We tend to think of “charitable giving” as unambiguously good because we equate “charities” with organizations that help the poor and equate “giving” with generosity. But both assumptions are wrong.
"Charitable Giving" Isn't What You Think
And the gusher of it is just beginning
robertreich.substack.com
Did you hear about the DC July 4 fireworks show? It promises 850,000 fireworks in 40 minutes. That's 354 per second. You'll miss up to 142 of them every time you blink. For your edutainment, I proudly present the nerdiest thing you will read about this dangerously absurd / absurdly dangerous event.
Three Hundred Fifty-Four Fireworks per Second — Chad M. Topaz
Organizers promise 850,000 fireworks in roughly 40 minutes over the National Mall this Saturday. I did what a mathematician does with a big number: I divided. It did not make the show look better.
chadtopaz.com
Two papers by Max Planck, the legendary Nobel laureate in physics, were retracted by Springer Nature in 2011, likely due to an algorithm flagging the papers for self-plagiarism and copyright infringement. Read on for how stupid it all is. 🧪
Why have papers by one of history’s most famous physicists been retracted?
Springer Nature has removed two studies by Max Planck. A bot may be to blame
science.org
“When I heard you were making a film about AI, we were so excited. But this kind of extremist love letter to human expression just isn’t what Amazon Studios represents.”
The Onion@theonion.com · last mo.Amazon Executive Tells Luca Guadagnino He Didn’t Realize Film Would Be So Pro-Art https://theonion.com/amazon-executive-tells-luca-guadagnino-he-didnt-realize-film-would-be-so-pro-art/
JAWS was released 51 years ago this week. Regarded the first summer blockbuster and A landmark of Hollywood, the making of story is so crazy it begs the question of how it was ever made… 1/47
liberal democracies will never be safe with musk this powerful—they must unite to break him my latest with @newrepublic.com c/a @gregsargent.bsky.social newrepublic.com/article/2119...
Elon Musk’s Race War Just Took Darker Turn—Time for a Global Response
The violent fascist riots in Belfast reveal the future that the trillionaire really wants. We need an international movement to constrain him.
newrepublic.com
Since I do not see the New World Screwworm issue going away any time soon, I’m just gonna make a thread I can pin to my profile. Do you want to know why the screwworms have come back? Check this thread: bsky.app/profile/tkin...
Kingfisher & Wombat@tkingfisher.com · 2mo agoA good thread on screwworms. Talking to an entomologist last year, he also added that the pandemic was the first domino. Scientists couldn’t get to the facilities, couldn’t get out into the field to check outbreak reports.
The Trump administration has taken steps to make sure that the United States is a safe space for money launderers, drug cartels, and international financial rogues.
Trump’s gift to drug cartels, money launderers, and terrorists
Making America a safe space for fraudsters, crooks, and national security threats.
motherjones.com
I waited a while to write this one. The time finally felt right.
A tale of two media women
On Bari Weiss and me, and what journalists owe this world.
thehandbasket.co
so far, much of the analysis of Callais out there is focused on what the Court's rulings did to the Voting Rights Act, which is reasonable but now I want to talk about what the Court did to the Constitution bc the threat of Callais goes far beyond the VRA alone ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/alito...
Samuel Alito Didn’t Only Gut the Voting Rights Act. He Rewrote the Constitution, Too
The Court’s decision in Callais will make it more challenging for Congress to pass laws designed to protect multiracial democracy.
ballsandstrikes.org
You can't judge the Iran war by its stats, writes @davidcorn.bsky.social. "For sure, the US military can be rather successful in killing and annihilating. That might look like winning to some. History tells us otherwise."
You can’t judge the Iran war by its stats
No matter what the pro-war crowd tells you.
motherjones.com
Breaking: SC newspaper verifies portions of Trump accuser's story. Textbook journalism. Local journalism. Support your local news outlets. www.postandcourier.com/news/epstein...
