Because Trump is nothing, he is useful as a mirror. His success mirrors the dysfunctions of our politics & media. His support mirrors the resentments & fears of his supporters. His fearsome reputation mirrors the insecurities of the left. He is showing us what *we* are.

Anyone who looks at Trump & sees *more than nothing* -- whether good or bad -- is not telling you anything about Trump, they are telling you about themselves, their own worldview, what they want. They are ascribing content, plans, intentionality, self-awareness, where there is none.

Because he is, in effect, a nullity, because there's nothing to him, because he is transparent, it follows that anyone who sees content, sees depth, is capable of being surprised, is *projecting*. This is why Trump is useful & somewhat fascinating: he is a blank canvas upon which people project.

Scientists at Yale say long COVID is part of a “long-established family of post-acute infection syndromes.” The biggest challenge is understanding its “underlying pathobiology.” They were “surprised” how often children are affected, noting kids are also vulnerable to “long-term effects.”

I want you to promise Prez you'll completely revise your worldview and drastically change your media consumption habits when January gets here and the invasion of Venezuela still hasn't happened. Apparently that's how this works.

100% this

Tech fascists believe they are going to merge with AI, live forever and colonize the universe as a species of self-replicating machines that eat the energy of the stars. We can think big, too. Anything is possible. Don't let billionaires monopolize the power of radical imagination.

Time for another book review! This time: "Air-borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe" by @carlzimmer.com . A) WHAT IT IS: A.1 - A very readable, well-explained history of the field of aerobiology, including its implications in the COVID-19 pandemic 1/16

I truly believe that most people are better than this, but being quiet and passively good doesn't help anyone. People who believe in decency need to get as active and exercised as these evil fucks. Or else the evil takes over. We've seen this whole story play out before, many times.

People do not use information to determine their social identities; they use their social identities to determine what counts as information. The climate fight is, and has always been, an identity fight. Gonna talk with @samuel-bagg.bsky.social about this soon.

America, It's Not You, It's...

Remember this picture, & others like it, every time you hear someone in your city say "we're not Amsterdam." This was #Amsterdam in the 1970s. Many of the cities we admire made better choices regarding cars in the past. and are still making better choices today. Better choices instead of excuses.

I saw 1 of Canada's national treasures, @charlieangus104.bsky.social (+ panel), speak last night. Charlie continues to be a catalyst for conversation & conviction about Canadian sovereignty, oligarchy, and our urgent need to work together to hold the line and fight for a fair and equitable future. 💗

This absenteeism is concerning, lament schools and workplaces who’ve been past tensing the pandemic since 2021 or 2022 while everyone lives in perpetual sickness.

A huge 89% majority of global people [56% even in the United States] want stronger action to fight the #ClimateCrisis, but mistakenly believe they’re in a minority. People want action. Smart cities are taking action. Nations should support city action. #ActionStartsHere @mayors4climate.bsky.social

ANNUAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS It's been a great year of reading, so I'm sharing info on some books I've loved, just in time for your holiday gift lists! :-> (for the curious, my count of books read so far this year is 94, most of which were audiobooks borrowed from the Toronto Public Library) 1/14

We will struggle to explain to future generations how something so transparent and stupid was able to take place youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...

This is the correct take. Whoever is refusing to comply with fascism from inside the Coast Guard, thank you. To everyone holding the line for democracy from within the government, the American people thank you.

Human beings are actually wired to hate uncertainty of any kind. We will cling to the familiar even if it is killing us.

I’m no political strategist, but I think one of member of the Ontario NDP (and even the Liberals) should make a point every day of being ejected from the legislature for calling the Ford government corrupt.

Hoekstra is now saying that there will be no trade deal if Canada buys the Swedish Gripen fighter jet (to be manufactured in Canada) instead of the US F-35. On the other hand, Trump talking about a kill switch in the F-35 makes it a national security threat to any country that buys it.

Keep this in mind when people claim cars mean business — closing Central #Madrid to cars over holidays resulted in a 9.5% boost in retail spending on its main shopping street: STUDY. There was also a 71% drop in air pollution. Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople

Extraordinary that the Texas government would be so corrupt that it would have to black out more than 80% of its emails with Elon Musk.

