Aastha पास्ता 🇵🇸

The vibes on The Life of a Showgirl would be like 70% better if you delete Actually Romantic (so painfully tone-deaf that it's bewildering) and like another 10% better without CANCELLED! (belongs in 2017)

Biden Officials Who Quit Over Gaza Call Out Enablers Who've Changed Their Tone In a statement first obtained by HuffPost, 10 former U.S. officials demand that ex-colleagues who allowed Israel's destruction of Gaza don't escape accountability.

In a statement first obtained by HuffPost, 10 former U.S. officials demand that ex-colleagues who allowed Israel's destruction of Gaza don't escape accountability.

Volume 1: Introduction Welcome to Caravanserai.

caravanseraiforum.substack.com/p/volume-1-i...

It’s good to reflect on the political moment, to react to its eccentricities with thoughtful analysis—but, this time, how about we do it with some flair?

Americans’ Trust in Media Hit a Record Low This Week. Only Public Media Can Restore It. - Roosevelt Institute Wednesday’s government shutdown was the final nail in the coffin of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which officially closed after having its funding rescinded by the Trump administratio...

Americans' trust in media hit an all-time low this week. But the trust numbers for public media look totally different. The public is wary of how commercial pressures impact news fairness and accuracy — and for good reason.

rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/trust-i...

Breaking news: ICE stops family at gunpoint—smash car window on top of newborn baby.

"I was screaming that there was a baby. But they didn’t care," cried mother.

“I covered my baby with my body—I was so scared he was going to be hurt because glass was landing on him."

CBS News staffers are ‘literally freaking out’ about Bari Weiss taking over newsroom EXCLUSIVE: ‘People are using words like depressing and doomsday – feels like some sort of doomsday,’ one source told The Independent about the mood inside CBS News right now.

NEW from me:

Several CBS News staffers and insiders told me that the network "is not a good place now" amid the imminent arrival of Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief, who one source likened to Michael Scott of The Office based on her lack of qualifications.

www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...

My immensely talented colleague @aasthauprety.bsky.social made this for me. You are going to be seeing a lot of it. Share it around. Spread the good word about what FDR did.

Israel Raids Global Sumud Flotilla, Abducts Over 400 Volunteers, Group Says “This is an unlawful abduction, in direct violation of international law and basic human rights,” the flotilla said.

Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli soldiers raided more than a dozen boats carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, blocked the ships’ communications, and abducted over 400 volunteers from 47 countries. During the raid, Israeli forces attacked volunteers with water cannons and doused them with “skunk water.”

Issue 7: Extreme Heat → Decreased Labor Supply + Labor Productivity The summer of 2025’s heat waves took a toll on workers. Many of them—warehouse employees, agricultural laborers, and low-wage workers who spend the day outside—have no choice but to toil on the front ...

Extreme heat is taking a toll on workers.

New research shows how a 3-degree Celsius warming scenario will have negative impacts on labor supply globally.

Dive into why this is the Fed's business in our latest #FedLit📖
https://fedlit.substack.com/p/issue-7-extreme-heat-decreased-labor

New @rfunkfordham.bsky.social report on the 15th anniversary of Citizens United. The evidence is now clear, in part through Rachel's research, that CitUtd has:

-increased the influence of billionaires
-reduced state democratic performance
-made state governments more rightwing
-increased corruption

Excellent reporting from at @inthesetimes.com that draws from some of my work. The labor movement still hasn’t got its head around the way the institutions of capitalism have changed between the 1930s and today. If the workplace needed democracy then, today pooled assets do as well.

Quote Graphic from report “Citizens United and the Decline of US Democracy: Assessing the Decision’s Impact 15 Years Later“ by Rachel Funk Fordham, with quote "The Citizens United ruling enabled concentrated economic power to bend politics to its will, amplifying the preferences of a small, ultra-wealthy minority at the expense of the vast majority of the American people. The decision was part of a coordinated effort to shift the balance of power in the US toward the wealthy."

