This wouldn't have happened if the midterms weren't coming up www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/h...

F.D.A. Approves Moderna’s mRNA Flu Vaccine

The agency had initially refused to even review the application but reversed course after a public outcry.

nytimes.com

Fuck, I almost completely missed National Underwear Day.

Fun times ahead.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 5h ago

“.. Weeks before they escaped a closed test and launched a cyberattack without any human prompting, some of OpenAI’s most advanced artificial intelligence agents secretly began sharing tips on how to cheat their way through an internal hacking evaluation ..” www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

Weird how women won't choose a life of meek domestic servitude when there are other choices available. Every fundie religion and/or cult knows this deep in their bones, which is why they try so hard to make those other choices invisible or inaccessible.

The Salt Lake Tribune@sltrib.com · 9h ago

More than half of young adult women who grew up as Latter-day Saints have now left the church. Many are reacting against politics, purity culture and powerlessness.

I never thought I’d see testimonies like this before the U.S. Congress. These are grown men who should know fact from fiction, yet they stand there shamelessly gaslighting the American people & performing for an audience of one. It’s both astonishing & deeply sad to see how far the U.S. has fallen.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 14h ago

holy shit -- Schiff ties Trump's judicial nominees in knots by asking them who won the 2016 before *before* asking them who won in 2020, which results in them sounding like election deniers about Trump's victories!

I have been invited to a very special event. I certainly do dislike those.

"Cool dude, see you in discovery!" is the obvious UNO Reverse card to Trump's attempts to bully organizations by suing them for a trillion dollars. It's a massive indictment of the US system that one after another institutions and major organizations settled and paid bribes rather than play it.

Graham Lanktree@glanktree.bsky.social · 10h ago

President Donald Trump is seeking to stave off a court order that requires him to begin giving the BBC financial details on his business empire by Thursday in connection with a defamation lawsuit he is pressing against the network. www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

Indie-pop supergroup, mostly in their 60s, absolutely killing it.

Railcard - Unstable Neighbour

YouTube video by Skep Wax

youtube.com

Hill County, Montana (Havre) is deep red, but Missoula and Gallatin (Bozeman) counties both into the purple.

Roy G Biv@plunkettprime.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Wisconsin continues to ASTOUND me (Those 🟢 areas are universally irredeemable btw)

I need a Festus Haggen t-shirt without any words on it. Guess I'll have to make my own. Maybe I'll take a silkscreen class at PCC.

So that's why Bob Plant has been hangin' around, scammin' on chicks.

Joe Streckert@joestreckert.bsky.social · 13h ago

With the wildfire smoke Portland is basically Mordor right now and I feel about as nauseous and gross as Frodo did when he was carrying the One Ring.

The Columbia river gorge has some absolutely incredible views, but one of my favorites is the view driving over the Bridge of the Gods.

Sen. Wyden: It seems that every time Republicans get their hands on Social Security, life gets worse for older people. Thanks to Trump and the Big Beautiful Bill, the crisis is speeding up. It gave huge tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, and plundered Social Security by $168 billion.

The note changes in this performance feel like occasional yet psychically perceptible rearrangements of the cosmos. (And if you don’t have 639 years, the 30-minute Gerd Zacher version from 1985 is some lovely organ drone.)

depths of wikipedia@depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 15h ago

for the first time in two and a half years, a new note was played in this organ performance today!

We're always so proud of ourselves. www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/20...

Portland now has worst air quality in the world as wildfire smoke envelops Oregon

The National Weather Service says smoke is not expected to start clearing up until Friday.

oregonlive.com

Found a box of my mom's Avon lady business cards from the mid-sixties. She really loved selling Avon, having coffee with all the ladies of Black Earth, Wisconsin in their homes, tooling around the town and outskirts in the junky $50 1952 Chevy she had bought for the job. I went with her sometimes.

It's so weird seeing pictures of National Guard troops roaming peaceful neighborhoods in the nation's capital while large parts of the US West are burning down. The misallocation of resources is just bonkers.

I teach children about playing music and do (actual) original research. Not having to circumvent AI “helpers” at every turn would actually make my day easier.

Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫@lookitup.baby · 21h ago

Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card 📚

Journalism is increasingly concentrated in NYC and DC. Not because the industry is booming in NYC and DC, but because it is collapsing everywhere else. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

I don't think I've ever seen a J.J. Abrams film, unless it was some fuckin' Star Wars thing somebody dragged me to. This apropos a lot of Gracie Abrams in the feed. Best wishes to her. Can't say that I've heard her music.

lol eat shit

Stop saying "log into a portal." Sounds way too cool for what's happening.

"First, it's risky for young, healthy men to take testosterone, peptides, or the other products promoted to them to "optimize" their masculinity... ...The second risk is mental health problems, including body dysmorphia and eating disorders." www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...

Opinion | The Manosphere and MAHA Have Merged. I Worry for My Pre-Teen Son.

This culture is driving three main kinds of health risks

medpagetoday.com

Tongue in cheek. But in all seriousness, this really is the Trump/Hegseth/MAGA/Manosphere theory of war. Both in the literal sense that cartoonish displays of try-hard toughness are key to defeating enemies, and in the meta sense that their war effort prioritizes memes for their domestic audience.

Uncle Tifa@labboypro.bsky.social · 2d ago

"Mister international relations professor, you just don't understand modern warfare"

I think at 12:30 PDT I will spring into action. And it won't be terribly impressive action. But it will be action.

Reading Grantham's memoir is even more fun on days like this.

Comment sections are so underrated. I recently learned in one that a small group of men is called a podcast

Here's my elections/voting list, which might be of interest given the primaries today. I should probably drop Taegen Goddard from the feed, since that account just craps things up with fairly useless links, but maybe he'll provide good info tonight. We'll see. bsky.app/profile/ytre...

this should get so much more attention — two states within 3 weeks have made major moves on rights restoration.

Alex Burness@burness.bsky.social · 2d ago

A combined 100,000+ people with past felony convictions have either already gained or will soon gain voting rights in Missouri and Virginia, which both have elections today. More: boltsmag.org/gop-run-miss... boltsmag.org/virginia-gov...

we tried flopping over and showing our bellies and when that didn't work we ran out of ideas

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d ago

Cornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"