Cognitive Dissidence

Aurora sky featuring brilliant reds and greens, screened by trees

Aurora borealis from my front yard.

@jonburkeUK You can’t afford a coal mine. You can’t afford a gas turbine. You can’t afford an oil rig. Only fossil fuel states and billionaires can. But you can afford a solar power station on your roof. Now, ask yourself why you encounter so much anti-renewable energy propaganda.

That icky sense of growing deeply ashamed for your country worsens with each passing day this sorry excuse for a human being remains in office. From the NYT:

"The Trump administration told states that they must “immediately undo” any actions to provide full food stamp benefits to low-income […]

Step 1: deliberately scare people with misinformation and lies about what a proposed policy or plan will do. Step2: wait for misinformed people to complain. Step 3: say that “clearly people are concerned,“ so we should “listen to the people“ and reject the plan. The Populist Playbook

Step 4: mainstream media “reports the controversy” rather than the fact it was manufactured, and the amplify the quotes of those who manufactured it.. Step5: other elected leaders who know the truth, still vote against the good plan or policy, because they’re too afraid of the “heat.“

Have you heard of “The Populist Playbook?”

A few years ago, I posted what I still consider one of my most important messages.

It was about “The Populist Playbook” that I’ve watched play out often over my 33+ years of city planning.

Since then, it’s only gotten worse.

Do the steps sound familiar?

Tomorrow I have an interview with the New York Times about that fucking space mirror company. Also an interview about Dark and Quiet Skies in general for the Supermassive podcast https://www.izzieclarke.com/supermassive

Wowee. I need a nap after that adrenaline let down (but meetings and […]

Now imagine something 4 times brighter that the full moon, but a single point source, moving across the sky as fast as a Starlink satellite. It's so bright that it would definitely not feel good to look at, and would instantly destroy your night vision. If you look at it with binoculars or a […]

Right to life. Prohibition of torture. Prohibition of slavery and forced labour. Right to liberty and security. Right to a fair trial. No punishment without law. Right to respect for private and family life. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Freedom of expression. Freedom of assembly and association. Right to marry. Right to an effective remedy. Prohibition of discrimination. Prohibition of abuse of rights. EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 75 YEARS (1950 - 2025)

75 years ago today, European nations signed this Convention, so the Holocaust could not be repeated. Beware those who want this to end.

Trump Threatened To invade [Insert Country] [pic of buill murray with mic from groundhogs day movie] You can reuse this meme tomorrow...

#venezuela #mexico

There's money for a ballroom/bunker. There's money to fire live ammunition over I-5. There's money to send the National Guard to take over peaceful cities.

But there's no money to feed Americans who need help to provide nutritious meals to their families.

VOTE TODAY TO SAY NO TO REPUBLICAN CRUELTY

Majority Says Tariffs Are Hurting Family Finances - Joe.My.God. ABC News reports: Most Americans say they are spending more on groceries and utilities and say tariffs hurt inflation, the economy and their own financial situations, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel. As inflation climbs, about 7 in 10 Americans say they are spending more money on groceries compared to …

Majority Says Tariffs Are Hurting Family Finances - Joe.My.God.

https://www.joemygod.com/2025/11/majority-says-tariffs-are-hurting-family-finances/

Ehud Barak Rapist Pedophile Epstein Client #ReleaseTheEpsteinFiles

So, we're gonna let this fucker slip away?

#EhudBarak #IndictAlexAcosta #ChildRapistTrump #GhislaineMaxwell #JeffreyEpstein #TrumpEpsteinFiles #EpsteinFiles #MAGA #DonaldTrump #PamBondi #USPol

I'm looking for a piece of software that will let a preschooler use a mouse or touchpad to pick up images of musical notes, plop them onto a musical staff, and play back the resulting row of tones. All the ones I've seen are too complicated. Any suggestions?

#music #sheetmusic #software #toddler

Day 34 of the pedo government shutdown.

Pedo protector Mike Johnson hasn’t held a single vote in the House since September 19.

