Jeff Shaw (Bellingham BJJ)

YouTube video by Fighting Matters Jordan Klepper's Investigation into the MMA and MAGA Connection, with Luke Thomas

Had a pleasure of talking to @lukethomas.bsky.social and @jeffshaw.bsky.social in the same conversation today! youtu.be/eIvGLg553Io?...

What #BJJ gym owners can do to reduce tariff impact, feat. @jeffshaw.bsky.social from Bellingham BJJ

Every time a Nazi gets choked unconscious an angel gets their wings.

YouTube video by Fighting Matters Conor McGregor, Dana White, Andrew Tate, Hero Fantasies and More

Why do so many in our community excuse and defend clearly terrible people?

On episode 2 of the Fighting Matters Podcast @jeffshaw.bsky.social, @oldbastardbjj.bsky.social, @roughhandsbjj.bsky.social and I try to figure it out => youtu.be/vcxr6KMFre0?...

A reminder that Los Angeles had its hottest summer in history last year. Southern California has received just 2% of "normal" rainfall during the current "rainy" season.

These fires are a direct result of a warming & drying atmosphere caused by burning fossil fuels.

We are in a climate emergency.

This will be at the top of every syllabus I ever produce, for college or for jiujitsu, until the end of time.

(The poet is Tom Wayman)

YouTube video by Dave Porter Submission compilation 2017-2024

My friend Dave Porter has compiled a reel of his competition submissions and … the man does not like going to points.

youtu.be/X9fF3rjQEeg

A Four-Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election (Gift Article) A prominent Texas politician said he unwittingly took part in a 1980 tour of the Middle East with a clandestine agenda.

Remember the right-wing plot to sabotage Jimmy Carter’s re-election by urging Iran to hold American hostages longer? You don’t? It’s a shocking example of the American right’s treachery that more people should know about. (Gift link to 2023 NYT story.)

YouTube video by Bellingham BJJ 2024 in Review: Bellingham BJJ

Our #bjj school ran 2,096 classes this year, competed a lot, and celebrated our fifth anniversary.

We raised $3K for hurricane relief, held free community self defense events & much more.

The next 5 years will be better than the first five. Count on it.

youtu.be/nPZNrST4J0I?...

Using open source tools to track the biggest fight in BJJ What public records can reveal about a rivalry that rocked submission grappling.

Just published: I got records on ticket sales and event costs for #CJI and #ADCC 2022. As CJI 2 starts gearing up, here's how the last two big grappling events at Thomas & Mack did, plus the tools I used to get this information. #BJJ

Gonna get kneebarred by @stephankesting.bsky.social this weekend. It’s gonna be great.

Are you an academic who cares of #bjj and #judo history in America?

Do you want to be a part of something epic?

Hit me up!

“because only my love for you
despite the charms of gravity
keeps me from falling off this Earth
into another dimension
I love you
because it is the natural order of things”

The people worth following make us love more fiercely and courageously. Giovanni was one of those. RIP

That comes from the first stanza of “Resignation”:(1/2)

I love you
because the earth turns round the sun
because the North wind blows north
sometimes
because the Pope is Catholic
and most Rabbis Jewish
because winters flow into springs
and the air clears after a storm

Nikki Giovanni has passed. It’s heartbreaking when the giants leave us, but they’re giants because they leave lasting legacies.

This autographed broadsheet of hers hangs in my wife’s office. It’s truly great, but it’s not even my favorite Giovanni excerpt that makes me think of my wife.

Graphic with text: "Post a job, find a science writer! Recruit talented science writers and communicators for your organization or project. Post job listings at www.nasw.org/advertise or find a writer at www.nasw.org/find-writer "

Newsroom Managers, Editors, and Communications Directors: Recruiting for a staff position? Want freelancers to see your call for pitches? Then share your opportunity to our NASW Job Bank! Post a #SciWriJobs ad at www.nasw.org/node/ad... or on our homepage at www.nasw.org/advertise 💚🧪📝

There’s also this classic (and he wasn’t wrong)!

Old messages from my coaches are the best 😂

A graphic that says Love Asheville from Afar: Shop, Support, Sustain and has a link, always.exploreasheville.com/love-asheville#support

An image of a yellow and brown gear-shaped sculpture labeled "Asheville, North Carolina River Arts District" with a link riverartsdistrict.com.

Asheville, North Carolina is still recovering from Hurricane Helene. I know folks who live there, and they still need our support. Here are two places to shop and help:
always.exploreasheville.com/love-asheville#support
www.riverartsdistrict.com

Find Out Why Health Insurance Denied Your Claim You likely have the right to access records that explain why your insurer denied your claim or prior authorization request. Use ProPublica’s free tool to generate a letter requesting your claim file f...

I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases)

projects.propublica.org/claimfile/

Things I never thought I’d enjoy: hex bar deadlifts.

Advice for U.S. Government Scientists: Lessons Learned From the ‘Muzzling’ of Their Canadian Counterparts • The Revelator The next four years will be awful for the science and conservation community. By learning from past experiences, we can minimize the damage.

What can government scientists do now to minimize the damage that’s coming over the next four years, and what can we do to help them? I spoke to several experts to write this story for The Revelator

Please share widely. 🧪🌎

therevelator.org/scientists-m...

Donate-to-the-WDI- Check out Donate to the WDI by Women's Debate Institute!

I love WDI more than just about anything. Your support for it in these times would mean the world to me, and thousands of people like -- and unlike -- me, all around the world. Please give generously.

womensdebateinstitute.flipcause.com

Donate-to-the-WDI- Check out Donate to the WDI by Women's Debate Institute!

So I support speech and debate, because there are people in the world who have never had a chance to tell their own stories.

A chance is all they need.

It's important to advocate for folks that aren't like you because that's how we build a world based on something other than selfishness, greed, and loneliness. I try to do that. But I can't tell their stories.

It's also important to advocate for people who AREN'T like you. I've never been a young woman, or anywhere on the gender spectrum other than where I landed on day 1.

WDI was the first debate camp of its type to adopt a trans inclusion policy.

It's important to be able to advocate for yourself, and your community, because that's how you win victories for that community.

There's no better place to put your money than investing in young people and their ability to advocate for themselves.

You are your own best advocate. No one knows your story like you do. No one can tell it like you can.

It's amazing that this transformative camp has been around for 2.5 decades -- older than a lot of folks reading this -- and changed thousands of lives, including mine. Maybe mine most of all.