I made a solemn angry vow back in 2012 never to give the DNC another dime because of the way their deceptive fundraising letters convinced my mom she was getting personal notes from desperate candidates.
@karenkolbe.bsky.social
Psychotherapist. Person with opinions. Journalist, briefly. Former latchkey and theater kid. “Objectivity” isn’t real; own your biases. Hate fascists, MAGAs, bros. Love democracy, a free press, cooking, true crime, hiking, cycling, swearing
Those frantic, hysterical political fundraising texts aren’t for you, they’re designed to take advantage of known cognitive vulnerabilities among seniors, says this twice-spiked(!) report from @adambonica.bsky.social data4democracy.substack.com/p/hook-and-s...
Hook and Squeeze
How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.
data4democracy.substack.com
The fundraising texts you delete are working on someone. It’s infuriating and heartbreaking. An 85yo in Ohio gave more than double the value of his home. A 91yo in an Indianapolis senior facility gave 25K times. The DCCC/DSCC don’t just tolerate the spammers who exploit seniors. They take part.
Hook and Squeeze
How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.
data4democracy.substack.com
Tech bros living in their own media bubble where they interview each other & say stupid sh*t. The disgraced former CEO of Uber: "Elon buying Twitter is the beginning of us being able to speak our minds and for disagreeing to not be illegal. That's a big deal. We should all thank Elon for that."
PSA: If you have any kind of visa, stay the fuck away from airports Years of Trump Support Came Undone in 15 Minutes in an Airport. The case represents a new front in President Trump’s mass deportation drive www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/u...
Years of Trump Support Came Undone in 15 Minutes in an Airport. (Gift Article)
The case represents a new front in President Trump’s mass deportation drive: arrests at airports of people who have active immigration cases and no criminal history.
nytimes.com
Trump praises North Korea's dictator as "unthreatening and respectful” and says he has ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea because they are "hostile" to Pyongyang. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/u...
Trump Orders Pentagon to Curtail Military Exercises With Ally South Korea
In a social media post, the president scolded South Korea for not helping denuclearize Iran, and also praised North Korea and its leader.
nytimes.com
The world’s highest IQ score carries the same authority as the highest score in Donkey Kong at a local Dave & Busters.
I couldn’t believe it either at first lmao seemed like bad AI
Nancy Mace reveals why she got 9 tattoos in ‘rapid succession’ while serving in Congress
“So my story is I am totally broken,” Mace said in a revealing profile published Friday.
nypost.com
Hobbs: Trump wants Biggs in office to oversee the 2028 presidential election. And what that means for the country… if he’s governor, Arizona is the first swing state overseen by an election denier.
i like my men gay, seven feet tall, made of bronze and surrounded by abstract representations of the sea in turmoil
Andromeda Yelton@thatandromeda.bsky.social · 4d agoBecause we deserve nice things, news articles that are about NOTHING of import and zero horrors, please be advised: the new Melville statue at the New Bedford whaling museum is a smokeshow. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/13/a...
The world's most powerful man is using the power to try to recreate his childhood. He's going to sign an executive order to bring back Howdy Doody.
Navy weighs major warship redesign to match Trump’s preferences
The president wants the new fleet of aircraft carriers to more resemble those from World War II. Such a change could cost billions.
washingtonpost.com
"There's nothing ethically wrong with what I'm doing, but for some uh, other reason, I cannot allow anyone to know I'm doing it"
Bryan Toporek@btoporek.bsky.social · 2d agolmfaoooooo www.businessinsider.com/claude-users...
"The world’s richest man then responded to Hanania’s tweet. 'Interesting, will read,' Elon Musk wrote."
Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · 3d agoNEW— Richard Hanania has become a celebrated “former” white supremacist with profiles and accolades in mainstream news outlets. But as the person who first exposed Hanania’s past, @letsgomathias.bsky.social argues in this piece that his current views on race show an unaccountable and unchanged man:
Someone told me "Bluesky is just like Twitter." I argued that was untrue on the basis that last time I had a Twitter account most times I got a new follower their bio said "single & looking for fun" & here when I get a new follower it tends to say something like "professor of rare moths".
Q. Why did they cast Tom Cruise in the movies as a man whose entire presence on earth is dedicated to being Large? A. I do not know, this remains one of the most baffling casting decisions I have ever seen.
Q. Are there any problems that Reacher cannot solve simply by being larger than other men? A. There are not, and once you embrace this premise you will find your life simpler and more enjoyable.
Q. Do smaller men try to fight Reacher for no reason? A. Yes they do, which is - against all odds - apparently the most realistic part of the show. It is always extremely funny.
Micah@rincewind.run · 4d agoone of the funniest things about Reacher discourse is everyone going “okay it is completely ridiculous that so many random assholes keep taking a run at this human kaiju” and then actual real life big guys going “no that’s accurate people just try to fight us for being big all the time”
now that we know how the new season of Reacher is (excellent), a thread about why you should watch What If A Man Was Large, The Show, in the form of a Q&A
It's so cute when people on the east coast talk about mountains
There was a lengthy article in the New York Times yesterday about how men who had lived almost their entire lives in America were being shipped to foreign prisons with no due process and held in conditions so severe they almost died from hunger striking, and it didn’t even make a ripple.
Chris Hayes@chrislhayes.bsky.social · 3d agoI’m on vacation but I gotta say, as much fun as it is to debate woke1 and Hasan Piker, the Trump administration is currently engaged in mass murder on the high seas as surely as any serial killer or lynch mob. And viewed from the distance of vacation, The Discourse doesn’t seem to give a shit.
Some children in Dilley were so distraught they cut themselves or talked about suicide, parents told ProPublica. They said kids lost their appetites after finding worms and mold on their food, had trouble sleeping, and were constantly sick. (Published February)
The Kids Trump Sent to ICE’s Dilley Detention Center
ProPublica went inside the immigrant detention center for families in Dilley, Texas. Children held there told us about the anguish of being ripped from their lives in the United States and the fear of...
propublica.org
Me to a MAGA: "Who's more traditionally masculine - Trump or Tim Walz? Now remember, one of them wears makeup and talks about ballrooms constantly, while the other coaches football."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4d agodeplorable -- Tom Emmer smears Peggy Flanagan as "a more masculine version of Tim Walz"
CNBC: Do you regret voting for RFK Jr? BILL CASSIDY: If you want to tell me that somebody didn't tell me the truth, and I should've seen in the future they were not gonna tell the truth, you can say, 'Bill you should've seen into the future'
Bill, we all were able to see this future. Even without our glasses on.
Ahead of Kash Patel's Field Trip to Russia, He Promises Not to Investigate Russian Attempts to Frame Democrats emptywheel.net/2026/08/12/a...
Ahead of Kash Patel's Field Trip to Russia, He Promises Not to Investigate Russian Attempts to Frame Democrats - emptywheel
In advance of Kash Patel's trip to Russia, he has made it clear he's going to target the people who found Russia's attempt to influence the 2020 election.
emptywheel.net
