101 Comments
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David E.'s avatar

Within the hour, I was followed on Hopium by a "Simon Rosenberg" (@simonwcd). How do we report this?

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Elizabeth T.'s avatar

Same!

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Catherine Giovannoni's avatar

Me, too.

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BonMot's avatar

Block

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Simon Rosenberg's avatar

How do you block?

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Deborah Potter's avatar

Go to the fake profile, https://substack.com/@simonwcd and use the ellipsis dots to block or report as an imposter (first report, then block). However, I first report using the form

https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=1900000051827

Then you will get a reply from security saying they have removed the imposter from Substack.

Your blocked accounts are shown under your profile, settings, content preferences. I have reported six fake Simons to date.

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Bonnie Hargrave's avatar

Thank you for the well organized info!

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Deborah Potter's avatar

Here is the form to report the Imposter

https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=1900000051827

after that you can block them -- or you can use the three dots (ellipsis) on their profile to report them. I usually do both, in that order.

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David E.'s avatar

Thanks. Done.

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Herbert Schaffner's avatar

Same here!!! Scam alert.

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Herbert Schaffner's avatar

I have followed and admired Alison Gill from earliest days of Mueller She Wrote. Great to see two of our highest integrity smartest and most resilient leaders aligned.

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Barbara Perra's avatar

Him demented, us sane

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Jerry Goff's avatar

What you both said struck a chord with me. "Everything is bad and only I can fix it." It sucks a lot of angry people of all colors in.

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Sally Thompson's avatar

WHY IS HOPIUM NOT RAISING MONEY FOR PENNSYLVANIA JUDGES?!

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Simon Rosenberg's avatar

No need for caps please....

We have a strong preference for open seats and expansion not defending incumbents, as they often have more resources to be able to be to win. Much harder for us to win in states or districts we don't currently hold. If you have recent polling about the races please send them to me for consideration.....

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Sally Thompson's avatar

Sorry about the caps but when I asked the question a month ago I didn’t get a response. Thank you for responding. I’ll see what I can find. I do appreciate that my own sense of urgency probably isn’t the wisest criteria for allocating funds. This one does have me bouncing off the walls a little more than usual. Again, sorry for the caps and, truly, thank you for all you do.

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Kathy P's avatar

Vote Forward has a letter writing campaign for PA Supreme Court justices. I sent 20 letters a couple of weeks ago. ✉️ 📫🇺🇸 https://votefwd.org/district/PA_2025_C3_COURT

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Colleen's avatar

I am sending out 100 postcards to remind voters in the Phila. market to vote YES to retain these Justices! There is now a counter ad airing on TV.

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Kay's avatar

I have seen no polls but there is billionaire money pouring in under the guise of “support term limits “ (for the woke court). Ken Martin just announced a six figure investment to help counter that influence. What has been a mundane overlooked retention system election has become highly partisan. It may not be a Hopium issue but it is one of mine and I imagine for most PA Hopium folks. I choose to invest time and money into watching this race and helping local county elections. I remain here for the commentary and inspiration of this plucky crowd. Has anyone seen polling on the judicial race?

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Carolyn from IL's avatar

I haven't seen polling, but a group called Defend Our Courts (defendourcourts.com) has been sounding the alarm about the PA Supreme Court race since at least August. Unfortunately, most Pennsylvania Democratic voters aren't even aware of this election -- "a high stakes race that will determine whether or not MAGA can redraw PA’s congressional map, pass an abortion ban, and carry out unrestrained voter suppression."

On the other hand, the GOP has been pouring tons of money and advertising to inform their voters. Here's an excerpt from a 8/22/2025 email from Defend Our Courts:

"At state and county fairs across Pennsylvania this summer there have been massive registration drives held by Republicans, whereas Democrats have been nowhere to be found. People are receiving mailers and digital ads from the GOP about this race - but nothing from Dems. And in the Philadelphia suburbs, Republican canvassers are going door to door."

In that same email, they said: "Over the course of just a few months the GOP has whittled down what was once a 1,000,000 voter registration lead for PA Dems to a mere 59,000 voter lead and it could be surpassed any day now."

If you know anyone in Pennsylvania, make sure they know how important this Supreme Court race is!

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Carolyn from IL's avatar

I'm concerned that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court race is not getting enough attention -- in Pennsylvania and beyond. It's a consequential race: If the GOP takes a majority on the court, they will be in a position to rule on legal challenges to the results of 2026 and 2028 elections in this important swing state.

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Diane Romino's avatar

I would help postcards phone calls

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Carolyn from IL's avatar

Kathy - Thank you for pointing us to letter-writing opportunities. Do you know of any postcard campaigns for PA? I'm more of a postcard person.

