Laura Sell
@laurasell.bsky.social
I promote books at Duke University Press. Reader, cat lover, messy cook and lazy gardener. Will plunge into any nearby body of water.
The Trump administration is trying to make things worse for consumers again, by making it impossible for us to compare airline flight costs. Submit a comment against this change now! thepointsguy.com/news/trump-a...
Trump administration weighs federal airfare rule change - The Points Guy
The U.S. Department of Transportation is considering changes to some federal airfare policies that could affect the price consumers see when booking a flight.
thepointsguy.com
Is this going to make me read Moby Dick again? The last time was with a very eccentric teacher in high school. Maybe?
Hester Blum@hesterblum.bsky.social · 5d ago1. @robdelaney.bsky.social is the best read and smartest person in Hollywood/London 2. The dizzying adrenaline of talking about Moby-Dick with him every day was amazing and I think is contagious if you subscribe to the podcast?!? 3. Our digressions are EPIC and rival Melville's 4. 🐳 4 life
Prisciliano Trejo Ricano began feeling ill while detained at a Georgia detention center, where he had been for three weeks. He reported that he had not received medical attention after experiencing severe symptoms. He died on Wednesday, July 22.
Mexican Man From Durham Dies From Leukemia While In ICE Custody
Prisciliano Trejo Ricano began feeling ill while detained at a Georgia detention center. He died on Wednesday, July 22.
ift.tt
If you're looking for a romance novel that will give you nostalgia for your old Norton anthology, satisfies your love of footnotes, & critiques the precarity of working in academia today you need to read "An Academic Affair" by @jodimca.bsky.social. So good! www.simonandschuster.com/books/An-Aca...
An Academic Affair
From the “masterly” (The New York Times) Jodi McAlister, a charming new romance about two English professors who embark on a fake relationship…only...
simonandschuster.com
Republicans in the North Carolina state Senate this week passed an elections bill that includes measures to sharply cut early voting periods and obscure more information about campaign funders, WRAL reports.
NC Senate votes to shorten early voting, purge more voters
Changes to campaign finance transparency, as well as election audits, voting schedules and ballot challenges, are among the proposals in wide-ranging elections bills that passed the N.C. Senate in a party-line vote.
wral.com
"A US government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a state department presentation at a global conference in Brazil this week, causing a stir among attenders who took screenshots and posted them online."
US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference
State department ‘takes full responsibility’ for erroneous, widely shared chart displayed at Aids conference in Brazil
theguardian.com
This story keeps getting grosser.
Michelangelo Signorile@msignorile.bsky.social · 7d ago“Moreno won’t call for the resignation of Miller, his son-in-law, accused by Moreno’s daughter of domestic abuse. Is it MAGA loyalty, or is it Miller’s threat to uncover something about the senator?” www.signorile.com/p/is-rep-max...
I got a 3% raise this year, doesn't even keep up with inflation. And I am routinely asked to do more with less.
Anna Kornbluh@annakornbluh.bsky.social · last wk.CHOP FROM THE TOP 14 of the University's highest-paid officers and employees earned more than $1 million in FY 2025, with nine making more than $2 million Duke’s strategic realignment included layoffs+buyout offers that led to the departure of nearly 600 staff. dukechronicle.com/article/duke...
I strongly believe that one question we should be directing at more politicians is "What the fuck is the matter with you"
Anna H@athenepallas.bsky.social · last wk.I remember arguing with someone - now an MP - about soup kitchens: I saw them as a response to need, whereas they saw them as enabling homelessness. Enabling homelessness. As though homeless people made themselves so as a lark.
Being done in our name with our money
Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · last wk.Overnight this Omni ICE removal trip refueled in Anchorage and is now likely headed to its second refueling stop in Guam. It’ll be another 10 hours at least before it makes its first removal stop. The people onboard have been shackled for at least 14 hours so far.
Trump and Elon Musk gutted the IRS so it couldn't audit and investigate wealthy tax cheats. In the process, it kneecapped IRS customer service, and now everyday taxpayers—the ones who aren't cheating—are deal with the infuriating fallout, as my colleague @smencimer.bsky.social reports.
The IRS is imploding.
The CEO says the agency is proving it's possible to have “less people and better results.”
motherjones.com
Dear authors: If you get an email from Terry Gross inviting you on Fresh Air and asking you to send a hi-res jpg of your book cover (lol)... no, you did not. Love, your friendly neighborhood book publicist. (One author falling for this is one author too many. C'mon, yall!)
It should be illegal for public officials to sign NDAs regarding public business and the use of public money. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/t...
