As one of the highest-leverage Republican votes in the Senate for decades, Susan Collins bears significant responsibility for every bad thing the Trump administration does.
Jamison Foser
@jamisonfoser.bsky.social
Political consultant, media critic, and longtime Cassandra. www.findinggravity.net
The easiest possible layup for a President at war with another country would be to explain that they are attacking us. Trump won't do that because he views Minnesota as a bigger enemy than Iran.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d agoTrump: "We heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack and they blame it on Iran. I don't think so. I blame it on Minnesota because they're grossly incompetent. Iran's got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota."
Because this is not ok. I believe that freelancers deserve communication, and we deserve to be paid. So again, if you’re a freelancer contemplating pitching to @vulture.com, or accepting an assignment from them, be aware: this is not, in my experience, a belief that they share. End of thread.
like so many things that are extremely bad this is also extremely predictable
[Christopher M. Federico]@chrispps.bsky.social · 5d ago"We find that even when LLMs are prompted with expert feedback and asked to only make grammar edits, they still change the text in a way that significantly alters its semantic meaning."
The @whyshoulditrustyou.bsky.social routinely hosts anti-vaxx propagandists who have threatened violence. Now, they claim that people who were right about MAHA/MAGA must prioritize the brittle feelings of those who unleashes it on us all. My latest on this reactional centrist awfulness.
Guests on the “Why Should I Trust You?” Podcast Want to Hang Doctors. Why Should I Trust It?
"The actual harsh truth about MAHA is that it is an anti-vaxx, anti-science, pro-diarrhea conspiracy movement. It cloaks its arguments in abstractions about "big pharma" and "free speech" to generate
sciencebasedmedicine.org
Centrists always present these takes as savvy "harsh truths" for the left, but they're the most pathetic kind of ignorant, cowardly self-soothing. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
O’Neal helped purge me & all the other Black full-time staff columnists at the Post Opinion Section. I challenged his move to fire me in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk killing. And he testified against me in June. We are expecting an arbitration ruling soon. Convenient time for him to quit.
Natalie Korach@nataliekorach.bsky.social · 5d agoNew: Washington Post Opinion editor Adam O’Neal is leaving, he announced in an internal memo Friday
my reaction to fully three-quarters of "new AI features" is "jesus christ, why?" sometimes that's "why" as in "this is dumb who would want this" and some times it's "why" as in "this is dumb and will lead to bad things" and sometimes it's both:
Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 5d agoNew from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...
The lunatic is on the podcast The lunatic is on the podcast Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs Got to keep the loonies on the path
charjaebug@jael.bsky.social · 6d agohas bluesky discovered that roger waters just went on tucker carlson
In the last couple of weeks ICE has gotten dramatically worse.
Alex Ip 葉清霖@alexip718.com · 7d agoINBOX: There are reports circulating that multiple Hong Kong residents legally in the United States on Deferred Enforced Departure status have been detained by ICE agents while boarding domestic flights www.uscis.gov/humanitarian...
The most predictable progression in the world... Tip to reporters who don't want to look like absolute tools: don't report on what Musk *says* as if it means anything at all.
A Democratic president is going to end the war at some point after January 2029 and get absolutely assailed by the mainstream press over it.
Hirschman@contextproblem.bsky.social · 7d agoEveryone realizes the war isn’t going to be over by midterms right
Y'know, A----n is virtually giving away the hardcover of DE right now, and you could always apply the savings to a purchase at your local indie.
For any other president, this would be grounds for immediate impeachment. Democrats would help impeach and convict a Dem president who did this. But here we are because the GOP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trump Inc. and Democrats are useless, feckless losers.
David Roberts@volts.wtf · last wk.This is morally monstrous behavior. These are ordinary, innocent people that Trump is condemning to suffering & death out of political vindictiveness. Every decent human being, regardless of political party, should condemn it. Where is the fucking *anger*? From the press? From civic leaders? Pols?
Read my July 18 story for the original reporting that the New York Times didn’t link to... www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Assault, misogyny, verbal threats: Records detail new allegations against Rep. Max Miller
Police reports and filings in a bitter custody dispute raise new questions about the conduct of an Ohio Republican as he campaigns for a third term.
motherjones.com
Eric Umansky@ericumansky.bsky.social · last wk.GOP House member--and fmr Trump advance man--allegedly -threw boiling water on his then-wife -held a gun to her head -broke his daughter's collarbone. She's 2 -abused abuse a fmr Trump WHer too When a reporter asked him about it , he threatened to block their # www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/u...
