Cost to fund SNAP and keep 42 million people from starving: $100 billion Cost of lost revenue due to tax cuts for the richest Americans in the top 1%: $100 billion One is decried as "welfare." One is not. Why?

Dzień dobry ☀️ Pięknej i spokojniej środy Guten Morgen ☕ Habt einen wunderbaren Mittwoch ⛰️🌲🏞️ Tien-Shan, Zailiyskiy Alatau, Almaty region, Kasachstan

Kawase Hasui, Japanese (1883-1957), Nenokuchi, Towada, from the series Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern, 1933, woodblock print, oban tate-e, paper: 39.9 x 27.6 cm, image: 36.2 x 24.1 cm

Melanie Ferguson (American Ceramist, b.1955) : River Cries Rainbows, 2021 Hand Built stoneware, sgrafitto through layered underglaze, manganese linear glaze, hand rubbed cold wax finish 11" H × 11" W × 10" D

Portrait of Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt https://botfrens.com/collections/109/contents/28576

György Kepes, Hungarian-American (1906-2001), Juliet with Peacock Feather, 1937-38, photograph, gelatin silver print with gouache, 15.3 x 11.5 cm, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA

kerekes istván #dailylife #minority #colorphoto

🚨‼️🚨

If you want to see ratepayer protections put into place for #GeorgiaPower customers, a shift towards #greenenergy and transparency about funding and energy initiatives, make sure to get out and vote!! 🗳 Early Voting: Oct 13–31 🗳 Election Day: Nov 4 🧵

I couldn't tell you what kind of sense it makes sending about $40 Billion in aid to Argentina when we could easily spend that money here at home repairing damage from Hurricane Helene. But I can tell you that when I'm in DC, I'll put Western NC first every time. #NC11 #WNC

Interestingly, Potatotown managed to absolutely nail the current SCOTUS's judicial philosophy

Update: today I mailed a letter to the incoming CEO of T-Mobile US, conveying my anger at the company’s decision to contribute to the corrupt destruction of the White House East Wing and alleged construction of a supposed ballroom. That contribution has nothing to do with T-Mobile’s core business,

MAGA screams: “Get a job.” “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” “Welfare queen.” But these folks have jobs. They’re federal workers and not getting paid — and now SNAP benefits run out in days. There’s no reason this should be happening. Testify 📢

Louisiana officials waited months to alert public about deadly pertussis outbreak, investigation finds Officials waited more than 3 months after 2 whooping cough deaths to issue a statewide health alert www.cidrap.umn.edu/p...

there were so many great characters from HBO's Silicon Valley like attorney Ron LaFlamme www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Wl...

Good time to rev up the ol' impeachment engine

The California National Guard has been deployed to assist food banks as Trump’s shutdown is stopping SNAP benefits.

If you are looking for ways to help your community, it is a good time to donate to your local food bank if you can. My understanding from those who do this work is that $$ is the most effective donation at the moment, since food banks have existing relationships that can stretch your donation.

Between this and MTG….

Say it with us: WE WON’T FUND FASCISM! 💪

I remember when we used to just have our presidents puke on Japanese prime ministers. Simpler times. (That’s a deep cut for the old people.)

Still think the press is being pretty gullible to believe the President who pardoned the Silk Road guy just hates drugs so much.

Data from @chenoweth.bsky.social and co-authors shows No Kings protests expanded into red counties. Data from The Economist shows disapproval is increasingly national, too. bsky.app/profile/broo...

People ask a lot about whether protests matter. While Trump’s approval rating is driven by many factors, events like the No Kings rallies likely play a role, too. Media coverage and people seeing their neighbors take a stand help convey that disapproval is not just acceptable but widespread.

This is one of the most horrific crimes being systemically committed by Russian forces — as they train their new soldiers by getting them to kill civilians — and devastatingly exposes the real aim of the Russian war effort.

(I think Trump is dying and colossally unfit, but a focus on dementia only helps him since 1) What's often described as him "losing it" is just his awful, effective propagandizing, and 2) it leads people to underestimate him and not hold him accountable for his genuine evil.)

DUDE. Trump is walking around the Japanese Prime Minister like a lost zombie running on low brain fuel. I had to watch this video twice. Once to say WTF to Trump. And twice to say WTF to the insane headlines on the news ticker! WTF!!

3 times in the past 2 weeks, a WashPost editorial "has taken on matters in which Bezos has a financial or corporate interest without noting his stake. In each case, the Post's editorial line landed in sync with its owner's interests" Via @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social www.npr.org/2025/10/28/n...

An ex-Intel CEO’s mission to build a Christian AI: ‘hasten the coming of Christ’s return’

At the end of her column @espiers.bsky.social says she looking for work. I have to say she is one of the people I most look forward to reading these days. When so many mediocre writers rise upwards like hot air, it was shocking to hear this.

🚨BIG changes happening -- ICE leadership is being purged tonight. The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Gregory Bovino's "Midway Blitz" style. Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.

I'll do my best to explain just how screwed ~24 million of us are about to be (including myself) and how many people can minimize the carnage. There's even a few pleasant surprises buried in there, believe it or not.

Dzień dobry ☀️ Przyjemnego i udanego dnia Guten Morgen ☕ Habt einen wunderschönen Tag 🏔️ Tien-Shan, Zailiyskiy Alatau, Kasachstan

Water Lilies at Sunset - 1907 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/3110475

wow

Birch Forest https://botfrens.com/collections/109/contents/28511

Francis Apartments, Chicago (1970) Built in 1895 and designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, they were demolished in 1971. Photo: Michael Hodges / RIBApix

Not enough personnel to do martial law The secret of American law enforcement is that most people voluntarily follow most laws most of the time If that changes for a significant %, things get overstretched very fast

Let this sink in… “At least one expert now predicting this could trigger greatest hunger catastrophe in the U.S. since the Great Depression.” 📌 The Dept of Agriculture posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid won’t go out on November 1.

Cory Doctorow talks about surveillance and binding arbitration to order a burger: pluralistic.net/2025/10/27/s...

Refusing to feed people while building a massive ballroom is a fast track to eat the rich. No pun intended.

Whether or not the Trump regime understands this, they are gambling that their propaganda machine / internet-powered phantasmagoria will be enough to dampen and overcome any popular backlash to the mass pain they’re imposing. One way or the other, we’re going to find out.

Successful populist authoritarians usually throw economic benefits at the public, especially their own supporters, at least until they consolidate institutional power. 2025 America’s are rushing to impose economic pain, much of which falls on their supporters, without having consolidating power.

Oh heck no. Anti-vaccine disinformation is now making some owners refuse to vaccinate their pets against rabies.

the democratic party’s basic problem is it has almost no control over how its message reaches the ears of voters, especially outside of presidential election years. but rather than devote serious time, attention and cash to that problem its consultants and pundits want to fight factional battles

Montanans have proposed a 2026 ballot measure that would negate the consequences of Citizens United, the Supreme Court case that allows corporations to donate to election campaigns. As Harold Meyerson writes, these Montanans make a compelling case. trib.al/ZWRU5Sz

Here we go!

worth re-upping this one in light of the rapid intensification of #Melissa...

No need to opt out if you never joined. Disgusting scumbucket of a product from day one.

This was a tough but necessary decision - I posted my own notes on this here, from the perspective of a current PSF board member simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/27/...