Dr. Rachel Maxwell (she/her)'s Avatar

Dr. Rachel Maxwell (she/her)

@thesadplanet

Postdoc at UMBC/NASA GSFC πŸŒ™ UC Santa Cruz & Purdue University alum I like space magnets, cats, and brains #SaveNASAScience

119
Followers
91
Following
46
Posts
04.02.2025
Joined
Posts Following

Latest posts by Dr. Rachel Maxwell (she/her) @thesadplanet

The grift that keeps on grifting.

03.03.2026 23:06 πŸ‘ 3027 πŸ” 834 πŸ’¬ 84 πŸ“Œ 24

Israel & Saudi Arabia pushed the U.S. to attack Iran.

Netanyahu killed 72,000 people in Gaza, mostly women & children.

Saudi Arabia is a brutal dictatorship that allows no opposition.

These are the leaders who want to bring β€œfreedom” to Iran?

Does anyone really believe that?

02.03.2026 02:01 πŸ‘ 5290 πŸ” 1528 πŸ’¬ 198 πŸ“Œ 70

bluesky clippy: hey there! you seem to be mad at something but not the person you’re yelling at. would you like some help self-regulating?

28.02.2026 23:24 πŸ‘ 2379 πŸ” 331 πŸ’¬ 24 πŸ“Œ 7

once your email storage is full you should be allowed to graduate from it. no more emails for you. you’ve seen enough emails. you’re free now

26.02.2026 14:08 πŸ‘ 1972 πŸ” 318 πŸ’¬ 24 πŸ“Œ 19
Preview
Kansas Sends Letters To Trans People Demanding The Immediate Surrender Of Drivers Licenses "The legislature did not include a grace period."

It seems all Kansas-issued trans drivers' licenses are invalid, effective tomorrow

It is now illegal for trans people to drive a car until they surrender their license at a DMV (that most will need to drive to) and have it reissued with the wrong gender marker

This was never about woman's sports

26.02.2026 01:43 πŸ‘ 9392 πŸ” 4608 πŸ’¬ 233 πŸ“Œ 673
Post image

Today at 11 a.m. at Whittier Park in Minneapolis, join the β€œICE Out of MN” rally. The Trump administration says it has been winding down operations, but that’s far from true.

21.02.2026 13:29 πŸ‘ 1718 πŸ” 498 πŸ’¬ 49 πŸ“Œ 14
Preview
Is that carb ultra-processed? Here's a test even a kid can do The latest nutrition guidelines urge Americans to avoid highly processed food. But when it comes to carbs, many people don't know which ones are ultra-processed. Here's an easy way to find out.

The latest nutrition guidelines urge Americans to avoid highly processed food. But when it comes to carbs, many people don't know which ones are ultra-processed. Here's an easy way to find out.

21.02.2026 13:52 πŸ‘ 195 πŸ” 47 πŸ’¬ 29 πŸ“Œ 25
Post image

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich.

19.02.2026 23:51 πŸ‘ 19211 πŸ” 7116 πŸ’¬ 278 πŸ“Œ 255

"Imagine if we actually followed the Constitution."

03.02.2026 19:47 πŸ‘ 6227 πŸ” 1725 πŸ’¬ 530 πŸ“Œ 111
Screenshot of an X.com post by The Associated Press (@AP) stating that dozens of immigrant families protested for better treatment behind fences at a Texas detention facility, where a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father were sent after being detained in Minnesota. Below is a video thumbnail showing a crowd gathered outdoors along a fenced walkway; many people wear bright blue or red outerwear, and some hold signs.

Screenshot of an X.com post by The Associated Press (@AP) stating that dozens of immigrant families protested for better treatment behind fences at a Texas detention facility, where a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father were sent after being detained in Minnesota. Below is a video thumbnail showing a crowd gathered outdoors along a fenced walkway; many people wear bright blue or red outerwear, and some hold signs.

After being held in two of them as a boy, I fought for decades urging America to never again build concentration camps and put human beings in them. It breaks my heart to watch this happen twice now in my own lifetime.

27.01.2026 21:30 πŸ‘ 35881 πŸ” 12861 πŸ’¬ 638 πŸ“Œ 341
Post image

The officer who shot Alex worked for DHS for 8 years. The officer who shot Renee worked for DHS for over 10 years. Both are considered β€œhighly trained.”

The problem isn’t "training." DHS was built to violate our rights and has been empowered to act with impunity. We must MELT ICE and dismantle DHS.

26.01.2026 19:28 πŸ‘ 9743 πŸ” 3258 πŸ’¬ 313 πŸ“Œ 217

This is one of the things that I find is most shocking to people outside Minnesota who don’t realize it yetβ€”the scale at which everyone who isn’t white has been forced into a spectrum of hiding.

Very good article drawing out the Tahrir Square comparison.

