Libraries and museums get federal funding back after Trump cuts Earlier this year, the Trump administration gutted the Institute of Museum and Library Services, leading to canceled federal grants. Now, after a court order, those grants are being reinstated.

"In response to Trump's order, attorneys general in 21 states sued the administration.

Now, after a judge's ruling that Trump's actions were unlawful, libraries and museums across the country will have access to money that had been stuck in a months-long limbo..."

www.npr.org/2025/12/04/n...

the birthright clause was not just written to wipe dred scott off of the books, it was written to repudiate the *idea* behind dred scott, you might say the larger *ideological project* of dred scott. and the whole of section 1 of the 14th amendment is a constitutional statement of political equality

🧵

I want 27, 9 of whom are randomly selected from the circuit courts for a term of 3 years, staggered. Each case gets heard by a panel of 9 judges, randomly selected, then it can go to en banc. Nobody should get to game the court.

“Yes, yes, we can see all your ‘facts’ and all the adorable little ‘evidence,’ but you failed to consider that none of that matters if we all close our eyes and pretend the Texas GOP actually had pure motives here, you stupid little rubes.”

Democrats can retaliate against these GOP gerrymanders with new maps in Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, & Virginia.

They could flip 7 GOP seats to make up for this & new GOP maps in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, & possibly soon Indiana.

Imposing costs is the only way to deter the GOP from doing this

Trump administration plans to end prison rape protections for trans and intersex people A Department of Justice memo says certain standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act do not align with Trump’s executive order

BREAKING: Trump administration plans to end prison rape protections for trans & intersex people, memo says. A DOJ memo says certain standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) do not align with Trump’s Jan. 20 anti-trans executive order, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social reports.

"...Newsom has vetoed our menopause bill, not one but two years in a row. But that's OK, because he's not going to be governor forever. And with the way he's overlooked women, half the population, by devaluing us in midlife, he probably should not be our next president either."

youtu.be/603NmGNkfqY

We really need term limits for SCOTUS
i can’t believe we’re going to be dealing with these guys for the rest of my life

This is a photo of a paperback copy of The Atrocities by me (Jeremy C. Shipp). The cover features a creepy old manor house, storm clouds, and a hedge maze. The book is against a brick wall with vines growing around and over the book.

Hey Bluesky peeps, could you help spread the word?

My Shirley Jackson Award-nominated gothic fiction book THE ATROCITIES is on sale today for $1.99 on Kindle. I have no idea how long this sale will last.

www.amazon.com/Atrocities-J...

The cable, sent to all U.S. missions on December 2, orders U.S. consular officers to review resumes or LinkedIn profiles of H-1B applicants - and family members who would be traveling with them - to see if they have worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others.

Holy shit.

Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.

www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Jonathan the Tortoise (left) and friend

Happy Birthday (Observed) to the uncontested KING Jonathan The Tortoise, estimated to be 192 years old

192 MORE YEARS! 192 MORE YEARS!

Orange County CA cats need urgent assistance!

Name: Jeff Email: jeffersonzonon@proton.me Subject: Found your work on file sharing channels Message: Hey Michelle, how are you? So here’s something interesting—I found your work floating around online. Full PDFs. Multiple sites. No paywall, no control, no credit. Just… there. And it hit me: if it’s already leaking like that, your value is slipping faster than you think. And then I realized something else. I can push it even further. I can run your entire catalog through my translation app—takes about thirty minutes per language—and release your work across ten different markets without breaking a sweat. No permission, no courtesy, just pure distribution. Imagine your creations scattered everywhere, read by thousands… yet worth absolutely nothing to you. And honestly? I don’t want that. I’d rather not be the reason your career drops through the floor. That doesn’t help either of us. So here’s my offer: get in touch with me. Talk to me. Stop me from releasing these translations before they hit every file-sharing site and social feed out there. It’s simple. Reach out. Have 500$ —yes, that’s all. A small price to keep the value of your life’s work from dissolving overnight. But don’t wait too long. Silence from you just means I keep translating. And once they’re out, they’re out forever. You have 5 days. Your move

New extortion scam email going round (this was received via a writer's website contact form). I've seen a number of these recently but without the money demand; the translation angle is also a new one

UPDATE: Trump Jr.-backed startup receives $620 million Pentagon loan In October, Popular Information reported that the Pentagon awarded a contract to Unusual Machines, an obscure drone company that President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., joined as an advisor in Novemb...

This is a million times worse than anything Hunter Biden was accused of doing in even the most fevered right-wing conspiracy dream

Relatable Corvid

How can we get Trump on a European/Asian train

this is a great article, should be read widely

I can’t find anything I’ve written on the Internet and it’s so frustrating. I miss functional search engines.

Not the biggest thing right now but my cheap La Quinta motel in Kenner - heart of the Latino community - blacks out MSNBC because we can’t expose visitors to the radical center-left

I forgot they do this in red states

DOJ Sues Six More States in Sweeping Push to Obtain Unredacted Voter Rolls Read more here.

This is the most consequential story for the 2026 midterms. Yet, I cannot find it anywhere on legacy media. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Most interesting topic for 2028 candidates, followed by what they'll do on immigration.

You can't say "we have Medicare for All now" with an executive order. But you can declare emergencies, browbeat companies into lowering prices, all stuff the Tea Party pretended to be against.

#California

Rand Paul: "Secretary Hegseth said he had no knowledge of this and it did not happen. It was fake news. It didn't happen. And then the next day, from the podium of the WH, they're saying it did happen. So either he was lying to us on Sunday or he's incompetent and didn't know what had happened."

Kushner’s Moscow mission wasn’t just corrupt. It was unconstitutional. Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, has been traveling the world to participate in high-stakes foreign policy negotiations on behalf of the president.

1. Jared Kushner's trip to Moscow yesterday was not just unethical; it was illegal.

You cannot accept tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments and simultaneously conduct high-level diplomacy for the federal government.

It says it right in the Constitution.

So am I.

A black tangle of tentacles glowing red fighting their way out of a shipping box. The box is covered in a logo that is a pocketwatch with a fedora hat on top. There is a shipping label that says Seller: H. Creel to Gnome. Nearby, a gnome holds a cellphone with a picture of a chainsaw on it. The text reads: Oh, Gnome! That doesn't look like the picture! Accidentally order a Horror from the downsideup? These things happen! Buy from retailers you know and trust this holiday season!

Yeah, I think you can say we watch TV.

My eternal mood since my shoulder injury in March