We asked @jamesstout.bsky.social to write a short history of the spork for @backpacker-mag.bsky.social, and boy oh boy did he deliver:

Sisyphus but every day he unsubscribes from marketing and promotion emails.

Many people have been asking “who invented the spork?” so I went off to the archive to find out For @backpacker-mag.bsky.social www.backpacker.com/gear/essenti...

Never leaving this part of the world. I fucking love it too much out here. Second rattlesnake of the week as well, and I saw a good size yellow belly racer.

It is so funny that this guy is running for the 2016 nomination in 2026.

Don't think I can't see you, editors who deleted TACO tweets last night.

The US government collected over $1 billion in immigration fees then refused to process the applications. No denials. No refunds. Just silence. This is the largest fee fraud in the history of the American immigration system. Here's what's happening. 🧵

The Espionage Act has been used for decades to target journalists and whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing. Use our action center tool to tell lawmakers to pass the Daniel Ellsberg Press Freedom and Whistleblower Protection Act and reform the archaic law.

The No. 1 reason aviation is so safe is that there are at least two of absolutely everything, redundancies on the redundancies. No single human should have ever been expected to perform this perfectly, it isn’t possible and shouldn’t even be legal. We need hearings now.

Your Cherokee words for today. The top word is English followed by how it is written in the Cherokee language followed by how it is spelled in English then how to pronounce it phonetically. "dee-daw-lah-kee guh-nah-gah-lah-see nah-duh-gah ah-skah-nuh-zhuh" Long, long ago. There was a time when

What a fundamentally unserious and childish way to write a headline about something that holds the lives of innocent people in the balance. Grow up. www.thedailybeast.com/panicked-tru...

Seven dogs stolen from their owners have gone viral after escaping from an illegal transport truck and making their way home. They traveled around 17 km together, led by a corgi across highways and fields, now safely back with their respective owners..🐶🐾🥺❤️

Stoked to see several folks have been updating the PCT Water report Google sheet as they head NOBO this year. This is a great open source resource for those of us who live on the West Coast and I much prefer it being on a free to view spreadsheet as opposed to on something like FarOut

Some tips on giving digital privacy/security advice: if you tell people they absolutely need to do a long list of difficult and expensive things before they travel, people will nod and smile and then not do it at all. This is why my advice focuses on harm reduction and understanding trade-offs.

First rattlesnake rattling at me of the season. Spring has sprung ❤️

I got y'all, here's the video posted by Channel 8 English & link to PUK media transcript: www.pukmedia.com/EN/Details/8...

Remarkable development in Kurdistan where PUK leader Bafel Talabani delivered a newroz speech sending greetings to Abdullah Öcalan x.com/NotWoofers/s...

ICE might be coming to a coworking space near you sam.gov/workspace/co...

checking in on the big cat panic people www.city-journal.org/article/cali...

Newroz Pîroz Be!

In 2023 non English language outlets referred to Biden’s outdoor detention as concentration camps. Any condemnation of what is happening now that doesn’t note how we got here (I’m not sure this doesn’t, I did not watch it) is not going to stop this happening again.

The newly emerging Israel hatred within the American Right is rooted in antisemitism, not in a genuine desire to witness the emancipation of the Palestinian people. They still hate us and we are still not human enough to them. Nothing has changed they are absolutely not good people.

I did a free Patreon / Substack piece on how to find accessible trails. We all have to get through this hell world, and going outside is one of the ways I cope so I want to share that with everyone. open.substack.com/pub/thefutur...

It seems that @mattvandyke.bsky.social and 6 Ukrainians have been arrested in India after leaving Myanmar. Local press is reporting that Russian authorities tipped off the India NIA. For some reason people in US have largely ignored the conflict in Myanmar despite the obvious parallels to Ukraine.

Just putting this out in public so I don’t have to keep saying it in emails and DMs. If you’re an editor or reporter and you had the platform to write about Biden‘s cruel and inhumane policy of outdoor detention and chose not to, I have no interest in helping you write about ICE and CBP now

15 years ago. So many people didn’t get to see the end of the Assad regime, and many of the beautiful parts of the revolution died along the way. But things that must have seemed impossible and insurmountable back then turned out not to be.

