Oregon AG Rayfield: Huge win at this moment in our democracy right now. This is the president that is normalizing the use of the United States military in our country. So to get this strong of a ruling out today for the public to see—it’s incredibly important.

My worst fear is that we have barely scratched the surface of what ICE has been doing.

A summary both obvious and extraordinary

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $70 million to the UNCF, the largest private provider of scholarships to minority students.

Donald Trump: Charlie Kirk "did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That's where I disagree with Charlie. I hate my opponent, and I don't want the best for them." In 2023, Kirk called for the execution of Joe Biden.

Wait isn’t this the war Grandpa Don dodged?

I can’t imagine why Vladimir Putin would have interfered in an American election to help Donald Trump. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/b...

I think what actually happened here is, for real, that they are such lazy incompetents they had AI do it

They are privatizing Medicare, which means they will profit off denial of coverage. Say no to the GOP or face loss of insurance.

One of those research findings that intuitively seems obvious and yet is much better (well, in this case 'better' means 'quite chilling given the political situation') to have analysed with actual evidence. Link to the underpinning research: eprints.lse.ac.uk/129232/

CNN confirms that the pilots landed the plane using paper maps. www.cnn.com/2025/09/01/w...

I recall during the police data initiative so many officers had Fitbits. I think wearables are going to surge more than ever with police, see also Meta glasses. cc @hypervisible.blacksky.app

*almost 100% silence from AI enthusiasts on stories like this*

Border Patrol agents assembled outside a Los Angeles museum where Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a rally and news conference on congressional redistricting. Local elected officials expressed outrage that the agents decided to stand there in a brazen show of force. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/u...

My new @science.org editorial on the role of scientists in defending democracy is out today. As authoritarianism takes hold in the US, we must fight for the democratic principles that enable a free society and scientists have a key role. I hope you'll join us. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

DC Union Station tonight. Unreal.

So ugly. So appalling. So dangerous. (And not a peep from a single Republican. Why? Because they support it. They are the sponsors and enablers of an American police state.)

'Chamberlain handed over to Adolf Hitler the Sudetenland ... 'You were given the choice between war and dishonor,' Winston Churchill said at the time. 'You chose dishonor and you will have war.' Churchill was right."

Meanwhile in Russia: state TV discussed an upcoming Trump-Putin summit, rejoiced that Ukraine is being excluded and said that Trump has learned his lesson, since he is no longer demanding a ceasefire or seeking any concessions from Moscow. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q-3...

It’s about fairness in women’s sports.

For context, there are (were) a total of 14.3 million union members in the US. Shaving a half mil off that is... not insignificant.

I hear people all around me saying, “They are going to crash the economy. Surely they don’t mean to crash the economy.” I beg to differ. This is curated failure open.substack.com/pub/jesspipe...

1962

please enjoy this illustration by Erik Blegvad of a man with four cats in his lap

The whole world’s watching this ludicrous coverup unfold as Trump’s team moves convicted sex offender Maxwell to a minimum security camp after Trump’s lawyer found she answered all his questions correctly. Nobody’s falling for this fraud—release the files. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/u...

Autumn schedule for @ihr.bsky.social 's British History in the Long 18th Century fortnightly seminar is now live. @long18thsem.bsky.social. Join us in person at the IHR in London or on Zoom, for Mansfield on the Chevalier d'Eon, servants' travel, rhetorics of slavery, Bengal textile workers & more.

Yep. I think the wording is vague & will be seeking clarification, but the status quo for Canvas's in-house AI features was that they had to be turned on/off by systems administrator, not instructors. So, depending on your institution, this may be a vector for faculty organizing, like, now.

HAPPENING NOW: a group of New York rabbis are being arrested at a protest outside the Israeli consulate calling for bringing food into Gaza, an end to the war, and return of all hostages @newjewishnarrative.bsky.social

INBOX: Union for Reform Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis & American Conference of Cantors issue a lengthy statement declaring: "Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the 'total victory' over Hamas it seeks, nor can it be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law."

Sundog, a memecoin by crypto billionaire Justin Sun, just posted a meme depicting its mascot controlling the White House. Sun has spent (or will shortly spend) a total of $213 million on Trump-connected crypto projects.

This is very bad. Although entirely predictable. Once more the humanities are being cut back to prop up STEM and, increasingly, AI investment (including at the expense of bench science). In the past, cuts to humanities were promoted on two separate logic streams that do not hold true: /1

Surprising no one, new research says AI Overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

love when a paywall sounds like it’s drawing a gun on you

I would say we're turning into a papers-please society, except that apparently they'll beat you down even if you offer to show papers.

Here's an excellent opportunity for anyone working on Margaret Oliphant! Please help spread the word. This special issue is looking for more contributors.

my asian immigrant ass trying to relate to white culture so they don't deport me

🚨 NEW: The Writers Guild of America is demanding an investigation into CBS’s firing of Stephen Colbert—calling out what could be a politically motivated takedown of one of late night’s sharpest voices. Stand with truth. Stand with Colbert. Retweet to show you’re not backing down.

Old, but related to recent shifts in conser. messaging

WGBH building in Boston today

BREAKING :: FBI agents were told to flag any Epstein records that mention Trump. Who could have seen that coming? www.cnbc.com/2025/07/18/t...

hard to surprise people with an article about pants in this news environment

Rolling Stone - Elon Musk's Grok chatbot goes full Nazi, calls itself 'MechaHitler'

Government has got this badly wrong. I can see why it's reluctant to leave X. But it should, at least, post on other sites, too. It should not be requiring people to go on a site that actively disseminates racism to see govt comms. It would (rightly) not accept this from a university or the BBC.