iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

If you subscribed to Portable Soup, you could have read about this on Monday: There’s No Business Like Coup Business If you want to know what’s going on that corporate media aren’t telling you, consider signing up. After all, it’s free. open.substack.com/pub/portable...

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 6-22-26

“The most part are too busy in getting food, and the rest too negligent to understand.” — Thomas Hobbes

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

So, what are y’all social capitalists up to this week?

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Read any good books lately? How about a terrific political thriller set in a US where the South won the war? And believe me—it’s not what you might think. Last week’s First Chapter Friday offering: open.substack.com/pub/portable...

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

What’s Been Happening went out Monday; if you were subscribed you’d already have read: In the Fight to Defend the Amazon, This Indigenous Community’s Secret Weapon Is Science How Art Is Making People Healthier open.substack.com/pub/portable... Why not sign up? It’s free.

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 4-6-26

“The best gift you can give yourself is the gift of possibility.” — Paul Newman

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Read any good books lately? Maybe you’ve been waiting for First Chapter Friday. Last week we featured a wholesome, fun story suitable for a young reader: portablesoup.substack.com/p/rutherford...

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

You missed What’s Been Happening again? If you'd subscribed, you could have read this: Scientists Discover a New Branch of Life in the Deep Sea How a Texas ‘Antifa’ Verdict Threatens the Anti-Trump Resistance open.substack.com/pub/portable... Why not sign up? It’s free. portablesoup.substack.com

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 3-30-26

“I have yet to see a piece of writing, political or non-political, that does not have a slant. All writing slants the way a writer leans, and no man is born perpendicular.” — E.B. White

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

You missed What’s Been Happening again? If you were subscribed, you could have read this on Monday: Three Massive Funds Control a Chunk of Most Media You’ve Probably Read AI Writing Today. Here Are 7 Surefire Ways to Spot It Why not sign up? It’s free. open.substack.com/pub/portable...

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 3-16-26

“If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” — James Madison

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

You missed What’s Been Happening again? If you were subscribed, you could have read this: AI and the Economy: A Losing Bet for Working People How to Organize Safely in the Age of Surveillance open.substack.com/pub/portable... Why not sign up? It’s free.

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 3-2-2026

“It is not patriotism to lead people into a war they cannot win.” — Dr. Who

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

You missed What’s Been Happening again? If you were subscribed, you could have read this: How to Fix Our Broken Medical System 6 Supposedly Haunted Libraries open.substack.com/pub/portable... Why not sign up? It’s free.

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 2-16-26

“It is wrong to encourage a man or a people in evil doing; it is wrong to aid and abet a national crime simply because it is unpopular not to do so.” — W.E.B DuBois

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

You missed What’s Been Happening again? If you were subscribed, you wouldn’t have missed this: War-torn Ukraine is being sold as an ‘investment bonanza’ – but there’s a catch The dark side of green technology: what do electric vehicles really cost? open.substack.com/pub/portable...

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 2-9-2026

“You don’t always win your battles, but it’s good to know you fought.” — Lauren Bacall

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

You missed What’s Been Happening again? If you were subscribed, you wouldn’t have missed this: Commune leader discusses popular resistance in Venezuela How Hamburg Combats Loneliness With ‘Culture Buddies’ open.substack.com/pub/portable... Why not sign up? It’s free. portablesoup.substack.com

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What's Been Happening 1-26-26

“Everybody paddle the canoes together; bail and paddle, paddle and bail, and the shore will be reached.” — Hawai’ian Proverb

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

You missed What’s Been Happening again? If you were subscribed, you wouldn’t have missed this: They don’t care if you die: How Iran’s protests became a bargaining chip for oil and power open.substack.com/pub/portable... Why not sign up? It’s free. portablesoup.substack.com

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 1-19-2026

“Such a lot is won when even a single man gets to his feet and says No.” ― Bertolt Brecht

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Carpe Librum Bookstore and Art Gallery @carpelibrum.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

We'd love to get a new space for the bookstore so we can reopen in a brick and mortar format, then adopt a shop cat, so we're running a sale on the website. Get 25% off your order with promo code Molly at checkout. Pictured is Stan Lee, our shop cat who died last year. carpelibrumbaltimore.com

Stan Lee was our shop cat who died last year.

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Carpe Librum Bookstore and Art Gallery @carpelibrum.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Hey Baltimore, need a last-minute gift idea? We offer free and quick delivery when you order off our website if you live within reasonable driving distance of us. Pictured are some of the new books we currently have in stock. Thanks for shopping small! #shopsmall carpelibrumbaltimore.com

Winter moves like a predator, taking villages one at a time, leaving the people either dead or half mad. For thousands of years, the Elementari — spirits of the elements — have slept peacefully under the watchful eye of the Terakhein, a guardian tribe that protects them. But now that the Elementari have started to awaken, the Terakhein are nowhere to be found. In Gaelastad, where the trees never die, eighteen-year-old Jonathan is haunted by dreams of a little girl: the last of the Terakhein. Fleeing from enemies across treacherous lands, Jonathan must survive and find the girl. Fortunately, help comes in the form of Bryn, a terrible fire spirit, and Morgan, the most beautiful — and deadly — of water spirits. But are they strong enough to give him the time he needs to find the missing girl and stop the tide of destruction?

President Gerald Wellington Thorne, a bumbling, ineffective leader, wakes up one morning to discover that his mouth has disappeared.

On the very same day, Larry White, a porter at Union Station, wakes up from a long night of drinking and realizes that he now has two mouths. His wife decides that this is actually a blessing in disguise, one that offers her a chance to save her husband from drink and eternal damnation. She enlists the help of her pastor, who in turn recognizes this as his once-in-a-lifetime chance to transform his run-down storefront mission into a lucrative mega-church.

