Barbara G 🧿✨
@prettygoodemachine.bsky.social
Southwestern Latina surviving the Midwest. Aspiring Crone. Bookworm. Gourmande. Freudenfreude Enthusiast.
Missouri Republicans Count on Foot Dragging to Help Jam Through Gerrymander talkingpointsmemo.com/news/missour...
Missouri Republicans Count on Foot Dragging to Help Jam Through Gerrymander
Missouri Republicans have been transparent about their strategy to drag out the...
talkingpointsmemo.com
The U.S. is undergoing one of the biggest changes to its social safety net in recent history, with huge numbers of people getting dropped from the government’s food assistance program. Nowhere has this been more dramatic than in Arizona. Listen as we explain why and its implications on "The Daily."
Arizona’s Food Stamp Crisis Is Coming for the Rest of the U.S.
The number of people who receive nutrition assistance in Arizona has dropped significantly in a matter of months.
nyti.ms
Justin Pearson and his fight to save Memphis from Elon Leon and the federal government
Anger Over Data Centers Is Fueling a New Political Movement
Justin Pearson, a Tennessee lawmaker, has become one of the loudest voices amid a growing national backlash against the pollution and politics of America's AI buildout.
politico.com
A severe bout of COVID-19 can wake up an army of dormant viruses hiding inside the body, like Epstein-Barr virus. This reactivation is linked to especially intense bouts of COVID-19 and to the development of long COVID. Published today in @nature.com:
COVID can wake up a slew of dormant viruses inside you
Reactivation of typically harmless anelloviruses, in particular, seems to be linked with developing long COVID, study finds.
nature.com
Former J6 federal prosecutors are begging senators -- mostly GOPers, but a handful of Dems are in there, too -- to stop confirming election deniers to lifetime federal courts seats. “Please stop poisoning our courts." www.huffpost.com/entry/live-u...
Former J6 Prosecutors Beg Senators To Stop Confirming Election Deniers To Court Seats
huffpost.com
Be a Samwise Gamgee. Support your friends, trust your instincts, be humble, lead with your heart, love potatoes, don't let one little spider ruin your day
🚨BREAKING: Voting advocates filed a lawsuit Tuesday, asking a state court to quickly put a redistricting referendum on the November ballot as Missouri Republicans inch closer to thwarting voters’ efforts to block gerrymandered new voting maps. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Missouri voting advocates sue after redistricting referendum rejected
Missouri voters have fought for nearly a year to put the gerrymander to a statewide referendum vote in November.
democracydocket.com
Fuentes: “It's not outside the realm of possibility that in the next Republican administration you've got a groyper cabinet official”
Nick Fuentes revels in groyper infiltration of Republican politics: “We'll be influencing policy at the highest level. This is what they fear. This is how power works.”
mediamatters.org
Donald Trump stands out historically in one way. He has demilitarized the US military more quickly than any other political leader in US history. A full blown pacifist would have struggled to throw away weapons faster than he has.
The extension of the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. until January 2029 will cost roughly $1.4 billion, according to a Defense Department estimate provided to Congress. https://to.pbs.org/4pVAKf1
National Guard deployment to Washington through 2029 will cost roughly $1.4 billion, estimate shows
The cost estimate is for fiscal years 2027-2029 and came in response to questions from Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
pbs.org
Phang: "Capital One said, 'We don't want the business anymore of the 45th president of the United States, his businesses, his failed sons, and his revocable trust.' So you can imagine -- I am just hypothesizing... but it suggests whatever Capital One uncovered was pretty bad. Makes you wonder..."
What a sad state our country is in when the Senate has to debate whether a President’s former personal lawyer—who has led the burying of the Epstein Files and promised to make Trump immune from tax crimes—should be our nation’s highest law enforcement officer.
