Watching cable for the first time in years. ESPN Ocho. Championship pillow fighting. "Timing is everything in pillow fighting" and I'm getting so many Dodge Ball movie vibes right now. This is WILD. And I don't even like watching sports. #TheOcho

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

This is a big deal that so many young Black people are going missing & murdered in the south, it's many of them, not just Nolan Wells. It's always a young Black person, usually a young man but sometimes a girl, found suspiciously killed in a way that smells racist. This is lynching in our times.

It's Medicaid's 61st birthday! I wrote a piece lifting up the perspectives of people who rely on it. Here's what they told me: cuts hurt people, paperwork requirements burden families, fraud is a red herring, & elected leaders are out of touch. Read more here: www.syracuse.com/opinion/2026...

Historic Medicaid cuts are a body blow to vulnerable Americans (Guest Opinion by Jamila Michener)

Cornell researcher's team interviewed dozens of enrollees. They said H.R. 1 will create impossible burdens and reflect a double standard between how rich and poor are treated.

syracuse.com

Operation Warp Speed aside (which was a gamble for which Trump should get some credit), every day of the pandemic I thought the Trump Administration couldn't possibly screw it up worse. And every day his administration said "Hold my beer." #COVID Recall 🧵 /1

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 7d ago

Trump: "We were sort of primetime in terms of that whole disaster of covid"

When fertility rates continue to decline, and maternal mortality (which in the US is substantially higher than in any other high income country) continues to rise, remember that it never had to be this way. These are policy failures through and through. Only the government can fix it.

Rural America’s Maternal-Health Crisis Is About to Get Much Worse

Care will be in shorter supply, travel distances will stretch farther, and high-risk situations will more likely result in tragedy.

theatlantic.com

My paper is out today in PNAS documenting how ICE activity in Trump 2.0 compares to the last 10 years and the mismatch between the action and the rhetoric. Joint with the fabulous @caitlinpatler.bsky.social and @elizabethacox.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Deploying AI to speed up health insurance prior authorization... what could go wrong? This article describes an “...arms race to deny faster and appeal faster." In other words: "More automation of a broken system that shouldn’t exist in its current form.” arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/w...

Will AI fix prior authorization—or make it worse?

The government is piloting a program that uses AI for insurance-coverage decisions.

arstechnica.com

Well-studied vaccines with millions…billions of doses administered, recommended by physician who makes basically nothing off it? No Experimental, unregulated hormones, recommended by health influencer who gets a commission? Yes

Conservatives in 2016: TRIGGERED LIB???? Conservatives in 2026: We are installing trigger warnings in the Smithsonian

📚 Social Studies: 4 Economic-Political Systems Communism: state owns major industries and resources Social Democracy (~Democratic Socialism): markets plus strong public services Capitalism: private ownership, markets and competition Fascism: private ownership under authoritarian state direction

But rich people definitely shouldn’t pay their fair share in taxes because they stimulate the economy and the benefits trickle down to the rest of us. 🫠

Jesse Felder@jessefelder.com · 3w ago

‘On Friday, after 65 bids, one of Huang’s pre-worn and signed jackets sold at auction at Sotheby’s for $960,000, much higher than the pre-sale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. He wore the jacket in 2023, at an event at Foxconn in Taipei, Taiwan.’ www.cnbc.com/2026/07/17/l...

A cop in Wisconsin used Flock to search his ex’s license plate information 200 times. Months later, the officer assigned to investigate him was criminally charged for doing the same thing. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Police keep losing their jobs for using Flock cameras to stalk people

Advocates say it's too easy to abuse automated license plate reader technology.

motherjones.com

I can't breathe the air, I can't eat lettuce, I can't afford gas, and my kids have measles. But at least now our soldiers will have enough testosterone.

