iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 18h

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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Thistle313 @thistle313.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Drop an album that was important to you when you were 19

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 28/09/2026

This right here, and it’s not just about rape. It’s literally anything he does wrong.

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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Mike Rogers is a corporate sellout who moves back to Michigan every few years to run for office to take another swing at the revolving door of corporate politics.

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

So is the White House, the Kennedy Center, and for that matter the Supreme Court, Congress, the executive branch, the rule of law, the military, public health, and.... Let's hope for a midterm landslide and thereafter some memory in the electorate of who broke what.

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Thistle313 @thistle313.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Ok, finished the suggested reading, plus SILVER AND LEAD. Is it Tuesday yet?!?

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

saw this on Instagram and it so perfectly encapsulated my rage

seravph
being so fr when I say that transmisogyny has put feminism back like 50 years

seravph
what i thought we had distanced ourselves from was the reduction of women to vaginas and wombs and the ability to bear children. i thought we had progressed past 'dresses are for women and pants are for men. i thought we progressed past the idea that someone is less of a woman if she does not adhere strictly to beauty standards. i thought we progressed past the idea that naturally being comfortable adhering to highly feminine standards is vulgar. but i (sarcastically) guess no one could have predicted that trans-exclusive feminism would be the downfall of all the progress we've made

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Beth Andres-Beck @beth4ma.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The Massachusetts approach is the path forward: no laws of any kind should be permitted to target abortion care. We can’t treat the anti-abortion movement’s proposals as legitimate or in good faith. They are neither.

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K.B. Wagers @kbwagers.com · 25/09/2026

It would be nice if we discoursed about why companies are demanding people work for less than living wages and ridiculous experience metrics, why they expect people to work all hours and never take time off. Why sick leave has vanished rather than whatever nonsense is happening over iced coffee.

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Beth Andres-Beck @beth4ma.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

When I talk to voters I don’t talk about “abolishing the Senate”. I talk about shortening the election cycle to six weeks so they aren’t bombarded with political ads year-round. It is amazing how popular our goals can be. Especially in swing states.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Greatest trick AI leaders have pulled is convincing many people—especially influential people in govt, media, and business—that their software is intelligent, independent, yet never culpable. Humans build it, humans deploy it, but no one bears responsibility for the things that happen when they do.

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Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I don't know anything about this guy, but this is undeniably a clever and fun ad.

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My Civic Workout @mycivicworkout.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Civic Workout #503 Getting Ready for October 17: No Kings 🚫👑 Mobilizing for a blue wave #nokings

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TW @twesq.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

this is fantastic and I learned something new

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 22/09/2026

THIS IS THE KIND OF SHIT I WANT MY GOVERNMENT TO DO Hold large corporations accountable. Distribute the proceeds to the workers. Rinse, repeat.

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Beth Andres-Beck @beth4ma.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

“I used a robot” shouldn’t be a legal defense.

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Beth Andres-Beck @beth4ma.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

When AI companies sell their tech as anti-consumer products, they are building the opposition to AI. The opposition isn’t because people haven’t tried the technologies yet. It is because too many voters have had the technologies used against them.

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Emily L. Hauser (she/her) ❌👑 @emilylhauser.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

🧵MISSISSIPPI & MISSOURI No early voting *but* both have in-person absentee voting 📢 STARTING TODAY ‼️ MS Form to request absentee ballot + rules & how-to's (scroll down) www.vote.org/absentee-bal... MO Form to request absentee ballot + rules & how-to's (scroll down) www.vote.org/absentee-bal...

docs.google.com

Early / In-person Absentee Voting Dates

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Bree (half of Kit Rocha) @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 21/09/2026

They dragged this man out of the hospital with a bullet still in his body. The tribunals are swiftly becoming the tedious centrist position.

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K.B. Spangler @kbspangler.com · 21/09/2026

Hey so we're going to see a lot more of these polls. They have a chilling effect on voting bc we think someone else will do the work. If we've learned ANYTHING over the last ten years, it's that we cannot count on anyone else doing the work. WE have to do the work. Voting is work.

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Thistle313 @thistle313.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

These books are so good! I re-read them yearly. This year's re-read was in January/February, so I am re-reading selected books to get ready for the new book on the 29th of this month. There is a lot of blood though. No, more than that. No, even more than that. You get used to it.

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Hillary Monahan @hillarymonahan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Do you know what kind of a piece of shit you have to be for Rupert Murdoch to say you've gone too nazi.

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Shepherd @neolithicsheep.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The thing is, cis people who like to yell at us on social media when we say things like "wow that candidate said some transphobic shit" is that we know it seems like it will be easier to make us shut up than to change your candidate's mind. But you really need to stop and think for a minute.

