it’s cool that if you turn on ESPN nowadays you’re fairly likely to see the 24th best QB in the NFL discussing the lab leak conspiracy with a man in a tank top
Andrew Zolides, Ph.D.
@zolides.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Communication, specializing in Digital Media, Culture Industry, and Pro Wrestling I live in The Medium Place (Cincinnati, OH) Everything I say is me saying it, not my employer… (Profile art by Angel Trazo)
“Kermit plays banjo like Steve Martin” ~ my 3-year old daughter, pop culture aficionado
Hot Take: Most things should not also be computers.
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · yesterdayDid someone finally top Apple’s U2 on everyone’s iTunes?
Bluesky's nuclear block supports a culture of consent. Each user can completely prevent another user from having any access to them on this site. Right wing harassers on X hate consent. They hate being told "no." They hate not being able to force their posts onto others and target others.
It’s a tough contest, but I believe Hassett is the most shameless liar in the Trump administration. He doesn’t just bend the truth - he confidently states the exact opposite with a smile on his face. Truly terrifying way for a human to act.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d agoHassett: "Data centers are very good for towns bc they create so many jobs & bring people in with high incomes that can buy houses & stuff like that. So if you take a sleepy town that hasn't seen much in the last 30 years & put a data center there, there are gonna be a bunch of happy residents."
In many ways, the idea of “virtue signaling” opened the floodgates. The idea that people simple “perform” virtues rather than believe in them reveals a depraved worldview. So many revealed they view ‘goodness’ itself as weak, and that the world is about domination and power.
Faine Greenwood@faineg.bsky.social · 5d agoit’s never a great sign for your society when all the competent people who believe in doing a good job for the sake of it conclude that they’re actively being punished for these qualities, while malignantly stupid criminals are making bank
literally no difference between what happened then to John Willis Menard, a Black man who overwhelmingly won New Orleans in 1868, and what's happening now to Calvin Duncan, a Black man who overwhelmingly won New Orleans in 2025 ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
A Black Man Won an Election In New Orleans. Republicans Are Trying to Abolish His Position Altogether
The legislative response to Calvin Duncan’s landslide victory has a long, shameful history in Louisiana.
ballsandstrikes.org
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 3mo agoWhen white supremacists described the first black politicians winning elections in the South during Reconstruction, they too called it a "reign of terror" that innocent white people had to suffer under. Black leaders! Elected to federal office! Can you imagine the indignity?!
Officially muting “Emily Wilson”. I have gone from not caring at all to being actively annoyed by the discourse
I just saw a youtube video of a lady who got the cyclospora because she thought it was only in the Taco Bell lettuce and that is exactly why I've been on such a fucking tear about this. That's what Taylor Farms and interestingly also the government wanted you to think.
Another in an endless list of NYT Opinion pieces that are essentially: “I’m mad at something, but I can’t say what it is so I’ll say it’s some completely other thing instead…”
Michael Hobbes@michaelhobbes.bsky.social · last wk.Personally I would say "enough with yet another sneering op-ed about people using a term you don't like," but you do you
JFC The amount of supposedly smart people (i.e. academics) who are falling for this shit is depressing.
Dare Obasanjo@carnage4life.bsky.social · last wk.“What we need to explain to the world: Number one, we are close to creating a genie that can grant any wish. Number two, we are going to make sure that our first wishes broadly benefit humanity” - Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI — This is definitely the opposite of Anthropic’s AI kills all jobs pitch.
There were obviously tons of signs, but I think a crucial one was/is the characterization of their opposition within the party as “HR ladies.” It’s so obviously misogynistic
Chicago Public Square@chicagopublicsquare.com · last wk.“The Handbasket can exclusively report that much like his candidate, Moraff has a credible sexual assault allegation against him, too, adding fuel to the conversation already prompted by Platner about how progressive spaces continue to harbor regressive men.”
It’s like pro wrestling: the ‘fights’ are performances, and everyone is friendly ‘backstage.’
Keith Edwards@keithedwards.bsky.social · 2w agoNBC's kristen welker was caught laughing it up with Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller who architected the family separation policy. Stephen Miller who pushed the Muslim travel ban. Stephen Miller who oversaw the killing of Americans by ICE agents. This is why independent media is crucial.
This story is indeed insane. They literally *discounted his correct answers* (on questions about the Constitution) so that a Trump supporting girl who wants to go to Hillsdale College could win $25K and be televised meeting Trump. So. Gross.
Charlotte Clymer@charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 2w agoThis story is crazy. It would appear Trump admin officials rigged their nationally televised high school civics contest to keep a young man from a Sikh family out of the finalists. www.notus.org/national/ame...
My heart breaks for Madison, WI, my home for 5 years.
Police murdered a Black man in the street in Madison WI today. Shot point blank in the head while on the ground, tased, and surrounded by four cops. It looks like an execution. Multiple videos circulating online. Things are about to get very bad here.
I know we all just sort of ignore/roll our eyes, but the President encouraging the public to buy a specific brand’s product is just so blatantly corrupt and illegal in its simplicity.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w agoTrump: "Go out and buy a Dell computer"
Local plumbers two steps ahead of every university administrator in america 👏
Metin Seven (Moon Child's dad 🌝)@seven.eurosky.social · 2w ago
In short, one story we could tell about US education in the C21 is of stagnation for teachers. We chose very carefully to invest in every part of the educational system except them. And librarians. The other story we can tell (and I am telling.)
This is such a bizarre answer. One of the most pressing issues mankind has is climate catastrophe, fueled by fossil COs which are fueling fascism & locked with AI. ChatGPT was made with stolen data, labelled by exploited workers, the ceo is a moron courting autocrats. What about do not harm?
Holden Thorp@holdenthorp.bsky.social · 3w agoHi, this is Holden emerging from my Bluesky hiatus to tell everyone that when checking the links in the piece, I used ChatGPT as my search engine (does anyone use Google anymore?). The piece was written by me and edited by humans. So all the links were checked by me and again by our copyeditors.
seeing a different angle of this and the aftermath of it just flying by is just... [butterfly meme] is this...freedom?
This is basically a textbook definition of terrorism
Eric Columbus@ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 3w agoReader, I checked and checked again, and this is Secretary Hegseth’s actual account
Cue “This is a threat to our democracy” Sinclair clip…
More Perfect Union@moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 3w agoBREAKING: The FCC signaled it will repeal the cap on ownership of TV stations, abolishing a limit that keeps owners from controlling stations in more than 39% of markets. This move will allow Nexstar, one of the largest owners of TV stations, to buy rival Tegna in a massive deal.
One of these three men didn't die, and sadly, it's not the one you wish it was.
I guess I’m watching Hunt for the Wilderpeople today. RIP Sam Neill.