iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Next up: following the public execution of a man in a wheelchair, Pete Hegseth puts out a press release praising himself as a great marksman.

000

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It's a relief to know that some people are enjoying the Trump economy.

“Altogether, S&P 500 companies doled out $1.7 billion in special awards last year, up 50% from a year earlier, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of pay data from research firm Equilar. Nearly half the companies have made at least one such award over the past two years, and a quarter have made multiple.”

Excerpt From
“America’s Top Executives Rake In $1.7 Billion in Special Payouts”
Theo Francis
The Wall Street Journal
https://apple.news/AMetBAkh5QYaLpwAc_vCn0Q

000

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Anti-fascist demonstrators in Miller’s hometown. Not one looks normal?

010

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

A perfect example of how lazy Chuck Todd is. If he had bothered to read what Newsom posted, he would’ve found that Newsom’s “ class warfare cosplay “ consists of closing those loopholes. What an idiot.

020

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Tell that, bozo, to the folks in Iowa, who’ve seen their electricity prices fall relative to the national average as wind has taken over as the state’s dominant power source.

010

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

So is it now Republican orthodoxy that Prop 13 and other voter initiatives amending the California constitution were added by an “absurd” and “ridiculous” process? Is it possible they read our book?

011

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

At this point, it would really be news if any market-moving announcement came out of this administration without the Trump grifters and inside traders getting there first.

020

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

As nakedly corrupt as Orban. Hungarian voters taught Americans what to do about this

000

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

Reading this reminds me of Saddam Hussein’s palaces. Whatever happened to that dude?

021

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

An excerpt from Richard Hofstadter's Reflections on Violence in America. As wise today as in was in 1970. thebaffler.com/ancestors/re...

010

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

“the recognition that moral virtue and a steadfast faith in God are necessary preconditions of freedom” was so important to the founders of our nation that the words “virtue” & “faith” do not appear in the Declaration of Independence or Constitution. Nor does Christianity. But “liberty” & “law” do.

040

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

In the real world, investment has declined under Trump.

061

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

… and the third largest, the Vietnam Moratorium (October 1969), with 15 stories spread over 5 pages.

030

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Here's how the Times covered the largest, the first Earth Day (April 1970), with 7 stories spread over 3 pages…3/4

131

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

… and the third largest, the Vietnam Moratorium (October 1969), with 15 stories spread over 5 pages.

000

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Here's how the Times covered the largest, the first Earth Day (April 1970), with 7 stories spread over 3 pages…3/4

110

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

In 1854, more than 1000 US troops were needed to take Anthony Burns back to slavery. Many in the resisting Boston crowd would soon reconvene in nearby Worcester to give their resistance to federal evil an electoral political form. They called it—don't laugh—the Republican Party.

023

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Musk hearkens back to the nativist American Party of the 1850s, called the Know Nothings. Oops. Their platform: "Americans must rule America; and to this end native-born citizens should be selected for all State, Federal and municipal offices of government employment, in preference to all others."

021

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

The uncle I never knew, Staff Sgt. Glenn Erwin Mace, Jr., KIA, 1/28/1945, while fighting to protect democracy & defeat fascism. What would he think of those who today pretend to honor his valor & sacrifice while supporting leaders intent on destroying the values he defended?

Portrait of the uncle I never knew, Staff Sgt. Glenn Erwin Mace, Jr., KIA, 1/28/1945, while fighting to protect democracy & defeat fascism.
What would he think of those who today pretend to honor his valor & sacrifice while supporting leaders intent on destroying the values he defended?

010

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Demented wannabe dictator lives in a world of his own.

Bureau of Labor graph showing price of eggs has risen by 25 percent since Trump took office.

010

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Easter blossoms in the yard.

040

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

No childhood family picture is complete without matching hats.

Two preschool boys in matching red caps playing in red wagon.

040

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Americans are behind in their car payments at the highest rate in decades but, sure, raise car prices by thousands of dollars. Might that mean walking to work and less to spend on food, housing, and health care. Sure. But he "couldn't care less."

010

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

In the year I bought my first home, at the age of 36, the median age of homebuyers was 34. Last year the median age of homebuyers was 56.

050

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

American patriots know what to do with a king.

White House tweet with a fake magazine cover portraying Trump wearing a crown and a Trump statement saying, "CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!"
-President Donald J. Trump

Historic print of American Patriots tearing down the statue of King George III in 1776.

010

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

Ending vehicle production? It's going to be a busy weekend at the auto dealers.

2 hours ago lan Austen Reporting from Windsor, Ontario
Linda Hasenfratz, the executive chairwoman of the Canadian auto parts maker Linamar, said that the 25 percent tariffs President Trump intends to impose tomorrow on exports from Canada and Mexico could shut down North American auto production within a week.
"Nobody can absorb this kind of cost, not the automakers, not the suppliers, not consumers," Hasenfratz, whose Canada-based company has plants in all three countries, said in a statement to The New York Times. "Demand will collapse, and vehicle production will grind to a halt, putting millions of workers out of work, the vast majority of which are in the U.S."

050

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

A new day in DC: Affirmative action for ignoramuses .

