I spent time this week tracking ancestral land records at the Town Clerk's office, and I connected with a living 4th cousin in Indiana! I write about what I've found in The Deeds of Our Ancestors finding-throughlines.ghost.io/the-deeds-of...

The Deeds of Our Ancestors

"The economy then was almost 100 percent agricultural. Other vocations existed in the community, but they were service vocations intended to supply the needs of the men and women who actually produced...

finding-throughlines.ghost.io

I hope i get to vote for Peggy Flanagan someday.

Peggy Flanagan@peggyflanagan.bsky.social · 3d ago

This year, federal agents terrorized our streets, killed our neighbors, and detained our children. Minnesotans were changed forever. Michele Tafoya thinks ICE treats kids “really well.” I think ICE should be ripped apart and replaced by a system grounded in dignity and due process.

@sketchyrepublic.bsky.social

It’s bad enough that Gavin Newsom opposes California’s Prop 40. But he also supports Prop 42, a billionaire-backed poison pill that would cancel out Prop 40 entirely and make it impossible to enact future wealth taxes. It’s clear whose side he’s on. Remember this in 2028.

Newsom Endorses Ballot Measure That Would Cancel Out Billionaire Tax—and Ban Future Wealth Taxes | Common Dreams

"He’d rather millions of children and families lose their healthcare than ask a couple hundred billionaires to finally p

commondreams.org

The US is quickly growing a concentration camp system that will soon exceed Japanese American "internment." Given *everything else*, and you get why it isn't dominating the news. But it's a massive and massively shameful story. We know how these things go from awful to hell. No excuses in 2026.

All these years later.... I'm STILL a member of The Resistance.

Paul Marvin@paulmarvin.bsky.social · last wk.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): “U.S. government is currently a state sponsor of terrorism. I understand that sounds political and hyperbolic, but it is factually true. Russia is deliberately carrying out large-scale strikes against civilians in Ukraine,while Trump is deliberately funding its actions.”

Medieval Executions 🧵 Hi there. One of my areas of expertise is medieval crime and punishment. If you’re interested, here are some comments on medieval executions. Note that, just as today, practices and perceptions varied widely across medieval Europe... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: US plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation

Pentagon said execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, would be broadcast live

theguardian.com

i've identified the Dockers store where Michael Tracy bought and then subsequently returned these pants after wearing them. i will be pursuing criminal prosecution.

finding-throughlines.ghost.io/plot-lines-w... I write about the 1862 Homestead Act, and track an 19th-century ancestor from New York to Nebraska using public records. The national repositories of such histories are under threat and we need to resist.

Plot Lines: What We Know About Where We Live and How We Landed There

"President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862. The act provided settlers with 160 acres of surveyed public land after payment of a filing fee and five years of continuous residen...

finding-throughlines.ghost.io

Just another morning at the library! ❤️

Real talk by Dutch politician, Anna Strolenberg on Jane Doe & the predatory male tech industry. "I stand with Jane Doe. Abusing women is not a business model. Whether it’s spyware to track women’s phones, or nudify apps used to undress women, Big Tech has made millions off the abuse of women."

About three months ago Tavia Nyong’o & I conceived of a collection of essays on The Epstein Class and the University meant to consider the ubiquity is sexual violence in the university & the fundamental fact that access to young women has long been a side perk of university employment & attendance.

Fatphobia is rape culture.

Amanda Marcotte@amandamarcotte.bsky.social · last wk.

New Standing Room Only! Today's excerpt: Why Megyn Kelly is a cankle. Read and subscribe! salon-standingroomonly.beehiiv.com/p/megyn-kell... Music by CMAT.

Every news article about business leaders and/or social strife should mention that a cabal of billionaires and their trillionaire buddy are currently and explicitly trying to accelerate social collapse so they can be neofeudal kings in digital paradise forever. I dunno, seems like important context

Damn, hit ‘em with the lookback

Of course when Russia said Ukraine had bioweapons labs what they really meant was that they did. There's a lot we don't know about the current situation. Russia should be bringing in experts from the WHO to clarify and advise. Will they? www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

U.S. officials seeking details of reported Russian plague death, quarantines

Officials said they need to learn more about the evolving situation before determining the potential threat to the United States.

washingtonpost.com

Econ 101

Maybe my biggest takeaway so far in this personal history project is how thoroughly lust for land has defined the United States. I reflect on how Ingalls Wilder's books, and "lebensraum" worked to obscure this for my generation. finding-throughlines.ghost.io/land-lust-an...

Land Lust and Land Loss

This week marks my 75th post. I'm realizing it'll require more than just the next two years to understand the numerous throughlines that have led the United States to this dangerous juncture. Here's ...

finding-throughlines.ghost.io

Just wanted to boost this, in view of all the recent hot takes about the bar: www.whoevenreads.com/indie-bookst...

Indie Bookstores with Masking & Covid Policies in 2026

The trajectory of Covid awareness may not go exactly as many expect, and in the meantime, bookstores are one of the community spaces that can offer a transition point to a different possible future.

whoevenreads.com

The heartbreaking thing about lovely videos like this being called out as gen AI in the comments (it's not gen AI, it's real) is that here, we are actually looking at non-human cognition. Animal cognition, unlike gen AI, has things to teach us about ourselves and the world.

In Otter News@in-otter-news.bsky.social · 3w ago

After a long day at the aquarium, the otters help tidy their toys away. Payment is made promptly and entirely in ice cubes.

Me, twelve years old: Only 63 years until the Vulcans come and we fix the world! Me, today: ugh in 37 years, the Vulcans land and we steal their ship to create the Terran Empire

I love the conversation this started! Makes me want to whip up a few myself.

Gwen C. Katz@gwenckatz.bsky.social · 3w ago

Fuck ChatGPT flyers. The future is broadsheets.

Project 2025 types think we're in a "second American revolution." I think what these folks really want is a second Civil War. This week, I write about ancestry, rebellions, and American bloodlust, historic and modern. finding-throughlines.ghost.io/bearing-witn...

Bearing Witness: Family Records of Bloody Revolutions

"You and I have both been parts of faculties and faculty senates and understand that the left has taken over our institutions. The reason that they are apoplectic right now, the reason that so many an...

finding-throughlines.ghost.io

In any reasonable society the next sentence would be ‘and so they were all put in jail for admitting to gross negligence and malfeasance on a scale previously unthinkable’

The Associated Press@apnews.com · 3w ago

BREAKING: Heads of major AI firms warn the UN that without intervention, "AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole".

By destroying Voting Rights Act and gutting 14th & 15th amendments the Roberts Court is recycling legal arguments once used by Confederates and white supremacists to destroy Reconstruction Please read my deep dive w/ @pemalevy.bsky.social in @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

This tiny fix solves a problem you never realized you had, and once you see it, it makes perfect sense.

Tech hype that might be coming down the pike: terraforming and democracy maxing. tante.cc/2026/09/23/t...

The Next Hype

I met with a friend yesterday and the conversation got to what the next hype might be after the current bubble pops. We live at the height of the “AI”-hype and bubble, the hype that took over from the...

tante.cc

AI's catastrophic potential is a self-serving story told by... AI CEOs, motivated by their own interests. By @tressiemcphd.bsky.social

Opinion | A.I. Is a Threat, but Not in the Way You Think (Gift Article)

The threats from A.I. are real — and they’re ones we know how to deal with.

nytimes.com