Far too many states, including those who have supported Ukraine, have decided that that’s happening there and in Myanmar isn’t something they need to learn from. The world Of conflict has fundamentally shifted and big budget militaries have been slow to pivot and catch up.

I am writing a history of sporks, it is taking me a long time. Man, some people have patented some really stupid shit.

Any context missing here champ?

“He was deceived by Israel” is going to be the story so many people are going to reach for and I think creating this stabbed in the back myth is going to have some really bad consequences down the line.

notably the STG has allowed violence against Alawites, Druze, and Kurds in the last year. Very hard to argue it is safe to send people back.

New It Could Happen Here 🚢 James and Gare talk about the world of private maritime security, pirates, and the strait of Hormuz. @jamesstout.bsky.social @bishonentype.bsky.social linktr.ee/ICHHpod

There‘s no “just” an asylum seeker. I’ve covered conflict, I’ve seen my share of nasty stuff. What I’ve seen in the Darién Gap & at the border has scarred me as deeply as the things I’ve seen in warfare. Migrants who go through that for their kids’ future are among the bravest people I’ve met

ICE Detention Kills Afghanistan War Veteran Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, 12th Custodial Death This Year Immigrants in ICE detention now dying at the steady rate of one every six days since January 1, projected to reach over 60 deaths by end of year. austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-detent...

I was so thrilled to speak with two awesome independent journalists about how they keep themselves and their footage safe. This aims to intersect actionable digital and operational security advice with the real techniques and gear actually being used by journalists in the field. Hope it's useful!

Exciting mail day earlier this week! Against the State from @akpress.org by @jamesstout.bsky.social - very excited to dive in this summer www.akpress.org/against-the-...

The Free Press is having a meltdown about the Oscars because I imagine it’s impossible to understand any form of art when you’re that insufferably dull.

Made it to the top of the list to borrow Against the State by @jamesstout.bsky.social from the LA Library (so glad they let me keep my card to increase what’s available). I read around 100 books a year, but only a fraction are non-fiction so I’ve got to make sure they’re good ones.

What a time to be alive

I think it is quite unlikely that we will see Shaheed impacts on the West Coast. Shaheeds are relatively unsophisticated and the US has the capacity to shoot them down. Where they work well is in large numbers, when some can slip through, or against a less well defended target.

on X, @theamargi.bsky.social and many other accounts have reported the death of the Syrian Kurdish Co-Chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Saleh Muslim. This is a very sad day. I hope he can be buried in Kobane with his son, who died fighting ISIS.

In movements like this, which have no need for authority or even leadership, I would be extremely wary of anyone who calls themselves a leader and then ends the movement.

As we approach two weeks of this conflict it’s a good time to check in with your progressive outlets and see if they’ve taken the time to talk to anyone from Iran or the diaspora yet or if they’re just running opinion pieces from Americans who only understand solidarity when it’s with a state.

@jamesstout.bsky.social Local library just got copies! Have been enjoying it so far, and it's been dovetailing incredibly nicely with an interview of David Wengrow I just finished (on the Doomscroll podcast) where he reframes assumptions about the origins of inequality and social organization

Memorial to the International Brigaders from the Manchester area who against fascism in Spain. Manchester Central Library. With recently laid wreath to commemorate those who died fighting in the Jarama battle in February 1937. Photo kindly sent to me by Tony Morris

Some rare good news.

Almost every major outlet has run a piece entitled “who are the Kurds?” In the last week. Which other ethnic group, much less US ally for decades, would they write like this about? Why do Kurdish people have to be treated like some kind of oddity every time they’re relevant to a US audience?

We are aware of recent reports regarding targeted phishing attacks that have resulted in account takeovers of some Signal users, including government officials and journalists. We take this very seriously. 1/7

it would appear that Axios removed the claim that KDP and PUK leaders are Iranian, but did not issue a correction. More great journalism from the bullet point people.

Happy International Women‘s Day from The Myanmar women’s revolutio. They don’t get the coverage or the solidarity they merit, but that hasn’t stopped women in Myanmar liberate themselves www.instagram.com/p/DVn_fuwiUU...