iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Aaron

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Goddamn, this point by @anandwrites.bsky.social really needed saying.

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I think about this all the time and how much of our economy is about massive scaling and how much better it would be in nearly every way if it was still ok to just own a bespoke brand selling a really high quality niche thing and just doing it very well and making a good living.

110

Reposted by Aaron

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

How is it not news when the president nods off in public meetings and press conferences dozens of times? If you follow independent media, you see it and know about it. But why hasn’t CBS, NBC or ABC showed a montage of it on their evening news? They simply refuse to ever show it.

801118423222

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I love when this text thread reappears on my phone. The Colorado mail ballot system is the gold standard that every state should model after. Voting should be easier, more accessible, and protected for everyone.

Screenshot of texts from the Colorado government with messages confirming that ballots were sent and that ballots were received.

000

Reposted by Aaron

Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

"Among the first to appear before the judge was Angel, a 13-year-old. He had no attorney. “Would you like to request voluntary departure, or should I issue a removal order?” the judge asked “I don’t know,” Angel said, bursting into tears: “I have no one. I have nothing.” www.cnn.com/2026/09/28/p...

cnn.com

Inside the Texas courtroom where toddlers face immigration judges | CNN Politics

Migrant children as young as 2 are showing up at immigration courts nationwide, many without attorneys, to try make their case to stay in the US and avoid deportation.

44837431875

Reposted by Aaron

WuTangIsForTheChildren @wutangforchildren.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Jack Smith….man of the people at the Power to the People concert hanging out on the lawn….no fancy pavilion seats or backstage laminate pass

1070243095203

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Restaurant struggles are a part of a larger story in America where costs for everything have soared (education, healthcare, entertainment) while the accumulated wages & wealth have gone to the 1%, thereby pricing the majority out of basic aspects of life. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

podcasts.apple.com

The Restaurant Industry Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed?

Podcast Episode · The Daily · October 4 · 37m

000

Reposted by Aaron

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 02/10/2026

"It could chill rights of contractors to make political contributions" -- unearthed footage shows Susan Collins in 2012 fighting to protect contractors from having to disclose political contributions (we recently learned she was under investigation for a pay-to-play scheme involving a contractor)

41997343538

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Sports parent hack: noise canceling headphones so you don’t have to listen to the sports parents.

001

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

This is a really important message from @jamellebouie.net. The problem is right wing radicalization, not both sides polarization. youtu.be/gwW90Xrfon4?...

youtu.be

Forget about "polarization"; the real problem with American politics is the radicalized right-wing

YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie

000

Reposted by Aaron

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026

You can't get anyone in political media to say it plainly, but GOP strategy for several decades now has been built around the fact that its core goals/policies are *wildly unpopular*. Everything depends on a) polluting the information environment, b) cementing unfair structural advantages, & c) $$$.

341616444

Reposted by Aaron

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I don’t think everyone realizes how bad things are for US science: For the fiscal year that just ended, the Trump regime withheld $1.4 billion from the National Science Foundation’s research budget, which is about 1/5 of its primary research budget.

nytimes.com

National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress (Gift Article)

The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.

201827906

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

What is NOT manly? driving a truck that looks like an assault vehicle and it so big it murders anyone it hits. putting others down and making them feel small to feed your own ego. carrying a gun because you're afraid of other people. raping women. none of that is manly, it's pathetic, weak & horrid.

000

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Our society needs to categorically reject the Rogan/Hegseth/et al bs about what is "manly". Caring about people, society, environment, is manly. Showing empathy, having understanding, having virtue, are all manly.

100

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

And I get it, change is hard, and society is changing, but I don't really GAF. All the Scott Galloway stuff and others talking about what we need to do for men and why they're struggling. No, sorry, do better. Adapt. Be bette humans. Care about others.

100

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

As a male, a white male, I am so sick and tired of privileged white males being excused and coddled all the time. From the shitbirds in the Cornel frat all the way to the POTUS. Always getting away with shit while always complaining about being wronged and left behind. Just f'ing do better.

