iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

1,900 year-old Roman birthday invitation! 🎉 🥳 From Claudia Severa to her friend Sulpicia Lepidina, it’s one of the earliest known examples of writing in Latin by a woman! Found at Vindolanda fort, it gives a glimpse of social life on Rome’s northern frontier! 📷 me #RomanFortThursday #Archaeology

My photo shows a Roman wooden writing tablet (Vindolanda tablet no. 291) with a birthday invitation written in ink. The invitation is from Claudia Severa, wife of Aelius Brocchus, to Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of Flavius Cerealis, the commander at Vindolanda fort on the northern frontier of Britannia. The writing tablet is made up of two square, wafer thin, pieces of wood, displayed side by side. Each piece is now somewhat fragmentary, with pieces of wood missing in places. The wood is mid-brown in colour with dark text, and is displayed on a cream mount. The text is written in cursive Latin. Most of the text was written by a scribe, but Claudia adds in her own hand “I shall expect you, sister. Farewell, sister, my dearest soul, as I hope to prosper, and hail” making this one of the earliest known examples of writing in Latin by a woman. Dimensions: Width 22.3 cm × Height 9.6 cm. Dated c. 97 - 103 AD. From Vindolanda Fort, Northumberland. Now in the British Museum collections.

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Paul Crider @paulcrider.liberalcurrents.com · 13/10/2026

This bill would abolish ICE, DHS, and CBP, transferring legitimate customs duties to other departments. It would sunset Section 219 of the INA close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility and shutter all immigration detention centers. You have my sword, milady.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Judge Reyes' opening statement to the DOJ as the hearing begins: "I am thoroughly unamused right now."

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Adele M. Stan @addiestan.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Zelensky is often brilliant, or takes brilliant advice on strategy. It's a gamble: Trump is raging and wants Zelensky to fold in order to please Putin. Could do more bad things to Ukraine. But the disabling of Russian bots ahead of the midterms could help Dems take power, reining in Trump.

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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 12/10/2026

There is, writes @davidfrum.bsky.social, an "implicit quid pro quo in these lucrative deals offered to Trump’s family and friends: If you compel Ukraine to surrender, we will enrich you beyond reckoning" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...

theatlantic.com

Trump Is an Easy Mark for Putin

The president’s diesel deal sells out Ukraine, and does nothing for Americans.

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Maggie McNeill @maggiemcneill.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The term everyone is dancing around is "secret police", a hallmark of totalitarian regimes.

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4fuxake @blueheartedly1.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Again. Impeach him.

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Mike Levin @mikelevin.org · 10/10/2026

This is outrageous. Donald Trump just announced a deal with Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel, and Treasury immediately lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports through April. Those sanctions exist for one reason. They limit the money Putin can use to wage his brutal war on Ukraine.

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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Nailed it. 🔨

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854

Taxing Entrepreneurial Wealth: Evidence from
Norway, 2021-2025
Marius A. K. Ring
WORKING PAPER 35854|
DOl 10.3386/w35854
ISSUE DATE October 2026
Whether imposing higher taxes on business owners adversely affects business activity by constraining investment and inducing capitalist flight is a central question in the ongoing debate on how to tax the ultra wealthy. To shed new light, I exploit a series of related Norwegian reforms during 2021-2024 that increased dividend tax rates, removed migration-related capital gains tax loopholes, and nearly doubled the effective marginal tax rate on business wealth. These reforms spurred international debate and, allegedly, an "exodus" of Norwegian billionaires (Financial Times,
2023). While I document clear effects on migration, these responses are concentrated among the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution and mostly confined to 2022 and 2023. My results indicate that at most 100 individuals left due to the reforms. I find no evidence of significant outmigration or reduced inflows of startup founders or inventors. I estimate that absent any outmigration, wealth tax revenues would have increased by 75% from 2021 to 2024. Reform-driven outmigration lowers the revenue gain to 71.5%. My findings further show that outmigrating owners' firms remain economically active and do not reduce investment. In a broader set of analyses, I examine whether business outcomes are affected, regardless of whether owners outmigrate, since firms may reduce investment both due to liquidity constraints or distortions to owners' savings decisions. I compare firms owned by Norwegian individuals subject to the wealth tax with firms owned by foreigners and other tax-exempt entities. By merging historical ownership data from Orbis with the Norwegian shareholder register, I perform these analyses on both Norwegian and foreign-domiciled firms.
Across settings, I find no evidence that Norwegian-owned firms pay out more dividends or invest less after the reforms,…

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Waldman: The part of the Constitution that deals with the Supreme Court and all the federal courts is one-tenth the length of the part dealing with the democratically accountable branches, Congress and the presidency. That was what the framers thought was the right balance.

