Imagine King Theoden but sundowning and several Wormtongues

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As of 2pm today - less than 6 hours after receiving formal notice that the President had federalized Oregon’s National Guard in Portland - we filed a lawsuit. The president has overstepped his authority. #portland #nationalguard #orpol

🚨This is a big deal: suburban chicago police launch an investigation into an ICE attack on local CBS news journalists.

Utah friends! Join me Tuesday 9/30 at University of Utah's Marriott Library. I'll talk about book banning, being a preacher's kid whose books are banned & "The Power of Story to Unite US." There will be time for schmoozing afterward. I'm happy to sign any books that you bring from home! 📚♥️🇺🇸

If you want a disgrace, seeketh out a mirror...

There is a difference between righteous anger, directed at injustice, and hateful anger, directed at those who are different. Authoritarian regimes deliberately conflate the two to silence criticism and create false equivalence. It's important we don't let those in power succeed in this endeavor.

This is really a stark example of abject political cowardice and how the administration brings it out of people January 2025: introduces legislation making reparations for the Wounded Knee Massacre Yesterday: I don’t have an opinion on calling it a battle

Cartoon by @mluckovich.bsky.social.

Last year summer was too late, I planted cucumbers three times and it was too cold for the plants to survive. This year, 9 1/2 feet of cucumbers grown vertically gave me 23 jars of pickles! And there are still tiny cucumbers all over! But it will be too cold for them to grow. I’m ok with that lol

Portrait of a worker bee painted for Life Magazine by Rudolf Freund. Published in Life, vol. 33, no. 6 (August 11, 1952), p. 63.

2/2 Time for the skulls! Just can't get enough of them.

Animated skeleton just hanging out with his similarly dead friends and their favorite stuff in this bizarre memento mori by Carstiaen Luycks. It's his day.

I listened and it was one of the most chilling conversations I’ve ever heard.

Also why is his face so weird

I think Trump believes he will live forever. All the anti-aging guys are in the group controlling him, and that conversation between Putin and Xi? He doesn’t realize they take better care of themselves. I wonder about his bruised hand.

This paragraph desperately needs to be rewritten: "Rabies is life-threatening but treatable if caught early and treated before any symptoms develop." I suggest: "Rabies is a fucking nightmare of a disease that is 100% fatal unless you get treatment BEFORE showing symptoms."

This IS a great headline and also: Seattle! Get the word out! Someone was exposed to rabies and needs to seek medical care IMMEDIATELY!

The stark contrast between Trump's description of Portland and the reality reported by local officials has raised questions about the true motivation behind the surprise deployment announcement.

"After nearly 40 years, the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, or ARCUS, will close September 30." "The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States funded programs that aided Indigenous communities and tracked melting sea ice, among dozens of initiatives."

Your reminder that Nazi concentration camps did not start out as well-organised gas-chamber-centered industrial-scale killing facilities. That was the later extermination camps. First phase: more unorganised camps. Some overcrowded. Deaths mostly by violence (beatings), lack of hygiene (illnesses).

Disappointing tone - still politely aghast that republicans aren’t helping people, but we’re way beyond that. Trump is trying to destroy this country and destabilize the world to further his own personal interests and keep his people in power permanently.

#skysky #wawx

Thanks to @bodowinter.bsky.social for the wonderful endorsement of my upcoming graphic novel about language, cognition, and visual communication! visuallanguagelab.com/sip

What a photo by Erik Jepsen from our UC San Diego campus! The U.S. Navy Blue Angels soaring over Fallen Star ahead of this weekend's Miramar Air Show. Fallen Star (2012) is an art installation by Korean artist Do Ho Suh en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_...

#GoldenAgeOfAmerica 🇺🇸 @mediaite.com www.mediaite.com/media/news/t...

1/5 The parallels are too big to ignore. Trump is not just on the path to authoritarianism. The United States is already in an authoritarian state. From Putin to Orbán, the playbook is clear. Trump is following it step by step. It is not too late, but action is needed now

Pay walls are an economic velvet rope, except that the "club" is information about things that will impact you and ways to mitigate the damage. As with all disposable income based bias, this hits the people with the least the hardest. Yes, writers (I'm one) need to get paid but poor folk gotta live.

“Former South Carolina state lawmaker Robert John “RJ” May III has agreed to plead guilty to distributing child sexual abuse material.”

It’s #Caturday 🐱! Hannah Höch (Germany, 1889-1978) Selbstbildnis mit Katze Ninn (Self-Portrait with #Cat Ninn), 1928 Oil on canvas 19 7/8 x 14 1/2 in. (50.5 x 36.8 cm.) www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6... #CatsInArt #WomenArtists

Native Americans condemn Pentagon move to preserve Wounded Knee medals reut.rs/46I9oj6

Women warriors fought to be able to serve our country alongside men. They have proven their worth in combat time and again. Attacking those who serve because they don’t match Pete Hegseth’s narrative weakens our military and our nation.

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Thread 1/20

“Such a future doesn’t have to arrive,” they say. Sure! Zeus could create glaciers, Dumbledore could cast a carbon-removal spell, or Mary Poppins could blow in with a bag of mangroves. Short of magic, we’re still Homo sapiens doing what Homo sapiens do. 🫤 apple.news/A3otQxA83RvC...

I have assumed this for some time, but we are seeing it play out in real time.

Just poking this into the stream again

Rewatching Better Call Saul and furious at Chuck all over again.

It’s no coincidence Trump has ordered military to Portland shortly after the City of Portland’s press release stating it will issue a land use violation to the Portland ICE facility #DefundICE #Voices4Victory #ProudBlue www.portland.gov/mayor/keith-...

Taken just a few minutes ago outside the ICE facility in Portland that Trump claims is under siege. My message to Donald Trump is this: we don’t need you here. Stay the hell out of our city.

War-ravaged Portland

The ugly disgusting truth. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of wounded people crying about her words. 😒

Do me a favor and report this account that is most assuredly not me or affiliated with me. bsky.app/profile/fran...

They are not even bothering a basic disinformation campaign regarding the “war ravaged” conditions in Portland or pretending that they are trying to be the good guys: just flat out staying they are invading a peaceful Democratic city because they can.

As a resident of #Portland it is impossible to capture how unhinged this is. We are a low crime city and the ICE protest "siege" consists of one auxiliary ICE office that normally has at most a dozen weirdos debating what performance art they should use to block a single driveway

Never forget that the UN is currently seeking immunity for the UNRWA workers who took part in the Oct7 massacre. The UN is defending the very UNRWA men who kidnapped Yonatan Samerano’s murdered body instead of standing with Yonatan’s mother. That’s how neutral the UN really is.

You might also remember when Ken Starr was forced to resign from Baylor University for failing to act on the reported sexual assaults of at least 6 students.

My latest reporting in Conde Nast Traveler on how USAID cuts are throttling vital ecotourism, anti-deforestation and wildlife conservation efforts in the Colombian Amazon and around the globe: www.cntraveler.com/story/withou...

This only happens to you once