iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 8h

"Give the people what they want" is healthful when you're talking about second-order desires, but borderline evil when you're talking about first-order desires.

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 8h

If you leave a big bowl of M&Ms out in the office, people will take some. But if you asked those candy-takers if want the office to have a standing bowl of M&Ms, most of them will say no. It's the distinction between first-order desires (animal wants) and second-order desires (considered wants).

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Every election cycle I get angrier and angrier about this www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/u...

Bar chart titled "The breathtaking cost of the midterms: $10 billion and counting on ads" showing $9 billion in '19-'20 and in '21-'22, $11.2 billion in '23-'24, and $10 billion already spent this cycle with a projected $11.6 billion total

That $10 billion, by way of comparison, is more than the amount of ticket sales at the North American domestic box office last year, more than the amount grossed by the top 100 concert tours combined last year and more than the total amount of advertising booked during the 2025-2026 N.F.L. season.

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Surely reducing demand for all products will improve everyone's welfare immensely!

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Ha! Been good! Been busy! Hope you're well and kicking ass.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

The Trump regime admitted in court filings that the cancellation of clean energy grants for Hawaiʻi was because the state voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, rather than the previously stated reasons of advancing energy needs or economic viability.

civilbeat.org

Trump Administration Lawyers Admit Hawaiʻi Funding Cuts Were Partisan

The admission about terminated clean energy grants emerged in recent court filings, confirming what many already suspected.

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Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

"The Trump administration admitted that it terminated nearly 300 federal research grants 'solely because' the projects were connected to states that voted against Donald Trump in 2024 and had two Democratic senators in office, according to court filings." www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

nbcnews.com

Trump administration concedes it canceled research grants in blue states

The administration said 284 research grants were canceled because they were in states that voted against Donald Trump in 2024.

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Trump has never won a round of golf on a course he didn't own. His cheating is legendary.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

en.wikipedia.org

General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Yeah so NYT asked me ~2 yrs ago to write an op-ed about how the Colorado is running dry, & what we should do to keep this exact thing from happening. I said "There's only one real answer. Bill farmers by how much water they use. Duh." NYT editorial staff freaked tf out & cancelled the piece.

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Tom Hearden @followtheh.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Two weeks ago today, after Nasdaq willingly rigged the rules, somewhere btw $7-10 bil of passive money was forced to buy SpaceX at $160.42 Today, 10 trading days later, it closed at $119.85 It’s an unprecedented forced loss (at least $2b) for passive investors and our financial media is 🦗

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

It's actually difficult these days to find significant quantities of the basic rectangular bricks of various sizes that are most important for building things of your own. The highly designed kits contain very few of them. I have to go out of my way to buy them online.

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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Years ago on the bird site I speculated/half-joked that When It Happens they just won’t admit it and the media will be too afraid to report it and was told that I was crazy but I dunno, friends, I dunno.

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

This is how every Mission Impossible movie starts.

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Morgan @larubia22.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Screwworms eradicated in the US in 1966. Measles eradicated in the US in 2000. Both are back because of this science denying administration.

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Oliver Darcy got the audio of the heated 60 Minutes meeting where Scott Pelley dressed Nick Bilton down! "You know what was rude? Black Thursday. That was the absolute definition of rudeness. Telling Tanya Simon she had to be out of here at five o'clock." www.status.news/p/scott-pell...

"Bari loves this institution," Bilton told staffers at one point during the highly contentious meeting. "She loves '60 Minutes.'"

"She's murdering '60 Minutes,'" Pelley countered. "She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it—and she's doing exactly that."

This story is based on audio of the meeting obtained by Status. A CBS News spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, but Pelley's stunning series of remarks left staffers on the newsmagazine wondering if he will resign.

In the meeting, Pelley pointed out that Weiss has "no qualifications for her job" and told Bilton "you have slender qualifications for this job." Pelley, the former anchor of "CBS Evening News," noted that the changes Weiss has made to that program "have been catastrophic."

"So why should we expect any of this is going to be any better?" Pelley asked Bilton.

Bilton tried to move the meeting along, but Pelley pressed on, challenging the new executive producer’s references in interviews to “60 Minutes” creator Don Hewitt’s vision for the program as he outlined his plans.

