"Cool dude, see you in discovery!" is the obvious UNO Reverse card to Trump's attempts to bully organizations by suing them for a trillion dollars. It's a massive indictment of the US system that one after another institutions and major organizations settled and paid bribes rather than play it.

Graham Lanktree@glanktree.bsky.social · 6h ago

President Donald Trump is seeking to stave off a court order that requires him to begin giving the BBC financial details on his business empire by Thursday in connection with a defamation lawsuit he is pressing against the network. www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

Ironically, the way mainstream papers lower the bar to give space to middling hacks in the name of ideological diversity is the closest real-world phenomeon to how MAGA imagines DEI works. Does anyone think we’d know the name Mark Thiessen if he were on the center-left competing for that slot?

Thor Benson@thorbenson.bsky.social · 4h ago

Trump shared this Marc Thiessen article yesterday lol

This plane has left Alexandria, LA, again and is currently refueling in Bangor. Migrants onboard have been shackled for at least 34 hours. Story updated.

Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · 13h ago

NEW: An ICE flight headed for Moldova turned around over the Atlantic Ocean yesterday and flew back to an ICE hub, returning 15 hours after it left. We don’t know why. Video I obtained from the scene shows 11 exhausted and shackled people disembark. gillianbrockell.com/why-did-this...

Daaaamn. “AI is the asbestos we're shovelling into the walls of our technological society. Our descendants will spend generations digging it out again, and the longer the bubble goes on without popping, the longer it will take to repair the damage." www.thenerve.news/p/cory-docto...

Cory Doctorow: The people who tell you ‘AI is changing everything’ are lying

It has become impossible to tell managers mesmerised by artificial intelligence that the tools are not, in fact, helpful. So employees just play along with the fiction to keep their jobs, writes our t...

thenerve.news

this wsj article is much better than the Times "showdown" article. but i resent the media gaslighting of this whole storyline, as though there was ever even the slightest question about why the pool bottom fell apart or that somehow Burgum had kept anyone in the dark. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Pirro’s About-Face in Pool Case Followed Prosecutors’ Private Concerns

The U.S. attorney defended the dismissal of charges in a meeting with President Trump, but people close to the president say it is too early to say whether Pirro’s job is safe.

wsj.com

If you show up to Bluesky without following anyone, you'll be treated to a series of posts about art, music, and dogs. If you show up to X without following anyone, you'll be bombarded with right-wing conspiracies and white supremacist slop. It's weird which one is seen as a "political bubble"

Platitude politics. This guy won't do shit that might upset the banking industry. He and other Dems have been complicit for decades.

Senator Ron Wyden@wyden.senate.gov · 2d ago

If Democrats retake the majority in the Senate and I become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, one of my first acts will be to subpoena the bankers that helped Epstein carry out his crimes and help deliver real accountability.

Here’s the key takeaway from our report: Epstein couldn’t have carried out his trafficking and criminal activity without the help of the highest ranking employees and executives at the most powerful banks in the world. Wall Street is complicit in Epstein’s crimes from top to bottom.

I don't understand why people aren't more freaked out about the coordinated water systems cyberattack that hit *seven* US states (over 30 facilities in one state alone; people had to boil water). Anyway, if you missed the new #Cybersecurity roundup this morning: www.patreon.com/violetblue/p...

Cybersecurity: August 4, 2026 | Threat Model

This week: water systems in seven US states targeted in a coordinated cyberattack, the “escaped AI” story gets worse, deliberately backdoore

patreon.com

If you want to know how Flock got so big so fast in Illinois, look no further than our sitting Attorney General (who refused to comment for this story!):

Eyes on the heartland

A vast network of new license plate cameras has exploded across Illinois in recent years—paid for by state grants to fight retail crime. With the federal government clamoring for more information on p...

unraveledpress.com

New Yorkers had to subsidize the $117 million that the NYPD paid out for misconduct lawsuits in 2025 alone, even though most of them were never personally abused by a cop. Where's your worried op-ed on that one?

USA TODAY Opinion@usatodayopinion.usatoday.com · 3d ago

Opinion: Mamdani's idea may sound appealing, but it's NYC taxpayers who will take the hit, subsidizing discounts they may never even use.

A 39-year-old El Salvadoran man, who was being held at Delaney Hall, has died, the man's family says. He's the father of a 12-year-old US citizen daughter and has lived in the country for nearly 20 years. www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/08/03/s...

El Salvadoran Man Held by ICE at Delaney Hall Dies, Family Says

The detainee had an extensive medical history, including epilepsy, according to a lawsuit. He had complained about his face and hand going numb just before his death, his mother said.

thecityreporter.nyc

This is such a frustrating mirror of the media bias ref-working from 20 years ago: Have journalists demanded the CEO of any other social platform dominated by conservative influencers to repudiate their users’ politics and work to attract more liberals? Why are liberals defaulted to being so bad?

