This reporter seems like a nice man but he fell right into her trap by answering her question. She is there to answer, not ask.

Yes. Get angry all you want. But knock off the doomerism, which helps no one but the fascists.

The White House wastes no time gaslighting the American people anntelnaes.substack.com/p/ice-shoots...

Here's the map after 24 hours of launch. Find your event or get one up here: www.mobilize.us/map/?tag_ids...

The “prosecute the former regime at every level” candidate has my vote in 2028.

Good morning. I'd like to invite anyone who is interested to make a small gesture of kindness today. It's up to you to decide what that can be. The key is for you to act on the idea. With so much out of our control, we can choose how to be with each other today and every day.

Spoken like a dude who will never get to the bottom of the list of things he has to apologize for.

I was a kid once. And my biggest regret in life is that I never got a childhood without pain. Politicians should never insert themselves into the personal health care decisions of patients, parents, and their providers—and that includes trans Americans.

Ridiculous that the press doesn't push back on this. "I'd rather be an obnoxious and terrible reporter than an obnoxious and terrible president." Imagine the virality of such a response. There's a hunger for it. Sometimes you literally have to speak truth to power.

Apropos of nothing, but Bessent always reminds me of a Zappa lyric: "Hey! I'm only fourteen / Sickly 'n thin / Tried all of my life / Just to grow me a chin . . ." Also, what a smarmy private-school vibe.

Posting this as a reminder to myself to finish the damn album already . . .

A reminder that the median book deal for a debut author in the UK is £7000, paid over 12-18 months. (from 2022 Society of Authors report). Some of your favourite writers are struggling. societyofauthors.org/2022/12/06/a....

This is the flip side of the Mamdani meeting, with the same effect. Trump wants attention--whether the fearful, hateful, or fawning kind. Mamdani's calmness, equanimity, and focus denied him that, derailing him. MTG saying "fuck it, I'm out" will derail him, too. Every derailment helps.

The opposition contains multitudes.

Authors: here's a great overview and explainer on the Anthropic settlement, including action items if you are "on the list" (as I am, as I discovered almost by accident).

As a runner / bicyclist / dog walker in a residential community where people routinely do 30 mph (or more) in a 20 mph zone and blow through stop signs with abandon, I think about this all the time. It's as if being in a metal box with wheels makes you forget your connection to your fellow humans.

Recent practice. Procreate released some new brushes, so I've been exploring . . .

We are hearing reports of increased federal agents in Portland. Let me be clear: Trump wants to tell a story of Portland that does not reflect who we are. The Portland we love is strong, compassionate, and unwavering in our commitment to protect our neighbors.

I’m excited by the attention on free speech issues now. But we’d be remiss if we focused just on Kimmel. Or even the FCC chair Carr. The entire environment is retaliatory, affecting the most vulnerable who have the least infrastructure for support. That’s why speech for all matters more than ever.

Roughly one year ago, Trump was in the middle of the racist lie about pets in Springfield. He was floundering and desperate. It was not clear that he would win the election. He did win the election, but history is full of plot twists.

Recent portraiture practice. Not enough hours in the day!

I love when I can see the work in a piece of art. Practical effects in film, brush strokes on canvas, strange sounds in music, "impossible" visuals in games. It puts me in conversation with the artist. That's why - ethics aside - art created with AI is just so disappointing. There's no work to see.

🧵Today is Friday, July 4. Good morning ❤️ We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all [people] are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights,

A contender for the most “Show me your budget and I’ll tell you who you are” bills in modern history. An act of breathtaking moral monstrosity and nearly unprecedented self-sabotage for the country.

My life lately is focused on writing and drawing people. I don't know a lot, but I read people a lot. I study body language to build it into characterization. I study subtleties of facial expression to better capture likeness and mood. What I see here is a man who is full of shit and who knows it.

Today, my NIH colleagues and I did something scary but really important. We spoke up about egregious harms we are seeing happen to research participants and public health through thoughtless and politicized policies at NIH. 🧵1/3 apnews.com/article/nih-...

The right statement from the woman who should have been our president. My heart breaks for what might have been and for what we now face.

Some recent digital paintings. In May, I forced myself to start working with color, which has not been my comfort zone. Happy weekend!

I'm trying to be more diligent about posting recent drawing practice.

America cannot long remain free, nor first among nations, if it becomes the kind of place where universities are dismantled because they don't align politically with the current head of the government.

The comment period for this ends in 3 DAYS. Please leave a comment telling them EVERYONE should be able to get covid boosters. www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

The chatbots aren't hallucinating when they "get things wrong," WE are hallucinating when they "get things right" People think LLMs are "smart" for the same reason they think the moon has a face.

The take I needed to hear tonight!

"With glowing hearts we see thee rise / The True North strong and free!" Cheers to my Canadian friends. Thank you for tonight's good news!

Exactly. Thus, an important juxtaposition with today's arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan is ICE's being forced by court losses to restore SEVIS status for thousands of foreign students. As the regime weakens, they'll lash out more. The best response to that will be to increase the pressure more.

Remember: reading is fundamental, even when (maybe especially when) the world is chaotic. Here's something I recently finished. A collection of short stories that somehow managed to be surreal, disturbing, comical, charming, intriguing, and uncanny all at once. Recommended!

this site should not be a place for you to wreck your mental health. if it does that, you should not feel bad about leaving. having a hole to shout text into that sometimes has information about politics and sometimes is for making friends is good but sometimes, it's also bad

A reminder that performance IS an action. If it quickens the pulse, it serves a purpose. It's not the winning move, but it's a move in a winning direction. And especially when faced with mass demoralization, it MATTERS. Thank you, @booker.senate.gov.

As Bluesky has grown, I've seen a lot of backsliding on alt text. Please try to be considerate to others and include alt text with all of your images. It helps everyone. Indeed, in the "accessibility" setting in Bluesky you can set it to make sure you add alt text, which is a useful thing to do.

More portrait practice. From an unknown reference.

Mister Rogers never misses

Recent portrait practice.

"The loudest voices . . . are saying that what the Democrats need to be doing is . . . repairing their brand. This is wrong . . . There is only one issue today in American politics: President Trump’s hacksaw attack on the American Republic. The only available position is opposing it."

This administration is not operating anywhere near reality.

Recent portrait practice. From an unlabeled reference photo.

Now reading. "Cheerfully dystopian" may be just what I needed.

$10/year is a steal for a publication doing such vital work.

Currently reading. Almost finished, actually. A brisk, creative, poignant, and timely story. (Alas, I wish it wasn't so timely.) Another winner from Forest Avenue. Highly recommended.