every time I see a new share of the "State Farm has uninsured 50k homes in california because fire" piece I can't stop thinking about how their tagline is "Like a good neighbour, State Farm is there"

This is an oldie but gift link on why you if you're near fires right now you want to be inside with an air purifier and if you have to go outside wearing the tightest sealing N95/KN95/KF94 is a really good idea www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

⚠️ URGENT ACTION ALERT TO STOP ANTI-IMMIGRANT BILL ⚠️ ✨Call your Senators via the Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 ✨Once you're connected, say: "Hello, I am a constituent, and I urge the Senator to vote NO on the Laken Riley Act." ✨After you're done, ask 3 of your friends to call

NYU up to some more bullshit

most of the "I need a private fire brigade and no property taxes" guys will also probably be furious to see new homeless people in their city and will definitely not interrogate the connection between those two things at all

LINKS TO MUTUAL AID IN LOS ANGELES — PLEASE SHARE tiny.cc/malan-fire

The fires in L.A. have caused terrible air quality conditions across the region. Here are ways you can protect yourself, and your children, from the health impacts of wildfire smoke.

*looks directly at U.S. universities and their comms people*

📍

Planet Fitness locations in Los Angeles are “offering anyone impacted by the fires—first responders and residents—free access to shower, recharge, and relax” No membership is required to take advantage of locker rooms, WiFi, charging stations at any LA County location not impacted by the fires.

Lindsey Bestebreurtje is a curatorial assistant at Smithsonian’s NMAAHC. This interview is based on her new book, Built by the People Themselves: African American Community Development in Arlington, Virginia, from the Civil War through Civil Rights currentpub.com/2025/01/07/t...

When a liberal area suffers a climate change disaster, Republicans say “God is punishing them.” When a conservative area suffers a climate change disaster, Republicans say “Democrats control weather machines.” Must be hard going through life as a full-blown idiot.

Some Dems have this visceral urge to respond to batshit GOP ideas with "Of course I'll consider that!" They think it makes them sound reasonable. But it actually just makes MAGA sound reasonable. It's a strategic self own. Don't overthink this. Call out stupid shit and say no. It's not that hard.

it’s the culture war above all. the libs like clean, efficient energy? well then, fuck clean, efficient energy.

400,000 Americans lost their lives to Covid because of Trump's incompetence. He's not changed one bit because of it. American lives and deaths mean nothing to him.

Facebook is censoring 404 Media stories about Facebook's censorship 🔗 www.404media.co/facebook-is-...

FREE WATER: The Walmart location on Sheila Lane will be giving away cases of bottled water this afternoon. When: Wednesday, Jan. 8 from 3 p.m. until supplies last Where: 2410 Sheila Lane, Richmond, VA 23225

"This isn’t about free speech. It’s about allowing some people to harm others through vitriol – and providing the tools of amplification to help them. This isn’t about shareholder value. It’s about a kayfabe war between tech demagogues vying to be the most powerful boy in the room."

Emails obtained by The Appeal show Virginia Department of Corrections officials discussing how to punish people at Red Onion State Prison who self-immolated. "We need to make sure they know they won’t gain anything….but making them pay money is good too" theappeal.org/red-onion-vi...

If you’re a disaster researcher willing and able to do wildfire interviews can you let me know so I can pass your info along to journalists?

Mark Zuckerberg cited a "cultural tipping point" to justify dumping fact-checks and relaxing hate speech rules. I wrote about how, for Meta, these kinds of tipping points seem to come along every four years. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Los Angeles received just 0.16 inches of rain since May 2024, the second-driest period on record. Wildfires are now engulfing the city in January. But some politicians still claim the climate crisis is a "hoax" as they do the bidding of Big Oil. What planet are they living on?

If you’re in L.A. I’m hearing that the Planet Fitnesses are offering a place to charge phones, shower etc in case you don’t have access to power

To find a relief center near you, go to the links below for The Red Cross or Salvation Army’s relief centers. www.redcross.org/get-help/dis... www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/wildfire...

You know it's some bullshit when UCLA won't close for a damn inferno but will close because of protests. Utterly ridiculous.

I enjoyed my conversation with journalist Maria Smilios, who joined me on Left of Black to discuss her important book "The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis". www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbj3...

Thomas Jefferson was a Deist. So was Washington. Deism is a philosophical belief that the universe operates by natural laws and that human reason can solve social and political problems. This is a laughably poor choice to support their Xian nation myth.

FWIW, here's a 1970 version of that apocryphal Thomas Jefferson prayer that Mike Johnson read in the House of Representatives today. It appeared in The Cross and the Flag, the magazine of Gerald LK Smith, a white supremacist & Christian Nationalist who was America's most notorious antisemite.

The corp media will sit back quietly and never press Johnson about where he found this prayer because they are complicit and have no issues with white supremacy!

I don't listen to a lot of podcasts. This is one that I will heartily endorse. It is both eminently listenable, and it clearly unpacks a lot of the biased cultural norms we take for granted. It has changed the way I look at the world, for the better. A lot.

America was not founded as a Christian Nation. But given that most people in the Republican Party today have convinced themselves that this is true (via many fake quotes like that Jefferson prayer) the US very well may BECOME a Christian Nation in the future. IMO, that would be a very bad thing.

January 6 was part of an attempted coup d’etat in America. Don’t let Trump and his allies tell you otherwise | Arwa Mahdawi

I made a conscious decision to put my “Liv-gate” thread here on BlueSky, and not on X or Threads. I really hope more journalists use this platform here to engage instead of places like X/Twitter or threads — places that have actively sought to throttle journalists.

It's only a stain if the rest of the world considers it a stain...but they're not bothered...otherwise they'd stop it

Folks: please be diligent about not disseminating Ann Telnaes' cartoon in a way that she's not getting the clicks on it (until she says differently). Her IP matters now more than ever. Make it go viral but make sure she benefits. anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-qui...

None of them were drag queens.

He demanded new elections in Britain, promoted Germany's far-right and blasted the European Commission. Elon Musk is pushing the hard right in Europe, where some are grappling with how, or even whether, to contain him. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/01/04/world/politics/musk-rightwing-influ…

I can’t believe we have titans of industry slipping million dollar bills into Trump’s inaugural g-string like it’s some bachelor party for the end of democracy.

ICYMI: A 6-part study conducted by researchers from the University of California-Irvine concluded that Republicans, specifically those with conservative leanings, tend to use and spread more misinformation than those with liberal leanings.

I love Torch Literary Arts and I’m so honored to be their first feature of 2025. Check out their site for some new poems and a really fun interview💜 www.torchliteraryarts.org/post/january...

“I’ve worked for the Post since 2008 as an editorial cartoonist. I’ve had feedback and conversations—and differences—about cartoons I’ve submitted, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now. anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-qui...

In case you missed this last night, principled @anntelnaes.bsky.social quit the #BrokenPost because its Murdochian editors killed this cartoon. The Post and democracy are dying in front of us. anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-qui...

🎯🎯🎯🎯

I was part of several media activist campaigns over decades to secure net neutrality, and can't begin to tell you how destructive this will be to journalism, public health, democracy (+art/popcult,etc) Net neutrality was crucial BEFORE local news died, before disinformation age. Now? Holy hell.

well fuck

Normally, outside cameras aren’t allowed in Congress. But remember when it took Kevin McCarthy 15 votes to scrape together a Speaker win in 2023, and we watched the chaos unfold live? That was thanks to C-SPAN bringing their own cameras—and they’ll be back at it again today. 🍿 🍿 🍿