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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

As Canada becomes increasingly known for exporting wildfire smoke, is now the time to build oil pipelines? I speak to Jaime Poisson at CBC’s Front Burner about what Carney is prioritizing for investment with little to no public debate.

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Thos. Chevalier @thos-chevalier.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

And she’s certainly not going to give her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump!

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Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The International Criminal Court enforces the Geneva Conventions and other international laws of war against genocide and illegal actions of governments. Trying to cripple it is basically saying, we're looking for ways to violate international laws without consequence. Like crippling the US DOJ.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I noted yesterday that Trump doesn't care if his people sell access to Trump. He just demands a cut. www.youtube.com/shorts/yDK-8...

youtube.com

Trump's Team Sells Out the US

YouTube video by emptywheel

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Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Bit more niche but also you don't need to be sworn in by the speaker *at all* after an election. You do if you are elected mid-session (by house rules) but immediately after the election you are sworn by the speaker elect by convention, not by requirement

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Enrique Bedlam @enriquebedlam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Quick note. As far as I understand this regards criminal punishment. It does not address inadmissibility and deportability.

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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

🚨BREAKING: Georgia’s Republican-controlled election board invited the Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday to declare the state’s voting system unlawful before the upcoming midterm elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

democracydocket.com

GOP-controlled Georgia election board asks DOJ to declare state’s voting machines illegal

The request represents a major assault on the state's voting system by unelected state officials.

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 26/09/2026

This is another great, approachable explainer on “the rationalist wackos who have managed to take over much of the AI industry, and who now have tons of money and political power.” www.iankduncan.com/personal/202...

iankduncan.com

Sex, AI, and the Apocalypse - Ian Duncan

How a community devoted to thinking clearly incubated salvation stories, abusive experiments, race science, and an affection for autocracy, and why that history matters now that its alumni are asking ...

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Thos. Chevalier @thos-chevalier.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Find another place to order your take-away. This is so obnoxious, so offensive, so insensitive to the sensibilities of others. Who needs it?

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🗽LOLGOP🗽 @lolgop.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Pairs well with Marcy explaining how the egregious cases against Broadview 6 likely began because of MAGA's chief racist X troll.

youtu.be

DOJ is invoking Trump v. US in an attempt to dodge accountability for the Broadview 6 case

YouTube video by emptywheel

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Thos. Chevalier @thos-chevalier.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

which would give us the phrase Pax Siliconica for the desired sense of “the silicon peace“. Therefore, pax silica must mean “the Flintstone Peace“.

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Thos. Chevalier @thos-chevalier.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

“Silicon” is an early 19th century coinage of an earlier coinage *silicium*, on the model of *carbon* and *boron*. To coin an adjective from the neo-Latin *silicon* would yield *siliconicus*, ≈

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Thos. Chevalier @thos-chevalier.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

the proper adjective for which would be *siliceus*, “flinty*. “Silicon” is an early 19th century of an earlier coinage *silicium*, on the model of *carbon* and *boron*, the proper adjective for which would be *siliceus*, “flinty*.

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Thos. Chevalier @thos-chevalier.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

As a Latinist, I offer a comment on this absurd phrase. If the intent is to express in Latin “the silicon peace”, this fails. “Silica” presumes an adjective silicus, -a, -um, which does not exist. This is meant to be a coinage from the noun *silex*, “a pebble; flint”,

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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 21/09/2026

Senator Whitehouse on the Senate floor right now talking about Epstein and Trump ties to Russia. www.youtube.com/live/zML49aB...

youtube.com

US Congress LIVE: “There Is a Cover-Up Afoot” | Sen. Whitehouse Exposes Trump, Epstein, Russia Ties

YouTube video by The Financial Express

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Bloomberg reports that officials directly involved in an internal Pentagon investigation found that Peter Thiel’s Palantir Maven Smart System played a significant role in the February 28 U.S. strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran.