26.01.2026 04:01 πŸ‘ 4473 πŸ” 1881 πŸ’¬ 60 πŸ“Œ 67

Democratic members of Congress are not bound by oaths to protect sources/congregants/patients like journalists, priests, and doctors are.

If your GOP colleagues are saying privately that they decry what ICE or Trump is doing, time to name names.

24.01.2026 22:41 πŸ‘ 2059 πŸ” 511 πŸ’¬ 24 πŸ“Œ 14

He was doing what many have been saying white men should be doing. He went outside to observe, he documented, he put his body on the line to protect another person and for this he was murdered by the gatekeepers of the fascist regime.

24.01.2026 20:21 πŸ‘ 6449 πŸ” 1684 πŸ’¬ 17 πŸ“Œ 0

Abolish ICE is now the moderate minimum position,

Prosecute ICE is where Dems should be at next.

24.01.2026 19:18 πŸ‘ 25369 πŸ” 6070 πŸ’¬ 708 πŸ“Œ 263

This must be weird news to see if you’re one of the literally hundreds or even thousands of university administrators who preemptively censored faculty, scrubbed websites, changed the names of centers, etc.

23.01.2026 13:45 πŸ‘ 8423 πŸ” 2992 πŸ’¬ 118 πŸ“Œ 121
Text printed on a white sheet of paper taped to a black wall: "It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character." - Joseph Heller,
Catch-22

Text printed on a white sheet of paper taped to a black wall: "It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character." - Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Seen today in Center City Philadelphia

23.01.2026 00:13 πŸ‘ 133 πŸ” 42 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 (over Truman's veto) to make general strikes so incredibly difficult to organize that there hasn't been one since.

That there is a general strike happening in a major US city on such short notice is nothing short of a miracle.

22.01.2026 21:28 πŸ‘ 5756 πŸ” 2158 πŸ’¬ 25 πŸ“Œ 44

I keep thinking about the number of people that have to be involved to kidnap a small child, transport him to one facility or another, then an airport, then a plane, then another facility. Did no one on that chain stop and say hey what the fuck?

22.01.2026 03:24 πŸ‘ 3776 πŸ” 1000 πŸ’¬ 99 πŸ“Œ 42

The arguments I have received from the pro-ICE world are β€œit all happened so fast” but looking down your barrel through an open window at the side of a person’s head and pulling the trigger is murder.

22.01.2026 13:08 πŸ‘ 2759 πŸ” 349 πŸ’¬ 52 πŸ“Œ 10

Immediate punishment for speaking out against the regime.

21.01.2026 12:27 πŸ‘ 7976 πŸ” 3105 πŸ’¬ 224 πŸ“Œ 95

What is your most unhinged fact about yourself? It’s best in safe spaces πŸ˜…

20.01.2026 23:27 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This week, the House votes on DHS funding.

I will not vote to give ICE a single cent.

No more blank checks for a rogue agency that operates above the law, escalates violence, and erodes our most basic freedoms.

20.01.2026 21:30 πŸ‘ 4585 πŸ” 718 πŸ’¬ 124 πŸ“Œ 80

If I’m putting pen to paper, I’m either having an absolutely fantastic day or a incredibly terrible one haha

20.01.2026 23:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Historical illiteracy is generous. The United States governs 574 Native nations that it holds in colonial subordination today.

20.01.2026 21:52 πŸ‘ 606 πŸ” 168 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 4
Preview
β€˜Morally acceptable’ for U.S. troops to disobey orders, archbishop says Timothy P. Broglio, who heads the Archdiocese for the U.S. Military Services, expressed concern at President Donald Trump’s threats to seize Greenland by force.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the Archdiocese for the U.S. military services, says Trump’s threat to seize Greenland by force β€œtarnishes the image of the United States”; troops can refuse β€œimmoral” orders. The former USCCB president is seen as a church conservative (Gift link)

wapo.st/45kMRJz

20.01.2026 15:00 πŸ‘ 195 πŸ” 65 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 9

Someone said to me, "I'm sorry but I got your book from a library." Nobody should ever apologise for that. You read my book! That's brilliant! I grew up hanging out in libraries and the idea of a world without them fills me with dread. Without libraries, authors, like readers, will only suffer.

20.01.2026 09:31 πŸ‘ 2603 πŸ” 523 πŸ’¬ 36 πŸ“Œ 64

Today would be a great day to ban members of Congress and their families from trading stocks, don't you think?

15.01.2026 23:27 πŸ‘ 1804 πŸ” 456 πŸ’¬ 68 πŸ“Œ 16

A blatant act of authoritarianism. This is the playbook of a wannabe dictator to rationalize even more extreme abuses of power.

15.01.2026 16:26 πŸ‘ 704 πŸ” 118 πŸ’¬ 23 πŸ“Œ 5