iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 13h

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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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 29/09/2026

Department of Very Bad Ideas: Fresno is considering privatizing its libraries. If you live in the area, pls attend the Oct. 20 Board of Supervisors meeting to let them know how you feel about the privatization option. abc30.com/post/fresno-...

abc30.com

Fresno leaders sound alarm over possible privatization of county libraries

Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez said a report scheduled to be presented at the Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting on Oct. 20 will outline ways to save $8 million. He said the report appea...

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 29/09/2026

FFS, stop feeding your work to AI.

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

Nearly 40% of survivors who report to their schools are pushed out in one way or another—usually, at the urging of school staff who want them to leave. (In comparison, less than 1% of perpetrators are suspended or expelled.)

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Urvi @theurv.com · 28/09/2026

There were more men in a single documented gang rape at one school than the number of competitive trans athletes nationally. But I’ve heard a lot more politicians being asked about protecting girls from one of these scenarios and not another… I’ll let you guess which is which.

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Texas Tribune @texastribune.org · 27/09/2026

When asked why he doesn’t become an independent, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman responded: “Because I’m a lifelong Republican.” After realizing his slip-up, Fetterman laughed and said: “That’ll get clipped.” He then corrected himself and said he's a lifelong Democrat. #TribFest26

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It's Friday and pay day for some. Will you consider supporting REBUILD to continue its life-saving work? www.mightycause.com/story/Rebuil...

mightycause.com

Support REBUILD 2025: Free Therapy on Mightycause

REBUILD provides FREE therapy for justice-involved and formerly incarcerated people of color.

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ACLU @aclu.org · 26/09/2026

Banning Flock and other surveillance companies from tracking our every move isn't a partisan issue. Tell Congress to ban automatic license plate readers at aclu.org/get-flock_out

Two-panel graphic featuring photos of Chad Marlow testifying before Congress with subtitles reading "More than 200 municipalities have terminated their relationships with Flock and other ALPR companies. The question is: Will their Congress join them? The time has come for Congress to prohibit any law enforcement entity who receives federal funding from using ALPRs — without exception."

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Blue Heron Farm @blueheronfarm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

And if you're on instagram, you should go to your settings and uncheck these two boxes

In your menu under sharing and reuse there is a button to click whether or not people can create with your content

There is a button to check on that says allow your reels and posts to be featured with products

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onekade @onekade.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Cops put this woman in solitary for three days on the strength of Flock "evidence" that she had killed people in a hit and run. Her car, meanwhile, had zero visible damage. But cops told her the "damage" was consistent with the accident. They believed Flock over their own eyes.

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buvezcocacola @buvezcocacola.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Seen in Virginia

A bumper sticker reads
I HEAR MIGRANT CHILDREN ALSO HAVE HEARTBEATS

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shaun @shaunvids.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

join the military, you get to starve on a rusting ship that repeatedly sails into and out of the range of enemy missiles in order to manipulate gambling websites where people bet on your death

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David Ulin @davidulin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"Brevity allows for a lot of movement and leeway, innovation and experimentation. One of the things that’s most resonant to me about flash is that it can blur genre lines and classifications. It’s a place where genres come together and overlap." www.loa.org/news-and-vie...

loa.org

“It Can Only Be a Moment”: David L. Ulin on the Epiphanies of Flash Fiction - Library of America

Over in a blink, the best flash fiction lingers like phosphenes in the mind’s eye, its language and meaning reverberating long after the story ends. In the forthcoming Library of America volume Americ...

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Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

On Saturday @jpinckney.bsky.social saw a man in his Austin neighborhood being kidnapped by ICE. Every day since then he's passed by the car, still sitting there, a horrifying lonely symbol of what is being done. www.welcometohellworld.com/his-car-is-s...

welcometohellworld.com

His car is still sitting there

An ICE kidnapping in Austin

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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

AP Stylebook warns against anthropomorphizing AI systems: “Avoid language that gives them human characteristics… Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.”

APStylebook @APStylebook
X.com
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics. This is called anthropomorphizing, when we ascribe human traits, emotions or behaviors to non-human things, such as animals or inanimate objects.
Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.

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Distópolis 📚 Temporada XIII @distopolis.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

El sello Sexto Piso publicará el lunes 5 de octubre la novela EL HOTEL DE LOS SUEÑOS de Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com, en la que un algoritmo ha decidido que Sara es una amenaza para su marido y la encierra durante veintiún días: distopolis.com/el-sello-sex...

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 22/09/2026

At a random coffee shop in NM, a petition with tons of signatures against Flock cameras in their town. No one wants this tech.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

NEW: @apnews.com confirms that ICE has begun electronically "disappearing" people in the agency's custody who have final orders of removal. As of last week, anyone jailed by ICE with a final order of removal will NOT appear in the ICE Online Detainee Locator System, making them effectively vanish.

apnews.com

AP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding most detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, in a move that has made it harder for lawyers an...

