iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Pax Linson

Katherine Stewart @katherinestewart.bsky.social · 14h

"The religious right that raised up Paxton has cared little about his transgressions so long as they could prop him up to wield power. The alliance has been a perfect marriage of hypocrisy and cynicism in the name of traditional values." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

Ken Paxton’s Christian identity politics obscure a history of scandal | Sidney Blumenthal

The Texas Senate candidate rose to power as a culture warrior. His record is a marriage of hypocrisy and cynicism

0145

Reposted by Pax Linson

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Incredible. The 11th Circuit, in a 3-0 opinion (two Obama appointees and one Trump 1.0 appointee), agrees that Trump and his lawyers have failed to rebut the judge's finding that the entire IRS settlement was collusive, highlighting that no other explanation for their conduct was even offered.

IV
The appellants mount two main attacks on the district
court’s speech-related sanction. First, they argue that the court
lacked a sufficient basis to find that the lawsuit and the settlement
were collusive and that Messrs. Brito and Epstein acted in bad faith.
Second, they contend that the sanction is a broad and impermissible gag order which constitutes a prior restraint and violates the
First Amendment. We conclude that the appellants have not made
a strong showing that they will succeed on either of these grounds.

The appellants did not submit or offer any evidence to explain their litigation conduct or demonstrate that the lawsuit and the settlement were not collusive. Given the record before us, the
appellants have not made a strong showing that the district court
committed clear error in its collusion and bad faith findings

161435456

Reposted by Pax Linson

Katie Phang @katiephang.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

“From Bordeaux to Paris, via Rennes in Brittany and Die in the southeast, thousands – 120,000, according to organizers – turned out ‘for the climate, for life, for peace, for social justice.’”

4939371103

Reposted by Pax Linson

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

They are playing in our faces

409125775955

Reposted by Pax Linson

Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This change (back) means COVID vaccines are covered by insurance.

2345115

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Random confession here: I had no idea who Ed Sheeran even was till about last week...now I do and I still don't care much.

000

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

From a FB comment: "Gerry Griffith Lewis Carroll, author of “Alice in Wonderland,” has a riddle he never answers in one of his books: “How is a raven like a writing-desk?” It reminds of today’s riddle: “What does Dolly Parton have in common with a lobster?” Answer: September 25."

010

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"What are you talking about man?! Those aren't real people. They're illegal aliens!"

000

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Seems to me ALL of the programs mentioned are some form of behavior therapy; change your behavior, including how you think, and you won't be depressed. There are more problems with the project, too. We DO know how to help people, including kids, and it's not like this. @alfiekohn.bsky.social

theatlantic.com

These Teens Got Therapy. Then They Got Worse.

The kids are not all right, and frustratingly, we don’t really know how to help them.

010

Reposted by Pax Linson

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Must-read essay by an Israeli human-rights activist about the way language employed by Israel and its defenders is used to bolster "a project of supremacy, dispossession, and elimination" of Palestinians by camouflaging what's going on and the human costs: tinyurl.com/462c54fx

The language I grew up with did not require me to deny Palestinian suffering. I could acknowledge it, even be horrified by it, while still regarding the system that produced it as fundamentally legitimate. Today, after years of deepening dehumanization, Palestinian suffering is simply ignored in much of Israeli public discourse. That is why the language of those who live under this system matters so much. The people who witness, endure and survive under that power can describe what their lives look like: unprotected, shaped by fear, vulnerability and uncertainty.

The word we settled on to describe what these seemingly separate acts add up to is “elimination.” The logic of elimination does not require every Palestinian to disappear. It seeks to make Palestinian collective life increasingly impossible while securing permanent Israeli Jewish control. In Gaza, the logic of elimination has taken its most extreme form: genocide. In the West Bank, it dismantles the conditions that allow Palestinians to remain on their land and live as a society and a people.
And yet, even as Israel states its goals openly, international governments and institutions keep recasting those aims in conventional political language: a conflict to be managed, an occupation expected to end, an extremist government that needs to be restrained. That reframing lets governments condemn violence without confronting the system behind it. It lets them remain within a reassuring political story, rather than facing their obligations under international law and exerting the sustained pressure it would take to reverse it. It obscures the larger reality: a new phase of the political project to make Israeli Jewish control permanent while dismantling the conditions for Palestinian collective life.

042

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Oooh, I'll be thinking on this one for a bit!

000

Reposted by Pax Linson

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Best Twitter riposte of the day.

12472180

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I read Allison Gill's "Headlines..." every day, whether or not I listen to the daily interview - SO appreciative for them, especially the cites! Check out today's:

open.substack.com

Headlines for September 25, 2026

The Daily Beans podcast headlines sourced and cited

000

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Monday: “We know that progress for human rights has never been linear … but today’s backlash is deep and it is coordinated and the persecution of LGBTIQ+ people around the world is escalating at an alarming rate,”

washingtonblade.com

UN human rights chief sounds alarm over ‘comprehensive onslaught’ against LGBTQ rights

Volker Türk on Monday spoke at UN LGBTI Core Group event

010

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

...and we're just getting started with the blood, dirt, and grit part...and hope still has wings, too!

021

Reposted by Pax Linson

Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 23/09/2026

Someone tell him that tens of thousands of active duty service members are on food stamps.

301103513158

Reposted by Pax Linson

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 22/09/2026

whenever i hear some variation on "but what if trump does X or Y or Z" i think of this ulysses s. grant remark to a subordinate during the wilderness campaign.

