iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Steve Rattner @steverattner.bsky.social · 11h

Corporate profits and tax revenues grew together until the Trump tax cuts. Now corporate profits are at an all-time high while tax receipts are at their lowest since 2021.

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 8h

Before he was appointed, Kash Patel was flagged by FBI counterintelligence agents as being deeply enmeshed in influence operations run by the Russians and Chinese. After he took over, Patel began systematically eliminating all Russian and Chinese counterintelligence capacity. What to make of that?

npr.org

As Trump focuses the FBI on immigration, counterintelligence is falling behind

The cuts come as a consequence of President Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel's focus on violent crime and immigration, leaving other priorities understaffed.

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digby @digby56.bsky.social · 1h

So I guess this is now a thing. He'll get people used to hearing it by repeating it over and over until it's perfectly normal to contemplate the mass destruction of American cities he despises. And MAGA is delirious with joy every time he says it. Just don't say it's deplorable.

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Dave @davemn80.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

GM 100% shot themselves in the ass with that move.

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taylr @taylordahlin.com · 06/10/2026

here's who is funding safe and justice hennepin, the PAC to elect anders folk. look how it's mostly coming from california! i don't think you should throw stones about taking out of state money when your PAC is also funded by out of state money taylordahlin.com/f/who-is-fun...

taylordahlin.com

Who is funding Safe and Just Hennepin PAC to elect Anders Folk?

A new PAC has been registered called Safe and Just Hennepin to elect Anders Folk for Hennepin County Attorney. Due to the timing, having registered on July 31, there are only large pre-election contri...

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Jeff Rueter @jeffrueter.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Cata is always must-read, but this is especially stellar work – not only on what makes Cavan Sullivan special, but dissecting the many factors which make it increasingly tricky to manage expectations around a top American soccer prospect. The definitive piece on the topic. An instant Cata classic.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 06/10/2026

Trump calls Natalie on stage, checks out her legs, calls her "perfect," then floats creating a reality show w/ her -- & other lowlights from his rally tonight in Nebraska (Including Trump saying of Iran, "Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego. This is very small price to pay")

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Project True North @projtruenorth.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

WATCH: Lisa Demuth says she still hasn't changed her mind after she praised Trump's ICE surge and Kristi Noem's "steady leadership."

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Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I was raped at a frat party. It’s a shockingly common experience and preventative interventions in college are way too late.

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cata @catabush.com · 05/10/2026

The story of Cavan Sullivan is a story about American soccer idols, and by extension, a story about American soccer itself, both the good and the bad. 20 years after Freddy Adu, American soccer has its prodigy. For @scoutedftbl.com, the tales we weave about Cavan and all that came before (🎁 link):

scoutedftbl.com

Cavan Sullivan, American mythmaker

Two decades after Freddy Adu, the United States finally has a new soccer icon. Now the nation must learn how to cope with the superstar it's craved.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

A 10K contribution and a $900 million return. The scale of the graft in Homeland Security is a) off the charts and b) possible because no-one believes they will face any accountability

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Poll Tracker 📊 @polltracker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

NYT/Siena Senate Polls (9/21-9/30) Texas: 🔵 Talarico 51% – 🔴 Paxton 45% Alaska: 🔵 Peltola 50% – 🔴 Sullivan 43% Ohio: 🔵 Brown 49% – 🔴 Husted 46% Kansas: 🔵 Hamiliton 45% – 🔴 Marshall 45% Iowa: 🔴 Hinson 48% – 🔵 Turek 47% www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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Mike Spangenberg @mikespangenberg.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This wonderful quote reminded me I need to donate to Brad Tabke: “I don’t necessarily believe in the center as a term or as a place or anything like that,” Tabke said. “I think that’s kind of where politicians go to hide and not actually do things.” www.startribune.com/tabke-paul-s...

startribune.com

Minnesota House control runs through a fiercely contested suburban rematch

DFL Rep. Brad Tabke of Shakopee is again facing Republican Aaron Paul in a bellwether matchup. Immigration, affordability, fraud and taxes are all in the mix.

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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I'm not naive enough to actually believe this will happen, but Democrats could be preparing, right now, lists of impeachment charges against (at a bare minimum) Hegseth, Kennedy, Mullin, Patel, Blanche, & Trump, as well as Bondi, Bovino, & Noem (still worth doing!) that rely purely on public facts,

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Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Trump’s TIME interview should have been treated about like Biden’s debate performance. That it mostly wasn’t says a lot about the media’s ongoing normalization of Trump’s cognitive downward spiral.

