One of the clearest descriptions of climate dynamics for laypeople that you’ll ever hear: “It will inevitably get worse. It will get worse and worse and worse.”

This isn't the new normal. It's just the beginning

This summer’s disasters appear to have boosted climate multilateralism, at least within Europe, and underscored the need to tackle fossil fuels. But we may not be waiting long for the scientists' “wor...

nationalobserver.com

What’s amazing about the Telegraph crew is how thin their pretence of believing in ‘free speech’ really is.

this is consistent across the country, btw. to reach Valhalla, Dems only need to turn out their primary voters again. Republicans have to suceed in the general where they failed in the primary.

Baptiste Lerak@baptistelerak.bsky.social · 10h ago

Also, inter-factional disputes are all fine and good, but let's not be distracted from the fact that if you're a Republican you should be shitting your pants right now.

I think the close result tells us is a) tv ads still work on low-info voters and b) Abdul's ground game is real

#StupidSuez@diplomatofnight.com · 10h ago

No matter the margin the story is that Haley Stevens got $70M of support, more than $30M of it from a single organization, and still lost.

No matter the margin the story is that Haley Stevens got $70M of support, more than $30M of it from a single organization, and still lost.

#StupidSuez@diplomatofnight.com · 15h ago

30,000,000 dollars

Really interesting article in a trade publication for dairy farmers about how the depletion of the Ogallala aquifer in Kansas/Texas is affecting what banks are willing to finance, and at what cost and for how long, and how that relates to the underlying situation of the aquifer. 1/2

Dairy Bet $1.6B on the Fastest-Drying Part of the Ogallala

Hilmar and Leprino built 8-million-pound-a-day cheese plants right over the thinnest Ogallala water — and the lenders financing the dairies that fill those tankers are already pricing the decline. Exe...

thebullvine.com

The Pope’s tailor for the last 25 years, Filippo Sorcinelli came out 15 years ago; when Leo was elected, Vatican asked that he continue making vestments for the Pope; Sorcinelli says he has a “renewed calling,” and that Leo brought him out of an “existential crisis.” www.corriere.it/sette/26_ago...

To get super wonky, the Bern Convention on intellectual property got closest to grappling w this. Led to WIPO, but that you have no idea what that is, is testament to its failure. That certain rights deriving from authorship are *not alienable* is a path to saying, 'not everything is for sale'.

SpaceX is littering on the moon and everyone's just like 'okay'??

An Abandoned SpaceX Rocket Is About to Crash Into the Moon

An Abandoned SpaceX Rocket Is About to Crash Into the Moon: As the moon starts getting crowded, questions of safety and responsibility are becoming hard to ignore

nautil.us

Old Testament doctrine that one is not allowed to (permanently) sell land (read property) one has inherited - is a potential foundation for an entirely post-capitalist economics.

daniel sieradski@self.agency · 23h ago

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.

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 · 23h ago

death penalty

As the church finds more ways to stand with those oppressed by the state, Jimenez-Reyes said something that echoed in the stories of pastors across the country: “I feel more called than ever.” sojo.net/articles/new...

ICE Is Moving More Quietly. Clergy Resistance Is Not

From Texas to Maine, people of faith are active on every front of resisting deportations and detainment.

sojo.net

It's great people are feeling the Burn after the Keir malaise years. But can we take a sec to consider whether his "let proles be proles generationally, forever" sharing so much DNA with Trump policy is a problem?

Seth Cotlar@sethcotlar.bsky.social · 24h ago

In a college sociology class in the late 1980s I was assigned a Marxist analysis of education that argued that the US education system is designed primarily to produce efficient workers for the labor market. And now Trump’s Department of Education is just tweeting it out.

Personally I believed the public were better served when mandarins drank whiskey in meetings at midday.

Yep. Earlier this year I was interviewed by Sharyn Alfonsi of 60 Minutes about my Epstein investigation. Subsequently, CBS pulled the segment and fired the reporter. The MAGA buyout of media is aiding the Trump administration’s Epstein cover up.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · yesterday

Banks permitted millions in suspicious transactions tied to Epstein—and former 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi had the story months ago. But the report would never air. trib.al/ZShZlIS

Today, August 4, 2026, is the setting of Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” about a fully automated house continuing on after the family who lived there and the world around it died in a nuclear blast.

Anyone who refuses care from a non-white member of NHS staff should be told to pay to go private.

