iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 3h

#theywantyoudead 161 3659 measles cases as of last week. c. 1000 (& 5 deaths) in PA alone, but 47 states have cases. PA on track to = 75% of the total 2025 US caseload. USA on track to have almost 2x the 2025 caseload. But I’m sure that Dr Oz and RFKj have a supplement that will keep us healthy.

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 5h

1 gotta love the laser focus on important things by our Sec of State / NSC head while what looks like WW 3 is going on 2 gonna be a lot of stolen passports bc of that obvious packaging 3 but that’s a feature for the Crime Administration not a bug, easier to do crime with a stolen passport

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 5h

So says Mr CEO of for-profit hospital firm with Largest Medicare Fraud in US history, who pled the 5th amendment 75 times in trial. #theywantyoudead 160

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James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · 9h

Meanwhile, on SNAP

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Joshua Schwartz @joshschwartz.bsky.social · 16h

It's been 6 years (!) in the making, but I'm happy to share a new piece in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social w/ @sabrinabarias.bsky.social. Since federal efforts to combat climate change have been reversed, we evaluate the kinds of environmental plans *local* policymakers support doi.org/10.1017/S153...

doi.org

Think Globally, Act Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for Climate Policy | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core

Think Globally, Act Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for Climate Policy

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 16h

#empiresuicidewatch 146 I’ve met many smart officers in my time, but with one exception they are not academics, and stable civil-military relations and good strategic thinking require civilian academic perspectives.

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DT Cochrane @dtcochrane.bsky.social · 21h

Too big too fail should apply to industrial operations not the ownership claims. If a bank fails, the owners made the wrong bet. Let their claims go to zero. If public powers are needed to preserve the functional apparatus of the bank, then put it under public ownership.

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Cameron 🇺🇸🗽🦅 @cameroncorduroy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

speaking of closing tax loopholes, if the IRS was able to collect all taxes owed since 2000 it could mean today's national debt would be $8 trillion lighter some new fiscal analysis from yours truly, link below

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Paging Tom Ferguson and the investment theory of corporate politics… when you have a lot of money you can afford to buy everyone.

A chart of AI firms’ PAC contributions to both parties

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Daniel Driscoll @danieldrisc.com · 29/09/2026

Why Carbon Taxes Failed is on the road! See book talk dates below (more to come). Next week is Central European University and Copenhagen Business School! Can't wait to see some dear friends at both places <3

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

* shift income to the wealthy * obstruct release of the Epstein files * reduce environmental & food safety * defund medical / bio research that promises to save lives * legalize segregation * acquiesce in stupid wars / destruction of US hegemony * run away to prevent investigations / impeachments

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rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

there's a thing in moderate democratic politics where it is considered fundamentally illegitimate to deliver results to your own voters; instead, you must propose a better way to implement your adversaries' entire ideological program

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Taps the sign: 70% of US mothers with children under 6 years old are in the labor force (some unemployed); of those actually working, 80% work full time. And it’s lower income women who are more likely to work part time (or not at all) bc of the cost of childcare, which increases poverty.

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Pretty much like the 1970s argentine military junta, which stole children from people they killed and gave them to childless officers. Here though more likely the Guardian Of Pedophile / Epstein pipeline.

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Emma Evans @trance.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Also reminder the best help for food pantries, or people struggling or any 'need' is cold hard cash. Always. Always always always. Food pantries can make that money stretch MUCH BETTER THAN YOU CAN, and it'll go to their most urgent needs. I mean, the other stuff is great too but cash is king

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

🧵⬇️ relevant to the Cornell rape cover up. (about which, yet another reason i will never donate)

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

Fryer was suspended from supervising students at Harvard due to sexual misconduct 🤡

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The original reporting on this was at www.worseonpurpose.com Which is doing god’s work of showing the degradation / enshittifcation of a wide range of products. NYT as it often does claiming stolen valor.

worseonpurpose.com

Worse on Purpose

The brands you trusted quietly gutted quality to protect margins. Investigative essays on corporate enshittification. Free newsletter.

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Dean Baker @deanbaker13.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Remember, they prosecuted Aaron Swartz and drove him to suicide for hacking one system with the goal of making academic articles freely available to the public. Sam Altman hacked 1000s of sites with the goal of being a trillionaire.

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Deborah Baker @deborahbaker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

With the support of the vast majority of its white residents, Charlottesville closed its schools too.

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Oh, hey I must be committing fraud against my car and house insurance because I to have not made any claims despite paying premiums for years! Do they believe their own bullshit?

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Those concentration camps aren't going to fill themselves, nor will the deportation flights.

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

#caturday ! Early, because I am busy all day tomorrow. This is the most recent shelter kitten, Sugar. Guess why!

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Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The End of History “make the case that many right-of-center personalities will remain driven by “megalothymonia”— a yearning for a sense of superiority and greatness that makes them discontented with merely being the well-paid but bored technocratic managers of docile nations & successful companies”

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

the affordability president! combined w/ high nominal housing prices, the majority of households cannot afford an average new single family home price of $478,000, a 10% downpayment mortgage = $32,000 in yearly interest, before principle, taxes and insurance. or the median home @ $27,000 net of PTI

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

For those of us who've been following PRECISELY this issue for decades, it's like the regularity of bird migrations. Obviously bogus claims (migrating north), fully & categorically debunked (migrating south) a month later. In the old days it was John Fund at WSJ oped page. Now it's DHS/DOJ.