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Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"some investors are voicing increasing skepticism about the growth expectations for data centers and the risks associated with their build-out, forcing industry executives and their advisers to recalibrate their plans" www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/b...

nytimes.com

Wall Street Is Growing Skeptical of the Data Center Boom (Gift Article)

Several companies tied to the data center industry have delayed their initial public offerings amid the increasing public backlash to these energy guzzling facilities.

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Robert Mackey @robertmackey.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The man who shot three Palestinian college students in November 2023 in Vermont was found guilty of attempted murder. My Guardian colleague @suzannegaber.bsky.social produced a series of extraordinary audio reports on one of the victims, Hisham Awartani, for WYNC www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anx...

theguardian.com

Vermont man convicted of attempted murder of three Palestinian students

James Eaton, 51, faces life in prison after jury rejects insanity defense rooted in claims he was acting on orders from US and Israeli intelligence

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 19/09/2026

Enduring mysteries of our universe: the big bang, the size of that black hole, why no place is safe from tech bros.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 19/09/2026

Lovely to see you there, Carolyn!

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The Onion @theonion.com · 18/09/2026

Trans Teen Hatches Nefarious Plot To Undergo Years Of Medical Treatments And Counseling To Win At Swimming theonion.com/trans-teen-hatches-nef…

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 15/09/2026

People of Santa Fe! Come on out this Thursday 9/17 to hear me read from and talk about The Dream Hotel (now out in paperback)! 6 pm at Collected Works bookstore.

Flyer advertising Laila Lalami’s reading at Collected Works Bookstore in Santa Fe on 9/17

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 15/09/2026

People of Santa Fe! Come on out this Thursday 9/17 to hear me read from and talk about The Dream Hotel (now out in paperback)! 6 pm at Collected Works bookstore.

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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 14/09/2026

Glad folks are appalled by photos of the "phone booth" cage under an awning, but pls understand: This IG report is likely part of a cover-up. Amnesty Int'l interviewed detainees EIGHT MONTHS AGO who said the cage was half this size (couldn't stand up), had no awning, w feet chained to the bottom.

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David Marcus @davidmarcus.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"The social contract is no longer working: Going to college does not ensure anything other than...often low-paying work." @alexnpress.bsky.social in Fall Books on @noamscheiber.bsky.social's new book and the making of the millennial working class www.thenation.com/article/soci...

thenation.com

The Making of the Millennial Working Class

A new book follows a rising generation of labor organizers as they attempt to unionize their workplaces.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 14/09/2026

I think this is right, and it's also *by design.*

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Please say this 1000 times for the people in the back.

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Spectrum News NY1 @spectrumnewsny1.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The last speaker at the 9/11 remembrance ceremony lost his father to the attacks.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 11/09/2026

"'Never forget' became a rallying cry. I heard it chanted at vigils, walked past it graffitied on walls, saw it tattooed on the neck of a man waiting ahead of me in line at the grocery store." But what--and who--are we supposed to remember? Re-upping this piece: www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/o...

In the United States, Sept. 11 led directly to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the passing of the Patriot Act, the Authorization for Use of Military Force, the use of warrantless surveillance programs, and special registration of immigrants and foreign students from Muslim countries. Outside the United States, the attacks served as justification for the 20-year war in Afghanistan; the invasion and occupation of Iraq; the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay; the use of torture at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere; the killing of thousands of U.S. and foreign service members; the periodic bombing of Pakistan, Yemen, Syria and Somalia; the deaths of some 800,000 people, including 335,000 civilians; and the displacement of an estimated 38 million people.

At each step in this parade of horrors, we were reminded that the United States was attacked on Sept. 11. The terrible wound of that day was left open, causing pain and anger that lasted for years. In that continually grieving state, the public was perhaps more willing to accept what it might not have otherwise — security theater at our airports, constant surveillance, bombs being dropped on wedding parties in Afghanistan.

The fact that the United States itself went on to attack, and wreak even greater violence against innocent civilians around the world, was largely omitted from official narratives, as it was in the museum. This erasure is not accidental. After the initial phase of fighting, the Pentagon did not release regular and precise reports of civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We got out of the body count business years ago,” Mark Kimmitt, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and former State Department official, said in

But the erasure of the wars proved lucrative for some. The U.S. government outsourced almost every aspect of the war effort to private military contractors like KBR and Blackwater, including the housing, feeding and clothing of troops. Companies like Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin reaped tens of billions of dollars in profit. Waste and abuse were rampant. One study found that the U.S. Army had spent $119 million annually to lease 3,000 cars in Afghanistan, at a cost of $40,000 per car. Another investigation revealed that TransDigm, an aircraft parts supplier, had profit levels of as much as 4,000 percent on some spare parts. Even when the Pentagon’s internal auditors identified overcharges, the contracts were often paid out anyway.

