I'd love to hear why my book White Flight -- which won prizes from the Southern Historical Association and the American Political Science Association -- was deemed not good enough for students at Texas A&M.

King Algamemnon@adamrothman.bsky.social · 16h ago

Only a matter of time before Texas forces @kevinmkruse.bsky.social to drink hemlock. www.aclutx.org/press-releas...

BREAKING: The New Mexico Department of Justice has sued Acting AG Todd Blanche and the DOJ, requesting the court for access to unredacted Epstein-related investigative files that the DOJ has been withholding.

If ICE can send subpoenas to deanonymize social media accounts, couldn't they have done it for the anonymous and overtly racist account we found is run by one of their own employees who is still working there?

steven monacelli@stevanzetti.bsky.social · last yr.

REVEALED: we identified the operator of an overtly racist X account, "GlomarResponder," as ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James Rodden, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.

I'm very happy to have got the chance to participate in this project, and particularly enjoyed reading *this* post lol

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin.com · 46m ago

In March of 2011, Ursula wrote a colorfully titled blog post about colorful language: "I remember when swearing, though tame by modern standards, was quite varied and often highly characteristic." On this week's episode of In Your Spare Time, author @vajra.me reads "Would You Please Fucking Stop?"

this i very much agree with

Guynemer@guynemer.bsky.social · 5m ago

normies have no idea there is a difference (if there even is one, tbqh), it's all just "liberal" to them, so the shittalking of "liberals" by "leftists" and vice versa is extraordinarily counterproductive to reaching folks

Every judge that is receiving a lifetime appointment here is signaling that they are pretty flexible when it comes to defending American democracy donmoynihan.substack.com/p/scenes-fro...

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 39m ago

BLUMENTHAL: Judge Cronan, you're already on the district court. Who won the 2020 election? CRONAN: Joseph Biden received the majority of electoral votes B: You have nothing to lose. You have a lifetime appointment, and yet you're unwilling to state the simple fact that Biden won the 2020 election

The usual suspects are trying to downplay the significance of these grassroots wins. They can’t accept that the days of special interests, wealthy donors, and DC insiders picking our leaders is over. We just showed again in Michigan that We the People are more powerful than massive amounts of money.

Our 3 endorsed candidates in Michigan faced over $70 million in combined outside spending. Their people-powered campaigns faced the full weight of a Democratic establishment that’s desperate to maintain the status quo. And all 3 of these real Democratic fighters won! This is a political earthquake!

I recently booked a car viewing via a dealer's website, and didn't even realise I was talking to an AI chatbot. And fair play, it was great! Apart from it booking us in to the wrong department, for the wrong vehicle, and not telling anyone we were coming, which took half a dozen people to sort out.

An iPhone with a 10 digit random PIN, in a powered off state, is expected to take 15 YEARS to crack even if you had an exploit for the Secure enclave. The only way to speed things up would require literally taking the phone apart on a transistor level to get the random secret contained inside.

Which is why my advice is: "Turn your phone off before landing, have a 10+ digit PIN or real passcode, and (especially if an iPhone) say 'I will not unlock it for you, if you want it, give me a receipt and my lawyers will call to get it back"

Wrote about the border search exception: a massive loophole in the Fourth Amendment that allows border officials to search through your phone without a warrant, the exception provides an easy pretext for the Trump administration to target its political enemies. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Trump Should Need a Warrant to See Your Phone

Federal officers can too easily comb through the most intimate details of your life.

theatlantic.com

I wrote about how weird and bad it is to have a future AG going around claiming he'll make Dobbs "permanent in every single state"—unless he understands Dobbs to be a national abortion ban, and thinks his job is to force states to comply

Todd Blanche Is Claiming That He Can Ban Abortion In Any State

As he fights to be confirmed as attorney general, Blanche is trying to appease Christian-right groups with wild legal theories about restricting abortion.

newrepublic.com

Maybe today can be a good news day... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Trans woman wins Democratic nomination for Michigan state legislature

Joanna Whaley, ex-megachurch pastor who endured years of conversion practices, comfortably bested her opponents

theguardian.com

If you’re in Minnesota, check out our GOTV tool that is the most effective form of voter motivation available to you this election cycle. It’s as easy as chatting with neighbors who already agree with you, but may need a little nudge to actually follow through and vote.

Leah Greenberg ❌👑@leahgreenberg.bsky.social · 3h ago

Michigan just proved something the political establishment doesn’t want to admit: When we organize, we WIN! Now, let’s make it happen again on Tuesday, August 11. Join @indivisible.org’s phonebank for @peggyflanagan.bsky.social on Monday and help us keep up the momentum.

