I am one of the few Americans who has ever relied on emergency food from USAID to keep them alive. From spring 1974 thru winter 1976, my primary residence was a 10' square mud hut with a thatched roof in a small village in the Senegal River Valley, during a time of famine, pestilence & drought. 1/
I wrote this to help people understand that universal basic income is not meant to permanently replace all jobs. It's meant to be a floor below which no one can fall, and a dividend that universally distributes a share of our economy. It's meant to provide the power to say no and freedom to choose.
I've thought about this one a lot.
What a perfect portrait! I feel like I know her.
Re-upping this short thread 🧵 about a story, from the late 1980s, when I worked at Sun Microsystems — in those days, the darling of the tech world. My old-school secretary — don't you dare call her an 'admin' — called me an asshole on her first day on the job. Nothing could have made me happier.
I live on the island of Noepe (AKA Martha's Vineyard), so naturally we have an outdoor shower. From late March through mid November it's all I use. There's a nail on the wall where I hang my bottle-opener.
US elites decided, like a school of fish, that climate concern is old, boring, "woke," square, not hip & popular any more. As usual, it was based almost entirely on internal elite dynamics. It had nothing to do with the actual public, which is more concerned than ever.
Victoria Toensing @VicToensing Hubby being sworn in as Counsel to the Attorney General. 4:04 PM · Apr 20, 2026 · 6,199 Views Jason Reding Quiñones, the US Attorney in Miami, swearing in a much shorter Joe DiGenova.
Joe DiGenova, whose wife once solicited payments from foreigners to lie about Joe Biden in 2019, just got sworn in to investigate things those things he lied about in the past.
Over the weekend I laid out why this is so problematic.
emptywheel.net/2026/04/19/t...
I've made more than 100 departures from SFO; 95% of them red eyes. More than 100 arrivals; lots of them after dark. It's a black hole to me.
No amount of AI literacy can protect us because the problem isn’t knowledge, or how to use the system, it’s that the system exists in a culture that has been radically structured around white supremacy and patriarchy and your precious autocomplete incorporates it into its operations.
She was so old-school. She knew shorthand. She referred to me as Mr. Sundman, not by my first name, even though she was 15 years older than me. Just an absolute delight to work with. I never had to file another expense report, and I always got my check the next day. 8/8
"I filled out the reports and I pinched my cheeks and I went down to Accounts Payable and I started crying. "It's my first day on the job and my boss is an asshole. Can you help me get this straightened out, please?" Sharon was the best admin, I mean, secretary, you could ever wish for. 7/8
"You never talk to those people again," she told me. "From now on that's my job." "OK," I said. "But you have to tell me how you did it! This is amazing!" She said, "Easy. You're the asshole." 6/
She asked me where I wanted her to start. "Please get my expense reports sorted. Accounts payable is full of sadists, and I'm carrying Sun to the tune of about $2k. I can't afford it. Can you please get me squared up." "Give me the receipts," she said. 3 hours later she handed me a check for $2k. 5/
She said, "Nearly half the people on your team are women." "Yes, so?" "Do they every come into your office to talk about personal stuff?" "Sometimes." "Do they ever cry?" "Once or twice." "There are no tissues in your office. You should have tissues." (We're getting to expense reports, promise.) 4/
First day on the job, she shows up with a paperweight monogramed with my initials & a box of tissues. I asked her why. "During my interview, a gust of wind blew some papers off your desk. So I figured you could use a paperweight." "OK, thank you. But why the tissues?" 3/
I kept telling my boss that I needed an admin but wasn't given a req to hire one. Eventually I was given a couple of reqs to hire engineers for an upcoming project & refused to hire anybody until I got an admin. So I got my req. I hired Sharon, a very old-school secretary (her preferred title). 2/
Reminds me of a story from 1980's. I was manager of a 50-person bicoastal group at Sun Microsystems & regularly flying between MA & Silicon Valley. Sun policy forbade giving travel advances if you hadn't filed expense report for prior trip, and I was ALWAYS in the hole for $$$. 1/
If I represented the Atlantic, I’d lock in the earliest deposition date on the calendar. Call Patel’s bluff. He has zero interest in putting any of this under oath.
Top 11 most challenged books of 2025. Book cover: Sold by Patricia McCormick. Why this book matters bit.ly/soldBR
Book banners, who claim to oppose child trafficking, made Sold — a book ABOUT child trafficking — the #1 challenged book of 2025. A National Book Award finalist published 20 years ago, it’s being used by extremists now as a tool to manufacture outrage and gain political power. bit.ly/soldBR
I saw the sci-fi cult favorite film 'Silent Running' in a nearly empty theatre in Ithaca, NY, in the summer of 1972. As the house lights dimmed, I glanced to my right. Whom should I see sitting, alone, ten empty seats away? (Cue the Twilight Zone theme music. . .)
Important investigation- national policy bends to the will of billionaires if the Trump clan will make $ from it
On the exotic isle of Noepe (also called Martha's Vineyard), which has been my home lo these one score and eleven years, "CVS" is unknown. I purchase my prescribed concoctions from Conroy Apothecary in West Tisbury.
New, from me: Take the Palantir manifesto seriously, if not literally.
It reveals that our tech philosopher kings want public money, but without public accountability. This creates a dilemma for governments unaligned with its techno-fascist vision. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/palantir-w...
Actual historians of the New Deal -- trained scholars, not partisan hacks -- have been savaging her nonsense for decades now but I guess if she's telling you what you want to hear that must feel good.
Here's @rauchway.bsky.social:
Articles about Jared Kushner's diplomatic role with Iran that mention Kushner has received billions from the Saudi government (2/28-4/19):
NYT: 5 of 58
WashPost: 1 of 43
WSJ: 0 of 40
AP: 0 of 26
CNN Wire: 0 of 18
NY Post: 0 of 17
Chicago Tribune: 0 of 4
LA Times: 0 of 4
Boston Globe: 0 of 2
Bingo.
I think the problem is that there actually are no conservatives any more. Conservativism split into the radical right, who are anything but conservative, and a bunch of dopes.
'She also documented how few women were in federally sponsored clinical trials for AIDS drugs...
That was significant, she told The San Francisco Chronicle, because “the clinical trials are the only way you can get treatment.”' Long helped save so many lives.