iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 12h

No child should need a lawsuit to get out of government custody. Right now habeas petitions have helped some kids get home, and I talked with Acacia and the National Center for Youth Law about how they work. austinkocher.substack.com/p/no-chil…

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William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

One of the reasons that it’s vital blue cities unfuck their housing supply is that sanctuary cities probably aren’t viable long term politically otherwise. Need housing to be cheap/abundant if you don’t want there to be blowback from ICE/shithead county sheriffs funneling precarious people to you

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bryan newbold @bnewbold.net · 5h

ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton. she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...

old photos of a woman (Margaret Hamilton) standing next to a tall stack of books (printouts of Apollo space mission software source code)

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Josh Yunis @joshyunis.bsky.social · 9h

I was robbed of the chance to mourn 10/7, not only by Israel’s fascist government, who waged a (predictably) indefensible war of vengeance and extermination against the people of Gaza, but also by the Western left, who celebrated, endorsed, and justified Hamas’s mass murder

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 7h

"Remember that I can do anything I like to anyone." - Caligula. Yes, literally the original mad emperor Caligula.

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 6h

If there was one lesson from political science I wish I could shotgun into the minds of everyone, it might that MONEY DOES NOT BUY ELECTIONS Elections are mainly determined by deep social & economic factors that a few TV & online ads can only affect at the margin.

Half a billion dollars in GOP spending does little to move polls

Republicans’ massive money advantage has yet to reshape the midterm map, as Democrats keep expanding their ambitions.

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Josh Yunis @joshyunis.bsky.social · 21h

When Trump won in 2016, I woke up the next morning feeling like I didn’t know my own country. On 10/7 I woke up feeling like a stranger among friends and a community of people that I thought I knew

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Isaac (proud small hat wearer) Gantwerk Mayer @isaacgantwerkmayer.bsky.social · 15h

If you want to know why Jews are suspicious of you when you're just trying to be a well-meaning antizionist gentile, consider that these two things were written by the same man, Guangtian Ha, a (currently suspended) religion professor at Haverford

a passage from an article by guangtian ha that reads:

We make this call amidst growing concern about antisemitism on our campus. Questions have arisen in the context of a number of specific situations, including external influences from Lower Merion, from donors, and from some alumni who are hell-bent on defining the " ways to be Jewish. This, of course, flies in the face of thousands of years of Jewish tradition which is fundamentally based on interrogation, questioning, and truth-seeking. We take these attacks on our anti-Zionist Jewish community members seriously and we understand the real damage the state of Israel causes for the entire Jewish world when it claims to be acting on behalf of all Jews while engaging in horrific atrocities that - truth be told- mirror some of the worst stereotypes of Jews that have been a part of European racism for centuries. We will be clear: antisemitism should be unacceptable at Haverford, but the energy and consideration which some in our administration have granted these bad faith actors suggests otherwise.

a passage from a court document about guangtian ha that reads:

In or about January 2026, through in or about February 2026, defendant GUANGTIAN HA, using X account "America IstLM" posted a series of threatening and harassing messages directed at Victim 1, including the following:
a. "Jew, get the fuck out of my country"
b. "Jew pig, get the fuck out of Lower Merion"
c. "If jews are so special then they should also be placed in special camps and receive special treatments"
d. "LM jews are going to have it big time, jew. Remember this. You scums have had it too easy. Goyim are taking America back, blood-guzzling demons."

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Absolutely LOVE the floral initials in this copy of the works of Apuleius, one of the first books printed at Rome (by Sweynheym & Pannartz) in 1469. The initials apparently added in France, perhaps in the 1480s or 90s. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Inc.2.B.2.1[1124].

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I don't necessarily expect it, but the best thing that could come out of this mess - thin gruel for the human suffering it has entailed, but nevertheless - would be a resurgence of an assertive Congress, willing to use its power to discipline the president, to bend the executive (and SCOTUS).

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Hyperlexic @hyperlexic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Denver: rents down 7.6% to $1,570 for a 1br. SF: rents up 25.4% to $4,400 for a 1br. Seriously wild.

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John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Look, this is bad. Yes. But the Trump admin sent six (6) people to Maricopa and Pima. Where, by my count, there are 404 polling places, spread across 18,000 square miles (each county is ~9k sq mi). What they want is the FEAR to discourage the voting they can't actually prevent.