Fuzzy memories and hard facts: An SC accuser's claims against Epstein, Trump examined
An alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein gave FBI agents true accounts of her time growing up in SC. Claims she made about Donald Trump remain unsubstantiated.
postandcourier.com
SCOOP — Body camera footage obtained as a result of my lawsuit against the DC Metropolitan PD confirms DOGE and the Trump administration openly admitted they were entering private property when they raided the building on March 17, 2025. That didn't stop MPD from breaking down the doors. My report:
Police body cam footage shows DOGE knew Institute of Peace was private property during raid
Footage obtained by The Handbasket’s lawsuit shows a hostile takeover on March 17, 2025.
thehandbasket.co
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
In honor of Black History Month, here's a thread with one book recommendation a day.
I found the first investigative file from the first complainant against Epstein in 2005. There are descriptions from the officer, over several interviews of the girl, of her pulling her knees up on the chair, drawing doodles, & the officer high-fiving her to keep her calm as she speaks of horror.
Happy Saturday. It's time for another Casey Kasem American Top 40 flashback #AT40. This week, we travel back to January 28, 1978. Who will be #1? Listen to Casey on SiriusXM 70s, and follow this 🧵 to find out.
We asked 10 Minnesota residents to tell us about life under ICE occupation. Read their stories, and put yourself in their shoes. We may all find ourselves experiencing what they are, whatever the city or personal circumstance, before too long.
‘I’m Witnessing a Lot of Emptiness’: How ICE Uprooted Normal Life in Minneapolis
WIRED talks to a postal worker, a teacher, two US citizens detained by federal agents, and six more Minnesota residents about life in an occupied American city.
wired.com
Here is a thread about a true police-shooting incident that I'm going to use to pose a fun little thought problem for anyone anywhere who think there ia a single justifiable reason to ever allow a law enforcement officer to use force on a citizen and remain anonymous. From my back pages:
Still up. Glad I posted here and not YouTube. This is what Bari Weiss and CBS tried to hide from us.
Allison Gill@muellershewrote.com · 8mo agoBREAKING: WATCH the full 60 Minutes CECOT segment here. This was sent to me anonymously. It appears to be the segment CBS' Bari Weiss killed. www.muellershewrote.com/p/watch-the-...
Epstein redactions aren't believable, and they are valuable to fascists specifically because they aren't believable. Fascists prefer lies to truth. Believing in a lie is preferable to believing a truth, if what you want is to dominate. Believing lies dominates truth. So they believe lies.
It hasn't even been twelve hours, but all three of us have been overwhelmed with requests from media for comment and I'm mostly writing this now so they'll leave me alone.
this is such a painful loss. my heart is broken.
“The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they’re brought out. But it’s more than that,...
wilwheaton.net
New — I wrote about the myriad ways journalism’s moral rot manifests, and how our crumbling institutions have created the conditions for it to fester:
Moral rot in elite journalism is killing the whole field
The Nuzzi/RFK Jr. mess and the revelation of Esptein's journo pals lay bare a profound moral absence at the heart of our free press.
thehandbasket.co
“I did not create a pub crawl with people who barf in playgrounds.” The secret history of Santacon, America’s most hated Christmas Party.
The secret history of Santacon, America’s most hated Christmas Party
A new documentary explores the booze-soaked and vomit-slicked gathering's radical roots.
motherjones.com
The far right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Musk keeps posting about "hobbits" because modern scientific racism owes more to fantasy worlds and gaming systems than genetic science, and they see both as effective mediums for right-wing propaganda www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons and Dragons to Be Racist
The fantastical roots of “scientific racism”
theatlantic.com
Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default. Here's how to turn it off. First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
From The Archives: The Onion’s Exclusive Interview With Grok, Elon Musk’s AI Chatbot https://theonion.com/the-onions-exclusive-interview-with-grok-elon-musks-ai-chatbot/
The Onion’s Exclusive Interview With Grok, Elon Musk’s AI Chatbot
This week, Elon Musk introduced a beta version of an artificially intelligent chatbot named “Grok” for some verified users of X, formerly known as Twitter. The Onion sat down for a conversation with t...
theonion.com