Charles EP Murphy@cepmurphy.bsky.social · yesterday

news.sky.com/story/nhs-st... stereotypically this has been seen as Old People, but not only would the old people of now have often been born post-Windrush, lot of this will be younger people who've always lived in a diverse Britain. The guy with a pregnant wife likely millennial at oldest

Heat pumps are winning Americans over. In the first quarter they outsold fossil-fuel furnaces by 32%, the fourth year running that manufacturers have shipped more heat pumps than furnaces. Nearly half of new US homes built in 2024 came with one. Grist buff.ly/I8XwuLA #ShareGoodNewsToo

The US may be hitting a tipping point for heat pumps

In the first quarter of this year, heat pump sales beat fossil fuel furnaces by 32 percent. Here's what makes the appliance so powerful.

buff.ly

True. But countries are greenlighting longer term solar programs to cut import exposure — Pakistan’s 10,000MW initiative. But projects approved now mostly break ground 2027+, so that demand isn’t what drove March’s export spike.

Jenny Chase@solarchase.bsky.social · yesterday

Not to dunk on this but it isn't really true that the Hormuz oil crisis is driving a solar boom. Here's this chart updated to June of China solar exports, showing that the March spike in exports has subsided and was therefore mostly just export tax rebate effects.

But this time I was sure that there were at least two Republicans who wouldn't sell out the republic. And you have to try, right?

Charlie Brown's Classic Football Gag

ALT: Charlie Brown's Classic Football Gag

static.klipy.com

PBS News@pbsnews.org · 2d ago

The statement from Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis came after acting AG Todd Blanche issued an order late Sunday formally rescinding the $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to compensate people who believe they were unfairly prosecuted by the Justice Department. https://to.pbs.org/4wBasRv

Rod Little. The Kevin Sorbo of Bari Weisses.

Gregk Foley@gregk.co.uk · 2d ago

The best way to honour Rod Liddle in his passing is to remember his many accomplishments, like the time he assaulted his then-pregnant girlfriend in 2005, for which he received a police caution. Learn more about that, and his other accomplishments, at the link below.

One bad Trump administration idea has been delayed by another bad Trump administration idea. Alasdair Phillips-Robins and Sam Winter-Levy on Trump’s Gulf AI deals and the Iran war:

How Iran Blew Up Trump’s Gulf AI Deals

Literally.

lnk.thebulwark.com

Pope Leo XIV met with the newly appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Ms. Maria Montserrat Alvarado, this morning. Appointed on June 2 this year, Alvarado will start her new role on November 1.

A priest from Nigeria, now working for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines, is suing the federal government over alleged inaction on his residency status. iowacapitaldispatch.com/2026/07/17/d...

Des Moines priest sues feds over the imminent expiration of his work authorization • Iowa Capital Dispatch

A Catholic priest from Nigeria, now working in Des Moines, is suing the government over alleged inaction on his residency status.

iowacapitaldispatch.com

Water historian here. What the world needs (soon) is a desalination moonshot. We're going to need A LOT more fresh water. Desalination is very energy intensive. China's massive lead in renewable energy gives them potential advantage. But the USA or EU could conceivably get it done if they start now.

a man in a suit and tie is standing in a desert

Alt: a man in a suit and tie is standing in a desert

media.tenor.com

Has anyone tried turning off Broadcasting House and turning it back on again?

George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 2d ago

We should never forget how the BBC has changed this country by giving endless airtime to Nigel Farage and other rightwing extremists, while shutting out progressive voices.

We should never forget how the BBC has changed this country by giving endless airtime to Nigel Farage and other rightwing extremists, while shutting out progressive voices.

Nicolas Chinardet@zefrog.eu · 2d ago

And why is #r4today giving (yet again) such prominence to a hair-brained scheme that has little chance to ever be implemented? A GE is unlikely soon and the threat of Reform winning it is apparently receding. What is the justification for legitimising it?

From a historical perspective it's a genuinely strange state of affairs that the Church of England turns out to be too woke for much of the modern right. But really it just feels like: having a consistent moral code that demands taking Lessers and Outgroup seriously is impossible for populist right.

Parody Nigel Farage@parodypm.bsky.social · 3d ago

Man who shagged his girlfriend behind his wife's back lectures the Archbishop of Canterbury on Christianity.

Step 1: Fire the competent people bc Whiskey Pete is a dumbass white nationalist. Step 2: Start a war that those competent people would have staved off. Step 3: Ask the remaining incompetent white men for a bailout. edition.cnn.com/2026/08/03/p...

Exclusive: US military asks troops for ‘creative and unconventional’ ideas to punish Iran | CNN Politics

The request from a senior officer at the US military command carrying out President Donald Trump’s war with Iran came in an email: We need ideas.

edition.cnn.com

Clayton Tucker, a Democrat running for Texas agriculture commissioner, is a leader in the anti-data center movement. A Catholic, he wonders if data centers are akin to the apple in the Garden of Eden. sojo.net/articles/new...

“A deal with the devil”: Religion Motivates Data Center Opponents in Texas

Some see the AI facilities as a sign of the apocalypse, others see an opportunity to advocate for environmental stewardship.

sojo.net