life is a series of forecasts. we live based on trends, preparing futures by available data and good judgement. and yet there’s a 100% chance that today will have some level of unpredictability for all of us. be safe. be kind. the person you meet may be weathering a storm.
Patricia Aufderheide
@paufder.bsky.social
University Professor, School of Communication, American University; Editor Emerita, In These Times; Author of books about documentary film, Kartemquin Films, the copyright doctrine of fair use and creativity, "political correctness," and more
Sometimes I feel like half the things that are wrong with the NYT would disappear if they just wrote headlines that reflected the content of the article
This is a glorified single-source interview with the head of Third Way. It quotes far more moderates saying they support the progressive candidates in the general election. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/u...
This is one of the most catastrophic developments imaginable for US media and the country. I don’t even have the words for it.
Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership
The move sets the stage for more corporate consolidation in the media industry.
nbcnews.com
A fun fact about me is that I have a degree in telecommunication and will die on the hill that media—all of it—has never recovered from the deregulation and consolidation made possible by the Telecom Act of 1996. Don’t get me started on what it did to minority-owned radio and TV stations.
Hello, if you want to do archival research and need to email archives staff a question about the collections, please DO NOT let AI write your query to the archives! This goes for historians, genealogists, media, social scientists, community activists, and the general public.
It's Textile Tuesday, and you know what that means: a piece by artist Faig Ahmed called "The Dragons of Karabakh" that's woven to look like an antique Central Asian carpet is melting off the wall into a puddle. More about the artist here: faigahmed.com
That edited collection you're thinking about doing? Don't.
Man Shaking Head Nope Reaction
ALT: Man Shaking Head Nope Reaction
static.klipy.com
Apparently DEI was the only thing standing between us and death lettuce
Michigan reports two deaths in ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak reut.rs/4w4bd4E
One of the great People’s Scholars, and writer of the definitive book on the Young Lords. Her class on race and empire (offered for free with a radical bookstore) introduced me to thinkers who changed how I saw the world. What a devastating loss
"Dr. Johanna Fernández, the Dominican American historian, prison abolitionist, and movement scholar, died on July 30, 2026, after a years-long struggle with non-small cell lung cancer. She was 55."
Words to live by: "I want to be an honest man and a good writer." James A. Baldwin, born on this day in 1924
"You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal." — James Baldwin, born on this day in 1924 #AmWriting
"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read." Happy birthday, James Baldwin!
"I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." -- James Baldwin, born #OTD 1924
Time to pre-order your copy of this must-read story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, and what we never learned about how private charity became the nation’s answer to social welfare provision: geni.us/buyfireinthe...
Fire in the Heart of the City: The Triangle Shirtwaist Tragedy and the Origins of Modern Charity
Buy from your preferred store:
geni.us
‘I Was Once A Normal Little Boy Like You,’ Disney World Donald Duck Warns Terrified Child https://theonion.com/i-was-once-a-normal-little-boy-like-you-disney-world-donald-duck-warns-terrified-child/
Is there an editor at the New York Times whose official job is to put lipstick on pigs?
Journalists who depend on confidential sources should be alarmed that journalist Catherine Herridge has been ordered to pay $800 a day for not burning her sources. Congress must pass a strong shield law like the PRESS Act to protect journalists. Our statement 👇🏽
Court forces reporter to pay $800 a day for refusing to identify source
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:New York, June 24, 2026 — A D.C. appeals court declined yesterday to pause an $800-per-day fine against investigative reporter Catherine Herridge for refusing to identify her con...
freedom.press
BREAKING: A federal appeals court has denied journalist Catherine Herridge’s request to pause enforcement of a $800 per day fine against her while she appeals to the Supreme Court over protecting her confidential sources.
This is really good. For a while I was worried that they’d missed the entrenched skewing of any benefits by legacy telecoms, but they nailed it. Now we have everything bad about the legacy telcos plus the Musk Starlink pseudo-alternative.
BEAD was intended to give underserved communities billions of dollars for high-quality, future-proof fiber networks. But under Trump and a group of tech moguls, Build Back Better has been transformed into “tear down quickly.” Read more from @karlbode.com and @seangon.bsky.social: buff.ly/NmgmAPS
BEAD was intended to give underserved communities billions of dollars for high-quality, future-proof fiber networks. But under Trump and a group of tech moguls, Build Back Better has been transformed into “tear down quickly.” Read more from @karlbode.com and @seangon.bsky.social: buff.ly/NmgmAPS
seemingly b/c they believe it will allow studios to better protect them. But why would studios do that? It seems like a risky bank shot to me, a kind of AI trickle-down economics where you give more power to the bosses and hope they drop some crumbs your way. What am I missing?
Over at @theverge.com, @seangon.bsky.social and I wrote about how billionaires hijacked a generational $42.5 billion program intended to dramatically improve internet access. Republicans stripped away all affordability and equity requirements, and are turning it into a slush fund.
Elon Musk and the plot to hijack America’s broadband
“We’re fed up … The BEAD program has failed us.”
theverge.com
I’m in Minnesota, which has its own cultural weirdness, but when I coached 6YO’s soccer team this spring, I had to pull the team aside after the first game and literally tell them, “if the other team has the ball, it’s okay to go get it.”
What would the other U.S. presidents have thought about the White House’s fight night? @petridishes.bsky.social imagines the commentary:
And Now a Few Words From Our Former Presidents on UFC 250
What would Thomas Jefferson say?
bit.ly
Oh honey no they are not not not. John is right
Not true, you can't put Mike & Ike's into a bowl of M&Ms and really fuck with someone's day
CONGRATS AGAIN to "DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME REIMAGINED" by Talissa Mehringer, an Honorable Mention, Internet Archive’s 2026 Public Domain Film Remix Contest 🏅 A music-film remix celebrating 1930s choreography & style. Full film ⤵️ archive.org/details/drea... #PublicDomain #PublicDomainDay
This book is so good, demystifying and MUCH needed.
1/7 Really fascinating book on the finances behind the great newspaper collapse. The author argues that the Internet took the blame for what was essentially mismanagement: overharvesting paper assets for profit while leaving communities in the lurch. 🧵 📚💙 #Booksky @margotsusca.bsky.social
We Can’t Confront #Fascism Without Addressing White Settler Colonialism Why Indigenous resistance is central to the fight against white supremacy. (2018) inthesetimes.com/article/fasc...
We Can’t Confront Fascism Without Addressing White Settler Colonialism
Why Indigenous resistance is central to the fight against white supremacy.
inthesetimes.com