In completely unrelated news, I just installed @mapquest.com and used it for a drive today. It was great.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 12h ago

Trump: "Apple Maps has just announced that it has changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, so now that very important change of names, between Google Maps and Apple Maps, is complete, ratified, and binding. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"

Hey maybe we shouldn't bank on the midterms to fix everything.

Truthout@truthout.org · yesterday

A whistleblower says a secret, rushed USPS ballot-verification system could reject an entire batch of 10,000 mail ballots if even one barcode fails to scan—potentially delaying or preventing millions of voters from receiving ballots.

Ok I'm done. That was an incredibly enlightening and surprisingly encouraging read, one that I've frequently talked about with colleagues in these challenging times. Thanks @lukekemp.bsky.social for writing this fantastic book. I haven't stopped recommending it.

Armando MC@armandomc.bsky.social · 5d ago

idk I feel like this is gonna top the MCU. No pressure @lukekemp.bsky.social but parts 1 & 2 were incredible.

Well that explains the 2024 election.

Remembering Fred Hampton born Aug. 30, 1948, assassinated Dec. 4, 1969 by Chicago police and the FBI

look what happens when police get an unlimited budget. idk, i think those defund people had a point?

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 6d ago

New: ICE plans to spend millions of dollars on Boston Dynamics dog robots. ICE says this is to improve "officer safety." The robots can open doors, pick up objects, have 360 cameras, infrared vision, etc. Boston Dynamics didn't respond to question on its stance on ICE www.404media.co/ice-plans-to...

idk I feel like this is gonna top the MCU. No pressure @lukekemp.bsky.social but parts 1 & 2 were incredible.

so markwayne mullin is a fucking liar

Project Salt Box@projectsaltbox.com · 6d ago

🚨 BREAKING: ICE awarded GardaWorld $17.3 million Thursday to convert a warehouse in San Antonio, Texas, into an immigrant "service processing center." It is part of the WEXMAC TITUS contract vehicle and has a $1 billion ceiling. That's the same vehicle DHS said in June it had stopped using.

Here's the official announcement of Parton's passing from her reps, along with the request that in lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at www.imaginationlibrary.com

Alex Zalben@azalben.bsky.social · last wk.

Dolly Parton, among a thousand other amazing things she did in her life, gifted over 330 million books to kids through her Imagination Library program. Her passing is a tremendous loss to the world, but you can support the program today to keep it going imaginationlibrary.com

I attempted to put words to what's been going on in my life:

My miscarriage

A personal update from Marisa.

thehandbasket.co

yep, i will note that the fugitive slave act was used to try to kidnap free blacks and sell them into slavery

Ansley Erickson@ansleyerickson.bsky.social · 2w ago

Breaking my heart this morning: “Fitting ankle monitors on noncitizens without a criminal history who remain in compliance with their immigration cases has little precedent.” True in the narrowest sense. False given how the history of slavery and peonage roars through each part of this story.

Democrats have failed to make the case for why taxes are good and necessary for most of my life. It absolutely sucks that we had to get to this point of decline in order for that trend to possibly and hopefully end.

Brant Reeves@bireeves95.bsky.social · 2w ago

This isn’t the Middle Ages, we should be able to Trust Our Food….. “Grow your own food" is a dumbass response to food recalls. I can't grow a year's supply of salad, but I can pay taxes to a govt that regulate food producers and keeps food safe.

I am becoming incredibly exhausted of this pattern: many people: "AI sucks!" Very Smart Person: ah but have you considered (distinct application of ML or statistical modeling that has no real relationship to what the tech industry is marketing as, and people broadly perceive as, "AI")

Megan Greenwell@greenwell.bsky.social · 2w ago

apropos of nothing, here's a terrific feature about a meaningful, life-saving use of artificial intelligence, which I have been thinking about for over a year. it's just extremely stupid to say that AI has zero benefits even if you don't think it should be used in writing (which I don't)!

hey people sorry if some of you breeze past this part but it’s Friday. We do AI discourse on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is for stuff that rocks and is actually fun. It’s in the TOS & the packet you got at orientation. get it together please

ICE just arrested a 5-year-old on his way to a soccer game in Austin. His name is Liam, just like the little boy from Minnesota. He should be in kindergarten this week. Instead he's in a trailer prison in the desert. Release Liam. Release these kids. Close the Dilley children’s prison.