"I have another question," the veteran journalist said. "Did you at any point work with Don Hewitt, telling everybody about what Don Hewitt thought, and what his inspiration was? I worked for Don Hewitt from 1999 to 2004 and Lesley Stahl probably worked with him for 30 years. Just wondering how you have such deep insight?"

Bilton replied that he was simply quoting Hewitt’s own words from past interviews and asked Pelley whether he had any other questions. Pelley said that he did.

"I have many questions," Pelley responded. "What was wrong with Sharyn Alfonsi?"

As Bilton started to say he would "defer," Pelley interrupted: "This is not the crowd to dodge."

Bilton insisted he was not dodging.

"Nobody talked to you about that?" Pelley continued, pressing him on the firing. "They're taking one of your correspondents away and nobody mentioned to you what was wrong with Sharyn?"

Bilton acknowledged that he "had conversations with people."

"And what came out of those conversations?" Pelley asked. "They are private conversations?"

Bilton reiterated that he "did not fire" Alfonsi or Vega. Pelley pointed out that Bilton had nonetheless discussed the matter with others. Charles Forelle, a top Weiss deputy and managing editor of CBS News, interjected, telling Pelley that he was being "rude."

"This is not actually productive," Forelle said. "This is not an interview."

"It's working for me," Pelley replied.

"Anybody came into our house—this is '60 Minutes,'" Pelley added. "I guess you wandered in expecting to read a statement off?"

Pelley then asked Bilton "what was wrong with" Draggan Mihailovich, the executive editor of "60 Minutes" who was fired on Thursday.

Bilton again said that he did not fire Mihailovich. Forelle one more told Pelley that he was being "rude."

Pelley did not let up, however. The veteran newsman told Bilton and Forelle that the way management handled the firings was "cruel." Forelle—yet again—responded by calling Pelley "rude."

"I'm not being rude," Pelley shot back. "I have some pretty—you know what was rude? Black Thursday. That was the absolute definition of rudeness. Telling Tanya Simon she had to be out of here at five o'clock. Sending Draggan Mihailovich to HR to get fired, because nobody could look him in the eye. Not talking about Tanya's contract. Not talking about Sharyn Alfonsi's contract. Not talking about Cecilia Vega's contract. Just calling them up and telling they were fired. That's rude. This is a conversation. That is rude, and you were part of that."

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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Watching a series of former Confederate states rush to eliminate any vestige of black representation in the House pretty much answers the question whether the Voting Rights Act was still necessary.

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Angry Staff Officer @pptsapper.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

I don’t think most Americans comprehend the sheer amount of racial violence in our history of which the Civil War was simply a part. The violence against Black Americans trying to exercise their rights as citizens was horrific through the 19th & 20th centuries, from lynchings to open massacres

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Dear Media Tycoons, A gentle reminder. You don't fire pundits, journalists, or comedians just because the president doesn't like them. Best, America

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 23/04/2026

Still feel like "Musk and his crew of incels destroyed a bunch of stuff they didn't understand and thereby hastened the deaths of millions of children" did not get the public attention it warranted.

wired.com

USAID Whistleblower Says It Was Even Worse Than People Knew

Political appointees wanted a quiet drawdown, the whistleblower says. DOGE wanted an execution.

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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 15/04/2026

Happy Tax Day, New York. We’re taxing the rich.

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Given that a fully charged and connected smartphone is now a de facto necessity for air travel, event attendance, and other basic functions, it's striking that our public spaces have not adapted with suitable charging infrastructure.

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

And 24 hours later, he is no longer here to save the Iranian people or slaughter them, but rather in cahoots with the Iranian regime in a toll-extraction enterprise. What will tomorrow bring?

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Trump went from liberating the Iranian people to liquidating the Iranian people mighty quick.

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Dez Fenton @butisitart.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

You know how in a library no one’s trying to sell you anything? That’s how the internet was.

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Jeanna @jeannakelley.com · 21/02/2026

I can’t stop thinking about how the HHS Secretary of the United States of America went on the news and bragged about doing coke off toilet seats and do y’all remember when Bill Clinton had to pretend like he never inhaled weed because it was a massive nationwide scandal? Wtf are we even doing here

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

H.R. Giger designed a Debbie Harry music video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb3S...

