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JS

@jsplaceholder.bsky.social
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US foreign assistance, infectious disease epidemiology, & a more perfect union 🫠 Bonus Texas/books/backpacking

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Reposted by JS
Thomas HD @degolierthomas.bsky.social · 4h
TX-10 Poll (Change Research) 613 LV (18 Sep 2026-22 Sep 2026) 48% Chris Gobar (Republican) 46% (Caitlin Rourk) (Democratic) Trump favorability 47% Favorable 50% Unfavorable

A Change Research poll of Texas’s 10th Congressional District (613 likely voters, Sept. 18-22), found the race within the margin of error following short candidate bios (48 Gober/46 Rourk), with Caitlin Rourk
breaking 50% in the final informed ballot (51 Rourk/42 Gober). Further questions prove what Team Rourk has heard across TX-10 the past several months: Caitlin's strong candidate profile, a uniquely
vulnerable opponent, and an increasingly poor political environment for Republicans have set the stage for an historic upset in Texas.
In a statement, Rourk said the following: “This is not just a close race - it’s literally ours to lose. Our campaign has the ability to do something extraordinary that few other campaigns can do right now. We
have been doing the path-breaking foundational work and are ready to go exponential in the final stretch. Now, we just need the investment to go execute and win this race.”

Source: Change Research poll of 613 likely voters, fielded September 18 - 22, 2026. Margin of error: 4.3%.

