nostalgia is the most dangerous drug there is

Revan@revan.eurosky.social · 24h ago

So this is basically one of the entry points to becoming a reactionary

Like Barack Obama

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 13h ago

I know we are chalking the success of some leftist candidates almost entirely to the DSA. However, it seems like the more common theme is that these are candidates with organizing experience?

August 11 will mark one year since the federal occupation of D.C. began. We want to know: What will you remember about this time? And what questions do you have as the takeover continues? Our survey:

it's not why *everything* sucks, but having all three branches of the federal government captured by thieves, abusers, bigots, and cowards is definitely why a lot of things suck

Also, btw, and not for nothing — Cornyn’s lying here. He’s an attorney, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, and was the Texas AG.

Kai Ryssdal@kairyssdal.bsky.social · yesterday

Oh for the love of all that is holy...

A wise woman* once said "Compromise with fascism is ✨fascism✨." * @brynnpaulsen.bsky.social

Been waiting for this to bubble up to the surface. Again, any other time in American history when we had functioning news media, this would have been a five alarm scandal. There would be senate hearings. There would be consequences for everyone in the chain of command involved in this.

Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · yesterday

Holy shit. www.wired.com/story/a-civi...

the intentional abdication by Congress of nearly all of its constitutional responsibilities is at the core of most of our problems as a nation

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Cornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"

Just so everyone knows, this is a tried-and-true mainstream media tactic. For progressives/leftist candidates, every election is a “crucial test” and any loss would serve as proof to the media that the latest left-side moment is at its end. Any win, though, just means it’s time to find a new test.

Politico@politico.com · 2d ago

Michigan will provide another crucial test of whether progressives can not only keep up their winning streak in safe-blue seats but also break through in battlegrounds crucial for control of Congress. The stakes for the Democratic Party are huge.

Out.

NPR@npr.org · 2d ago

Military veteran and D.C. resident Anna King has filed a $3 million lawsuit against the Idaho National Guard, saying three guard members assaulted her while detaining her in front of her home. n.pr/4wyjw9S

"An electrifying tale of grit, heart, and unshakable resolve. . . . [Pickett's] words don't just tell a story - they pull you in, wrap around your heart, and linger long after the last page." -Suzie Housley, Midwest Book Review bookshop.org/p/books/debr...

Debra Lee Won't Break

"Moving, inspiring, gorgeously written...Debra Lee Won't Break is the ride of a lifetime!" -New York Times bestselling author Michael Levin"An electrifying tale of grit, heart, and unshakable resolve....

bookshop.org

Protect our program officers!! Spend a few minutes standing up for their worker’s rights!

I-270, Exit 1@i270exit1.bsky.social · 3d ago

🚨🚨 FEDS and everyone else 🚨🚨 🧵Tomorrow is the last day to comment on the Office of Personnel Management rule, “Promoting Employee Accountability" at www.regulations.gov/commenton/OP... This rule eliminates employee protections and rights, and hastens the firing process. Specifically, it... 1/4

This is banana republic stuff - we all know that, right?

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 3d ago

FLAG: Trump gets to keep tax immunity for himself, his sons, and the Trump Organization under the new 'deal' struck by Todd Blanche. The new order also reaffirms that Trump won't have to pay any taxes he might have owed the IRS.

Me on the AAU "The AAU claims to be comprised of America’s leading research unis...But if the member presidents choose the guise of institutional neutrality as a way to gain political cover, they may now be leading higher ed toward greater authoritarianism." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

How Elite Colleges Aided Censorship During the Red Scares

Powerful organizations during the Red Scares crafted a world where “academic freedom” was conditional on political allegiance.

insidehighered.com

I say this with a degree of irony, but academic institutions need to take the lessons learned by companies and big polluters and be ready to sue/fight back against any imposition of executive authority that might disrupt their operations, no matter how slight. The legal protections are stronger.

“A White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said institutions that do announce reforms could be more likely to be involved in discussions around reshaping the roughly $200 billion federal research funding apparatus that is vital to higher education.” It’s extortion

Liam Knox@liamknox.bsky.social · 3d ago

Scoop: The Trump administration is sending a letter to college presidents asking them to pledge a series of policy changes by the end of the year. Unlike last year's Compact, this effort was devised with input from higher ed leaders. Free link to my exclusive: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Time to add another formerly respected institution to the garbage pile, this time @aau.edu, which just worked with the Trump admin to endorse resegregation in high education, embedding MAGA fraudsters as faculty, and banning student expression. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Still amazing that the official government policy is universities can't do DEI except for hiring professors whose politics better align with the regime in power.