And while Thorne and White are assessing their respective dilemmas, Fuzzaluddin Choudry, a humble and affable immigrant butcher from Pakistan, hears the voice of God in a water spout in Washington, DC's Tidal Basin. The voice tells him that he has been chosen to save the President of the United States.

What evil force is behind this madness? Will the world ever be the same? Would it be better if we had a President without a mouth?

The Wizard and the White House is a delightful fantasy full of humor and imagination. Mike Maggio’s take on the clash of cultures in contemporary American life will leave you smiling… and perhaps wondering whether the foolishness we are witnessing in today’s politics could be improved only through a good dose of magic.

A comical memoir about a klutz's sex change, Bumbling into Body Hair shows how a sense of humor - and true love - can triumph over hair disasters, resurrected breasts, and even the most crippling self-doubt.

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Could we please stop refering to the people on the Epstein list as "pedophiles". They're rapists.

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Did you get the memo? What’s Been Happening is up on Portable Soup. Do you know what’s going on? open.substack.com/pub/portable...

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 10-13-25

“Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.” — Leo Tolstoy

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Did you get the memo? What’s Been Happening is up on Portable Soup. Do you know what’s going on? open.substack.com/pub/portable...

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 9-22-25

“Never confuse the size of your paycheck with the size of your talent.” — Marlon Brando

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Did you get the memo? What’s Been Happening is up on Portable Soup. Do you know what’s going on? open.substack.com/pub/portable...

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 9-15-25

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” — Vincent van Gogh

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Read any good books lately? Here’s one you won’t want to miss. Welcome to First Chapter Friday! portablesoup.substack.com/p/the-librar...

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Kim and Urban, like Putin and other right-wingers in the world, share the same basic ideology. These attempts to make it seem as if what Trump says about his fellow neoliberal travelers is some horrible deviation from the norm does nothing to challenge the march toward fascism.

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Carpe Librum Bookstore and Art Gallery @carpelibrum.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

We're hoping to buy this building, so we're running a sale on the website. Get 25% off your order with promo code Molly at checkout. Our goal is to be open by Small Business Saturday, so we need to have it purchased by late October. carpelibrumbaltimore.com

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

What’s Been Happening is up on Portable Soup. Do you know what’s going on? open.substack.com/pub/portable...

open.substack.com

What's Been Happening 8-4-25

“There’s more to life than being a passenger.” — Amelia Earhart

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

It's amusing watching the surprise among liberals that the WSJ ran what appears to be an anti-Trump article. The foundation is being laid for replacing him, which is why J.D. Vance was put on the ticket in the first place.

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Love it when liberals ignore the fact their hero Obama deliberately created a program designed by the insurance industry while preventing any input regarding a full public option that quickly became precisely the cash cow anyone with half a brain knew it would be.

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

I generally admire what More Perfect Union produces, but ignoring the glaring fact that there shouldn't be low-income seniors who need to work well past retirement age because that's what Social Security was supposed to prevent isn't up to their usual standards.

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Wow, there are Democrats in Congress who not only don't know what their constituents want but are prepared to dictate what their constituents want because they consider them beastly. Quelle surprise. 🙄 Signed: A former Democrat

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

J. D. Vance was placed on the GOP ticket precisely because those who set it up knew how unstable their useful idiot Trump was and needed an obedient minion ready in the wings for when it became necessary to replace him. He's been reciting his lines ever since.

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Those are the people who have ties to the industries they were hired to regulate and inspect, including receiving royalties on products created from their research. Perhaps Dr. Reich is unfamiliar with the term "corporate capture".

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

What’s Been Happening is up on Portable Soup. Do you know what’s going on? portablesoup.substack.com/p/whats-been...

portablesoup.substack.com

What's Been Happening 7-7-25

“Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.” — Kenyan proverb

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

BTW, this actually IS illegal as designed. Or used to be. Maybe the corporation who produced these made a fat PAC donation and got a special permit.

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Carpe Librum Bookstore and Art Gallery @carpelibrum.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

We're hoping to buy a building for the shop and reopen in a brick and mortar format, then adopt this cat from a local animal shelter, so we're running a sale on the website. Get 25% off your order with promo code Molly at checkout. carpelibrumbaltimore.com

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Carpe Librum Bookstore and Art Gallery @carpelibrum.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

We're hoping to buy a building for the bookstore and then adopt this cat from a local animal shelter, so we're running a sale on the website. Get 25% off your order with promo code Molly at checkout. carpelibrumbaltimore.com

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

If you live in a fairly well-to-do neighborhood, be aware that you may already have neighbors going hungry, and who are about to go hungrier. Even if you don't, someone somewhere will. Find a food pantry. Support it. They're already strained, and it's about to get worse.

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

That's because nobody ever took the necessary follow-up steps to ensure progress. "…you don’t stop with lesser evilism. You begin with it, to prevent the worst, and then you go on to deal with the fundamental roots of what’s wrong, even with the lesser evils.” — Noam Chomsky

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

"A large measure of sacrifice and discipline will be demanded of the American people. They will be asked to give up some of the benefits which they have come to associate with their freedoms." — National Security Council-68 (1950)

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Liz Burton @portablesoup.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Anyone still thinking Donald Trump is an evil genius needs to read Molly Ivins's WHO LET THE DOGS IN? He's a distraction, a stalking horse. He didn't create Project 2025 with the help of the Heritage Foundation. They created it for him to use as a script on behalf of the real Wrecking Crew.

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