People are losing their minds over this because a) Stancil Derangement Syndrome, b) Terry Pratchett and c) its an economic theory that feels good so it must be true. I adore Terry Pratchett. I think Boots Theory is an incredibly interesting thought exercise, but that doesnt mean its 100% true!

Will Stancil@whstancil.bsky.social · 4d ago

Since people are still relentlessly abusing me over this, here’s why the so-called “boots theory” doesn’t make any sense. First, what is it? Some people have suggested I haven’t done the background reading, but it’s not a deep idea. It’s from a passage that’s four sentences long.

The danger however comes when we confuse his title for his expertise. "Secretary of Health Kennedy says ___" gives the air of legitimacy. Far better to say "Heroin addict Kennedy", "Man who eats road kill and has a brain worm", "Harvard drug dealer" or even "Nuzzi's ex boyfriend".

Fascinating -- I did not know any of this www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/o...

Opinion | The ‘Civil War’ Is a Lie. Let’s Call It the ‘Slaveholders’ Rebellion’ Again. (Gift Article)

To face our own history, we must be honest about it.

nytimes.com

We've gotta make the Monorail Simpsons episode required viewing for every city councilor in the country. Every single thing he says here is a lie. A Potemkin Village Imaginarium.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

Hassett: "Data centers are very good for towns bc they create so many jobs & bring people in with high incomes that can buy houses & stuff like that. So if you take a sleepy town that hasn't seen much in the last 30 years & put a data center there, there are gonna be a bunch of happy residents."

You want to know why too many people don't respect the media? It's because the media doesn't respect itself. We're all embarrassed for you. Have some fucking dignity.

Jon Passantino@passantino.bsky.social · 2w ago

After insisting the correspondents' dinner was worth reviving, the WHCA handed Trump a nationally televised platform to smear the very journalists it exists to represent, effectively turn the stage into a Trump rally. It was a disgrace. My latest @status.news www.status.news/p/the-white-...

“Their names were scratched off or taken off a list in the Pentagon. To me, it is abhorrent, it’s criminal.” Lt. Gen. @markhertling.bsky.social (Ret.) fights back tears as he describes the military’s last roll call, and what it means to erase four fallen soldiers from the Pentagon’s casualty list.

FFS 🤬

Matthew Gertz@mattgertz.bsky.social · 2w ago

Real, real bad. www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...

OSSOFF: You stated on the 14th day of this conflict that Iran's military was 'destroyed.' Was that an accurate statement -- yes or no? HEGSETH: Iran's ability to challenge the US-- OSSOFF: That's not what I asked. Yes or no? HEGSETH: What the milit--- OSSOFF: Will you answer the question?

THREAD: The boy is called a liar. He’s told not to defend himself. Then the private school owner encourages all of his peers to attack him, one by one. She hits him, repeatedly, with a plastic pipe-like object. How does this school still exist — and receive state funds? 🧵

Answering doubters. www.offmessage.net/p/the-doom-l...

Warhammer 40,000 is futuristic, dystopian, bombastic, and satirical. But it has become a meme for Trump, a flashpoint over women in sci-fi, and—for some fans—an actual political ideal. New from Christian Ruth:

In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future, There Is Only Culture War

How a forty-year-old satire of fascism became a meme for Trump, a flashpoint over women in sci-fi, and—for some fans—an actual political ideal.

lnk.thebulwark.com

Thank god there are no gender studies classes anymore otherwise we might be able to figure out what's going on here.

Matthew Gault@mjgault.bsky.social · 4w ago

Hegseth announced they're gonna start screening for T and administering testosterone treatment for warriors found wanting

ICE murdered a 26 year old father in Biddeford, Maine. It's the second ICE murder in less than a week—and just the latest in a series of attacks from Trump’s thugs. Horrific. Abolish ICE now.

If you’re skeptical of the insurgent tactics that fueled Platner, you should want the Dem establishment to embrace partisan procedural hardball, to regain credibility with Dem voters. And you shouldn’t feign naïveté about what it means to “fight” or about where *opposition* to hardball is strongest.

