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@blueontario.bsky.social

"If objectivity means that I treat evil ideas the same as I treat just ones, I have no time for it." -Malcolm Foley https://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2022/08/i-am-a-historian-on-presentism/

4833 Posts537 Follower245 Folgt
Daniel Ahmad@zhugeex.com · 10h ago

It takes you 20 paragraphs to get to the part of the article where they admit that Mamdani isn't paying the influencers and the reason they are posting videos of the stuff Mamdani is doing is because people are interested in watching it.

The mayor’s office says that it does not pay the influencers. Still, their proximity and access to a figure as popular as Mr. Mamdani can help increase their own social media following and, by extension, potentially put them in a position to attract paid content sponsorships from commercial brands. Some influencers said that when they feature Mr. Mamdani, the videos get more likes and viewers watch longer.
Justin Hendrix@justinhendrix.bsky.social · 14h ago

"Mr. Mamdani is a master of new media... But as mayor, he has also been able to use taxpayer funds to create a sprawling network of hundreds of friendly influencers to boost his priorities, provide positive depictions of his administration and enhance his popularity."

derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social · yesterday

If you have a pet that sometimes snags your clothes, or if you're clumsy like me, I've found Dritz Snag Nab It to be very useful. It's a needle with rough grooves on the tail end. Push the needle through the cloth and it'll pull the snag to the fabric's underside, where it will be hidden.

A green plaid flannel shirt with two snags on the face side of the fabric. There's a Snag Nab It needle next to the snag. The same flannel shirt, but the snags have disappeared. A photo of the underside of the cloth. The snag is now on the underside.
Ben Miller@extinctmonsters.bsky.social · yesterday

Was slumming it on fb and ig to see reactions to the Academy of Natural Sciences closing. It’s heartening that people are pissed. But it’s astonishing/enlightening how little understanding there is of what *any* museum is, who runs them, and how they’re funded. 🧵with dinosaur pics for attention

Museum display corral with cast skeleton of Tenontosaurus being attached by Deinonychus. Three baby Tenontosaurus following.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · yesterday

In July, a new ICE agent with a history of domestic violence and mental illness killed a man in Maine who even ICE admits posed no threat to him. Now we know that internal whistleblowers at ICE were sounding the alarm about the agency utterly disregarding normal hiring rules.

In the wake of a hiring surge last summer, an official in charge of evaluating new recruits to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a dire warning. The Trump administration, he wrote in a memo, was cutting corners, violating the law and fast-tracking unqualified, “improperly vetted” candidates into ICE’s ranks, part of a dangerous move that exposed the agency — and its law enforcement operations — to “grave national security risks.” Citing an “unprecedented lowering of standards,” the career ICE official said that “systemic breakdowns” had allowed applicants to receive job offers before they had passed basic fingerprint, identity or credit checks in a preliminary vetting process. Political appointees had unjustly skirted background investigations and received national security eligibility.
Hamed Aleaziz@haleaziz.bsky.social · 2d ago

SCOOP: An ICE whistleblower report obtained by the NYT said ICE was cutting corners, violating the law and fast-tracking unqualified, “improperly vetted” candidates into ICE’s ranks, part of a dangerous move that exposed the agency to “grave national security risks.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/u...

Ron Filipkowski@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3d ago

As I predicted when Ukraine began striking Russian refineries, Trump is going to blame Ukraine for gas prices & begin to pressure them to stop doing it. Once again, the US will side with Putin against a country fighting for its survival. We’re morally bankrupt under Trump. bsky.app/profile/atru...

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago

Bessent blames Ukraine for high gas prices: "Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refined products, so that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis"

Governor JB Pritzker@govpritzker.illinois.gov · 2d ago

The Great Lakes shouldn't be collateral in political games. The Brandon Road Project is critical infrastructure to stop the spread of invasive carp. Illinoisans deserve answers on why Trump is putting partisanship ahead of protecting one of America's greatest natural resources.

