophile who has dismantled critical federal agencies, gutted health care for tens of millions of American working class families, engaged in widespread corruption that would make Richard Nixon blush with secondhand embarrassment, hobbled our economy with deeply asinine and self-serving financial incompetence, alienated all of our longstanding diplomatic relationships with other countries, involved us in an array of irresponsible and dangerous and unnecessary military actions, lost a stupid and pointless war with the theocratic, human rights quagmire that is the Iranian government, made it clear he’s oblivious to the consequences of data centers and other unaccountable bullshit carried out by AI companies, raised our gas prices, raised our food prices, raised our housing costs, raised our childcare costs, raised our health care costs, and continues to cover-up his role in a massive child sex trafficking operation by keeping millions of files hidden from the public.
On the Democratic side, you have a party led by national leaders who are somewhat uninspiring but nevertheless deeply committed to stopping all the above and building a brighter future for working class families in our country.
On the Republican side, you have an entire political party being held hostage—some of them more than likely through blackmail—to the fleeting whims and temper tantrums and probable dementia of the aforementioned sociopathic pedophile.
On the Democratic side, you have a party that is often at each other’s throats but also the furthest thing from a cult, which, ironically, is a sign of very good health and embodying enduring faith in the democratic (small d) process.
You ask me for my thoughts on anti-trans ads or comments put out by Democratic candidates and whether you should still vote for them against Republicans?
Yes. Of course you should vote for them.
Not only should you vote for them but you should get your family and your friends and your neighbors and your colleagues and your mailman and the door-to-door salesperson currently waiting patiently on your front porch to vote for them.
For example, I am not a fan of Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. I do not like her. I think she’s very cynical. Among other things, she has taken unnecessary votes that harmed trans service members and veterans and our families in order to pander to moderates.
Guess what? Her Republican opponent is 10x worse for trans rights. If I lived in her congressional district—WA-03—I would vote for her without hesitation and get everyone I know to vote for her, too. Because I’m not an idiot.
Or take James Talarico, who is running for the U.S. Senate in my beloved home state of Texas. In an interview with Fox News, he stated his conditional opposition to trans youth in sports and pandered to anti-trans social conservatives about opposing already non-existent surgeries for trans youth.
Guess what? His Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, is easily 100x worse for the trans community. Paxton is an anti-trans exterminationist. He does not want the trans community to exist. He would gladly support criminalizing the existence of trans people. He has spent the past four years using his position in the state government to harass and terrorize the parents of trans youth.
Not only am I supporting James Talarico, but if God opened up the clouds above and offered me a deal of exchanging my left arm for the guarantee of Mr. Talarico beating Paxton, I would agree to the deal in a heartbeat.
This is not a complicated decision.
I feel the exact same way about Dr. Annie Andrews, who has spent her career serving working class families in South Carolina and is now tantalizingly close to flipping that U.S. Senate seat currently held by Darline Graham, sister of the late Lindsey Graham.
Do I care that Dr. Andrews put out an ad opposing trans youth in sports and already non-existent surgeries for trans youth? No, I do not care. I do not give a shit.
Because Darline Graham has made anti-trans extermination her entire political brand and seems to spend every waking moment obsessed with how to make the lives of trans people miserable, not the least due in part to her lack of any policy ideas to help working class families in South Carolina and needing a scapegoat to conceal her own strident mediocrity.
You’re goddamn right I support Dr. Andrews for that U.S. Senate seat. I would gladly vote for her if I lived there, and I’d be canvassing every day in support of her, too.
This is not complicated.
Pick any U.S. Senate race and U.S. House race, and my opinion is gonna be the same every damn time. Because the primaries are over, this is the general election, and there are only two choices: either an imperfect Democrat with whom I disagree on a handful of issues or a Republican currently subscribed to a death cult that wants people like me to cease existing entirely.
Some of y’all will bring up that there are trans people who disagree with me. I’m sure there are. That’s their prerogative. They have a constitutional right to express their opinion that certain Democratic candidates should be boycotted. We do, after all, for the moment, live in a free country.
But they’re wrong. They’re dead wrong. They could not be more wrong. Their curious sense of aimless and flailing political strategy honestly makes me wonder if they have a shred of survival instinct in their bones.
Again: this is not complicated. If you care about the future of trans equality in this country, you will march your happy ass to your polling location and fill in the bubble next to every name on that ballot with a (D) next to the name.
Then you will make sure your family and friends and neighbors and colleagues and mailman and door-to-door salesperson still waiting on the front porch have all done the same.