In other Michigan news, the state looks set to elect it's first transgender lawmaker. Joanna Whaley won her Democratic primary and will compete in November for a state house seat, beating a primary opponent who tried and failed to disqualify her for not running under her deadname
NYPIRG canvasser in western upstate NY told me yesterday that he's getting tons of first-time conservative donors because NYPIRG 's #1 issue is data centers. They want Gov Hochul to go beyond her exec order and to sign the legislation passed.
I know that’s a term so nebulous that it can just be a brand. But candidates who have canvassed or been in real organizing spaces seem to be running competitive races.
I know we are chalking the success of some leftist candidates almost entirely to the DSA. However, it seems like the more common theme is that these are candidates with organizing experience?
I was on a visit in Southern Virginia and stopped at a nearby winery in a county that went 2-1 for Trump in 2024 and 2-1 Winsome Sears for Virginia Gov…. I was chatting with staff and a local came up to remind one of them about the anti data center meeting coming up Indeed this has legs
Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 6h agoI’ve been screening our documentary with organizing communities in the South. So far, the organizers mention data centers first at every single event. From racial justice orgs to old school activists who don’t usually think about tech policy. This has legs.
I’m telling you this as a political scientist. The person who is electable is the one who is elected. This can and does change over time. Any and all speculation about “electability” is either puffery or anxiety and is often both.
Julia Azari@juliaazari.bsky.social · 16h agoOne way to be safe is to never write an electability take
You will be surprised to learn that I do not believe there is a “moral imperative“ to teach educators about AI.
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 7h ago“Teaching educators about AI is a ‘moral imperative’, said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president.” “And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tech’s money or doing nothing, she said.”
Congratulations to everyone who worked their asses off for something that any semi-decent and ultimately self-interested government should have done in penance www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/b...
Education Dept. to Wipe Out Student Loans of 170,000 More Defrauded Borrowers (Gift Article)
The sprawling case, centered on students defrauded by for-profit schools, has now become the largest class-action settlement in American history.
nytimes.com
I’ve been screening our documentary with organizing communities in the South. So far, the organizers mention data centers first at every single event. From racial justice orgs to old school activists who don’t usually think about tech policy. This has legs.
Judge Wise finds that ICE coerced a 20-year-old Tongan man — admitted legally to the country three years ago — to sign a document accepting deportation, despite no criminal record or immigration proceedings against him. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Susan Collins announcing she'll vote against a controversial nominee is basically the moment it becomes clear that nominee will be confirmed. It means Thune has enough votes to confirm, and thus, Collins gets a pass to look independent.
My real training as a book critic was with Paste Magazine edited by Charles McNair whose novel was a finalist for the Pulitzer the year The Color Purple won. He insisted I bring current cultural & news context into the review. So it's not just about the book. It's the global moment it's in.
Sure, Democrats are not perfect and we have some bad apples. But sexual harassment and abuse of women has become an absolute epidemic among elected Republicans because it is the culture of the party under lifetime serial sexual harasser Donald Trump.
I spoke with 10 CNNers about David Ellison's essay in The NYT, in which he tried to convince the public he'll be a good steward of CNN. Suffice to say, no one at the network is buying what he's selling. “We all have eyes and ears and see what’s happening at CBS." www.status.news/p/david-elli...
The Ellison Credibility Crisis
The Paramount boss tried to convince the public he can be trusted with CNN. But staffers inside the network torched his Times essay in brutal comments to Status, pointing to his disastrous record at C...
status.news
Brown University has a widget that tracks the cost of the Iran war to American consumers (as contrasted to whatever the Pentagon is spending). Per-household cost now exceeds $600. iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu
The Heritage Foundation asserts that women never needed sports in the first place. To prove that Title IX has become a tool of “feminist social engineering.” To demonstrate that women don’t need sports and that “clubs, intramurals, and exercise classes” is enough. open.substack.com/pub/jesspipe...
Give Them an Inch...
And they'll take away women's sports...
open.substack.com
A sweet little girl with autism brought her stuffed puppy to the dog show. One of the judges noticed her, came over, and asked if she’d like to show her dog too. What followed was pure magic. Original post
