iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I'm so very tired of anyone complaining about "woke" of any number. Let's instead complain about nazis and rapists and terfs and tech billionaires and the loss of abortion rights and weird lip injections and beef tallow French fries and ICE and frats and genocide and Scientology.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 4h

Happy New Pioneer Co-op pumpkin cookie season to all who celebrate! #iowacity

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I think I need to officially give up on attempting to cook or bake. At this point it's self abuse.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I'm disheartened to see Turek feeling the need to prove himself anti immigration with an ad featuring a visit to the border and talking about the importance of border security. Don't follow, man! You need to set the narrative and the framing. Don't chase their bullets. Ugh. I hate it all.

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Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Things Gavin Newsom has vetoed this week: -A ban on secretly recording people with smart glasses -A ban on ICE agents working for the state government -A ban on websites selling your data -A bill giving native tribes more say over water rights -A bill protecting transgender healthcare providers

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Universities need to shut down the Greek system. It's toxic.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I'm still trying to process last night's Survivor episode and Rob's weird shenanigans. And I noticed that Brady called his fellow tribe members "Brodys" and I'm so confused and also delighted. Alexis, man, she's hardcore. Recap coming on coconutsandcastaways.com! #Survivor51

coconutsandcastaways.com

CoconutsandCastaways

Better Living Through Survivor

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Okay, who loves the dancing guy Coffee Mate creamer commercial? Me! I'd say I'm not proud of it but here I am telling you all about it.

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OnTheCouch @10000talkers.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This seems like an appropriate time to remind people of the 1990 book, Fraternity Gang Rape, by the anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday, who was my favorite professor in college and unfortunately passed away last year.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Jeff Probst on the #VMAs! Let's go, Probst! And Yung Lean! I'm happy.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If Yung Lean doesn't win video of the year, I riot. By myself. While drinking my sparkling water and eating my Fast Break and waiting for Big Brother to come on. #VMAS

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Adam Lambert should have done the whole George Michael thing. All of it. #VMAs

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

These VMAs are a Gen X celebration, no?

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Campus rape is really widespread; statistics suggest a significant percent of women who go to college will be raped there; feminism opened up a good conversation about it around 2012-13; it's weird when people treated Cornell like an isolated rather than dramatic example of a pervasive problem.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Can I sue the guy for using my taxpayer dollars to fund propaganda ads? Who wants to represent me? I need a lawyer.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Where is Vincent Kartheiser? Why am I not seeing him in all the things?

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Joe DeMartino @jdemartino.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

re: best 21st century TV chat, this single scene from Deadwood would place the show in the Top 10 on its own (and it has like twenty scenes just as good)

youtube.com

Compassion & Friendship in Deadwood

YouTube video by Max Brazil

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Sometimes I eat stick pretzels like I've been starving for days. Get in my mouth, stick pretzels!

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Walton Goggins! Please stop pimping for Walmart. I mean...

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Happy New Season of Survivor Day! I'm ready! #Survivor51

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

You gotta love how Iowa's Republican wannabe Senator (and horrible trumpie) Ashley Hinson is now complaining about the Iran war and gas prices. As if she actually cares. The Republican ads here are either speaking Dem (anti big insurance, anti corruption) or using "liberal" as the worst thing ever.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Questions I would like journalists to ask: Why is it okay for immigrant children to be harmed in any way? Are some lives less precious than others? How is that determined? Is POTUS giving us the money he made on his stock trades? He said he was making money for us. Where are our checks?

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Dear China, Iran, future coup folks, etc., let us tell you where you can find everything you need. Love, the trump administration.

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Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It’s not “third-country deportation,” it’s an extraordinary rendition, complete with torture and enforced silence by the “host” country’s thugs. And it’s a direct consequence of never imposing punishment on the CIA for doing this during the War on Terror.

nytimes.com

A Central African Hotel Has Become a Nightmare Prison for U.S. Deportees

Witnesses say men were hooded and beaten in Equatorial Guinea. The autocratic government there is a partner in President Trump’s deportation program.

