Salviati
@salviati.bsky.social
Just some guy living in the upper left hand corner of the US. Sometimes gets paid to help people understand Physics better. Anti-AI slop.
Baltimore cut homicides 68% with 400 fewer cops, which is a deeply inconvenient plot twist for the “more police is the only way to safety” narrative.
How Baltimore Achieved Historically Low Homicides—With Less Police – Emerald Book
◆ Emerald Pages ◆ public safety / urban policy How Baltimore Achieved Historically Low Homicides—With Less Police Emerald Book Publication August 4, 2026 Updated: August 6, 2026 9 min read Baltimore h...
emeraldbook.org
hard to find a more succinct description of the line between the two parties than “Dems forced Platner out of the race when sexual assault allegations dropped and Republicans stood behind Max Miller after child abuse allegations”
Bill Kristol@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · yesterday"GOP may be stuck with Rep. Max Miller in Ohio" This piece is written as if the GOP were a passive bystander. But Republican leaders could have told Miller to get out. The could have said they wouldn't endorse him, or fund the race. Instead they enabled him to stay. www.axios.com/2026/08/09/o...
Where is the evidence that Trump actually wants to rebuild US manufacturing, and how is destroying solar power in the US going to achieve that? It’s stunning how media normalizes and whitewashes Trump‘s efforts to destroy the US.
Bloomberg News@bloomberg.com · 3d agoPresident Trump’s latest move to shun foreign solar power equipment is part of his effort to rebuild US manufacturing clout. It may simultaneously exacerbate the fast-widening green technology split between the US and the rest of the world.
I don't want email summaries I don't want youtube video summaries I don't want search summaries I don't want anything made by a water-guzzling liar and thief with no mind, soul, or bigger purpose other than making everything around me worse, uglier and warmer. No amount of pop ups will convince me!
Not to beat up on Douthat even more, but I'll just say: it has never, in all of post-war American history, been more crystal clear exactly who your enemy should be. Never. If it's not obvious to you, you are morally & intellectually defective.
Nicholas Grossman@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 2d agoIn dishonor of Ross Douthat's last NYT column, I'm breaking my self-imposed ban on reading him—smug bad faith, whiny victimization, and steadfast refusal to let evidence affect opinion—and will screenshot and comment. This is the column if you want to read it yourself (I don't recommend it). 1/x
#StarTrekProdigy update from #STLV: Dan and Kevin Hageman, as well as Kate Mulgrew, are fighting for a third season behind the scenes.
OK so forgive me but I gotta be weird about this for a minute. Infrastructure is a requirement for a mutually successful and functioning society. And a lack of concern for maintenance of that infrastructure not only ruins societies, but ensures they never escape wealth disparity. IN BRIEF:
Ida B Wells' Winchester Rifle@dytsras.bsky.social · 3d agoDamn socialists
This whole piece by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social is a must-read, but this part rings especially true. If you're a centrist worried about the future of the party, maybe focus your $15 million freakout on shoring up black voting in the South instead of pushing milquetoast moderates in deep blue NYC?
Virginia S. O'Possum@virginiaopossum.bsky.social · 2d agoThis by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social is the whole thing: www.nytimes.com/2026/08/08/o...
Blanche’s confirmation underscores a simple truth: a handful of Republicans in Congress could stop this chaos tomorrow. They simply choose not to.
They had contracted Blue Angels for 43 years; 43 years The owner says she never received a personal notice that Hegseth was canceling her or any reminder that her contract renewal was coming up This is how the Trump administration treats people, especially Black people
Ambassador Ken Fairfax (ret)@portlandken.bsky.social · 3d agoTales of everyday corruption. Pete Hegseth cancelled the $400,000 contract for making uniforms for the Blue Angels on the grounds that the contract with "The Sewing Box" was DEI since the firm is Black-owned. Instead, he awarded it to a Trump donor for $1,690,000, a 325% price increase!
this is an admission of a crime btw; superpacs cannot coordinate with candidates
Headquarters@headquartersnews.bsky.social · 3d agoQ: MAGA Inc., the Super PAC that your allies control-- Trump: Not my allies, I control. $800M. I could spend it on anything I want. I have a busy schedule. I won. I'm not campaigning. A lot of people are angry at Republicans. They are not angry at me.
How the hell is Ken Paxton able to afford a $1.6 million luxury home in Oklahoma on a government salary of $153K—with a private chef, masseuse, and housekeeping no less. And it’s just one of 8 luxury properties he owns outside of Texas. Bribes? Kickbacks? What do you think? 🤨
I saw someone refer to homeschooling as “trickle down stupidity.” Immediate addition to my lexicon.
