The decisive failure of GOP referenda in Kansas Amendment 1 and Missouri Amendment 4 yesterday is yet another reminder of something I've been saying for a while: Voters, even Republican voters, now regularly despise and repudiate GOP attempts to use them to destroy democracy.

JKR explicitly said she considers anything Potter-related, even fan-made, endorsement of her politics. And every time you engage with this franchise, you signal to the industry that there's still money in it and they should keep pumping out content from full-cast audiobooks to book box partnerships.

There is no ethical consumption of Harry Potter. And not in the usual "no ethical consumption under capitalism" way. In the "your fandom is now comprised of hate symbols" way.

s. e. smith@sesmith.lol · 8h ago

JKR explicitly said she considers anything Potter-related, even fan-made, endorsement of her politics. And every time you engage with this franchise, you signal to the industry that there's still money in it and they should keep pumping out content from full-cast audiobooks to book box partnerships.

More cops have been arrested for using flock cameras to stalk women than there are transgender athletes in youth sports.

Tell your friends So Cal Edison spent over a year trying to blame the VICTIMS for the eaton fire!

CNN@cnn.com · yesterday

The deadly 2025 Eaton Fire in Los Angeles was caused by Southern California Edison equipment, fire officials say. https://cnn.it/4wQe3eA

Anyone who meets me has to hear about the Eaton fire, namely Edison’s role. The arson angle spread well outside of CA. Arson aligns with the conservative notion that cities = bad, and that LA is crime-ridden hellhole that already burned down a dozen times by rioters. Let’s set the record straight.

Big Natural Resources@dagnificent.bsky.social · 19h ago

Tell your friends So Cal Edison spent over a year trying to blame the VICTIMS for the eaton fire!

Gonna be blunt, the reason I complain about AI so much is because it's made so much extra work for me, as I'm inundated with AI slopware games that I have to sort through and filter out, if this garbage tech ceased to exist tomorrow, it would be an immediate ease of that workload.

Ayo@darrylayo.bsky.social · yesterday

Guys like this don’t realize that they are the freak

Not only was she loudly right about everything and reviled for it, in 2017 O'Connor donated 30 years worth of clothes and makeup to trans girls in Ireland.

Irish Literary Times@irishlittimes.bsky.social · 2w ago

Remembering Sinéad O'Connor, who died three years ago, on July 26, 2023. Photo by Andreas Larsson. #sineadoconnor

the point of contrived moral dilemmas like the trolley problem is to trick people into entertaining the thought of committing atrocities everything about these scenarios is imaginary and improbable and designed to make you accept bureaucratic murder as a banal inevitability

Asawin Suebsaeng@swin24.bsky.social · yesterday

One reason I don’t like the trolley problem is because are we supposing people can’t get out of the way

“Take that one and remove him from the building.” He actually said that.

Outraged Tarrant County voter asking GOP officials lots of good questions about cuts to polling locations that they have not answered:

Lon Burnam, a former state lawmaker representing Tarrant County from 1997 to 2015, was carried out of the room by four sheriff deputies, who held him by his hands and feet: fortworthreport.org/2026/08/04/t...

Tarrant County judge removes attendees during public meeting about voting site reductions

Former state lawmaker Lon Burnam was carried out of the courtroom by sheriff deputies after O’Hare called speakers disruptive.

fortworthreport.org

I covered Harris County Commissioners Court for 2.5 years and never once saw them "clear the chamber" like this

This is what they're voting on today: bsky.app/profile/jenr...

Jen Rice@jenrice.bsky.social · 2d ago

They're probably hoping you won't hear about this. But tomorrow in TX, Tarrant County officials meet to vote on a GOP plan to cut almost HALF of Election Day voting locations, plus 8 early voting locations, some of them on campuses. Not hard to guess why. fortworthreport.org/2026/07/30/t...

In TX: Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare just CLEARED the meeting room, kicking out public speakers who are opposed to the GOP plan to cut half of the battleground county's Election Day voting locations for November:

Artwork of this summer:

'You'll choke too' - an aerial embroidery landscape inspired by all the wildfires happening right now... I'm upset every time I smell smoke outside and somehow we have people starting them maliciously too! But we all breathe the same air so they'll choke too (1/2 - see thread for close-ups)

When people die and the media says they had “pre-existing conditions”… they’re pacifying the public. Anyone could die from Cyclosporiasis, but they want you to believe it can’t happen to you. It can only happen to the weak, the disabled, the elderly. The expendable people. Eugenics.

Two Deaths Linked to Cyclospora Outbreak in Michigan

The patients had “significant underlying health conditions” that may have contributed to their deaths, health officials said.

nytimes.com

Must-read essential level insight from Cory @doctorow.pluralistic.net for @thenerve.news: 'This has created a situation in which everyone – "boards, executives, employees, vendors, consultants" – has a strong incentive to lie about how much AI is delivering for their companies.'

Cory Doctorow: The people who tell you ‘AI is changing everything’ are lying

It has become impossible to tell managers mesmerised by artificial intelligence that the tools are not, in fact, helpful. So employees just play along with the fiction to keep their jobs, writes our t...

thenerve.news

Paradise 🌟🌿

$1 Pick up

They’re calling it the most theater kid story of all time

Pixie Casey@pixiecasey.bsky.social · yesterday

in insane local news, the 26 year old director of a rocky horror production was arrested for sending threatening messages to himself in order to get the play shut down bc he didn’t want to deal with cast drama www.mynbc5.com/article/rock...

Disney Adult's Favorite Character Is Judge Frollo

talia jane@taliajane.bsky.social · yesterday

Another person conducting ICE abductions in New Jersey has been identified: Mike Smith of Warrington, PA, described by Jersey Counterinfo as “41 years, is married, is a homeowner, has two children, and is a Disney Adult.” He evidently is a U.S. Marshal: jerseycounterinfo.noblogs.org/nj-ice-agent...

If you show up to Bluesky without following anyone, you'll be treated to a series of posts about art, music, and dogs. If you show up to X without following anyone, you'll be bombarded with right-wing conspiracies and white supremacist slop. It's weird which one is seen as a "political bubble"

because this asshole so happens to be jewish, i would like to note that, in judaism, it's ethically and morally forbidden to evade taxes because you are robbing the poor of their share in your wealth that god has generously blessed you with so that you may benefit spiritually from helping them.

'viktor shtrum'@viktorshtrum.bsky.social · yesterday

death penalty

yeah, the issue with viewing elections as a linear algebra problem where you solve for the optimal policy platform is that you tend to generate candidates that cant credibly signal that they believe any of this

LOWρUFO 🇺🇦🇵🇸🌍@lowrhoufo.bsky.social · 3d ago

I don't think there's some silent progressive majority out there in waiting, but I do think running candidates who are a lot less apollonian can move a significant number of feet, and the center is very bad at producing those

It’s fun to mess around with your style

USA Today pays a far right columnist to cite the far right Manhattan Institute and far right Trumpist Kelly Loeffler. Even as the Trump regime collapses in popularity, the "news" media will ABSOLUTELY pay you to spout the most tedious, boring claptrap, as long as it pleases fascist billionaires.

USA TODAY Opinion@usatodayopinion.usatoday.com · 3d ago

Opinion: Mamdani's idea may sound appealing, but it's NYC taxpayers who will take the hit, subsidizing discounts they may never even use.

You ever stare at your dog like I can't believe this is free. He could easily charge for this