Lisa Hirsch
@lisairontongue.bsky.social
Classical music and opera journalist. Blogs at irontongue.blogspot.com. Alto, martial artist. Former tech writer. Music, books, politics, food, public health. Cis, queer, Jewish. I instablock men who follow only women's accounts.
Corporations spend more than $1.5 billion a year on union-busting. That’s $1.5 billion they could have spent on higher wages, better benefits, and improving workplace safety. Remember: if they weren’t so scared of worker power, they wouldn’t fight so hard against unions.
U.S. employers spend more than $1.5 billion annually on union avoidance
Key takeaways Many U.S. employers hire union avoidance consultants to keep their workers from organizing and bargaining
epi.org
As I said earlier this week, AI has no place in the history classroom. After spurring conversations with scholars across disciplines, I also agree it has no place MOST classrooms. Please stop shoving it down our throats and selling us out to these companies!
Elise A. Mitchell@bydreamphd.bsky.social · last wk.I’ve had this convo privately enough times in the last week to go public: I don’t think there is any valuable way to use AI in a history classroom.
Meanwhile, churches actively engaged in partisan/electoral activity are free to retain their nonprofit status.
Trump administration pushes to remove tax exemption for private colleges with DEI policies
The Trump administration is proposing a rule that would strip private schools and colleges of their tax-exempt status if they provide targeted help to students based on their race.
npr.org
Why do you appreciate unions? I’ll start: Weekends off Paid vacations Work breaks Sick leave Paid holidays No child labor Safer working conditions Health care and retirement benefits
Are you a man who does the thing a woman said she doesn't like, as an impulse or as a little joke to show that her boundaries don't apply to you? Ever think about why you do that? Is it her who you imagine laughing indulgently, or other men who see you doing it? Don't write in; just have a think x
International Vulture Awareness Day is a chance to celebrate them for what they really are: spectacular soaring birds, highly specialised survivors and indispensable members of the ecosystems they help keep clean. 🌿🦅 #InternationalVultureAwarenessDay #VultureAwarenessDay #Vultures #LynxNatureBooks
Oxford Open Doors is next weekend. With so many fantastic sites open to the public, how do you know which ones to choose? We asked architectural historian Madeline Odent @oldenoughtosay.com for her shortlist. oxfordclarion.uk/oxford-open-...
Oxford Open Doors
September 12-13 is the Oxford Preservation Trust's annual event, where the doors of historic sites all across Oxford are flung open for the public. We asked architectural historian Madeline Odent to c...
oxfordclarion.uk
I think a lot about how many states keep loosening oversight of homeschooling while other people get this kind of punishment for their kids just being outside
Reason Magazine@reason.com · 6d agoA mom of five was convicted last week of delinquency of a minor. Her offense: allowing her 5-year-old son to walk about a half-mile by himself in their gated community. The government also placed Karyann Parkinson on its child abuse and neglect registry, where she will remain for seven years.
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Cleared the Way for More Data Centers. Dems Are Hoping You Know That. talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things...
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Cleared the Way for More Data Centers. Dems Are Hoping You Know That.
Democrats are taking a convoluted, complex provision that was included in Republicans’...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Ummmm so there is going to be an entire music festival dedicated to Fanny Hensel!!!!
henselpushers@henselpushers.bsky.social · 2w agoHenselfest? Henselfest.
Post your getaway vehicle. Faster than a boat drawn by a swan:
Musicology Duck@musicologyduck.bsky.social · last wk.Post your getaway vehicle
No fucking shit buddy. This is what we were trying to tell you.
ah, a military defined by Merit
Jason "Red5" Lyall@jaylyall.bsky.social · 6d agoWell, that can't be good for LeTHaLitY
"Interior secretary Doug Burgman said that according to federal grazing laws, public land leases can only be given to animals, 'intended for use primarily for their meat, milk, or other animal products.'"
Go Green @ecowarriorss.bsky.social · 6d agoTrump repeals rule that allowed bison to graze on public lands The new rule applies to 245 million acres of public land Bison must be off the land by Sept 30 says Trump He does not care if they starve news.mongabay.com/short-articl...