How Meta Got Everything It Wanted in a Secret Louisiana Data Center Deal (Gift Article)
A Times examination details how the Silicon Valley giant used private talks with local officials to start a project big enough to cover nearly six square miles.
nytimes.com
These are real, I saw them at my local Aldi and picked them up to make sure they were what they said they were. Ice cubes. Such an odd thing for Aldi, in particular. Whole Foods, sure. But Aldi customers do not buy ice cubes.
McSweeney's@mcsweeneys.net · last wk."How did this wasteful ridiculousness get me to feel something?"
A century ago, white nationalists were saying the exact same things about Rep. Rulli's Italian ancestors -- they weren't white, they were criminals, they could never assimilate to "our" country
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.Rep. Michael Rulli on reports that ICE is preparing to mass deport of Haitians from Ohio: "Let's get them out of here. Let's get 'em all out of here, and let's start from the beginning."
Here it is. My manifesto for the 2026 Clacton By-Election. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join me, clean up Clacton and let's make 13th August Bin Day! #VoteBinface #VoteyMcVoteface #YesWeTinCan
TPS for Haitians officially expires tomorrow. ICE is planning big operations, with Springfield, Ohio among the targets www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-hai...
ICE plans to target Haitians as Temporary Protected Status is set to end, sources say
The plans include arresting migrants in Ohio and quickly putting them on deportation flights to crisis-stricken Haiti, the internal documents indicate.
cbsnews.com
"A new study found that regular arts and cultural engagement—including visiting galleries, attending concerts, singing and dancing—slows biological aging at the same rate as physical exercise." www.wsj.com/health/welln...
Could That Museum Visit Help You Live Longer?
A psychiatrist says engaging with the arts not only helps biologically. It can also make you feel more alive.
wsj.com
ATLANTA (AP) — US surpasses 2025’s record-breaking tally for measles cases, with 2,318 cases and 5 more months left in the year.
My great-grandfather was among the first Jews sent to Dachau, but it had operated for 8 years prior. He arrived to find a concentration camp already full of communists and other leftist dissidents. The public's acceptance of their incarceration paved the road for his own.
Noah Berlatsky@nberlat.bsky.social · 2w agofascists use anti leftism to build power and co opt centrists and liberals. they are doing this right now! this is what all the gibberish anti communist rhetoric is about!
ICE is planning a huge new detention facility in NC near the VA border. Time to call @ncgovernor.bsky.social and @jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social and tell them we don't want this in our backyard. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/u...
ICE Targets ‘Detention Desert’ With New Facility in North Carolina
Even as ICE has retreated from its plan to buy warehouses, the new complex near the Virginia border signals that the agency remains determined to increase its detention capacity.
nytimes.com
Someone get me in a room with MacKenzie Scott’s folks and I’ll deliver my impassioned / well-constructed argument that it’s a moral imperative that she give $20 million to a new distributor specifically for nonprofit and small presses in order to offset her ex’s dismantling of the book industry.
My daughter was in an accident & the cop confused the two cars in his diagram, which completely obscured who was at fault. I had to call him myself and get him to change it and then call both insurance companies to tell them to request a new report. Such a hassle, and that's just for an accident.
Matthew Guariglia@mguariglia.bsky.social · 2w ago“I know it doesn't save me time and I know it has inaccuracies that I will have to edit” There goes Axon's #1 selling point about why police should use AI to write police reports for them.
Watch what they do, not what they say
Sheryl Gay Stolberg@sherylnyt.bsky.social · 2w agoNew White House plan reimagines American science — more $$ for AI, less for universities and the “life sciences.” Written by Trump’s science adviser, who is a Silicon Valley tech guy, not a scientist. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...
This is awful, but even if he WAS a criminal or here illegally, he should not have been murdered.
Sylvia at Tono Latino@tonolatino.bsky.social · 2w agoHe was here on VACATION. He is not a criminal. He wasn't here trying to steal anything. And he was still targeted by ICE. His name was Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran.
This story is crazy. It would appear Trump admin officials rigged their nationally televised high school civics contest to keep a young man from a Sikh family out of the finalists. www.notus.org/national/ame...
Suspicion and Doubt at the National Civics Contest
America’s finest young scholars competed to mark their country's birthday. It led to a disputed finish in the age of mistrust.
notus.org
Balloons and fireworks. They are a little bit fun, but so harmful. I really don't think we'd miss them that much after a while if they were banned, and pets, wildlife and the environment would benefit so much.
The Assembly@theassemblync.bsky.social · 2w agoBlowing Off Balloons While other states and local governments have enacted laws prohibiting intentional balloon releases, North Carolina’s legislature has taken the air out of all proposed legislation.
