"... what would we do if we treated all our kids like they were all of our kids?" YES.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4h ago

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?"

This is a *very* important read if you're concerned about Big Tech collaborations with Trump authoritarianism. And if aren't, maybe you should be. Yes, even if you don't live in the US.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · yesterday

Obviously, the non-American world has a digital sovereignty problem - Trump has means, motive and opportunity to order his tech companies to shut down any public official, large corporation, or individual who displeases him: pluralistic.net/2026/06/18/t... 1/

In retrospect, I should have studied psychology, sociology, economics, and (more) statistics ... and become a hedonics expert. Hmm. Maybe throw (more) philosophy on that list, too. (I know, I know, it's never too late. Except sometimes it is.)

Ann Telnaes@anntelnaes.bsky.social · 2d ago

Free link: "...relative to many American workers, Norwegian laborers often have higher literacy rates, appear more able to pass a drug test, can handle technology better"🇧🇻 www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/o...

Excellent 🧵. Prof. Pagel is coming from a UK perspective, but it almost all applies in the US (& elsewhere) as well.

Prof Christina Pagel@chrischirp.bsky.social · 5d ago

🧵On @thenewsagents.co.uk yesterday, school closures and the lab leak theory were offered as two examples of legitimate questions that were hard to ask. Both have in fact been asked constantly since 2020. But here's a thread on why I think they were wrong and dangerous on school closures 1/12

Whenever someone says something broadly and snidely dismissive of religions, I often wonder what "fairytales" they have of their own but don't unrecognized as such. Being broadly and snidely dismissive of someone's religion or of religions in general is a dick move.

This is peak BlueSky. This is why I hang out here.

EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 6d ago

No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...

No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...

Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation

PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...

theonion.com

With the rising visibility of Democratic Socialists comes the next wave of people looking for magic words that Repubs can't turn into insults. I'm getting painful flashbacks to the days when many Dems - in response to shallow Repub attacks - embarrassingly denied that they were "liberal".

Where are all these secret places GOPers go that are constantly making them show photo ID for everything, I apparently go to none of them ever, is this some sort of fetish thing, should we be worried about them

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6d ago

Rep. John McGuire on need for the SAVE America Act: "You can't go anywhere, you can't get medicine, you can't go to the Obama museum without a photo ID."

I predict that as we get closer to the midterms, we'll see more comments by supposed Dem supporters that we should stop reacting to the things Trump says. "Stop spreading his lies!" "Stop feeding his ego!" (Because there's no benefit to tying the entire GOP to how fucked-up their leader is?)

Strength training at my age sometimes includes uncomfortable reminders that: 1) I should do it carefully and 2) This is why I should do it.

Not sure why I'm quote-posting this. I'm not exactly *recommending* the linked-to story. Just ... sharing it. CW: Mass deaths. Genocide, except there's nobody behind it. It's one of the most disturbing pieces of fiction I've ever read.

An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog@hugobookclub.bsky.social · 4w ago

"Something has taken place that we cannot speak of or know or even fully perceive, yet the fact of which sits before us." Nuanced story that plays with epistemological malaise. jewishcurrents.org/the-event

Does anyone else think that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp probably helped lay the groundwork in the minds of the US for these camps? Would there be a bigger pushback if we hadn't let Gitmo fester for all these years?

Tim Dickinson@timdickinson.bsky.social · last wk.

We are rightly up in arms over ICE killings in the streets, but what's happening in Trump's detention camps will leave a moral stain for generations

So ... in about 10 days, the spouse and I will be visiting Quebec. I'm really looking forward to it. Except I'm not looking forward to that awkward moment when we're asked where we're from. The best I can come up with is, "We're from the US and we're really very sorry about [wave] everything."

May the gods bless conscientious data-gathering civil servants for the insights their efforts enable. (And may those who obstruct the work because they don't want their lies challenged be subjected to explosive diarrhea until they repent their ways or succumb to dehydration.) Amen.

Dr. Emily Friedman@friede.bsky.social · last wk.