Max Kennerly@maxkennerly.bsky.social · 3d ago

Time to add another formerly respected institution to the garbage pile, this time @aau.edu, which just worked with the Trump admin to endorse resegregation in high education, embedding MAGA fraudsters as faculty, and banning student expression. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Dems strongly favored to take the House in our new election forecast. Senate just better than a tossup: Iowa: 41% Dem Texas: 48 Alaska: 51 Ohio: 53 Maine: 68 Michigan: 69 North Carolina: 84 Georgia: 94 www.gelliottmorris.com/p/democrats-...

Democrats strongly favored to take the House, Senate tilts Democratic in our new election forecast (crosspost)

Our brand-new election forecast for the 2026 congressional midterms puts Democrats at above even odds to take control of both chambers

gelliottmorris.com

It's hard to overstate how ISOLATING and scary it was with a child under 5 waiting for that under 5 vaccine. The world was kind of moving on and you not only couldn't, you had to be scared for your child every day

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 3d ago

Also the Republicans were screaming that Fauci helped authorize vaccines for children, which is something every goddamn parent I know was praying for every day for more than a year and have been thankful for ever since. These people are all self-centered idiotic sociopaths, nothing more.

ORGANIZING AND MOBILIZING AND FIGHTING BACK WORKS. This wasn’t institutions stepping up and fighting. This was INDIVIDUALS standing up UNITED TOGETHER, fighting for the world we want to live in.

THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE POWER ACCOMPLISHES! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who wrote comments, contacted Congress, and yelled! This is OUR WIN! @standupforscience.net www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

Senate finalizes funding patch that would block Trump’s grant overhaul

Language is included to delay the president’s move to put political appointees in charge of grant approval.

politico.com

ever since showing admirable courage and integrity by running franken out of the senate, gillibrand has been on a relentless crusade to prove she’s not really a good person

#StupidSuez@diplomatofnight.com · 3d ago

Is Gillibrand on crack? Why was she telling donors, without a shred of evidence, that Mallory McMorrow is a DSA member???

whatever you think of harris's chances of regaining the nomination man this is a deeply welcome early stake to see claimed in the 2028 primary positioning

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 4d ago

"“We need to revisit the point of expanding the court to 13 justices like we have 13 district courts,” Harris said at the National Urban League’s annual conference...also calling for a review of the Electoral College and statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington, DC." www.cnn.com/2026/07/31/p...

This post and the accompanying paper are worth reading. There is definitely an interesting lineage of open science that leads from philanthro-capital to present-day "gold standard science", but it's also worth pointing out this is only one lineage in a pretty complicated genealogy of open research.

Jeff Lockhart@jwlockhart.bsky.social · 5d ago

I wrote about science funding, science reform, and anti-science agendas. scatter.wordpress.com/2026/07/31/s...

America is now a joke country where citizens are arrested to cover up for the president’s lies on social media. We’ve replaced DEI with incompetence and protecting the egos of mediocre white men.

This is literally false. They create an initial wave of construction work, which is often contracted out of the locality, and then when operational they require only minimal staff.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6d ago

Hassett: "Data centers are very good for towns bc they create so many jobs & bring people in with high incomes that can buy houses & stuff like that. So if you take a sleepy town that hasn't seen much in the last 30 years & put a data center there, there are gonna be a bunch of happy residents."

If you haven't been to DC lately, the new gilded statues look really, really, really fucking tacky

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01)@repstansbury.bsky.social · 6d ago

While you were over here trying to figure out how you were going to cover the rent and food—this guy was over there using $5.1 million in taxpayer money YOU paid into the system to cover these statues in 23 karat gold. Yeah, he did that.

Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in our nation’s history.

Exclusive | ‘The Boss Wants This Money’: Inside Trump’s Unprecedented Fundraising Operation

Meredith O’Rourke, nicknamed ‘princess of darkness,’ carries out the president’s desire to wring hundreds of millions from companies for his projects.

wsj.com

If you want to know how things got this bad for LGBTQ people (especially trans people) over the past decade, I think this piece I wrote in 2019 does a good job of putting it all together www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump...

It’s time for a reckoning for journalists who boosted false narratives about Donald Trump’s LGBTQ policy positions

mediamatters.org