Immigrants BELONG here/Wear a Mask

Lila Gleitman, Who Showed How Children Learn Language, Dies at 91 (Published 2021)

"Until the 1970s, most linguists believed that the structure of language existed out in the world, and that the human brain then learned it from infancy... Dr. Gleitman argued the opposite."

#LilaGleitman
1921-2021
Born on this day

www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/s...

U.S. seizes ‘very large’ oil tanker off Venezuelan coast, Trump says The seizure was a significant escalation in the U.S. pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his country’s oil-dependent economy.

WTF!

wapo.st/48LiL2r

Imagine, for just a second, Biden saying this about Fox News.

And I bet the absolutely feckless White House press corps won’t cover this like the legit constitutional 1A disaster this is.

When the American empire finally collapses, historians won't be stunned by the greed of the elite; They'll be stunned by the loyalty of the poor. The working class didn't just vote against their own interests. They worshipped the billionaires robbing them. They slashed their own benefits, gutted their own healthcare, and cheered while the rich wrote off private jets as tax deductions. Not because it helped them. But because they were told it would hurt someone else. And that, right there, is how you rig a democracy without ever breaking a single law.

SCOTUS found Biden didn’t have authority as President to cut student loans without Congress and yet they find Trump has the authority to cut whole government and eliminate entire agencies unilaterally. This is the most compromised, partisan and unethical Supreme Court in history.

Yes, the US is engaged in piracy. But, American pop culture has made pirates seem so cool that it's a mistake to call Trump's actions that. Let's just stick with "warmongering."

Instant all-timer here:

Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol · Dec 8 🚨#BREAKING: The University of North Carolina Asheville has completely REMOVED all of its "ALL-GENDER" bathroom signs. It has replaced them with "SINGLE OCCUPANCY RESTROOM" signs.

There's a post over on Twitter that I've been laughing to myself about. Some right-wing guy is celebrating that a school took down "All-Gender" bathroom signs and replaced them with "Single Occupancy Restroom" signs. And like... it's the same thing, man. You're celebrating a pointless relabeling.

What if they constantly want culture war because policy war is complicated and hard and culture war is stupid and easy

Men under 30 are far more likely today than in 2022 to view legal sports betting as bad for society % who say the fact that betting on sports is now legal in much of the country is a bad thing for society, among .... Men Women 60% 40 - 46 39 31 48 65+ 47 Ages 18-29 43 50-64 43 30-49 45 C 50 Ages 65+ 42 50-64 36 30-49 35 18-29 36 C 271 25 22 20 - July 2022 July 2025 July 2022 Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted July 8-Aug. 3, 2025. PEW RESEARCH CENTER July 2025

Everywhere you look there is an opening for leadership.

What an irony that the Democratic consultant-pundit class fell into a poll-following Popularist obsession at a time of such volatility

Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds.

This is obscene.

That others in politics can’t or won’t say that this is obscene hits at the heart of the problems we face.

We are the 99.999%.

Tax the super rich.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

Man, somehow this never makes it into the Law & Order copaganda episodes that are "pulled from the headlines."

Wonder why...

DHS inks contract to create its own fleet of Boeing 737s for deportations The agency will spend nearly $140 million to buy the planes, funding that comes from a massive budget increase for immigration enforcement approved by Congress.

Gift link!
DHS inks contract to create its own fleet of Boeing 737s for deportations

By Marianne LeVine and Jacob Bogage

@jacobbogage.bsky.social

DHS inks contract to create its own fleet of Boeing 737s for deportations The agency will spend nearly $140 million to buy the planes, funding that comes from a massive budget increase for immigration enforcement approved by Congress.

At this point we have less a government than a commercial anti-immigration enterprise profiting a galaxy of contractors.

You've got to read this whole story on crypto casinos and the streamers who promote them. I feel like I live on another planet. Here's a gift link.

Will the 21st Century Nabobs Win Their War on Public Accountability? A friend of mine ran an analogy by me which really resonated....

Chilling historical parallel: Will the 21st Century Nabobs Win Their War on Public Accountability?

At State Dept., a Typeface Falls Victim in the War Against Woke

Are there no Republicans who personally benefitted from the use of accessible fonts? Gift article demonstrating Rubio’s apparent hatred for disability accomodations.

Uber Pulls Back From Electric Cars, Slashing Incentives for Drivers After long pushing for government policies to speed adoption of electric cars, Uber embraced Trump's EV-battering legislation.

Uber has recently dialed back its climate efforts (including slashing EV incentives for drivers), even as its profits soar...and its green goals look increasingly out of reach. Paywall-free link here:

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Update from Evanston, after vandalism and a heavy snowfall:

New zip ties for baby Jesus and a new gas mask for Mary, plus a memorial to Silverio Villegas González in place of the missing Joseph.

Christmas 2025.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/09/j...

DHS inks contract to create its own fleet of Boeing 737s for deportations The agency will spend nearly $140 million to buy the planes, funding that comes from a massive budget increase for immigration enforcement approved by Congress.

Just what we needed, our own deportation planes. TY, MAGA Congress, for voting for the money for this, an inhumane effort to begin with. Now you've fully vested the American taxpayer in this shameful activity.
wapo.st/4rGpWBM

The Trump Administration Actually Backed Down Alina Habba’s resignation is a sign that some checks are still checking.

“In Virginia, the Comey prosecution has foundered not only because of Halligan’s illegal appointment, but as a result of judges’ objections to the many impermissible legal shortcuts the government appears to have taken along the way …”

#EDVA
#ddrm
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Irksome, Evicted Beavers in Utah Are Getting a Second Chance

The US government killed more than 23,000 beavers in 2024. 🥺

Officers at Texas immigration detention facility accused of beatings and sexual abuse Civil rights coalition calls for immediate closure of camp, where more than 2,700 detainees are being held

“'The masked people sometimes beat on people to get them to jump the wall even if they don’t want to,” said 'Eduardo', a Cuban detainee ordered to be deported and cited under the pseudonym in the letter."

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The amount and severity of the violations of California civil law by various landlords in this piece is breathtaking.

In L.A., $750 a Month to Live in a Backyard Storage Unit

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/u...

One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential

USAID Hired the Right-Wing Influencer Responsible for Its Decimation Mike Benz was brought aboard to find evidence for his claims that the agency is secretly a spy operation.

www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

This is insanity

Rubio replaces Calibri with Times New Roman at the state dept

This is New York Times, not the Onion.

"The Times also identified a sampling of more than 1,000 severe injuries of people working for staffing agencies from 2015 to 2023, including more than 250 amputations, 370 broken bones and 30 instances of crushed body parts."