Mastodawn

I love this #TV show so much it’s STUPID. For all the #women who’ve ever been underestimated, subjugated, or used but still have fight left in them, #RiotWomen is for you. It’s hilarious & unflinching, the lead singer’s voice is electric & whoever wrote the #punk band’s songs is a friggin’ genius. I guarantee you this is the 1st time people all over the world are belting out a song about #menopause.

Trust me…watch it, & you will, too🎸
#music #England
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/riot-women-series-two

Riot Women by Sally Wainwright gets a second series

The hit BBC drama, set and filmed in West Yorkshire, will be returning for a riotous encore

Erika Sumner Mar 5

#BREAKING #NEWS: #KristiNoem just fired as #HomelandSecurity secretary
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/05/nx-s1-5667546/kristi-noem-homeland-security-fired

Erika Sumner Feb 20

In a twist on #bookbanning, a liberal #NJ school dist. struggling w/ a #mentalhealth crisis pulls a book w/an attempted #suicide. They should’ve listened to author Junot Díaz: “I resist the idea that there's something supremely deterministic, or supremely dangerous, about #art. Art in fact holds people in conversations, acts to limit or to reduce the sense of isolation & loneliness, it raises difficult topics in order to deepen our understanding & build up our resilience https://www.npr.org/2026/02/20/nx-s1-5708741/junot-diaz-oscar-wao-mental-health-book-bans

Erika Sumner Jan 14

Matt Burgess Oct 28

NEW: The number of phones being searched at the US border just hit another high

- 16,000 devices were searched in the last three months—a record high for a quarter
- 55,000 in the fiscal year 2025 (Oct-Sept)—a yearly record high

https://www.wired.com/story/cbp-searched-a-record-number-of-phones-at-the-us-border-over-the-past-year/

CBP Searched a Record Number of Phones at the US Border Over the Past Year

The total number of US Customs and Border Protection device searches jumped by 17 percent over the 2024 fiscal year, but more invasive forensic searches remain relatively rare.

WIRED

Erika Sumner Jan 12

What’s unsettling about calling the #ICE killing of #RenéeGood “another #GeorgeFloyd moment” is how quickly #Black pain gets repackaged into a generic template for “state violence,” especially when the victim is #White. George Floyd’s murder was a specifically anti‑Black terror event in a long history of #racist policing; treating it as a floating metaphor for any shocking killing in Minneapolis feels like Black erasure even when the intent is solidarity.
#BLM #BlackMastodon

Erika Sumner Nov 27

#NEWS: Yesterday was a BIG day for #women in #Italy which just recognized #femicide as a #crime & are punishing it with life in prison.

This is THE SECOND TIME in 5 DAYS an ENTIRE COUNTRY’S #GOVERNMENT has puts serious resources behind ENDING THE MURDER OF WOMEN BECAUSE THEY ARE WOMEN.

Please pardon all of the yelling/caps y’all, this is exciting as hell❤️

#Italy #SouthAfrica #HumanRights

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/26/g-s1-99444/italy-femicide-life-in-prison

Erika Sumner Nov 26

#BREAKING #NEWS: It’s over folks. The #Georgia #election interference case against Trump has just been dropped. And #democracy takes another body blow.

#electioninterference #justice

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/26/nx-s1-5611431/georgia-trump-election-case-dismissed

Erika Sumner Nov 22

Today in #WashingtonSquarePark under the arch is an art installation made of pieces of the now destroyed East Wing of the #WhiteHouse. Quite the commentary on the dismantling of #Democracy.

Erika Sumner Nov 21

Good God, does anybody in the #US remember #Crimea? Cede any land to #Russia and #Putin will be further empowered to disrespect international law, borders, and norms.
#Ukraine #UkraineWar

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cde6yld78d6o

What we know about leaked US draft plan to end Russia's Ukraine war

There are 28 key points and while several on the face of it could be acceptable to Ukraine, others cross Kyiv's red lines.

Erika Sumner Nov 21

#BREAKING #NEWS: BIG day for #women in #SouthAfrica! After an online campaign and today’s countrywide protest “lie down”, South Africa has announced it’s classifying violence against women a national disaster. In a country where women are murdered at five times the global average, the government is finally going to put real resources behind fighting gender based violence. 💜

#WomenShutdown #WomenforChange #femicide
#GBV

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn979g302l9o

South Africa declares gender violence a national disaster after protests

Fifteen women are killed every day in a country with one of the highest rates of gender violence in the world.