Michelle Martin

Because it fueled their hateful narrative about leftists. They were amped that they had a "gotcha" on the evil of leftists while also getting to play the persecution card. It's not about Kirk's death but the ideological truth they feel the event manifested.

When MAGA's Dear Leader does it, it's a sign of savvy and strength. Newsom is doing satire, which they fundamentally don't get. They're very confused right now.

Though I suppose it IS encouraging that the administration seems to have lost control of the fear-mongering portion of their anti-immigrant rhetoric. Or it would be encouraging if they weren't engaged in a frontal assault on immigrants and apparently indifferent to how the public feels about it.

It's so hard to feel heartened by these numbers when the concerns of last year (and the year leading up to it) felt like media-manipulated hysteria designed to sway the electorate.

I'd be curious to know if the frequency of ballot initiative repeals is increasing. My gut says it is, but I haven't seen any real research.

big epidemic on consumer-sourced review sites where the reader/watcher/etc is just talking about their expectations based on the description of the media and being angry when they're not "met." larger conversation about the Trope-ification of literature/film/etc i guess

Thank you!

I've actually been teaching for over 20 years. "Early career" refers to the duration of time at my current institution.

Teaching is a source of joy for me. It is nice to be recognized for the work I've been doing.

Vice signaling and edgelord comedy are close cousins. And they're both wrapped up in problematic ideas of masculinity and, for their political base, a deep-seated class insecurity.

Major decision out of the Northern District of California. AI training on copyrighted material is fair use under the copyright act. This will have major implications for the AI industry and artists having their work stolen by AI companies.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Iconic image of Rod Serling opening The Twilight Zone. B&W standing in front of a vertically striped display.

Picture, if you will, a world in which Kamala Harris was elected and dropped an f-bomb on camera.

JD Vance becomes the most blocked account on Bluesky after anti-trans post JD Vance has been blocked by 11 times more Bluesky accounts than those that follow him.

Advocate 20 Jun 25 - After joining BlueSky in an unsuccessful attempt at high-profile lib-trolling, VP Vance has become the most blocked account on B/S with ~120k blocks while gaining only ~10k followers. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

BBC Verify fact-checks Clay Travis

Political leaders just say whatever suits the moment now. No one's going to hold them to account when the news cycle lasts as long as it takes the average person to brush their teeth.

Remember Mordechai Vanunu? He spent 18 years in prison, including 11 in solitary, after his abduction in Italy, following his expose of Israel's nuclear weapon's programme.

The cartoon depict Trump as a tank being driven by Netanyahu towards Iran. War criminal Netanyahu is seen with a grin standing out of the top of Trump’s hair, through a tank hatch. The Israeli flag flies on top of Trump’s head and he has just run over and crushed a copy of the Iran Nuclear Deal. The whole cartoon suggests felon Trump is steered entirely by Netanyahu.

This cartoon was drawn 8 years ago.

It seems the right time for it to be reshared.

(✍️ Carlos Latuff)

'True mask off moment': GOP lawmaker says some jobs shouldn't pay workers enough to live Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Rep. Jesse Topper has faced criticism for his remarks on the House floor opposing livable wages. "Not every wage, and please hear me clearly on this, is designed t...

"Not every wage, and please hear me clearly on this, is designed to be a livable wage," he said during his speech.

www.alternet.org/gop-lawmaker...

Appalachia Isn’t the Reason We’re Living in Trump Country In 2016, two very transformative things happened that re-shaped my life: the country elected Donald Trump as president, and I moved from East Tennessee to Southeast Texas. These changes, in my mind…

Great idea. Pull from the exploited poor of America's internal colony and use them as cannon fodder. Probably because they're somehow responsible for Trump, right?

lithub.com/appalachia-i...

A pair of hands holding a moth in sunset shapes with wings borderedby yellow, white, and brown lines with sets of large eyespots.

A polyphemus moth my daughter found this evening.

When courts become clown cars....

Mr President sir the people are saying you’re not man enough to cancel Musk’s government contracts

It’s the happiest day of Elon Musk’s life because he finally posted something people actually want to read

TrueAnon reposted Kevin @kev_jg • 30m RT @realDonaldTrump: KILL THE BOER!!! 17 109 © 545 ihi 6.6K t TrueAnon reposted ye V @kanyewest • 14m Broooos please n000000 & We love you both so much Q 1.4K 17 2.8K • 15K Ill 491K TrueAnon @TrueAnonPod • 7m I'm hearing that Elon Musk may try to hurt the President.

Is comedy about to be legal again?

Elon Musk & X @elonmusk •1m Yes lan Miles Cheong@@stillgray •22m President vs Elon. Who wins? My money's on Elon. Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him. Elon Musk& @elonmusk • 11m Time to drop the really big bomb: 0... @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT! • 24K t7 41K © 85K hi 3.3M 贝 Elon Musk & X @elonmusk Subscribe Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out. 3:20 PM • Jun 5, 2025 • 364.6K Views 17 1.4K O 14K 贝 2.2K © 321 17202 • 1.4K

if the fight is fake, elon is committed to the bit

Systems are crumbling – but daily life continues. The dissonance is real If everything feels broken but strangely normal, the Soviet-era concept of hypernormalization can help

And it dovetails nicely with this:
www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-...

“Yes, it was extraordinary . Yes, it was all impossible. But, after all, I had accepted the "impossible." I lived with it. I had abandoned all expectations of the ordinary for my inner world, my real life in that place. And as for the public, the outer world, it had been a long time since that offered the normal. Could one perhaps describe that period as "the ordinariness of the extraordinary”? Well, the reader should have no difficulty here: these words are a description of the times we have lived through. (A description of all life?-- probably, but it is not much help to think so.) ….While everything, all forms of social organization, broke up, we lived on, as if nothing fundamental was happening. It was amazing how determined, how stubborn, how self-renewing were the attempts to lead an ordinary life. When nothing, or very little, was left of what we had been used to, had taken for granted even ten years before, we went on talking and behaving as if those old forms were still ours.” Doris Lessing, The Memoirs of a Survivor

Doris Lessing, from Memoirs of a Survivor.

I definitely don't have a lot of followers, but there have been some very decisive spikes. 1. Getting added to an Appalachian starter pack; 2. A reply or two to Mountain Goats (the band) posts that were well-liked; 3. Pics of my goats (the animals).

These Pelham covers blow me away every time.

I have a Zune mp3 player from 2007 or so that still works. And the washer and dryer that came with our house are probably at least 20 years old. We had to make one repair (our fault, not the washer's!) and the repair guy said...."they don't make 'em like they used to."