The result of this ruling was outsized influence on legislators in passing policies that favor wealth. Reviving campaign-finance reform isn’t optional—it’s a prerequisite for a government that answers to people, not billionaires. 3/3

Read our new report ➡️ rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Democrats Must Oppose the AI Industry As currently constructed, AI is an oligarchy-enriching, worker-immiserating, energy-depleting, brain-rotting economic bubble in waiting. Democrats can get on the public’s side here.

"Making AI skepticism an anchor for a new, better-organized party would not only get out ahead of identifying a new and unpopular public enemy, it could give Democrats a chance to rediscover the 'political' side of the American political economy." prospect.org/power/2025-0...

Beyond "America First": Toward a Global Working-Class Economics. A Fireside Chat on Wednesday, October 8 at 12:00 pm ET

Cannot express enough how excited I am for this. You should register!! us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Quote graphic for a new publication

Even before the admin went after higher ed, public colleges faced 50 years of decline—hollowed out by privatization, financialization, and disinvestment.

@lookheron.bsky.social’s new report traces that history & shows how we can build a more equitable education system today:
https://bit.ly/3WlV9vv

DAWN demands answers from @americanprogress.bsky.social about why they appointed former Secretary of State Antony Blinken to their Board despite his documented role in aiding and abetting Israeli crimes in Gaza: dawnmena.org/dawn-calls-o...

Some Biden Aides are Shifting Their Tune on Israel Some are changing positions because of Trump’s approach to Israel, and a few are wrestling with whether they could have done more when in charge.

A government or a party that has no measure of accountability for failure is not a functional one. In a functional administration, all of these people would be blacklisted for the rest of their careers at the very least, not angling for new jobs.

If we don’t start treating our media system as core democratic infrastructure, we’re in real trouble. Hyper consolidated media conglomerates are accountable to their shareholders, not to the free expression that is the lifeblood of their industry and our democracy. My latest:

Left-Wing Terrorism Is on the Rise For the first time in more than 30 years, attacks by the far left outnumber those by the far right. By Daniel Byman and Riley McCabe

Fresh off of providing the intellectual heft to fuel the murderous anti-transgender panic @theatlantic.com is now targeting the whole left. Sick.

Talking about the kind of policy and governance that can truly deliver for people and restore faith in our political system with @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social - a real pleasure.

Today is perhaps a good day to remind people that Jimmy Carter personally and publicly pled with Obama to recognize to the State of Palestine before his second term ended and Obama just ignored him lol

A graph showing that in a survey of British people, immigration is rated as the most important for the country, but among the lowest for importance to them personally.

Is hostility to immigration something that people develop spontaneously based on their own experiences, or is it deliberately cultivated by politicians and the press?

The authors of this FT don’t say so, but it’s hard not to see this figure as evidence for the latter. www.ft.com/content/43da...

It Isn’t Just the U.S. The Whole World Has Soured on Climate Politics.

David Wallace-Wells is the best climate journalist working today, arguably the best journalist period, and this is a fantastic summary of where things stand on climate change:

EXCLUSIVE: US Bill to Block Arms Sales to Israel Endorsed by Progressive Caucus The endorsement of the Block the Bombs Act by one of the largest caucuses in Congress gives a significant boost to efforts to hold Israel accountable for its genocidal war in Gaza.

NEWS: The Congressional Progressive Caucus — which represents nearly 100 members in Congress — has just voted to endorse the Block the Bombs Act, to block weapon sales to Israel.

First time any major congressional caucus has backed legislation to end US aid for Israel’s destruction of Gaza.

Israel attack on Yemeni newspaper was second deadliest on journalists ever recorded Press freedom group says ‘brutal and unjustified attack’ is deadliest since 2009 Maguindanao massacre in Philippines

Last week, Israel targeted and massacred 34 newspaper reporters in Yemen.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, it was the second deadliest attack on journalists ever recorded.

nyt cooking ad that has pictures of gazpacho and the text “nytcooking Sponsored Learn more V 5,254 46 322 cottflex and 4.4M others nytcooking Perfect when it is too hot to eat but you need cold, salt and a meal at the same time.”

you need cold, salt and a meal at the same time

When September ends violence, democracy, and some other things

how is september actually ending tho aasthauprety.substack.com/p/when-septe...