International Men's Day. Guys, check in on your friends; if you need help, ask, and, importantly, remember the version of masculinity you're being sold online and by many politicians isn't masculinity, it's cruelty. Last, there's nothing unmasculine about protecting your health.

Philanthropy is trying to plug lots of gaps left by the federal abandonment of the common good. Philanthropic giving comes from returns in the stock market. I imagine philanthropy holds stock in AI companies... This is another reason the talk of AI bubble bursting worries me.

WTF? Why didn’t I know this?

HOLY SHIT ONE THOUSAND GIRLS

Con artists are gonna con, as long as it works. And they're gonna use everyone and everything, including their baby, as part of their con.

Also your opponents are not infallible, THEY MAKE MISTAKES. You have to be ready to exploit those but only people already in motion can do so...

This is so good.

I have acquaintances who are winning awards & running for elected positions in disability and gender justice who have stopped masking entirely & haven't acknowledged long Covid once. It's exasperating

I miss going to the United States but I don’t miss giving Americans money.

Ok so that's straight up evil...

Russia bombing civilians last night shows how much Ukraine doesn't want peace

All the folks who contend we do not need to directly challenge the entrenched power of the fossil fuel industry—and that we can accommodate their policy priorities (e.g., federal “permitting reform”)—are either lying or deluding themselves that this is an effective climate strategy. Root. Them. Out.

As we watch Trump & the GOP ignore the Constitution & the concept of human rights in the United States, consider what’s been happening in Canada with right-wing Premiers and Poilievre normalizing the common abuse of the Notwithstanding Clause to make Canada’s Charter of Rights & Freedoms irrelevant.

People ask me what it was like being in parliament. All too often it evoked my worst memories of high school. But given the threats facing our nation you'd think that the drama llamas could grow up. Even just a little.

Welcome to another day where the failures of the dominant system are apparent & existentially threatening but the infrastructure of life sustaining societies is fragile or yet to be created. Keeping building anyway. And give yourself some grace for the contradictions inherent in this stage of things

This person was infected with COVID twice and recovered. A 3rd infection brought manageable long COVID symptoms, but they were still able to work. After a 4th infection a few months ago, they haven’t recovered at all — showing how repeated infections can cause severe, lasting damage.

"There is a point where money is no longer money, it's power." The billionaire class stole $80 trillion from working people. The best and only way to take away their political power is through taxation.

In case you're wondering what it's like to be a creator who doesn't take dark $$ and isn't a mouthpiece for the establishment.

This is the other one. With fossil fuels, discovery costs rise while tech costs fall, meaning prices stay roughly the same (inflation-adjusted) over time. With electrotech, discovery costs are $0, so the only dynamic is falling tech costs. Victory is inevitable.

“Like all Ponzi schemes, capitalism follows boom-and-bust economics: enslaving vulnerable people and fragile resources to an economic tyranny that only knows how to reap quick profits, then make a run for it every time it all falls apart” From my book FRANKENPOLITICS

How long till we learn American, United & Delta worked the phones on Senate Dems?

My colleague calls Congress "the complaint department for capitalism." Every 2 or 6 years, we make believe 'we the people' choose our leaders, & we can call customer service hotline (Congressional switch board) to lodge complaints. All while real bosses actually billionaires.

Credit where due, fucking with air travel was genius MAGA move. It impacts upper & middle class and, more importantly, a powerful business interest. Starving millions of poor people doesn't piss off Wall St.

H5N1 infections in wildfowl and poultry are increasing quickly in North America and Europe as a result of the southward migration of wild birds. With a severe flu season ahead of us, driven by H3N2, the risk of reassortment has significantly increased. www.bbc.com/news/article...

While they’re still screwing about with SNAP, it’s a good idea to donate to pet shelters, too. If you dare show up with “poor people shouldn’t have pets”, I will tear such a new one it generates a black hole. apnews.com/article/pets...

Six people died from tampered Tylenol and the company pulled 30 million bottles off the market. ChatGPT is accused of urging seven people towards suicide, and OpenAI just assures us they’re still working out the kinks. Billions in investment, zero accountability.

Make the Goddamn meal and put it in your Free Fridge. Write the $100 check to the food bank. Ask your local school what they need for the kids and then go about trying to get that stuff.... Do these things regularly and you are making meaningful contributions to your communities.