American soldiers to receive gender-affirming care www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Hegseth touts a high-testosterone military, as doctors question his claims

The defense secretary said the Pentagon will test the testosterone levels of troops 30 and over. It was unclear if the plan would affect women or military fitness rules.

washingtonpost.com

Decided to look at the classes taught at West Virginia University ’s Washington Center for Civics, Culture and Statesmanship (the one with one enrolled student) and it turns out it’s teaching classes on the wonders of fascism

The U.S.’s top scientific advisory body issued a report on Thursday backing a growing field of science called extreme event attribution that could help governments hold oil, gas and coal companies responsible for the damage caused by extreme weather.

National Academies Report Backs Climate Change Attribution Science

Attribution science is advancing quickly, researchers said. That could support lawsuits seeking damages for severe events worsened by global warming.

nyti.ms

It's wild that all the press keeps emphasizing how the Canadian wildfires are creating air quality problems for some US states, but oddly, the maps show that the USA is also on fire so... Meanwhile GOP lawmakers blame Canada (again) while actively undermining efforts to prevent this exact thing.

Active Wildfire Map - American Forests

Hotter, drier and more variable conditions have caused an increase in destructive and high severity wildfires. Check your area for active wildfires today.

americanforests.org

The grant that funded my graduate school education came from this directorate at NSF. We should triple it instead of cutting it.

Joshua Weitz@joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 3w ago

New Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project (#SCIMaP) analysis on the impact of the WH plan to eliminate NSF's Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences directorate. @malar0ne.bsky.social @asinclair.bsky.social @cl10.bsky.social @alexmusicwrites.bsky.social scienceimpacts.org/insights/SBE...

These images of First Nations community members evacuating Collins, Ontario on motorboats are absolutely surreal www.facebook.com/reel/1548244...

Luke LeBrun@lukelebrun.ca · 3w ago

These photos of FNs community members fleeing their homes by boat are genuinely apocalyptic (Photo via Wayne Wastaken of Collins, Ontario, who says his “hometown is gone”) www.facebook.com/share/r/1ArN...

My latest on Substack, a parenting story on approaching struggle or conflict with others.

Centering the Why

What if Our First Instincts are All Wrong?

open.substack.com

As folks discuss #MitchMcConnell, wanted to point out this actually well done and, believe it or not, really interesting podcast series about McConnell. It certainly puts his thinking and political trajectory in perspective, regardless of what you think of him.

Mitch Part 1: 'Win This Thing' : Embedded

Mitch McConnell has been described as "opaque," "drab," and even "dull." He is one of the least popular - and most polarizing - politicians in the country. So how did he win eight consecutive election...

npr.org

NEW: A 28-year-old man died Tuesday morning following an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations agents in St. Augustine, marking the third death involving ICE in a week.

Man dies during immigration encounter in Florida, the third ICE-involved death in a week

Third ICE-involved death in a week confirmed after fatal St. Augustine crash during joint agency operation. National outrage grows over enforcement and deaths

miamiherald.com

Elon Musk's xAI has installed more than double the number of gas turbines than it has publicly acknowledged to power its Colossus 2 data center project, without federal permits, and the pollution is hitting predominantly Black neighborhoods the hardest reut.rs/4bIghEm

My dad is a volunteer for this. It’s a magical program that does a world of good.

In Vancouver, cycling volunteers help seniors break out of isolation and feel the wind in their hair

Cycling Without Age works to enrich the lives of long-term care home residents across Canada

theglobeandmail.com

MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS: If you have already voted for Mallory McMorrow and wish to change your vote, you can contact your local clerk to have your ballot spoiled and a new ballot issued. 🗳️

“climate change cancels america’s birthday party”

A guy I went to HS with 30 yrs ago sent me this. I can’t stop giggling about it: “all I remember about you is that you sat in the front row to the left of me in grade 11 Biology... You would read thick erotica novels during class but still did well.” That thick erotica was The Mists of Avalon. 📚

Latest on my substack: a reflection on how, as an immigrant, I learned to navigate the US #healthcare system, and a broader analysis of how it compares to other comparable countries.

Navigating the US Healthcare System as an Immigrant

An Historical Anecdote and a Wider Analysis

substack.com

Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are full of shit in their dissents in the birthright citizenship case. Give me two minutes, and I'll explain why.