This heartfelt and meaningful statement by Portland resident and author Cristina Breshears on another social media platform bears reposting here. I don't think the intent is to idealize Portland but to remind all of us what is important and why. (Posted here with permission.)

"The man with the most power has expended enormous energy targeting those with the least." - Zohran Mamdani, 10/11/2025

I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning: www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...

You actually don’t have to hand it to Donald Trump. You don’t have to give him credit for anything. He’s a horrible human being who has never known a day of suffering in his life. Nor does he care an ounce about the suffering of anybody else. Hope that helps.

They didn’t just NOT give Trump the Nobel Peace Prize, they wrote a citation that reads like an anti-Trump rallying cry. (He’s gonna extra-tariff Norway now, isn’t he?)

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

Only about 127 days until pitchers and catchers report to camp.

New Yorkers know Attorney General James for who she is: a champion for justice who fights relentlessly for the people. Donald Trump knows her only as an obstacle to his corruption. My full statement:

Baseball is the best.

🫡

The images that will stick in my mind from this week include jackbooted thugs rappelling from a Blackhawk helicopter to rip children from their beds in Chicago and yet another indiscriminate murder from the sky, both events celebrated by a lawless administration in videos shared on social media.

This thread. Also? Klein apparently thought he didn't get to talk enough in the interview. I read the transcript rather than watching it - Coates speaks maybe half the amount Klein does. It's an example writ large of exactly what Ashley is talking about here.

"What is this entire anti-terrorism memorandum if not an admission that terrorism works, and that terrorism has secured the White House?" wake up babe @lopatto.bsky.social and @sarahjeong.bsky.social banger alert www.theverge.com/policy/79051...

this is basically the aim of every AI company

PS from the Portland reddit...

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

Shanah tova, everybody. It has been a hard year, and it’s hard to imagine this next year will not be hard, too. But there is sweetness to be had amidst the sorrow and struggle, and always the hope for something better. May 5786 treat us all well. May we be sealed for good in the book of life.

Making a Zine: Keeping D.C. Music and Its Meaning in Print - Washington City Paper washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7709...

The federal govt wants to rescind the Roadless Rule, which would open 45 million acres of public land for private interests - disrupting wildlife habitat, destroying carbon sinks, and imperiling outdoor recreation in the places we love TODAY is the last day for public comment - file yours now!!

I don't think pointing out the fascists' 'hypocrisy' is a good use of time. It's not hypocrisy, it's hierarchy. They actually do believe that they have the right and obligation to dominate you because they are superior to you. They are using their power not being hypocritical.

I started a to-do list with the header TO-DO. Started writing the first item as "to-do." Recursive to-do lists it is.

This is the carriage, this is the house, Open the door, and behold the mouse.

I've seen trans ppl promoting this piece several times today, but I haven't seen a single cis person linking or praising it. It's the same old thing, an article is written FOR cis ppl but ABOUT trans ppl and yet for some reason the cis folks to whom it's addressed seem to not notice the piece.

This is from a good, short thread mostly about the influence of social media in creating the expectation that reporting on problems demands offering solutions as well, but I find this bit especially relateable as a math teacher.

Read this, if you haven't. Or honestly read it again if you have, truly great work.

"We're born alone. We die alone. Don't ever think you have to live alone." Home Front's newest, "Light Sleeper," is so good. Now you know the words, so sing along. Or chant them. Or dance. It's very much a "be alive" song. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqgX...

Here’s I wrote about gamergate 11 years ago. Almost nobody major in the media got what this was or why it mattered. “Eh, it’s just nerdy Online Drama.” The difference now? The cluelessness remains, fewer publications & reporters—& gamergate took over the country. www.huffpost.com/entry/anita-...

Here's a good blog post: defector.com/this-is-who-...

"Harvard can't use race as a factor in admissions, but ICE can use race as a factor in detentions" is a retrenchment essentially to a pre-Civil War understanding of the Constitution. It's vanishingly few steps removed from "Latinos have no rights which the white man is bound to respect."

Watching this video on a loop for the last minute or two has greatly improved my mood.

"Giving everyone a decent standard of living is mutually beneficial in New York City, because everyone else is right here, next to you, and if they are having a bad time, you soon will be too." This is a great read from the always good Hamilton Nolan. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/new-york-s...

This is such a terrible and anti-democratic idea. The mayor of NYC should not need the support of the NYPD. There are pragmatic reasons why the mayor needs to have a working relationship with the police, but the NYPD doesn't get a veto over what voters want. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/n...

This is from a very fun thread of birds perching on signs.

Here's my weekly must-reads list and some thoughts about Trump's AI slop post declaring war against Chicago. Trump is attempting to blur the line between reality and his fascist, annihilatory fantasies of control and domination. That means we, and the truth, must break free.

Two trials will be repeated endlessly despite always producing the same results: 1) Does UBI work? (yes) 2) Does AI improve productivity? (no)

whooooooole threeeeaaaadd 🧵

Twitter is owned by a neo-Nazi, the LA Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal are owned by pro-Trump billionaires, and CBS News will soon be run by a far-right Likud extremist. American media still has a liberal bias problem.

We took the paywall down on this one. defector.com/how-the-fuck...

COMIC: Just checking…

Silksong is released and Electric Nebraska is announced. What a day for holy grails. www.stereogum.com/2321842/bruc...

Good thread.

"This game plans to unlock in approximately less than an hour"

Just got billed for a $25 import duty on a $50 pair of ski goggles purchased as a birthday present for my nephew. The goggles were shipped from Spain. Good times.

This is America: Access to public services restored thanks to a gambling website so people can get to a football game. www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/fanduel...

If you are 45 and under, go and get that vaccine now while it's still free, folks.

Reminder to birder friends: binos double as ICE watchers and birding group chats double for spreading the word on their whereabouts. Let’s use what we got.

Exactly, the entire argument for this narrative is that kids rarely die of COVID. That’s true, but it wasn’t the justification for the policy. Teachers *do* die of COVID and kids *do* spread COVID. Some studies find school closures were the most effective intervention for preventing cases!

This ‘blue states closed schools too long’ narrative is becoming increasingly entrenched in the Polite Center but it’s arguable at best. Republican states had far more deaths during COVID and their students have roughly comparable learning loss.

So many evils trace back to Reagan. "as mass homelessness surged across the United States, the Reagan administration made a concerted effort to shape public perception of the crisis. Officials downplayed its severity while muddying its root causes." [gift link] www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/o...