NYT shows how Bari Weiss really screwed this up. She didn't attend any of the 5 screenings of the story, which began on Dec. 12. She only first weighed in on Thursday, and the show incorporated her suggestions. She then waited until weekend to ask for more edits. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/b...

I'm supposed to be grading but Zu gave me the Brandi Carlile/Elton John album this morning, and it has gorgeous liner notes and I'm sitting here listening to a record with the lyrics in front of me like it's 1975.

1 - the exec branch can't decline to spend $ Congress appropriated 2- the fed govt can't use federal $ to extort states over policy/political disagreements 3-the fed govt can't use federal $ to impose conditions unrelated to the funding program 4-the fed govt can't use federal $ to coerce states

Not now, haunted Victorian shoes

Si, como yo, sentís debilidad por las historias de magos y magia, que no se os escape la última de @sarahpinsker.bsky.social: "The Millay Illusion". Es una delicia. www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-...

ebooks are the best last-minute gifts (maybe the best gifts?) and for the person on your list who is involved in activism, loves speculative fiction, or just needs a little hope at this point in the year (and really, who amongst us doesn't), try the acclaimed anthology WE WILL RISE AGAIN:

I've just started this game but I can see the quality instantly.

The Olivia Nuzzi story and the Bari Weiss at CBS story are the same story, which is that the upper echelons of legacy media are absolutely rife with people who worship power and don't feel burdened by any sense of responsibility to their profession or the public.

Americans having to bootleg broadcast news about our government’s offshored concentration camp is a level of fascism that immediately precedes democratic societies dropping leaflets on us from weather balloons.

watching the CECOT 60 Minutes segment that CBS suppressed, it’s striking that Weiss specifically called out as unnecessary some of the most rigorous investigative work in the segment, including an explanation of how it was done (by human rights researchers)

Haven’t mentioned it in a bit but if you’re compiling a list of 2026 releases to check out, reminder that my SFF collection, THE ASTRONAUT AMONG THE FLOWERS comes out in August. More info at @starsandsabers.bsky.social. www.starsandsabers.com/books/the-as...

I have never, once in my career, heard of a news org responding to a decline-to-comment with, “Well, we’ll hold it until you do.” The reason is obvious — it gives the subject of your story a pocket veto.

We're open for early subs from Dec 24-31! If you're an equity-deserving writer, send us SFF short fiction (500-3,500 words) & poetry. Not sure what we want? Less fabulism and more entrenched fantasy/scifi. We'd love pieces that deliver on the promise of their title (show us the monster!!)

This how they did in my team in Jan. They kept them long enough to train bots, then fired them. I'm currently surviving doing work of 4 people, at breakneck pace. If you wonder why I have clear eyed view of where we are with LLMs, this is why. I was ground 0 www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/i-was-forc...

‘60 Minutes’ correspondent says CBS’s Bari Weiss abruptly pulled segment on deportations “If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.” @washingtonpost.com

Worth noting, I guess, that inside of a year we've gone from administration officials taking selfies of themselves at CECOT and bragging about how it's hell on earth to now getting their horrible little media worms to kill stories about it

IIIII WANT MY STATE TEEEEEEVEEEEE

Why do I hear this in The Muppets Theme Song?

Ahahaha my time has come!!! Let's do this!!! I'm a bit pressed for time rn, so I'll probably do a couple now, and the rest over the weekend (G-d willing). A lot of puzzle / thinky games, narrative-focused, queer stuff will follow (not every game is all of these, but some definitely are!)

I will keep saying this. If you bought a calculator and it EVEN ONCE told you 2+2=5, you’d throw it out and demand a refund. If you had an employee who lied confidently to you, and was easily caught, you’d fire them. LLMs are the untrustworthy calculator and the confident liar. Fire them.

They also got rid of the mandate that made the pool larger and healthier, which would have kept costs down as well.

My dogs heard my complaint and tried 3:30 instead.

I keep saying that not everything needs a sequel.

Fam heads up on a call for submissions: please share with a Black Horror writer who you know would eat this up. Look at that dream editing duo: @mauricebroaddus.bsky.social and @chesyaburke.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥 Deadline January 14th, 2026...! blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-goth...

BREAKING: At least 16 files from the Epstein release disappeared from DOJ's webpage, including a photo of Trump, with no explanation.

