Carolyn Ostrander
@clow.bsky.social
Poet. Editor, The Comstock Review. Rhet/Comp & Historiography. Rural Studies. Linguistics. Multimodal/ Multilingual Acquisition. Disability/Deaf Studies. Educational Equity & Access. Best endorsement to date: my GP reports "Patient is a good historian"
It's a year and a half after i highlighted the issue, but nice to see: arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Senators demand crackdown on wildfire "prediction market" bets
Fire experts warn such markets could incentivize arson.
arstechnica.com
Molly White@molly.wiki · 2y agowhat could go wrong with running betting markets like this?
BOOKER: Let me make this easy. Be a man. Yes or no -- did Joe Biden win the 2020 election? CANDEUB: ... the Congress certifie-- BOOKER: There you go. Stop! Can you please tell me yes or no, did President Biden win the 2020 election? CANDEUB: The Congress certified-- B: You are showing cowardice.
holy shit -- Schiff ties Trump's judicial nominees in knots by asking them who won the 2016 before *before* asking them who won in 2020, which results in them sounding like election deniers about Trump's victories!
SCHIFF: When Trump ran against Hillary Clinton, who won? CANDEUB: Um. Trump was certified as winner S: Did he in fact win? C: He was certified S: Do you have some doubt about if he won? C: I have no doubt he was certified S: When did it become so difficult to answer such a simple question?
SCHIFF: You told my staff you stood by your article in white nationalist website VDARE where you wrote, 'Muslim immigrants & their kids seem prone to terrorism' C: I wrote that article in support of Trump's travel ban S: Do you stand by it? C: I stand by that article S: That's all I need to know
Maybe if we call it the Pool-Gate Scandal some main stream journalist ears will twitch
Reup: Bc journalists simply are NOT reading the court filings closely enough to understand how bad the misconduct in the Davey Hearn case may be. What Did Jeanine Pirro Know and When Did She Know It? emptywheel.net/2026/08/05/w...
What Did Jeanine Pirro Know and When Did She Know It? - emptywheel
In a bid to get the indictment against him dismissed with prejudice, Davey Hearn reveals that DOJ misrepresented the circumstances of a "before" picture proving he didn't damage the reflecting pool.
emptywheel.net
😮 Trump's nominees are the most pathetic men in the world 😮 During a hearing, Blumenthal made Trump nominees squirm by asking them who won the 2020 election -- a question they refuse to answer -- but then Schiff upped the ante by asking them *who won the 2016 election.* Here's a supercut:
😮 Trump's nominees are the most pathetic men in the world 😮
YouTube video by Aaron Rupar
youtube.com
Hearings like this are a reminder that if you work for Donald Trump, you are a person of low character and have no integrity. There are no exceptions.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3h ago😮 Trump's nominees are the most pathetic men in the world 😮 During a hearing, Blumenthal made Trump nominees squirm by asking them who won the 2020 election -- a question they refuse to answer -- but then Schiff upped the ante by asking them *who won the 2016 election.* Here's a supercut:
Since Trump came back into office I've been waiting to see on WHICH case, which instance of abusive prosecution, DOJ first invoked the language in Trump v. US that lets POTUS prosecute whoever he wants. It appears to be @katmabu.bsky.social's case, Broadview 6. emptywheel.net/2026/08/05/d...
DOJ Invokes Trump v. US to Protect Todd Blanche's Fixer, Aakash Singh - emptywheel
In the 18 months that Trump's former defense attorney Todd Blanche has run DOJ, he has yet to rely on Trump v. US, the SCOTUS precedent giving the President unbridled authority to dictate individual p...
emptywheel.net
Seeing as how John James has already lost two statewide elections in MI and has no legislative accomplishment in Congress to point to, Benson may have an easier path, but she still has to campaign like she is behind. The next 3 months are going to be off the rails in MI.
That seems right. Several organizers in Jackson, MS last night talked about “keep the main thing the main thing”, which means learning how to knock doors, have human conversations, “make people happy you called”, etc.
