iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Ben Fordham

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The courts should block this. If they don't, we should tear it down on the very first day of the next administration. If possible, Trump should be made to watch the demolition. This, the ballroom, whatever he does to the Kennedy Center and all of the rest. Erase it all. Full damnatio memoriae.

43859156

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

A minor detail is missing from the headline.

1213162797259

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Christopher Harris @harrisfootball.com · 01/09/2026

It's a big day. My novel Pound Foolish is out. It's about a serial killer who plays on an NFL team. If you love the NFL (like I do), but feel conflicted because the league does EVERYTHING IT CAN to lie to us, steal from us, and sweep scandal under the rug... ...I think you'll like Pound Foolish!

The cover of Pound Foolish by Christopher Harris

78027

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

There's no forgiving this. No living it down. It's a stain on our humanity. When all this is over, the monsters who did this should be pariahs. And the soulless thugs who cheered it on while dehumanizing Haitian immigrants should be reminded of what they did every day of their lives.

14584512882

Reposted by Ben Fordham

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Doctors say that measles can kill young children. A guy who snorts cocaine off toilet seats and drives around with dead bear cubs in his car says they'll be fine as long as they eat enough beef tallow. For busy parents, it can be hard to know who to trust.

141598343

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Dolly’s final gift. At a time of extreme ugliness and hate, she has inspired an outpouring of love. It’s still out there, folks. Nowadays, that can be easy to forget.

141205145

Ben Fordham @benfordham.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

This is a nice explanation of why the idea that LLMs are conscious is absurd, of why some people might be fooled into thinking they are. www.theatlantic.com/philosophy/2...

theatlantic.com

No, Artificial Intelligence Is Not Conscious

Taken to its logical conclusion, this line of thinking is absurd—and damning.

052

Reposted by Ben Fordham

James Talarico @jamestalarico.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I wish Ken Paxton would protect puppies the way he protects pedophiles.

10935921120

Ben Fordham @benfordham.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

This is really alarming. I would not be surprised to see some of the tactics described here, such as defining “religion” to exclude Islam, tried at the national level. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/17/u...

nytimes.com

Islamophobia’s Rise in Texas: ‘I Won’t Rest Until Every Muslim Is Gone’ (Gift Article)

Muslim communities have been growing for decades, particularly around Dallas. Now, conservatives want to roll up the welcome mat.

000

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

🤦‍♂️ It’s a fucking aircraft carrier, it’s not supposed to be pretty. I don’t understand why the Navy would even entertain this nonsense. He wants the tower/command center to be closer to the front of the ship. It would cost billions and result in years of delays.

75444351294

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

This is, bar none, the stupidest fuckung thing I’ve ever heard. And the idea that there’s nobody in the chain of command - civilian or military - with enough courage to say so is a disgrace.

wapo.st

Navy weighs major warship redesign to match Trump’s preferences

The president wants the new fleet of aircraft carriers to more resemble those from World War II. Such a change could cost billions.

29947651111

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Worth reading. @nickkristof.bsky.social gives voice to brutalized Palestinians in the WB (& Gaza) and strikes a balance between hope for a change Israeli leadership and realism that “even if that happens…, Gazans will still suffer unconscionably, and the West Bank will remain oppressed and unequal.”

nytimes.com

Opinion | Israeli Settlers Are Out of Control (Gift Article)

If Netanyahu is ousted in October’s balloting, don’t expect peace to break out, but the worst violence might be reined in.

12311

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

These sailors are being put through this for a war that is unauthorized by Congress and for which funds haven’t been appropriated by Congress, a war that is now utterly pointless and which Trump simply doesn’t have the courage to end. Disgraceful. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

theguardian.com

USS Abraham Lincoln sailors tried to jump overboard amid extended deployment – reports

Aircraft carrier’s crew in ninth month at sea and has spent record 250 days consecutively without making land

551461429

Ben Fordham @benfordham.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Research question! In a May 26, 1919 speech, James Reed (D-MO) denounced the League of Nations for including non-white states. He cites a DuBois article in The Crisis to make his point. I want to read this article, from the May 1919 issue, but can’t find it online. Does anyone have it?

110

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

“Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Right now people in blue states are basically paying federal taxes as if they’re colonized territories of red states. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

Trump has denied most disaster requests from Democratic-led states

A graph showing Presidential approval rates for disaster requests from Democratic-led states and Republican-led states

Source: POLITICO's E&E News analysis of FEMA records

16154702518

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Ken Martin @kenmartin.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Accountability isn't optional in a democracy. The FBI has just issued a license to kill to Trump's goons who can now murder whoever they want with no consequence. Our constitutional right and freedoms under assault by the very people sworn to uphold and protect them.