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Sam Bergman @violanorth.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I def don't have all the answers as to why there is such a persistent crisis/lull cycle in US orchestras, but one thing I do know from my 25 years at the high end of that business is that WAY too many execs and board leaders are convinced there is a magic sustainability formula hiding somewhere.

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Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The federal government is lying to you. And we have the receipts. projects.propublica.org/american-cit...

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Nick Weininger @nweininger.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

There may also be a class/regional/generational dimension to it. A couple of my wife's Midwestern aunts and uncles have long used this sort of capitalization in their holiday letters, since well before Trump.

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Nick Weininger @nweininger.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Was Flavio actually provably involved in his dad's criminal conspiracy? Obvs not surprising if so, but also not surprising if he maintained a plausibly-deniable distance. It's a tough problem, since you can't just prosecute people for being family or political associates of criminals.

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Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Fed. judge accuses ICE agents of "apparently perjurious testimony," fabrication of evidence, false statements, fundamental misconceptions about ICE agents' authority, and more. Case involves the accidental arrest of a U.S. citizen who had to get stitches. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

So, the thought is that after issuing a fraudulent arrest warrant stating that petitioner’s information was part of the system when it was not and indicating that he could be biometrically identified even though they had not collected the information to make a positive match, Cuni attempted to reconcile these falsehoods by subsequently collecting the information, adding it to those systems and, after issuing the warrant, searching the databases again to “find” him.

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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Look, JD Vance would be a terrible president, but I am significantly less concerned about him doing insane dictatorial shit out of sheer rage and spite in his last few months in office if it becomes clear his party is likely to lose the White House.

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R. Scott Rogers @arrscott.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Congress needs to audit the White House and cut funding controlled by the president to the bone. What’s the minimum budget required for him to be housed, fed, and staffed to do the basics of the job? That should be his annual budget. Let him ask Congress for more as he needs it.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Indeed the frequently accurate stereotype of developing world politics was that the political choices were between different corrupt and patrimonial parties. The USA traditionally avoided this but we now have one patrimonial party; what remains to be seen is if a non-patrimonial one can compete.

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Drew Kadel @drewkadel.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

This really is a realistic and workable proposal which might actually succeed in removing Trump. All it takes is Senators having the courage to vote for this rule when Democrats take the Senate.

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Evan Hurst @evanhurst.substack.com · 05/10/2026

Do it. Whoever is keeping The LIst of all the things we have to do, put it on there.

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Andy Scollick @andyscollick.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The planet-warming impact of this single leak is equivalent to 1.5m gas-guzzling SUVs gunning their engines and there are more super-emitting dumps across Turkey. (Guardian)

theguardian.com

Revealed: the methane mega-leaks from UN climate summit host Turkey

Exclusive: Cop31 leader calling for global curbs on climate-heating gas has landfills producing some of world’s worst plumes

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Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

ICE has disclosed another detainee who died We know: -After 17yrs, he'd only ever been busted for... *an expired car tag.* He was in a camp run by for-profit w/ history medical neglect An American died at one of its jails *after strep-throat.* austinkocher.substack.com/p/julian-cur...

austinkocher.substack.com

Julian Curo-Churata Is the 37th Person to Die in ICE Custody This Fiscal Year, Capping Off the Agency’s Deadliest Year on Record

According to ICE, 47-year-old Peruvian national Julian Curo-Churata died in Louisiana on Tuesday, September 29.

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Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

For #MosaicMonday, a c. 60-50 BCE #mosaic floor from the basis villæ, the Late Republican core of Hadrian's Villa. If his wife Vibia #Sabina inherited this estate, her Antonine relatives held a 200-year connection to these local stones, unified by descent rather than adoption. #AncientBluesky 🏺

GEOMETRIC MOSAIC FLOOR, C. 60-50 BCE. BASIS VILLÆ, HADRIAN'S VILLA

A Late Republican mosaic floor in the basis villæ, the original nucleus of Hadrian's Villa, an area long closed to the public. The floor features a tricolour geometric pattern creating a woven trompe l'oeil effect. Rectangular blocks of reddish-brown stone tesseræ are arranged symmetrically around small squares of white stone, sharply delineated by rows of dark grey tesseræ. Dating to c. 60-50 BCE, this elegant mosaic floor in tesseræ of local materials contrasts with Hadrian's C2 expansion that embellished the estate with polychrome marble from across the empire. A widely-held theory suggests Hadrian chose this site because his wife, Vibia Sabina, inherited this older villa. Her mother Matidia, niece of Trajan, was the ancestress of the Antonine dynasty, and if the inheritance of this villa passed through her, then all the emperors from Hadrian to Commodus could claim this as a family property stretching back over two centuries.

