Polly Springhorn (she/her)
@dubiouscandy.bsky.social
M.Div student in Theology & Religious History, Chair of the AAR WR Pagan Studies Unit, visual artist, author, composer/performer/improviser.
“The worry is that they’re slightly untrustworthy junior employees right now. But if in six to 12 months they become extremely capable senior employees scheming against you, it’s a different kind of concern.” #ai www.theguardian.com/news/2026/se...
‘If you build something vastly smarter than you, it better be on your side’: can we stop AI from deceiving us?
The long read: We are used to the idea that our fellow humans might intentionally mislead or manipulate us, but the idea that machines can now do the same is deeply unsettling. Researchers are racing ...
theguardian.com
“We’re trying to counter the toxicity of the Maga community by providing an exit ramp and a community where people can become what I call ‘a born-again human being’ and can reclaim their individuality, their empathy and their agency.” #uspol #maga #goodnews www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Life after Maga: the group offering an ‘exit ramp’ for rightwingers questioning Trumpism
The non-profit Leaving Maga is built on the premise that abandoning the Trump-built movement is like fighting a disease or breaking an addiction
theguardian.com
"Military leaders are warning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that a plan to continue large-scale operations in Iran is unsustainable and is weakening their ability to protect U.S. interests in other places, including at home." #uspol #iran #hegseth heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-31-...
August 31, 2026
Alex Horton and Tara Copp of the Washington Post reported on Sunday, August 30, that military leaders are warning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that a plan to continue large-scale operations in Iran ...
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
"Like any mass populist movement, this one features echoes — and veterans — of others. But with data centers, something different, bigger and perhaps irreducible appears to be happening." #uspol #ai #environment #goodnews www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/o...
Opinion | Americans Hate Data Centers. Why? (Gift Article)
Three fourths of Americans oppose data centers. Why?
nytimes.com
"The next time some conservative Christian or right-wing Heathen gets all snippy about trans folk being some new phenomenon or not 'real Americans' or some other bullshit, tell them to go screw, then raise a glass to The Public Universal Friend." #uspol #pagan #trans wildhunt.org/2026/08/amer...
American Myths - Arts & Culture, Culture, Living, Pagan Voices, Paganism, Perspectives, Pilgrimages, Politics, U.S., Uncovering the Past
Witchcraft & Pagan News - Karl E.H. Seigfried travels through American landscape and American history, and considers how Heathen values reflect and intersect with both. | Arts & Culture, Culture, Livi...
wildhunt.org
"The texts are stored in a specially designed silent room in the Deichman Bjørvika building at the public library in Oslo." #music #library #forest www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...
Laurie Anderson’s next manuscript to be locked away for 88 years in Future Library
Grammy award-winning American artist selected as 13th person to submit written work to Oslo-based project
theguardian.com
“It’s a shame, as many of us in the border regions have friends across the border...but perhaps Americans will now get a little more involved in voting for and enabling a more fair and just government and trade system.” #uspol #tariffs #canada www.theguardian.com/business/202...
‘If it’s made in the US, I don’t buy it’: Canadians on boycotting Trump’s America
Avoiding US goods and services – from tech to whisky to air travel – has forced many to find a new way of living
theguardian.com
O HELL NO #environment #california The Trump administration looks to give a swath of Yosemite Park to a developer. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/u...
Trump Administration Looks to Give a Swath of Yosemite Park to Developer
The proposed land swap would allow easy access to the crown jewel of the national park system. Democrats and former Park Service officials are incensed.
nytimes.com
"This timeline traces six months of strikes, public threats and failed diplomacy - and shows how the war has disrupted shipping and driven swings in the oil price." #uspol #iran www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
How the Iran war unfolded: every attack and oil price change – visualised
From the first US and Israeli strikes six months ago to the battle for Hormuz, this timeline plots how Trump’s war on Iran quickly became a regional conflict with global economic consequences
theguardian.com
"Kalkstein’s attorney told the Times that his client was a Republican who believes military students need to know the truth about the causes of the climate crisis as a matter of national security." #uspol #climate #climatechange #climatecrisis #environment www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
West Point’s only climate scientist fired after continuing to teach human causes of climate change
Adam Kalkstein compared administration’s order to trying to teach the law without mentioning the constitution
theguardian.com
"Donald Trump’s war on Iran has driven the US military into a severe financial crisis, with the US navy forced to transfer money from its payroll and other sources to cover the costs of combat." #uspol #navy #iran www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Trump’s war on Iran is rapidly draining US navy budget, documents and interviews reveal
Exclusive: Experts and former officials say accounts are running dry, and funding a war with no clear endgame is the main challenge
theguardian.com
The only football shirt I own is a Kaepernick jersey. #football #racism #uspol www.nytimes.com/athletic/753...
