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Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian

@hunkra.bsky.social
928 followers 203 following 188 posts

Margaret Atwood was right. Support a robust, non-partisan Civil Service #BookSky #librarians

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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
James Neal @james3neal.bsky.social · 7h
"We asked dozens of librarians about America’s libraries — what they provide, what they need to survive." www.nytimes.com/interactive/... HT @wareian.com
nytimes.com
Librarians Discuss the Challenges and Triumphs of Running a Library Today (Gift Article)
We asked dozens of them about America’s libraries — what they provide, what they need to survive. Here’s what they told us.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Here’s another way climate change will kill us: the expansion of mosquitoes and the deadly diseases they carry. In Paris, the invasive Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), an aggressive, day-biting nuisance, is now everywhere. So excited to get Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika in Paris.
to.pbs.org
Scientists explore new ways to target mosquitoes as warming climate expands threat
It doesn't have sharp teeth or claws, but the mosquito kills more people than any other animal on earth. As the climate warms, mosquito season is lasting longer, giving them more time to spread danger...
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
ArtButMakeItSports @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The Intimate Toilette (A Woman Urinating), by François Boucher, 1760s
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Someone needs to explain to Trump that the worse Republicans do in the midterms, the better it looks for him. Just goes to show the party is utterly lost without him on the ballot! He’s literally the only Republican who has the juice. (Natalie, if you see this, please print and share.)
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David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I swear to fucking god I would rather see the place renamed for John Wilkes Booth.
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TW @twesq.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
this is fantastic and I learned something new
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
When the Cincinnati Post shut down, it oddly had an effect on local elections. Fewer people ran for office, voter turnout fell, and incumbents became more likely to win. That's useful context for Trump's choice to ban 3 news orgs from the White House newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/what-econo...
newsletter.platypuseconomics.com
What Economists Know About Kicking Out Reporters
Trump banned three news organizations from the White House last week — and there’s a research literature on exactly where that leads.
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Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian @hunkra.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Amen
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Can you imagine the goverment response if this many pharmaceutical companies experimenting with potentially deadly viruses let them leak out of their “secure” biolabs? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/t...
nytimes.com
Gemini AI Hacked Three Companies in a Testing Breakout, Google Says
A third-party test company inadvertently gave internet access to Google’s Gemini and other artificial intelligence models during cybersecurity testing.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
eminemerald fennell @fireh9lly.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA
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a team of bumblebees @saramchenry.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
bury me in khakis and a lanyard so hell knows an expert is coming
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
I think mathematics at this level is a human endeavor, and solving these problems is an exercise in creativity like working on a puzzle. We’re just losing our humanity by letting AI do all the fun stuff while we toil at our desks doing tedious stuff like filling out expense forms.
wsj.com
A Famous Math Problem Stumped Humans for 80 Years. AI Just Cracked It.
The math world is losing its mind over the new solution to an Erdős problem. This is what AI found, how we missed it—and why it matters.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
The Contrarian @contrariannews.org · 09/09/2026
Which Members of Congress Voted for ICE Funding? Here’s How to Look It Up
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I'll fold your phone for far less than $2,000. Reach out
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Michael Pollan @michaelpollan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Why Did Trump Order Up 660 Million Pounds of Mystery Meat? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/07/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Why Did Trump Order Up 660 Million Pounds of Mystery Meat?
On second thought, I’m not that hungry.
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Casey Newton @caseynewton.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
UBS becomes the first bank to ask prospective employees: can you type into a box?
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
That Librarian: Amanda Jones @librarianjones.com · 04/09/2026
“He should have apologized and I would have gone away, but he didn’t. He messed with the wrong librarian.” For the librarians. #Invictus Thank you, @deecherrywriter.bsky.social and @antigravitymag.bsky.social! @la-cac.org @everylibrary.bsky.social antigravitymagazine.com/feature/aman...
antigravitymagazine.com
Amanda Jones and The Battle of the Bans - ANTIGRAVITY Magazine
In 2022, Livingston Parish librarian Amanda Jones spoke out against book banning attempts in her parish’s library system, saying, “Censoring and relocating books and displays is harmful to our communi...
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 02/09/2026
MapQuest is now the No. 1 U.S. app after bucking Trump’s ‘Lake America’ renaming
techcrunch.com
MapQuest is now the No. 1 U.S. app after bucking Trump’s ‘Lake America’ renaming
The once-dominant mapping app has surged to the top of Apple’s U.S. App Store after refusing to adopt Trump’s “Lake America” name, drawing more than half of its 2026 U.S. downloads in just six days.
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Dolly Parton gifted more than 300 million books to children with her wealth. trib.al/f8lj3au
trib.al
Meet the Megadonors Who Have Poured $1.2 Billion Into the Midterms
The leaderboard of the top 20 donors is dominated by the tech industry and ultrawealthy Republicans.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The situation in Haiti is terrifying. On Sunday, 150 gunmen swept down on a town to kill, rape, loot, and burn. 22 people were executed in a churchyard. 52 were taken hostage. Stephen Miller mockingly says Haiti is safe and ICE just sent its second deportation flight this month; with kids on board.
They arrived in silence, under cover of darkness, heavily armed as they surrounded the town and moved through Kenscoff’s rugged terrain and towering forests in the mountains above the Haitian capital. Numbering around 150, the gunmen swept through several locations as they made their way toward the center of the town, opening fire on resident who tried to flee. At least 13 people were shot and killed as the gunmen ran through downtown, according to an account by the United Nations human rights office. As more than 50 others sought refuge in L’Arche de la Nouvelle Alliance, a Protestant church that had been sheltering people already displaced by the violence, the gunmen pursued them. When they arrive, they forced residents from the church and executed 22 of them in its courtyard. A dozen others were killed behind the sanctuary. The attackers didn’t just stop there. Before withdrawing from downtown, an area encompassing City Hall and a Haiti National Police substation, they abducted at least 52 people, including a mother and her five children, as well as another mother and her infant. Children and elderly who could not run were killed inside their homes. Others were burned alive after gunmen set at least a dozen houses on fire, witnesses told the National Human Rights Defense Network. The attackers also shot horses and other livestock inside the rural enclave.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Last night’s pink sunset at the Dolly Parton Statue in Sevierville, TN. 📸 Melissa Orestano
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
We are a broken nation. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians were living and working legally, paying taxes, and contributing. Haiti remains wholly unsafe. But Trump hates Haitians, and the White House wanted videos of Black people in chains, so they stripped them of status and turned on the cameras.
Homeland Security 7
@DHSgov
X.com
Haiti TPS has been TERMINATED.
Those with terminated TPS are in our nation Illegally. They have two options: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or be DEPORTED.
DHS.GOV/CBРНОМЕ

