"DI is being represented by Lex Politica, a Republican-aligned political law firm whose founding partner, Chris Gober, is prominent for representing billionaire Elon Musk and his political action committee. Gober is currently running for Congress in Texas." english.atlatszo.hu/2026/08/03/a...

As Orbán-allied think tank is dismantled, leaders shop its network to MAGA – English

Danube Institute, a state-funded Orbán-era think-tank quietly set up a US entity to salvage their network, apparently represented by Elon Musk’s lawyer.

english.atlatszo.hu

"DI is being represented by Lex Politica, a Republican-aligned political law firm whose founding partner, Chris Gober, is prominent for representing billionaire Elon Musk and his political action committee. Gober is currently running for Congress in Texas." english.atlatszo.hu/2026/08/03/a...

As Orbán-allied think tank is dismantled, leaders shop its network to MAGA – English

Danube Institute, a state-funded Orbán-era think-tank quietly set up a US entity to salvage their network, apparently represented by Elon Musk’s lawyer.

english.atlatszo.hu

hello my scrappy underfunded congressional race is leading every Texas race in voter contact [we're doing ~60% of what the statewide coordinated campaign is doing STATEWIDE so i'm considering that as beating Talarico & Gina Hinojosa individually]

this owns www.inverse.com/input/cultur...

The adorable love story behind Wikipedia’s 'high five' photos

Nearly 14 years later, the tale of this iconic couple can finally be told.

inverse.com

Anyway back to my ongoing theory that women use AI to get more done and men use AI to get out of doing more.

There’s also something to how women are socialized to be suspicious of flattery — it’s how we transfer responsibility for men’s desire onto women’s bodies; we are taught to defend against that in service to our “innocence” or whatever — whereas men accept flattery as their due. Perfect marks.

It's been two and a half months since the Ebola outbreak in the DRC was declared and it is now the biggest the country has ever experienced and the second largest the world has ever seen. Dozens of cases continue to be reported each day across three separate provinces. 🧪 insp.cd/sitrep-n077-...

"The bill would effectively cap IRAs and 401(k)s at $10 million, a sum far beyond the basic retirement needs of most Americans." Could lower taxes on working Americans or afford more public services. www.usatoday.com/story/money/...

The US owes the Pan-American Health Organization $135 million in past dues. Trump's budget proposal cuts funding for PAHO entirely, even though our contribution is 0.001% of federal spending. The result will be even weaker defenses agst measles, dengue & more. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/h...

Former Officials Protest U.S. Plan to Defund Pan American Health Organization

The group of former health and national security officials warned that Americans will be more vulnerable to infectious disease threats.

nytimes.com

But you can see why. Those big families? Usually have farms. That makes them farmers. And you can't say bad things about farmers! That's why rural outreach sucks. It's not because "Dems aren't trying." It's bc the problem in rural politics is a 3rd rail that *nobody*- in any party- will touch.

Most of the land in most farm counties is owned by 1-5 families. They run the place like their own personal kingdoms. There is SO much resentment and straight-up fury about this in rural areas. The fact that no political party's even really trying to speak to it is wild.

another item that should be an absolute requirement in presidential debates is addressing this. we can't keep living like this. hire more people, and fucking pay them better.

CNN@cnn.com · last wk.

A Delta jet that aborted a landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport got so close to a plane taking off that anti-collision alarms sounded in both aircraft, according to air traffic control audio of the incident. https://cnn.it/45uXCZc

All of the Dolomites felt like a Miyazaki film and I haven't even seen Porco Rosso (that's an airstrip behind the pie). Insane place.

Seeing the Gorillaz live was a somewhat comforting reminder that 2006 also felt bad. Included a good short speech on democracy in Eastern Europe which I am a sucker for. Dudes have been on the right side of politics, including Palestine, going on 25 years now

Disaster capitalism. “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns…”

Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses

nytimes.com

This is absolutely going to have an effect on AI search results and bot-summaries. Looking closely at how the page is constructed, that seems to be the point.

Nick Tsergas@nicktsergas.ca · 5mo ago

MAHA-aligned research is entering the training data of AI models that millions of people (and increasingly governments) rely on.

Palantir, SpaceX, the incoherence of NATO/Atlanticism, meekness on Iran (and other conflicts), it all points to the same issue: Europe et al spent decades entrusting large parts of capacity and security to a presumed stable superpower and now that bet is going sour and no one wants to own it aloud.

There’s a good essay from someone other than me about how the cynical use of grace for Platner by some on the left mirrors the way it’s used to protect shitty men in evangelical circles

whet moser@whetmoser.com · 2w ago

one of the legacies of platner's campaign was how cynically the idea of grace was treated

A counterfactual where all US AID ceased through legal channels with ample warning has *at least* thousands alive compared to what happened. They killed people for no fucking reason at all, and pretending there’s even principled debate to be had here is giving them far more credit than they deserve

In theory there’s a whole complicated debate to be had about the prerogative of states to spend resources on their citizens vs duty to the world’s poorest, etc, in practice none of that shit matters because they saved no money overall & killed people even relative to an orderly & legal drawdown

Noah Berlatsky@nberlat.bsky.social · 2w ago

Musk did not just decide not to provide people with life saving aid. He *broke the law* in order to *deny promised aid*. 1

I still think the best place for the first-in-the-nation Democratic primary would be Harris County, Texas

adding NM means every candidate who wants to win NM (which, to be fair, is going to be a very short list since AOC should do well there) is going to need a policy platform on Native issues. this is good!

Burnham Down The House@corncobanalysis.bsky.social · 2w ago

Ken Martin, I was not familiar with your game

welp

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 2w ago

ATLANTA (AP) — US surpasses 2025’s record-breaking tally for measles cases, with 2,318 cases and 5 more months left in the year.

Dude has his lawyer literally running for Congress in a district where SpaceX is jamming through fabs, this is a farce

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2w ago

‘I got carried away’: Elon Musk expresses regret about Doge and wading into Trump’s orbit

“We need a Project 2027: the plan and the will for Congress to assert its power and really stand up for the people and their interests. And we need to start doing this the moment Democrats arrive in Congress next January.” www.liberalcurrents.com/dems-need-a-...

Dems Need a Project 2027

The 120th Congress must have a plan to re-assert its power immediately. Here's a start.

liberalcurrents.com

This feels grimly accurate. I think for most people, engagement with the party feels like getting on Temu’s mailing list: Just a neverending stream of spam asking for cash and no other meaningful call to be part of anything that might generate any sense of identity or community.

Feild@feild.work · 2w ago

There's nothing to "join" in the Democratic Party. It's a brand with products I spend my vote on once a year at the democracy store. Most people's experience of it is an endless stream of texts that read like scams, their reward for donating or signing a petition. No wonder DSA is growing

My dude you gotta a) see and b) run to where the ball is going, and you are doing neither

Adam Bonica@adambonica.bsky.social · 2w ago

As Gov. Beshear deliberates on a deeply uncomfortable decision of institutional consequence, in this one instance, he would do well to ask himself: “What would Mitch McConnell do?” Or I suppose he could just give him a call.

“raise your hand if you or someone you know is stuck in a crappy job you hate bc you need the insurance” would go hard as a line at a political rally

That the US needs to become party to the ICC has been my most insane stance for two decades now (lol @ Model UN) and good lord is it nice to hear Mamdani say it

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Tom Cotton: "Ultimately, it's not about Prime Minster Netanyahu and Israel -- it's about arresting Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio in the future if they ever travel abroad."

~20mi into lugging this 3lb book around the Dolomites partly for the bit and I am having Regrets