Jacob Kramer-Duffield@jaykaydee.bsky.social · 6h agoEl-Sayed in particular describes himself as a proud capitalist so yeah it is not just DSA. People with organizing experience - inclusive of but not limited to DSA folks - are the ones who are best prepared to face our fractured media environment b/c they have experience going and finding ppl (1/n)
El-Sayed: "My commitment to Jewish safety is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters. Because if there is one question of political philosophy that ought to animate us all, it's what would we do if we treated all our kids like they were all of our kids?"
El-Sayed on Islamophobia: "That's the only play they got. They're gonna point at me, they're gonna point at my name, like, 'Wow, he's different.' That's the best you got? You can't actually talk about what you want to do? My name is not raising your gas prices. My name is now taking us to war."
Blanche refuses to say whether he was aware that Pirro was going to drop the charges against Hearn or approved her decision
Rick Scott on spending: "Government is the problem. It's not the Iran war." (Who is waging the Iran war?)
I’ve been screening our documentary with organizing communities in the South. So far, the organizers mention data centers first at every single event. From racial justice orgs to old school activists who don’t usually think about tech policy. This has legs.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on rockets crashing into the moon: "It's not a big deal right now. The moon has clearly seen better days."
Rep. Max Miller on his ex-wife: "It's sad to see that the only person this affects is our daughter, someone I don't think she cares about very much"
🚨 Rep. Max Miller again alludes to blackmail material he has on Sen. Bernie Moreno: "He felt the political pressure because some of the rumors that were circulating about him that he doesn't want to get out. I have no intention of sharing what will eventually become public."
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?
Max Miller on why he's staying in the race: "When we go back to 2015 and 2016, & people in the media looked at President Trump, & everyone came out with allegations. Dozens of women, dozens of crazy allegations, dozens of nasty criminal misconduct. And you know what he did? He stayed in the fight."
Via @oliverdarcy.bsky.social: www.status.news/p/david-elli... CNN reporters were not amused by David Ellison's op-ed in the NYT.
![The piece was "insulting," one CNNer told Status, adding, “We all have eyes and ears and see what’s happening at CBS. You can’t just write an op-ed and erase that.” Another CNNer said it was obvious to them Ellison "says whatever is best for him to get the merger through."
"The thing David Ellison seems to be missing is the wild mismanagement and disrespect that Bari [Weiss] has displayed at '60' and CBS," a third CNNer told Status. "These people just simply do not know what they are doing. We see it. And we don’t want it here."
Indeed, several CNNers said that Ellison's stewardship of CBS News had caused them to lose confidence in his ability to run a news organization and sour on his repeated assurances about respecting the independence of newsrooms. In The Times essay, Ellison wrote, "I understand that promises from an executive in the middle of a merger invite skepticism. So judge us by the year we just had."
But the last year at CBS News has been an unmitigated disaster. Most notably, Ellison allowed his handpicked news chief to take a sledgehammer to "60 Minutes," firing multiple correspondents and senior executives from television news' most prestigious broadcast—in most of the cases, without ever stating a cause for the dismissals. Beyond that, Weiss' tenure has been defined by her expunging those she is not ideologically aligned with, presiding over the worst ratings of the century for flagship programs like the "CBS Evening News" and "CBS Mornings," establishing a cozier relationship with an overtly corrupt White House, and sending employee morale cratering to astonishing lows.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreicybrw5xm7wnrleduxjtlfwlrcvjzs7qwwjijswwlluzh5x67iadi)
Apparently we're paying $25K bribes to AUSAs to convince the to risk their law license working for a shitshow DOJ. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
You will be surprised to learn that I do not believe there is a “moral imperative“ to teach educators about AI.
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 8h ago“Teaching educators about AI is a ‘moral imperative’, said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president.” “And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tech’s money or doing nothing, she said.”
They could always sign up to give comment at a public meeting.
The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 19h agoNew York City’s business elites are long accustomed to direct access to City Hall, where even Democratic mayors felt the need to court the city’s wealthiest and most influential corporate leaders. That access is getting shredded by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