The past two years are all the proof you need that sitting out an election because the better candidate happens to not be perfectly to your liking is completely stupid and self-destructive.
On Election Night, I am going to celebrate Democrats taking back Congress and saving democracy from the anti-trans fascists of the GOP. I will sleep-in the next morning. Then, I will wake up and get to work being an insufferable pain-in-the-ass on the importance of trans equality for the Democrats who were just elected.
God love democracy.
Do not complicate an easy decision. Go vote for Democrats.
Helen retweeted
Over the past few months, I’ve had folks—most often complete strangers—reach out and ask me some version of the following question:
“This Democratic candidate took an anti-trans position. Should I still vote for them?”
Folks, I acknowledge that you want to be thoughtful about all this. I appreciate that you want to get a trans person’s opinion. I understand that y’all take allyship seriously, and I’m grateful for that. I truly am.
Fortunately for all of us, the moral and ethical calculus here are very simple.
An election cycle is split into two parts: the primary season and the general election.
The primaries are over. A lot of candidates across the political spectrum stepped up, offered their ideas, and pitched the voters. The ballots were cast, and some of those candidates won and most of those candidates lost.
We are now in the general election portion of the cycle, and almost every U.S. Senate and U.S. House race offers a straightforward choice: there is a Republican and there is a Democrat.
One of those two candidates will win, and ONLY one of those two will win.
There is no third potential outcome.
On the Republican side, you have a political party led by a sociopathic pedophile who has dismantled critical federal agencies, gutted health care for tens of millions of American working class families, engaged in widespread corruption that would make Richard Nixon blush with secondhand embarrassment, hobbled our economy with deeply asinine and self-serving financial incompetence, alienated all of our longstanding diplomatic relationships with other countries, involved us in an array of irresponsible and dangerous and unnecessary military actions, lost a stupid and pointless war with the theocratic, human rights quagmire that is the Iranian government, made it clear he’s oblivious to the consequences of data centers and other unaccountable bullshit carried out by AI companies, raised our gas prices, raised our food prices, raised our housing costs, raised our childcare costs, raised our health care costs, and continues to cover-up his role in a massive child sex trafficking operation by keeping millions of files hidden from the public.
On the Democratic side, you have a party led by national leaders who are somewhat uninspiring but nevertheless deeply committed to stopping all the above and building a brighter future for working class families in our country.
On the Republican side, you have an entire political party being held hostage—some of them more than likely through blackmail—to the fleeting whims and temper tantrums and probable dementia of the aforementioned sociopathic pedophile.
On the Democratic side, you have a party that is often at each other’s throats but also the furthest thing from a cult, which, ironically, is a sign of very good health and embodying enduring faith in the democratic (small d) process.
You ask me for my thoughts on anti-trans ads or comments put out by Democratic candidates and whether you should still vote for them against Republicans?
Yes. Of course you should vote for them.
Not only should you vote for them but you should get your family and your friends and your neighbors and your colleagues and your mailman and the door-to-door salesperson currently waiting patiently on your front porch to vote for them.
For example, I am not a fan of Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. I do not like her. I think she’s very cynical. Among other things, she has taken unnecessary votes that harmed trans service members and veterans and our families in order to pander to moderates.
Guess what? Her Republican opponent is 10x worse for trans rights. If I lived in her congressional district—WA-03—I would vote for her without hesitation and get everyone I know to vote for her, too. Because I’m not an idiot.
Or take James Talarico, who is running for the U.S. Senate in my beloved home state of Texas. In an interview with Fox News, he stated his conditional opposition to trans youth in sports and pandered to anti-trans social conservatives about opposing already non-existent surgeries for trans youth.
Guess what? His Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, is easily 100x worse for the trans community. Paxton is an anti-trans exterminationist. He does not want the trans community to exist. He would gladly support criminalizing the existence of trans people. He has spent the past four years using his position in the state government to harass and terrorize the parents of trans youth.
Not only am I supporting James Talarico, but if God opened up the clouds above and offered me a deal of exchanging my left arm for the guarantee of Mr. Talarico beating Paxton, I would agree to the deal in a heartbeat.
This is not a complicated decision.
I feel the exact same way about Dr. Annie Andrews, who has spent her career serving working class families in South Carolina and is now tantalizingly close to flipping that U.S. Senate seat currently held by Darline Graham, sister of the late Lindsey Graham.
