We had a good run

"Trump says US is taking control of Venezuela’s oil reserves." www.axios.com/2026/01/03/t...

Transforming lives, from the bottom up, with no need for imperial wars.

I was watching this two days ago and musing to myself about what big distraction might land this weekend.

trump's criticism of the iraq war was that it wasn't brazen *enough* "we should've kept the oil"

Tech companies and developers looking to plunge billions of dollars into ever-bigger data centers to power AI and cloud computing are increasingly losing fights in communities where people don’t want to live next to them, or even near them.

Gotta few minutes? Because if you do, you can tune into @deanbaker13.bsky.social's podcast where he talks with @jaredb-econ.bsky.social about that 9 percent inflation situation here: youtu.be/9LhUQa_GyCY?...

Stumbled across a video that talks about the DARE Drug education program in the 80's and 90's, but ended up talking about Daryl Gates, private intelligence companies circumventing privacy laws, and reporting by @davidcayjohnston.bsky.social: youtu.be/LzrGCk-F7FY 😳 Is this legit?

When it comes to infectious diseases, 2026 may look more like 1926 if current trends continue: The US has seen nearly 28,000 whooping cough cases in 2025, the 2nd year cases exceeded 25k. The contagious bacterial infection is a deadly threat to infants, older people & anyone w/ weakened immunity👇

Gift link 🧪🔭

If @mcuban.bsky.social wants to reduce the deficit, then he's got to raise tax revenues from the people who have the money. He's got to implement taxes on societally destructive financial practices that are about extracting wealth, not building it.

I am going to try this again. Read legal journalist Chris Geidner's reply to Jan Crawford of CBS News, whose "shocking statement" was interpreted by many as "going after her colleagues who cover the Supreme Court." www.lawdork.com/p/jan-crawfo... Then consider what else is happening with CBS .

Here's the thing, there has been a conservative legal movement that has built up an infrastructure to get people who are ideologically captured to court appointments. They may not bribed. But that does not mean that their rulings are in line with democratic, constitutional precedent.

President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act will shift billions in costs for SNAP and Medicaid to states. But with 26 having cut or eliminated state income taxes just since 2021, they may not have the money to continue the programs.

One of the most successful propaganda campaigns of our time is the right-wing claim that liberals dominate the media. The right has pushed this myth for decades on Fox and other outlets. You know about it because RIGHT-WING MEDIA HAVE A HUGE MEGAPHONE. My thread. 1/10 🧵

You’d have been called worse than overwrought. But you were right all along about exactly where we were heading.

BREAKING: A Russian newspaper today — “America no longer sees our country as a threat… The US leader’s philosophy is closer to the values of Russia’s president, not the politicians of the Old World… he sees Europe as a liberal stronghold that must be destroyed…” Read that again.

Brutal story about Tesla, and their hidden door latches, killing people. youtu.be/2lFzqBt3z0w

The U.S. is blessed with one of the most scientifically and technologically advanced health care systems in the world. And yet, when it comes to health outcomes among the world’s wealthiest countries, the U.S. ranks last.

"They often shrug off the concerns of scientists who argue it’s inherently risky to fund the development of potentially dangerous technologies through wealthy investors who could only profit if the planet-cooling systems are deployed." www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

Also: bsky.app/profile/lars...

Water vapor in air is increasing at about 7% per degree C of global warming (or about 4% per ºF), but increases in hourly intensity seem to be increasing faster than that. Lots of work currently trying to work out what's behind that but in practice it means that drainage capacity is being pushed.

Where the world’s electricity comes from. Looking forward to the update including 2025.

Neoliberal centrist dipshits: what is your plan for that Me: [Outlines plan] Them: no your only plan possibilities are nonrefundable tax credits or corporate subsidies

I don't know. From what I can tell, the puritan colonists sought meaning in the pursuit of piety where the revolutionaries sought meaning in the pursuit of happiness. Where the puritans were focused on the discipline of heaven, to the extent that they famously put people to death over witchcraft...

