NSF is about to dismantle NCAR at Russell Vought's direction to protect the fossil fuel industry. It's hard to communicate just how much NCAR does, so let's take a look: I've never worked at NCAR, and I've worked with NCAR researchers once ever. What scientific discoveries has NCAR made possible? 👇

This is as good an explanation as I've seen.

The last ten years has been interesting for what it finally reveals about the morality of more people than I thought. I used to think people wanted to do the right thing, but now I see they mostly want to be perceived that way, but without having to make the effort or take the responsibility.

JB has said 2 things that bear repeating: the Dems have to frame the conversation (don't let the GOP do it), and we should have a UBI! Go @jbpritzker.bsky.social ! (PS Never forget a budget is a moral document.) crooked.com/podcast/can-...

Someone talking about Ai said the thing that makes humans special is our ability to use reason to problem solve. But other animals use reason to problem solve! What makes us human is our moral capacity. We understand that we are responsible for the consequences of our actions.

I love listening to Sherrilyn explain things. (Right now on the Amicus pod with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social .) She said the civil rights movement was a democracy movement. Therefore, the backlash that has been going on ever since is an anti-democracy movement. Get motives out in the open.

Imagine being so rich you can build a bunker for the apocalypse, yet you are unwilling to spend any money on making the planet better so we don’t have an apocalypse.

But he’ll stay in place because he is a useful idiot for the GOP. They get to do what they want under cover of everyone being distracted by his incompetency. He probably isn’t in charge of much.

What we can, morally, disagree on are the categories and extent of what we define as “common goods”, or the things that everyone should have access to so they can be participating members of society.

Do yourself a favour and listen to this episode of Amicus with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social It's about how democracy works and how we can make change within democracy. slate.com/podcasts/ami...

This was great! Enjoyed the whole thing, especially the bit in the middle where they talk about not selling out to private equity/consolidation interests. And the interviews with people like Bill Withers were so good.

This seems like something we should all be aware of.

I think we should start using moral language to condemn this sort of behaviour. “This is wrong.” Even when people are morally repugnant, they want to be seen as morally good, which is why they find excuses for their bigotry etc. Call them out. Don’t let them excuse their moral failings.

Thoughtful thread, even quoting Cultural Studies and Stuart Hall.

Authoritarians claim the power not just to tell all of our stories but to select the definitive story that says who we are, what our nature, why we're here, in order to cast themselves as both forever hero protagonists while also endlessly victimized.

Social hierarchy societies succeed b/c they concentrate power in a few who wield it with violence against the many. Egalitarian societies are better for all but power is dispersed which allows someone to concentrate power. The trick is to keep power dispersed. This is our lesson.

Here is a video that we posted today that offers an overview of our reporting. Please read the story and watch the video. Investigative reporting like this only matters if people read it/engage with it. www.nytimes.com/video/us/pol...

Good news! I am relieved to see this.

This is a good explanation of their behaviour: that other people’s expertise makes them feel inadequate/bad/stupid/etc.

Reasons why the "quiet piggy" comment from this POTUS is so disturbing: 1. He said it right to her face. 2. It was so casually vicious. 3. No one on the plane said anything back to him.

Billie Eilish asked an important question: "If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire?" There are FIVE ways to accumulate a billion dollars: 1) Profiting from a monopoly 2) Insider-trading 3) Political payoffs 4) Fraud 5) Inheritance Billionaires are the result of a failed system.

As I long to never have to see or hear from DJT ever again, I also understand that his presence keeps to the forefront the hidden world of evil people who will continue to abuse everyone and put profits over people, long after he is gone. Now that we know about these evil people, keep after them.

Follow the money!!

Re: the Epstein files Epstein was also a money guy. And there used to be talk about money laundering and DJT properties and the Russians. Focus less on the sex and more on the money.

Reminder that Starbucks’ CEO made 6,666x more than the company's median employee in 2024. This was the widest CEO-to-Worker pay gap in the entire S&P 500. And we're supposed to believe Starbucks can't afford to bargain a fair contract with its unionized workers?

Interesting thread with thoughtful comments.

This sounds correct to me.

Excellent commentary on power and the "right" and the Epstein files over on The Daily Blast from @thedsrnetwork.bsky.social with @gregsargent.bsky.social and @pastpunditry.bsky.social (wherever you get your podcasts). (Even if Greg still has that terrible guitar lead-in.)

Having been an ICE officer in any capacity needs to be classified as a crime against humanity with retroactive enforcement.

“A budget is a moral document that states who and what we value.” From @ruha9.bsky.social’s Viral Justice, page 282

The other thing the U.S. is going to have to do (when this is all over) is amend the presidential pardon power rules. And add 4 justices to SCOTUS.

This caught my eye because I have said “I like everywhere I go” and I can feel at home anywhere. It really is true: everywhere you go, there you are.

We have long possessed the ability to have everyone fed, clothed and housed and have chosen not to do so. Now, this regime demands the power to commit more aggravated impoverishment.

As for the filibuster, just make it difficult again. Make people stand there all day giving speeches to delay legislation. Take it back to its roots!

Reposting to save (so I know where to find it). Also, for posterity.

Great comments.

You know the show “Is It Cake?” Well, now that it’s fall, I’m playing “is it dog poop?” It’s like hop scotch to avoid stepping on what may only be wet brown leaves, but could be something else.

We do not own the world because we did not make the world. The world made us. (Terry Pratchett, Discworld argument) Because the world made us, we owe it - respect, and other things. It's time we realized this.

Excellent podcast with @djrothkopf.bsky.social on possibilities for nuclear annihilation over at the DSR: thedsrnetwork.com/trump-is-ame... Good list of favourite nuclear disaster movies. You forgot Testament, also from 1983. Bleak in the extreme. And On The Beach.

I feel like more people should know about this.

I wonder if there are so many women in the academic humanities and sociology et al because we are trying to figure out our oppression, how it got here, and what can we do about it. The concentration of power leads to oppression, so we need to figure out how to stop that.

Some people don't want to have to actually be morally good, but they want to be seen as morally good. They get offended when you suggest that they are not morally good, because of how they treat other people. They come up with reasons why they acted that way, to excuse their moral lapses.

Once we find out who's on the Epstein list, they all have to go live on Epstein's island. Then, they can play Survivor and vote each other off, preferably by being put in small boats and shoved out to sea. It would make for great reality tv.

I was thinking about Expo 67 and how it was titled "Man and His World" and I would bet money that no one (officially) objected to the title when it was proposed. In those days, "man" was assumed to include women; it was the generic term for human beings. And that was less than 60 years ago.

Good, short thread.

An assumption is meta-knowledge. It is knowledge about knowledge.

Listening to @npr.org's Up First bit on air traffic controllers, and they said the Dept. of Transportation says its priority is safety. But given the loyalty of fed gov heads to the pres and not their jobs, can we trust them? Maybe not.

This is not even about higher education. It's about justice v supremacy. The stink and hate of supremacy pervades society and it is past time to expose it as the moral failure that it is.