Radley Balko tracks the law-enforcement side of the descent into fascist dictatorship. The police militarization debate is over open.substack.com/pub/radleyba...

Trump realizes people are turning on him, which means he will get more desperate, aggressive, extreme, and violent. These are all actions of a weak regime and weak man.

He’s gonna send the troops into our cities to create violence as a pretense for shooting us to control the violence.

As this passage from a letter from several Dem lawmakers makes clear, ICE’s refusal appears to violate explicit federal law:

53 Republican Senators and not a one of them represents the state of any of the universities on Trump's hit list. What a coincidence. (Source: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/u...)

Just thinking about what the US looked like before the EPA existed

Imagine a president so villainous he is trying to destroy Habitat for Humanity.

Again, the goal for this administration isn’t to counter antisemitism or protect Israel. It’s to weaponize antisemitism to go after their political enemies, advance an extreme agenda, and undercut democracy — and it only makes Jews *less* safe.

Trump's assault on Kentucky's economy continues. First he spurs retaliatory bourbon tariffs. Now he imposes steel and aluminum tariffs.

From 2020-2022, "more than $1 billion flowed from more than 3,500 foundations and high-net-worth donors to about 150 nonprofits that advocate purging people from the voting rolls, restricting vote-by-mail or early voting, removing drop boxes, and other ways of making it harder for people to vote."

Casting Trump's Canada/Fentanyl lie into further relief: thankfully, this catastrophe, which took off under Trump 1, began to subside well before Trump 2 took office. www.npr.org/2025/03/07/n...

A recent report showed that the destruction of just one USAID program, the anti-AIDS PEPFAR initiative, would lead to the deaths of one million people *every year* www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Glad to see a statement from AAU on Columbia, since AAU can afford to be more assertive than any particular targeted university can be. But disappointed to see "unprecedented" not spelled out. 1/ www.aau.edu/newsroom/pre...

Not only does the ADL support Trump's DHS/ICE goons disappearing a legal permanent resident, they openly hope that it will scare others into being quiet.

"Sorry, did I say Canada? Heh. Kentucky. I meant Kentucky."

If you haven't yet fired your bank, why not fire your bank? (Specifically: Bank of America, BMO, CIBC, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, National Bank, TD Bank Group, and Wells Fargo.) www.wired.com/story/big-ba...

JOAP SPECIAL ISSUE ON PROCREATION, INTERGENERATIONAL JUSTICE, AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS | Guest Eds: Serena Olsaretti & Isa Trifan onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14685930... #philsky #appliedphilosophy

Rather than get mad at "retaliatory tariffs" maybe the Kentucky Distillers' Association should place the blame where it belongs: on Donald Trump. whiskeynetwork.net/2025/03/kda-...

Commentary by Tom FitzGerald Shortsighted and unconstitutional Senate Bill 84 would tip scales of justice against health and safety, encroach on KY courts’ independence. kentuckylantern.com/2025/03/05/s...

FACT: Immigrants are our nation's strength! Immigrants make up 17% of all health care workers, 28.2% of physicians, 27% of direct care workers, and a staggering 38% of home health aides. #ProtectImmigrantFamilies #MOMSky

My favorite explanation, which isn't a complete one (nor would the author claim it was), is this by @johnkroman.bsky.social, who points to the not-much-help-from-the-Feds restoration of local social services, who are in many ways even more "first-responders" than the police.

It's true homicides are still higher than they were in the early 2010s, when they hit near-historic lows. But the decline in homicide since 2021 has been truly staggering. It's a huge public safety win, and thousands of ppl are alive bc of it. It deserves--demands--the same attention as the spike.

Seconding this idea. The only good response in the joint address today is to walk out 25 at a time every third sentence, then gather at some designated meaningful spot outside for an event foregrounding T&M's victims, and formally announce the end of their cooperation with the coup.