48669237

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 08/07/2026

WAIT FOR IT WAIT. FOR. IT! 🪶 🐣

18192372239

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Billy OceanGate 🇵🇸 @stitzch.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

The rig I'm on has put up first aid guides that were made with AI. Wouldn't bother with CPR there, would be more concerned by the fact is head isn't connected to his body

681355377

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

The justices that upheld birthright citizenship in 1898 were racist men in a racist era who still could not avoid the plain text of the Constitution. What changed between is that the GOP now sees multiracial democracy as a threat rather than an ideal or aspiration www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Fourteenth Amendment has not changed since 1898. What have changed are the Republican Party and the modern conservative movement. Trump believes that “if you import the Third World, you become the Third World.” His rise to power began with his willingness to be a standard-bearer for a movement that cast the first Black president as an illegitimate invader and demanded to see his birth certificate. Trump’s second-term campaign promised “mass deportation” of those very same “Third World” immigrants, and since taking office, he has established an effectively whites-only refugee policy, specifically for white South Africans, illustrating that his objection is less to immigration itself, or to immigrants from the “Third World,” than to immigrants who are not white.

402103575

Reposted by Ben Fordham

The Onion @theonion.com · 30/06/2026

Palantir Acquires Pentagon For $800 Billion theonion.com/palantir-acquires-pent…

Palantir Acquires Pentagon For $800 Billion
Military Now Under Command Of Software Developer

431644293

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Simon Rosenberg @simonwdc.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Every time Trump threatens to attack Iran he is violating the terms of his surrender. Here's the very first graph of the MOU he signed:

862230634

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Tim Hirschel-Burns @timhirschelburns.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

The three players in this photo: 1. Nigerian heritage, grew up in England, and is only a citizen thanks to birthright citizenship. 2. Born + raised in Holland, has a dad who immigrated to the US from Suriname. 3. Said he wanted to “make people who look like me proud” while playing on Juneteenth

11373241903

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Eric Rauchway @rauchway.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

and all of them are senior university administrators

161307266

Reposted by Ben Fordham

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 13/06/2026

i really, truly, find this offensive

831145132516

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

This might be hard for Americans to hear, but the USA getting humiliated by its abject failure as a power during this Iran War might be the best thing possible at this time. The country needs to understand there are consequences for electing a crook.

29972681215

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Such a disgrace. This guy’s worked his whole life to be selected for the World Cup. He’s earned it.

621999471

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Jocelyn Anderson Photography @jocelynanderson.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

A Cedar Waxwing pausing for a moment before going back to hunting berries.

442091169

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Full statement of Scott Pelley after he's fired from CBS 60 Minutes, detailing the sort of corruption of journalism Bari Weiss has brought to CBS News:

New statement from Scott Pelley:

There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes.

The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58thseason, 60 Minutes grew rapidly with an unheard-of 9% jump in viewers on CBS.

“60” has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.

The waste is heartbreaking.

Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.

For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.

At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to “keep up the good fight.” Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.

I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.

Scott Pelley

6748241709

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

and the tuesday phone-friendly version click through! my pay scales up with enough clicks. tinyview.com/this-modern-...

tinyview.com

Carnival of wonders

TMW cartoon for June 2, 2026

417037

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Christopher Harris @harrisfootball.com · 22/05/2026

The start of my Travis Etienne profile is the perfect intersection of football and Bluesky: "Like much in current American life, Travis Etienne makes so much sense if you pretend 2024 didn’t happen."

1262

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Michael Metivier @grousehollow.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Like an awkward middle school photo 🪶

A male rose breasted grosbeak perched at a feeder looming husky

4386

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

wrote about thomas Friedman demanding Europe help Trump in Iran, and how elites have fooled themselves into thinking Trump is just a bad president rather than a compulsive liar and mass murdering psychopath. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/europe-sho...

everythingishorrible.net

Europe Should Not Help Trump In Iran

Thomas Friedman is a dope.

1413642

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Wrote about the importance of adhering to an effective, disciplined nonviolence in fighting the Trump regime, especially given a growing obsession with “heroic” violence online (gift link). www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

theatlantic.com

The Assassin’s Delusion

Violence serves an authoritarian agenda.

651518492

Reposted by Ben Fordham

World Politics @worldpolitics.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

We’re here to Hype that Hypothesis! @benfordham.bsky.social hypothesizes how Southerners effectuated the United States’ about-face on #multilateralism in the 1950s in his WP article. Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1353/wp.2... #America #economics #race

052

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Nice to see an article portray AI-refusers as ppl making thoughtful and conscious decisions who we can learn from, rather than as a problem to be solved.

210223

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Finished up the excellent "Death By Lightning" on Netflix at last, and as per usual, I have Thoughts: It's so great to see Michael Shannon play an admirable person for once, rather than his usual villainous weirdos, and do it convincingly. Chicago actor FTW.

182425

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

This is a FRAUDULENT paper, AI-generated. My name was used as an author and I had nothing to do with it, never saw it until today e-pubmed.co.uk/journals/dig... The "Editors" Angelo Rossi Mori, David Mensah, and Zarnie Khadjesari and this "Journal" should be reported.

6224001033

Reposted by Ben Fordham

The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

It will be interesting to see how many American news orgs feature this story prominently. Would coverage be different if it was an Iranian soldier (presumed Muslim)? cc: @mehdirhasan.bsky.social

01711

Reposted by Ben Fordham

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

I don't think I'll ever get over Clarence Thomas ruling on cases related to Jan 6 knowing that his wife was an active participant in the attempted coup. Or ruling on cases related to government regulations and a wealth tax knowing he took gifts from billionaires. It's a disgrace.

486123313352