100

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I think we should note that Nobody should be surprised that: 1) we reached this point with college athletics. NCAA wanted a B$ business, and they got one. 2) that the Senate got involved it on behalf of the Business, I mean University, interests and not the workers/players.

000

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

My unpopular opinion: instead of this Senate bill, Universities should spinout billion$ athletics as for-profit licensed entities, turn them into minor leagues to the NFL and NBA with a loose affiliation to the university, & recruit players directly and let them unionize.

100

Reposted by Aaron

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Whether it’s Benjamin Netanyahu empowering Hamas, presiding over a massive intelligence failure that let them kill 1,200 Israelis on October 7th, and then killing 74,000 Palestinians in response or Zohran Mamdani pointing out that he did this, both men have fueled their bitter feud.

221667305

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Why don’t people commute by train in Denver? Train in Denver:

Photos from train platform of highway right next to it.

011

Reposted by Aaron

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

When they get back in power, Democrats need to go all-in on higher education. We need a campaign of reinvestment in public universities across the country that makes the Morrill Land-Grant Act look like nothing by comparison *and* a GI Bill of Rights-style program of tuition grants.

20752441428

Reposted by Aaron

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I know Rahm Emanuel. I worked with him for years in the Clinton administration, and then when he was Obama’s chief of staff. Rahm Emanuel represents everything that’s been wrong about the Democratic Party for the last 30+ years. Be warned. robertreich.substack.com/p/the-rahm…

1296190436199

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

A classics approach to fraud: Pay out the ass for something and get nothing out of it.

010

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Justin Ellis with a #USMNT 4th minute goal! Is it too early to declare us the contenders for the 2030 World Cup?

010

Reposted by Aaron

Einav Rabinovitch-Fox @einavrfox.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

There‘s much to appreciate in Mamdani, but his insistence that culture isn’t a privilege of the rich is one of his strengths.It is reminiscent of how unions and the government treated it in the 1930s -art for the masses - paintings, music, opera, theater - democracy for all.

9740180

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It’s amazing how the internet has exposed just how many people are atrocious racist sexist pieces of shit. My assumption is this was always there, suppressed & not public, and the Internet just gives people the platform and license to be complete fucking assholes. apple.news/Ale5SgezpTte...

apple.news

A College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to Work — WIRED

Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back.

000

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

youtu.be/7C4EMFNr-bc?... “A lot of glazed here, some ‘sprinkles stuff’, ...just whatever makes sense" JD Vance ordering donuts is objectively hilarious. For the life of me I'll never understand why Harris/Walz went "serious" when they should have stayed with "weird".

youtu.be

They're saying the "J" in J.D. Vance stands for "Juiceless"

YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie

000

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Susan Collins has learned her lesson. - by Susan Collins

010

Reposted by Aaron

Steven Beschloss @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The tragedy has been so knowable. This from seven years ago — and we’re still paying for so many Americans letting it happen.

762134263874

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Prediction: 26 - Dems take House & Senate. 27-28 - Any of: Economy tanks, inflation sores, etc. 28 - Dems win presidency but other shit pinned on them, Republicans win back House & Senate. 29-32 - Republicans block everything. Dem president gets blamed for everything. 32 - Republicans sweep again

000

Reposted by Aaron

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

i don't understand how the gas prices have not yet caused a mutiny

1651880144

Reposted by Aaron

Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

msnow is currently doing a segment about hasan piker being a problem for dems

1173670470

Reposted by Aaron

Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Democratic strategists: Ahhh! What's the right message!!?? Where do we moderate!?!? Jon Ossoff: This administration is horrible. I hate these people. We should put them in jail. I'm pissed Voters: This guy is cool Strategists: I can't figure it out!!!!!

354169613027

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

My grandmother was a polio survivor. I only ever knew her without a leg brace and special shoes so that she could even walk. Vaccines are one of the 5 greatest medical discoveries in human history. We need a defined and clear plan to shut these nuts down and stop disinformation.

