It's time we stopped calling them "moderates". They are extremists in service to capital. And many of them appear to hate and fear the left of their own party far more than they hate and fear the Republicans. Like Starmer's Labour "centrists" (extremists) in the UK. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/u...

Moderate Democrats Prepare for ‘War’ Against an Ascendant Left

One moderate group says the progressive wins are “deeply troubling” and is planning a $15 million effort against democratic socialism.

nytimes.com

Two security researchers shipped me a pink plastic kid's smartwatch from Amazon. When I wore it, they tracked my movements, surreptitiously took photos of me, even listened to my conversations. The same backend they hacked is used by 30+ watch brands for kids. 🧵👇 www.wired.com/story/hacker...

Hackers Stalked Me by Hijacking a Smartwatch for Kids

Security researchers tracked and eavesdropped on a WIRED reporter using vulnerabilities in a pink plastic smartwatch. It’s just one piece of a deeply insecure supply chain of GPS-enabled gadgets.

wired.com

In other Michigan news, the state looks set to elect it's first transgender lawmaker. Joanna Whaley won her Democratic primary and will compete in November for a state house seat, beating a primary opponent who tried and failed to disqualify her for not running under her deadname

What is truly "shocking" about the polling miss in Michigan is that it is completely average for a primary "The expected error on the margin between two primary candidates in a race for governor or U.S. Senate is a whopping 13.0 points." blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/2026-texas...

Do we really know who's leading the Texas Senate races?

Primary polls have historically been rather unreliable, and a surge in new primary voters means turnout assumptions matter more than usual

blog.fiftyplusone.news

|horses|@chemotaxis.bsky.social · last wk.

Polling is like really fucked. Strikes me as a huge problem honestly.

We’ve got our work cut out for us, peeps.

Blue Virginia@bluevirginia.bsky.social · last wk.

Gotta say, not thrilled to see Republicans in VA05 cast nearly 13k more votes (49.9k vs. 37.0k) than Democrats in VA05. bluevirginia.us/2026/08/live...

Black women in America are more than twice as likely as white women to have a stillbirth. Getting physicians to take their concerns seriously is one reason for this disparity, they say: “If you’re a Black woman, you get dismissed.” From the archives:

She Says Doctors Ignored Her Concerns About Her Pregnancy. For Many Black Women, It’s a Familiar Story.

Black women in America are more than twice as likely as white women to have a stillbirth. Getting physicians to take their concerns seriously is one reason for this disparity, they say: “If you’re a B...

propublica.org

Today, August 4, 2026, is the setting of Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” about a fully automated house continuing on after the family who lived there and the world around it died in a nuclear blast.

A faith group that hosted a call with Todd Blanche — who assured listeners of his commitment to make Dobbs “permanent in every single state” — insisted it was off-the-record…then posted it on YouTube 🤔

Blanche assures anti-abortion supporters that Dobbs will be ‘permanent in every single state’

The acting attorney general made the remarks during a private call with faith leaders.

politico.com

I did not work countless hours in an ICU full of proned patients and go back to my hotel crying because we lost more patients in a day than a typical week to hear a moron with a worm in his brain say that the ICU's were empty. I AM SO FUCKING ANGRY.

Dr. Lucky Tran@luckytran.com · last wk.

I worked for New York’s largest medical center at the start of the pandemic. There were morgue trucks on the streets. They set up emergency medical tents in Central Park. Healthcare worker colleagues died. It is horrific that RFK Jr is on national TV lying that ICUs were empty.

If Jennings is the ally he claims to be, he would use his celebrity and privilege to get this lady her account back.

Karrid 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️@karrid.myatproto.social · last wk.

Well, it appears that, sometime in the last 17 hours, Gwen Pepperoni was suspended for the crime of pointing out Ken Jennings' transphobia.

These points were all obvious to anyone looking at the party from the outside, but the decision by the DNC not to release this part of the autopsy is extremely disheartening as a sign of how the party is still controlled by the consultant/fundraiser nexus.

Jake Grumbach@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · last wk.

Not good timing, but some extremely important points in this now unredacted part of the 2024 Autopsy: -loss more about Dem turnout decline than swing voters -Dem consultants extracting huge $ for bad advice -Biden shouldn'ta run -spam PACs ruining fundraising www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...

When we say that the Israeli gov is cruel at its core, and that it in fact finds joy in its cruelty, we are talking about things like wishing to surround Palestinian prisoners with literal crocodiles. There is no end to this if Israel itself never faces political and economic consequences.

Megaphone News@megaphone.news · last wk.