"A study that claimed OpenAI’s ChatGPT can positively impact student learning has been retracted nearly one year after publication." Yikes.
Influential study touting ChatGPT in education retracted over red flags
The retracted study on ChatGPT in education was already cited hundreds of times.
arstechnica.com
Minnesota just plugged a 710-megawatt #solar farm into a coal plant that once burned 30,000 tons a day. The unique approach to connecting the panels to the grid allowed it to sidestep a typically years-long connection process.
Minnesota just plugged a 710-megawatt solar farm into a coal plant that once burned 30,000 tons a day, the two sharing wires until the last boiler dies in 2030 — and one retired coal unit will keep sp...
Retirement does not mean the old hardware stops working entirely, either. One of the retiring units is being converted into a synchronous condenser, a huge
autonocion.com
WTF? Amazon received a permit from the state of #Texas allowing its new gas power plant to emit 33 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — the largest single source of pollution in the United States. newrepublic.com/post/214111/...
Amazon Is Creating the Biggest Pollution Source in the Entire Country
Amazon has bought a site in Texas where it plans to build a data center campus.
newrepublic.com
The politics of asking normal people to pay for their share of the cost of providing high quality public services will get easier if we start with taxing the ultra-wealthy at higher levels, even if the revenue that raises won't be enough.
CBS and Bari Weiss may have created their own biggest competitor. Reports say journalists fired from 60 Minutes are planning to reunite with former exec. producer Bill Owens working bring on Scott Pelley, and other former correspondents/producers. This is how you do it.
Investing all my money in guillotine futures.
diarrhea of a wimpy kid@notkoze.trashmammal.club · 4d agoUpdate: someone in a group chat found it
Reminding everyone again that SNAP makes money and keeps (mostly) the elderly and children from starving. It is the ideal government program. It solves a problem and stimulates growth simultaneously. This bill is an abomination.
Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social · last yr.Huge sleeper issue is how states will (or won’t) be able to absorb huge SNAP cuts in BBB. www.inquirer.com/politics/pen...
this is an actual problem
Chicago grocers are severely affected by reductions to SNAP: ‘We need to bail out this industry’
In Illinois, the implications threaten not only individual households but also the viability of the Chicago area’s independent authorized SNAP retailers.
chicagotribune.com
public health guy@publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 10mo agoanother point: grocery stores operate on razor-thin profit margins, so what happens when they suddenly lose the revenue they get from SNAP? (they close)
I understand that its how tv is mostly made now but star trek strange new worlds would be substantially better if it had half the visual effects budget
maybe i’m being overdramatic, but i think democrats operating out of this defensive crouch is one of their biggest problems. it is both too parsimonious and too shortsighted to focus only on trump when you have the *opportunity* to tie him to the rotten gop like a stone to help toxify their brand.
Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · 4d agoGood point from Ron Brownstein: Abdul El-Sayed's adoption of Bernie-style politics is focused more on the system than on Trump, and given Trump's deep unpopularity in Michigan, he might need to go after Trump's failures more directly. Our exchange on this is here: newrepublic.com/article/2140...
I was having a conversation with a member of congress today where I made the point that the level of rage in the public is reminiscent of the great French market correction of 1789. I never saw the political laity of the left and right come together more than after Luigi Mangione.
John Rogers@johnrogers.bsky.social · 4d agoThis is the mood of your electorate. Match it or lose. www.gadgetreview.com/salem-brough...
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” - Archbishop Desmond Tutu One side wants fascism. The other side wants healthcare as a human right. To even attempt to conflate the two is absurd.
the dream of AI for the bosses is that it will be a way to fire all designers and artists but it doesn't work. Not because of inherent qualities of the technology but because any low-cost/low-effort solution will quickly become tightly associated with "small businesses run by lazy dipshists"
Cooper Lund@cooperlund.online · 4d agoBehold: madness
Indirectly but-not-really-indirect, this is why I find the LLM-as slot-machine analogy to be compelling in terms of why some people get caught up in using them. Just one more pull!
Dr. Damien P. Williams has to go the way his blood beats@wolven.blacksky.app · 4d agoWhen i was younger, i believed legalized gambling would be fine because people could make their own decisions, but i was wrong because i didn't understand the design inducements and other psychological manipulations used by betting markets or the sheer predatory depravity of unchecked capitalism.
there’s a long list but it is very important that the DOGE boys suffer serious personal consequences for what they did when this is all said and done
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 4d agoElon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service consistently overstated its savings, taking credit for lease cancellations initiated before the group existed, a government watchdog found. DOGE also claimed contracts were terminated that had not been, the report said.