Do I care that Dr. Andrews put out an ad opposing trans youth in sports and already non-existent surgeries for trans youth? No, I do not care. I do not give a shit.
Because Darline Graham has made anti-trans extermination her entire political brand and seems to spend every waking moment obsessed with how to make the lives of trans people miserable, not the least due in part to her lack of any policy ideas to help working class families in South Carolina and needing a scapegoat to conceal her own strident mediocrity.
You’re goddamn right I support Dr. Andrews for that U.S. Senate seat. I would gladly vote for her if I lived there, and I’d be canvassing every day in support of her, too.
This is not complicated.
Pick any U.S. Senate race and U.S. House race, and my opinion is gonna be the same every damn time. Because the primaries are over, this is the general election, and there are only two choices: either an imperfect Democrat with whom I disagree on a handful of issues or a Republican currently subscribed to a death cult that wants people like me to cease existing entirely.
Some of y’all will bring up that there are trans people who disagree with me. I’m sure there are. That’s their prerogative. They have a constitutional right to express their opinion that certain Democratic candidates should be boycotted. We do, after all, for the moment, live in a free country.
But they’re wrong. They’re dead wrong. They could not be more wrong. Their curious sense of aimless and flailing political strategy honestly makes me wonder if they have a shred of survival instinct in their bones.
Again: this is not complicated. If you care about the future of trans equality in this country, you will march your happy ass to your polling location and fill in the bubble next to every name on that ballot with a (D) next to the name.
Then you will make sure your family and friends and neighbors and colleagues and mailman and door-to-door salesperson still waiting on the front porch have all done the same.
The past two years are all the proof you need that sitting out an election because the better candidate happens to not be perfectly to your liking is completely stupid and self-destructive.
On Election Night, I am going to celebrate Democrats taking back Congress and saving democracy from the anti-trans fascists of the GOP. I will sleep-in the next morning. Then, I will wake up and get to work being an insufferable pain-in-the-ass on the importance of trans equality for the Democrats who were just elected.
God love democracy.
Do not complicate an easy decision. Go vote for Democrats.
Helen retweeted
BREAKING: Finnish police have now launched a criminal investigation into Google's alleged environmental destruction of 250,000 trees at the construction site of the company's planned data center in Finland.
@Google illegally chopped up a quarter-million trees to make way for a data center. 💢
Instagram: @MorePerfectUS
Helen retweeted
Dolores Huerta was a hero of mine.
When she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962, people thought Dolores was crazy. “How are you going to organize farm workers,” she remembered being asked. "They are poor, powerless immigrants.” But that’s exactly what she did, helping thousands of migrant laborers working in brutal conditions make their voices heard, and demand something better.
Dolores spent the rest of her life fighting for marginalized communities, even as she herself faced sexism and abuse — including, as she revealed earlier this year, from Cesar Chavez and others within her own movement. She also came up with a pretty good slogan, “Si, se puede” — Yes, we can — that I too often get credit for. But as usual, Dolores got there first.
Michelle and I are thinking of Dolores’s family, the people whose lives she changed, and everyone who drew inspiration from her example.
Photo credit: National Archives, Obama Presidential Library
Helen retweeted
Men, in case you wonder why women choose the bear, this is why.
Such a "bright lad" will realise that stalking and almost killing a girl in bright daylight = slap on the wrist.
And what about the bright girl who almost died? All the other bright girls who are stalked and attacked? What conclusions will they draw?
thetimes.com/uk/crime/articl…
Helen retweeted
Polls don't vote.
Dear Dems, Independents and GOP who reject tRumpism/the Oligarchy,
Please vote for Democrats up/down the ballot.
Vote Early.
Vote in numbers too big to ignore.
New @CookPolitical: Plenty of GOP districts that were unthinkable targets at the outset of the cycle are now in deep jeopardy (#IA02, #KY06, #TX15 for example). But when you consider their Democratic DNA, maybe it shouldn't come as such a shock.
cookpolitical.com/analysis/n…
Helen retweeted
What kind of political reporter—@mkraju—fails to understand that the current Speaker’s term ends at noon on January 3rd with the 119th Session, so that he plays no Constitutional role in seating new members of the 120th Session?
Helen retweeted
Senate confirmation matters; we need Vacancy Act reforms.
"At least eight current U.S. attorneys have played prominent roles in pushing Mr. Trump’s grievances, often citing thin evidence that has subsequently led many of their cases to collapse. Three of those are running their offices without Senate confirmation."
nytimes.com/2026/10/28/us/po…
Helen retweeted
Fellow metro Philadelphians! Got extra blankets you could donate? Do it and help save a cat’s life! Now checking my own linen closet!