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Shepherd @neolithicsheep.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Vote early, vote often

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Thistle313 @thistle313.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

What would public schools look like if we truly valued public education for everyone?

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Peter Cashwell @petercashwell.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"Hey, all we do is call balls and strikes and secretly accept money from teams that are playing in the games we officiate." --Shoeless John Roberts

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Thistle313 @thistle313.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Robot jail! An idea whose time has come!

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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This is about one thing and one thing alone. Steering our research dollars for cancer, heart disease, and new infectious diseases to Trump’s political allies and friends.

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Jeremy Gibbs @gibbs.science · 19/09/2026

These folks pick and choose when objects have agency. Their toys might be taken? “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Their toys may not make back their investment and they need a bailout, “AI will kill us”. It’s so weird how the choice of agency always shields them from responsibility.

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Gail Simone @gailsimone.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I will also add that I think it takes tremendous bravery to be trans, and that living your best life is a net positive for the world, and the best comics are about being the best you you can be. So of course I would love trans people, like I love my favorite superheroes.

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Thistle313 @thistle313.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Thread. AI is not acting without oversight.

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Allison Hantschel @allisonhantschel.com · 18/09/2026

Part of what Mamdani is doing is explaining to people how government works. We've had 50 years of the GOP making sure it doesn't do anything but hurt and troll, while they yell that it's useless. Mamdani is like "no, it's for fixing shit and making decisions" and

static.klipy.com

Surprised Pikachu Face - Mind Blown Meme

Alt: Surprised Pikachu Face - Mind Blown Meme

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Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It's the simplest thing, these little videos, to show that government is working, and more to the point, working for you. It kicks the teeth out of that old Reaganism about how the scariest statement is "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

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Beth Andres-Beck @beth4ma.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Paxton wanted to put parents in jail simply for caring for their children. When we consider trans people and our families part of the community, trans rights ARE about loyalty, safety and family. That is what Republicans are afraid of.

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Beth Andres-Beck @beth4ma.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Some people argue AI will be so smart it will “solve” climate change. We already have smart people who solved climate change. The oil industry spent BILLIONS making sure we ignored them. Smart is not enough. AI won’t save us from ourselves. Laws protect people, the environment & our future.

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Hillary Monahan @hillarymonahan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Maybe instead of all these thinkpieces about how to cut corners we tax the fuck out of the 1%.

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People For the American Way @peoplefor.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

John Lewis bled on the Edmund Pettus Bridge so Black Americans could vote without being blocked, tested, or humiliated. That is why barriers to voting should make us furious. Check your registration & protect the power people died to win. #GetReadyToVote www.peoplefor.org/register-vote

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Awww. Abdul’s high school calculus teacher came to one of his campaign events and they both made some math jokes.

youtube.com

My high school calculus teacher came to our event🥹 Thank you Mrs. McDonald!

YouTube video by Abdul El-Sayed

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Allison Hantschel @allisonhantschel.com · 14/09/2026

And the lesson that you can be too stupid to know you should be losing, and so somehow manage to win, has informed most of my life. That's what we should be hoping for from youth sports. Money gets spent. Glory lives forever.

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Thistle313 @thistle313.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

These books are so so good! And very affordable if you go the ebook route. Ebooks are also available on Thorn's site.

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Thistle313 @thistle313.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Maybe Mike Rodgers doesn't want to travel up from Florida???

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Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · 15/09/2026

For more than 3,500 years, cobalt has coloured some of the world’s most celebrated artworks and objects; by tracing chemical signatures, Victoria Kemp’s research @ox.ac.uk explores how a single raw material can reveal hidden histories of trade, technology and cultural exchange.

flipsnack.com

The invisible currency of cobalt

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Thistle313 @thistle313.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Thread. Once again, we hang together or we hang separately.

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Beth Andres-Beck @beth4ma.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Talarico coming after trans people is bad politics. Republicans have called him transgendered, and yet he is still groveling for transphobes’ approval instead of standing up and saying “you wanna make something of it?” Without courage & conviction, politicians are useless.

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"If you had public oversight over this in the form of democratically elected or appointed members of at least 50% of all of these public trust corporations, you would imagine that they'd act far more focused on what is in the public good rather than what is for the private benefit of a few”

cbsnews.com

Abdul El-Sayed says public oversight needed on AI to avoid serving "interests of a few against the well-being of a many"

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said that there are "a lot of real risks" in artificial intelligence.

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Betty Cracker of Florida @bettycrackerfl.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Would be nice if the folks who are so concerned with girls sports would root out adult predators like this instead of harassing literal children.

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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Good thread

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