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Michael Caley @michaelcaley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

this is by far the best "I quit my AI job over safety concerns" essay yet because it is the first one that is able to talk about safety concerns in practical terms and that understands "safety" as a topic with extensive literature in analogous fields www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Two changes are urgently needed. First: AI companies need to rely more on the safety expertise that already exists in other fields. And second, before we create systems significantly more capable than the ones we have today, we need new science to ensure that more capable models (and their successors) will make safe choices when we aren’t looking.

Given today’s risks, frontier labs need to run like nuclear-power plants or busy airports, with layers of redundancy and careful, time-consuming planning, so that the occasional and inevitable human error does not open a door to disaster. Right now, AI companies don’t know how—but other people do. In a nuclear-power plant, the technical systems and rules people follow are set up so that, if equipment breaks or someone pushes the wrong button, we still won’t risk a meltdown. OpenAI and other labs are growing and deploying frontier AI with far less redundancy and rigor than this, even though the harm from an irreversible loss of control would be much greater than the harm from any single meltdown. Even short of a full loss of control, we could see autonomous swarms of AI agents that act without human permission. Imagine “rogue” agents that work like teams of hackers (for example, holding hospital computer systems for ransom) but never need to sleep.

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Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

This is why I get pissed off when anyone accuses me of being an elitist when I say young people should go to college if they can. I say that because my dad was a local lineman and contractor who did heavy physical labor for years and has had chronic back pain since his early 30s

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taylr @taylordahlin.com · 02/10/2026

elizabeth shaffer is so pro waymo she is bringing one of their vehicles into loring park along with representatives from the company on october 22 feels weird to have an elected official promoting a private business to this extent. waymo is not a public service or public good

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Project True North @projtruenorth.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

During the ICE surge, Lisa Demuth signed a letter thanking ICE and praising Kristi Noem for her "steady leadership."

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Boo-riginalMattB @originalmattb.com · 01/10/2026

Lisa Demuth, via Nick Shirley, gleefully opened the door for the feds to come here and kill us.

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Polling USA @usapolling.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Current Polling USA Model Map: 🔵Democrats at 53 seats (+1) 🔴Republicans at 47 seats (-1) Closest Seats On The Model: 🔴 Nebraska - GOP 50.1% / IND 49.9% 🔵 Iowa - DEM 50% / GOP 49% 🔵 Alaska - DEM 51% / GOP 49% 🔵 Maine - DEM 50% / GOP 48% 🔴 Florida - GOP 52% / DEM 48%

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 01/10/2026

CEO compensation has increased 1,316% since 1978. And worker compensation? Just 28%. The system is rigged. We need to start taxing the rich so they pay their fair share.

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Jon Collins @jcollins.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Becca Good spoke publicly: ”I'm devastated by how many other lives have been destroyed, in this the darkest of times. From so many families dealing with the loss of their owned loved ones, to everyone who has to witness it, the pain of this moment extends so far beyond our family." (cont)

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Dave @davemn80.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Everything shitty traces back to Reagan

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Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 01/10/2026

The family of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman who was fatally shot by a federal immigration enforcement agent near her home in January, filed two federal lawsuits Thursday alleging wrongful death, among other contentions.

bit.ly

Live: Renee Good’s family files lawsuits over fatal shooting by ICE agent

Renee Good was fatally shot on Jan. 7 in south Minneapolis by ICE agent Jonathan Ross.

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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“About half of U.S. adults now say they are ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ concerned about being able to fill their tanks, up from 39% in July. About half are also highly concerned about being able to afford food.”

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This will be one of the most important immigration cases in a generation. The Trump admin claims that a 1996 law mandates the detention of millions of people without any right to a bond hearing; every person who entered illegally, no matter how long in the past. If they win, it's a nightmare.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 01/10/2026

Minnesota Republican House candidate William Beck claims Bill Gates is buying up farmland to put mRNA vaccines into the food supply

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MoveOn @moveon.org · 30/09/2026

ICE has shot another person, this time it was in Austin, Texas. His name is Wilber Garcés Pérez and he was shot while doing his job. He should be home with his family, not in ICE detention with no medical care. This chaos has no place in our communities.

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Project True North @projtruenorth.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

WATCH: Lisa Demuth refuses to answer whether Trump really lost Minnesota 3 times.

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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...

But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.

