iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

100 years ago, the afternoon daily paper in Angie Nixon’s hometown, the Jacksonville Journal (its morning rival was the Florida Times-Union), had a popular weekly column entitled, “What Socialists are Doing in Florida and Elsewhere.” Vance would export a sizable number of past & present Floridians.

A column entitled “What Socialists are Doing in Florida and Elsewhere” from the August 1, 1903 Jacksonville Journal.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Putting FBI agents to work for Nixon’s campaign: “The… request for… info was contained in a memo to the FBI from Geoff Shepard of the WH staff… Shepard's memo asked for information ‘in order for (presidential advisor) John Erlichman to give the President maximum support during campaign trips.’”

A March, 1973 newspaper article describing how White House aid Geoff Shepard put in a request for the FBI to compile information from field offices to aid President Nixon in his reelection campaign.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Anti-DSA fundraising text from John Fetterman: “Sadly I'm pretty much alone on this side of the aisle.” The implication is that he might be much less alone on the other side where grass is greener. Anyway, there are plenty on “this side of the aisle” that are giving oxygen to disdain for the DSA.

But most of all, I think this is what happens when you clash with the Socialist movement "DSA!" that is hijacking the Democratic party.

They want to...

Abolish our borders

Abolish the Electoral College

Abolish Israel

Abolish the Senate

The bad news is the "DSA!" crazies have gone from the political fringe to controlling one of America's major political parties-and onto ballots across the country.

The good news is the hardworking, common- sense Pennsylvanians I talk to every day still aren't buying it.

I mean, a recent Rasmussen poll kind of proves it:

71% of Americans reject socialism

67% of Democrat voters reject socialism

While 82% of Republican voters reject socialism.

But here's the thing. The loudest voice in the room is often the one that looks the most powerful.

And I've got to say, the "DSA!" voices in Washington are loud and getting louder. The media is their megaphone.

Which is why you may be under the false impression that people really do want the "DSA!" and their extreme policies.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I'm standing up to them.

But sadly I'm pretty much alone on this side of the aisle.

So, can I ask you a favor?

Whatever your party affiliation is, can I ask you to stand with me against the daily barrage of hit-pieces?

If you can donate just $25, it would be a big help to me.

But it will also send a message. It will show the truth that the "real numbers" are on our side here in Pennsylvania, as well as around the rest of America.

You know, I recently stood in front of the iconic U.S. Steel Mill and recorded a video talking about how my friend Dave McCormick and I banded together with President Trump to save this facility and the larger steel industry. But I'm not backing down.

Even though I know the media... the "DSA!"... and the party bosses... are going to try even harder to defeat me:

"Fetterman Draws Shadow Primary From Democrats Eager to Replace Him: The Pennsylvania senator has long irked members of his own party" ~ Bloomberg

If you'll stand with me today, I know we can show them that we're not backing down and that the real numbers are on the side of common sense and putting hardworking Pennsylvanians first.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The GOP parade passed with little discernible attention from families going in and out of shops with many Pride banners and merch with plenty of nods to the anti-GOP bent of the town, despite the county's redder hue. And Sand is ahead — but the Senate race, between Turek and Hinson, is a tossup.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

At present, the are two prominent offices for Democrats in Decorah, including one, "Winn Dems" (for Winneshiek County) that's lively and full of activity in the lead-up to the midterms. Local gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand's mom hosts weekly phone banks here: www.instagram.com/reel/DdFj343...

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

In 2022, a solitary GOP storefront along the main street — "Club 45" — displayed Trump flags and other area campaign material along with a poster promoting a showing of Matt Walsh's "What Is a Woman" film. It was still there in 2024, but google maps now says "permanently closed." (This is correct!)

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The short procession was led by just four military veterans. This happened in the context of a family weekend held by the aforementioned Luther College, which saw hundreds of parents descending on the town to spend time on campus and strolling the town with students. The GOP "parade" was a blip.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The procession included an anti-choice, "RESPECT LIFE" banner — "from conception to natural death" — and also the "An Appeal to Heaven" pine tree flag, along with a Betsy Ross flag & "Don't Tread On Me," natch. @sethcotlar.bsky.social has written much on the "Appeal" flag: bsky.app/search?q=fro...

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

🧵 Decorah, a blue, NE Iowa town — plaque in the old hotel commemorating Obama's visit, Rob Sand's hometown, anchored by a liberal college — had a brief visit from the area GOP on Saturday. A float featuring Trump and praising the "constitutional sheriff" movement led just a few cars up the street:

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

From the 2024 CDC press release linked in my second post below (still archived at CDC, albeit with a few data corrections): In the last year, "the percentage of U.S. kindergartners with an exemption from ≥1 vaccine increased to 3.3% (the highest percentage ever reported)." bsky.app/profile/flux...

