That's just fact

“In order for me to write poetry that isn’t political,

I must listen to the birds.

And in order to hear the birds,

the warplanes must be silent”

- Marwan Makhoul

Much sympathy.

A master chef transform simple ingredients into an elaborate dessert.

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@thethinblackduke.bsky.social

A leaf-footed bug from the genus Diactor, native to Central and South America. [📹letmebugyou]

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Meet the researcher aiming to halt use of ‘fundamentally flawed’ database linking IQ and nationality Rebecca Sear Rebecca Sear is on a mission to convince publishers to retract articles that use a database that purports to rank countries based on intelligence. To maintain the integrity of scientif…

the fact that people are allowed to repeat that 70IQ thing without a giant air horn going off directly in their ear is evidence that the PC cancel culture mobs were not nearly ruthless enough

retractionwatch.com/2025/11/25/m...

When a Text Message Tries to Short-Circuit the FDA How Joe Rogan’s story at the White House was inappropriate

open.substack.com/pub/drrubin/...

“Even if you’re enthusiastic about new treatments (and we should be) this should make you uncomfortable.

Not because of who sent the text, but because of what the text implies about how drugs should (and should not) get approved….”

One of the greatest fiction writers of the century has blessed us with a poem!

The Cancelled Destination Why Artemis II’s Real Achievement Is the One Everyone’s About to Forget

open.substack.com/pub/readft/p...

Otter mothers are fierce educators, teaching their pups to swim by submerging them until they learn.

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The most basic fundamentals of cognitive processing.

Humans observe events, narrate stories to explain them, and assign emotions to those stories.

This helps illustrate how influencers can emotionally manipulate outcomes with biased or false narratives around events.

Effective 2025 federal tax rates paid by these corporations:

Alphabet: 8.01%
AT&T: 4.6%
Meta: 3.57%
General Motors: 3.09%
Amazon: 1.37%
Exxon Mobil: 1.31%
Disney: -1.57%
CVS Health: -3.88%

Income tax rate paid by the typical American: 14.5%

This is what a rigged system looks like.

Just a thought: How about we stop shaming the poor for buying things that may not be essential, and start shaming the rich for making a profit off things that are essential?

Also! I cannot figure out how this trend is compatible with democracy. How can citizens be engaged, informed, and participatory if they are unable or unwilling to critically and thoughtfully engage with new ideas/info?

Which, BTW, is why I consider AI to be antithetical to the needs of democracy.

Celebrate the wins. This is a huge one.

The Usefulness of Monsters How elite connectedness turns private depravity into public power

open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

A peer reviewed study shows a promising link between flu and shingles vaccines and a reduced risk of dementia. A heroin addict who cut off a raccoon’s penis for “further study” says these vaccines cause autism. For busy Americans, it can be hard to know who to trust.

What a weird timeline. I still think the weasel that got into the large hadron collider in 2016 thrust us into an alternate universe.

"In the weeks after the policy was announced, hospitals across the country began abruptly scaling back or halting care for transgender youth, with dozens of health systems pausing treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy amid fears of losing federal funding or facing investigation."

I'm not joking when I say mRNA technology is more important than "AI" and it's a tragedy we're throwing billions into one while our government is aggressively defunding the other.

Republicans took health insurance from millions. Here's the data they hope you never see. Charles Gaba has tracked ACA enrollment for over a decade. He explains why “no one will lose coverage” is one of the cruelest lies Republicans have told yet.

open.substack.com/pub/thecause...

One thing that I'm thinking about as a ponder how Todd Blanche put someone whose wife was investigated for foreign influence peddling on this case is that before Blanche was Trump's lawyer be was Boris Epshteyn's lawyer and before he was Epshteyn's lawyer he was Paul Manafort's lawyer.

😳

White/able/male/"heritage" ancestry is strength.

BIPOC/disabled/fem/immigrant background is weak.

In the fascist narrative these are distinctions Nature itself makes, and without malign* interference, the strong automatically prevail.

*Jewish/foreign

This poll by Politico is badly framed & should be thrown out.
When analyzed in detail, only 10% of respondents chose the MOST skeptical position of vaccines "that vaccines risks are significant" & that "enforcing vaccines is dangerous".

An inaccurate picture.

archive.today/GQlVF

Screenshotted excerpt from linked article reading as follows: "In public, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has cultivated a reputation for care and caution. The papers reveal a different side of him. At a critical moment for the country and the court, the papers show, he acted as a bulldozer in pushing to stop Mr. Obama’s plan to address the global climate crisis. When colleagues warned the chief justice that he was proposing an unprecedented move, he was dismissive. “I recognize that the posture of this stay request is not typical,” he wrote. But he argued that the Obama plan, which aimed to regulate coal-fired plants, was “the most expensive regulation ever imposed on the power sector,” and too big, costly and consequential for the court not to act immediately."

OOP

New York Times got receipts on John Roberts being like, 'I know this isn't how anything works, but a Democratic president is about to implement a policy!!'

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Will JVL Survive These Focus Groups of Catholic Voters? | The Focus Group YouTube video by The Bulwark

Saying that Hegseth and Christian nationalists are "into Old Testament stuff" reflects a real ignorance about what Christians call the "Old Testament". That kind of rhetoric is also, unbeknownst to many who use it, deeply grounded in the "theology" that gave rise to antisemtism.

Gray floofy cat sitting in box and looking out

Gray floofy cat curled inside FedEx 9x12 box

She liked boxes but not bags.

worth a read!

Riders on the Storm ft. The Doors | Song Around The World | Playing For Change YouTube video by Playing For Change

Good morning.

youtu.be/GSiuMgKmiyk