Today, Governor JB Pritzker sent a letter to President Donald Trump demanding that his administration immediately restart construction on the Brandon Road Interbasin Project. The administration ordered work stopped at the end of July, and more than a month later the State of Illinois has received no explanation for the stoppage.Today, Governor JB Pritzker sent a letter to President Donald Trump demanding that his administration immediately restart construction on the Brandon Road Interbasin Project. The administration ordered work stopped at the end of July, and more than a month later the State of Illinois has received no explanation for the stoppage.
@blueontario.bsky.social · 2d ago

Looking at the latest numbers makes me wonder if 4% of the people who say they are Democrats are actually Republicans claiming to be Dems. Otherwise, to think Canada is unfriendly is just more nonsense/low-info participation from our fellow citizens.

YouGov America@today.yougov.com · 3d ago

NEW Economist/YouGov Aug 28-31: Canada 38% of Republicans view Canada as unfriendly or an enemy of the U.S., by far the highest level in the past decade yougov.com/en-us/articl...

A chart of YouGov polling data with the headline: "A growing share of Republicans view Canada as unfriendly or an enemy of the U.S.." The chart's sub-headline is: "Do you consider the following to be an ally or an enemy of the United States? Canada (% who say "unfriendly" or "enemy")." The chart has the note: "Note: Responses of "ally," "friendly," and "not sure" are not shown."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 4d ago

It's like a parody, but it's deadly serious; the Commerce Department (which includes Census, NOAA, and others) has outright deleted "don't alter or suppress scientific findings for political reasons" from its scientific integrity rules. Seriously.

Protecting against "inappropriate influence" is no longer a "hallmark" of scientific integrity The Commerce Department updated its policy for promoting a "culture of scientific integrity" in January 2025, days before Trump's second inauguration. A new Trump administration order bans the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis from using statistical “noise,” or data for fuzzing survey results, to protect people’s privacy in their statistics. The 2025 version included bans on attempts to shape or interfere in data collection, statistical analysis and other scientific activities "against well-accepted scientific methods and theories or without scientific justification." The department's policy, the 2025 version said, involves ensuring scientific findings at its agencies "are not suppressed, delayed, or altered for political purposes and are not subjected to inappropriate influence," as well as making sure there's "independent review of facilities, methodologies, and other scientific activities as appropriate to ensure scientific integrity." That language is missing, however, in the Trump administration's revision of the policy, according to an NPR analysis of text posted on the Commerce Department's website. And while the revision adopts a definition for "scientific integrity" that is similar to the previous version, it no longer says that "protection from inappropriate influence" is among the "hallmarks of scientific integrity."
Hansi Lo Wang (he/him)@hansilowang.bsky.social · 4d ago

SCOOP: After the Census Bureau issued a highly unusual report tied to a President Trump-aligned think tank, the bureau’s parent agency, the Commerce Department, cut language banning political interference from its scientific integrity policy, @npr.org has learned www.npr.org/2026/08/31/n...

@blueontario.bsky.social · 4d ago

Who cares about Constitutional crises, collapsed foreign policy, grift, or the expanding police state when we can talk about data centers? Yeah, it likely *will* get some low info votes, but there had better be some reckoning on the direction of our country to make this weak sauce worth the time.

MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com · 4d ago

Jeffries: Every single House Republican but 1 or 2 voted to unleash data centers on the American people in an unfettered fashion. They can try to run away from their votes. We will not let them hide.

Maurice Meilleur@mauricemeilleur.bsky.social · 4d ago

Way too many folks on the right who think the Athenians came out of the Melian dialog looking aces and maybe should have read Thucydides to the end

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4d ago

EISEN: Markets are wondering if we're in tit for tat trade war w/Canada BESSENT: I don't think you can be in a tit for tat with someone who's 13 times larger than you E: They say they're doing ok B: What else are they gonna say? What are they gonna do? Take their 2 submarines & sic them on us?

Cooper Lund@cooperlund.online · 5d ago

The Lake America thing really drives home that the fundamental divide in this country isn’t left or right, it’s who sees the world and acts like an adult, and who wants to still be a child, throwing tantrums when they don’t get their way. It just happens to map well onto a partisan axis these days.

Anna O. Law@unlawfulentries.bsky.social · 5d ago

To scholars of African American & Native histories, few of the atrocities in immigration enforcement today are new. The racial script and similar mechanisms have been used on other groups before to deny them the right to mobility and to stay where they wanted. What's new is scope/scale of gov power.