A screenshot from a 2024 CDC press release (still on their site) highlighting decreasing kindergarten vaccination rates and concluding, "Decreasing vaccination coverage and increasing exemptions increase the risk for vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. Efforts by health departments, schools, and providers are needed to ensure that students begin school fully vaccinated."

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Back in November 2024, @gregsargent.bsky.social wrote that we were about to endure, under Trump 2.0, “an extraordinary spree of unrestrained malfeasance.” Sen. Ron Wyden spoke of a four-year “smash and grab.” And those stark assessments still don’t begin to describe the current level of corruption.

Trump campaigned expressly on a platform of authoritarian rule, but this also applies to corruption: He didn't disguise his promises to govern in the direct interests of some of the wealthiest executives and investors in the country-and he won anyway. Trump and his allies will likely interpret this as a green light to engage in an extraordinary spree of unrestrained malfeasance.
There are several reasons to fear this could amount to a level of oligarchic corruption that outdoes anything Trump did in his first term. In short, conditions are ripe for right-wing elites to try to loot the place from top to bottom.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

All’s for the best, in this best of all possible worlds!

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

“Every dollar of profit that every business makes ultimately accrues to either the people who do the work (labor), or the people who own the place, including shareholders (capital). For decades now, capital has been taking a bigger and bigger piece of the pie… The real political project is…” 1/2

A graph showing a significant decline in the labor share of output that accrues to workers in the form of compensation, measured over the past few decades, showing a reduction from roughly 62% down to 52%.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Innocence amidst chaos: "Palestinian children watch a cartoon film projected on a screen during a mobile cinema screening organized by the Masharawi Foundation for Cinema and Filmmakers, September 2, 2026." (Photos: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters, via @aljazeera.com)

An aerial view of a somewhat large group of children watching a cartoon projected on a fabric screen in the Gaza city tent camp. The viewing area is a small clearing in the midst of a large spread-out area of makeshift tents surrounded, in the distance, by remnants of burned out and collapsed buildings.

A view of perhaps 40 or 50 children facing the photographer's camera as they view the action on a movie screen, with the light from the projection reflected on some of their faces.

A close-up view of a small group of very young children, sitting rapt as they stare at the cartoons on the screen in front of them.

A side view of the open area in which the children are watching the cartoons, showing the image on the screen at far left, and the large group of children watching, sitting to the right of the photo. A few tents can be seen in the background.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

"Minnesota State Fair staff removed a crop artwork with the numbers '8647'... after the piece’s veiled critique of President Donald Trump generated outrage on social media..." A supervisor said the artist received death threats after coverage on the OAN network, "and has had to leave the state."

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

While it's just those two that are hydrologically a single body of water, he thought the three lakes could be labeled by their familiar names, but the overall group as Lake America. Anyway, Osborn also annulled the adoption of his adult daughter, only to marry her two weeks before he died in 1949.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Apparently the only time someone else mused about the idea of "Lake America" re. the Great Lakes was when former Michigan Gov. Chase Osborn, in 1935, fancied that Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan be identified thusly as he believed them to be one body of water. (Technically, Huron and Michigan are...)

A March, 1935 newspaper article explaining former Michigan Gov. Chase Osborn's fanciful notion that three of the Great Lakes, being as he somewhat mistakenly assumed one body of water, could henceforth be known collectively as "Lake America."

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

This seems to be about as steamy as it gets for Chuck Grassley. (Although there does appear to be plenty of enthusiasm — not bad, all things considered.)

An October, 1976 photo from the Globe Gazette (Iowa) showing candidate Charles "Chuck" Grassley kissing his wife as he heads out the door to campaign.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Emptying my drawers of all my bland, monochromatic t-shirts and opening myself up to accusations of peacocking, but little do they know…

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

From a 1945 Guardian piece: "As an historian Marc Bloch was a pioneer in the study of economic conditions in the Middle Ages, but his main concern was always with the human beings who lived and changed those conditions... above all, he was interested in their manner of thinking about liberty."

A piece memorializing French historian Marc Bloch that appeared in the UK Guardian in 1945, written by the paper's Paris correspondent one year after Bloch's torture and execution by the Nazis. The article is titled, "Marc Bloch — A Great French Scholar."

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

A 1949 reviewer of Bloch's book frames French capitulation to the Nazis in terms not unfamiliar to us at present: "The evidence makes it clear that the politicians and High Command of France had so withdrawn themselves from reality that they welcomed swift defeat as an end to their responsibility."

A posthumous review of Marc Bloch's book, Strange Defeat, that appeared in the Sydney, Australia Sun in 1949. The article is titled, "Inquest on the Guilty Men of France."