More news companies doing this nonsense. Have a look at the first two paragraphs of ProPublica’s mission statement. How is a genAI app going to do *investigative journalism* when it can only access what is already available on the web? When it can’t be relied upon to check sources? It’s ridiculous.

30-day books-by-women challenge! Choose 30 books, one per day, no particular order, that you’ve read that were written by women Sarah Pinsker (@sarahpinsker.bsky.social), A SONG FOR A NEW DAY #booksky #bookchallenge #readingwomen 20/30

Woman comes to US at age 6. Graduates nursing school. Work permit. No criminal record. Snatched and imprisoned by ICE for 6 months now. About to be forced back to Honduras. A life destroyed and one less nurse. Merry Christmas. www.nola.com/news/educati...

My dogs have decided this week that I should watch more sunrises.

Also there are 11 more days to submit your queer speculative stories already published in 2025! The editors love reading far and wide, so please especially consider submitting work from journals and anthologies they might not be aware of. www.neonhemlock.com/were-here

I went to buy We Will Rise Again at my local bookstore but they were sold out so I had to settle for asking them to reorder and also buying this, which I've been denying myself for weeks.

I remember coming home from gigs and having to strip and shower before crashing even if was 3 am when I got in.

simultaneously a good news story on McBride's deftness and a real shattering account of how many Democrats still need to get punted into a hole in the ocean www.advocate.com/politics/sar...

Canadian friends: here's a petition to stop AB and SK from Notwithstanding their anti-trans-healthcare legislation (this will make sense to Canadians). Don't let them shield their bigotry from Charter scrutiny! www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

A Lord of the Rings cover band called Flock of Nazgûls—

My God, it's full of ████!

All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landing there.

It's awards eligibility season and we at ConCurrent are definitely eligible for one award: the Hugo Award for Best Related Work. However, if you think we're a good fit for other awards, please do consider us! Short fact thread incoming. 1/

For the record, the law states that "No record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary." www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

Oh, @sfwa.org , Jason is right. This is a spectacularly bad decision. LLM-assisted stories on the ballot mean human-created stories were kept off. This is an organization of writers, and the Nebs are meant to celebrate writers.

Vajra Chandrasekera, author of "Rakesfall" and winner of the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize 2025 shares a nifty piece of advice for speculative fiction writers. 🔮 - #SouthAsian #SpeculativeFiction

At least 20 people who have received clemency from President Trump so far this year were also forgiven of financial penalties totaling tens of millions of dollars. Some of these offenders owed money to real-life victims of fraud.

Me: (working on novel) Brain: Hey, got a great idea for a novel. Not this novel. Me: (typing) Not now, brain. Brain: Don't you wanna know what it is? Me: NOT NOW, BRAIN Brain: I'm not gonna lie, it's SUPER cool Me: LET ME FINISH THE NOVEL IN FRONT OF ME, BRAIN Brain: Okay, I'm gonna tell you

Tomorrow morning (Sat 12/20) Baltimore's Enoch Pratt library book club is discussing Haunt Sweet Home, both in person at the Central Branch & online. I'll be joining them online half an hour into the discussion. Online means you can join in too if you want! calendar.prattlibrary.org/event/pratt-...

Guaranteed basic income tied to the median US income now, starting with elders

Last year, one-term Rep. Anthony D’Esposito lost after adding his mistress to his official payroll. This year, Republicans made him the inspector general at the Dept of Labor, where he’ll be expected to investigate ethical lapses — despite his own ethical lapses. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Funny animal videos no longer being trustworthy just fucking sucks all around. I love the wonder of animal behavior and what it says about the experience of being alive. It's because it happened in reality that it's so fun. It's not fun if it was just made up. There's no wonder there.

New Malcolm Tucker insult just dropped

These people can fuck off. I'm an ambulatory wheelchair user. I can walk from the gate to the plane, but not the 2 miles w/in an airport from the outer doors to the plane. More disabled people don't get services they need than the # of able-bodied scammers. Articles like this make things worse.

Hoping to see more submissions from under-repped groups in my submissions—don't self-reject, it's easier to send me a story about death. We're open until 12/31 (midnight eastern). psychopomp.com/the-deadland...