I was critiquing the video based on both a Christian and Judaic basis. You shouldn't have to feel excluded and threatened by your government. The appropriation of Judeo-Christian concepts to celebrate prejudice and persecution violates both faiths. TDLR compassion is a commandment.

If you study the old gospel from the old texts, one message rings true. That our salvation lies in community, not authority. It's through the grace you show to others that you receive grace.

And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, began to listen to manosphere podcasts and started posting borderline racist comments on what once was Twitter. Those comments were liked, nay, loved by Elon Musk. And so it came to pass that, though Tiny Tim was better physically, he remained very lame indeed.

Tiny Tim implies the existence of Enormous Tim

"Not only did it seem that city leaders had failed to recognize the magnitude of the crisis until one of their own had died, they had also made those bearing the brunt of the pandemic feel responsible for their own demise."

I wrote about how X as an online rumor mill that feeds the hard right propaganda machine, destroying lives in the process. Ben Shapiro and others in the movement have started to realize that it’s dangerous and bad — because it’s negatively impacting them too, now…

Whenever you hear that the media is trying “to win back the trust” of people, you know they’re just talking about right-wing fucknuts who can’t stand being told that what they believe is a lie. So that means the media outlet is gonna soothe them with more lies.

A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty: My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media. Huh? When did I say that?!

Heavy to locally torrential rainband slowing down and intensifying as approaches central Los Angeles County. Widespread roadway flooding and debris flows are already being reported; this could escalate considerably over next 2-3 hours especially if this band stalls out. #CAwx #LArain

This is genuinely horrifying. Fact-free far-right agitprop given accolades by credible media across the political spectrum.

The thesis of the book is that early COVID lockdowns weren't worth it and mid-COVID mitigation measures like masks, contact tracing and business closures don't work. This is laughably false and the authors have endorsed the people now running Trump's HHS.

Stumbled on this on the tubes: youtu.be/0w-ZTxqCcFc A report by Megan Twohey about how the Trump family frees rapists, rewards crime, admires the manosphere hustle. Why does the media scandal machine snuff this stuff in a week while democratic scandals turn into full blown wildfires?

Trump has never been more unpopular. He’s also never controlled so much of the government. His henchmen are working overtime to purge voters and redraw maps ahead of the 2026 election. From Robert Kuttner: trib.al/5kaaZbm

In all these cases, it's his own insecurity that's driving it.

"Trump has long hated wind, now one of the cheapest forms of new electricity. Over the years he has claimed that it is expensive (false), causes cancer (false), ruins the environment (false), harms whales (false)." thebulletin.org/2025/12/trum...

I think it's time to call out Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on whatever this tapdance is: youtube.com/shorts/544PV... Whatever it is, it's not the good stewardship or climate leadership that Canada and the rest of the world needs.

Delighted to hear that The Invisible Doctrine, the film by @peterhutchison.bsky.social and @lucas-sabean.bsky.social, is being offered free to view on YouTube for the holiday season. It's all yours! youtu.be/gR4eSEetKP0

It got Bari’d.

Again, from Michael Grynbaum, here is Sharyn Alfonsi's full email. It must be read:

"These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories."

"people assume every description of a problem includes an impl..." It doesn't help when the description of a problem is fricken wrong. Immigrants are not the primary reason why houses and rents became unaffordable. They are low on the list of reasons...

we gotta torch the climate so that repeatedly successful Dems in swing districts can win by a larger margin

So I did some looking into some Josh Freed of @thirdwayenergy.bsky.social and it's interesting because they seem to bunch environmental activists to one side and oil fanatics to the other. And of course, they are the third way down the middle. Here's Josh Freed: www.thirdway.org/newsletter/o...

Everyone arguing "just do what wins elections" 1) is inevitably arguing for what they want anyway, regardless of polls or winning or any other data; and 2) has no explanation at all for Trump & GOP winning with a big pile of policies that majorities consistently oppose.

“Politicians should do what wins elections” is asinine for moral reasons but also, no one knows what will win an election! Yglesias et al keep acting like there’s some obvious set of policies or words that will guarantee victory but Harris basically did what they wanted and she lost.