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William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I do think this should put some of the hand-wringing over the uniquely sinful American electorate, uniquely feckless institutions, etc in perspective. The truth is that there is a large trans-national constituency of people who actively want this. They aren’t deceived. They want this.

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amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Bovino left and many people stopped giving a shit.

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Haydon, frightfully @haydonmp.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

However happy the polls make you now you must remind yourself that

TO THERMOSTATIC OPINION THE CAUSE OF AND SOLUTION TO ALL OF LIFE'S PROBLEMS.

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Daniel Kay Hertz @danielkayhertz.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Obviously I’m entirely made of Housing but a real good zoning reform we could make is re-legalizing corner stores on residential streets. Banned by the same 1957 code that banned ADUs, so maybe that’s next

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Zoomer Antimillenarian @surcomplicated.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The Racism Party, which for legal reasons we must emphasize is technically distinct from the Kill the Jews Party that was banned after WW2 and its leaders either executed, lynched, or quietly put into important administrative roles; and also distinct from the Kill the Jews More Party banned in 1990.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 04/10/2026

man I would like one fucking electorate - one! - to remember that fascism is bad for more than five minutes at a time

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Nick Weininger @nweininger.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Much the same as the current mood among opposition supporters here in the US, where most of the polls say we're going to win really big in a month. I'd put that down to trauma response here, fwiw.

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Nick Weininger @nweininger.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

My impression has been that Zionism was seen as emancipatory for much the same reasons as other contemporary nationalist movements, e.g. those that were growing in Austria-Hungary in Herzl's time, and had much the same contradictions. Is that about right, or was it more distinct than I think?

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

What a lie. Some of these people are being imprisoned indefinitely in squalid condition in African prisons. Others report being beaten and arbitrarily deported in violation of international law back to their home countries, where they face persecution or torture.

The indefinite nature of their confinement has taken a severe toll. In October 2025, a Cuban man who was on the July flight went on a hunger strike for a month-until he started showing signs of organ failure —to protest the conditions of his detention, including his ongoing confinement and lack of access to legal counsel.
Terrified of being imprisoned in Eswatini forever, another man repeatedly told his attorney that the prison there never lets people go. One man told his attorney that he feels like a caged animal with no end in sight. The prison does not have air conditioning, making the hot, humid summer months especially uncomfortable for the men.
Food is insufficient, medication is scarce, and requests often go unmet or are belatedly met.

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John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 04/10/2026

In particular, where one big reason rents are rising is a housing shortage, rent controls do nothing to address that and may worsen it. Here’s my full article on the right and wrong lessons to learn from Spain’s housing crisis www.ft.com/content/437c...

ft.com

The right and wrong lessons to learn from Spain’s housing crisis

Evictions and spiralling rents are the symptom, not the underlying disease

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John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 04/10/2026

What’s the evidence on rent control? I charted the findings from 112 studies: Great for rent-controlled tenants ✅ But: Pushes up rents for other people ❌ Pushes down new housing construction ❌ Pushes down building quality ❌

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Jason S. Canon @uncanonical.net · 04/10/2026

Our ancient wisdom traditions have good reason for asking us to cultivate more compassion for present suffering, not less. If your ethical theory rejects this, then it's not worth the tokens it cost you.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

If you're only familiar with the franchise via its surviving legacy of holiday specials and Snoopy merch, it may not be apparent to you how many strips were just Charlie Brown saying something that would get an adult red-flagged for potential suicidal ideation, and, like, that was the joke.