(The nazis were the bad guys) (Still are)
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · last wk."Debates over World War II became popular at Heritage, with a lot of “rehashing and going through who was the bad guy and who were the good guys,”" Also, sounds like a lot of anti-Semitism at the Heritage Foundation. Maybe Trump's task force on anti-Semitism could look into this!
Yep
Ned Resnikoff@resnikoff.bsky.social · last wk.Seeing how many respectable liberals, and even leftists, in New York media continued to speak warmly of Reihan Salam is what made me first realize that some journalists have no criteria for moral judgment other than whether someone is personally nice to them. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/n...
this sounds elitist but our recovery from the present moment will depend in part on being able to once again effectively malign, ostracize, and refuse a platform to cranks
[Christopher M. Federico]@chrispps.bsky.social · last wk.I don't stan Fauci in any mawkish resistlib way but I do not blame him for not wanting to play along on television with a gaggle of conspiracy-addled degenerates who are objectively beneath him in terms of intellect, culture, and values
one of my most strongly held beliefs is that a hell of a lot of people haven't been told to their face that they sound like a slower-than-average third-grader often enough
Dare Obasanjo@carnage4life.bsky.social · last wk.“What we need to explain to the world: Number one, we are close to creating a genie that can grant any wish. Number two, we are going to make sure that our first wishes broadly benefit humanity” - Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI — This is definitely the opposite of Anthropic’s AI kills all jobs pitch.
metamorphosis (just kidding, this is who they always were)
only one man alive could make Dulles worse
Olga Nesterova@onestpress.onestnetwork.com · last wk.Here’s what I got Trump will make a public unveiling of upcoming architectural and structural renovation plans for Washington Dulles Int Airport, alongside Duffy. They’ll remodel airport's terminal layout, passenger transport systems, and parking based on Trump’s hand-drafted plans.
all things considered the Bari Weiss era is going slightly better than I expected
Oliver Darcy@oliverdarcy.bsky.social · last wk.New: Bari Weiss’ revamped “CBS Evening News” posted its worst ratings month since Tony Dokoupil took over as anchor, per Nielsen data for the month of July obtained by @status.news. “CBS Mornings” posted its worst ratings month on record. www.status.news/p/60-minutes...
A friendly reminder that A Fish Called Wanda anticipated most of the right-wing politics we‘re currently experiencing
elon musk's Nonconsensual Fake Nudes of Real People, Including Minors company seems very worried that its users are creating a hundred thousand nonconsensual fake nudes of real people, including minors
Lora Kolodny@lorak.bsky.social · last wk."A company with a thousand violative images could be fined up to $500 million. And a business whose users created a hundred thousand images...could owe an eye-popping $50 billion dollars." The statute, "burdens both xAI’s and its users’ right to free expression under the First Amendment."
SpaceX-owned xAI, the developer of Grok, sued Minnesota AG to challenge a law coming into effect in the state that will ban "nudify" apps, use of these AI image generators to make non-consenting intimate images, aka AI deepfake porn of real people including minors. www.cnbc.com/2026/07/28/s...
Elon Musk's xAI sues Minnesota over law to ban 'nudify' apps
Elon Musk's xAI, now owned by SpaceX, is challenging a law that would ban so-called nudify apps in Minnesota
cnbc.com
They're not a Trump court, they're a Republican court, and the fact those two things align 80-90% of the time instead of literally 100% doesn't mean they're therefore admirably independent. To even describe them as ideologically conservative is too generous. They are partisan politicians.
Joe Patrice@joepatrice.bsky.social · last wk.trump starting a war in Iraq to distract from his unpopular war with Iran
Homer Simpson Stuck in Tar Pit with Elephant
Alt: Homer Simpson Stuck in Tar Pit with Elephant using his arms to pull his legs out of the tar and then his face to pull his arms out and then he's just totally submerged in tar like the big dumb idiot that he is. it's a metaphor.
static.klipy.com
AFP News Agency@en.afp.com · last wk.BREAKING US and Saudi warplanes have carried out strikes against Iran-backed militants in Iraq who launched more than two dozen drone attacks in recent days, US military says