Highlights:
● Trump’s favorability is underwater at 47% favorable/50% unfavorable. Every statewide Republican candidate tested in this poll is also in net negative territory. Ken Paxton is statistically tied with Talarico in the Senate race, and Greg Abbott is running well-behind the Republican
baseline.
● Chris Gober is uniquely vulnerable given his close ties to figures like Elon Musk. Nearly half of voters are “very” concerned when they learn about his ties to Musk, Republican Super PACs, and his lobbying contracts, including a majority of independents and a sizable chunk of Republicans.
● Rourk, by comparison, has the right candidate profile for the district and can capitalize on
both the political environment and her opponent’s weakness. When shown positive information about Rourk’s background and asked to choose what aspect voters like best, 32% pointed to her background as a veteran who puts country over party. About a quarter resonated
most wit…
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Zoomer Antimillenarian @surcomplicated.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We need to do a goddamn puritanical anticorruption drive the moment we have a real fucking government again. That, or just get used to ubiquitous public corruption like nothing since the worst outrages of the Gilded Age.
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Ben K. @benjaminkabak.com · 22/09/2026
In an administration of very racist things, the treatment of the refugee program is perhaps the most racist thing Trump and Co. have done. The depths of this depravity haven't really broken through to the mainstream as far as I can tell.
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
This is the Annie Dillard essay I've been waiting for www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/m...
nytimes.com
Annie Dillard Will Live on Forever (Gift Article)
Annie Dillard died this week. But her voice — wild and holy and hilarious — continues to live in my head, my soul, and somehow, my dog.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
according to the article, it took hours after the personal intervention of the mayor for his family to even get basic information about him. that information included that he had been transferred to ICE custody hours after being shot. no amnesty
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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
And then there's the emotional aspect: That UT win was one of the most joyous moments in Texas sports history. We were absolutely losing it. And then it got spoiled by Bo French, an avatar for the far right's vision for America. In a few tweets he showed how joyless that vision is.
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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I think it also gave away what remained of the game. People here know UT as a model for meritocracy. Those kids earned the right to be there, "assimilated" in all the right ways and still woke up to a fire hose of hate. There's no ambiguity about what drove it.
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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Cant quantify it but, as someone who covers this stuff, I have yet to see universal disgust like I have re: Bo French. Going after kids doing quintessentially "Texan" stuff really bothered people. I dont think its a "mask off" moment as much as a moment where people just go "I'm so sick of this."
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Jason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
You're in charge of a war that you're losing, the Houthi are on the march to Riyadh, you've run the Navy ragged, you've lost almost all your bases in the Middle East, you're out of missiles (mostly) that you need in case China steals a march on Taiwan...and you're at a fucking football game.
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Caitlin Rourk @caitlinrourk.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
While Pete Hegseth is enjoying the Aggie football game today, our servicemembers will still be fighting a war in the Middle East with no clear purpose, that Congress never authorized. A war that has cost taxpayers more than $37.5B, killed at least 18 Americans, and wounded over 750 more.
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Dan Ancona @danancona.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Strong email from @aoc.bsky.social putting down a marker on how to deal with both the proximate economic risks from AI and the longer term ones.
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Mikhail Gorbaechev @mikhailgorbaechev.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
We need to purge the military of everyone who went along with Hesgeth's bullshit. Forced retirements and tribunals. I don't care if it impacts "readiness," can't have a fascist army and a republic as the same time.
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
One of the stupidest truths I’ve learned from now seven years working in biosecurity is that this is, actually, the entire psychological basis for securitization
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I am giving it a solid 50% chance Hegseth is plastered when he gives a speech at the Aggie game tomorrow
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Been trying to scream this from the rooftops but this is a nice thread compiling hard data
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 17/09/2026
Great piece illustrating how sick, sad, and depraved the "effective altruist" movement - which is extremely intermeshed with the massively powerful U.S. AI industry - has become.
strangecosmos.substack.com
The sad decline of effective altruism
A once wholesome and inspiring movement has become entangled with cults and has lost years chasing dead-end ideas
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Great feature by @anamariecox.com on the Texas Senate race. It's a good story to say that James Talarico is using progressive Christian language to ju-jitsu the religious right. But the boring, accurate reality is that Texans are fed up with being governed by Republicans.
prospect.org
A Path to a Texas Breakthrough - The American Prospect
James Talarico is deploying his Christian faith in his bid for the Senate. But he’s winning because Texans have been pummeled by inflation and corruption.
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I am personally against a Macklemore news cycle because I *just* got my partner to stop buying busted mopeds in cash like two years ago and now he's gonna start doing it again
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post malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
i feel like a plurality of the most devoted college football fans i know are second-gen immigrants, with particular representation from the desi diaspora i would read a dive into that but it's also possible it's not more sophisticated than "you grew up in a land-grant university town, idiot"
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Mikhail Gorbaechev @mikhailgorbaechev.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
One thing that's convinced me AOC should go for the big chair this year is that if she doesn't win, she's got a glide path to yeeting Whisky Kris from office.
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post malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
anyway we’re going to win huge in November and it isn’t going to solve everything right away, or even later, but it will make things meaningfully better in both the short term and the long term for ~everyone, and I know this because I remember 2006
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
On the Brandon Hererra stuff: he actually is running a very effective campaign and Katy Padilla-Stout is a bad candidate running a very bad campaign. The environment may carry her but nobody, least of all the national orgs who have flooded her with outside money, should be surprised if Herrera wins.
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Topics from conversations with voters at the doors today. Campaign jargon but we're cutting down to DNC scores of 25, here.
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Thread
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
For those who may want to help metaphorically kick Elon's lawyer in the teeth, a donation link is below: prospect.org/2026/09/10/e...
prospect.org
Elon Musk’s Lawyer Seeks Seat in Congress - The American Prospect
Chris Gober, who helped draw Texas’s gerrymandered maps, is now running to represent one of those districts. His AI and defense industry ties could pose problems.
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The American Prospect @prospect.org · 10/09/2026
Entering Congress would give someone at the nexus of Musk, AI’s growing ubiquity in commerce and warfare, and global MAGA politics another foothold on power in Washington. prospect.org?p=144417
Chris Gober speaks with members of the media
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Elon Musk's lawyer is running for Congress. He's also a lobbyist for military tech and data center energy companies. One client was Viktor Orban's U.S.-based nonprofit. And he helped draw the district he's running in! His Dem opponent thinks she has a shot in a seat that went 60% for Trump in 2024.
prospect.org
Elon Musk’s Lawyer Seeks Seat in Congress - The American Prospect
Chris Gober, who helped draw Texas’s gerrymandered maps, is now running to represent one of those districts. His AI and defense industry ties could pose problems.
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Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · 10/09/2026
The Musk-MAGA lawyer Chris Gober is running for #TX10, a district he drew. The person who stands in his way? Caitlin Rourk @caitlinrourk.bsky.social
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"Oh these agents? Did we create these agents? Sir, I think you'll find that the only true creator of these agents is the Creator, that Divine Providence set in motion a series of evolutionary algorithms no different than the ones that gave rise to the Worldwide Dialysis Machine Exploder 3000"
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
By the way, I would guess that the in-house counsel of every AI company has independently wagered that framing agents as intelligent and independent will make it harder to hold firms liable for what a 2nd or 3rd generation chunk of escaped code does, so there's value in curtailing that narrative now
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Louis @louisevans.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The reason I think you need to crack maha not win maha is you can no longer beat the republican death cult in a bidding war for the votes of antivaxxers
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
It is shockingly easy to Just Do Stuff
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Don't get me wrong, I loathe these people, but opinions on how that energy should be channeled on here are very gendered for a reason
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Mikhail Gorbaechev @mikhailgorbaechev.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Yeah we gotta end his whole deal.
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Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The first Monday in September is the Wario of May 1st.
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I love a well-designed study in pursuit of a creative research question.
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
THERE'S A NEW BRANDON FLOWERS ALBUM?!?!?!
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
It's been a long time since I've felt my mind react to an academic paper in this way. Extremely cool.
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Come on
Tesla robot axis parked smack between two no parking signs
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Patricia Zengerle @reuterszengerle.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Here’s some context to what the country used to be: the U.S. sent $185 million in aid after the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake. Plus expertise and first responders.
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Matt Wisnefske @mattwisnefske.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Now this is some Political Science!
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
i don't think it was chiefly or just the inconvenience, but that they couldn't buy their way out of the safety measures and restrictions everyone else faced (they actually could, but not everyone and not every restriction)
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dan solomon @dansolomon.com · 02/09/2026
new poll from texas public policy foundation and overton insights finds that twenty percent of republican primary voters strongly disapprove of donald trump
screenshot of poll crosstabs. 19.6 percent of republican primary voters have trump at strongly disapprove. notably, 63 percent of voters who didn’t vote in either primary also strongly disapprove.
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Man, this is a move typically reserved for "watery diarrhea" in, like, Eritrea
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I live under a rock and only just learned today that Jack Antonoff got divorced and IMMEDIATRLY bought tickets to the ACL Nights Bleachers show in case Lorde shows up
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Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 29/08/2026
The recovery didn’t so much “stumble” as it was never designed to succeed. The initial response was all band-aids; the medium-term recovery was all about whimsical attempts at exploiting labor to shore up US supply chains. And cholera was brought by UN peacekeepers there as a proxy for US troops.
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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
IT’S THE PHONES
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 26/08/2026
so Trump 2.0’s war on every single non-evil job did destroy my career and traumatize me a lil bit, but the thing is that, like many people in my position, I’m quite capable of synthesizing that trauma into a single-minded thirst for revenge
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