Carol Tilley 🏳️‍🌈

Blink Twice to Quell a Quasar: Carl Sagan on Superstition Growing up in Bulgaria, in a city teeming in stray dogs and cars, I was deeply distressed by the sight of each dead animal in the streets between home and school — deaths I could not prevent …

Goodnight, friends.

At The Marginalian, @mariapopova.bsky.social writes,

"And yet as we lean on our crutches of magical thinking, we forget that we are hobbling through a reality already full of magic — hummingbirds and ghost pipes, cordyceps and cosmic rays."

Don't forget to look.

I love you.

Americans have historically focused their energies on new opportunities, rather than reflecting on their past. Even the founding fathers could be seen as opportunistic as they strove to leave Old World traditions behind & strike forth on an adventure in the uncharted wilderness of the new frontier. Such growth was long ago recognized as this country’s “Manifest Destiny,” a term first used in 1845 by writer John O’Sullivan to express a belief in the providential mission of the republic to grow & expand across the continent. That the entire country already was inhabited by myriad Native American tribes was an afterthought for many of these early settlers, as was any idea that the new nation’s seemingly boundless resources were, in fact, exhaustible. “Go west!” was the ubiquitous call that attracted hundreds of explorers & the thousands of of settlers who followed. National progress meant moving forward, ignoring the past & leaving historical resources behind as a residual of our society

How to Think About Homeland Security’s Unhinged #Art Posts
news.artnet.com/art-...

Was stunned to see unironic tweet about Gast's American Progress because the painting functions in the historic #preservation text I use as the epitome of narrow views re: ppl, history, resources

Whoa, Alabama. 💥

Birmingham-area activists put up a Trump–Epstein billboard on a busy highway: “What’s the big secret, fellas?”

Bless this human.

It sort of says a bag with different things in it.

My best friend who watches Maddow just called to tell me that she landed the plane and plainly stated that the US is currently being ruled by a consolidating authoritarian regime. Not that it is 'descending into' etc etc but that it is here. Maybe this will move more liberals to say the same.

Blink Twice to Quell a Quasar: Carl Sagan on Superstition Growing up in Bulgaria, in a city teeming in stray dogs and cars, I was deeply distressed by the sight of each dead animal in the streets between home and school — deaths I could not prevent …

Goodnight, friends.

At The Marginalian, @mariapopova.bsky.social writes,

"And yet as we lean on our crutches of magical thinking, we forget that we are hobbling through a reality already full of magic — hummingbirds and ghost pipes, cordyceps and cosmic rays."

Don't forget to look.

I love you.

Anyway, moral of the story is that you should all make zines and leave some at the laundromat.

Purdue student detained by ICE and taken to troubled Louisiana holding facility Yeonsoo Go, 20, was detained after her immigration hearing in Manhattan and taken away by ICE agents.

Go, a college student, has a dependent visa (her mother, an Episcopal minister, is here on a religious worker visa), which doesn't expire until Dec. But when she tried to renew it early, ICE nabbed her and sent her halfway across the US to a detention center.
www.wthr.com/article/news...

Brazil Supreme Court justice orders house arrest of former president Bolsonaro Brazil's Supreme Court on Monday issued an house arrest order for former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is standing trial for allegedly plotting a coup, in a move that could escalate tensions with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

BREAKING: Brazil's Supreme Court issued a house arrest order for former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is standing trial for allegedly plotting a coup, in a move that could escalate tensions with the US Trump administration reut.rs/3HiWAaf

Be aware that another shitty bill has been introduced: The SCREEN Act.

If passed, it would require Full. Age. Verification.

Like KOSA, call all your reps & tell them what a horrible idea this is.

Spread this pls.

Link: www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

#screenact #badinternetbills
#stopkosa

Oh, don't I feel this in my bones.

No. Absolutely not. This violates many different ethical codes and should not be encouraged in any way.

Here’s the thing, this doesn’t just apply to Missouri. GOP-dominated states, and their attorneys general, are all pushing for terrible policies.

If we don’t contest races in red states, if we don’t have the money to fight in these races, it ruins the entire country.

PMO: Benjamin Netanyahu decides full IDF occupation of Gaza | The Jerusalem Post The Prime Minister's Office conveyed the message to the Chief of Staff: If this does not suit you, then you should resign.

Think about every pro-Israel person who denied this was the plan for the past 22 months; who gaslit you; denied this to you; pretended this wasn't the plan.

And then never believe those liars about anything ever again.

Texas governor threatens Democrats who left state to prevent congressional map vote – US politics live Greg Abbott says he will try to remove Democrats unless they return to allow vote to take place on redrawing the US House map to favour Republicans

Do you know which state has the largest number of Black residents?

TEXAS (nearly 4 million)

Trump’s demand that TX redistrict & the Republican legislature’s acquiescence is an attack on Black representation. Stand with Texas Dems.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

Trump Went to War With the Ivies. Community Colleges Are Being Hit.

“Like their four-year counterparts, community colleges are grappling with disappearing federal grants, shuttered D.E.I. offices, eliminated programs… many of the grants that fund financial aid for low-income students and the staff that support them have been eliminated or threatened”

Nope!

a cartoon drawing of a cat sitting on top of a hamster Alt: a cartoon drawing of Pusheen the cat riding on top of a capybara

Goodnight, friends.

A simple wish that as this week unfurls itself that you have the things you most need*.

I love you.

*I'm certain that one of the things you'll need is this gif of Pusheen riding a capybara.

You and me both!

a cartoon drawing of a cat sitting on top of a hamster Alt: a cartoon drawing of Pusheen the cat riding on top of a capybara

Goodnight, friends.

A simple wish that as this week unfurls itself that you have the things you most need*.

I love you.

*I'm certain that one of the things you'll need is this gif of Pusheen riding a capybara.

Crockett: My former colleagues from the Texas House—decided to get the hell out of Texas… breaking quorum is where they’re at right now. And they didn’t just do it by themselves—they went to Illinois, where there is a governor that gives a damn. This fight is going to take all of us.

The Trump Administration’s Campaign to Undermine the Next Election The executive branch is interfering in U.S. elections in unprecedented ways.

I’m not a doomer, but seeing all of this stuff laid out in one place, combined with seeing continued reports of businesses and universities and law firms capitulating to threats, combined with SCOTUS seemingly rubber stamping everything, makes me really, really apprehensive.

🤣

Dream turns to nightmare for midwest town in grip of US migrant crackdown An imam’s detention, firings and police violence have sown fear among immigrants who helped revive an Ohio town

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine How a single consulting firm extracted $282 million from a network of spam PACs while delivering just $11 million to actual campaigns.

The annoying spam texts destroying the Democratic brand:

$678M raised through those spam tactics

$282M to one consulting firm: Mothership Strategies.

$11M to actual campaigns (1.6%)

The party isn’t just treating donors like marks—it’s being fleeced itself yet continues to back Mothership.

The filter pump circulates it like one of those PTA carnival rubber ducky races.