They all do this. And it feels like a reflection on the humans behind them, whose inflated careers are built on never admitting they don’t know the answer. The ‘smartest people in the room’ if ‘smart’ just means glib and facile, turning out lies with complete conviction.
Israel is currently holding over 11,000 Palestinians in detention, most of whom have never been convicted of a crime.
The US currently is detaining about 500,000 (that's half a million) people who've never been convicted of a crime *not* including military detention or immigration detention.
“it’s reasonable to ask questions about trans girls in sports” was always intended to mainstream transphobia.
It’s absurd that people fell for it. Democrats are constantly letting oppressors set the terms of debate instead of just saying “no, fuck you.”
The ACA isn't just "health care for people who don't have a conventional employer." It also disallows something that was incredibly common 20 years ago, which I fear is getting lost to generational memory: insurance companies could deny you health care for essentially any previous health problem.
The welfare queens thing is so bizarrely nonsensical. The average taxpayer pays $36 for Snap, and there are 41 million Americans using the program. Let’s assume that 1 million people are defrauding the system, an insane assumption. That means you’re paying less than $1 per year to fraudsters.
“You starve your public schools to feed your private schools and charter schools,” said one superintendent about the state’s efforts to grow charter schools. “Our foundation was set up for a free and appropriate education for all kids. All kids!”
By @jsmithrichards.bsky.social
Spotify is garbage on every count: Its treatment of artists, its ICE advertising, the CEO's investment in military AI, its leading role in the commodification and AI slopification of music, its terrible audio quality—you name it.
So I quit, and put together a complete guide to getting off Spotify:
I'll say again: we are oddly selective about the government services about which we will say, they operate at a loss.
We say Amtrak and the post office "lose money" but we never say highways, the court system, the Pentagon, etc lose money
It starts with knowing the truth. Don’t allow yourselves to be gaslit into believing this is a real question.
my hot take is that encores shouldn’t exist. i’d so much rather artists just play their set. i don’t see the point in them leaving the stage just to come out 2 min later to play 1-2 songs.
This is why folks call it a tool of fascism. It generates fear and distrust, which benefits fascist liars.
The problem with ICE is not that it's targeting people who aren't criminals. The problem with ICE is that it's an unaccountable secret deportation police. It cannot be reformed under a better president. It can be made less terrible, but the instrument of repression remains for the next tyrant.
Riley Gaines is a leading face of the anti-trans movement, appearing at Trump’s signing of an executive order to ban trans girls from girls’ school sports.
But her teammate remembers a different Gaines, who expressly did not support Trump.
What happened?
Your regular reminder that Airbnb has become more of a platform for landlords to both turn housing into straight-up hotels, taking units off the market which drives up rents, & sets up the opportunity costs for landlords still renting, which also drives up rents. Airbnb is antithetical to housing.
once again wishing democratic politicians and pundits would speak out in support of big-city life and culture with the same energy and reverence that all politicians have for small towns
cities are "real america" just as much as any twee main street or dying industrial town
Charlie Kirk's assassination is heinous and frightening and warrants widespread condemnation.
But it should not protect him or others who engage in such politics of extremism from critical review.
A pile of books: (from top to bottom): A Borrowed Scot, Scottish Brides, Outdrawn, Hers to Rule, Monstress Vol 2, Once and Future Vol 1, The Grace of Kings, Let Me In, On Wings of Blood, A Monsoon Rising, Rebel Witch, and Arca
I’ve finally gotten my TBR down to one pile and this is what my September TBR is looking like!
💙📚
Happy Shark Awareness Day!
I want people to be aware of 5 things:
1 Sharks are awesome
2 Sharks are not a threat to your safety
3 Sharks are ecologically important
4 Sharks are highly threatened
5 We can still save them- but it matters what we do, don’t reinvent the wheel, follow experts!
Don't forget that the Supreme Court has undertaken this radical expansion of executive power and personal immunity not for some ordinary Republican but for the most corrupt president In American history. They're doing it for THIS GUY, who is guaranteed to abuse every ounce of power he's given.
JUST IN: The Supreme Court rules in favor of parents who want to opt out of classes that use books with LGBTQ characters.
UPDATE: The attack marks a major escalation in the burgeoning war between Iran and Israel and came despite years of promises by President Trump to keep the U.S. from entering another Middle East conflict.
“The federal government used to prioritize domestic terrorism, and now it’s like domestic terrorism just went away overnight,” Michigan AG Dana Nessel said. “I don’t think that we’re going to get much in the way of cooperation anymore.”
(Published May 2025)
A stack of books: (from top to bottom) The Princess and the Rogue, Guardians of the Balance, Guardians of the Trust, Harrow the Ninth, Cursebreakers, The Bone Season, The Grace of Kings, Battle Magic, Make Room for Love, Love on the Brain, Loathe to Love You, The Bloody Chamber, Sunrise on the Reaping, Heavenly Tyrant, and Oathbound.
My May TBR 💙📚
A stack of books: (from top to bottom) Warbreaker, Across the Green Grass Fields, Guardian of the Balance, Gideon the Ninth, Monstress: Awakening, Tea You at the Altar, The Grace of Kings, Battle Magic, and Not for the Faint of Heart.
My April TBR…might be getting out of hand 💙📚
Israeli forces arrested Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land,' in the occupied West Bank after settlers beat and injured him, according to his colleague
JUST IN: The White House has been clear that it intends to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, and that it will be McMahon's job to oversee that effort.
If DOGE is a federal agency, it can’t shield its records from the public.
If it’s not an agency, then its tens of millions of dollars in funding weren’t legally allocated and should be returned, some contend.
oooh good to hear! this will be my first time reading it
