Clint Lohse

AP article describing backpay for federal employees as a “longstanding policy”

Hey @apnews.com, it’s not a “longstanding policy,” it’s federal law!!!

The surest, most predictable effect of authoritarianism is corruption.

Once again: “trust the experts” doesn’t mean that *no one* questions scientific consensus, it means that *experts* build and debate and question consensus. People without the domain expertise (and society more broadly) are best served by aligning with that consensus if the process isn’t undermined.

Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me? Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

Same for playing nice with the Supreme Court. Pack it even if there’s a threat of further packing, and then pack it further if need be. The only way out is through.

it’s become clear that state level gerrymandering bans were just unilateral disarmament and the only real solution is a federal gerrymandering ban…

And the only way to get that is Dems pushing for maximal gerrymandering until we get a trifecta to pass the law and pack the courts to enforce it

The image is a piece of fan art titled "Klimt Eastwood," created by Carl Tétreault in 2016. It depicts actor and director Clint Eastwood in a style inspired by the Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt, specifically referencing Klimt's "The Kiss".

Please enjoy this Klimt Eastwood

An image of Shakespeare’s “hell is empty and the devils are all here” quote over the US Capitol building.

This was funnier when it was less true.

a large, white dish antenna telescope in the distance between the rolling hills. The trees in foreground and background are both golden amber as well as green.

US Friends!

The Green Bank Observatory (GBO) is a vital instrument in the global #RadioAstronomy network (incl. pulsar science), and it is under threat with the proposed funding cuts.

Please take action to keep it open: www.gogreenbankobservatory.org/take-action/

Pls share! 🔭📡🧪

📸 GBO/AUI/NSF

There is something so fundamentally telling with people who think that “reading a book” and “knowing what the plot is” is the same experience.

The treatment of the TikTok ban might seem silly, but it is, effectively, a sign that the constitutional government we have operated under for more than 200 years is no longer in effect.

Read the thread.

Why Are Federal Agents Wearing Masks? It’s a Threat to American Democracy Masked Federal Agents Are Undermining Trust—and Democracy

Take your masks off ICE, show us how proud you are

adamkinzinger.substack.com/p/why-are-fe...

It's not just #NIH. It's not just #NSF. It's not just #NASA.

The whole scientific community has to make clear that all science across fed agencies is being destroyed in the US.

We can't just ask for our particular piece of the pie. The whole pie is being thrown out - saving your bit won't work.

Maybe, just maybe, NSF isn't able to effectively use its building because its staff and (university-based) rotators have been fired, its budget has been slashed, and its not even able to give out its remaining dollars to deserving grants.

Artificial Intelligence Cannot Experience a heart attack while working in the herb garden. Wonder what its middle school bully is doing now. Show up to court in a white linen sui...

Experience a heart attack while working in a herb garden.

Wonder what its middle school bully is doing now.

Show up to court in a white linen suit.

Drape itself face down over an ottoman in a fit of ennui.

This story reflects this administration in a nutshell: take from hardworking Americans to enrich themselves.

Kicking out hardworking NSF staff so HUD Sec can have a fancy executive suite, private elevator, and personal gym.

Just click on this: skyviewer.app/explorer #RubinTelescope

Oddly, staff say that neither NSF management nor OSTP have been involved, and the decision was instead driven by the HUD Secretary, Scott Turner, who will be imminently taking over the 18th & 19th floors of the (soon-to-be-former?) NSF building.

I still don't understand why the fuck we're doing any of this to NSF

Seems emblematic of this admin: kick the NSF out of its building, replace it with executive perks requested by the HUD Secretary, including:

- a dedicated suite for him and a new Executive Dining Room
- reserved parking for his 5 cars
- exclusive use of 1 elevator for the Secretary

This is oligarchy. What else do you call it when the president’s crony kicks out another agency for no purpose other than to get a nicer office?

Why Are Federal Agents Wearing Masks? It’s a Threat to American Democracy Masked Federal Agents Are Undermining Trust—and Democracy

If you need a mask to enforce the law, you don’t deserve a badge.
Federal agents are snatching people off the streets—faces covered, names hidden.
This isn’t safety. It’s secrecy.
It’s not America.

adamkinzinger.substack.com/p/why-are-fe...

This is oligarchy. The president’s crony kicking out an agency with no planning and no good reason, so they can have a nicer office.

I mean, what else do you call it when the president’s cronies can go shopping for a new building and displace another agency with no planning for where it goes, not to better serve taxpayers but so they can have a nicer office.

NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years.

NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."

This is oligarchy.

The glowing band of the Milky Way emanates from Rubin Observatory's boot-shaped silhouette at lower left. The brighter, dense stars of the Milky Way are crisscrossed by clouds and lanes of dark dust. The lower left horizon has an orangey hue, while the pinpricks of stars speckle the rest of the sky.

If there's one thing you should know about NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory, it's this:

✨It's going to build the greatest time-lapse movie of the cosmos ever made✨

And tomorrow is the world's first preview of how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos in the coming decade! 🔭🧪

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. At top center lies a large elliptical galaxy that is dense and smooth, like a polished stone glowing with golden light. Like delicate spider silk or stretched taffy, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath, evidence of past collisions. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

A cosmic tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the upper right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its soft, pinkish gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark, finger-like veins of dust that divide it into three parts. It radiates a gentle, misty glow, diffuse and soft like the warmth of breath on a cold hand. To the lower left, the much larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout where new stars are born. Both nebulae are embedded in a soft tan backdrop of gas that is brighter on the left than on the right, etched with dark tendrils of dust and sprinkled with the pinpricks of millions of stars.

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. To the lower left is a region filled with the hundreds of golden glittering gems of a distant galaxy cluster. In the foreground, below and right of center, two blue spiral galaxies look like eyes beneath the entangled mass of a triple galaxy merger in the upper right. A few bright blue points of foreground stars pierce the glittering tapestry. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory!

Can you guess these regions of sky?

This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪

#RubinFirstLook
ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream

tweet that reads "the student that does not cheat has internalized the moral code of the oppressor."

Dress it up in progressive language but you're cheating yourself by not doing the work. This is the worst thing about AI: millions of students refusing to learn, taking zero interest in the world around them, empty in mind and heart. Your punishment is the person you will become.