That Sept. 11 represented a chance to make a buck was not what most of us had in mind when we saw the tribute posters that went up shortly after the towers came down. But from the commercialization of the phrase “never forget,” which appears on pens, shirts, mugs and baby onesies, to the privatization of the war effort, which shifted billions of taxpayer dollars into corporate coffers, Sept. 11 became a business. The museum engages in this type of transaction as well. A cheese platter in the shape of the United States, with hearts marking the sites of the terrorist attacks, was removed from sale in 2014, after a public outcry at the vulgarity of the display. But the museum store continues to sell a variety of other items, including toy police cars.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 11/09/2026

🚨🚨🚨Trump directed the crowd to raise their right hands and repeat: “I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the US, that loves us so much he can’t even breathe, that I will go out–I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try to cheat like hell like they do.” shorturl.at/nhAvu

theguardian.com

‘I’m on the ticket’: Trump implores Republicans to vote in November at unusual midterm convention

The president demonised Democrats in an attempt to wangle votes in midterms despite backlash over Iran war

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

In fact we were called actual terrorists not sympathizers...

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Nicholas Slayton @nslayton.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

A few days ago someone armed with multiple weapons attacked a Democratic gubernatorial candidate

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The Nation's Books & the Arts @booksandthearts.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Fall Books Is here—Vivian Gornick on love and death in fiction, Osita Nwanevu on saving democracy, @lailalalami.com on Soraya Antonius's Palestine, @brucerobbins.bsky.social on the Bund, @alexnpress.bsky.social on millennial workers, Edna Bonhomme on Imani Thompson www.thenation.com/issue/octobe...

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 08/09/2026

I wrote about Palestine in the interwar period, British colonial rule, the dispossessed farmers and underpaid workers it created, and the Rebellion of 1936, which serves as backdrop for Susan Antonius’s The Lord and Anne Marie Jacir's Palestine 36. Take a look! www.thenation.com/article/worl...

thenation.com

The Palestines of Soraya Antonius and Annemarie Jacir

In The Lord and in Palestine ’36, the story of Mandatory Palestine comes into focus.

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Martin McClellan @hellbox.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Literally the plot of @lailalalami.com’s The Dream Hotel.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 08/09/2026

thenation.com

The Palestines of Soraya Antonius and Annemarie Jacir

In The Lord and in Palestine ’36, the story of Mandatory Palestine comes into focus.

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Ironbound @ironbound.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Man this guy sucks

Last September, when an aide told Fetterman that officials with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, known as CHOP, wanted to meet because they were worried about Medicaid cuts, he was dismissive.
Fetterman
Why do I have to keep having to meet with chop
Aide
Because they are worried about vaccines and Medicaid cuts.
Fetterman
Well I'm not
[..]
I'm convinced they just want free trips to DC
Source: messages reviewed by WSJ

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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

To be fair he also does all of these things in the wide open

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 03/09/2026

The Democratic Socialists of America’s Los Angeles chapter announced on Wednesday that it had endorsed Nithya Raman, the progressive City Council member challenging Mayor Karen Bass in this year’s election.

nyti.ms

D.S.A. Chapter Endorses Nithya Raman for Mayor of Los Angeles

Ms. Raman, a member of the D.S.A. chapter, is challenging Mayor Karen Bass as democratic socialists have surged nationally.

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Leah Stokes @leahstokes.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Newsom withheld *legislatively appropriated* school AC funds for 2 years. Now he's handing them to a fossil fuel company, the week after half a million kids had their school day changed by extreme heat. If that's not Trumpian, I don't know what is. Shameful. calmatters.org/environment/...

calmatters.org

California lawmakers let schools' AC funding lapse, handing $191 million back to utilities

Despite sweltering classrooms and a heat wave, the state chose to return unspent CalSHAPE funds to ratepayers.

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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

“Moulton exemplified the reactionary, left-bashing panic and capitulation to Trump we saw from many congressional Democrats in the wake of the 2024 election. Almost two years later, he got what he deserved: an electoral whupping.”

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

In independence, Missouri, hometown of Harry Truman, tonight city councilman John Perkins got absolutely rocked, losing a recall election with 68% voting to end his term immediately over his vote to approve a big data center. www.kmbc.com/article/inde...

kmbc.com

Independence Councilman John Perkins recalled after voting to approve multibillion-dollar data center

Independence voters recalled District 1 Councilman John Perkins following his vote to approve a multibillion-dollar data center project.

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