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Kathy P's avatar

Activate America has postcard campaigns for CA, PA, and NJ. 🇺🇸https://www.activateamerica.vote/postcards

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Carolyn from IL's avatar

Activate America has postcard campaigns for CA, PA, and NJ. 🇺🇸https://www.activateamerica.vote/postcards

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Michael G Baer's avatar

Am I correct that all of these PA judge candidates are incumbents?

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Bonnilu Lair's avatar

Yes, incumbents seeking retention.

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Carolyn from IL's avatar

Correct. Voters will be asked to vote "yes" or "no" to retain the 3 judges. They should vote YES!

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Diane Romino's avatar

Yes

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Kathy P's avatar

Activate America has postcard campaigns for NJ, CA, and PA. 🇺🇸 https://www.activateamerica.vote/postcards

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David E.'s avatar

That message about Portland, Oregon: Trump is out of his gourd.

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Faith Wilson's avatar

Of all the adjectives to describe Portland, "war torn" does not come to mind, which shows the total unhinged ridiculousness of this whole thing

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David E.'s avatar

Trump is speaking as if there were a civil war in Portland. So he's authorizing (by fiat) the Department of War to send "Troops" to Portland.

The consensus among office holders in Oregon seems to be that this is meant to spark violence, which would justify an escalation on the part of the regime. They're saying, "Don't take the bait."

Obviously this is getting coverage in Seattle. We'll see what happens.

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Jarrod Emerson's avatar

Portland resident here and I can 100% confirm that Portland is NOT war torn! Do we have our problems? Yes! Are they systematic and longstanding ? Yes? Are we a radioactive dystopian shithole that the GOP so desperately wants us to be ? Hell no! I work in the 'burbs and it amazes me how even people that live 20 minutes from the downtown can gasp or look scared for me when I tell them where I live. As someone who lives on the outskirts of downtown - and walks quite frequently through the downtown - it honestly offends the hell outta me when people fall for all the right wing bullshit. I too believe Trump is trying to bait us (and distract from all his other fires). Not giving that malignant tumor the satisfaction! Stay strong and don't give in my fellow urbanites!

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Barbara Perra's avatar

Hugh win for freedom when people cancelled Disney streaming services to the tune of $4 billion

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Paige Leger's avatar

This is the most hopeful I’ve felt in weeks! I’m so glad I listened to this! Thank you, Simon and Allison.

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Tom Thumb's avatar

Thank you for your money to make me fatter! -DJT

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Bison Doc's avatar

The behavior of these folks does remind me of bears preparing for hibernation. They go into a phase known as hyperphagia, which means taking in as many calories as possible in as short a time as possible. For reference, this week is Fat Bear Week. You can vote for your favorite fat bear at https://explore.org/fat-bear-week-schedule

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kitkatmia's avatar

did i miss the news on portland??? is it falling apart??? or is this just another whim, diversion or escalation of dictatorness? full force?? did he authorize the military to kill americans in portland? for what? i have a serious question: when will the repubs ever stand up against this lunatic violent madman? or its all about power, unitary, one party rule and they just wont stop him ever? if that is where we are at, then the elected dems need to say so and act like the house is burning down.

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Deborah Potter's avatar

Here is a gift article from WaPo.

https://wapo.st/4pKK5pq

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Lisa Iannucci's avatar

Nothing is going on in Portland except for great indie bookstores, lots of bikes and retro hipsters drinking coffee. 🤣

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Colleen's avatar

A friend just returned from Portland after visiting her sister. Nothing but good things to say.

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David Salzillo's avatar

Hello everyone,

Given the latest "for the love of God please don't take Tylenol" press conference, here is my article on that and on Trump's thoughts and comments that disabled people "should just die" (https://davidsalzillo.substack.com/p/disabled-people-should-just-die-repost).

It's actually technically a repost, since I talked about Trump's disgusting comments when they initially came out during the 2024 campaign.

Anyways, if you like this post, feel free to subscribe and share, and appreciate any feedback you have!

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N  Zweng's avatar

Thank you for these news clips and ads, Simon. I don’t watch Fox and, living in a blue state, wouldn’t see these ads otherwise.

Great conversation with Gill.

I hope you reach out to the Dem AG group on this important question of what could Trump do to interfere with ‘26 and ‘28 elections and how best we can inoculate our body politic against any such

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N  Zweng's avatar

Any such interference.

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Kari Hinman's avatar

Jeffries is growing a spine, which is grea,t but still not great with placing blame where blame is due. When asked about their off-ramp to a cut he failed to say that Republicans are in the driver's seat and they need to provide the off ramp.

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SaltandVinegar's avatar

It’s going to get dicey but ultimately the GOP and Trump will take the blame for a government shutdown and its consequences, especially if they start mass layoffs. We’ll see how long they hold up when their constituents can’t take flights, parks shutdown, and the few remaining government contracts don’t pay out. I’m excited for our opportunity to win this one!

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