Dave Levitan

I'm not saying it would change much but I do kind of wish reporters with access would repeatedly, like every day, ask Republicans in Congress why they have decided that blatant corruption of the sort that has been consensus illegal for centuries is now basically entirely legal for this one guy.

Will just throw this back up any time bats come up in case the right person happens to be scrolling, why not

I miss not having any idea who the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics was

Few things as satisfying as repainting a room

Improvement, I guess -- instead of plastering "he'll pay for it" in a post and a subhead this story has a "we don't really know who will pay for it" buried 23 paragraphs in

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/u...

Map of NYC area with blue squares indicating where people felt the earthquake, centered just a bit northwest of the city and not extending too far

Only a few reports so far but here’s where people felt it

Typos bah, whatever

M 3.0 - 0 km NE of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey Plus a map of where it hit near NYC

People in NYC/NJ seem — yes that was an earthquake. A small one, but still. Tell USGS if you felt it here:

earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

I hate when my cryosleep pod wakes me up early, signaling a potentially catastrophic problem with the mission

Very good bat

National Weather Service map of northern US showing gray air quality alerts covering Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, half of Nebraska, and bits of Illinois and Indiana.

Map of northern US showing gray smoke plumes coming from fires in Canada as well as many colored dots, with red and orange indicating less healthy air across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan

Man, Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan/surrounding areas have had on-and-off air quality alerts thanks to Canadian wildfire smoke for like weeks now. Rough.

miss the days when someone was lying and you had video to show they were lying and ppl would go “oh! they were lying”

Tesco the golden retriever is fast asleep on a grey couch, with her face scrunched up against it and her favorite blue and orange ball sorta tucked under her face

Good afternoon

Analysis Lashing Out Over Russia and Jobs Data, Trump Displays His Volatile Side

I think it's neat that the NYT has goldfish write "analysis" pieces about politics

Still annoyed by how many news sources just happily repeated that he's gonna help pay for it

Well, the era of trustable government data was fun, RIP

I was just informed that our Country’s “Jobs Numbers” are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory. This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000. These were Records — No one can be that wrong? We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes. McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months. Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. The Economy is BOOMING under “TRUMP” despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting “Kamala” elected – How did that work out? Jerome “Too Late” Powell should also be put “out to pasture.” Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history. Trump is firing the head of the BLS, a longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today

Study: Hurricanes Can Spark Heart Problems Months After They Hit Splinter is your home for news and opinions that challenge power in our political and economic system that's becoming more unhinged each and every day.

Hurricane impacts very much do not stop when the storm is gone. A new study found cardiovascular hospitalizations spike for *months* afterward, peaking two months past when one hits.

Which Media Outlets Bought That a World-Historic Cheapskate Will Pay For a White House Ballroom? Splinter is your home for news and opinions that challenge power in our political and economic system that's becoming more unhinged each and every day.

Just because he — the guy redefining the limits of the word "corruption" — says he's going to pay for it doesn't mean you have to pretend it's true!

Best guess is they either buy other power to resell to Microsoft (per their agreement to power data centers) or build some other power source along side the supposed fusion plant. Or they just don't deliver at all.

Startup begins work on US fusion power plant. Yes, fusion. Helion Energy intends to deliver electricity to Microsoft within three years.

Where can I bet literally everything that Helion will not deliver 50 megawatts of fusion-generated electricity to the grid in 2028.

Well Tampopo was just delightful. It might sound weird but a great double feature would be The Taste of Things, another absolute delight. In a different register for sure but still wonderful together.

The people running admin social media accounts are straight-up psychos, I know they’re all probably 22 or whatever but still

Were About to Find Out if Kennedy Is Serious July 31, 2025

lol yes a complete fucken mystery until now

Every day I think about the employees at these agencies and institutions who signed up for a certain thing and now just have to eat this utter bullshit

This seems like a good note

Should I just have one ready in case

Should I watch… It’s A Wonderful Life (never seen it)… the Mario Bava movie Kill, Baby… Kill!… or Tampopo. These are the nightly dilemmas.

The language of the emails being sent out is basically indistinguishable from the recruitment ads in Starship Troopers

I am told that as part of ICE’s new Big Dumb Bill windfall and its “return to mission” drive attorneys who retired or otherwise left federal service recently are being offered tens of thousands of bonus dollars to come back and “defend the homeland.”