The Trump regime admitted in court filings that the cancellation of clean energy grants for Hawaiʻi was because the state voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, rather than the previously stated reasons of advancing energy needs or economic viability.

Trump Administration Lawyers Admit Hawaiʻi Funding Cuts Were Partisan

The admission about terminated clean energy grants emerged in recent court filings, confirming what many already suspected.

civilbeat.org

I fundamentally do not know how to square the politics whereby Democrats will essentially have to tell the American people that because they (the voters) made an extremely stupid decision, they need to lower their expectations substantially for the foreseeable future, but here we are.

My guess is that Stevens would have made a much better general election candidate in Michigan than El-Sayed. We can only hope that there will be a big enough blue wave that it won't matter.

This is horrifying.

Alexandra Lahav@alahav.bsky.social · 12h ago

"TikTok’s algorithm pushed him thousands of videos about suicide, sadness, hopelessness and loneliness, right up until he killed himself." The company did this "by design" to test the effect on "daily active users" "one of the top data points by which Wall Street judges social media companies"

We should really stop calling these "prediction markets," a much too benign term. They are unregulated gambling sites that consistently allow people to place bets on events they are involved in, can influence, or have private knowledge about.

Jacob Gellman@jacobgellman.com · yesterday

There is no way that betting on wildfires should be legal. www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/20...

Vance, Farage and Weidel posted fear-mongering messages about a Spanish migrant crisis that weren't true. They haven't retracted them. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Far Right Is Distorting Ceuta

We’ve seen this before.

theatlantic.com

Apples. When I was a kid, the only variety of apples served to me were Granny Smith (which I like) and Red Delicious (which fucking suck). Today, you can buy some many good varieties of apples in any decent supermarket. I never realized how much I loved apples.

Revan@revan.eurosky.social · 23h ago

So this is basically one of the entry points to becoming a reactionary

seems the biggest takeaway is “be wary of internal polls”

Simon Rosenberg@simonwdc.bsky.social · 23h ago

I wrote about why the MI Senate race was likely to be much closer than expected here 👇 www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/as-his-pow...

They let me get a little spicy on main over *that* NYT op-ed. So without further ado…a few cents on David Ellison’s plea to the American people to let him win this round of Monopoly. Full story at the link 👇

Erik Adams@erikadams.bsky.social · yesterday

"No amount of spin can sugarcoat the utter disaster of layoffs, creative consolidation, and sheer mediocrity that awaits if Richie Rich runs roughshod over the industry he claims to love so much." Get 'im, @mcastimovies.bsky.social!

President Trump is selling early access to his social media posts. Truth Social launched a subscription service giving a first look at posts from the president. https://to.pbs.org/4wcAjy9

Paid early access to Trump's posts raises insider trading questions

President Trump is selling early access to his social media posts. Truth Social launched a subscription service giving a first look at posts from the president. The price tag is reportedly up to $100,...

to.pbs.org

An obscure Texas firm secretly connected to Donald Trump Jr. said it received at least $100 million from Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. At the same time, the Ambani family secured major policy wins from the Trump administration. (Published June)

An Indian Billionaire Was Targeted by Trump. Then He Poured Money Into a Startup Secretly Backed by Donald Trump Jr.

An obscure Texas firm secretly connected to the president’s son said it received at least $100 million from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. At the same time, the Ambani family secured major polic...

propublica.org

“…the researchers found that opening up to chatbots about personal issues made some people feel not better but worse.”

AI companions may worsen loneliness for vulnerable users

Stanford research finds that users with limited social networks who seek emotional support from AI chatbots experience lower well-being.

news.stanford.edu

"Doctors took Mei for a full-body CT scan and then rushed her to the intensive care unit. Her brave face had begun to crack. 'Mom, I want to go home,' she told her mother, before vanishing into the ward." Brendan Borrell for @science.org and @retractionwatch.com: www.science.org/content/arti...

Exclusive: Death of girl in Chinese gene-editing trial was never made public

Parents want accountability after study went disastrously wrong, Science and Retraction Watch investigation reveals

science.org

The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse, but Trump keeps violating the law to block funding passed by Congress, including medical research, anti-poverty programs, education funding, and much more. I introduced new legislation to stop him: beyer.house.gov/news/documen...

Beyer Introduces Bill to Reinforce Legal Options Against Illegal Impoundments

beyer.house.gov

Maddow asked #JamesTalarico about attacks on #trans people and those who think that to win, Dems must "moderate" on trans rights. Talarico answered, "I don't believe we win by selling people out." #Texas

You are seeing the same dynamic with DSA right now. I have come to believe that the only way out of this is a very explicit "we are the party of the New Deal and the Great Society" rebranding where the tradition of the Democratic Party is what is foregrounded rather than trashing it over and over

Positive reinforcement for Democrats doing what needs to be done. In this case, introducing a "No Payoffs For Pardons Act." Makes a point and sets the table for what will happen when Democrats take over the Senate. Maybe quite soon. www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/pre...

