Easy messaging win for Dems, "you can't have [good thing] because Trump is spending $20B to subsidize the failures of some libertarian clown abroad." And, no, Dems shouldn't support it because it's "foreign aid." It's a right-wing clown bailout. Supporting it trivializes and undermines foreign aid.

Tonight's Georgia special got a huge amount of attention, though it was in quite a red district (Trump +33%). GOP retained it, though it shifted by 10% since 2024. But did you know there are 2 STATEWIDE races in Georgia, in 6 weeks? If Dems manage to replicate that sort of swing, that's 2 flips.

Cory Doctorow isn't on Bsky, but you can read his extremely uplifting essay on Bill Mckibben's new book here, concerning the astounding takeoff of the global solar economy. pluralistic.net/2025/09/23/o...

🎯 When Trump said, “There’s no harm in not taking it,” that was incredibly inaccurate, as we know that fevers can cause birth defects and even fetal death. It’s yet another reason why health recommendations 1️⃣ should come after careful & sufficient study 2️⃣ should come from actual health experts.

#emory students are the best. An editorial from the board of the (award-winning) campus paper, The Emory Wheel. @emoryaaup.bsky.social #GaPol @decaturish.bsky.social #ICE #DGS www.emorywheel.com/article/2025...

There are a lot of stories critiquing people from separating from family members, but not very many about parents intentionally rejecting their child over and over. When they could just love their kid. www.sacbee.com/news/local/a...

Everyone has been asking for a plan of resistance. The Democratic Party hasn't really offered people a guide that preserves democracy and effectively fights autocracy. So I wrote one. Like much today, it's a work in progress. theatlantaobjective.substack.com/p/courage

#NOKINGS October 18th poster by Laura Borealis. Please steal and use! 👊😆🤟

ARRESTED FOR SITTING www.blackenterprise.com/alex-okeefe-...

Never noticed how beautiful Woodland Lettuce (Lactuca floridana) flowers are, mostly cause the buds close up before my afternoon nature walk time. Made especially pretty by lots of small metallic blue carpenter bees doing #bee things. #inverts #insects #nativeplants #bugsex #macrophotography

I photographed a caterpillar on the same passionflower vine twice about an hour apart. Left photo is normal looking gulf fritillary larva. Right photo has very different coloration and a strange black protrusion. I admit I didn’t know what was going on… #bugsky #nativeplants #macrophotography

The FBI used hidden cameras to record Tom Homan taking a $50,000 bribe (in cold, hard cash) last year from undercover agents posing as business executives who Homan promised government contracts in a new Trump administration. The Trump DOJ has now shut down the probe. www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/t...

Susan and I have been friends for 30 years and every now and then we get together and try figure out what the hell is going on. Our latest installment is about health (cancer), the latest humbling stages of parenting, and the goddamn federal government. www.rumblestripvermont.com/episodes/rei...

Some surprisingly good coverage of the damage domesticated honeybees can do to habitats: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Marsh flies (Family Sciomyzidae) are totally wild. I haven’t seen one for a few years, maybe just from changing observing habits. Genus Dictya from 2020. #flyday #flyfriday #insects #bugsky #macrophotography

Our campus paper has become a very reliable source. The latest. @aaup.org #academicsky #edusky www.emorywheel.com/article/2025...

CDC to recommend looking only one way before crossing street

Emory University faculty member fired over social media post about Charlie Kirk’s killing

The Georgia Republican Party is asking legislators to get rid of a week of early voting, end no-excuse absentee voting and eliminate automatic voter registration. #gapol www.ajc.com/politics/202...

If you aren’t already familiar with Horst Wessel, this is a good time to learn how people are turned into martyrs by authoritarian regimes for propaganda purposes. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_W...

Some personal news: I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting. Thread incoming. substack.com/@karenattiah...

Small carpenter #bee (genus Ceratina) on blanket flower (genus Gaillardia). These have stayed in bloom for quite a while (about 2 months) and have attracted moderate numbers of bumble bees, sweat bees, and small carpenters. #nativeplants

Got my new Moderna Covid shot this morning at CVS in Atlanta. If you make an appointment on line cvs.com and indicate there is a reason you qualify, it will direct you to a location with a minit clinic and they will prescribe for you on the spot, no outside documentation or prescription required.

It's gall week on iNat, go out and look for weird plant tumors! #September2025GallWeek www.inaturalist.org/pages/galls

Hi! Hello! This is fascism! And bc I’m writing my dissertation on alcohol use, I figured I’d give a high level overview for interested parties… A thread 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/h...