Underneath is a screenshot of a video showing two Haitian men in chains being led to the aircraft. I didn’t post the video, but it’s vile.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Michael Luo @michaelluo.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Beautiful piece by Kathryn Schulz. Hillbilly Elegy www.newyorker.com/culture/post...
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Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian @hunkra.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Still one of my favorite albums of all time #ripdolly youtu.be/Ks8C2UNs4ng?...
youtu.be
Dolly Parton and Norah Jones - The Grass Is Blue
YouTube video by stonesmartijn
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Mara Wilson @marawilson.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Sometimes, when someone dies, what helps me is thinking about how wonderful it is that they were even alive in the first place. Dolly was the closest you could get to an American saint. We all loved her.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library gifted more than 332,000,000 books since it was first created 31 years ago.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
There are so many places these soldiers are needed for help with disasters around the country—Gary, Indiana, for example— and instead they’re being put up in luxury hotels and apartments in DC at a cost of 3 million dollars a day, a symbol of the president’s insecurity. www.npr.org/2026/08/24/n...
npr.org
In candid interviews, National Guard members speak out about D.C. deployment
As President Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., enters its second year, three guard members who served many months on the mission share their reactions with NPR.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
kelly jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Massachusetts Passes Freedom to Read Law. After years of work by the state legislature and literary advocates, Massachusetts became the 13th state to pass a freedom to read law. bookriot.com/massachusett...
bookriot.com
Massachusetts Passes Freedom to Read Law
After years of work by the state legislature and literary advocates, Massachusetts became the 13th state to pass a freedom to read law.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
All ICE funding should be transferred to MRNA research and development . www.wsj.com/health/pharm...
wsj.com
Novel Cancer Vaccine Prevents Melanoma From Returning in First for mRNA
Result in high-risk patients validates decades of research into mRNA-based therapeutic cancer vaccines.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
404 Media @404media.co · 17/08/2026
SCOOP: 404 Media placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it. What did we find? It ended up at an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. Yes. This is literally the logo outside the Amazon warehouse door. Read now:
404media.co
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Jen Taub @jentaub.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
“A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it would replace, according to a new preprint study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.” ysph.yale.edu/news-article...
ysph.yale.edu
Universal Health Coverage Could Save $1 Trillion and 114,000 Lives Every Year, Yale Study Projects
A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it
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The Onion @theonion.com · 17/08/2026
‘Do You Have Any Idea Who I Am?’ Jalen Brunson Shouts At Librarian Refusing To Move Him Up ‘Lonesome Dove’ Waitlist theonion.com/do-you-have-any-idea-w…
‘Do You Have Any Idea Who I Am?’ Jalen Brunson Shouts At Librarian Refusing To Move Him Up ‘Lonesome Dove’ Waitlist
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
404 Media @404media.co · 12/08/2026
NEW: ICE plans to spend tens of millions of dollars on buying specialized gloves that pulse with electrical energy, which make it easier for agents to subdue people. 404 Media read the manual that says the gloves may even contribute to “sudden death.”
404media.co
Here's the Manual for ICE's Electric Shock Gloves
ICE plans to spends tens of millions of dollars on the gloves, which are supposed to incapacitate people. A manual 404 Media found says the gloves may even contribute to “sudden death.”
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The deadly Cyclospora outbreak, it turns out, is just another Trump corruption story. A big donor gets a favor. And causes a massive public health crisis. Let me explain.
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Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian @hunkra.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Straight up evil www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...
irishtimes.com
A ‘bananas’ order for 5,000 obscure titles from a bookshop in Galway fuels suspicion
Independent retailers are receiving vast orders for obscure titles, fuelling suspicions that AI companies are quietly building the next generation of chatbots
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 09/08/2026
"Kind of crazy that this is the last time we’ll all see each other, since she was the glue that held us all together, and none of us can even fathom hanging out without her.” buff.ly/0agzNfc
mcsweeneys.net
Things I Hope People Would Say at My Funeral
“You’re not better than her just because you’re alive, you know. Death comes for us all.”
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 06/08/2026
Third Way, a professedly "center left" group, is spending tens of millions of dollars to convince voters to vote for Republicans in November
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Pixie Casey @pixiecasey.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
in insane local news, the 26 year old director of a rocky horror production was arrested for sending threatening messages to himself in order to get the play shut down bc he didn’t want to deal with cast drama www.mynbc5.com/article/rock...
mynbc5.com
VT musical director of planned 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' created fake threats, police say
The director of a planned production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" admitted to sending himself threatening texts that eventually got the play canceled out of safety concerns.
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Brooke Harrington @ebharrington.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
"don't make enough money" is a fig leaf All those degree programs--social work, art, etc.--have disproportionately female student bodies. This is designed to make it harder for women to attend college--college education being a key factor in women's autonomy from men & left-leaning voting pattern.
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Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian @hunkra.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
❤️
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Every law student in America should be required to read this as a cautionary tale. Every lawyer at Paul Weiss should be required to read this to understand what they have become. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/u...
nytimes.com
How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee
Paul Weiss was a progressive stalwart for decades and led the legal resistance against President Trump in his first term. Then it surrendered without a fight. This is the inside story of its transform...
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jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
All the Fauci stuff is a modern day version of the POW/MIA stuff after Vietnam - a way to try to rewrite the history of a huge failure of conservative ideology to be instead a story about how liberals and foreigners stabbed us in the back.
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
In 2020, a new plague swept across the Earth, killing millions. Before that year was even over, wizards working in an invisible world had devised a shield that everybody could use. The result wasn't a new era of scientific appreciation but of preening frauds lying more shamelessly than ever before.
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Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
It’s that time of year again: here are some of the books I’ve enjoyed this summer. If you’ve read any good ones, let me know!
Barack Obama's 2026 Summer Reading List: 

