J. P. Gownder (கவுண்டர்)
@jgownder.bsky.social
Opinions expressed are mine alone. Fan of nuance and tradeoffs. I regularly delete all posts and likes. ☸️ 🏳️🌈
I think on one of her videos I left a comment like, "sounds great, Mel, but what's your prescription for helping us survive facsism?" There's just this massive, intentional black hole where anything even modestly political or controversial is. She simply doesn't acknowledge it.
What I find challenging with Mel Robbins is that she gives all this life advice and professional advice and parasocial attention *without acknowledging that the country, world, and climate are in a state of crisis*.
Contrast with Ryan Holiday, the Stoic philosophy creator. Half the "man-o-sphere" 🤮 claims Stoicism on behalf of the right wing. Holiday repudiated Trump, repudiated the man-o-sphere, and risked a huge part of his audience *based on his values*.
It's the old Michael Jordan line, "Republicans buy sneakers, too." She's all about that addressable market. But the nature of Mel's advice is such that *ignoring the actual world around us* feels incredibly noteworthy and undermines her "authentic and plain-talking, tells it like it is" brand.
What I find challenging with Mel Robbins is that she gives all this life advice and professional advice and parasocial attention *without acknowledging that the country, world, and climate are in a state of crisis*.
This is a major red flag... The Arctic is cooking. Across northern Russia—a region that is famously bitter cold—temperatures this week have routinely surpassed 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius), adding to the mountain of broken heat records this summer has racked up so far.
It’s 90 degrees in the Arctic right now
The Arctic is heating faster than the rest of the planet. New data illustrate how dire that is
scientificamerican.com
Literally every day, in a rational world, climate change would be headline grabbing news.
Who's going to win in Michigan? Will it be the "Israel comes to me in my dreams!" candidate or the progressive public health MD?
“Israel comes to me in my Dreams” US Representative of Michigan Haley Stevens #trending #fyp #shorts
YouTube video by SuperDuperVision
youtube.com
That data point challenges, the prevailing narrative of “fighting” climate change. That time has passed the focus now and going forward should be on helping people survive this new reality. 
💯 in addition to highlighting efforts to help people adapt to the changing climate, including extreme weather mitigation in built environments.
Like. Do we WANT a toxic culture of doubling down, coverups, & never admitting mistakes? Because "any admission of error can fuck you up worse than pretending you never messed up at all" is how you GET a toxic culture of doubling down, coverups, & never admitting mistakes.
Who's going to win in Michigan? Will it be the "Israel comes to me in my dreams!" candidate or the progressive public health MD?
“Israel comes to me in my Dreams” US Representative of Michigan Haley Stevens #trending #fyp #shorts
YouTube video by SuperDuperVision
youtube.com
This is a major red flag... The Arctic is cooking. Across northern Russia—a region that is famously bitter cold—temperatures this week have routinely surpassed 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius), adding to the mountain of broken heat records this summer has racked up so far.
It’s 90 degrees in the Arctic right now
The Arctic is heating faster than the rest of the planet. New data illustrate how dire that is
scientificamerican.com
Call me crazy, but if a Democratic president had 350 accounts closed by their bank for money laundering it’d be more than a blip in the media
A system where a handful of people start with everything and tell everyone else to "just work harder" isn't meritocracy. It's inequality dressed up as opportunity.
The US has now used up 'virtually all' of its long-range precision missiles during the Iran war, Reuters World News reports.
the financial amount at least is going to be much higher when the war is over because the belligerents are far from done
Mark Jacob@markjacob.bsky.social · 2d agoIt sure looks like the U.S. has spent $100 billion and left 18 Americans dead and 600 injured in order to hand control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran and do nothing about nuclear proliferation except encourage it.
We’re also funding death squads but what’s really offensive is that somewhere out there a poor person might be able to eat
USA TODAY Opinion@usatodayopinion.usatoday.com · 3d agoOpinion: Mamdani's idea may sound appealing, but it's NYC taxpayers who will take the hit, subsidizing discounts they may never even use.
75% of ALL AMERICANS -- including 60% of Americans under age 35 -- have at least one chronic illness and are thus disabled. Remember that a lot of common brain issues, such as ADHD, lead to vastly reduced lifespans.
Stephen Nuñez@socio-steve.bsky.social · 3d agoNot a big fan of the "sick, elderly and/or disabled people don't count" discourse that appears to follow public health disasters these days.
If you're a cis person insisting that the prospect of trans children playing youth sports is not only "a problem" but in fact one of the biggest problems we currently face as a nation, I'd be happy to introduce you to literally a million other things that should be worrying you more.
I'm just going to keep screaming this until I'm hoarse, but until Trump the norm -- for 50 years -- was that sitting presidents had their taxes audited by the IRS and released to the public to show they were clean. But Trump refused repeatedly, and sued when his return was leaked, and now ... this
Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 3d agoFLAG: Trump gets to keep tax immunity for himself, his sons, and the Trump Organization under the new 'deal' struck by Todd Blanche. The new order also reaffirms that Trump won't have to pay any taxes he might have owed the IRS.
The sitting president of the United States got his accounts closed for money laundering and its barely news 🤯
I’ve been writing a counter narrative of shutdowns that has me revisiting media from that time. And let me tell you, the only other option was everybody die. So yeah.
Peter@notalawyer.bsky.social · 3d agoit’s pretty obvious that a lot of people remember that COVID lockdowns were unpleasant and from there just extrapolate that they were therefore bad policy
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.
why is this such a complicated thing for people to understand
Jemele Hill@jemelehill.bsky.social · 4d agoThe WNBA has never had a trans woman play in the league’s 30-year history and now the right and other anti-trans activists are hammering the league over something that has never been an issue, proving once again it isn’t about protection but exhibiting cruelty toward trans people.
To some people, the above seems obvious. To others, it sounds preposterous. To still others, it may even seem irrelevant, as it's possible Trump and MAGAism end America entirely in the next two years. But if it doesn't, what emerges can't—and won't—be America as it used to be.
The rest of your natural life—and then some. That's how long we'll be cleaning up the mess of Trump and MAGAism. The nation as it was before is lost. It won't return. What we seek to save now isn't what used to be. It'll be something else altogether. It'll be what we make it.
Video from the Spokane evacuation yesterday:
Christopher Webb@cwebbonline.com · 4d agoTerrifying. I hope everyone is okay.
Meanwhile, six years later, I'm trying to decide - with limited information, and no public health guidance - if it might be responsible to do things like dine indoors or attend conventions. Surrounded by people who gave up years ago.
Nome@nome.bsky.social · 5mo agoI work at the airport. I'm one of a dozen people i see mask regularly, out of hundreds. Those hundreds? They're complaining constantly about being sick. About making their family and friends sick. And they just accept that as a thing that'll happen. Like there's nothing to be done.