Andy In Arlington

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, Isaac Asimov

things every single republican president of your lifetime has done

- started a war in the middle east
- completely destroyed the economy

Satellite proposals threaten the night sky In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the agency responsible for authorizing satellite launches and operations…

Right OK so what can you do? Great news, especially if you're in the US (insert feelings here), both @darkskyintl.bsky.social and @aas.org have handy guides for how to write an FCC comment.
This is sort of astronomers' equivalent of "call your elected officials" kind of call to action, for context.

SpaceX Aims to Launch 1 Million AI Data Center Satellites The satellites could ruin dark skies, pollute the atmosphere, and increase space debris — and the public has a limited time to comment.

Experts are concerned that the satellites could ruin dark skies, pollute the atmosphere, and worsen the space debris. The public has a limited time to comment.
skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

This story by J. Dale Shoemaker is commendable with even more crucial details -- "Blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol is dead...." www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/25/b...

i like them in your regular feed. Discovered some new music I never heard before.

Canceled WAPO, Twitter last year, subscribed to WETA-Pbs. Shop at Cosco. Still have some work to do.

The underlying problem nobody wants to talk about. 

The best and most humane way to decrease the undocumented immigrant population in this country is to create a situation in their home countries that provides economic stability and physical security so that they want to return to the soil of their generational homes.

The thing is...science doesn't care about your politics, as we will soon learn.

Extremely funny that the U.S. is going to become a zombie patent monopoly, all the mRNA tech in the world and none of the societal benefits, transnational corporations giving that shit to Canadians like Halloween candy as we try to cross Niagara Falls by barrel like it’s 1832

Spotlighting The World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell Somewhat devastating news today from the CIA: One of CIA’s oldest and most recognizable intelligence publications, The World Factbook, has sunset. There's not even a hint as to why they …

The CIA just stopped publishing their World Factbook and took every page, including the archived copies of previous versions!

This sucks. It was public domain, so I recovered the 2020 edition (the last one published as a zip file) and shared it to GitHub simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/5/t...

Whoa! This is really disturbing. This website was so helpful!!

This in Fahrenheit.
Imagine living here without electricity or without heat—or both—and with your notifications looking like this.

God I love it when young people have a good idea and make shit happen

This is, quite frankly, complete bullshit. I’ve received more criticism, harassment, and — at one point — calls for my death in the past six months of criticizing this administration than I did in an entire FBI career of investigations, operations, and arrests. And I never wore a goddamn mask.

You’re More Likely to Be Killed by ICE/CBP Than by an Undocumented Immigrant And the government is lying about it.

In all of 2025, there were 8 substantiated homicides attributed to undocumented immigrants nationwide.

ICE and CBP have already killed 9 people in January 2026 alone.

The “dangerous immigrant” narrative collapses under scrutiny.

Full breakdown:
open.substack.com/pub/rebekahj...

I'm really liking this guy. The FBI is usually led by a lawyer. I think the next real President should perhaps ask for Chief O'Hara's resume when considering their choice. He seems to have a good grasp on law enforcement done right.

I just checked—it turns out that Art. II, Sec. 1 of the Constitution of the United States does *not* say "The executive Power shall be vested in a bunch of sociopaths who think they can do whatever the fuck they want and make shit up as they go along."

Statement from Michael and Susan Pretti Parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti “We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the ‘hero’ term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.

Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti.

"Please get the truth out about our son."

Alex Pretti from his early days working at the VA

Alex from our time working together, while he was in nursing school. Later, he moved to ICU, working as a nurse to support critically ill Veterans. He had such a great attitude. We’d chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now

So much this 👇

Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin’s autobiography is just amazing. Every astronomer should read it.

Here she is talking about her memories of Annie Jump Cannon.

Virginia will rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Spanberger says Gov. Abigail Spanberger said Virginia will rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the multistate coalition that aims to reduce the use of fossil fuels as an energy source. The state left th…

Glad to see @governorva.bsky.social and the General Assembly moving to ensure Virginia rejoins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. RGGI helped bring millions of dollars for clean energy and flood mitigation, and will help lower costs for Virginians. A good deal for our Commonwealth.

"Missile and drone barrage unleashed on Kyiv comes hours after Donald Trump invited Vladimir Putin to join his 'Board of Peace'"- FT

With alt text.

Emboldened Virginia Democrats focus on clean energy, affordability Their proposals include bills intended to increase renewables and energy storage, expand utility efficiency programs and improve load forecasting.

In Virginia lawmakers are pushing clean energy with affordability top of mind 🌞⚡️

Policies aim to expand solar, storage and efficiency while lowering bills, showing climate solutions can go hand-in-hand with economic relief and grid resilience. 🌱💡 #CleanEnergyEconomy

The first time I heard her on the radio I instantly thoughtt sheeas great and I didn't know who she was at the time. The song was Zombie.

Jeff Bezos "should sell the paper if he doesn't want to do the bare minimum of standing up for his own employee being targeted by the government."

@samsteindc.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social on today's Bulwark Podcast:

Opinion | $25 Billion. That’s What Trump Cost Detroit.

Trump's war on EVs "isn’t industrial policy; it’s industrial suicide."