Oh dear. The protest against ICE grabbing up Mainers -- a foreseeable consequence of policies Susan Collins has fought and voted for -- turned POLITICAL? My heavens. Someone get the fainting couch. (From Portland Press Herald's story, naturally.) tinyurl.com/3cythjav #MEpolitics

This is 💯 not true. It is never a choice between ‘taking big tech’s money and doing nothing’. A stronger moral imperative is NOT to take the money and the strings attached to it - particularly if you do not and cannot yet understand the implications

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 13h 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.”

Congratulations to everyone who worked their asses off for something that any semi-decent and ultimately self-interested government should have done in penance www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/b...

Education Dept. to Wipe Out Student Loans of 170,000 More Defrauded Borrowers (Gift Article)

The sprawling case, centered on students defrauded by for-profit schools, has now become the largest class-action settlement in American history.

nytimes.com

BOOM. The AAUP is suing Texas A&M University System over their censorship policy that prohibits faculty from discussing topics & viewpoints related to race, sexual orientation, & gender. www.aclutx.org/app/uploads/... 1

">900 people in Washtenaw County, MI, have been sickened with cyclosporiasis since mid-June. Linda Kim, a public health nurse, has called >100 of them. Almost everyone has said the same thing: It’s excruciating, and one of the worst illnesses they’ve experienced." kffhealthnews.org/public-healt...

Nurses Chase Cyclospora, Aided by Interviews, Fast-Food Receipts — And the Messy Details - KFF Health News

Yes, they’ve heard all the poop jokes. Public health staffers are painstakingly tracing the sources of this massive outbreak, combing through fast-food orders and lettuce purchases as they listen to p...

kffhealthnews.org

while i like my comfortable life and don't feel its excessive, i am not interested in enforcing it with violence when i have to actually look that in the face, you know? might be a helpful angle for talking to neighbors.

The statement on the chapbook will read: "The creators of this comic support human creativity, imagination, and art. Proceeds from some sales of this chapbook will go to efforts encourage sustainability, community in opposition to the technocratic state and also in opposition to generative AI."

Scott King Award for Ecopoetry deadline 7 November (if you ever stayed at the Anderson Ctr in MN, he was the letterpress printer there. this award is in his memory.)

Someone in my writing group who hasn't said anything for months submitted 100 new pages over the weekend and said he has started “working with a collaborator” and after exactly two comments on his pages he let it slip it's ChatGPT. This is gonna be a bloodbath.

CoreCivic announced today they've finalized a 5 year contract with ICE to re-open it’s long closed prison in Appleton, Minnesota to hold up to 1,600 detainees.

daviss@daviss.org · 9mo ago

Located about 3 hours west of Minneapolis, the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, MN has been named as a potential ICE detention center. The private prison with 1,600 beds has been closed since 2010.

“This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong…With such a people, you can do whatever you want." -Hannah Arendt

I can vouch for and recommend these situations as a teacher who has seen his students experience them

Éireann@eireannmor.bsky.social · 3w ago

if you are scheduling visitors for your 2026-27 or 2027-28 school year, I would be thrilled to come design such a situation with your students

if you are scheduling visitors for your 2026-27 or 2027-28 school year, I would be thrilled to come design such a situation with your students

Éireann@eireannmor.bsky.social · 12mo ago

My job remains designing situations within which it is both desirable and possible to become more human, more capable of thinking and asking questions, more capable of being alive with others, on earth

Together, let us keep the feast

Parents, patients and disability advocates say Indiana’s Medicaid renewal process has left many eligible families struggling to navigate paperwork requests, meet deadlines and maintain essential health coverage. via @indianacapitalchronicle.com www.newsfromthestates.com/article/powe...