Meanwhile, the pro-pedo GOP is hiding, refusing to work with Democrats to lower health care costs or keep food on Americans’ tables.

Pennsylvania progressives—need to own this failure. PA voters were sold a fraud. @johnfetterman.com he is a scam artist, not a leader. pure deception.

@conorlambpa.bsky.social , you were the right choice. You warned everyone about this MAGA fraud,, PA, and spread the word.
#FraudAlert #PAvotes

These fake and debunked bomb threats in NJ are why we tell people to let go of old sentimental notions of voting on "Election Day" and vote early by mail, dropbox, or in person if you can, but early.

We live in a different world now where authoritarians will play these election suppressing […]

Lynda Barry comic about monsters

Genius grant winner Lynda Barry presents proof ghosts and monsters are real in this NY Times #uspol #cartoon
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/opinion/immigration-halloween-monsters.html

Why Are There No Trees in #Scotland? Thousands of years of human activities shaped the treeless landscape

https://travelness.com/why-are-there-no-trees-in-scotland

October 31, 2025.
Detections of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Livestock www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po...

https://givefreely.com/charity-directory/nonprofit/ein-311681190/

What’s wrong with Wendy’s? | CNN Business For a logo with a trademark grin, Wendy’s has little to smile about nowadays.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/31/food/wendys-problems-third-quarter-earnings-preview

Hey Wendy's, I know how you can get at least one customer back: join the Alliance for Fair Food.

Happy Halloween, my friends!

Once again, the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles is asking people to send digital Halloween cards to kids in the hospital. Not only will a child receive a goody bag and a copy of your card to color in, but $1 will be donated by a donor for every card sent, up to […]

Screenshot of an article headline "AI layoffs to backfire: Half quietly rehired at lower pay" with "at lower pay" being highlighted

This is sometimes read as "look 'AI' isn't working". But the opposite is true.

_This_ is what "AI" is _for_. Push down labor power, push down wages, make employment more insecure.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/forrester_ai_rehiring/

Thinking about how, when George W. Bush Jr. ran for president, it came out that he was basically an alcoholic, irresponsible failson *into his 40s*, despite being given opportunity after opportunity (a whole f'ing baseball team!). Then, when he finally decided to cosplay adult ...

The Times of London narrowly avoided another embarrassment when it realized that it had reached the wrong “Andrew Cuomo” online upon receiving a response without gutter bigotry or sex pestilence.

I reject the notion that we must coddle and support people who don’t want to live near people who speak other languages, and it’s not clear to me how this is significantly different than “it’s fine not to want to live next door to someone of a different ethnicity or religion.”

This sounds like a her issue.

Being Latino in the United States Should Not Be a Crime

As is typical for Mr. Trump, he has identified a real problem — illegal immigration — but responded with a destructive solution. For decades, the United States tolerated a level of illegal immigration that fostered a sense of lawlessness at the border and frustrated many Americans, including many Latinos. The Biden administration’s porous policies worsened the situation, making possible the largest immigration surge in American history, with most of the arrivals lacking legal permission to enter the country. Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to reverse those policies, and he has an electoral mandate to do so. At the border, he has succeeded at reducing illegal entries to the lowest levels in decades.

knew immediately this would have an abysmal 'to be sure' paragraph

Carney: “What makes those emissions go down will be carbon capture and storage.”

That is a declaration of war on Canada's environmentalists, who know (as does Carney) that scalable and viable capture/storage technologies are science fiction […]

@paninid

There's a story by Robert Heinlein called "The Moon is a Harsh Misteress" which is a retelling of the American Revolution in a futuristic setting on the moon. At the beginning of the story, people living there are basically in a prison colony.

That's what rich people want. They want […]

Trump, 79, Posts Deranged Medical Advice at 4am The president once again dispensed dubious medical advice for pregnant women.

Would that he would only take his own advice…

Trump, 79, Posts Deranged Medical Advice at 4am
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-posts-deranged-medical-advice-at-4am-from-malaysia/