Recently learned (from my cousin) about the work of El Refugio, who support ICE detainees at Ft Stewart GA and their families visiting them. If you want to help those affected by ICE, please donate or sign up to volunteer (esp if you have language skills). #abolishICE #ATL elrefugiostewart.org

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar (Papilio troilus) displaying its yellow osmeterium! Cool mimicry! 🐍 #PapilioTroilus

Covid vaccines now available at CVS in Georgia.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r... Awesome episode about parasitic flatworms from one of my fave podcasts, by the wonderful interviewer Erica Heilman. If you want to go directly to the article by the interviewee Bryan Pfeifferit’s here: chasingnature.substack.com/p/a-parasite...

For #flyFriday - Thin-lined Calligrapher hoverfly, Toxomerus boscii, the least common of the 4 calligrapher fly species I’ve seen in Atlanta. #bugsky #macrophotography #insects

It's hard to get direct proof, but I am absolutely convinced that Twitter has become the mainstream source of antisemitic conspiracy theories spreading to the left. There is just too much overlap there, and too much of far right rhetoric/framing is making into our convos for it to be anything else.

1/3 20 years ago today, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I wrote a piece called "Being Poor," to answer, in a way that I hoped would stick, why so many people stayed in New Orleans to face the storm. It was and remains one of the best things I've ever written. whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/b...

Been a while but well done @nytimes.com for todays #taxonomicfail (and @bfly52.bsky.social for pointing this out) Do love a Spelling Syrphid Forum..

Beautiful big leafcutter #bee on ironweed last weekend. Unable to ID to species- no views of her underside-but narrowed down to Megachile (Sayapis), a subgenus I rarely find. Grateful for a gift of ironweed seeds so I hope to add this plant to my garden. #nativeplants #bugsky #macrophotography

Amazing

The brass band was awesome! #workersoverbillionaires #ATL

Last #invertefest posting for me, a chalcidoid wasp (genus Conura) that I saw yesterday and first mistook for a rotund resin bee. According to the abstract of a 2024 paper, the function of the crazy big serrated thigh is uncertain. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38471388/ #bugsky #macrophotography

Atlanta!#WorkersOverBillionaires Labor Day Rally Monday 9/1/25 3-6 PM Woodruff Park #protest #resist #unionstrong www.mobilize.us/mayday/event...

New visitor to my garden attracted by sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) - female sharptail bee, pretty sure she’s Coelioxys modestus. #nativeplants #invertefest #bugsky #bees

I noticed a spiderweb in progress this morning and got to watch this Spined Micrathena doing her work. #invertefest #spiders #bugsky #macrophotography.

Et voila! Case proven. #solar

#flyFriday two-fer; robber fly (genus Efferia) in my yard caught some sort of little bitty fly. #bugsky #insects #macrophotography #flyday

This story has it all: aquaculture, Black Flag, Bernie Sanders, Star Trek as policy, John Hodgman, male tears, and a candidate citing Luthen’s monologue from Andor. Meet Graham Platner, the Maine oysterman trying to crack the senate. @grahamformaine.bsky.social newrepublic.com/article/1996...

Picketing at Atlanta ICE field office this morning, interested that I got supportive beeps from one Atlanta PD and one South Fulton PD car. Gives me hope that not all local LEO are eager to collaborate with feds. #abolishICE

Will Kim has been in America since he was 5 and is researching a vaccine for Lyme disease.* He's detained indefinitely over a 2011 misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. Outrageous. * Years ago, Lyme gave me a high fever and Bell's palsy right before a TV interview. 0/5 stars, did not enjoy.

REMINDER: in this moment, the thing you want your Congressperson to do is (1) demand resignations and (2) threaten endless hearings. Impeachment isn't going to work. Read the article if you don't want to take my word for it - Larry is the most respected health law expert in America.

“I never knew my mother, but I could tell that she cared about me because of the fifteen dead (or paralyzed? I tried not to think about it too hard) spiders she left for me in my cozy mud encasement. Still, after pupation, I wanted to get the hell out of there.” (my kind of wasp memoir)

🐙🌿 Happy #InverteFest! Shall we talk about anal forks? Hold on, we'll get there. First, here are your Tuesday Tortoise Beetles. (I think this one is Jonthonota sp.). TBs are a subgroup in the leaf beetle family Chrysomelidae. They're often small and round and can sort of resemble ladybugs. Their--

Officials: Intercity Amtrak station could better connect Atlanta to Savannah, Nashville, Charlotte, beyond

Wrote a eulogy for the yellow letters in my office window. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...