The Insurgency Will Continue Until Morale Improves

How Democratic voters began to question, and ultimately lost faith in, their party's establishment: a comprehensive history.

offmessage.net

"The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed."

Jodi Pickens 🏳️‍🌈🖖✨@jodipickens.bsky.social · last mo.

Writing question ✍️ What's the single best opening line from a book, movie, television show, or play that you've ever encountered?

There’s never been anyone whose involvement more completely and immediately poisons vibes and destroys joy. No good thing survives contact.

Nothing bad in the United States is ever over, including constitutional things. These were the same arguments rejected over a century ago, and they'll be back again and we'll have to kill them again. Con law is basically about shotgunning zombies. rarely do you get a headshot.

Anna O. Law@unlawfulentries.bsky.social · last mo.

"It's over, right?" a journo asked me this morning about the birthright citizenship case. No. No legal or political result is final unless the losing side gives up fighting. They will try again. New prez, new judges. There's a social movement based on racial grievance + scapegoating immigrants.

I’m mad about today. I’m mad that justices can’t do the bare minimum to uphold the Constitution. I’m mad that the law and our history, which I have dedicated so much of my life to, is an inconvenience than an inheritance to many. I’m mad that the academy, which I love, rewards and enables it.

Donald Trump came one vote away from getting the Supreme Court to say that the 14th Amendment does not guarantee birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented and temporary immigrants, a view held only by fringe far-right nativists until VERY recently. This is shocking. I am stunned.

my policy priority is revenge

I truly hate SCOTUS decision day and finding out which of your rights you get to keep until the next Right Wing lawsuit threatens it.

Just finished Alito's dissent in the mail-in voting case and... it's so stupid. Even for him. THERE'S NO LEGAL ARGUMENT. It just rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of the word "choice." It's not surprising that the man who overturned Roe doesn't understand what the word choice means, but Jesus.

I think overturning Humphrey’s Executor - during a DONALD TRUMP ADMINISTRATION - is best understood as a collateral attack on government itself. They want to destroy the administrative state, but can’t directly, so instead they’re going to let a chimpanzee drive the car and just see what happens

Cristian Farias@cristianfarias.com · last mo.

The Supreme Court Gives Donald Trump Full Control Over the Executive Branch, Except the Part of It that Impacts Their Retirement Portfolios

Thank you Stephen Miller for logging on to make sure everyone knows you're behind this racist effort. Shame on you, the President, and your klan of bigoted henchmen. America has always, and will continue to be, a nation of immigrants long after you and your cronies are gone.

You have to admit, fighting a full-blown war in the Middle East, but only when markets are closed, is a real innovation in the history of warfare

a big flag that says “SHAME” on it but just to fly when the Supreme Court issues rulings

There's nothing to even say about this. Obvious bad faith that makes a farce of the law. If someone said white people were "poisoning the blood of the nation" or called them "filthy and dirty," the court's conservatives would immediately recognize the racial dimensions. It's unserious trolling.

Jameel Jaffer@jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Compare Alito's description of Trump's racist statements (on the left) to Justice Kagan's anthology of Trump's racist statements (on the right). These are passages from this morning's opinions in Mullin v. Doe.

I can't even be snarky about the absolute bloodbath today at SCOTUS. Full on white supremacist bigotry.

Mark Joseph Stern@mjsdc.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Today's SCOTUS decision means that the Trump administration may prematurely terminate TPS for Haiti, Syria, and any other country it wishes, without bothering to offer any legitimate justification or following the procedures required by Congress, because courts cannot review the decision.

Genuinely, we need Congress to enact a Private Right of Action act that says individuals damaged by a violation of some individual right created by Congress can, as a default, sue for both injunctive relief and damages, which shall be awarded against any violator if proven

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie@audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · 2mo ago

one of the things that really gets me about Landor's case is he gave prison officials a *printed copy* of a court opinion and they *threw it in the trash* and violated him anyway by blocking Landor's lawsuit, the Court is confirming the law was worthless garbage ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/lando...