iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

IIRC, participatory democracy in the Haudenosaunee tribe partly inspired parts of the US constitution. Key word: partly.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Also note that the people they're appealing to--bigots--are just as reliably Republican voters as they need minorities to be. There's zero interest in who the undecided/reluctant/disengaged voters are and what would appeal to them. If bigotry was all *they* needed, they would already be voting R.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A schnoob in the cart where someone is going to put their groceries? Gross 🤮

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

During/after the civil war, major publications were breathlessly reporting obvious lies about sexual assault by former slaves. "See?! Maybe the white soldiers slaughtering fellow citizens in the name of slavery have a point!" They're just deeply bigoted people.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

These facts are (of course) not unrelated!

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

More needs to be said about how the failure of AI has demonstrated to everyone that the great majority of humanity strongly believes in the intrinsic value of labor. Trust in capitalism now rests on continued social stability in the form of racial hierarchy.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Significant portions of the national debt are in pensions, state/local governments, as well as federal funds (totaling about 13.5 trillion $, or ~35% of the total). Another portion, about 40%, is owned by other *US* entities. The national debt isn't a crisis unless we make it one.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

My wife and I have a huge wasp nest near our house that we've left alone for passive pest management. Just a few days ago my wife spotted a wasp killing and eating a fully adult lanternfly! 😁

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

William Nordhaus and other economists did massive harm by giving politicians a broken model of the economic impact of climate change that underestimates the damage by an order of magnitude. Many of them continue to believe that reaching net zero would cost more than adaptation.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Same thing happened to me. Earwig was sipping from my water bottle and ended up biting the inside of my lip. Took me a week to recover! 😩

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Events/places/meetups that are outside your usual places/comfort zone, but within your happy place--whatever that happens to be. Maybe there's a blender meetup nearby. Libraries host some interesting events too. What kind of thing do you think would be fun to dip your toes in?

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Dating apps are designed to be dead-ends for most users, unfortunately. Looking for partners in group settings where you would probably have fun anyway is the advice I'd give younger me. There's always something interesting happening, and interesting people will be there!

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

There's an immense amount of wealth in the top 1% that could be taxed, about $55 trillion. That would force the sale of lots of assets at depressed prices, generally to other people in the top 1%, so in effect the value of the assets is pushed down without having to physically seize much.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

It's a little more difficult to reject him if you need the president/AG to keep you out of prison.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

We should have this moral standard for *every* public office. Stop giving rapists power so rape culture can wither away.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Who will play these two in the inevitable film they make about this mission to the alien mothership? Donald Glover and Jim Carrey, maybe?

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Say what you will about his policies, but this basically guarantees his reelection, doesn't it? Perhaps Dole can get a position in the cabinet?

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I'm not sure it's a good idea to glorify his (possibly accidental?) self-destruction. He was a troubled man, however heroic he may have been.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I don't understand how it makes sense to deploy ATA missiles on a target that size. Perhaps our bombers should be striking from above?

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Impeachment first, reform second is the better way forward to give the newly reformed court credibility.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Congress can impeach justices in that case, of course. I think they'd rather stick around as a conservative minority rather than get kicked out entirely.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I see a lot of similarities with nicotine, albeit with much easier/faster uptake and less permanent personal impacts. It'll likely be a permanent part of society, but so long as awareness of its costs is widespread it won't necessarily be ubiquitous.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

If the court can prioritize partisan gerrymandering above the constitution, they can prioritize it above state laws as well. We can expect R's to challenge blue state maps that follow requirements of the VRA, and they're likely to win--possibly just as midterm voting begins.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Democracy doesn't require compromising with anti-democratic policy in the name of "getting things done." If even Democrats think the principles underlying democracy are so disposable in the name of expedience, it's no wonder the constitution is so irrelevant today.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

I'm thinking about how often crippling economic sanctions have been placed on countries in the global south to "incentivize" regime change. But not the US. Even now. We feel powerless to change *our* regime, and yet we call on those with far less to overthrow their oppressors.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

There's no community transmission because it's exclusively zoonotic. There's no reason to expect a pandemic from Nipah virus. Of course, covid originated as a zoonotic virus too, so it's a reminder that we should be prepared for the unexpected.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

He should also be telling voters what Dems will do when they take control of Congress, which he might do if Dem leadership had any such plans. Are voters (esp. POC) going to bravely face armed goons at the polls to vote for feckless cowards?

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I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 03/10/2025

Well this leads to an uncomfortable question I think the electeds themselves are avoiding, who do we think the police will listen to?