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

“…without partaking of the follies of luxury and ostentation.”

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Jeff Niklaus, the CEO of the company behind the electric shock glove slated for ICE use, stated in an Instagram video posted shortly after the killing of Charlie Kirk that, “we need supernatural activity." And then the glove-shock guy went on to say the following words without a trace of irony: 1/2

“There are people and organizations in this country that would love nothing more than to see the demise of this republic, to see our Constitution go away, and to see our way of life destroyed so that we can follow another agenda for people where they take away your liberties and your rights, your speech…”

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

And thank you, Chuck Grassley, for your decisive role in pushing through Todd Blanche’s confirmation. (From Fox News)

A snippet from a Fox News article highlighting Chuck Grassley’s role in pushing through Todd Blanche’s appointment as Attorney General.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

October 28, 1980: Chuck Grassley scores 8 out of 10 on the Ku Klux Klan's rating scale for those who deserve "White Christian Patriots' support" for re-election. (Aside: Sen. John Thune, who said “we need our AR-15’s to shoot prairie dogs,” was on Senator James Abdnor's staff.)

From 1980:

Ku Klux Klan cites Grassley, Abdnor

By Andy Montgomery

Journal Washington correspondent

WASHINGTON - Fifty congressmen and senators, including two Siouxland legislators, are cited as among the "few statesmen that we have left in Washington" by the United Klans of America Inc., Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Included in the list compiled by the staff of the KKK's official publication, "The Fiery Cross," are Iowa 3rd District Congressman Charles Grassley, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, and Rep. James Abdnor, the GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate in South Dakota.

Imperial Klaliff W. J. Kidd said the KKK used ratings put together by the ultra-conservative Liberty Lobby and the American Conservative Union "to determine which of our national congressmen and senators deserve White Christian Patriots' support for re-election due to his record."

Kidd, who ranks just behind Imperial Wizard Robert M. Shelton in the Klan hierarchy, cautioned that inclusion on the list "in no way indicates an endorsement by the United Klans of America Inc., nor obligates any member of the UKA in any way to support that person for re-election."

"We merely wish to recognize the few statesmen that we have left in Washington." he wrote.

Grassley and Abdnor both scored an 8 on the Klan scale of 1 to 10 for their voting record.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

As @gberberian.bsky.social mentioned, it’s an area street artist. Here’s a snap I took last week near Hudson Yards:

A photo of street art by “degrupo” in the the Hudson Yards area of New York City.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

“‘Most little girls go through various stages of wanting to be teachers, nurses, doctors, and even actresses, didn't you?’ we asked. ‘No.’ Jane Bolin answered. ‘I always wanted to be a lawyer.’”

A 1939 newspaper photo of Jane Bolin, newly appointed as the first Black female judge in the United States

A 1939 newspaper front page, with the headline, “Woman Made Judge — Jane Bolin Takes Oath.”

A 1939 newspaper feature describing a typical day in the chambers of Jane Bolin, newly appointed as the first Black female judge in the United States

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Just another day at the Arco station on the south side of Minneapolis: www.reddit.com/r/Minneapoli...

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

MOU, no MOU... "One hundred eighty members of Iran's 290-strong parliament have issued a statement declaring the end of the memorandum of understanding with the United States."

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

But meanwhile, amidst the chaos which at this point, at this level of absurdity, almost seems like a game — random lives are being wantonly snuffed out for no reason. Add in the Netanyahu dimension, and the Doge dimension, and the ICE dimension, and it's just death all around... while Trump golfs.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

In 1935, actor/syndicated humorist Will Rogers opined in his column that the Supreme Court ought to be a check on executive (and congressional) overreach. Little could he and his readers — naifs, all! — ever imagine how SCOTUS have now taken an active role in poisoning the well with impunity.

Will Rogers says: HOLLYWOOD, Cal., May 28.-Hurray for the old Constitution! Nobody wants to see the old lady led astray. But wouldn't this amendment to her be helpful? When Congress passes a law, or a president exceeds his authority, have some person notify the supreme court what has happened, and get them to examine the medicine and see if its poison before its given to the patients, and not at the funeral. This amendment would make the supreme court a preventative and not an autopsy jury. Yours, Will Rogers

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

And while Il Papa's endorsement may lend legitimacy to the weighty end-times ideas propounded (in the tradition of other corporate titans like Ford and Musk) by Mr. Culligan, let these letters that quote Culligan's book, submitted by faithful readers to their local newspapers, speak for themselves:

A meandering letter submitted to the opinion page of a newspaper in 1987 that highlights Emmett Culligan's book, The Last World War and the End of Time.

