i am all in favor of the rip-roaring return of shame

sure, it can be hard to teach horrible adults shame. but I think it’s also true that many horrible adults have been treated with kid gloves by everyone around them throughout their lives - and it is possible to break through that if you demonstrate that you aren’t going to take their shit.

the cool thing about shame is that you absolutely *can* force people to learn it against their will

Oh so he’s just STUPID stupid. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

A bigot may remain a bigot in his heart, but it’s still very much a strategic win if he becomes too intimidated to be horrible to others in public. When bigots are afraid, it becomes a lot *harder* for them to recruit others and to brutalize innocent people.

You’d think the last 10 years would have taught people that it is in fact preferable when most of the horrible bigots feel too afraid to be vocal bigots in public. We are currently experiencing what happens when a critical mass of Nazis decide it’s safe to let their fascist flag fly. It’s not good.

A disspirited enemy is still good! If the adversary has no fight in them, they'll be much less likely to fight for long. The right being depressed and unenthusiastic is a positive good! We just need to keep the big tent people from trying to bring them in, where they can fuck everything up.

The Kremlin likes to exercise rhetorical dominance over Trump and they say this in the safe knowledge that we won’t invade or that if we do it will be a disaster. Trump might think of Putin as a friend but that’s not how Russia sees the US. The US is to be humiliated, fragmented, and weakened.

@deannaraybourn.bsky.social GAUNTLET THROWN. YOU IN?

🚨SCOOP: Google gave lawmakers gifts up to $2,000 to attend a secret perk-filled summit touting AI & data centers as lawmakers consider AI dereg & data center subsidies, according to documents reviewed by @levernews.com. Lawmakers got hotel rooms costing up to $500 per night & a Wrigley Field party.

Democrats who voted against the NDAA, which bans trans athletes in women's sports at US military academies. -Bennet -Booker -Cantwell -Duckworth -Kim -Markey -Merkley -Murphy -Murray -Padilla -Sanders -Schatz -Schiff -Smith -Van Hollen -Warren -Welch -Wyden www.senate.gov/legislative/...

Disney has hiked prices and laid off hundreds of workers this year. Yet Disney paid its CEO $41B in 2024. It just reported a 36% increase in net profits for parks and streaming. And it plans to double stock buybacks next year. Remember this as Disney turns to AI.

Trump Calls Groceries ‘A Hoax’

Indiana’s Senate has voted AGAINST the GOP gerrymander that’d have locked in a 9-0 map. This keeps the 7-2 map in place, saving two Democratic seats heading into 2026. The vote failed big, 19/31. The MAJORITY of the GOP senators opposed it!

The regime did everything in its power to rig the congressional maps in Indiana — and lost. Even in deep-red territory, we are not powerless. Thank you to @indivisiblenei.bsky.social and everybody else who is fighting back (and winning) from inside the machine.

a democrat in congress created a good moment of friction with one of the most vile people in the administration i, a member of the media, have highlighted that moment Kristi Noem forced to face decorated war veteran she deported www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...

OK there this should work

good thread parsing how what’s presented as “wow these people are clueless” is actually “these people are trying to get you to react to their holocaust joke”

follow creators you actually like, and if possible just use shortform apps to discover them and then go actually consume their content through something like Patreon if they offer that option feed the algorithm as little of your attention as possible and take an adversarial position towards it

JUST IN: It appears Democrats will win the mayor's office in Miami. This would be a flip from GOP. It's not final yet, but Democrat Eileen Higgins is up 61% to 39% as the first 23K ballots are counted. That's *the majority of votes cast*, & Election Day is no less Democratic today. More soon!

I continue to have no sympathy left for whinging about how the public are rude about AI and feel threatened by it when the biggest players in the AI space have spent years very vocally and constantly *threatening the public*

Just heard disappointing news that @warren.senate.gov will co-sponsor the Kids Online Safety Act again despite overwhelming opposition from LGBTQ, human rights, abortion rights, and racial justice groups. This is a horrific betrayal of her constituents, particularly trans youth and their families.

Are you sitting down? My friend Kenn shares this excellent photo of two Desirees and two Mme. A's with birthday cake! (This is either before the national tour started or after it had been playing a few months.)