‘Powerless’: Indiana families describe the toll of losing Medicaid access

The notice arrived after Taylor Holliday-Smith thought she’d already done everything the state asked.

newsfromthestates.com

feel like there is a real and prolonged discussion to be had about the difference between gatekeeping (withholding knowledge) and expertise (having long experience or specialised knowledge that requires complex or lengthy transmission), too

Antony Johnston@antonyjohnston.bsky.social · 2d ago

Seeing complaints online that authors 'gatekeep' information…! Absolute nonsense. There is no industry or craft in the world which is so comprehensively written about, studied, and discussed as fiction writing, and every author I know welcomes new writers who are serious about giving it a go.

I love that this is now being called a national trend, like beanie babies or saying "waaaaaaasssssssaapppp"

Minnesota Star Tribune@startribune.com · 2d ago

A Faribault man is charged with stealing a Flock camera, a license plate reading device that has stirred privacy concerns. Reports from around the United States have bubbled up over the past several months of drivers and others stealing or vandalizing the cameras.

The past few months ICE has turned a lot of their focus to rural places like Brainerd and Willmar. These are ag communities where immigrant communities play a vital role in ensuring we all have enough to eat.

I am extremely apprehensive about the elections tomorrow in my home state of Missouri. If Amendments 4 and 5 are approved, it will be the end of social democratic possibilities for STL & MO. Obvs I want Cori Bush to beat Wesley Bell in their grudge match in MO-1, but Am 4 & 5 loom over all else.

just awful

NPR@npr.org · 2d ago

Wildfires in Spokane have destroyed hundreds of homes and led to evacuation orders for 60,000 people. n.pr/3Sbed19

So… they’re working

You guys, nominating the person who earned the most votes is now an “ideological purity test.”

This shit is insane. I feel like I'm losing my mind.

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 2d 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.

Exclusive: We obtained a leaked playbook that Flock gives to cops to coach them on "how to speak to city council" to avoid getting their contracts canceled. Includes strategies like "own the narrative" by talking to mayor "before public comment periods" www.404media.co/own-the-narr...

‘Own the Narrative’: Leaked Flock Guide Shows How It Teaches Cops to Promote Its Tech

"This document shows a coordinated effort from Flock Safety to compel law enforcement agencies to convince our elected leaders to represent their interests as a company rather than the interests of co...

404media.co

Yesterday I republished a thread about the Bologna Station bombing on the anniversary. Today is the 52nd anniversary of another fascist atrocity committed in Italy as part of the so called "strategia della tensione", the 'Italicus' train bomb. Unlike Bologna, nobody has ever been convicted for it.

Nicholas Whithorn@nickwhithorn.bsky.social · last yr.

In the night between 3rd and 4th August 1974, crowded express train 1486 'Italicus' is travelling from Rome to Munich. At 0.45 it leaves Santa Maria Novella Station in Florence heading for its next scheduled stop in Bologna. It will never arrive [Thread] >> 1

new alternative universe dropped

Tobias Wilson-Bates@phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 2d ago

New science fiction franchise that's just a school of Arts & Sciences that is fully staffed

Hello, my name is [...] I am 9 years old. Can you help me get out of this jail? We are children, not criminals. We are 3 siblings, my mom and my dad. Please, a federal judge see this letter and help us. We have been here for 47 days [...] Leave us in your country, don’t deport us. ⛓️👧👦👧👩👨⛓️ FREEDOM

JJ in DC@jjindc.bsky.social · 2d ago

🧊😲 KIDS IN CAMPS ⛓️👧🏻 What could drawings from children possible be evidence of?

ANOTHER death in ICE custody, this time at the controversial Delaney Hall facility. This makes 54 deaths since Trump took office; 1 every 8 days in 2026. His mother says he was denied adequate medical care for chronic conditions, a common accusation ICE has strenuously denied.

Luca Migo@victinibcn.bsky.social · 2d ago

Breaking: Another victim, Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo, has died in ICE custody at Delaney Hall prison after being denied vital medication and family visits. Depriving sick detainees of care until they die is murder by neglect. We demand complete transparency and justice for Edwin! 🎥 Statuscoup