We joke about the Torment Nexus and all that, but...

The truth is science fiction warned us endlessly not to let fear control us.

"Fear is the mind killer"
"Fear is a path to the Dark Side"
etc.

Silicon Valley claimed to love SF, then built a machine to amplify fear as a means to control people.

They made Jimmy Carter sell his peanut farm.

The truly maddening thing is that, unlike when I was a young man in science and the materials and engineering just weren’t there yet, the future is *right there.* The problem is *solved*. What’s holding us back is not just greed, but this bizarre nostalgia, an obsession with petro- masculinity.

The danger we face here is, to my mind, not that the typical GOP voter is a groyper, but that the cult of personality around Trump and the partisan 'red tribe' identity is so strong that they will *become* such over time as a question of group belonging.

After gleefully and illegally plowing over every statute and regulation they don't like—such as by destroying USAID, refusing to enforce CFPB regs, and withholding SNAP funding—the Trump admin has decided 88 FR 8255 is ironclad law that must be ruthlessly enforced to ensure more people go hungry.

Among the many amazing things about Adams pleading his case here is that he openly supports and now is asking for help from… people who cancelled funding for cancer research.

Between grants getting politically targeted and my lab’s building getting literally fucking bombed, 2025 is going great thanks

7 basic science discoveries that changed the world Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government.

Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government

go.nature.com/47hn0n5

I have a very bad feeling about this...

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to acquire TikTok and his family could soon own both Paramount and Warner Bros.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

Top Democrats demand details of spy agencies’ role in boat strikes Democrats are demanding that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard share intelligence on lethal operations against alleged narcotics traffickers.

Boat strikes put US service members in legal jeopardy:

"Some junior officers have asked military lawyers, known as judge advocates general or JAGs, for written sign-off before taking part in strikes .... It does not appear that such memos were furnished, said one of the people."

Trump’s ballroom design a ‘hurried process’ that includes stairs to nowhere: report President Donald Trump’s plans to construct a 90,000 square-foot ballroom where the White House’s East Wing once stood appear to be ever-changing and done in “a hurried process,” with one design docum...

Trump’s plans to construct a 90,000 square-foot ballroom where the East Wing once stood appear to be ever-changing and done in “a hurried process,” with one design document showing the project to have a staircase leading to nowhere.

The master builder at work.🙄

www.rawstory.com/white-house-...

It's also prepping for the establishment just capitulating further, once these assholes are out of power, under the guise of "turning down the temperature."

If the NIH and HHS were under any other prior President (Dem or GOP), we’d see a rapid shift of funding to leverage this. But the politicization (and gutting) of these agencies means it won’t happen—and so many people will die unnecessarily as a result.

Donor Who Gave $130 Million to Pay Troops Is Reclusive Heir to Mellon Fortune

Probably not a good thing when the revelation of the oligarch who sent $130m to pay troops identity is revealed and the photo used is 44 years old and the headline includes "reclusive." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...

He’s designing the ballroom with AI isn’t he www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

the point of the ballroom obvs has nothing to do with aesthetics. it's to create an architectural structure to honor the patronage networks that currently dominate US politics. previous WH venues hosted maybe a couple of hundred people; this hosts nearly 1,000 rich donors.

a photograph of the interior of a church. Several people are visible sitting in pews. In the pew immediately in front of the photographer, a black human-sized cardboard cutout in the outline of a woman is visible, as though a shadow is sitting in the pew in front of you.

Went to a prayer service tonight at St. Mary of the Lake, where they have cardboard cutouts throughout the church representing parishioners afraid to come to Mass because of ICE.

Image of the mechanical ladder outside the Louvre Text below says WENN'S MAL WIEDER SCHNELL GEHEN MUSS (When you need to move fast) Underneath is more German text which translates as "The Böcker Agilo transports your treasures weighing up to 400kg at 42m/min - quiet as a whisper."

The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'

10/10 response, no notes

This person is one hundred percent correct and it’s scary af. We will never “media literacy” our way out of this as a society. We are about to reap the whirlwind when it comes to misinformation, disinformation, and informational warfare.

Russians started a human safari in Pokrovsk too. Videos are just civilians getting slaughtered under the surveillance of a drone. This will obviously not make it to headlines but please don’t let russians kill in silence

Shingles Vaccination Tied to Drops in Cardiovascular Events, Dementia, Death Those with post-vaccination shingles still saw a 50% lower risk of vascular dementia

"The virus can inflame blood vessels and raise the risk of clots and strokes. Think of it as a smoldering inflammation after an infection that can last for years to come." Hey, that sounds really familiar! 😷 Maybe there are other viruses that do that, too. 😉

Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors “With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”

wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

I feel like a disabled autistic 15 year old child going missing and ending up with ICE/HHS should be far bigger news.

Especially considering he’s been located yet NOT returned to his mother.

This is kidnapping.

Yet the combination of racism & ableism means it gets ignored.

Republicans in charge of Congress have abdicated all responsibility for governing the nation to Trump. There are no checks. There are no balances. No Kings.

På grunn av måten Nobelprisane er organisert, så kan ein ofte bruke forskings-"trio" eller "duo". Maks tre vinnarar, så der har vi den.

Kanskje, muligens:
Prosjektmedarbeidarane utøver 'Lagarbeid imot eitt Mål', i 'Koordinert Samarbeid', i nettverk/gruppe av formell og uformell type og karakter...?

The far right is corrupt to the core #Reform

Broadly correct, except the far right in office is far more corruppt than the people they replace.

Kjære norsk film: Slutt å spre hat mot Arbeiderpartiet! Nygaardsvold-regjeringen var ikke skyld i andre verdenskrig!

»Ingen norsk regjering har økt forsvarsutgiftene raskere enn Nygaardsvolds gjorde i de fem årene fra han ble statsminister i 1935 til det tyske angrepet i 1940.»
www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kro...