Well that's disturbing.

putting it behind a paywall is not "turning it off" lol what www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

a curious little side trip from my Progressive Musical Benevolent Soc. research last night: among the names inscribed on the cemetery gate of the Society in 1923 was M. WINAKOR. Not a common family name so I'm guessing it was the NYC cornetist Moses Winakor (1871-1940). here's his brother, Joseph...

Writing about Musk’s world wide CSAM generator I’ve gotten the response, “What is CSAM?” I know it’s the preferred, non exploitive term, but I wonder if the outrage would be louder and the pressure on Apple and other carriers stronger if critics used more tabloidy descriptions of the product.

My kitty is the cutest and you can't completely tell from this photo but she looks like a woodland creature or maybe a cat sitting in the corner of an 18th century painting

"Query from a Researcher: Jewish student and Yiddishist at The University of Sheffield in the UK, Torin Menzies, is researching whether and how political beliefs influence individuals' motivations to engage with Yiddish (including klezmer and other cultural elements)." ...

This is an incredible look into the special circumstances faced by American Samoans—American “nationals,” not citizens—who aren’t allowed to vote, but who often don’t even know that this is the case, and who are now being prosecuted in Alaska boltsmag.org/prosecuted-f...

This program recruiting scholars from outside Canada comes with *incredible* funding. If you're looking to move, check it out! research.ubc.ca/federal-rese...

A PR firm hired to produce ads in support of the CBC is the same firm that has, for years, been calling for the public broadcaster to be defunded through its right-wing Canada Proud Facebook pages, a @rorywh.bsky.social investigation finds.

Remembering today that having your heart broken is a necessary step on the path to becoming fully human. Whichever heartbreak is your first, it’s probably critical that a state break your heart so that you can develop a political imagination. If this is your first, I’m sorry and also welcome.

My kitty is the cutest and you can't completely tell from this photo but she looks like a woodland creature or maybe a cat sitting in the corner of an 18th century painting

I reached out to more than three dozen X advertisers, xAI investors, politicians, and government agencies about the growing library of sexualized deepfakes generated with Grok—now including Renee Good. I only heard back from four, with three declining to comment. spitfirenews.com/p/grok-deepf...

Thanks to Dave Levitt's relative Marcia Levitt Savage who was nice enough to send me a clearer image of the Progressive Musical Benevolent Society's 1941(?) 30th anniversary banquet photo in her possession when I messaged her on Facebook. this was the mutual aid society of NYC Klezmer musicians so..

In 2024, I rose in Senate QP to ask why the Govt of Canada was still using X for official communications. Today, they are still there. What exactly will it take to break the spell?

60 workers at Ubisoft’s studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia voted to form a union. In response, Ubisoft announced it was closing the entire studio. Maybe it’s time to look into the millions they get in public money for operating in Canada.

“Emerson does not have a mother today because one of you murdered a woman in cold blood yesterday.”

Thanks to Dave Levitt's relative Marcia Levitt Savage who was nice enough to send me a clearer image of the Progressive Musical Benevolent Society's 1941(?) 30th anniversary banquet photo in her possession when I messaged her on Facebook. this was the mutual aid society of NYC Klezmer musicians so..

The rollout of Tony Dokoupil's rebooted "CBS Evening News" is not going over well inside the network. It's a "total disaster," as one insider put it. Or a "total shit show," as another told me. Much more in @status.news: www.status.news/p/tony-dokou...

thinking about Dona Dumitru Siminică who was mentioned in that article. man with one of the most otherwordly heavenly voices of all time.

Begging arts institutions to stop being huge, capitulating cowards in 2026

“i want back my rocking chairs, / solipsist sunsets, / & coastal jungle sounds...” A poem by Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE earlier today. lithub.com/renee-nicole...

tickets aren't on sale just yet but I'm stoked about this show here in Vancouver in a month and a half with some good friends from the US klezmer world. really a show tailor made for my niche interests🤓

"teens, seniors" 😸

fascinating new article by a friend about how musical folklore was repurposed in communist Romania

immigration is a great thing, we need to say that - & take the fight to the nativists my latest for @liberalcurrents.com www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-g...

fascinating new article by a friend about how musical folklore was repurposed in communist Romania

"teens, seniors" 😸

Trump looks at Putin's Russia -- a failed and decaying state with a ruined economy engaged in perpetual wars of conquest that benefit only a dictator and his cronies -- and asks: How can I make the United States like that?

my hot take is that I don't think it's this website specifically that's toxic. the Circumstances are toxic and nobody really knows what to do about it so they come online and scream. and if I may offer an alternative: actually going outside and screaming feels better.