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Jon Collins @jcollins.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The Roosevelt High School teacher who was tackled, choked and charged with felony by feds on school grounds just hours after Renee Good's killing has taken a preliminary step in filing a lawsuit against the federal government. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

mprnews.org

Roosevelt High teacher files federal claim over violent detention by agents

Roosevelt High School teacher Quentin Williams has filed a claim against the federal government alleging agents violently detained him, falsely accused him of assault and violated his civil rights.

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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I’m seeing a lot of posts about talking to your sons in light of the Cornell article. And yes. Talk to your sons. Here are some things you should say, based on anti-violence research about what they need to hear:

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Dave @davemn80.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I want Will Ferrell playing Schmitt against Brendan Hunt

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026

"When one side rejects pluralism, electoral legitimacy, or epistemic accountability, then 'reconciliation' and even 'civility' function less as neutral civic virtues than as asymmetric constraints, and they risk unilaterally disarming pro-democracy forces." 🎯

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026

"Normative appeals to civility and harmony, when applied indiscriminately, can obscure the moral distinction between domination and resistance—condemning confrontational opposition even in contexts where democratic survival or basic human dignity is at stake." 🎯

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026

I love this paper so much. If I had my way every single journalist, pundit, analyst, and politician in the US would read it & then read it again. I want to quote all of it. www.frontiersin.org/journals/soc...

frontiersin.org

Frontiers | The problem with polarization research in an age of extremism

"I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block i...

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Douglas Reyes-CeroÑ @dreyesceron.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The Star Spangled Banner being played by the Mariachi Herencia de Mexico band before the Bears-Eagles game in Chicago on Monday Night Football was a deeply cool thing to see tonight

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Sarah Burris @sarahburris.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

She sounds like she's talking about a cult “It was like a dagger in my heart,” Hope said. “It was like a light switch went on and a veil lifted, and I saw him for who he was, and I have not been able to unsee it since.”

alternet.org

Trump rally superfan says she now supports impeaching him

President Donald Trump's most ardent supporters are now abandoning him, according to Politico's "Playbook." The "Front Row Joes" are so named because they fight to make sure they're in the front row o...

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Dave @davemn80.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Came here to say The Spot Bar but I also just went to The Cedar Inn this weekend and that’s a great one too.

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Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 27/09/2026

What an odd moment in United States history. A U.S. president is running an overtly political camaign advertisement, right before midterm elections, paid for by the U.S. government. Trump appears to believe he is immune from any kind of legal limit. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...

nytimes.com

A Trump 2024 Campaign Ad Returns, Now Brought to You by the Government (Gift Article)

The ad, which ethics experts said could violate federal law, shows Mr. Trump vowing to “expel the warmongers” from the government and fight the “deep state,” even as he wages a war with Iran.

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Sam @samd.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

we could solve the western water crisis overnight by simply charging alfalfa farmers market rates for water

Across the basin, alfalfa hay uses more than 5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water — that's 26% of all the water consumed in the basin. One acre-foot roughly equals the annual water use of two or three households.
In the Upper Basin, irrigated agriculture consumes 2.8 million acre-feet, or nearly half the water used by Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, the environment, reservoirs and water exports out of the basin. Cattle-feed crops, like alfalfa, consume 90% of all water used by Upper Basin agriculture.
That means alfalfa uses more water than cities, commercial users and industries across the entire basin:
Collectively, these users consume about 3.5 million acre-feet, or 18%, of the river's water. The Colorado River

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 27/09/2026

Women trying to succeed in Silicon Valley AI and effective altruist spaces are reporting feeling serious social pressure to attend sex parties - where people have reported being sexually assaulted, like below. Events like Aella’s “Slutcon,” which is happening again this weekend.

