As of last night, there are now *7* pastors, former pastors and seminarians who've become Democratic nominees running for Congress. Some have already won safe Dem seats, and several are in hotly contested races. In multiple cases, the GOP has attacked their faith. religionnews.com/2026/08/04/p...

'They're not real pastors': As clergy run as Democrats, Republicans question their faith

(RNS) — 'It's a sign that they are really scared they're gonna lose this seat,' the Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran pastor running for Congress in Iowa, said. She is part of a wave of religious ...

religionnews.com

Not sure why this is news, it's called a lunch break

I never post, but as a lifelong drummer, "Ringo sucks" drives me up the wall. There is a difference between technical skill and knowing how to serve the song! You can have one and not the other. If Ringo truly sucked, we wouldn't like the songs he played on. They weren't the Beatles in spite of him

Dr. Frisky Whisky McThicky, Ball Knower@professorpash.blacksky.app · last wk.

All of THESE drum on this one clip is sending me me

The 1984 film "Threads" endures as the most devastating depiction of nuclear war in apocalyptic cinema, writes @dandrezner.bsky.social — and its scenario of escalation from a Middle Eastern crisis has acquired renewed relevance in the 21st century.

The brutal, powerful legacy of Threads

Mick Jackson’s 1984 film Threads endures as the most devastating depiction of nuclear war in apocalyptic cinema. Its portrayal of societal collapse is unrelenting. Threads depicts nuclear war as a…

thebulletin.org

"I'll Just Put the Game On in the Background": A Memoir

1. Congressman Mike Collins, the GOP nominee for US Senate in Georgia, has spent over $400,000 of taxpayer money designated for office expenses on TV ads that are virtually indistinguishable from his campaign ads.

GOP Senate candidate spent $400,000 of taxpayer money on campaign-style ads

Georgia Congressman Mike Collins is using public funds to pay a political ad firm — the same firm that makes his Senate campaign ads.

popular.info

I just noticed that HHS Civil Rights office has deleted its webpage about the Supreme Court's 1999 landmark Olmstead decision, which guaranteed the rights of disabled people to live in their homes rather than being institutionalized. It was live on May 25. Now it's "PAGE NOT FOUND"

It’s grimly revealing that whenever a beloved media property is destroyed (fortnightly) people just wish that the staff would get together and start a new publication.

Hunter is not completely right, but he's not completely wrong either! This is a longer essay, but having spent my entire career at WaPo as an opinion editor and then a columnist -- I have quick thoughts! 1/n

Hunter Walker@hunterw.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I truly hate newspaper opinion pages. They contribute to mistrust and misunderstanding of real journalism while adding very little of real value. The format is inherently bad. Essays belong in books and websites.

I have been shouting with only moderate degrees of coherence about this very point so you should all read @mattglassman312.bsky.social's cogent written version. The erosion of the division between mandatory and discretionary $$ is, in short, an extremely big deal.

Matt Glassman@mattglassman312.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Despite all the ways Trump has sought to aggrandize the spending power, the real institutional changes to appropriations are actually happening in Congress. open.substack.com/pub/mattglas...

It’s very cool to see traces of this in the current rules.

U.S. House History@ushousehistory.bsky.social · 4mo ago

After five days of discussion, the House Select Committee on Rules issued its first set of parliamentary guidelines #OTD 1789. https://loom.ly/-SsB_TA

I... uh... wha... huh.

Wesley Morgan@wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Always exciting to see the Avignon Papacy in the news

it is as if a group of smart people convened in a room with the explicit goal to build something that would sap every small and accidental joy out of normal human life

Ethan Mollick@emollick.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Oh no.

Eleanor Roosevelt’s gun permit (which she got it around the time the klan put a $25k bounty on her head). What a vibe

While you slept last night: ~100 million birds took to the skies 🐦 The Mid-Atlantic saw heavy traffic moving north/northeast, with migration hotspots from the Southeast to Ohio Valley and Southern Plains. The overnight rush continues this weekend. Details at cwg.live

Georgia’s election system is flirting with disarray, experts say, after the state legislature failed overnight to push back a deadline that requires Georgia to get rid of its current voting system, which uses QR codes, before the November midterm elections.