This is the single biggest physics discovery of my entire lifetime. Or something's wrong with one of the cables. One of the two
Michael Greshko@michaelgreshko.bsky.social · 7d agoBREAKING: The world's most sensitive dark matter detector has announced it has spotted something it can't easily explain: a single event that's tantalizingly consistent with a type of theorized dark matter particle. Very early days yet, but pretty wild. 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...
Happy GOTV weekend eve! Here's my piece detailing the history of bad votes Seth Moulton has taken and why he shouldn't be our next US senator. jonathancohn.medium.com/ma-elects-fi...
MA Elects Fighters to the US Senate. So What Does Seth Moulton Fight For?
If you know me, you’ll know by now that I am strongly supporting Senator Ed Markey for re-election for Senate in Massachusetts.
jonathancohn.medium.com
Ken Paxton is saying Texans need to take a deeper look at the background of the candidates, which is why he's encouraging everyone to Google "Ken Paxton indictments" and "Ken Paxton divorce" and "Ken Paxton pedophile" to see that he has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of
The Bulwark@thebulwark.com · last wk.Ken Paxton on James Talarico: “This guy has not been exposed for his record of eight years. The media doesn't cover it…Once we have the resources to expose his views, there's no way he's going to win Texas.”
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Aug After forcing trans service menbers out, the Pentagon is now stiffing many for tens of thousands of dollars in severance pay they were promised, leaving many of them destitute and on the street. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...
A trans veteran became homeless after the military didn’t pay her severance
Chloe Shapiro is one of a dozen former service members identified by The Washington Post who have waited months for full payments.
washingtonpost.com
Please spread the word to anyone you know in North Carolina, to reach everyone who might have been at the petting zoo where baby goats got infected with rabies. There is a preventative treatment; without it, rabies is 100% fatal.
Kelly@broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · last wk.Rabies is 100% fatal if untreated. Please help spread the word about the exposure at the Farm Adventures mobile petting zoo in North Carolina. The vaccine is incredibly effective and will save your life. Also…. Rabies at a petting zoo!?!? www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Agrivoltaics combines crop or livestock w/ PV solar power. The farmers get two crops on the dual use land. "Common sense" might suggest that shade from the PV system will detract from the agricultural product. But this lamb study from Oregon St Univ. (my Alma Mater!) found the opposite. 🧪🔌💡☀️💨💧🔋 a 🧵
On this day in 1833 The British Slavery Abolition Act was passed freeing more than 800,000 enslaved people across the British Empire. Abolition Teapot. Josiah Wedgewood. c.1770. Image: BMAG. Wedgwood was a lifelong anti-slavery activist.
Hahahaha LinkedIn served up a job I am qualified for....at Google. From the salary it's L5 or L6. I left the company with a combination of relief and bitterness and given their ethical lapses and the way I was treated...no way. www.google.com/about/career...
Some background to what's going on at SF Opera, including the musicians' letter. The preview image is a 1930s postcard of the War Memorial Opera House and Veterans Building, both on Van Ness Ave in SF: irontongue.blogspot.com/2026/08/cont...
Contract Negotiations
Postcard of the War Memorial Opera House and Veterans Building, SF From my personal collection Some of you will remember that San Francisco ...
irontongue.blogspot.com
The San Francisco Opera Orchestra plans to strike on opening night if there isn't a signed contract by then. 1/ www.sfoperaorchestra.org
MESSAGE TO FRIENDS | SFOpera Orchestra
sfoperaorchestra.org
I spoke about being queer in a religious upbringing to 200 Scottish teens at book event this afternoon. Had seven (yes, seven) queer students and two trans students come out to me quietly in the signing queue afterwards, one of them in tears. I will never forgive those who make their lives so hard.
I'm a staff writer at @wired.com and I'm looking to speak with parents of immunocompromised kids, especially those in areas with measles outbreaks, and how you're dealing with back to school with rising cases. emily_mullin@wired.com
Worried about your son's social isolation if he doesn't play football? Well, this kid is already in a dojo, so his parents might consider music lessons and a school band. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/u...
‘You’re Ruining My Dreams’: C.T.E. Study Adds to Family Tension Over Football (Gift Article)
Many families are engaged in tense debates after a new study found a high percentage of N.F.L. players had developed degenerative brain disease.
nytimes.com