Ann Pierce
@itsannpierce
20h
I am disheartened by this as well. I already lost a bunch of followers for agreeing with @tautologer, but it's saddening to see local nerdy women being caricatured as Karen-like outsiders and getting pushed out of the scene. This is exactly why you hear so few concrete, names-attached stories of sexual harrassment and assault. I'm told there is a history of discrediting these because the "slut normalization" thing is top priority and these stories get inconveniently in the way of spreading this ideology.
I got roped into attending last year's Saturday Slutcon party because so many local and out-of-town friends were there (to echo sentiments @tautologer expressed about "slut events becoming central to the larger scenes). Mostly I hung out with people I knew and that was great. But in the course of my 3-ish hours there, there were 2 times my "no" was not accepted by a man I didn't know, and I was physically pushing a huge guy off of me who was rubbing his penis on me, who continued to do it despite my physical force against him, and after I finally wriggled away from him, told him I wanted to dance alone etc., he came back and did it again.
This was scary and bad, but it didn't even cross my mind to report this because one of the other people who didn't accept my "no" earlier in the night was the bartender (an officially sanctioned authority at the event), and I knew the event was organized exclusively by women into CNC (who are vocal about how rapey behavior turns them on), so I figured this sort of thing would just get me laughed at. And anyway, I heard there were a lot of other incidents like it. Later though, someone encouraged me to report this story to the organizers, and despite my embarrassment I did, so *they know* that this and other incidents happened. This is why they cut the Saturday night party this year and created a larger training program for the flirt girls - *because* of things like this last year. Yet the narrative bein…

People who haven't been to Slutcon are saying "it's just group therapy," "it's just innocent flirting." But the environment is much like a sex party in that many people are nude, there is making out and sex acts happening out in the open. I think it's pretty unreasonable to expect that every nerdy girl who likes rationalist bloggers or is into EA/AI safety should automatically be comfortable with this! That if she's not, there's something wrong with her, we don't want her in our scenes, etc.
Not to mention, it's explictly an event *for men*, where men are the clients and the "flirt girls" are the product. Last year I overheard an exchange where a man felt "led on" by a flirt girl and was trying to get her punished/kicked out. (A dynamic that seems inevitable in this context!)
Anyway- it does sound like they've upped their consent education a lot this year, are more organized, and that's good! As I've told my friends who are attending: I hope they have fun!
I heard several accounts last year of women who had no problems and really enjoyed the event. That's great!
Just... can we live in reality about this? There are real reasons why male-female sexual dynamics are tricky.
Encouraging autistic men who can't yet read body language to go around asking to see womens' boobs is maybe a bit ill-advised. Maybe not everyone should be/identify as a slut; maybe it's not for everyone.
And yeah, filtering the Bay Area Al safety scene down to only women who are super comfy with this eliminates *most* women - including many of the really smart, nerdy, weird women who've been in the larger scenes for years. What a loss for humanity.
I absolutely understand why people with a minority sexuality would want to create belonging, would want to create spaces for people like themselves. But why do it like this/at this cost?

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Andy Lettuce @andy.hopepunk.club · 26/09/2026

MN voters: amending the state constitution requires a majority of voters to vote yes - abstaining from the school funding question on your ballot this year is effectively a no-vote. Please take a sec to get informed before you submit your ballot! www.lwvmn.org/2026-constit...

A portion of the MN official ballot that reads

Constitutional Amendments
Failure to vote on a constitutional amendment will have the same effect as voting no on the amendment.
To vote for a proposed constitutional amendment, fill in the box next to the word "Yes" on that question. To vote against a proposed constitutional amendment, fill in the box next to the word "No" on that question.
Increasing funding to school districts
Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to increase the funding going to all school districts from the permanent school fund, which is a fund that supports school districts without raising individual income or property taxes, effective July 1, 2027?

(This is a photo of my ballot where I have selected yes)

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Bruce Little @brucedlittle.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson posed as a problem gambler for months on DraftKings to test the company's "responsible gaming" safeguards. Spoiler alert: They made Jake a VIP — and he lost $10K. Here's how it all went down . . .

propublica.org

I Deliberately Bet Like a Problem Gambler. DraftKings Made Me a VIP.

Amid growing public health concerns, operators like DraftKings have touted “responsible gaming” tools and prompts. But as I went off the deep end, I found they were no match for the incentives and pro...

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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 26/09/2026

This is an entirely new phenomenon because before the vaccine, most women who survived measles were immune because they had it when they were young. But now, idiots who refuse to get vaccinated are giving birth to babies with measles. Two babies have died. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

nbcnews.com

America had wiped out measles. Now babies are infected at birth.

Congenital measles has rarely been seen in the U.S. That’s changing as vaccination declines and more pregnant women become infected.

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Hunter Walker @hunterw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A scathing court ruling decrying the overcrowded and "inhumane" conditions at NYC's notorious ICE detention facility included diagrams that are eerily reminiscent of slave ships. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/federal...

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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 25/09/2026

"china is charging their cars in less time than it takes you to fill up your F-150" is the kind of banal jingoism i always assumed would get us finally kicking it up a notch on serious infrastructure buildout but we were a lot more directly addicted to gasoline in addition to racism than i thought

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