000

Reposted by Aaron

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

New — I wrote about this weird thing where people within the Republican party keep being exposed as Nazis and the party then tries to claim each one is an aberration. The facts, as I lay out here, indicate otherwise:

thehandbasket.co

Republicans don’t have a Nazi problem—they are the Nazi problem

A spate of recent revelations have shown the ideologies and their adherents are one and the same.

10182532701

Reposted by Aaron

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Reminder: voter fraud is not a thing. Voter suppression is.

362137604961

Reposted by Aaron

Caroleeena @caroleeena.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Macklemore can sue Robert Kraft for Tortious Interference for economic harm and I hope he does. Discovery would be fun: "Which other stadium owners did you talk to?" and "We need all related emails, text messages and contracts between you and them and you and Sheeran and Sheeran's team."

20287702031

Aaron @aaronc-smith.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We learned this about nuclear weapons before, but it could again in fact be the case that there is global alignment to regulate something that could end society. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/w...

nytimes.com

China’s Top Spy Chief Warns A.I. Is a Threat to Party Rule

Even as Beijing urges the United States not to hype the dangers of A.I., its own spy chief is framing the technology as a threat to the Communist Party’s security.

000

Reposted by Aaron

Richard J @preachypreach.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

quite something this paragraph.

After meeting with delegates from the two sides in South Florida, Kushner and Witkoff emerged with a peace plan that would have required Ukraine to accept nearly all of Russia’s demands: ceding territory, promising never to join NATO, and drastically shrinking its army. Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, hailed the proposal as “a good plan for both Russia and Ukraine.” But, when the plan became public, it collapsed under a wave of outrage. Even Rubio reportedly derided it as “Russia’s wish list.”
Some observers suspect that Russia has effectively offered the Americans business deals in exchange for a favorable peace agreement. “This is the generally held view,” the former U.S. official in the region told me. A classified report produced by a European intelligence agency states that Trump and people around him have discussed several potential contracts in Russia. The report is not dated, but the European official who gave it to me said that the details were first discussed sometime after Trump invited Putin to Anchorage, in August, 2025. Twice that year, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, was allowed to enter the U.S., where he talked about investment opportunities. “The privatization of American foreign policy is quite far along,” the official who gave me the report said. (A spokesman for Kushner denied that U.S. officials would profit from the deals under discussion.)
The document lists ten potential ventures, which it says appear to “have been originally designed by the Kremlin’s political and business elites.” They include reopening the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under American control, resuming ExxonMobil’s operations in Sakhalin, and drilling for oil in the Sea of Okhotsk. According to the report, there was discussion of unfreezing Russian assets that are held under American sanctions. The document mentions people who might participate, including Trump, Witkoff, and Kushner. It also names Richard Grenell, the former Presidential en…

631138522

Reposted by Aaron

Peter Flax @pflax1.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This story buries the lede, but if you pull out a calculator and do the math, AAA found that the average American spends $15,031 a year for a single car! www.cnbc.com/2026/09/14/c...

cnbc.com

Car ownership costs an average of $5,851 a year on top of auto loan payments, analysis finds

The cost of insurance, gas, and maintenance or repairs can add thousands of dollars a year to the price of owning a car.

53596183

Reposted by Aaron

David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This is stochastic terrorism. Ted Cruz is an extremist encouraging violence.

26939921166

Reposted by Aaron

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I resigned from ExxonMobil today. I spent the last three years doing fossil fuel extraction research at both BP and ExxonMobil. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing to maximize extraction while the window to act closes, and gambling with our lives. More below.

145136954892

Reposted by Aaron

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

On the same day Ted Cruz gets roundly booed by Texas fans, Abdul El-Sayed has Michigan fans running over to shake his hand. Please tell us more about who's popular with Real Americans™

664994927

Reposted by Aaron

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

After booing him, the crowd breaks out in a loud, “Ted Cruz sucks!” chant.

1050179053824