884017697

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

SO glad I read this - good information as well as this man's experience.

000

Reposted by Pax Linson

ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/09/2026

NEW: In late 2024, FBI investigators had enough evidence to launch a sweeping bribery probe that could ensnare top lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins. Then Trump was reelected and eviscerated the FBI and DOJ teams handling public corruption probes.

propublica.org

The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way

After the FBI caught a defense contractor’s CEO making illegal campaign contributions, it sought to launch a sweeping political bribery probe involving Collins and others. Then the second Trump admini...

13746312240

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

FOX NEWS? Never imagined that! ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC News take turns providing the television coverage of the president, & CNN was supposed to be in charge of the TV pool today. With CNN banned, the other networks refused to take its place, leaving television coverage of Trump suspended.

010

Reposted by Pax Linson

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This is where wokeness has left us: The state not only takes trans youths' preferences seriously but also interferes with parents' god-given right to beat and terrorize their offspring.

1161

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

"[S]quandering [the USA's] ability to bend the arc of history toward more freedom" phrase certainly describes what's happening today, but IMO the "End of American Exceptionalism" is exactly what we need to bring that ability back, or, better yet, build it back better! Contradictions abound here:

100

Reposted by Pax Linson

Dr. Todd Arrington @btarrington.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

A million thanks to @hcrichardson.bsky.social for writing about the 350th anniversary of the burning of Jamestown and helping a larger audience understand this still very relevant history. I say this as Executive Director of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation but also as a historian & a citizen.

8425132

Reposted by Pax Linson

Katie Phang @katiephang.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Putting aside the 1st Amendment implications…it’s not like Convicted Felon Donald Trump tells the truth when the press is at the White House anyway.

27846221018

Reposted by Pax Linson

Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Oh my dear god, let your college kids fail. Let them fail courses. Let them fail paying rent. Let them fail doing their laundry. Let them fail basic hygiene. Let them fail and experience consequences. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/w...

nytimes.com

Worried About Your College Kid? Now You Can Hire a Local Mom. (Gift Article)

At some universities, parents can pay to make sure their children are cared for, the way they were back home.

1142797399

Reposted by Pax Linson

Jason Darr @jasondtx.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

If you aren't a Texan, the reaction from elected Republicans (aside from Rove and possibly Cornyn) regarding Bo French's racism is "What Bo French said is racist and has no place in the Republican party and yes, I will still be voting for him."

042

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

"Welcome to The Borowitz Report’s newest premium feature, TBR Midterms HQ. Between now and November, we’ll offer deep dives into the midterm races you need to know about—and make a few predictions."

open.substack.com

Is America’s Crummiest Political Dynasty About to Bite the Dust?

TBR Midterms HQ

001

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

A Russian nesting doll of crises! "[T]he price crisis, caused by the oil crisis, caused by the Iran crisis, which has created a military crisis while the country is staggering under a deportation crisis... ...appear...to be making some Republicans rethink their support for Trump & his policies."

010

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

@lawdorknews.bsky.social isn't using the word 'alarming' here lightly, and neither am I. This is SO alarming..and frustrating..and disheartening...

000

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

...and Denmark's Prime Minister also says they have a deal! What the heck?

100

Reposted by Pax Linson

Zach D Roberts @zdroberts.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

A website that explicitly states that it believes in the antisemitic great replacement theory is part of the White House press pool today. visunews.substack.com/p/white-nati...

visunews.substack.com

White Nationalist “News Site” Among White House Press Pool Today

The people that get to cover the White House has gotten a lot more putrid under the 2nd term of Trump.

0117

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

We're bigger than any old monsters, though...

010

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I often wonder how people like this actually function IRL... If we chatted in a Starbucks line - or a condo meeting! - would we notice their lack of critical thinking skills? How do they interact socially with no capacity to hear how stupid they sound?

100

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

"Everybody means everybody." Democracy is like that, yeah?

010

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

On Wednesday the EU expressed its willingness "to move toward making Canada an "associate member..." "And the next day Mark Carney, Canada’s Prime Minster, strongly endorsed the idea." Donald Trump called it a “hostile act,” threatening to cut off all trade with Europe. "And nobody cared."

paulkrugman.substack.com

Fear Strikes Out

But the hatred remains

010

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

"...in order to form a more perfect Union….” I never understood the word 'more' in this amazing statement until now!

011

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Lest we forget what our loved ones in Minnesota went through then..and what many fine people are going through now..right now!

000

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Yep. That's what an injunction is supposed to do... “There’s an injunction so we’re not doing anything,” postmaster general David Steiner told The Associated Press in an interview.

apnews.com

010

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

0 for 24 now, but who's counting? (Everyone..and Trump!)

052

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Yes. AND, in spite of his deteriorating mind, he's following the MAGA playbook pretty closely...it's not just him...

000

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"He just picked the wrong person today." Rep. Beatty

010

Pax Linson @paxll.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I can't find @hcrichardson.bsky.social's post here on Bluesky*, so I've linked it below this FB comment that says it all: "You've told us for 7 years that we haven't lost our minds. You've taught history that never made into our textbooks. Thank you for writing and keeping us informed."

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

September 15, 2026

Seven years ago, on September 15, 2019, after about a six-week hiatus during the summer, I wrote a Facebook post that started:

120

Reposted by Pax Linson

Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This. This right here. Let's prove them wrong.

161483295