Sources: St Clair, Reading Nation in the Romantic Period (2004) remains most valuable for its MANY tables of pub data. (WSC was a lifelong civil servant, not an academic, but WHEW) British Fiction 1800-1829 — still best database for data AND anecdata (letters) Http://www.british-fiction.cf.ac.uk

related to another bizarre feature of political discussion in the US: that it's supposed to mark you as reasonable/bipartisan/fair or whatever that you take these discourses on their own terms. as opposed to marking you as (at best!) a mark

Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · 2w ago

It is genuinely bizarre that we’ve become acclimatized to right wingers throwing a tantrum every time a black person (particularly a black woman) is cast in something, but are also supposed to pretend that this is not racism but related to some other substantive concern.

During a recent phone interaction with a "virtual customer support representative", I was reminded that the concept of the "Uncanny Valley" is not limited to looks. They tried to make the "virtual representative" sound lifelike, but they just made it creepy.

We are in complete agreement. Watching 'progressive' voices say we have to let trans people suffer to get votes is the shittiest of shitty shit.

Mallory Moore@sexabolition.blog · 2w ago

Not a redeemable quality amongst them

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” - President Eisenhower (Yes, a *Republican* president said that. WTF are we even doing here?)

Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR)@hcrichardson.bsky.social · 2w ago

July 23, 2026

Um, I don't know who needs to hear this, but DO NOT mix bleach and ammonia. DO NOT. Chloramine gas is nasty shit. You really don't wanna be breathing that.

It's not that people are getting indoctrinated into being non-het and/or non-cis. It's that the traditional intense indoctrination about cis-het being the only real and acceptable identity is failing. GOOD.

Transphobes Can't Read@lordaslan.bsky.social · 2w ago

How does one become indoctrinated into bisexuality?

Trumplicans have taken the political tradition of not answering perfectly reasonable questions to levels only previously seen in absurdist dystopian fiction. They do this not only because they can, but because they think it proves their inherent superiority. And because they enjoy it.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

GALLEGO: Would you say as a former auditor you pride yourself on catching waste? DENNIS: Yes G: Let's do a test. Is $600m on a ballroom, half paid by taxpayers, is a good fiscal decision? D: Oh, I'm not going to get involved in what the WH is doing G: As HUD CFO, this is literally the job

Reminder: Means tests are mostly designed by people who have little or no personal experience of needing the assistance these programs can provide. I would *much* rather some folks might get assistance they don't need if that means that more folks who do need it get it.

CZEdwards@czedwards.bsky.social · 2y ago

With alt-text, taps sign. It especially matters when the whole image is nothing but text.

One of 2026's better tech-related coinages is "dickover," John Gruber's term for > a modal panel, popover, or curtain presented by a website or app, deliberately obscuring its own content to frustrate the user with an unwanted, unnecessary, mandatory interaction... 1/

I'm pretty sure there's no practical way to make this work, but it'd be great if there was an option to only allow comments from people who've actually read what they're responding to. The teeth-gnashing of frustrated lazy would-be commenters would be a glorious sound.

Amanda Marcotte@amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 2w ago

Love all the responses to this! I think they would be a lot smarter and more insightful if people read the article first, however. I have expert opinions and deep analysis that shows it's worse than you're assuming from a mere headline read.

"Comply or die ... or comply *and* die. Whichever, peasant. We're giving you a choice."

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Homan on people getting killed by ICE: "It comes down to one simple fact -- these people failed to comply with law enforcement ... all they had to do is comply. If they did, they'd be alive today."

Kevin Warsh won’t explain who gave him a $100+ million payout days before becoming Fed chair. The American people deserve transparency.

Just read part of a thread where a pro-"AI" account sounded like "AI" output but less coherent. And they were leaning on a couple of common human logical fallacies to support their position. Which sent my brain in multiple directions, one of which was ...

This shit with Taylor Farms is exactly what I’m talking about when I say you may say you “don’t do politics,“ but politics are more than happy to do you. The microbes political bribes got out the door and into your intestines don’t particularly care that you find it all beneath you.

Perfection.

Metin Seven (Moon Child's dad 🌝)@seven.eurosky.social · 2w ago