👑Javier Bardem at the Emmy's yesterday. Discussing the Film Workers' for Palestine pledge: "I won't work" with any company that is in business with Israel: "I cannot work with somebody who justifies or supports the genocide." Can't stop the tide! #BDS #FreePalestine Video: Variety

Had a few conversations recently that make me think, for the first time in ages, there are some exciting things happening in media. This is one of the highlights: Equator, a new magazine set up by Nesrine Malik, Pankaj Mishra, Jonathan Shainin and others. Sign up for info here: www.equator.org

ex-IDF chief confirms Gaza casualties over 200,000 That’s 10% of the entire population of Gaza in 2 years www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

@jacksheehan.bsky.social on fighting horror and finding hope as slaughter in Gaza continues.

'The real “productivity gains” seem to come from layoffs and squeezing more work from fewer people not AI.'

A United States Senate investigation has identified more than 500 credible reports of human rights abuses in US immigration detention since January, including alarming allegations of mistreatment of pregnant women and children.

Far right demagoguery - thanks to crucial, repeated validation from the political mainstream - has painted a target on the back of every man of colour in this country. Everyone knows what is likely to happen next.

what's happening in Baltimore really gives the game away. a Dem major has drastically cut violent crime with a services-focused approach, even including police too, and none of these people give a shit popular.info/p/the-secret...

This week, we're reading; a review by @jacksheehan.bsky.social of @praddenkeefe.bsky.social's SAY NOTHING; an off-the-rails short story by Maria Margaret Alvarado; and an article by Anna Hezel on wellness capitalism cum hydration industry. These and more in our newsletter: buff.ly/TTiwRs6

Another essay about Palestine, this one with some hope. open.substack.com/pub/jackshee...

The state no longer employs enough public health nurses to conduct routine checks on infants, but it’s investing in armoured vehicles to protect us from non-existent enemies, all so as - let’s be honest - to try impress euro-Atlantic elites.

It should be a source of profound embarrassment that a bunch of FedSoc lifers are taking a more vocal and principled stand against the corrupt Eric Adams deal than most elected Dems.

Philip K Dick was right part MCXXXVI

Ah yes, famously setting fire to the countryside is not “an attack on rural Ireland” but wanting clean water is

The United States has declared economic war on some of its closest allies and Silicon Valley is itching to use the power of the state to defend its interests at all costs. It’s time for an alliance not just to combat US belligerence, but to build a different vision for tech.

Outside the governor, is there no recourse in NYC to remove a mobster mayor who cut a deal with a terrorist to betray his constituents?

As the unofficial Dem strategy explainer on here I can't really tell you why Jeffries had such a wimpy response to the Eric Adams quid pro quo. At some point this just becomes a timid resistance to doing anything.

Never misses

Elon Musk's government rampage is also a massive bailout happening in plain sight: For X, for Tesla, for xAI, for the man himself nymag.com/intelligence...

I really really need you guys to make a conscious rejection of generative AI tools part of your ongoing political resistance. Don't use ChatGPT. Turn off Gemini. Don't read the AI results forced upon you at the top of Google search. Don't use AI art generators or support anyone who does. Please.

Incredible that they continue to feed us the line "the highest rents of all time are actually a bad deal for landlords"

Has the American literary community, who for years have warned of the dangers of banning books, anything to say about this?

Day one of Obama's term, the GOP was facing the same odds and declared unanimously and unambiguously that they would not help him a lick and anyone who didn't like it could eat shit. It largely worked, and they left the literal playbook for the Dems - who have instantly surrendered.

When Musk's minions forced their way into USAID's servers, they made themselves "super administrators" meaning they had access to workers' Social Security numbers, credit histories, and home addresses. They may have well broken the law. www.propublica.org/article/usai...

this is the development that most fills me with dread www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/u...

In a new lawsuit filed against Trump by state AGs, a family with a trans kid shares she died by suicide last month citing fears Trump would deny her access to gender-affirming care. "Her parents have expressed fear...that what happened to their daughter does not happen to other children."

Is it just me or has WIRED been dogwalking the rest of the media on this story

BREAKING: Marwan Barghouti’s son told Al Arabiya and Al Hadath, in an exclusive statement, that there are unprecedented positive indicators regarding the release of his father in the second phase of the ceasefire.

the bar is low but this is despicable www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/w...

something in hindsight really contemptible is the posturing of (some, not all, etc) legacy journalists at places like the NYT during Trump 1 as Heroic Men Of The Press, Speaking Truth To Power when they were basically safe, vs. their craven shit now because they think they might be in real danger

@ezralevin.bsky.social @leahgreenberg.bsky.social @indivisible.org @azindivisible.bsky.social Hey, Sen. Mark Kelly! Can you hear us now? SHUT IT ALL DOWN! AZ Indivisibles gather at Senator Mark Kelly’s office.

250 constituents gathered outside Schumer & Gillibrand offices in Syracuse today: “Delay, Block, Obstruct. SHUT.IT.DOWN”

The Programme for Government’s Justice section is basically a plan for tech to be used to massively increase surveillance and cameras, and the processing by AI of biometric data collected by them.

Have we reached the point yet where people will recognise systematic surveillance as an enabler of institutional violence?

Sorry but this is vile from the New York Times. Genocidal language dressed and cooked for a liberal audience.

Scene at Treasury

USAID is a congressionally mandated federal agency. By law, it is to function until Congress says otherwise. These DOGE incels are nothing but insurrectionist brownshirts and they should be met in person by members of Congress, the press and DC residents.

The Democratic party is the most pathetic opposition party in the world.

🇵🇸 Governor of Tulkarm, occupied West Bank: Israeli forces have forced over 75% of Tulkarm camp’s population—around 9,000 people—to flee their homes, an alarming figure.

This is so fucking dumb. A complete abdication of politics

People are understandably feeling scared as Trump unleashes his torrent of attacks on vulnerable populations. But some in the grassroots are fighting back, piece by piece. @rebeccaburns.bsky.social burns and I documented one such effort in Chicago disrupting Trump’s mass deportation plans.

"Who really keeps a stony, unbreakable silence? Governments. Militaries. Institutions. The state does not get weepy and commit to tape what they have done." *A perfectly written review* @thebaffler.com @jacksheehan.bsky.social thebaffler.com/latest/codes...

Hochul should remove this monster from office tonight.

I did a semiotics on the Brutalist www.commonwealmagazine.org/empire-signs

"In the silence the state mandates, all we can hear are the justifications of the perpetrators." Loved this @thebafflermag piece by Jack Sheehan about the Troubles, which goes far beyond the Irish context, in its discussion of silence and the silenced. thebaffler.com/latest/codes...

It is amazing how well this has worked out so far, by the numbers and also just in terms of what you see at the river crossings and in midtown. No greater proof of how cowed/dorky/incompetent New York Democrats are that none of them can even find it in themselves to take any credit for it.