my brother & his partner are telling me an insane story about this local deity called "st. rat" which is apparently a mosaic relief put up by some queers in seattle. the city kept trying to paint over it, but people would repeatedly just use acetone and remove the paint until the city gave up

strong contender for the greatest line in fantasy film

THIS is the photo that perfectly encapsulates America on its 250th. It's this. Should be on every front page tomorrow. And future time capsules

The Left(s) should get onboard with a massive expansion of public libraries across the country over the next 25 years. This is an affirmative project.

@tressiemcphd.bsky.social on why we must defend public libraries: “There is a reason the culture warriors hate the library. It is the same reason that Americans should defend it with our rights. No political spin doctor can sell us what is freely given at one: the right to think for ourselves.”

A grim reminder this 4th of July: The US has the highest incarceration rate of any independent democracy on Earth, making it a leader in mass incarceration. Far too many people are locked up in the “land of the free.”

He’s gonna cause right wing heads to explode talking sense like this lol.

I feel like I should repost this every day until everyone reposts it every day and demands this simple change with big impact

More good news from NYC! Arts funding always suffers during hard times, so this is truly welcome. hyperallergic.com/nyc-mayor-ma...

a) there are, like, single digit trans girls in sports in most states (sometimes literally one!), this entire thing is made up so that one girl who wants to play sports with her friends can't do it b) do not, under any circumstances, make policy based on angry sports parents

German researchers have built the most efficient solar panel ever, turning 34.4% of sunlight into electricity. That’s way higher than ordinary rooftop panels, which usually convert between 20-23%. buff.ly/GRh5GzJ #ShareGoodNewsToo

I redesigned the cover of The Works of Vermin by @hironennes.bsky.social 🐛 I've spent so long on this...... #art #theworksofvermin

We're thrilled to present the shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction:

IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING. IT'S REAL. YOU CAN PRE-ORDER NOW!!!! amzn.to/4b2iESb

even if it was good policy, this shit is completely ancillary to the goal of actually limiting the power of big tech. Elon Musk has a trillion dollars and is trying to start a global race war, your response to that can’t be “kids should be on their phones less”

I have to remind everyone that are are 30 million CHRISTIAN Zionists in the US ALONE. And there are only ~16 million Jews IN THE ENTIRE WORLD and many of us aren’t Zionists. And those 30 million CHRISTIANS make Zionism a core tenet of their faith. This information needs to be household knowledge

Meanwhile, tech sector lobbyists are telling the EU "you have to choose between climate or tech"

As violent crime in America falls, especially in urban areas of the Northeast and Midwest, homicides perpetrated by police officers skyrocket and American police establish themselves as the most violent part of US society. It seems to be a function of the legal doctrine of impunity.

Good news AND proof that you gotta keep on when your favs. But look, this is great, and we want to see more of it.

Big Tech is organized crime. Most people won’t engage with that statement. They don’t want to confront what it means — how huge the problem is and how hard it will be to fix. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. Big Tech is organized crime.

The difference between this attitude and the abject fear driving the centrist Dems who have done nothing (besides largely capitulate to Trump and whinge about not having power) and have nothing to offer is so, so stark.

Zambia makes free education a legal right. Zambia has passed its first law guaranteeing free public education, turning a 2021 policy into a legal entitlement for every child. The reform bars schools from denying learners a place because they can’t pay fees. APA News buff.ly/co1Oyrw #ShareGoodNewsToo

just finished villain by @nataliezed.bsky.social , profoundly amazed and delighted by her depiction of a woman in the midst of an abusive relationship but unwilling to describe it as such. the confidence of the book and the way it leaves matters established but still plausibly deniable is Fantastic

this is a great thread

helpful coverage from @elpais.com english.elpais.com/usa/2025-08-...

this cannot stand.

The fact that stephen miller is saying the US is closed to asylum seekers from Haiti while granting asylum to white South Africans should tell you all you need to know.

referring to us as Dewey stans is up there with forcing us to use the slogan "Library and Chill"

A thing to keep in mind about any reporting about New York City's Jewish population is that about 13% of the city's population is Jewish. 10% of all Jewish people on earth, live in NYC. The national US average is about 2%. NYC has a *staggeringly* high Jewish population.

Four years after the Dobbs decision, pregnant people in states with total abortion bans are now nearly twice as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or the postpartum period.

Mildly amused to see people grimly warning that the blood-dimmed tide of populist unrest has swept aside all bonds of civil government and unleashed the power of the Mob on an innocent and unwitting nation because the outgoing New York City Comptroller won a congressional primary.

Gaza surfers seek solace in the sea 🇵🇸❤️🌊🏄🏽‍♂️ Surfers carry their boards past tents and destroyed buildings on their way to the beach in Gaza City, where they keep surfing despite the risk of Israeli attacks. "It lets us breathe and makes us feel safe," youtu.be/Hv1uMA8tb5U?...

“We have disparities across teams, across regions. No one who works at ProPublica — where we say we hire the best — should be living paycheck to paycheck.” This is why we’re fighting for fair wages: www.propublicaguild.org

went down to the centrist convention. they’re all shaking and crying, I heard one guy say “I’m starting to think a better world IS possible.” the lady next to him slapped him in the face

In a statement on the day of the shooting, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said that the officers responding to the shoplifting call saw “two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle." That "juvenile" was 1-year-old Kohen Wiley.

This dude is a legend.

yeah unfortunately the point at which security agents started manufacturing crimes to so they could arrest people to support the delusions of a single personalist ruler was the point at which the story stopped being silly heavy-handed metaphor and started being of real concern

Book Cover of the Day:

Even his policy proposals — free buses, freezing rents on rent-controlled apartments, five city-run grocery stores — weren't all that far outside the political mainstream. The media has conjured a radical antisemitic insurgent out of thin air.

The Straits are now closed

A magical summer solstice procession 🎨 Nikita Chan

A group of children’s authors and illustrators have launched the “We Are Better Than This” campaign, described as a “creative uprising” against AI. 👇

It’s true

Can’t sleep? Simple methods that work: • study hurricane forecast • who hates me • what did i forget • relive supreme humiliation • win 12-yr-old argument • buried alive? could happen • what i did vs should have done • dead people i miss • what if i’m bad • why do i say stuff • what’s my fuckin deal

Mandatory age verification and the banning modern public towns squares for young people is, and forever will be, governmental and societal abdication of responsibility so that those in charge don't actually have to dare hold big tech accountable for the very real public harm they can foster.

girl me too

It’s not hyperbole that part of what kept the queer liberation movement going in the Reagan era was the partying part of the “bury your friends in the morning, protest in the afternoon, and dance at night” schedule. Without joy there is no air left to fight

Britain lets 16 year olds join the army.

A SECOND person died of exposure last winter after DHS dumped them in the middle of nowhere, miles from their home, without notifying their family.

Listened to an NPR story this morning about mass child starvation in Senegal without a single mention of Elon Musk, the guy who gleefully created the conditions for the mass starvation