Georgia Lawmakers End Session Without Fixing a Threat to Its Midterm Elections

The state legislature failed to push back a deadline that requires Georgia to get rid of its current voting system and find a new one — all before November.

nyti.ms

Trump is asking Congress for a $1.5 TRILLION military budget in fiscal year 2027. A massive increase. Pentagon funding hit $1 trillion last year between appropriations and party-line reconciliation legislation. The military has failed to pass an audit for eight straight years.

What made “Cold War I” (1948–1963) a Cold War was, among other things, the expansion of great-power competition to a wide variety of domains, including music and architecture.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 4mo ago

today's hot take is that neither cold war 1 nor cold war 2 was/is a primarily military competition

Maryland campaign finance expert James Appel has joined the long line of political figures accused of putting their hands in other people's pockets. And because he's from Annapolis, of course there's a boat involved. www.thebanner.com/opinion/colu...

Annapolis Republican’s fraud charges started with Chasing Sunsets

COLUMN | By the time James Appel, a top Maryland Republican finance expert, set off for the Bahamas in November 2023, he and his wife had upgraded to a 65-foot luxury yacht. That’s what got the Annapo...

thebanner.com

New memo by Trump's 36-year-old OLC chief, Elliot Gaiser, says Congress's Constitutional power to make laws necessary and proper to regulate how the U.S. government works is actually just a power to "assist" the president--so laws are valid if they increase Trump's power but not if they restrict it.

Did you know that there is one group of Americans who are not entitled to birthright citizenship? People born American Samoa are classified instead simply as “U.S. nationals” — and as a result they cannot vote or run for office anywhere else in the country. Much more here, for anyone curious:

Americans by Name, Punished for Believing It - Bolts

In a small Alaska town, American Samoans face prosecution for voting in the only country they’ve ever known. They live in a limbo, created by colonial expansion, that now confuses even public official...

boltsmag.org

Speak of the devil.

Gosh@historygosh.bsky.social · 5mo ago

[whisper] Kevin Kiley hasn't actually changed his political party in the 119th Congress yet.

who up makin defense department shrimp linguine

Before Congress, Hanabusa made history as first woman president of either chamber of the HI legislature. Also notable: A dying Sen. Inouye wanted her to be his successor in 2012, but then-Gov. Abercrombie chose Brian Schatz (Hanabusa had a valuable House Armed Services seat at the time)

Former Rep. Colleen Hanabusa remembered as trailblazer

Former Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, a Hawaii Democrat who made history as the first woman president of the Hawaii state Senate before serving four terms in the U.S. House, died on March 5 after a battle wit...

rollcall.com

A version of Microsoft Word with banner ads and surprise video pop-ups that doesn't let you *save files to your computer*. Just the thought of this is painful www.theverge.com/news/618278/...

One of Gov. Wes Moore's budget cuts would eliminate a program that gives grants of up to $2K to families who care for a person w/developmental disabilities - and who otherwise receive no state support. Money is used for ramps, therapy, assistive tech, etc. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...

Moore’s proposed budget cuts include $2K grants to help people with disabilities

Gov. Wes Moore's proposed budget cuts include a small program that provides modest grants to families caring for a loved one with developmental disabilities.

thebaltimorebanner.com

The U.S. attorney in Washington says DOJ "will be vigilant in standing against entities" like the Associated Press, that "refuse to put America first." The AP's transgression is, apparently, not adopting the president's preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico.

The story of Haishan Yang, a PhD student at UMinn, who allegedly used ChatGPT in his qualifying exams, got caught, was expelled. The evidence against him is...substantial, and hard to refute. Yang then filed a lawsuit against the profs, USING CHATGPT. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNon...

PhD student expelled from University of Minnesota for allegedly using AI

YouTube video by KARE 11

youtube.com

She was an icon. When I was in college she would sing at Mr. Henry’s. It was a college student break that allowed us to be inspired and dream. You’ve Got a Friend is one I still break out in today. Killing Me Softly With His Song is what I will always think of.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · last yr.

Roberta Flack, soul and R&B icon behind Killing Me Softly, dies aged 88