NEW: Republicans tried to get Missourians to effectively kill direct democracy and ballot initiatives. Last night, Missourians literally laughed in their face — rejecting the measure by a massive 80% to 20%. Here’s what to know:

Missourians Reject Measure That Threatened to Kill Citizen-Led Ballot Initiatives - Bolts

Missourians on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted against a measure to restrict direct democracy, while state officials are trying to block even more citizen-led reforms from the November ballot.

boltsmag.org

My point here is not that Trump's America is a good actor - it really isn't. My point here is that a lot of folks have a silly idea of what a 'World without the United States' would look like and they are not prepared for the reality nor are they preparing for the reality.

Hard agree.

Falco SkyWolf@falcoskywolf.bsky.social · 17m ago

I keep bringing up that one huge reason oligarchs love the algorithmic impostors is that they know how few artists actually agree with them, and they want to hijack our art STYLES to churn out propaganda we'd never agree to make.

"Integration debate isn't over"

Make It Make Sense@themimsshow.bsky.social · 21h ago

Trans debate isn’t over

We're each of us alone, to be sure. What can you do but hold your hand out in the dark?

And if your response is, "but I, a person who lives in a wealthy and largely food self-sufficient country, do not like the modern economy" fucking miss me with that. I am not particularly interesting in letting millions of Asians and Africans starve so your politics can be trendy.

The problem is that as we're seeing with the Strait of Hormuz, "the USA forfeits its global ambitions" does not lead to a new age of peace and sunshine, but to global recession and instability. The Strait of Hormuz is not the only load-bearing instance of US power backstopping modern economies.

@tupolev22m.bsky.social · 56m ago

I think the traditional answer is actually "forfeit your global ambitions because you can't afford them and voters won't make the sacrifices necessary to restore them," unfortunately

It's a day of very big feelings as I learned that I'm a finalist for the World Fantasy Special Award – Non-Professional for Nightmare Magazine on the same day I announced that this is my last year as EIC at Nightmare. www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/e...

Editorial: August 2026 - Nightmare Magazine

Gardens are pumping out the juiciest tomatoes, corn on the cob is at its peak, and every melon is bulging with sugar water. The days might be the hottest, but with fall on the horizon, the nights are ...

nightmare-magazine.com

An entire…WORKDAY? Tell me you’ve never worked a physical job without telling me you’ve never worked a physical job. I cook for a living. For ~125 adults who can’t. I follow IDDSI guidelines while handling heavy objects and hot surfaces. And I can do my job when power goes out. “AI” could never.

Charlie Stross@cstross.bsky.social · 8h ago

My answer is LOL ROFL (dickbrain) The terminally AI-pilled can't even *imagine* some people have *never* asked stochastic parrots to cheat at their job for them.

Sharing again because @ghoulpus.bsky.social story is just that good. Ya gotta read it!

Reactor Magazine@reactorsff.bsky.social · 4h ago

A creature wearing a woman's body becomes a lonely man's girlfriend, but the woman suit and his interest start to rot... "Not Like Other Girls" by @ghoulpus.bsky.social is out now at Reactor! Art by A.W. Sommers Edited by @annvandermeer.bsky.social

Oh wow! The Dragon Has Some Complaints made Goodreads's list of Don't Miss summer books!

Summer Encore: Don’t Miss These Very Recent Hit Books

Summer is a season to be savored. It feels so good, and it goes so fast. But take heart, bookworms! Summer’s not over yet! As a kind of in-the-mome...

goodreads.com

This is actually Zeus' new law

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2h ago

El-Sayed: "They think they want to use my whole name against me. Mike, listen man, If you can't say the name -- it's Abdulrahman -- keep the name out your damn mouth."

Props to the Democratic establishment for immediately getting behind El-Sayed and sticking to Vote Blue No Matter Who

I don't think of this trifecta as disappointing at all, compared to watching a decade of Republicans tearing apart the state. Dems quickly put much of it back together and moved on. I don't think the verdict was negative other than that Minnesota was better. They deserved another session at least.

David Dayen@ddayen.bsky.social · 1h ago

Here's a quick recap about last night in Michigan, expectations settting, how a disappointing trifecta set the stage for progressive wins, and why having different paths to victory is good for Democrats, actually. prospect.org/2026/08/05/p...

I mean, I get through my entire day without it already, and everyone else who does/is made to use it would have to return to, like, 2022, so, yeah, it's fine, chuck it out

Charlie Stross@cstross.bsky.social · 8h ago

My answer is LOL ROFL (dickbrain) The terminally AI-pilled can't even *imagine* some people have *never* asked stochastic parrots to cheat at their job for them.