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

a lot of people act like there's a trade being offered where we give up trans athletes in sports and in exchange fascism is defeated forever

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alexis simpson is confused by display name changes @amutepiggy.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

nice of him to give away the game. so, they want americans to "be healthy" enough to... work more. notice how they don't talk at all about happiness or well being. they only want to extract the maximum value out of you until they dispose of you

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Probably 95% of ghosts are chipmunks. I don't mean chipmunks that are ghosts but that what you think might be ghosts are chipmunk shenanigans. The other 5% are bats. But ghost bats. Bats that have died and become ghosts.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

There's a spider that's been living in one of our windows all summer & I'm going to be sad when I don't see her anymore. She's got quite the home in there between the glass & the screen. Levels of web. A spiderweb townhouse, if you will. Probably having a regular gnat feast. I call her Gladys.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I need to make my millions so I can buy all the shitty billboards. No more anti abortion ads as I drive down Missouri highways. I'm either tearing them down or putting up Elmo quotes. Well, first I'll be putting up anti current administration messaging. Until we win.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Guy who attacks socialism for "sharing the wealth" is a guy born into wealth, hasn't ever earned his way into anything, makes billions off his father's corrupt presidency, and wouldn't even pay for his own wedding. Don Jr. has never gotten a hard earned dollar in his life.

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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 19/09/2026

Again: "Tilly Norwood" is not a person; it is a shoddy, and also pretty gross puppet. Stop referring to it as "she," and start asking whether there might be something a bit off about wanting to promote a sexualized but also childlike "actor" that can never tell its creators or users "no."

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Adam Becker @adambecker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

@aoc.bsky.social just put out a great statement on AI. Refreshing to see a major politician on the left nail this. "Silicon Valley billionaires want us to believe that Al robots will destroy humanity. But the biggest threat to humanity are the tech oligarchs themselves." 🎯

Charles,

Last weekend, Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, one of the largest Al companies in the world, publicly asked his industry to slow down Al development.

Shortly after, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAl, followed suit. Then Elon Musk.

This all came days after an Anthropic researcher quit, citing his belief that this technology could wipe out humanity and that Al companies are "gambling with our lives."

For years, people have warned that generative Al could slip out of our direct control.

Those safety concerns must be taken seriously.

And this is why I have advocated for strict safety standards on how Al is built and deployed, public oversight over this technology, and using existing laws to hold these companies accountable when they cause harm.

But I want to draw your attention to another reality: Right now, the U.S. economy and our financial futures are riding on Silicon Valley's bet that Al will soon be immensely profitable and pay off. And that bet isn't looking good.

The formula for a profitable business isn't complicated: make more money than you spend. But the biggest Al companies aren't doing that. They are spending hundreds of billions per year on data centers, chips, and other costs while their ability to make revenues that exceed their already-immense sunk costs are unclear. Experts estimate that these Al companies will require another $600 billion of debt just to finance

themselves in 2026 alone. That is more than the entire budgets of the U.S. Departments of Justice, Transportation, & Education combined.
Meanwhile, despite almost every single one of these companies not turning a profit & having sunk billions of investor dollars in development of data centers & other infrastructure, Al companies are also on a spending spree of hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying & dark money in our elections.
It would be one thing if we were discussing a few private companies with a poor business model. But last year, virtually all stock market gains - 80% - rested entirely on just a handful of Al companies.
That tells us two things:
1. Nearly the entire U.S. economy outside the Al industry is relatively stagnating and faring poorly & the gains from these few companies are disguising it; &
2. Millions of people's retirements - including their pensions, 401ks, & investments - are potentially exposed to this risk.
That's why these Al companies' dubious financial positions matter to working people.
These companies argue that debt is necessary. They'll tell you that building transformative technologies requires upfront capital, & that massive borrowing today will pay off in generating unprecedented prosperity tomorrow.
But this is not the typical debt that startups take on while they build out a company. We are talking about billions going on trillions of dollars leveraged with no indication that these companies will be able to recoup these funds profitably. And they are increasingly looking to the government as their source of cash.
In an effort to hide their debt, tech companies have been relying on "circular financing" where tech giants like Google, Amazon, & Microsoft give billions to Al startups like OpenAl & Anthropic, only for those startups to hand that money right back to buy Al processing power.
In other words, these Al companies are luring in new investors by making it look like their financials are healthier than they really are.

