I’ve stopped donating to individual campaigns, even for candidates we love. win or lose, those orgs are gone the day after the election. check out these alternatives: movement.vote www.lcv.org www.state-elections.org climatecabinet.org
Chris Grayson
@cgrayson.bsky.social
crossposts from https://chrisgrayson.net
Happy Birthday (not that one), live on KEXP by the unique band Black Country, New Road 🎵 youtu.be/o5VF-H-J4…
Joan Osborne, covering Stevie Wonder’s Love’s in Need of Love Today, live on Conan 🎵 youtu.be/N2eNPgTae… "Good morn' or evening, friends Here’s your friendly announcer I have serious news to pass on to everybody"
Normally I just appreciatively read @jamellebouie.net 's columns-sharable video content just isn't my bag. But this is a very, very, very trenchant piece of commentary that captures a lot of how I increasingly understand the disjunction between the commentary environment and on-the-ground politics.
The pundits have completely lost the plot
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
youtube.com
stoktoberfest - the period of time in August when you buy up all the märzen/fest/Oktoberfest beers that are already out, so you’ll have them in October (ok ok, September), when they’ll all be gone (replaced by winter ales) 🍺
Automatic, Is It Now?, live at KEXP 🎵 youtu.be/98DKW_NLy…
@bandcamp.com your busted website has charged my card multiple times during errored checkout submissions today (and I still don’t even have the music I’m trying to buy). submitted a support request but no reply yet. Help!
The Grateful Dead, New Speedway Boogie, live on 1970 🎵 youtu.be/C7B54zEUa… "one way or another this darkness got to give"
Sinead O’Connor, Troy, live in 1988 🎵 youtu.be/1lV21J75v… the beauty & raw power from this 22-year-old woman with an acoustic guitar is honestly staggering "I’d kill a dragon for you"
Tacocat, Psychedelic Quinceañera, live on KEXP 🎵 youtu.be/TxA_6yYKB…
for any country, let alone a host country, let alone this vile kleptocracy, to interfere like this is fucking sickening. for the supposedly apolitical FIFA to give this even a moment’s consideration is worse. way to taint whatever accomplishment the USMNT reaches. way to defile the entire sport ⚽️
White House lobbied Fifa to lift Folarin Balogun suspension for World Cup game v Belgium
The US striker was shown red in the team’s last-32 match, but the card and its suspension were thought to not be eligible for appeal.
theguardian.com
The World Cup is undressing the myth of Trump’s American homogeneity ⚽️ "If [FIFA] wasn’t so busy kowtowing to authoritarian regimes and fleecing workaday fans, it could be the greatest force for global good since, well, the advent of international flight"
The World Cup is undressing the myth of Trump’s American homogeneity
A DHS social media post celebrating the USMNT overlooked the central truth of this World Cup: the game’s greatest tournament is powered by migration, not borders
theguardian.com
I’d given in and was going to subscribe to the Fox One service for the World Cup, but between ads during the two-per-game hydration breaks & having to see Fox News idiots’ big dumb faces every time we launched the app, decided to cancel. we’ll just watch on Telemundo, no problema ⚽️
a nice intro for the curious: A (total) beginner’s guide to the World Cup (funny, too: “the expanded field means there is a chance for plucky underdogs with little chance of winning – such as Jordan, Curaçao & England – to compete with the big boys”)
A (total) beginner’s guide to the World Cup: how does it work and the players to look out for
The tournament kicks off on Thursday in Mexico City. Here’s what newcomers can expect from one of the world’s largest and most watched events
theguardian.com
agree with this rave review of Widow’s Bay. we never watch horror, so we weren’t sure about it, but being open to the comedy & silliness has been enough. can’t wait for the last 2 episodes
‘Absolutely wonderful’: why everyone should be watching Widow’s Bay
The brilliantly modulated mix of horror and comedy has quickly become a buzzy water cooler hit for Apple TV
theguardian.com
Florence + the Machine, One of the Greats, live for World Cafe 🎵 youtu.be/zfXsFODg6… "arms outstretched back from the dead streetlights bursting overhead"
Florence and the Machine - "One Of The Greats" (Live for World Cafe)
World Cafe
youtu.be
authoritarian expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Elections as Tools of Autocracy and White Supremacy: "You have often heard me say: Never give up on elections. I stand behind this, now more than ever… This is the time to message that a strike against some of us is a strike against all of us."
Elections as Tools of Autocracy and White Supremacy
Welcome back to Lucid, and hello to all new subscribers.
lucid.substack.com
resurrected a copy of the website for the now-defunct Austin Computer Book Club. no longer at the “cool” URL of austin.computerbook.club, but back for posterity (and LinkedIn 😊) at computerbookclub.chrisgrayson.net hire me, I ran a Meetup for a couple years! 📚
Austin Computer Book Club
computerbookclub.chrisgrayson.net
that Atlantic article that Kash Patel is suing them over is really a must-read. these are pros, and they covered their bases: "the more than two dozen people I interviewed …described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability"
The FBI Director Is MIA
Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.
theatlantic.com
of all the times he’s claimed “it’s like nothing anybody’s seen before”, whaddya know, this time it’s true! Oil and gas crisis from Iran war worse than 1973, 1979 and 2022 together, says IEA
Oil and gas crisis from Iran war worse than 1973, 1979 and 2022 together, says IEA
Oil prices seesaw and stock markets on edge amid Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen strait of Hormuz
theguardian.com
It's not just what comes out of the tailpipe that's bad. Getting oil, shipping oil, refining oil; it's dirty & dangerous every step of the way (and that's not even counting the wars) solarnoon.net/2026/04/04/o... (story via @capitalb.bsky.social)
One Black community bearing the brunt of Trump's oil wars - Solar Noon
From Capital B News, a stark article detailing how An Oil Explosion in a Black Texas Town Traces Back to Trump’s Iran and Venezuela Crises: The evening blast …
solarnoon.net