A meandering, anti-communist letter submitted to the opinion page of a newspaper in 1969 that highlights Emmett Culligan's book, The Last World War and the End of Time.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

On seeing the ad in The National Educator for "The Last World War and the End of Time" by Emmett Culligan, one's first thought undoubtedly is, “Hey, Culligan man!” Wouldn’t you know, said author is one and the same with the founder of the famous water company. Here he is meeting the Pope in 1966:

A vintage newspaper ad for Emmett Culligan's book, The Last World War and the End of Time, with a photo of Culligan meeting Pope Paul VI in 1966.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

All in the family, indeed. Lindsey Graham adopted his sister, Darline, when she was 13 and he was in college — after both of their parents died in a short span. Two pieces, 2002 and 2004, with a few details that weren't in today's NYT article.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

“Trump has lost Maine all three times he ran for president… Collins’s ratings of late have ranged from bad to worse… [And] it won’t be easy for her to separate herself from him. She voted with Trump… 95 percent of the time in 2025...” And Collins’ campaign sent out this fundraiser two days ago:

A screenshot of a Susan Collins campaign ad in which she touts her support for Donald Trump’s SAVE Act

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

A 1998 piece in the SF Chronicle describes the dramatic 1868 Senate vote by Edmund G. Ross: "I almost literally looked down into my open grave. Friendships, position, fortune, everything that makes life desirable to an ambitious man were to be swept away by the breath of my mouth, perhaps forever."

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

BTW, here's the full piece from David Willey, dated Sep. 22, 1973.

The full text of a 1973 article by David Willey describing the circumstances of a cholera epidemic in Italy and the many challenges to the country's broken healthcare system. A photo is shown of a sanitation truck spraying what is described as the "squalid streets of Naples."

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

"David Willey, who became BBC Rome correspondent in 1972 and never left." In the midst of our present upheaval, this sounds like a nice choice — although Willey arrived in an Italy beset by internal turmoil, as his dispatches made clear. This snippet during a 1973 cholera outbreak resonates today:

Snippet from a 1973 piece on the cholera epidemic in Italy by David Willey, who passed away this week:

"Finally, the cholera epidemic provided an interesting example of
the slanting and omission of domestic news by the state-controlled radio and television monopoly, RAI. Night after night television reporters were stressing that the situation was under control as the number of dead mounted. In a stinging editorial entitled The Silence of the TV, the leading Milan newspaper said that the only thing under control was the radio and television news itself."

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

@mikekoncewicz.bsky.social: "What links together those drawn to both Nixon and alternative histories of Watergate is his willingness to use the federal government to crack down on the right’s enemies and strengthen their ability to control the nation’s institutions." Rufo's roadmap for Vance:

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

A product ahead of its time. (Nov., 1948.) Having marveled at the incredible elasticity of today's Trump supporter — the ability to bend, contort and provide "maximum support" to Dear Leader, regardless of the hypocrisy, double-dealing, graft, fraud and criminality, we can now view the precursor.

A 1948 newspaper ad for a Johnson & Johnson, all-elastic "Trump Supporter" (an athletic supporter for men).

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic from Sep. 14, 1987 perfectly foreshadowed a Donald Trump candidacy. (For those who don't know, Arizona's Evan Mecham was the first U.S. governor to simultaneously face removal from office through impeachment, a scheduled recall election, and a felony indictment...)

A 1987 Doonesbury comic by Garry Trudeau highlighting former Arizona governor Evan Mecham's supreme deficiencies for high office, and identifying Donald Trump as possibly the only living person less suited for office than Mecham.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The Pfizer Building, 235 E. 42nd St. (built 1959-1961). "Headquarters for the 110-year-old firm... Fully air-conditioned, the building will feature a glass and aluminum facade, an underfloor electrical duct system, high-speed automatic elevators and other elements of modern construction."

A short 1960 newspaper item showing a photo of construction workers, handing wooden planks from one level to another by hand during construction of the Pfizer building in Manhattan

A short 1959 newspaper article highlighting the construction of the new Pfizer building in New York City

A 1961 newspaper item showing an aerial photo of the Pfizer building in New York City with a column of smoke emanating from the top after a cooling unit caught fire. No injuries were reported.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

“Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals is a real LLC. But everything on its website — from its history of the company, to its job postings, a diversity and inclusion policy — appears to be fictional.” Nevertheless, Google’s AI churned out a company profile that reproduced all the fictions as truth.

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

1934, Wisconsin, USA: “Chancellor Hitler retires to his Country Home for a much needed rest after a strenuous week in Berlin. So will many a Business Man, over the week-end, after a busy week in Appleton…”

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fluxt [née fluxed] @fluxt.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Coincidentally, 2006 appears to have been another year when the algae peaked in the reflecting pool:

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