What's even worse is that retirement & pension funds are key to supporting this illusion.
When the Al companies issue bonds to raise more money, your pension funds & retirement accounts are some of the biggest buyers. When Musk's Al business went public, it became part of index funds where millions of Americans invest our savings. Many Americans don't even know that their retirement investments are tied up in these companies at all.
From Big Tech's perspective, that's a feature, not a bug. By tying our futures to their reckless gambling, Al billionaires are trying to make themselves too big to fail. They think they can take such dangerous risks because we will bail them out if things go wrong.
Sound familiar? This scene is dangerously reminiscent of the rampant speculation, corruption, & broken incentives leading up to the 2008 financial crisis that plunged millions of working class Americans into financial chaos that we never fully recovered from.
It is no accident that these warnings from Altman & Amodei come months-if not weeks-before these companies were meant to go public.
When companies go public, they have to be more transparent about how they are doing financially. And after a waiting period, they typically have to let private investors-like their own employees-sell their shares.
The New York Times recently confirmed that OpenAl has postponed going public for this very reason. They are in no rush for the truth about their finances to come out.
But the moment these oligarchs began to seek our public tax dollars & public contracts while exposing their companies to public pension funds & investments, they opened themselves to public accountability & scrutiny.
Silicon Valley billionaires have rigged the game & are attempting to shift their financial risk to working people: If they're right about Al's potential, they reap the profits. If they're wrong & the bubble bursts, they are setting up the American people to pick up the tab.
Heads, they win; tails, we lose.

We can stop this, and we shouldn't play their game. Together we can address both the economic and safety threats of unrestricted Al development and prevent financial chaos and stabilize market risk.

We must make it clear now that should the Al bubble pop, Congress should not bail out Big Tech.

And across our federal agencies, we have the authorities and tools to hold Al companies and their leaders accountable for releasing dangerous, unvetted, and defective products. We must not wait.

Silicon Valley billionaires want us to believe that Al robots will destroy humanity.

But the biggest threat to humanity are the tech oligarchs themselves.

It's time we hold them accountable.

Thank you for reading.

In solidarity,

Alexandria

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

does anyone (like his side of the aisle) feel any sense of safety with Hegseth as DS? This is craziness. His weird obsessions and his lack of intelligence plus his need to appear macho has me worried about some very stupid and very scary stuff potentially happening. These are not serious people.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I kinda hate love language talk--people seriously sharing what they believe their love language is (acts of service, etc.). I tend to hate pop psychology stuff. But I'm totally on board with using it in lighthearted way to convey you are totes understood. My love language is gas station candy bars.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I'll go stand in front of the bulldozers. Who is with me?

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Are there aging parent counselors/concierges/life coaches? I think people could make a good living doing this. I need one.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

John Green is my favorite writer, favorite internet personality, and one of my favorite humans (who exist in the world, but aren't necessarily someone I can say I know). I'm excited for his new book coming out on Tuesday! bookshop.org/p/books/holl...

bookshop.org

Hollywood, Ending (Standard Edition)

#1 bestselling author John Green makes his much-anticipated return to fiction with a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story about finding someone to trust in an untrustworthy world.“Green’s novel of b...

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The Republicans running in Iowa for the big races are trying to pretend they are against insider trading. Hilarious.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I've spent WAY TOO MUCH time & effort on a book essay that's not exactly a review but a stream of consciousness party complete with too much referencing of Kierkegaard and Behaviorism. All for my Survivor newsletter. Someday I'm going to finish it, this thing about Stephen Fishbach's novel, Escape!

static.klipy.com

Jeff Probst's Aware Disbelief Reaction

Alt: Jeff Probst's Aware Disbelief Reaction

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Why do I have the feeling of impending doom? Is it bc it's gloomier? Because of world events? Because of personal events (aging parent stuff)? Or am I psychic and there is impending doom? I don't have GAD, but I am perimenopausal so that might also explain it. I also just finished season 3 of Silo.

static.klipy.com

Silo Rebecca Ferguson

Alt: Silo scene with Rebecca Ferguson the dark with a shield.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I know there are more terrible things, but it's upsetting that The Kennedy Center is going to close because pres is a brat having a tantrum. We can't have nice things anymore! Trees, parks, museums, the arts, universities, libraries...

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This removal of certain FBI applicant restrictions. Just how many "good" applicants did they think they were missing out on because of the bestiality thing?

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Mo Ryan @moryan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

😱🤣 it’s true tho

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

A lot of black dresses at the Emmys. I'm into it. But my favorite look was Ayo Edebiri. In case anyone is wondering.

Ayo Edebiri in a blue dress on the Emmy's carpet

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Served him coffee in Austin many moons ago. Tried to converse with him about how much I loved News Radio & how sad it was about Phil Hartman. He was not interested. My bad. It's just that he was right there in front of me (w/ Mike Judge) ordering a coffee & I was like, hello! I still love him.

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Alison Coffey @acoffey.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I bet he'll convert to one of the evangelical churches.

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