There we go. That there’s a headline.

tickets aren't on sale just yet but I'm stoked about this show here in Vancouver in a month and a half with some good friends from the US klezmer world. really a show tailor made for my niche interests🤓

played Mahjong with my longtime group this past weekend for the first time in a year. I was either away in NY or caught a cold other times they met. I fancy myself somewhat of a shrewd and rules minded intermediate level player but I guess I'm rusty becaue I didn't win once over several hours😪

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been dissolved, ending its 58 years as the primary funder for PBS, NPR and local TV and radio stations

couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of maniacs: "over the past three weeks, the MACA Facebook page has become entrenched with infighting between Rand and the board, with Rand controlling the narrative by deleting posts with opposing views and banning members, including the entire current board."

What X is allowing Grok to do is unlawful or regulatory-illegal in multiple jurisdictions, creates clear DSA violations, and continues despite regulator scrutiny. The images do not need to be pornographic, non-consensual sexualised or intimate depictions are enough.

ah, my friend Shaun Williams who knows about Romanian music got back to me about this piece... "I’ve been curious about this tune for a couple of years now, starting with a version I received from Paul M. Gifford entitled “Ai raci și scoici” by the mysterious Romanian-Romani singer Madame Florica."

absolutely unprecedented levels of pettiness

That is now 2 statements from Carney that have legitimized Trump's violent, extrajudicial overthrow & kidnapping of another country's leader. Our prime minister looks more Neville Chamberlain than elbows up rn. (He has also failed to speak directly to Canadians who might be feeling unsettled.)

sad for my jpress research into this that their shitty OCR cannot distinguish between בראנקס and בלאנקס meaning any attempt to find Blanks Miuzik Stor is lost under a mountain of Bronx, not to mention Leon Blanks Groyser Suskes (some kind of Yiddish theatre thing I guess)

great video from @jasonkpargin.bsky.social explaining very clearly how and why microsoft onedrive is not to be trusted: www.tiktok.com/@jasonkpargi...

ah, my friend Shaun Williams who knows about Romanian music got back to me about this piece... "I’ve been curious about this tune for a couple of years now, starting with a version I received from Paul M. Gifford entitled “Ai raci și scoici” by the mysterious Romanian-Romani singer Madame Florica."

this @antihate.ca coverage of a Nazi violinist attending a far right conference here a while ago... woof "Thea Coburn is a classical violinist and operations manager with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra. [...who] published over 30 articles for the far-right and anti-feminist magazine Evie."

Imagine being the person brave enough to leak this in the hopes that media attention could stop it and then the media just……buries it.

A tale of two neighbours.

"Filling in the Blanks" on my Progressive Musical Benevolent Society research about the Blanks/Blankleders family of musicians. There were about 10 of them in the P.M.B.S., most related to Shimele Blank AKA Yankel Blankleder, a klezmer violinist who owned this music shop at 190 East 2nd Street.

THRILLED to announce my new 2026 web series! I’ll be hosting the Kantikas Countdown, a monthly highlight of an artist in the global Ladino music world doing innovative work. I can’t wait to share these fab artists with you and show the breadth of our #Ladino music community. Lineup coming soon!

The demonization of Somalis is no different than the demonization of Haitians before the election. It's a political attack and has to be actively fought—not through half-measures or expressions of tepid concern but by demanding decency from society and respect for all of humanity.

For a gloss on show these two left-wing Yiddish papers were at odds, I got you covered. open.substack.com/pub/prenderg...

enjoyed this discussion! not the usual profile of a RO guest either 😁but he's a great raconteur