A video still of Debbie Harry from a music video in which she and the set are styled by H.R. Giger.

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HELL Kennedy @helenkennedy.com · 17/02/2026

Shot: Colbert explaining to his audience last night that the Trump administration ordered him not to air an interview with Texas Democrat and Senate candidate James Talarico - or even mention his name. (Scroll to 1:30) youtu.be/oh7DPSP65JA

youtu.be

Why CBS Didn't Broadcast Stephen Colbert's Interview With James Talarico

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

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Jonathan @renewableenergy.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Solar panels are 95-99% recycable & so are wind turbines, despite all the haters out there. Solarcycle — a U.S. company — will recycle 25% of ALL retired solar panels in the U.S. by 2030. Carbon Rivers — a U.S. company — can recycle any wind turbine. Stop the fear mongering about renewables ✊

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Val💙 @valca.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

The ICE surge in Minnesota cost $280M of our tax money, to detain 4k people of whom only 30 were accused of violent crimes, plus another 530 with minor traffic violations. $9 million per capture of the "worst of the worst". Plus two civilian deaths. Trump is REALLY BAD at this.

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

This is the second account - the first being in Chicago - of DHS agents mass detaining people and then *sorting them by race*.

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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 01/02/2026

Next time someone asks you about energy and land use, maybe remind them that the ~35 million acres that currently grow corn for ethanol in the US could produce ~15 PWh per year of electricity from solar photovoltaics. That's ~3.5 times more than *total annual generation from all US power plants*.

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Stephen Rodrick @stephenrodrick.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

I don't like to talk about stories before they are fully reported, but I am writing on ICE in a Minnesota town that isn't Minneapolis. However bad you think it is, it is worse. It is a campaign of pure terror whose only strategic goal is more terror. There is no strategy other than to break people.

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Tom Usher @tomusher.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

The funny thing about a certain type of angry conspiracy guy is that they’re literally being confronted with an elite paedophile ring and a tyrannical government at the same time right now, and because it isn't being done by the people they wanted it to be done by they’re all being pussies about it

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Jon Spaihts @jonspaihts.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Yeah, posting up with their faces in the wall like the closing shot of Blair Witch is not exactly projecting power.

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Erin Maye Quade @erinmayequade.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

After executing Alex Pretti on Saturday, ICE has shifted to primarily targeting bus stops and elementary schools in my community this week. I cannot overstate how much of the ICE activity in my community is just targeting places where little kids are.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

NOEM IS LYING. I have seen people get taken! It was the same each time: armed men racing out of a blacked-out SUV, seizing a screaming or fleeing pedestrian, and pulling them into the car without any attempt to even learn their identity. Always a person alone on the street. Always a person of color.

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Elizabeth Wrigley-Field @wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

I really want ppl w/o Minneapolis connections to understand You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen *Everyone has stories like this*

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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

A teenage boy was walking home in Minneapolis yesterday when four masked men jumped out of a van & questioned him - with no parent or guardian present. He was bundled into the van & taken away. Bystanders heard the boy say: “Can I just go home?” I don’t know how America comes back from all this.

The boy holding a bag of haribo confectionary is questioned by a masked IcE agent while three others with weapons stand by

The boy has head bowed, holding his confectionary, as he is taken away.

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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

The reason you have congressional hearings is so stories like this HAVE to get coverage for the normies. There were TEN Benghazi investigations. Give me twenty ICE investigations, with big damn press conferences.

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atticus goldfinch @atticusgf.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Like you just can't have this. You can't. The two largest papers in the country bought by billionaires for propaganda. Same with social networks. And television stations. You can't have it. It's literally incompatible with a healthy society and we're seeing the consequences.

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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

If you are a resident of California, the state now has a portal where you can demand deletion of your personal data from 500+ registered data brokers with a single request form, for free. consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov

consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov

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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Still mind-blowing that a top admin official was revealed to have taken $50,000 in cash in a paper bag from people looking for government favors, the reaction of the administration was "Whatever losers, this is how it works now" and bigshot news media said "If you say so, we'll forget about it"

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