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

These cuts are not from some “normal” or “average” level, either - take Page county (VA - near Appalachia, rural): Primary Care MDs /1000 people: 1::3968 Dentists: 1::5938 US average: PCPs: 1:: 1500 (0.67 :: 1000) Dentists: also 1::1600. (0.60 :: 1000)

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The way "random private citizens can just come in, violate all federal security/privacy laws, & dismantle large swathes of the government that Congress created & funded" has been both memory-holed & normalized simply cannot happen in a constitutional republic. People need to go to jail forever.

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Matthew Gillikin @mtgillikin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This article captures a dynamic I’ve seen in Charlottesville/Albemarle leaders who push hard for change: public attacks from the broader far-right and private alienation from local defenders of the status quo. I appreciate Allison speaking up, despite all she’s gone through. She’s one of the best.

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Matthew Gillikin @mtgillikin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I’m so glad Allison said this out loud. A significant portion of Albemarle County leadership (current and past) is pathologically wedded to the status quo and deeply prefers an appear of peace rather than seriously addressing the challenges the community faces.

"When I joined the board, I was told by the older members of the school board that we can disagree behind closed doors, but it's better for everybody if we show a united front when we come out to vote on things," Spillman says. "I said, the public deserves to see disagreement and to see who is voting for what, and they didn't like that."

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Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 23/09/2026

Timely, given the strong Minsky moment vibes these days. Just out in Politics & Society. "The more Minsky rose to the challenge of explaining the economics of his [wage-led growth] proposal ... the more Democrats grew concerned about its politics." journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Priorities: Get out of misguided wars ❌ food supply problems from oil price shock ❌ energy transition/climate ❌ food safety problems ❌ AI regulation ❌ measles / pandemics ❌ self-fluffing aggrandizement ✅

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This. Wasted so much breath trying to get folks to hire 2-3 smart assistant professors instead of chasing the one shiny expensive object. Who anyway was never going to sign the contract!

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Audie Klotz @audieklotz.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

What my Canada-based academic friends say: invest in existing institutions and talent instead of chasing a few high profile hires ⬇️

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

In sworn testimony, the Treasury Department says it hasn't seen the money from Venezuela, and doesn't know where it's gone. Time to figure out who's pocketing it. In an overall kleptocracy, this may well be the most brazen act of embezzlement so far. www.ft.com/content/0588...

ft.com

US state department under pressure to disclose Venezuelan oil takings

Trump administration holds back from revealing how much money it has collected and how much it has sent back to Caracas

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Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Except central banks have significantly raised the bar for financial crashes. Systemic loss of market confidence matters less than sudden collapse in trust that central banks can still backstop the system. We replaced price signals with politico-technocratic ones.

theguardian.com

All the signs say another financial crisis is coming. Here’s why we need to prepare for it now | Larry Elliott

War, AI disruption and markets in turmoil: the warnings are all there. But lessons from the 2008 crash could help us, says Guardian columnist Larry Elliott

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Patrick Osgood @patrickosgood.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Is this literally saying governments need to cut welfare for people so global capital markets can soak up even more junk bonds from hyperscalers to build more AI data centers? If so, the author is fucking demented

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#empiresuicidewatch 145 Of course, the depletion of missile stocks during the war against Iran means there’s no need for any info on China anyway, since there’s no way to fight.

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

administrative barriers are a feature, not a bug, for TANF and Medicaid, where states share the cost of funding - denials reduce the fiscal burden. With SNAP (federal$), the Big Ugly Bill says states lose all SNAP funding if > 6% error rate in determining eligibility, creating an incentive to deny.

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Meanwhile the maximum out of pocket for Medicare part D (prescription drugs) is rising by $300 or 15% from 2026 to 2027 & ofc diesel prices even more. But demented grandpa has his priorities, # of which is staying in power to avoid prosecution.

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Non-USAians: it’s the change from the baseline that matters politically not the level, even though you are confronted with c. €2.30-2.50 /L so you think this is ridiculously cheap. (Most USAians actually pay closer to €1 /L !). US petrol prices have risen about 33-40% since 🌮 started the war.

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Imani Gandy @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026

I just honestly can't get over that Save Women Sports, an anti-trans group could only find five trans athletes competing K through 12. Five. The NCAA president testified a year and a half ago or so that there were less than 10 college level trans athletes. What the fuck are we doing, people

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Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

"The AI revolution has the potential to accelerate the existing chaos & dysfunction in the world’s information ecosystem, supercharging mis- & disinformation campaigns & undermining fact-based public discussions required to address urgent major threats like nuclear war, pandemics, & climate change."

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

thinking about what the absolute shortfall of oil (= fertilizer, transport fuel, plowing, herb & pesticides), which will show up as higher prices but possibly also absolute food shortfalls will mean - here who net imported / exported calories in 2011. source: academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

map of global calorie exporters (green) and importers (orange) in 2021

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

#caturday ! Captain Morgan from the rum litter of shelter kittens

A grey and white kitten in someone's hands

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

👇🎯 This is why the only serious position on DOGE is that Elon Musk needs to go to jail for the rest of his life. Whether you like government program X is completely irrelevant.

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

This once more prompts the old, now unfunny soviet era joke: Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev are on a train. Train stops moving. Stalin: “shoot the engineer!” Train still stuck. NK: “rehabilitate the engineer!” Still stuck. Brezhnev pulls down the window shades: “Comrades! The train is moving!”

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herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

This is going to be a Harvard business school case study in how to alienate your core market. I grew up with converse all stars, so i’ve always had a soft spot. No longer.

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