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Early for #MosaicMonday, but a progress update on my edible Theodora mosaic (made out of fondant on wafer paper)! Think it is almost done ☺️

Photo of sheet of water paper with lots of differently colored pieces of fondant that I colored and cut tesserae out of, and made a mosaic of the empress Theodora with a gold background; I attached the tesserae with edible ‘food glue’

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worm @rfksbrainworm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

If you ever wondered why visible light is those particular wavelengths, it's because life evolved to see in the narrow range where water is transparent

Diagram of absorption of emf by water. There's a gap right that dips in the 500 nm range

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Again, you can always detect some faint embarrassment from Democrats when they talk about the ballroom, but “the president demolished a big part of the White House to build himself a palace with bribes from enemy powers” is, by an order of magnitude, the worst corruption scandal in US history

esquire.com

A Wealthy Russian Businessman Is Helping Fund Trump’s Stupid Ballroom. Nothing Sketchy About That, Right?

Surely, our president will face consequences for this insanity.

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Hemry, Local Bartender @bartenderhemry.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

the response should be immediate contempt proceedings all the way up the chain of command to the ICE/ERO directors including escalating fines and orders to personally appear in court. if that doesn't do the trick, criminal contempt, throw them in jail. play stupid games, win stupid prizes

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Daniel Suitor @danielsuitor.com · 02/10/2026

Will is 100% right. Has happened to multiple clients of mine. One judge (not my case) has said that this isn't really release and ordered the person *actually* released. But it's forcing us habeas attorneys to win our cases twice (or more)

On September 9, 2026, Respondents permitted Pablo F. to exit the building where
he was detained, but he was immediately swarmed by four ICE officers and handcuffed as
soon as he stepped outside. (Doc. No. 25-3 at 4:48:45–4:49:26.)3
The officers drove him
to the back of the Whipple building and returned him to a holding cell. (Doc. No. 21 ¶¶ 8–
9; Doc. No. 25 ¶ 5.) During this encounter, officers dislocated Pablo F.’s shoulder. (Doc.
No. 21 ¶ 7.)4
Pablo F. now bringsthis Motion seeking to enforce the Court’s Order granting
the Petition.

Again, Respondents make no attempt whatsoever to support their assertion that
Pablo F. was released. Absent any such argument, the Court cannot agree that a reasonable
person would have felt free to leave when exiting the detention facility and immediately
being stopped by ICE officers. Likewise, absent some argument, the Court necessarily
concludes that Pablo F. was subject to restraints not shared by the public generally when
he took one step outside of the detention facility and was immediately stopped by ICE
officers who forcibly returned him to a detention cell. Because Respondents do not make
any legal argument that Pablo F. was ever meaningfully released from custody, the Court
grants the motion and orders Pablo F.’s release.6
6 To be clear, Pablo F. is not arguing, and the Court is not concluding, that an order of
release in a habeas matter renders unlawful any future arrests. Rather, the Court reaches
the narrow conclusion that because Respondents advance no legal argument in this case to
support their assertion that Pablo F. was released from custody, and because the
uncontested facts show that ICE officers immediately swarmed Pablo F. as soon as he
stepped out of the building, Pablo F. was not released from custody.

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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

NEW: The 2026 elections in most states will decide which party runs elections heading into 2028 (see map). We detail how Democrats could hold or gain this power in 14 potentially competitive states—and form a bulwark against MAGA subverting the 2028 elections www.the-downballot.com/p/voters-can...

Map of the United States titled "2026 Elections That Will Decide Which Party Runs Elections," with the subtitle "Includes secretaries of state and other elected offices where relevant." Source: The Downballot. States are colored by incumbent party.

Democratic (blue), 14 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Republican (red), 18 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.

Bipartisan (yellow), 4 states: Hawaii, Illinois, New York, and Wisconsin.
Not up in 2026 (gray), 14 states: Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

Footnotes: Illinois and Wisconsin have Democratic secretaries of state who do not run elections. Pennsylvania's Democratic governor appointed a Republican who typically aligns with Democrats.

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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Wisconsin is notable here: It had an independent election agency before Republicans replaced it with a bipartisan board prone to gridlock—letting them end an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s alleged campaign finance violations. Dems could reform that system if they gain full power next month

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Last year not a single refugee fleeing religious persecution was admitted to the US.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Yes, this is by far the biggest weapon that a new Democratic majority will have; full subpoena and contempt power and multiple members that are extremely eager to hold the admin's feet to the fire. The biggest issue re: immigration is that there's SO MUCH else going on for Congress to investigate.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Similarly, people keep asking me if immigration will get much better if Democrats retake Congress and the answer is "probably not." ICE is largely insulated from Congressional pushback (the 2026 budget reconciliation bill funded them through 2029) and hearings and subpoenas can only do so much.

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