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Drew Kadel @drewkadel.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Honestly, we're getting past rebuilding the existing system. Any change will have to be radical, not because I'm some sort of radical, but because so many systems have been broken. A new foundation has to be set, and that requires a sea change in public values.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

The only violence that's necessary is that which protects the rights of our fellows from being trampled on. We can't get that from institutions that equate in law the lies of white supremacists with the unequivocal facts. What we can't yet answer is how to replace them safely.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

I think that in the same way that the forced responses to COVID hinted at the feasibility of universal healthcare in the US, Reconstruction showed that they could be fought back if equal justice were *truly* guaranteed in the US. However, our institutions were never built for that fight.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Approaches to this problem have been proposed, built, and expanded upon for literally centuries. Ending chattel slavery, reparations, universal suffrage, public education, libraries...All intended to address this! OTOH, progress on the fascist side of the ledger happens too!

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Once the Exercise branch is granted absolute power (as in Trump v US), it's hard to argue the Supreme Court can modify it in any meaningful way. Their decisions no longer have the weight of law because the rule of law is dead.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Additionally, it's quite possible that corporate Dems (more than just Cuomo) are counting on the regime to target left-of-center Dems, shielding them from the threat of being challenged from the left even as their popularity tanks.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Last year's violent repression of peaceful protesters at Columbia and elsewhere wasn't a fluke, of course. Authoritarian Democrats might be...less than competent at perceiving the threat of fascism, to put it lightly.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

I like that "purity tests" gives many of those people an irresistable opportunity to admit they don't care (or even support) things like sexual assault and eugenics. Not that I like knowing so many people fall into that camp, but I'm glad they're so terrible at hiding it.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

These numbers, plus ~1k Jan6 insurrectionists, plus fascists in local police, plus an unknown number of rightwing militia members that the state will turn a blind eye towards. The scale of violence that can be created is truly staggering, as is the intensity of denialism that accompanies it.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

To put it simply, the legal arguments undergirding the conservative (aka neo-confederate) movement have been failing one after another in the last 75 years. In desperation, the movement's leaders now resort to lawlessness to obtain their preferred social order.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

They *want* to be ruled by a Republican king. It's no mistake that their opinion here is based on the limits on power of English tribunals that existed in 1789, when England was still a formal Monarchy. Law still exists in such states, but it's largely discretionary (as KBJ notes).

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Whistleblowers have been harshly punished while those who committed war crimes, authorized torture, and even attempted a violent coup were protected (and then reelected!). How can we ask soldiers to sacrifice themselves to defend principles that the very government they serve rejects?

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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

time.com

Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress

I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Yes, we did. Same with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Also the US practice of chattel slavery. Also, also, the mass murder of indigenous peoples and erasure of their culture. Our country's many horrible sins do absolve the sins of anyone else. Justice must follow all such crimes--not excuses.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

The recent near- unanimus House vote on the Take It Down bill was quite brazen too. Fascist power is solidifying everywhere. It will always be possible to reject and overcome fascism, but how many casualties we suffer can be minimized with immediate and strong opposition. It won't come from Dems.

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I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 25/04/2025

I think for me it’s less weakness than bald hypocrisy. They don’t fight for the values they claim to hold because they don’t hold them. They had no problem fighting their base on Palestine, fighting partners on policing, and fighting colleagues on safety net spending.

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Ambrellite @ambrellite.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Criminalizing transition care can also be a way to backdoor the prohibition of hormonal birth control.

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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 24/04/2025

1. In a new leaked memo, Pam Bondi is directing the DOJ to go after trans care providers under "anti-FGM" laws. She also has directed the investigation of HRT manufacturers. She calls transgender people "infectious." The latest from S. Baum. Subscribe to support our journalism.

erininthemorning.com

“Infected an Entire Generation”: AG Bondi Targets Trans-Affirming Health Care in Leaked Memo

The memo isn’t law, but it is the latest escalation in Trumpian efforts to wage war on trans people.

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Lisa Song @lisalsong.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

People are running around looking for compost bags...Some scientists have bought their own soap and cleaning supplies. A snapshot of the chaos at one NOAA lab as contracts for basic services expire. My latest: www.propublica.org/article/noaa...

propublica.org

NOAA Scientists Are Cleaning Bathrooms and Reconsidering Lab Experiments After Contracts for Basic Services Expire

A Seattle lab has lost janitorial services, hazardous waste support, IT and building maintenance as it waits for the Commerce Department secretary to personally approve all contracts over $100,000.

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