The vast majority of Health and Human Services' $1.6 trillion budget goes toward running Medicare and Medicaid. The two government programs are responsible for covering health care for more than 100 million Americans.
Over two days of confirmation hearings, Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. displayed a surprising lack of knowledge about those programs. Grilled by senators, he was unable to come up with basic facts about Medicare's structure and incorrectly described how Medicaid works a number of times.
On Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Kennedy first seemed to overlook the private plans that now comprise half of Medicare, the federal insurance program for older and disabled Americans. Later, he acknowledged that he was enrolled in one of those private plans, known as Medicare Advantage, and said he thought "more people would rather be on Medicare Advantage because it offers very good services."
Senator Maggie Hassan, Democrat of New Hampshire, pressed Mr. Kennedy on the basics of Medicare on
Wednesday during his testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. With questions styled like a pop quiz, she asked him to define the different components of Medicare and what they cover.
Mr. Kennedy stumbled through his answers. He described Medicare Part A as having to do "mainly for primary care or physicians" when in fact it covers hospital visits for older people as well as some nursing hospice care. He described Medicare Part C as "a program where it's the full menu of all the services." He did not identify it as Medicare Advantage, under which private insurers administer plans for those 65 and older.
Mr. Kennedy repeatedly got his facts about Medicaid wrong, saying more than once that it was "fully paid for by the federal government." In fact, Medicaid, which provides health insurance coverage to nearly 80 million low-income Americans, is financed through a combination of state and federal funds. On Thursday,

030

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Paul Krugman underlines why newspaper opinion pages have lost most of their value to readers.

051

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

My aunt’s service put down the memory hole by draft dodger. “Another video about civilian women pilots trained by the U.S. military during World War Two, known as "Women Air Force Service Pilots," or WASPs, was also pulled, the official said.” www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Portrait of Martha Mace, WWII pilot, in her flying gear.

1017165

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology

Richard Bone

When I first came to Spoon River
I did not know whether what they told me
Was true or false.
They would bring me the epitaph And stand around the shop while I worked
And say "He was so kind," "He was so wonderful,"
"She was the sweetest woman," "He was a consistent Christian.”
And I chiseled for them whatever they wished,
All in ignorance of the truth.
But later, as I lived among the people here,
I knew how near to the life Were the epitaphs that were ordered for them as they died.
But still I chiseled whatever they paid me to chisel
And made myself party to the false chronicles
Of the stones,
Even as the historian does who writes
Without knowing the truth,
Or because he is influenced to hide it.

050

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Useful conditions: No rebuilding of un-fireproof single-family houses on land burned by wildfire in last 100 yrs; no subsidy of insurance in those areas; single-family zoning in areas getting aid; waiver of CEQA approvals for multi-family housing.

Post reading, “BREAKING: Speaker Mike Johnson announces that he supports placing conditions on wildfire aid to California.”

140

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

The standard that the WaPo edit board applies to Trump's nominees—and that it would have the Senate apply—is inconsistent with the Founders' vision of the purpose of the Senate's consent.…1/6

Washington Post editorial clip reading, “Confirmation hearings will begin Tuesday for President-elect
Donald Trump's intended Cabinet nominees. We would not have picked any of his choices for our hypothetical Cabinet.
But, as we have argued for decades, that is not the standard we — or U.S. senators - should apply when evaluating potential executive nominees for Senate confirmation. The president-elect won the election. He deserves deference in building his team, and the Americans who elected him deserve an operational government, absent disqualifying deficiencies in competence, temperament or philosophy.
By that standard, all but two of Trump's planned Cabinet nominees seem confirmable — as well as all but two of his picks for Cabinet-rank jobs that require confirmation. Should any material emerge during confirmation hearings that changes this picture, we will update our evaluations in the chart below.”

140

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Sacramento is building more than during the Great Recession but nothing like it once did.

Graph showing Sacramento housing permits at one half the level of the late 1980s and early 2000s.

100

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

From Ecology of Fear, by Mike Davis, some historical context and fuel for (fire) thought. (The Kindle version is available today for $2.99).

Table showing 13 LA County firestorms of more than 10,000 acres from 1930-96.

At the same time, suburban firestorms are becoming ever mor apocalyptic. The social cost of fire has increased in almost geometric re lation to the linear growth of firebelt suburb populations. Two-thirds c all the homes and dwellings destroyed by wildfire since statewide recor keeping began in 1923 have been burnt since 1980. If, as Stephen Pyn has suggested, the 1956 Malibu fire inaugurated a new fire regime, the the 1991 Oakland fire ($1.7 billion insured damage) and the 1993 South ern California fire complex ($1 billion) marked the emergence of a ne "postsuburban" fire regime.
CALIFORNIA URBAN WILDFIRES, 1923-93
Period Homes Destroyed Percentage of Total Destroyed
1923-64 1,626 17 1965-79 1,539 16 1980-93 6,303 67 Total 9,468

020

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

For context, here's the trend in California. Political choices and policy matter. 2/2

Chart showing California abandoned babies declining from 26 in 2002 to 2 on 2022.

0142

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

A senator voting to confirm RFK Jr. is voting to have another generation of children experiencing what I did. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/...

2226

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

"Avoidable" includes both preventable & treatable. Deaths by guns, accidents, & drugs combine both public health prevention & treatment. The US maternal mortality rate, 65th in world, and 10x of Poland, tells about health care. So do these stats on child & life expectancy at age 65.

000

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

How much longer will it be possible to describe the United States as an "advanced country"?

111

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

This deep understanding of the attentional deficit Democrats face is only one of the reasons @benwikler.bsky.social should be elected DNC chair.

010

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge #blueskybookclub Day 20: Miracle Country: A Memoir of a Family & a Landscape, by Kendra Atleework

020

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

0100

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge #blueskybookclub Day 18: Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, by Robert Caro

000

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

060

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

You ask questions, we have answers.

000

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge #blueskybookclub Day 16: The Republic for Which It Stands, by Richard White

040

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

0200

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Negative productivity federal workers? Is he talking about the 2.9 million in the military and civilians in DOD, whose jobs are to kill and blow things up?

010

Mark Paul @markpaul.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

050