steven_mps

a bump for the evening crowd

Claim: 10 cars rammed ICE
Truth: No cars rammed ICE

Claim: She boxed ICE in
Truth: ICE boxed her in

Claim: She shot a rifle at ICE
Truth: She did not have a rifle

Claim: ICE returned fire
Truth: Only ICE fired

Claim: She drove herself to the hospital
Truth: Paramedics found her

The Spine Stealers aim to author a bold new chapter Songwriters Emma O'Shea and Kate Ruland open up about their burgeoning career.

Very fond of this particular piece, and of the band at its heart. Give a read, give a listen, etc:

tonemadison.com/articles/the...

For the last five years, I've tried to get various local acts to open up about the business-end of being a musician in 2025. A few have delivered great bits of commentary, but The Spine Stealers and I went deep on what that looks like—and means—for a band on the precipice of a breakout.

they are relying on you being afraid to post, say, or do anything meaningfully confrontational

they are relying on using the fear of repercussion to quell dissent and solidarity

they are relying on eliminating any and all pathways that lead to THEM being punished

don’t fall for it — fight back

yank the masks

slash the tires

Justice Dept. Official Pushes Prosecutors to Investigate George Soros’s Foundation The directive suggests department leaders are following orders from the president, a major break from decades of past practice meant to insulate the agency from political interference.

The report broached a contentious claim, stating that the group “has poured over $80 million into groups tied to terrorism or extremist violence.” It cited as one example al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights group critical of Israel. The report noted that the Israeli government declared in 2022 that al-Haq was a front for terrorist activity. At the time, the Open Society Foundations criticized that move by the Israeli government, saying it was not based on credible evidence, and was intended to discredit and silence Palestinian human rights groups.

American fascists build on the work of Israeli fascists in spreading lies about a Holocaust survivor, hoping to terminate what remains of civil liberties in the US:

via https://www.memelord.blog/p/the-punk-rock-comedy-capitalist "Remember the whole Hard Drive debacle with Elon Musk?" (laughs) I do remember, yes! "I can imagine you were in an awkward position. You were still running The Hard Times and Hard Drive, and the team there, putting it mildly, doesn't like Elon Musk much." Maybe then you would have seen that I was not exactly the most gung-ho person on attacking Elon. I drive a Tesla. I am an entrepreneur. I think he's one of, if not the greatest entrepreneur of all time. Another thing he did was let us tell jokes.

it is nice for my old boss at Hard Drive to put in writing that he loves Elon Musk and was uninvolved in us wrecking him on twitter lol

Jane Hobson's new single exudes an empathetic warmth "Walking In Circles" is an understated indie-rock gem.

Great write-up about singer-songwriter Jane Hobson by @stevenmps.bsky.social. I've been following her on Tiktok and enjoying her music and had no clue she had Madison ties! tonemadison.com/articles/jan...

How a secret recording of a gender identity lecture upended Texas A&M Officials have struggled to detail the exact reasons for the A&M professor’s termination, citing a technical issue with her course description. Faculty say the move was politically motivated.

This is an absolutely terrific piece from @texastribune.org and reinforces my belief that the best coverage of right-wing cancelations occur at the local level, after years of the national media focusing on threats from the left.
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...

Yesterday we learned that Trump micromanages the prosecution of his enemies and that the head of his secret police was filmed accepting a $50k bribe in a paper bag. Still, for the editors of NYT, the sanctification of Charlie Kirk, saint and martyr is a bigger news story. This paper is soulless.

Nothing Wild, by Holly and the Nice Lions track by Holly and the Nice Lions

Had a lovely talk w/ David Levithan + Jens Lekman for WI Book Fest on Wednesday, which was (welcomely) a bit twee & soft.

Scale-balancing today by indulging my grimy, scuzzy punk side via the first single release from the band’s upcoming album:

hollyandthenicelions.bandcamp.com/track/nothin...

Dems: Have the most softly-thrown softball pitch, have their feet planted & shoulders squared

Also dems: *Watch the pitch coming from a mile away, drop the bat, take out a gun, shoot themselves in the foot, are flabbergasted that they're losing significant parts of their base, get hit by the ball*

A boost for the midday crowd. Event's tonight, really looking forward to talking with Jens and David (and seeing Jens play a bit of music). Doors at 6, show at 7. Free. UW Music Hall.

deeply + profoundly annoyed that fb retains their stranglehold on events. sure, it has robust infra, but the userbase is dying, the platform itself has been so enshittified that it's barely navigable, yet it remains THE platform to schedule/track events.

need a new socials platform to step up.

YouTube video by JensLekmanVEVO Jens Lekman - Candy From A Stranger (Official Video)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCAA...

I'll be moderating a Wisconsin Book Fest event tomorrow evening at the university, to talk with author David Levithan and songwriter Jens Lekman about their collaborative novel, 'Songs For Other People's Weddings.' We'll talk. Jens will play a few tunes.

Come out!

www.facebook.com/events/40773...

No coincidence the very first thing he did is blame the Jews. This is literally straight out of the 1930s. Say political opponents are to blame for everything, claim only submission to the right's views will bring unity, and employ the full power of the State to implement it.

If GB gets you to 5-0 your protection, the rep is over. Micah is just too good to leave 1v1. Every inside counter is available because of his lateral quickness

thank goodness the president isn't on bluesky or he might get suspended for these remarks.

Just a reminder that the p*lice are defunding YOU

rightwing media ecosystem operates by stoking hatred and anger and divisions every single day, they want people to constantly be afraid and want people to hate eachother, everything we are seeing is a result of the destablization the right has profited off of

i'm looking REAL fucking sideways at dems rushing to denounce this as an "inhumane evil" or whatever the hell w/o bothering to touch on why kirk might have been targeted in the first place

so far, pritzker's one of the only people at an upper-echelon level to actually indulge in SOME reason

That dynamic cuts both ways, as well. It’s a never-ending cycle, and it emerges w/regularity when rhetoric, policy, & action reach a boiling point.

We’ve been past that boiling point for a while.

Things seem set to be ugly for everyone, & that might be by design.

Be cautious/careful, folks.

Just to repeat:underscore: anyone trying to pass this off as remotely “shocking” haven’t been paying one bit of fucking attention to *gestures at how everything has been developing for decades*

When people are openly inciting violence & targeting people, violence will, inevitably, be returned

Extraordinarily bleak shit abounds here, & all of it is inherently reflective of the landscape that has been meticulously cultivated by an unhinged far-right movement that will do literally anything to consolidate + fortify the power they’ve successfully seized for themselves

Now the concern fundamentally has to shift to the scope of militarized response + a long, drawn out finger-pointing game that enacts more damage than productivity (that’s going to be expedited by a compromised legacy media structure not built to effectively handle these types of moments)

For months, I’ve been thinking about how the far-right has hit such a point of undesirability via overwhelming cruel and short-sighted rhetoric/policy, that their nuclear option could be to try to garner support/sympathy via leaning in, aiming for martyrdom, & hoping for momentous results.

Like it or not, we *are* and *have been* in an era of extraordinary political violence.

It’s just been happening on a scale that has been easier to ignore, because the everyday people who are constantly bearing the brunt of it have been “unimportant” & effectively anonymized.

This isn’t shocking