Itamar Ben Gvir attacked an Israeli court and accused it of “siding with terrorists” after it ruled on Sunday to freeze a plan to dig moats around prisons and fill them with crocodiles to terrorize Palestinian prisoners.

you don't have shame? don't worry we'll be ashamed for you

Betsy Humphrey@betsyvt.bsky.social · last wk.

They may be shameless, but shunning, booing and not accepting them into public spaces is the correct response.

“Weizman shows how Israel’s invasion of Gaza included an intentional, systematic plan of destroying the conditions for Palestinian life and rebuilding the land into something available for Israeli resettlement.” I review Eyal Weizman’s new book @foreignpolicy.com foreignpolicy.com/2026/08/04/g...

The Architecture of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza

A new book describes the destruction of Palestinian life street by street.

foreignpolicy.com

Many people asked me early on: if ICE seems to just be rounding up random brown people on the street, why are they on a shopping spree for massive amounts of surveillance capabilities. The answer was always for this.

Udi Ofer@uofer.bsky.social · last wk.

Bombshell report from the Wall Street Journal: DHS has been tracking down Americans at work and on the road who are critical of immigration policies, spending millions on contractors to surveil First Amendment protected speech and create political dossiers. Outrageous. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

He frequently shows a strong disgust reaction which has been associated with more conservative political positions & bias towards out groups (perceiving them as lesser-than and contaminating) www.jstor.org/stable/27142...

Paramount execs bribed the FCC into giving approval for their acquisitions and megamergers? (And nobody was surprised, not even a little bit) www.propublica.org/article/fcc-...

FCC Commissioners Face Ethics Complaints for Taking Luxury Gifts From Paramount

Citing a ProPublica report on Paramount providing luxury Kennedy Center gala tickets to FCC officials, the complaints note that commissioners accepted the gifts while the FCC was reviewing or about to...

propublica.org

Absolutely unbelievable how solar power has taken off worldwide during the Hormuz oil crisis. You don't have to hand it to him, but Trump may have done more to finally kick off a global civilization of effete librul solar users than anyone else in the West

Quite clearly.

Bobby Silverman@robertsilverman.bsky.social · last wk.

He's losing words. Anyone with a parent or loved one suffering from dementia will recognize this pattern. Wen he says "moving cameras," it's because he can't recall the word "videos" and so he's stating the component parts as best he can. E.g., a "camera" is involved and the images are "moving"

The caddie literally just tosses a fucking ball on the ground for Trump while never looking back

As his power wanes further, he will get more and more erratic. If the midterms go as poorly for him as expected, and especially if Republicans lose the Senate, expect his irrationality to hit full tilt.

Mike Walker@newnarrative.bsky.social · last wk.

BREAKING: A Furious Trump is considering removing Pirro over Reflecting Pool filing, sources say www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/p...

Anybody at @moderation.bsky.app want to try to explain why they suspended @matthewcort.land, ANOTHER of the most prominent people out here fighting for disabled and marginalized people? Like… are y'all planning to suspend/ban literally every disabled legal scholar/policy worker out here, orrrr…?

ali alkhatib@ali-alkhatib.com · last wk.

anyway, if you're looking for Matthew Cortland, you should sub to their patreon since they're a disabled lawyer evidently getting deplatformed from places.

Exclusive: Daphy Michel, from Haiti, was dropped off in Pittsburgh in 20F temperatures wearing summer clothes

Family to sue after woman released from ICE custody froze to death

Exclusive: Daphy Michel, from Haiti, was dropped off in Pittsburgh in 20F temperatures wearing summer clothes

theguardian.com

What if instead of starting substacks in twenty-fucking-twenty-six people learned to give one iota of a fuck about whether they want to associate themselves with nazis.

"excuse me sir, have you heard about our lord and savior jesus christ?"

Getting shit done (complimentary).

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · last wk.

When Uber Eats and DoorDash hid the tip button, delivery workers paid the price. Tips fell by 79%. In January, we changed that. Since then, more than $104 million has gone back into the pockets of the delivery workers who keep New York City fed.

“he grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought” oh my lord. The President of the United States of America, people, grow anxious when he has a thought he hasn’t yet pooped out. According to a defender!

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

Sen. John Kennedy on Trump's blatant reflecting pool lies: "The president says it was caused by vandals. I don't know if he really believes that or it's part of his political messaging or he's just thinking out loud ... he grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought."

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

So sweet a story! 😍

Ty Schalter@tyschalter.com · last wk.

“‘victim misses’ had become ‘victim mrs.’” is the line of the year. @annierau.bsky.social, take a freaking bow

Dystopian AF.

Mauricio Sellmann Oliveira@mausellmoli.bsky.social · last wk.

Every breath you take.