samleffler.bsky.social

i will never not be amused by how the conservative world is governed by the kind of “affirmative action” they say happens in mainstream institutions. totally unqualified dipshits are handed the keys to institutions because they say the right thing and have the right look.

Ugh, this hurts my heart

Trump Is a Degrowther What else do you call a strategy designed to raise prices and lower productivity?

Degrowth—the notion that wealthy countries should reduce their consumption and production—is associated with leftists. But Trump’s policies mirror it, @annielowrey.bsky.social argues: “What else do you call a strategy designed to raise prices and lower productivity?”

A magnificent, huge, and patriotic economic announcement.

This is a good sign, and it puts me in mind of the time I got booed off Twitter for saying that Matt Gaetz was happy to pay $500 to play a golf tournament because he knows $500 for 18 holes is a great deal

2019 – 2024 – Repeated denials and discovery stonewalling Through years of communications with the police, the plaintiffs and the court through the investigation and later the discovery process for the lawsuit, Tesla never mentioned that it had all the data that explained how Autopilot saw the crash, which everyone was seeking, sitting on its servers for years. The facts are: Tesla had the data on its servers within minutes of the crash When the police sought the data, Tesla redirected them toward other data When the police sought Tesla’s help in extracting it from the computer, Tesla falsely claimed it was “corrupted” Tesla invented an “auto-delete” feature that didn’t exist to try explain why it couldn’t originally find the data in the computer When the plaintiffs asked for the data, Tesla said that it didn’t exist Tesla only admitted to the existence of the data once presented with forensic evidence that it was created and transfered to its servers.

This whole story is insane. Tesla apparently did everything it could to avoid providing the data it had about its Autopilot crash. This is just a snippet and there's a lot more. electrek.co/2025/08/04/t...

Where's the groan button :)

Me three months ago:

In Cambodia, rats sniff bombs and save lives - The World from PRX Cambodia is calmer this week following a truce with Thailand. The two countries have been battling over parts of their shared border — a clash involving artillery shells raining down and even airstrik...

In Cambodia, rats sniff bombs and save lives - The World from PRX share.google/KEShcZxgFkqQ...

The room to testify against gerrymandering in Texas is full.
This is how it looks outside. All these people want to testify but there isnt enough room/time. The people of Texas oppose gerrymandering.

Our tax dollars at work.

The GOP is not planning to lose power.

Mark Cuban on Donald Trump: “I've known him for 25 years. He is the most unethical, lacks character, dishonest person l've ever done business with"

The Epstein Cover-Up at the FBI Inside the chaotic review process of the Epstein and Maxwell files at the Bureau

The amazing thing about brave people speaking out is that it inspires others to do the same by creating a permission structure. Since I published this article 4 hours ago, I've heard from multiple sources confirming what's in it. www.muellershewrote.com/p/the-epstei...

Curse Not the King Why CBS’s cancellation of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” stinks to high hell.

daringfireball.net/2025/07/curs...

Trump administration to destroy nearly $10m in contraceptives

The Trump administration has decided to destroy $9.7m worth of contraceptives rather than send them abroad to women in need.

Meta Swears This Time Is Different The tech giant has floundered on AI. Now it’s going all in on a “superintelligence” team.

Mark Zuckerberg is poaching researchers from OpenAI—but that doesn’t mean Meta can catch up in the AI race, writes @matteowong.bsky.social:

‘Just Asking Questions’ Got No Answers About Epstein Right-wing internet personalities have a lot to learn from the mainstream media that they decry.

this @helenlewis.bsky.social lede: “Defending mainstream journalism these days is about as appealing as doing PR for syphilis. Nonetheless, here I am.”

For what it's worth, this tracks with my experience. Twitter has accounted for about 5% of my blog traffic over the past four years and 0.4% over the past year. I think there's a strong argument to be made for discourse influence within Twitter but not for traffic to other sites.

American Gestapo

Opinion | How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

“The Chinese simply can’t believe their luck: that at the dawn of the electricity-guzzling era of artificial intelligence, the U.S. president and his party have decided to engage in one of the greatest acts of strategic self-harm imaginable.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/o...

Opinion | Don’t call it ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Call it a concentration camp. This facility’s purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.

I wrote about how the Everglades experiment fits into the history of concentration camps in the US and abroad, and how it will connect a domestic network of camps to an international one. We’re watching the imposition of a global concentration camp network.

My copy has this at the bottom: "This email was sent to ... by the Social Security Administration, and was produced and disseminated at U.S. taxpayer expense.". Nice, propaganda paid for with my tax dollars.

‘I’m Not Quite Sure How to Respond to This Presentation’ The discomfiting spectacle of RFK Jr.’s new vaccine-advisory committee

So far this article by @engber.bsky.social best captures the overall ACIP meeting vibes

Merkley had a pretty effective day.

Or will have, if you make this go viral.

A federal jury has awarded $500,000 to the widow and estate of Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, the police officer who killed himself nine days after he helped defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob of rioters.

Steven Miller is for sure.

What Comes Next for Iran? Karim Sadjadpour on how the Islamic Republic is losing its grip, and what might come next

On this episode of “The David Frum Show,” David Frum urges an end to wishful thinking about Iran, and a focus on the regime’s threatening words and actions. Then he’s joined by Karim Sadjadpour for a conversation about the internal decay of Iran’s theocracy.