Three-byline alert: 🚨 “.. The Defense Department’s second in command hastily gathered top military and defense acquisition officials for a meeting Friday night to discuss ways to quickly address a shortfall of U.S. weaponry — after he got an angry phone call ..” www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...

Jedi: ok, so what happens if we lean into fan service?

Empire: is there more story to tell here? Can this thing expand? Does effects spending scale upwards?

also, all three of the originals ask their own questions: Star Wars: can you make a space opera that synthesizes westerns, Kurosawa, old war movies, and classic serials? Does it help if you roll natural 20s on casting, production design, and music?

"Cool dude, see you in discovery!" is the obvious UNO Reverse card to Trump's attempts to bully organizations by suing them for a trillion dollars. It's a massive indictment of the US system that one after another institutions and major organizations settled and paid bribes rather than play it.

Graham Lanktree@glanktree.bsky.social · 3h ago

President Donald Trump is seeking to stave off a court order that requires him to begin giving the BBC financial details on his business empire by Thursday in connection with a defamation lawsuit he is pressing against the network. www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

obama furiously gesticulating to the party "you can just LIE about being against the wealthy! you just gotta attack the rich and corporations and private equity at all, even if it's a lie!" and establishment dems squeezing their skull like it's gonna pop scanners style going "BUT I DON'T WANNA"

think a lot about how even in '12 after going "nah i don't think i will" about a bunch of things people wanted from him, obama still had enough sense to go "fucking private equity, am i right? these rich motherfuckers, am i right? and romney's one of them" instead of "you owe me your vote, peasants"

Andrew Lawrence@ndrew.bsky.social · 13h ago

if establishment candidates want to start winning primaries again all you have to do is say that rich people have too much money and that youll prosecute trump admin staffers and republicans that have broken the law

I assume scammers cosplaying as superintelligent AI are hoovering up the passwords of the gullible?

Every Thursday, out in Appleton. If you’ve got free time and can make the trip…. Say No to The Minnesota Concentration Camp Solidarity with those out in western Mn that have been organizing against this.

Mara Abolish I.C.E.@mauratwit.bsky.social · last wk.

Every Thursday 5-6:30 Flags of Honor site in Appleton.

“Officers subsequently checked the various locations where the Flock cameras were placed and found that the poles were cut down near the base. Officers located the poles nearby in the weeds, but the cameras had been removed.”

Winona police want to know who stole their Flock surveillance cameras

The police say that over the weekend, officers found the poles the cameras were mounted on had been cut down and the cameras were gone. Flock cameras are stirring controversy across the country as the...

mprnews.org

Goldstein@goldstein.latinsky.app · 2h ago

They stole ALL the Flock cameras in Winona.

I disagree: Janelle Monáe would please everyone.

pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky”@pixelatedboat.bsky.social · 1h ago

Expectations for the next Bond are much too high and it’s impossible to please everyone. Here’s the solution: don’t cast the role. Shoot the entire movie from a first-person perspective, allowing the viewer to imagine that they themselves are James Bond

jesusfuckingchrist

Oregon senators warn prediction markets allowing betting on wildfires could incentivize arson

A public report urges the CFTC to ban prediction market contracts on destructive wildfires, raising concerns over public safety and potential arson.

kptv.com

Can any of you link me to the various Project 2029 undo stacks that I hope to hell Democrats and left-of-Democrats have compiled?

How many times have we heard from progressives “She didn’t earn my vote”? Why do progressives feel entitled to demand a candidate earn their vote, but get huffy when Black voters, for one example, demand the same from a self-described progressive candidate?

BUNCHA new people to follow in this cool thread.

Kevin J. Kircher@kevinjkircher.com · 4h ago

Climate pals, what are your favorite examples of actions that simultaneously reduce climate pollution and help us adapt to climate changes that we can no longer avoid? Joint Adaptation and Mitigation (JAM), if you will.

Max Miller story is just really truly dregs of humanity stuff. I was getting my 2yo dressed today and was like what kind of person can break a tiny collarbone like this? What kind of evil is in there man? How did we let the country get run by these people?

Banger

the best of america

Jamie@crayonsocialism.bsky.social · 7h ago

I heard “inshallah and the creek don’t rise” the other day.

(a child breaks the encryption in fifty seconds)

Gizmodo@gizmodo.com · 6h ago

This Smart Door Knob With Fingerprint Reader Keeps Your Kids Out of Your Office https://gizmodo.com/thorbolts-smart-door-knob-keeps-your-kids-out-of-your-office-2000791754

several studies that go into how fast/severe your brain atrophies even with short term use makes me think a lot of people will be severely fucked in the coming decades

Mike Bithell@mikebithell.bsky.social · 17h ago

The specific focus in this video on the way these tools get under your skin and train you to depend on them is an aspect I personally find existentially terrifying. youtu.be/TtvICev9sBE?...

god can you imagine telling a Youth about elder statesman of the Senate Ted Kennedy and how popular he was by the time he died and THEN telling them about Chappaquidick

Rick Caruso’s Private Fire Crew@amandasmith.bsky.social · 20h ago

Same post, different font

Occurring to me that AIPAC has $30m less to spend on conservatives in general elections than they would have.

if establishment candidates want to start winning primaries again all you have to do is say that rich people have too much money and that youll prosecute trump admin staffers and republicans that have broken the law

He’s an interesting hybrid since his legitimate businesses do work just well enough to sell the larger con, which is the fantastical story. Full self driving works just well enough for people to foolishly entrust their and other people’s lives to it. We should call him a contrapreneur.

Finally

The Independent@the-independent.com · 14h ago

James Bond producer shares update on 007 casting: ‘It’s got to be really different’

Mike from Florida (he’s not) is an amazing cheap shot and I love it very much. welcome to Detroit motherfucker

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 9h ago

El-Sayed: "If all Mike Rogers got is that 'his name is Abdul, and my name is Mike,' you're gonna be surprised how many people are like, 'Yeah, but that's the Abdul who wants to bring down the price of my groceries and make sure I got healthcare. So yeah, I like Abdul over your Mike from Florida.'"

White solidarity is a hell of a drug

Walker Bragman@walkerbragman.bsky.social · 20h ago

And this is why people hate the Dem establishment. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/u...

The specific brainworms that make liberals think this is cute or fair or clever or whatever other quality they think this kind of handing power to people who want them dead represents need to be fumigated

Walker Bragman@walkerbragman.bsky.social · 20h ago

And this is why people hate the Dem establishment. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/u...

aww did someone get addicted to corruption and graft!!!!

The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 23h ago

New 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.

Clearing people out of the barest homes they've made for themselves while simultaneously giving them no where to go: the cruelest thing I've ever heard.