Kin by Tayari Jones
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
A World Appears by Michael Pollan
Whistler by Ann Patchett
This Land is Your Land by Beverly Gage
Vigil by George Saunders
One Sun Only by Camille Bordas
Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent Yu
Data Empire by Roopika Risam
Transcription by Ben Lerner
Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 29/07/2026
The Missouri AG threatened Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia with total defunding and investigations if they read books with LGBTQ+ themes to kids in a Pride story hour. They did so anyway. Our latest story from s. Baum of one library's defiance against an oppressive Republican regime.
erininthemorning.com
Missouri Library Defiantly Holds LGBTQ Story Hour Despite Funding and Legal State Threats
“This isn’t isolated to Missouri. It doesn’t end here if we don’t stop it here.”
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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
If you have type-O positive blood and you can manage it, please consider donating blood *as soon as possible* - this is a very bad situation.
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Nick Tanzi @ntanzi.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Libby will introduce #AI content controls, enabling readers to filter AI-generated materials. Their effectiveness, however, likely depends on disclosure by authors and publishers. #publishing #libraries www.techbuzz.ai/articles/lib...
techbuzz.ai
Libby Rolls Out AI Filter as Digital Libraries Brace for Bot Books
OverDrive's new CEO announces AI content controls for Libby app amid rising tide of AI-generated ebooks
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Reposted by Pamela Hawks, Smashing Librarian
Rumaan Alam @rumaan.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
If my husb went to war and ROBERT PATTINSON came calling I wouldn’t fucking weave I can tell you that much
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D. Earl Stephens @dearlstephens.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
📌It's amazing how little attention is being paid to how expensive everything is right now. That's all we heard about from 2020-2024.
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