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Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 19/09/2026

Like this gives the Saudis a content veto power over EA, Bioware, Paramount, CBS, Nickelodeon, Showtime, and BET, and if the newest merger gets approved they’ll also have content veto power over HBO, CNN, the whole WB universe, Discovery, TBS, TNT, plus the PGA and ATP. It’s pretty stunning.

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Yes, what his happening in Gaza is "An Israeli Genocide." But it is more accurately described as "An American-Sponsored Genocide." As with all things, follow the money.

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Inequality Media @inequalitymedia.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore." 25 years ago today, Barbara Lee delivered this prescient warning — and cast the sole "No" vote — against the post-9/11 forever war.

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

JUST IN: A federal judge concludes that DHS leaders arbitrarily decided to cut FEMA staff by 50% even though it damaged the agency's ability to fulfill its mission — and leaders hid their comms about it on auto-delete Signal chains. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

W/o getting drawn into the "seriously or literally" / "it'll never happen" trap, we need to stomp *hard* on the continuing effort to undermine Article 1 power of the purse by saying that this or that revenue stream makes something outside the normal budget process. 1/ www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...

nbcnews.com

Lutnick says Trump’s $5,000 checks for Americans wouldn’t rely on taxpayer funds

A top White House official suggested Congress would use a budget process to fund them. Vice President JD Vance had said tariff revenues.

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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I hope folks realize this Bab al-Mandab situation will be much worse than the Strait of Hormuz if it’s not sorted out quickly. And it doesn’t currently look like it will be sorted out quickly.

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Critical Threats Project @criticalthreats.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

NEW | The Houthi offensive to capture territory near the Bab al Mandeb advances Iranian objectives under the current regional campaign that Iran is waging against the United States and its allies.

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Rory Johnston @roryjohnston.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

At more than $216 per barrel, US diesel futures are now at their highest level in history. We just busted through the prior record set at the height of the 2022 crisis.

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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 10/09/2026

Global grain prices are rising steeply as Ukraine and Russia intensify attacks upon one another’s main export infrastructure on the Black and Azov seas — leaving both countries struggling to find alternative outlets with the harvest in full swing.

kyivindependent.com

Global grain prices rise as Russia-Ukraine war escalates in Black Sea

Global grain prices are rising steeply as Ukraine and Russia intensify attacks upon one another's main export infrastructure on the Black and Azov seas — leaving both countries struggling to find alte...

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

This video, which should have been part of @thefarce.org and my Ball of Threads series, was also meant to be a one-off but probably will be another series. youtu.be/kTodyXxlPys

youtu.be

Corruption is a Process

YouTube video by emptywheel

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Signs that you might be living in an authoritarian state

Federal prosecutor fired after investigating ICE officer for civil rights offenses in Minnesota shooting, sources say

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Richard Blumenthal @blumenthal.senate.gov · 01/09/2026

This brave whistleblower has disclosed dramatic details about USPS’ seemingly illegal plot to undermine November’s midterms. The system is purposefully designed to fail—& risk voting rights for millions of Americans who cast ballots by mail.

votebeat.org

USPS whistleblower says rushed new mail ballot systems could disenfranchise voters

The new systems were developed quickly and haven’t been tested enough, complaint alleges

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Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Data centers are an emerging political crisis for Team Trump, per @TheRickWilson A small city in North Dakota shows why Here ======>

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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 01/09/2026

⚡️Update: Germany closes Russian consulate, targets Russian House after Leipzig airport plot. Berlin will also push for tougher sanctions on Russia, stricter entry controls for Russian citizens, and increased pressure on Russia's so-called shadow fleet.

kyivindependent.com

Breaking: Germany officially blames Russia for drone attack attempt at Leipzig airport

"We have clear indications from our intelligence services and partner agencies, as well as from investigations in Germany and in our European partner countries, of Russian involvement," German Interio...

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Thos. Chevalier @thos-chevalier.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

A constitutional crisis in the making

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