🚨 We urgently need blankets at our Philadelphia headquarters! 🚨
Our Animal Law Enforcement team recently rescued a large group of cats, many of whom are battling panleukopenia, a highly contagious and potentially life-threatening disease.
The cats are being cared for in isolation areas, and our team is taking every precaution to protect them and the other animals in our care. Staff wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and follow strict cleaning and sanitation protocols to help prevent the virus from spreading. We take the health and safety of every animal here incredibly seriously.
As part of these precautions, we have to throw away the blankets these cats use during each cleaning to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. This means we’re going through blankets much faster than usual and urgently need donations to help keep our cats warm and comfortable.
If you have extra blankets to spare, we could really use them right now! Donations can be dropped off at 350 E Erie Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19134. You can also shop our Amazon wishlist: amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2Y…
Thank you for always showing up for the animals who need us most! ❤️
Helen retweeted
For the next week, the Democracy Docket paywall is down. Every analysis I write and all premium reporting, free to read in full in your inbox.
The legal fights move fastest in an election’s final week. Read it. Share it. Join the fight: hubs.ly/Q04CxxVy0
Helen retweeted
💔🇨🇦💙💛🇺🇦🐕🐈⬛
💔 IN MEMORY OF JESSE ADAMS — A TRUE HERO FOR ANIMALS 💔
It is with enormous sadness that we have learned of the tragic death of Jesse Adams, founder of RainCoast Dog Rescue Society in Canada, who lost his life while carrying out an animal rescue mission in one of the most dangerous areas of Ukraine.
Jesse dedicated his life to saving animals, even when it meant putting his own life at risk.
We first came to know Jesse in 2021, when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. Jesse and RainCoast were among the extraordinary organisations that came together to assist KSAR with the evacuation of 285 cats and dogs, helping many find loving forever homes.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Jesse travelled to the border to help fleeing families and their pets, providing veterinary care, supplies and assistance getting animals to safety.
He returned repeatedly, undertaking increasingly dangerous missions.
Most recently, Jesse worked alongside Animal Rescue Kharkiv, rescuing hundreds of animals from devastated frontline communities under constant threat from drones, missiles and artillery.
These were extraordinary acts of compassion and courage in the face of unimaginable danger.
Jesse knew the risks. He knew every mission could be his last. Yet he continued because he believed animals caught in conflict deserved protection just as much as those living in peace.
Those of us working in animal rescue in conflict zones understand and accept these risks. But few possess the courage to repeatedly travel towards danger when everyone else is trying to escape it.
Jesse was one of those very special people.
His death is a devastating loss to his family, friends, RainCoast and the international animal rescue community.
Our hearts go out to everyone who knew and loved him, particularly the Ukrainian rescuers who worked alongside him.
His legacy lives on in every animal he saved and every rescuer he inspired.
Rest in peace, Jesse. The world has lost an extraordinary human being, and the animals have lost a true champion. 🐾💔
With love and deepest respect,
Louise and everyone at War Paws
#JesseAdams #RainCoastDogRescue #WarPaws #Ukraine #AnimalRescue
Helen retweeted
Happy 168th birthday to Teddy Roosevelt, the president who protected about 230 million acres of America's public land. 🎂
That's 150 national forests, 51 bird reserves, 18 national monuments and five national parks, including Crater Lake, Wind Cave and Mesa Verde.
In May 1903 he left his cabinet and the press behind and camped in Yosemite with John Muir for three nights, starting under the Grizzly Giant in Mariposa Grove. In 1906 he signed the bill that put Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove back under federal protection.
He wanted these places to belong to everyone, forever. Imagine what he'd say about what's happening to them now.
#DemsUnited
Photo \ Theodore National Park
ALT Wild horses roam at Theodore National Park.
Helen retweeted
BREAKING WaPo:
A federal grand jury just REJECTED an attempt by the Trump Justice Department to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.
washingtonpost.com/national-…
Helen retweeted
💥Huge victory for Arab-majority parties of Israel, with an estimated 18 Knesset seats. Netanyahu's bloc collapses from 68 to 50, if exit polls hold true. He has no way to form a government. The opposition bloc is declaring victory. The question is how Eisenkot will play it.
Helen retweeted
Sick of creepy billionaires running our country through their political sock puppets? Pass the DISCLOSE Act and stop dark money.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