Leader Schumer, Senator Blumenthal, Rep. Morelle & Senate Democrats Seek To End Unprecedented Presidential Corruption, Stop “Pay-To-Play” Pardons | Senate Democratic Leadership

Washington, D.C. – Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Representative Joe Morelle (D-NY) led the...

democrats.senate.gov

No one takes seriously the idea that if everyone forever is like "lol the Democratic Party fucking SUCKS, that's my whole appeal" from every possible angle, people will *believe that*

🧪 Medical professionals are losing the attention war on YouTube. In a 3,958-video sample, independent creators produced the lowest quality content but captured the highest viewership using exaggeration. #MedSky

The credibility paradox: clickbait, engagement, and information quality in YouTube’s medical ecosystem - npj Digital Medicine

npj Digital Medicine - The credibility paradox: clickbait, engagement, and information quality in YouTube’s medical ecosystem

nature.com

In this part of the interview, she doesn't actually bring up any examples of corporate corruption in healthcare or agriculture. The one example she raises, 3M dumping toxic chemicals, is from a completely different industry and would be addressed by strengthening environmental laws and enforcement.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez@ocasio-cortez.house.gov · 2d ago

There is pervasive corruption across our healthcare and agricultural systems that defy party lines. I meet with MAHA activists because a lot of their concerns are bipartisan issues that major corporations paint as partisan. The fight isn't left and right, it's top and bottom.

My hunch is that the motive will not make much sense, one way or the other. Trying to murder random strangers out of some personal grievance or political or social ideology will never make sense. Maybe we should try to make it more difficult for depraved and psychotic people to get ahold of guns.

PBS News@pbsnews.org · 2d ago

Investigators on Monday were trying to determine what led a 24-year-old man to open fire at an Idaho fast-food restaurant over the weekend, in an attack that left three people dead and seven others wounded before authorities say he killed himself. https://to.pbs.org/4fR1Q24

I have a bad feeling that this desire for "fighters" does not actually provide a good criterion for choosing effective representatives and will wind up selecting more bad candidates than we might get otherwise.

Rachel Hallie@dazedrachel.bsky.social · 2d ago

"the people want fighters!" yeah fighting to blind them after a non-political event

TikTok has agreed to settle three lawsuits brought by young people who accuse social media companies of designing their platforms to be addictive and harming their mental health, a plaintiffs' lawyer said Monday.

TikTok settling three teen social media lawsuits ahead of trial

TikTok has agreed to settle three lawsuits brought by young people who accuse social media companies of designing their platforms to be addictive and harming their ​mental health, a plaintiffs' lawyer said Monday.

reut.rs

You heard the man: we can't solve a housing crisis without building more housing.

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 2d ago

We can't solve a housing crisis without building more housing. Today we broke ground on the Casanova Residence, which will soon be nearly 100 affordable and supportive homes with on-site services for New Yorkers. Every new home is a step toward a City that everyone can afford.

I still haven't changed my mind that social media are inherently flawed, that the benefits are not worth the harms, and that we have not yet found a design that will produce overall healthy social and political discourses. The problems of a "liberal bubble" are a subset of the larger flaws.

John Scalzi@scalzi.com · 2d ago

Bluesky is a "liberal bubble" because fascist chuds can't get traction without algorithmic assistance and because people here trained themselves to block "debate me" trybois the instant they roll up

Honestly, filtering for, "the Nazis were bad, Stalin was bad, the correct side won WWII" is the easiest way to filter out 90+% of bad faith interlocutors if only everyone was honest about their views but the fascists and tankies know this and so sometimes falsify their opinions strategically.

Secretary of Defense Rock@sodrock.bsky.social · 2d ago

WWII propaganda is good actually

I know this would be closing the barn door after he horse has been reelected president, but if Democrats win both chambers I'd really like to see a concurrent resolution deeming January 6 an insurrection under 14(3). 1/

Well, this was horrifying. His own lawyers didn't even catch the mistake in time.

Futurism@futurism.com · 2d ago

"He should never have been charged, let alone convicted."

July was driest month in southern England since records began

July was driest month in southern England since records began

England and Wales provisionally record driest July in nearly 200 years, Met Office says July 2026 was the driest month in southern England since records began nearly 200 years ago, the Met Office has said. England and Wales also provisionally recorded their driest July since records began in 1836. Wales had its joint warmest July on record for mean temperature, and England recorded its second warmest July. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

This New York Times article, which ran a week before Christmas last year, didn’t get the attention it deserved. It detailed Trump and Epstein's predatory behavior toward women – “a game of ego and dominance” in which “female bodies were currency.” Here’s a gift link and a thread. 1/6🧵

‘Don’s Best Friend’: How Epstein and Trump Bonded Over the Pursuit of Women (Gift Article)

The president has tried to minimize their friendship, but documents and interviews reveal an intense and complicated relationship. Chasing women was a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were cur...

nytimes.com