Anyway please enjoy this pumpkin I saw yesterday

This week, I withdrew from a speaking engagement at a public university because they sent me a list of prohibited “words & concepts.” I will not humor this censorship. It does a disservice to the stories I’m discussing & the audience, who deserve unfettered access to information & conversation.

Before the midterms of 1866, President Andrew Johnson called his congressional opponents traitors and said they should be hanged. Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.

With full alt text for the nested image.

… and a copyeditor advised marketing ourselves as ‘AI checkers’ instead of copyeditors because demand dropped rapidly in their particular sector. I don’t want to live in this world. (I know translators who have been hit badly by this: more work, less pay.)

one thing about this is that in the wake of all of this kirk is basically forgotten. he was barely cold in the ground before his allies — before his *wife* — started scheming over what they could take for themselves. a real life parable.

🕯 Today we pause to remember the trans people whose lives were taken by violence this year. Those lost to hatred, and those lost to the unbearable weight of living in a world that too often refuses to see their worth. We hold every name and every story in our hearts. #TDOR

When I was homeless in 2019, the Salvation Army shelter refused to give me a bed (even though they were available), because I was on immunosuppressant meds and they didn’t want to be responsible or liable if I got more sick or died on premises. They’d rather I die on the street.

This is your regular reminder that the federal government is actively monitoring social media and most social media sites will comply with subpoenas to some degree. So, you know. Be careful what you post

some type of shit you’d make 2 years ago making fun of rightwingers

No institution or person who caved or caves to Trump can ever be fully trusted again. This includes many universities and the people who run them and the owners of many news orgs. Remember their names and deeds.

Man, CBS must feel really stupid right now! Just kidding, CBS wasn't settling a lawsuit. They were paying a bribe and they knew it.

And yes, I wrote a full book about Jamal Khashoggi and his murder. Delivered edits, everything. Until my editors at Harper Collins completely disappeared and stopped work on my manuscript, forcing me to pull it. www.thedailybeast.com/harpercollin...

SLVNIA.BMF

Remember: they used thousands of academic books too! If you’re a scholar, check for your books too. This isn’t just novelists and pop writers, it’s academic books too!

Whomst among us hasn't felt a little vacuum about snackie all done

"Microsoft warns that Windows 11's agentic AI could install malware on your PC: 'Only enable this feature if you understand the security implications.'" bro what-- what are we doing here, exactly, how can you--anyone be okay with this?

Marjorie Taylor Greene has been disliked by the left for years and years and had never had to fear for her life. She's been disliked by the right for 1 day and now has to hire security.

Jim Jordan begged someone to not rat out the sexual assault that was happening at Ohio State. He was crying on the phone. Groveling. This man threw out all his dignity to try and cover for horrifying crimes of sexual abuse. Think about that for a moment.

We're primarying John Fetterman. Last week, Fetterman again sold out working Pennsylvanians. He was the deciding vote for a Republican budget bill that will strip healthcare from over 400,000 Pennsylvanians. We deserve real working class leadership in the Senate, not a Trump-enabling Democrat.

Like every time you think, we’re selling F-35s to the bone saw guy, you gotta remember we’re also selling F-35s to the 9/11 guys. Same guys.

NEW: US airlines (Delta, United, American, etc) will shut down a program in which it sold hundreds of millions of your flight records to government agencies, including ICE, FBI, ATF, more. Comes after intense lawmaker-pressure and 404 Media's months-long reporting www.404media.co/airlines-wil...

Noem is mad about the whistles. Good job everyone.

My pettiest post returns! It's The Scourge of Upside Down Knitting Needles! How did we do in 2025? afuse8production.slj.com/2025/11/18/t...

Really important work. As a copy editor, I have in the past been reminded that fact checking is not part of my remit and I should not do it. I want more clients who appreciate fact checking. (I’ve caught some corkers. Off-by-one means a lot in WW2.)

Man’s got courage. We knew that.

ICYMI: The Heritage Foundation was founded by Joseph Coors and is still majorly funded by his family’s not-for-profit: The Adolph Coors Foundation, which is directly funded by Molson Coors via family ownership trusts. So, if you hate nazis please do not bring any of these beers this holiday season.

You've probably seen Marjorie Taylor Greene on the airwaves denouncing the "toxic politics" in the United States. So, let's revisit the evidence of who helped make these politics so toxic. WATCH:

HEY ROMANCELANDIA! @sesmith.lol is one of the very few writers I will accept an interview request from in January or February, which is basically the highest honor a romance author can bestow. And Scarleteen is an AMAZING resource! If you've got some $$$ throw it that way!

PSA for any Apub authors whose books are in the Anthropic settlement list: Amazon is not participating in the settlement, since they have an investment in Anthropic. When you submit your claim form, you DO NOT have to list Amazon as an add'l rightsholder, & can claim 100% of settlement money.

The Epstein bill is headed to Trump’s desk as we speak. So, what now? Well, a lot of panic, it seems. I have seen every single possible worst case scenario all over social media in the last hour, so let’s go through this step by step. My only request, read the whole thing before commenting. 1/

Uber for selling neighbors. Culmination of gig economy in late stage capitalism.

just learned we won an award for our blog post about Tom Holland and stormwater management. remember, when you see an article about stormwater management, you repost it. i don’t make the rules.

Where trees become legends… and the forest begins to whisper. 📍Fanal forest, Madeira 🌳

mr president sir theres a story coming about how you intervened to help a sex criminal. no sir, not that sex criminal you helped….no not that one either…sir, please stop guessing sex criminals that you helped. ill give you a hint sir, hes a trafficker. no sir, not that trafficker a different one

Turns out both DownDetector and DownForEveryoneOrJustMe use Cloudflare so are currently, themselves, down

in the last 5 days these laid-off VIBE staffers have only made it to 31% of their GoFundMe goal after being laid off. please show them the same support you showed Teen Vogue!!

parents freed a hummingbird from a skylight with a coleus flower attached to a pole

if you're looking for a very, very very worthy cause to donate to, this one is it!! scarleteen has been around since /i/ was a queer teenager seeking more comprehensive sex ed than school could ever (or would ever) give me

POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success

The fact that no one in the room stood up for her says a lot about how we got here bsky.app/profile/pale...

Dictionary day is finally here! The first new print M-W in more than 20 years

every author in the class action, please file the claim.

We will continue to do what is right: rescue lives and defend human rights at sea and on land. Read more about the Justice Fleet here: justice-fleet.org. Solidarity with Mediterranea Saving Humans! justice-fleet.org

Italy attacks rescue organization Mediterranea Saving Humans for following maritime law! The first ship of the #JusticeFleet faces 60 days’ detention & a 10k fine for bringing rescued persons to land safely. 2 public prosecutor offices even ordered urgent arrival in port 👉 shorturl.at/WB7mW

This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu

“She explained how much Covid could hurt her & how vulnerable it felt to be unable to wear a mask to protect herself. She was a perfect example of why other people need to wear masks even if they don’t personally think Covid will hurt them” If you want to honour Alice Wong’s memory, please mask up

BY THE WAY If you've updated to Windows 11 recently, you're probably on version 25H2. There's a new setting in Settings: Privacy & Security. Scroll aaaaaaaalll the way to the bottom and you'll see "Text and Image Generation." TURN IT OFF.

So much of what we know of the past is coincidental finds. Having proven that such cities did exist, the question becomes immediately how many more we have missed or dismissed.

Oh hey, I found the war on christmas