Hassan didn’t really know how to promote a link and had raised only $10 before today

“‘You want some chicken? You ain’t getting it here, bro,’ Wayne Davis can be heard taunting the agents through the door.” “‘Go somewhere else,’ he can be heard saying through the door.” www.wwltv.com/article/news...

SCOOP — Gregg Phillips, a conspiracy theorist with no emergency management experience who helped produce the election-denying documentary ‘2000 Mules’ with Dinesh D’Souza and has faced numerous legal inquiries, has been named head of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery. My story:

“I am so bored by AI. One of the things I love about the theatre is AI can’t do it.” Ethan Hawke is a dude 👌🏻

huh so not two weeks then

Happening now: Texas leaders announcing a rollout of a statewide program to put TPUSA chapters in high schools and colleges across the state. Gov. Abbott adds that schools that stand in the way should be reported to the Texas Education Agency.

when you're a size 8 but the 10 was on sale

my glass wreath ornament from nora arrived yesterday and it is just the most charming possible thing, i love it

"he protec he attac"

Honestly it’s real useful to understand that centrists are eager to meet fascists in the middle but not anybody else lol

Thanks, #ColumboTV friends! And thanks to @sesamesquirrel.bsky.social for hosting (and for the frequent reminders). Happy holidays, and see you next time.

If any of you #ColumboTV fans are interested, tomorrow at 6PM ET we're watching HARRY O, the 1970s detective show starring David Janssen, over on Mastodon. Hashtag is #HarryOrwell and there's a link to the episode on the hashtag.

This is my first watch party on Bluesky and I find the interface kind of cumbersome, but I had fun with all of you! #ColumboTV

jack cassidy is the ian ogilvy of christopher lees #ColumboTV

never trust anyone who's played by jack cassidy, i'm just saying #ColumboTV

Sadly, the brilliant Barbara Colby was murdered in real life. She was so talented, and a very popular acting teacher. #ColumboTV

Hi friends! Glad for an excuse to watch my favorite episode of #ColumboTV with you all. I'm in the middle of a bunch of things and also running late so I may not be very chatty.

NEW— DC Metropolitan Police just shared a tiny bit more body cam footage from the March US Institute of Peace raid in response to my FOIA lawsuit w/ @rcfp.org One clip shows USIP President George Moose being escorted out. Moose: You know we're gonna see you all in court. MPD: Yea we figured that.

these people aren’t “visionaries” they’re drunken blackjack players with a self-replenishing pile of chips and a bunch of sycophantic dopes saying shit like “splitting 10s is genius sir”

Bill Kristol is one of the few anti-Trump public figures I sincerely think looked at how his ideology led to Trump, said to himself "if what I believed led to this, what I believed is wrong" and acted on it.

This fall, Hawaii's supreme court rejected an argument that recording interrogations is burdensome for police: “If children can record everyday events with ease, law enforcement cannot claim hardship to record perhaps its most consequential investigative act.”

Yes.

Pirro said the pipe bombing suspect had "not a lot of social media". She should call me, because I have now found his: Twitter, Tumblr, Soundcloud, YouTube channel, songs he made on YouTube, Steam, and about five fanfic and gaming forum accounts.

You can help Bolts continue to provide crucial coverage of local elections. Here's how: - Repost this = I donate $1. - Follow @boltsmag.org = I donate $1. - Donate (link below) + tell me how much = I match your donation. (Donate monthly = I match a year's worth)

I'm not exaggerating when I say following @boltsmag.org rn will unlock money for our journalism. A generous reader, @russ41.bsky.social, has offered to donate $1 for every 1-person increase to our follower count. If you're not following @boltsmag.org yet, it'll directly help fund our reporting!

A window into our budget: Our default rate for an article by a freelancer is $800. Our follower count has increased by roughly 200 since @russ41.bsky.social made that offer... I wonder if we can grow it by another 600 followers for this offer to fund one article!

Bolts is my go-to for coverage of state electoral politics and the injustice system. Check out this story from literally this week about wild commissary markups and profiteering off incarcerated people in NC!