Vanya Swift

So far as I can tell, Act Blue is not part of the scam, and I'm not advocating for stopping donations to Democratic candidates; I'm arguing for stopping this scam that harms the party and the people who can stop it are party leaders. @adambonica.bsky.social thoughts?

The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine How a single consulting firm extracted $282 million from a network of spam PACs while delivering just $11 million to actual campaigns.

I recently complained/asked how to stop (there were no good answers) the Democratic fundraising texts. A friend shared this piece about what a total scam it is: "$11 million of the $678 million raised from individuals has made its way to candidates, campaigns, or the national party committees."

A Society Governed by Whiny Rich People Throwing Tantrums Every time we want to change society to benefit average people, we have to deal with ultrawealthy crybabies. We’re held hostage by those who already have it all. It doesn’t have to be like this.

" If we want better education, healthcare, + childcare prgms, or to fix our own crumbling infrastructure, or to make our own cities affordable to live in, we are structurally compelled to... beg permission from the most wantonly unethical and pathologically narcissistic people on earth."

Portland Book Shop Mother Foucault's Crowdfunds To Buy Its Building Its shelves are filled, the stage is built, and now Mother Foucault's wants to buy. The vintage bookshop announced Tuesday that it's seizing a chance to purchase the building it currently occupies, at...

I'm sucker for stories like we had a writing residency behind the front desk and a darkroom in the toilet. But it might also be cool to have NICE residencies on the third floor of Mother Foucault's building.

Obnoxious Liberals

Obnoxious Liberals, 1982 #artbots #basquiat
https://botfrens.com/collections/27/contents/5092

Our unaccountable Supreme Court gave our unaccountable president the power to effectively end the Department of Education.

And it did so without any explanation because the case came through its secretive shadow docket.

SCOTUS is rubber-stamping Trump’s authoritarian regime.

The Queer Relationship That Powered Rachel Carson’s Nature Writing On the evening of January 22, 1962, New Yorker editor William Shawn called Rachel Carson to tell her that her forthcoming book, Silent Spring, was “a brilliant achievement.” Shawn plann…

@lidamaxwell.bsky.social on why Rachel Carson’s relationship with Dorothy Freeman and her environmental writing are deeply entwined.

Comedians are a comfort and he can’t silence all of us. The ridicule must go deeper. Bruise and swell him from the inside. Thicken those ankles until they burst.

My inner jester joking its way through this circus of delusion. To think of all the choices that are made in a day to keep humanity plummeting towards the abyss ..
And how.

ORB salutes, but is also a little concerned about, the guy swimming in Lake Merritt. Be safe, comrade.

NOT TODAY

Got to take the wins where we can.

Dania has entered the building.

Reality check.

OPINION: Nevada Humanities is not waste, fraud and abuse - The Nevada Independent When I moved to Reno 13 years ago, I knew the region for its gambling, its proximity to Lake Tahoe and for the Nevada Museum of Art. What I didn’t expect was the rich, varied and accessible cultural a...

I wrote an op-ed in support of Nevada Humanities, and the notion (out of date, it’s true), that economic value is not, in fact, value. Enjoi: thenevadaindependent.com/article/opin...

Car use and meat consumption drive emissions gender gap, research suggests The French study of 15,000 people shows men emit 26% more pollution due to eating red meat and driving more

"Men emit 26% more planet-heating pollution than women from transport and food, according to a preprint study of 15,000 people in France. The gap shrinks to 18% after controlling for socioeconomic factors such as income and education."

Gaza will be entirely destroyed, Israeli minister says Bezalel Smotrich says Palestinians will ‘leave in great numbers to third countries’, raising fears of ethnic cleansing

A world historical crime, taking place in full view, with the perpetrators so convinced of their impunity that they can brag about genocidal intent, and it’s hard not to agree with their calculation that no one will stop them and no one will be held accountable

https://globalnews.ca/news/11164371/israel-gaza-takeover-capture-plan-cabinet/

Israel has announced the indefinite invasion and occupation of the entire Gaza Strip. Thanks to US complicity under both Biden and Trump, Israel was able to massacre more than 50,000 people and evade international consequences.

It is currently starving 2.5 million people, half of them children.

Poster showing the Democrats that voted to continue to send bombs to Israel by voting 'No' on two resolutions from Bernie Sanders after Netanyahu broke the ceasefire and made plans with President Trump to remove every Palestinian from Gaza. The senators that voted on sending 2,000 lb bombs to Israel are: Alsobrooks (D-MD) Bennet (D-CO) Blumenthal (D-CT) Blunt Rochester (D-DE) Booker (D-NJ) Cantwell (D-WA) Cortez Masto (D-NV) Duckworth (D-IL) Fetterman (D-PA) Gallego (D-AZ) Gillibrand (D-NY) Hassan (D-NH) Hickenlooper (D-CO) Kelly (D-AZ) King (I-ME) Klobuchar (D-MN) Ossoff (D-GA) Padilla (D-CA) Peters (D-MI) Reed (D-RI) Rosen (D-NV) Schiff (D-CA) Schumer (D-NY) Shaheen (D-NH) Slotkin (D-MI) Warner (D-VA) Warnock (D-GA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR) Kim (D-NJ) voted for other weapons. Baldwin (D-WI) voted present. Coons (D-DE) - not voting Murray (D-WA) - not voting

President Trump and Netanyahu vowed to remove every Palestinian from Gaza. Netanyahu broke the ceasefire.

Bernie Sanders introduced two resolutions to stop the sale of 2,000 lb bombs and other weapons to Israel.

These Democratic senators voted against Bernie and for the bombs. They back genocide.

Photo of a female Bufflehead clinging to a tree trunk by her nest hole by Larry Jordan. Text on the graphic says: "Unsolicited Bird Fact: Did you know Buffleheads & Northern Flickers are BFFs! Well actually it's more of a one-sided friendship: Bufflehead need Flickers, but the Flickers tolerate them at best. These little ducks nest in tree cavities in the Boreal forest & aspen parkland of Canada. Duck bills aren't for woodworking so the Bufflehead use old Flicker nest cavities which are the right size for their chunky little duck bodies."

Did you ask for a bird fact? No, but you're getting one whether you like it or not. 🪶

Capturing the Real Value of Transit-Oriented Development Our state’s recent transit investments have been held back by anachronistic zoning codes and hostile street design.

2023 Circulate analysis showed San Diego streets near transit stations were designed exclusively for cars. This hostile design significantly limited pedestrian access, wasting billions in public transit investments.

hey LA pirate people, if you have a way to get to 936 seward and can save some of this stuff from getting destroyed via weather exposure there are film nerds all over the world who would love you forever

A safe word but to tap out of discourse

Amazon doing a book sale the weekend of Indie Bookstore Day is tacky.

And not "cool kitschy and charming" tacky. It's "aw, bless their heart" tacky.

Resist Amazon. Protect bookstores.

Shout out who you're visiting this weekend for #IndieBookstoreDay!

Faith groups mobilize to keep fighting climate change as Trump pulls U.S. out of Paris accord » Yale Climate Connections Hundreds of religious communities have joined with businesses, universities and colleges, major investors, local governments, states, and tribal nations in declaring they will continue the work of ful...

yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/02/fait...

I was *really* struck by the phrase, “nor any other private university.” That’s an astounding and much needed challenge to places like my own university, which has proven itself appallingly silent, compliant, and weak.

stocks keep going up and down bc the invisible hand of the market is making the jacking off motion