Colin Kaepernick knelt quietly. Ten years later, everyone just performs (Gift Article)
Activism is different from speech. Kaepernick jolted the sports world, but in the following years, many have extracted the wrong takeaway.
nytimes.com
"If the researchers’ interpretation of its alignments holds, Chleby also provides unusually early evidence that Neolithic communities in Central Europe were translating observations of the heavens into sacred architecture for ritual." #pagan wildhunt.org/2026/08/a-th...
A Thousand Years Before Stonehenge: Ancient Czech Sanctuary Tracked Sun and Moon - News, Science, TWH Features, Uncovering the Past
Witchcraft & Pagan News - Archaeologists investigating a 6,500-year-old sanctuary in the Czech Republic have identified entrances aligned with solar and lunar cycles, revealing a monumental ritual lan...
wildhunt.org
“When you tell a lie convincingly and it’s such an absurd lie, most people’s automatic reaction is that they can’t comprehend a lie told on that scale. But that...is the intention of the big lie. They know it will sow confusion.” #uspol #psychology www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
How to spot a psychopath: ‘It’s like the difference between a domestic cat and a wild cat’
People with persistent predatory personalities cause an inordinate amount of pain. Recently, our shared understanding of them has grown – and it could help protect us
theguardian.com
"A new review released last week found that an estimated 63% of more than 2,000 religious books examined on Amazon were likely AI-generated. The highest estimated rates appeared in Witchcraft, at 78%; Hinduism, at 76%; and Taoism, at 74%." #pagan #ai wildhunt.org/2026/08/stud...
Study Reports AI-Generated Books Flood Witchcraft and Religious Publishing - News, Paganism, Science, U.S., Witchcraft, World
Witchcraft & Pagan News - A new study reports high rates of likely AI-generated books in religious publishing, with Witchcraft among the most affected categories, amplifying concerns from Pagan authos...
wildhunt.org
Tim Curry has gone to be with Dolly Parton alas...Hail the travelers!
"Located near Pecan Island in southwest Louisiana, the land acquired by SpaceX is sandwiched between the state-managed Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and a private Audubon Society sanctuary." #environment #spacex #musk oligarchwatch.substack.com/p/louisiana-...
Louisiana completes massive giveaway of sensitive land to Elon Musk
On Tuesday, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) announced an agreement allowing SpaceX to construct the world’s largest launch facility on top of a stretch of coastal wetlands that provide vital habita...
oligarchwatch.substack.com
#intersex #trans #bird www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...
An 'Extremely Rare' Half-Male, Half-Female Bird Temporarily Took Up Residence Outside of Chicago
The unusual-looking bobolink is what's called a bilateral gynandromorph. The bird behaved like a male, eventually wooing a mate and raising fledglings
smithsonianmag.com
"Christian privilege was manifested in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, Huffman argues, when many fellow members of Congress did not even seem to notice the religious elements of the group trying to kill them." #uspol #atheist #humanist #religion www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
‘A Bible-sized blind spot’: congressman sounds alarm on rising Christian nationalism
In his new book, congressman Jared Huffman argues that theocratic insurgency has only grown more powerful after Donald Trump returned to the White House
theguardian.com
"Pe’ Sla holds a sacred place in the world of the Great Sioux Nation...it is where Fallen Star came to Earth, and where, in a world scoured by fire and water, the people went inside to survive and later emerged." #indigenous #goodnews #pagan www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
A rare win in Indian country: how tribes drove out a mining company in one week
At the sacred prairie of Pe’ Sla in South Dakota, Indigenous and environmental groups banded together to halt drilling
theguardian.com
"Without this data, communities won’t know what they’re breathing once a datacenter is built, and will have less ability to fight back in court or in public relations battles." #uspol #ai #environment www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Trump EPA aims to exempt datacenters from disclosing air pollution, advocates warn
Trump administration proposes new rule to dismantle requirement for datacenters to publicly report air pollution
theguardian.com
“Many of those messages will be destroyed or damaged to the point where we cannot decipher them, work with them, or go to them for help or inspiration. We have a connection to those paintings for our creation stories.” #uspol #indigenous #art www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Trump’s border wall construction threatens rock art as old as the pyramids: ‘The ancestors are still here’
The president’s border wall plan could damage or destroy ‘the oldest-known books in North America’
theguardian.com
"Gender-affirming care includes a range of medical, social and psychological services, including puberty blockers or hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, as well as speech therapy, body hair removal and counseling." #uspol #trans #goodnews www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
New Mexico to continue funding gender-affirming care for minors after federal cuts
Trump administration finalized rule to end Medicaid support for care including hormones and speech therapy
theguardian.com
The birds ---surprise me On all sides - Jack Kerouac, Book of #Haiku
“I can’t even imagine walking down the hallway and seeing a peer of mine being electrocuted in a place that is supposed to be a safe space for students,” said Nora Wessel, a senior at Omaha Central high school. #uspol #law www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Nebraska school district asks police to stop using shock gloves on students
Omaha police agreed to stop carrying electric shock gloves in the halls of state’s largest public school district
theguardian.com