Rachael French

These assholes are really gonna go with “war is peace, actually.”

I do actually think there is a serious imbalance on this app. A lot of politics and not enough culture. Some of that has to do with the fact that Black Twitter mostly went to Threads.

Though I suppose you could make an argument for Pakistan.

Not me. I was alive for Nixon. His wars were all in Southeast Asia.

(Reasonably sure.)

Please don't post photos of dead children, or videos of dead children, or yell DONT LOOK AWAY. You are sick. Log off. Touch grass. You have PTSD and are inflicting it on us all. If you are not in media/ a conflict researcher/ etc you do NOT need to consume Horrors. Blocking lots right now.

Uncovered some incriminating evidence about supposed allies #ZombiesRun

So hot this morning…

Uncovered some incriminating evidence about supposed allies #ZombiesRun

Wow did Star Fleet Academy almost lose me this week…

Screenshot of social media post: zanebow Folgen 16. Okt. Reading a Terry Pratchett book is literally just: Here's a funny little joke Here's something that you can tell is a joke but don't get and will only figure out five years later Here's a surprisingly cool fantasy concept Here's a unique and well written simile Here's a lil guy Here's something that has aged depressingly well into the modern day Here's something that has aged remarkably queer into the modern day Here's a character that you can barely understand what he's saying Here is the most terrifying and deeply disturbing concept you have ever heard, casually mentioned Here is the dumbest fucking pun you've ever heard but in the best way Here is a quote so profound that it makes you view morality and the world in a different way Here is a plot twist that you can't tell if it's genius or stupid Congratulations! You've finished the book! It has fundamentally changed you as a person and you will never be the same!

Having finished First Witches Club I was craving witchiness and I thought, you know, it’s been a while since I revisited Witches Abroad and Lords and Ladies (they come as a pair, really). So I started, and this is so, so true…

Doesn’t say the beers have to be standard pints, either. Can I have those little guys you get with a tasting flight?

And street tacos?

If I can pick the tacos and beers, it can be done. I could lawyer the shit out of this.

Leader of Columbia Brain Institute Quits Over Friendship With Epstein

Gift link from the NYT story about Axel and Epstein. When I was at Columbia he ran a lab where sexual harassment of women was business as usual. We all knew. We all warned each other.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/n...

(Well, not never. Both of my kids have gone over to "volunteer" in his fifth grade classroom a couple of times over the last few years.)

So my daughter just got an invitation to have In-N-Out next month with her former teacher and a bunch of classmates. Even sweeter for her, because she did fifth grade in 2020-2021 - she had the best fifth-grade teacher and never got to be in a classroom with him in person.

He sets up a scheduled email inviting all of them (using their school email) to the reunion, and then goes and has food with some tenth-graders he often hasn't seen since they were 11.

Every year. Just...devotes an afternoon/early evening to hanging out with 16-year-olds.

TIL that the fifth-grade teacher both of my kids had holds five year reunions with every class he graduates from elementary school.

New York Times headline

This is a very misleading headline from the New York Times:

"Clinton Briefly Halts Epstein Deposition After Republican Leaks Photo."

In reality, her lawyers asked the committee to allow reporters in the room after Boebert leaked a photo of the proceedings.

You do not have to give the guy with a Nazi tattoo the benefit of the doubt that retweeting the Nazi on the Nazi site was an accident.

She answer every question with "Recent estimates state that Trump is mentioned 54 times for each time I am mentioned....so why am I here? Release all the un-redacted files"

"Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee... as a former Senator, I have respect for legislative oversight and I expect its exercise, as do the American people, to be principled and fearless in pursuit of truth and accountability. As we all know, however, too often Congressional investigations are partisan political theater, which is an abdication of duty and an insult to the American people. The Committee justified its subpoena to me based on its assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Let me be as clear as I can. I do not. As I stated in my sworn declaration on January 13, I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that. Like every decent person, I have been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes. It's unfathomable that Mr. Epstein initially got a slap on the wrist in 2008, which allowed him to continue his predatory practices for another decade. Mr. Chairman, your investigation is supposed to be assessing the federal government's handling of the investigations and prosecutions of Epstein and his crimes. You subpoenaed eight law enforcement officials, all of whom ran the Department of Justice or directed the FBI when Epstein's crimes were investigated and prosecuted. Of those eight, only one appeared before the Committee. Five of the six former attorneys general were allowed to submit brief statements stating they had no information to provide. You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, including today, despite espousing the need for transparency on dozens of occasions. You have made little effort to call the people who show up most prominently in the Epstein files. And when you did, not a single Republican Member showed up for Les Wexner's deposition. This institutio…

as the public who also want to get to the bottom of this matter. My heart breaks for the survivors. And I am furious on their behalf. I have spent my life advocating for women and girls. I have worked hard to stop the terrible abuses so many women and girls face here and around the world, including human trafficking, forced labor, and sexual slavery. For too long, these have been largely invisible crimes or not treated as crimes at all. But the survivors are real and they are entitled to better. In Southeast Asia, I met girls as young as twelve years old who were forced into prostitution and raped repeatedly. Some were dying of AIDS. In Eastern Europe, I met mothers who told me how they lost daughters to trafficking and did not know where to turn. In settings around the world, I met survivors trying to rebuild their lives and help rescue others - with little support from people in power, who too often turned a blind eye and a cold shoulder. If you are new to this issue, let me tell you: Jeffrey Epstein was a heinous individual, but he's far from alone. This is not a one-off tabloid sensation or a political scandal. It's a global scourge with an unimaginable human toll. My work combatting sex trafficking goes back to my days as First Lady. I worked to pass the first federal legislation against trafficking and was proud that my husband signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which increased support for survivors and gave prosecutors better tools for going after traffickers. As Secretary of State, I appointed a former federal prosecutor, Lou CdeBaca, to ramp up our global antitrafficking efforts. I oversaw nearly 170 anti-trafficking programs in 70 nations and directly pressed foreign leaders to crack down on trafficking networks in their countries. Every year we published a global report to shine a light on abuses. The findings of those reports triggered sanctions on countries failing to make progress, so they became a powerful diplomatic tool to drive concrete…

Infuriatingly, the Trump Administration gutted the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department, cutting more than 70 percent of the career civil and foreign service experts who worked so hard to prevent trafficking crimes. The annual trafficking report, required by law, was delayed for months. The message from the Trump Administration to the American people and the world could not be clearer: combatting human trafficking is no longer an American priority under the Trump White House. That is a tragedy. It's a scandal. It deserves vigorous investigation and oversight. A committee endeavoring to stopping human trafficking would seek to understand what specific steps are needed to fix a system that allowed Epstein to get away with his crimes in 2008. A committee run by elected officials with a commitment to transparency would ensure the full release of all the files. It would ensure that the lawful redactions of those files protected the victims and survivors, not powerful men and political allies. It would get to the bottom of reports that DOJ withheld FBI interviews in which a survivor accuses President Trump of heinous crimes. It would subpoena anyone who asked on which night there would be the "wildest party" on Epstein's island. It would demand testimony from prosecutors in Florida and New York about why they gave Epstein a sweetheart deal and chose not to pursue others who may have been implicated. It would demand that Secretary Rubio and Attorney General Bondi testify about why this administration is abandoning survivors and playing into the hands of traffickers. It would seek out officers on the front lines of this fight and ask them what support they need. It would put forth legislation to provide more resources and force this administration to act. But that's not happening.

Instead, you have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump's actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers. If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files. If the majority was serious, it would not waste time on fishing expeditions. There is too much that needs to be done. What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up? My challenge to you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, is the same challenge I put to myself throughout my long service to this nation. How to be worthy of the trust the American people have given you. They expect statesmanship, not gamesmanship. Leading, not grandstanding. They expect you to use your power to get to the truth and to do more to help survivors of Epstein's crimes as well as the millions more who are victims of sex trafficking."

Here is Hillary Clinton’s opening statement to House Oversight on Epstein.

Clinton says she does not recall ever encountering Epstein and says she knew nothing about his crimes.

She also says that Trump should testify under oath and criticizes the committee for not holding any public hearings.

Hillary Clinton speaking at a lectern. PHOTO: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton: “You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, including today, despite espousing the need for transparency on dozens of occasions.

You have made little effort to call the people who show up most prominently in the Epstein files.“

Did you see the article/blog post about this "wife" thing from earlier in the week? bsky.app/profile/quio...

Not to wade too deeply in, but any take on U.S. men’s hockey that assumes they are like college athletes is bad faith.

They are grown men and professional athletes. Proceed accordingly.

Why just fly? Drosophila melanogaster is an incredible model system, providing tools and technologies that allow careful, effective, and reproducible research. This experimental approach, and the genetic tools a...

For those of you with the skills and ‘Drosophila mindset’, studying other insects may help us understand diversity, improve the security of food production, and help avoid the current, worrying, insect apocalypse. More in this recent article in Fly Journal from @peterkdearden.bsky.social

Yes, but at SJSU we have both.

Definitely not uniformly true at every university.

Is that necessarily true? We have lots of undocumented students at my university.

Not siding with the fascists in ANY way here.

February 26, 2026 Dear members of the Columbia community: This morning at approximately 6:30 a.m., federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered a Columbia Residential building and detained a student. We are working to gather more information, working to reach the family, and providing legal support. Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a "missing person." We are working to gather more details. It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including

It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access. An administrative warrant is not sufficient. If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait to enter any non-public areas until contacting Public Safety. Public Safety will contact the Office of the General Counsel to coordinate the University's response. Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena. We will update our community as additional information becomes available. Sincerely,

BREAKING: Columbia President Claire Shipman says DHS agents entered a residential buliding this morning and detained a student.

"Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a 'missing person.'"

General strikes is leftist cargo culting. It's based around a model of a political class divide that doesn't exist today. If Democrats had the political support among workers to do a general strike we wouldn't be in this situation.It's trying larp into existence a world that doesn't exist.

Now we just have to hang onto our right to vote.

I like that we now live in a time in America where voting Republican is the uncoolest thing you could do .

Where if you vote Republican you’ll be seen as the most toxic, ignorant, hateful pos ever and no one will like you.

It took a lot to get here. But we finally are.