"Where barbarism is greatest, hero worship is strongest." --Herbert Spencer

You can tell Hegseth was joking (he was) because of some other things he can’t see that he believes are real: * God * 2020 election fraud * All non-white-males in the U.S. military being promoted solely due to DEI * Immigrants eating pets * Everything his boss says www.snopes.com/fact-check/p...

Check out New York Times coverage of our full website launch! www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/c...

It’s still illegal to violate a prisoner’s religious beliefs this way. You just can’t do anything about it if a prison ignores the law.

The Atlantic has an AI Watchdog data base so you can check to see which AI programs stole your work. www.theatlantic.com/category/ai-... #Publishing #Writing #PubTip #AI

Anti-Prime Day starts…NOW! 🥳 Today through 6/26, enjoy free standard shipping site-wide, all while supporting local, independent bookstores.

Who’s male, obese, and 80 but was 79 in April? And has both the power to order the FDA to make or break a pharmaceutical company and a history of accepting blatant bribes to exercise his power? It’s a real puzzler. (Hat-tip to @hntdove.bsky.social)

How soon before Trump bombs Algeria because he thinks that’s where algae comes from?

Only 58%? C’mon, folks, we can do better than that!

It's Anti-Prime Day on Bookshop.org, the best day to support your favorite independent bookstore, and give your money to working people not billionaries, when ordering one of my books! bookshop.org/beta-search?...

The Goblin’s Glossary: nasty (adj.) - Making true statements, challenging lies, and/or questioning me in any way. See also: divisive, TDS, piggy, woke

Gotta love the optimism of assuming there will be a future with historians, but it’s still genius.

“Man’s hubris. A hubris so almighty it’s matched only by his stupidity.” —Samantha Harvey, “Orbital”

For perspective: “Improper entry”—entering the United States unlawfully, a.k.a. the sole legal justification for the entire existence of ICE—is also a misdemeanor. (8 U.S.C. § 1325.)

The candle burns without a care for the hour, without a fear of the wind, without wondering at its own lessening-- simply becoming one thing from another, as we all do, a reminder to burn as brightly as you can, and that change is the nature of life. #TinyPoem

So let me get this straight: Not content with falsely blaming “vandals” for supposedly turning the Reflecting Pool green, now the Lying Liar Who Lies is also falsely blaming “vandals” for the massive damage that his own garish birthday bash caused to the grass?

Hat-tip to @diggles.bsky.social

TIL that I am a “Genocidal AIPAC Zio Shill” because I am a Jew.

Without saying the title, spoil a movie: She’s got a “package”

@barnesarama.bsky.social has hit upon the secret to the Liar-in-Chief’s baffling longevity: “That is not dead which can eternal lie.”

BIG NEWS: Now through Fourth of July weekend, Californians can get a free special edition CA State Parks Historian Passport for zero-cost entry to 30+ state historic parks through the end of the year. While Trump tries to rewrite our nation’s past, California is embracing it and learning from it!

🧵 (Hat-tip to @ruefrex.bsky.social)

Juneteenth… gives us an occasion to reflect on the profound contributions of enslaved black Americans to the cause of human freedom. It gives us another way to recognize the central place of slavery and its demise in our national story. -Jamelle Bouie Gift article: www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/o...

RIP Television legend James Burrows. variety.com/2026/tv/news...

He hasn’t forced Congress to repeal the law on DEI grounds yet, so it’s still a national holiday for now. Happy Juneteenth!

No one thought the name “Green Water Services” was a yellow flag? www.dispatch.com/story/news/l...

Because there are people in the world who will believe Josh Hokit but also trust PolitiFact?

Signal boost for Minneapolis

You just know that jack@$$ is holding the signing ceremony on June 19 as a giant middle finger to Juneteenth.

Here is work showing some of this effect. It is important, however, to see the form that this takes ‘in the wild’ in terms of the erasure of actual women-led scholarship in LLMs by multiple modalities, so I intend to run some bibliometrics myself and put the results out. arxiv.org/abs/2508.02740

Signal boost for London

“People wonder about the peaceful transfer of power. I can assure you, it will be peaceful. I promise you as a Republican, if the Supreme Court decides that Joe Biden wins, I will accept the result. The court will decide, and if Republicans lose, we’ll accept the result.”

🧵 (Hat-tip to @proporhistorian.bsky.social)

Hat-tip to @theerinmaher.bsky.social (and to Tommy Tutone)

Whatever you’ve heard, whatever you thought…it’s even worse. 1) The parties agree to end hostilities (which the US started) immediately. 2) The parties agree to open the Strait of Hormuz (which was open until the US attacked) within 30 days. Iran is granted extra time if needed. The US is not. 1/

Cheese.

IMPORTANT: Not dismissed on the merits. Plaintiff has to wait until after the final administrative decision, expected in August. They can still file suit then if the decision goes against them.

Hey narrative folks! I'm back at work and we're back to hiring 🦾We have TWO senior writer roles to fill on my team. Apply here: www.cdprojektred.com/en/jobs/2216... #writing #narrative #videogames

Word-spreading.

When Iran promised in the JCPOA not to build a Nuclear Weapon—and to let on-site inspectors verify it for ten years—the President was Black! Iran was NEVER going to comply! But I’m President now, and Iran is too Terrified of me to break its promise! That’s why this deal is MUCH BETTER for Us!

Ruin a Warhammer book. Mansplayner

For fvck’s sake. He’s leaving the tarp up so no one can see the wall without his name, and cut holes for access to the doors. (Hat-tip to @ruefrex.bsky.social)

“Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House. Let’s see what we’ve got up there.” (Screens show “Trump White House Resort and Casino.”) —President Obama, White House Correspondents’ Dinner, 2011 Source: obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05...

Hey, let’s start a rumor that only cowards and wimpy Dumocrats are afraid of lightning, while real masculine manly men don’t let fear keep them from hanging out near tall metal structures like enormous cages during thunderstorms.

The great author/historian Harry Turtledove was born June 14, 1949 Thanks for everything @hntdove.bsky.social

A reminder that the LACMA now has over 22,000 images for reuse in the public domain—out of which, over 3,000 are from premodernity. Open access! collections.lacma.org/search?publi... (side note, I love this late antique Sassanian pear-shaped 🍐 bottle from modern Iran! I am sure Augustine would too…)

Happy Obama Day!

Happy Pride! Literally!

Not @theonion.com. Not @mcsweeneys.net. Not @thev.bsky.social. Not satire. Just the usual garden-variety corruption and insider trading. Oh, you mean you didn’t know that the Grifter-in-Chief purchased stock in the UFC’s parent company before all this? people.com/trump-bought...