I cannot begin to count the amount of technology tools I have been told in the last 20 years that I need to teach my students how to use because they were the future. 95% of them are gone. A tool is a tool.

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 2w ago

there is no rhyme or reason to an entire “AI” department, much less an AI school. There is no curriculum, as such, because AI is not a school of thought. It has no theory, no method. It’s just a tool. Two or three courses, max, if someone is obsessed with it should suffice.

This is such a crazy part of being a teenager, once a year you will randomly experience two hours that completely change the rest of life

Noël Coward’s Way Out@averynicedog.bsky.social · 2w ago

There was a snow day in high school where I heard both The Queen is Dead and Doolittle for the first time.

even if you have zero dollars the nicest thing you can do for an author is request that your local library buy a copy of our books every time i see that someone did this it feels so special. like, not only did they care, that made sure other people had access. it’s so kind 🥹

B Rainwater@b-raineater.bsky.social · 2w ago

Just got one of my favorite kinds of notifications - an alert that my library added a book I had requested! This time it's Ashley Fairbanks! 🥳🥳

Wife: The trash is overflowing. Can you-- Me: Well I can't take it out but here's what I'll say. We need a strong trash can. And I'm committed to reforming the kitchen so the trash doesn't pile up

Appreciated the opportunity to talk with The Morning Call about my book and it's relevance to the data center debate in the Lehigh Valley.

Immigration judge to my client in court today: "Ma'am, the children will need to wait outside--but this shouldn't take long. I don't want you to be separated from your children." given what the order I knew she was about to issue, the cruelty of this phrasing stopped my breath

New reason for us to be considered the 21st century's version of the Greatest Generation

jon christian@jonchristian.net · 3w ago

kids today are literally confused about whether "partying" was real or an urban legend

Video of an ICE agent pulling a gun on a wife and mother, who is a US citizen born and raised in the area, near Bailey's Crossroads in Northern Virginia yesterday. Chillingly, they claimed she “almost ran them over” until she told them she had video proving that was a lie.

Right on @mskellymhayes.bsky.social

Puff the Magic Hater@mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 3w ago

I’m seeing a lot of people hang their hopes and all their attention on the midterms. Electoral organizing matters, but full-time spectatorship won’t build the power we need. I wrote about checking in with yourself about where your attention is going and what you’re doing with it.

Family separation is such an ever-present fear for farmworkers that when one of Yazmin’s daughters turned 11, the family refrained from going out to celebrate, @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social reports. “Yazmin described a necessarily cloistered life: She goes to work, the grocery store, & little else.”

Top Farmworker Fear Is Family Separation - The American Prospect

A first-of-its-kind survey by the UFW Foundation quantifies the impact of Trump’s mass deportation campaign on farmworkers, the vast majority of whom are undocumented.

prospect.org

Just another case of the current administration taking a sledgehammer to whatever Formal Powers the government has left.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4w ago

Stephen Miller: "The president is using his authority as commander as chief to sign an executive order using the new ruling the Supreme Court issued to expand the definition of people who are ineligible for birthright citizenship. That includes, for example, alien enemies ... "

the max miller blue bunny horror has me thinking of liam conejo ramos and his little hat and the endless cruelty republicans will inflict on children to achieve their political goals.

Really informative read from @spotlightpa.org on the data center fights happening in the Poconos. Critically important to underscore how bipartisan the organizing continues to be. www.spotlightpa.org/news/2026/08...

Fears grow that data centers will ruin Pocono Mountains

In the Pocono Mountains, residents fear planned data centers could ruin beloved landscapes and pristine waterways.

spotlightpa.org