We are not starting from scratch. The strategies and tactics are out there to resist the #Trump mafia state. But it’s time to put it all into action. Find some friends and start making some beautiful, good trouble. beautifultrouble.org

Resources for philosophers on Bluesky: 1. Starter packs go.bsky.app/kiKSKZ (people) go.bsky.app/RMuQBg3 (orgs) 2. New PhilSky＋ feed 🦋 bsky.app/profile/did:... – uses #PhilSky & other common hashtags (see profile for more) 3. Lists bsky.app/profile/did:... (people) bsky.app/profile/did:... (orgs)

The most extraordinary thing about James Harrison, who donated his rare plasma every 2 weeks for over 60 years and saved the lives of an estimated 2.4 million babies, is that he had to overcome a FEAR OF NEEDLES. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Imagine that. 💰

✊🏾🖤🪧📢🫶🏾🎯🫶🏾📢🪧🖤✊🏾

NEW: One million children will go untreated for severe malnutrition, up to 166,000 people will die from malaria and 200,000 more children will be paralyzed by polio over the next decade, internal memos estimated. The USAID programs were cut anyway. By Brett Murphy and @annamaria.bsky.social

These are the shock troops of a coup d'etat.

Also, people answer this question based not on what the government actually spends, but what they think it spends. People tend to think we spend too much on foreign aid, but when asked how much we should spend, they say a number that is far higher than we actually do. (Or, did.)

Ain't nobody here but us chickens. OK, now where's my flu vaccine? www.wired.com/story/chicke...

I can't stop laughing at this man I'm sorry. This is the kind of shit the biggest loser in the world would say to their girlfriend about buying her flowers on Valentine's Day once, and he's doing so in an argument that started because he called her a bitch

Please don't say the US has always been on the side of democracy or that the lapses were mistakes. At best, the lapses were viewed as prices worth paying. But the people who made that judgment weren't the ones to pay the price. A song for the day. open.spotify.com/track/4cDWsK...

While our national and state electeds continue to embarrass us, our students are not! Specifically our students in Kentucky. I’m so damn proud of them. www.insightintodiversity.com/kentucky-stu...

Think about this for a hot second

Musk treats his companies like 8-year-old millennials treated their Tamagotchi pets. Totally obsessed for the first few weeks. Then neglectful when the novelty wore off. Then so annoyed when the thing got needy that they mistreated it intentionally.

The Lard Problem of Consciousness. You're a vegetarian. You start eating a pastry. By the time you realize it might contain congealed animal fat, you've mindlessly eaten through two-thirds of the treat.🧟

You are the weakest link. Good bye.

Brilliant. @repmcgarvey.bsky.social, take the show on the road across Kentucky. A town hall in every district!

The next most important thing you can do is call your GOP member's office every single day. When I worked in the Senate, in every single weekly all-staff meeting, we went over the phone calls we'd received.

These people are such cretins. Who talks like this? www.npr.org/2025/02/25/n...

People talk about boycotting retailers, but boycotting gasoline would be more effective. It's not easy. But we can each reduce gasoline consumption by 10% or more a month. Get out of our cars. Find bus routes & trains. Walk, bike, carpool. This is nuts. We are funding our own destruction.

Just in one year, just the clean air act, prevented hundreds of thousands of early deaths. The lowest possible estimate of the benefits found that benefits outweigh the costs by 3 to 1. The most likely estimate is 30 to 1. The high estimate is 90 to 1. Ninety. Nine Zero. www.epa.gov/clean-air-ac...

Social norms in animal societies! Louisville folks: learn more about the social and moral lives of animals as Dr. @kristinandrews.bsky.social (@yorkuphil.bsky.social) delivers the keynote address for the 22nd annual Humphrey Colloquium this Friday, 2/28 at 4:00 p.m. in BAB 218 on the UofL campus!

In one way, computer engineers are like computers. They are great for helping you accomplish what you want to accomplish, and even for helping you rethink what you want to do in light of what can be done. They are not great for deciding what's worth doing.

The public comment period for changing passports to misgender trans people is open. Please take a moment to let them know that you do not support that change.

This is exactly right - and it is both outrageous and frightening that it needs to be said.

"...standard tactics – and the kind of consultant advice that ...worked for Clinton in the 90s – have a real drawback: they communicate that...things are still pretty normal. Citizens take cues from elites. If elites act normally, why should everyone else be that concerned?" Guardian column: