Matthew Macomber

io9: Your portrayal of Indigenous and transgender characters—like the Lnu tribe and Cordelia—stands out in a media landscape where such representation is still rare outside of series like Golden Kamuy, Skip and Loafer, and Paradise Kiss, where they’re often mishandled. What impact do you hope these characters have on expanding the narrative terrain? How do you see your storytelling challenging the ethnocentric lens that dominates much of mainstream media when it comes to that representation?

Yukimura: I did have written characters in [Vinland Saga] from a marginalized ethnic group [and] who are LGBTQ featured here. I actually wanted to portray a character with a disability in the story, too. However, because of the setting, I really couldn’t find the right place to incorporate such a character into the story. One thing I really don’t understand, though, is why do people attack such folks? Is it because they’re different? Why do they just focus on bad things about these groups and generalize them? I truly don’t understand why people do such things. I plainly feel sad when it comes to the way people treat each other.

To me, it’s quite normal for people to have uniqueness. It’s almost needless to say that we all individually have a uniqueness that might be considered different than what is the majority. For example, I grew up in an era where higher education was considered to be the most important thing in society in Japan. You almost had no paths in life outside of that structure. I actually do live outside of that structure, and I’m living perfectly fine. I really want to say that uniqueness is okay. I don’t understand why people are making those judgments to say, “This is okay, but this is not okay.”

I haven’t really thought about what this type of storytelling or character would have an impact on society at all. I’m just writing, drawing, and portraying society as I see it and what I think is normal from my eyes in the manga. If people don’t agree with that version of what I think is a normal society, then oh well. (Laughs) That’s too bad. Those people don’t have to read my manga.

Also, Makoto Yukimura said trans rights.

Makoto Yukimura was worried that Vinland Saga's farming arc and "I have no enemies" moment was a gamble that readers wouldn't like. I told him about the J. Cole meme from the Kendrick Lamar and Drake rap beef. This is how he reacted.

The levels of dram are off the charts! 😆

I hear and see your concerns. Over the weekend, a couple users hosted on Blacksky's PDS were banned from the Bluesky app and thus the Bluesky API servers. This was a weakness of our system I've been aware of and hoped we had more time to address before any kind of public incident. 1/11

I think more people should be aware of how much cool stuff Link does in real life. He’s not just a poster.

Lol awesome! 😄

So Bondi plans her congressional hearings by bringing up dirt on the senators who questioned her rather than answering the questions. This is the lying schemer that is running the DOJ.

Donald Trump has heard all his most loyal voters' complaints about how health care sucks in their states, it costs too much and it's a pain in the ass to access, and he has a message for them: fuck you and die bsky.app/profile/murr...

House Republicans Take Aim at Red-State Economies President Biden bent over backwards to help left-behind communities get factories and jobs. Their congressional representatives don’t appreciate it.

"In effect, these voters responded to the most comprehensive attempt to provide concrete benefits to them since the New Deal by loading an economic shotgun and pointing it directly at themselves." prospect.org/politics/202...

Donald Trump has heard the wails and lamentations of all the Rust Belt communities left behind by neoliberalism, and he has a message for them: fuck you and die

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

That's not just a breakdown of airy political philosophy about the nature of state sovereignty, it's torching the unity of the armed forces. Chain of command being ripped apart not from below but from above. It's saying your unit is from the wrong state so we don't trust you, you're not one of us.

Even if they had some legitimate need and legal basis for deploying the Guard in Chicago, the only reason to not use Illinois NG for it is to cast doubt on their place in the chain of command, treating them as though they are already in mutiny or rebellion, no longer normally functioning.

Aside from shattering core state sovereignty, it's saying one state's Guard (TX) is somehow more loyal to the national authority than another's (IL). It's treating the latter as something bordering on hostile, or at least alien. One part of the country and its soldiers are more America than another.

In none of these cases, when the federal government was openly and with good reason using military force, did Eisenhower or JFK or LBJ say "ok, we're sending the Vermont National Guard to Mississippi to handle this." That would have been understood as insane, it wasn't even considered.

Presidents have federalized a state's own Guard to use over its objection, most famously desegregation. And sometimes regular military has been used. But taking one state's soldiers and putting them in another state? This is a completely unprecedented breakdown of what the Union fundamentally is.

Never before in American history has one state's military force been deployed in another state over its objection.

I say never because the Civil War involved states whose governments legally ceased to exist, their offices vacated by constructive resignation, with no legitimate governors to object.

It's one thing to be politically divided into red states and blue states. We are now being militarily divided into red states and blue states. It's crossing the Rubicon, a bright-red flashing warning that the constitutional order is coming unglued, in a way that will have monumental consequences. /x

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst noticed that Bondi flipped open a file during the Senate hearing and he zoomed in.

Inside were her crib notes for attacking the senators.

The GOP now practicing Cliff's Notes Fascism

In other words, under oath Bondi was purely a performance.

I could spend awhile just posting pictures of Link with sitting members of the US House of Representatives and US Senate. And at the White House.

Unfortunately, there are more pressing matters (the authoritarianism off this platform is a greater threat than on)

China — here is stem cell therapy breakthrough in treating severe diabetes

US under trump — WiFI radiation opens up your blood brain barrier … VaCcINes aRE bAd www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/h...

This is how it’s supposed to work btw.

New technology / automation makes production faster / more efficient, which ultimately displaces existing workers.

The state steps in and funds reskilling and retraining so workers aren’t left behind.

China’s approach isn’t perfect, but is the right one.

In China’s Factory Belt, Workers Race to Survive the Robot Era A nationwide reskilling push aims to prepare industrial workers for automation, but the pace of change is testing both people and institutions.

"To close the gap, Chinese authorities have launched an ambitious retraining effort, where local governments, schools, and companies are experimenting with joint programs to help workers catch up."

www.sixthtone.com/news/1017376

Nearly 70% of Americans believe the economy is headed in the wrong direction, according to a new Fannie Mae survey.

You can buy China's Unitree G1 Robot from Walmart in the US.

Meanwhile, no American robotics company has a working commercial product.

If I understand correctly what aaron is trying to say is that they use Hive for image identification/flagging but *don’t* feed anything in as training data…he just doesn’t know how to actually explain that clearly because bluesky hasn’t hired any comms people and desperately needs to.

Trump to Unveil Farmer Aid as China Shuns U.S. Crops As it did in 2018, the White House plans to dole out relief funds to struggling U.S. farmers who have lost their biggest customer.

As it did in 2018, the White House plans to dole out relief funds to struggling U.S. farmers who have lost their biggest customer, China, because of steep tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

Thanks to Trump’s tariffs on China, U.S. soybean farmers have lost their biggest customer and are grappling with higher prices for farming equipment.

Now, Trump has said he will bail out farmers — supposedly with the tariff revenue that caused the crisis to begin with.

Hello?

German chancellor threatens to boycott Eurovision if Israel excluded Chancellor Friedrich Merz says that if Israel is excluded from Eurovision 2026, Germany will not take part.

Good. Germany's blatant support of crimes beyond genocide, as one of the only repeat offenders in the world, should also mean it doesn't participate in Eurovision.

www.euronews.com/culture/2025...

HELLO! We are looking for a San Francisco based photographer to help with an exciting new project photographing some still life images! Any recommendations are welcome.

Please respond to this post or email us on the contact into on our site with your details if you're interested 📷❕