The Verge@theverge.com · 2d ago

Bluesky's new CEO Toni Schneider on the platform's reputation for being a liberal bubble: "Yes, we definitely want that to change. It is already changing. It certainly wasn’t designed to attract one specific group of people."

ICE has killed another person.

El Salvadoran Man Held by ICE at Delaney Hall Dies, Family Says

The detainee had an extensive medical history, including epilepsy, according to a lawsuit. He had complained about his face and hand going numb just before his death, his mother said.

thecityreporter.nyc

If you are an expert on air quality and have 10-15 minutes to talk to me today or tomorrow about important things journalists should know while reporting on wildfires and smoke, my DMs are open, or you can email me at karen at OpenNews dot org.

CARTOON OF THE DAY (if you know who made this let us know)

Insane that democrats keep trying to cave on this issue rather than amplifying the fact that it’s being spearheaded by bigots and freaks

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 3d ago

An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play

Devastating article about the wanton damage done to people falsely charged with assaulting federal law enforcement officers in the year since they took over D.C. (By 24-year-WaPo veteran.) news.bgov.com/white-collar...

A Year After DC Federal Surge: Cases Dropped, Lives Uprooted

In the weeks that followed President Trump’s order last August to send the National Guard into Washington, federal prosecutors filed more than two dozen cases charging people with assaults on federal ...

news.bgov.com

New important interview! On Kushner and WWIII. This taped on Monday and I’m glad it posted. Lots of info here: Iran, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, AI weapons, and more: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r8m...

The True Agenda of the World Oligarch Class (feat. Sarah Kendzior)

YouTube video by The Mark Thompson Show

youtube.com

America’s legal system To practice law: —4 year degree, LSAT, 3 year JD, pass BAR, buy malpractice insurance, total cost ~$300K To enforce law: —Here’s paid 13-week training & a gun To write law: —0 qualifications needed, a billionaire can buy your seat Vote only for people funded by people.❤️✊🏽

How many times have they run this same story? www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/u...

New Round of Trump Threats and Pullbacks Raises Uncertainty in Mideast

Analysts and lawmakers are trying to divine whether Mr. Trump’s latest announcement means negotiations with Iran will truly get underway Monday or if the president is just working through unappealing ...

nytimes.com

Terrorism arrests in the UK increased by 1,200% this year The 2,800 people arrested for supporting Palestine Action, is more than the number of people arrested for all terrorism offences in the last decade combined inews.co.uk/news/retired...

How retired teachers, nurses and vicars became Britain's newest terror suspects

Suspects arrested for holding signs reading, 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action'

inews.co.uk

This is a story about the President and several of his hand-picked appointees all committing crimes and blatantly lying to the public while stealing public funds and abusing the criminal justice system, but the NYTimes describes the situation like they're recapping a soap opera.

Larry Glickman@larryglickman.bsky.social · 4d ago

Another example of the problem with the fixation with Trump’s putative emotions: here a story about the Trump administration’s corruption, incompetence, and venality is framed as one about Trump’s “wrath.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/u...

Remember the story from July 19 that FBI had been told they would no longer investigate the crimes that DHS commits? NYT included a pic of Renee Good's car, but didn't say this was about Good. Turns out that happened just after Mary Moriarty got evidence on both the Good and Pretti shootings.

Covid lockdowns demonstrated, in a deeply imperfect way, the possibility of large-scale social solidarity for a higher cause. That is a prime reason why so many powerful people want us to run screaming away from them into the comforting arms of selfish individualist competition.

Not that it’s easy, but way too many journalists take the bait here and start defending themselves and their profession in how-I-do-my-job terms rather than pressing their questions and getting the subject to flame out as they refuse to answer.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4d ago

RFK Jr yelling at Dana Bash sounds like a rabid dog barking

The man endorsed by Sarah Huckabeast in this video is Arkansas state Rep. Austin McCollum. McCollum was arrested today on charges of aggravated assault against a family or household member, first-degree false imprisonment, and third-degree domestic battery. www.nwaonline.com/news/2026/au...

we are talking about covid because their base is pissed and telling pollsters they won’t show up and the racism dial is already turned as far as it can go but they think maybe there’s a little blood to be squeezed still from the fauci stone. that’s it. that’s the only reason we are doing this.

The diarrhea lettuce company, Taylor Farms, uses slave labor contracted from the Arizona Dept. of Corrections. The backbreaking labor is often performed by imprisoned Mexican nationals who would be otherwise ineligble to work in the US. They are paid $1.50 an hour.

The Diarrhea Lettuce Company Has Been Linked to Forced Labor

The lettuce-producing Taylor Farms was linked to the widespread use of prison labor before its involvement in a cyclospora outbreak.

futurism.com

According to the parliamentary annual report & accounts for the 2025/26 financial year, the cost of subsidising the bars in the House of Commons alone was around £5.8 million. Meanwhile, to save £3 million less than that, Jodrell Bank is being defunded and shut down. share.google/MRHIvCsCsKoc...

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

share.google