1796 Treaty of Tripoli, translated by Joel Barlow, ratified by Senate, signed by John Adams: "The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." (no corresponding text in the Arabic treaty)
I need to know how this works so I can fix it. Just about there. 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 🇲🇽
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1796 Treaty of Tripoli, translated by Joel Barlow, ratified by Senate, signed by John Adams: "The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." (no corresponding text in the Arabic treaty)
Responsible people should not see themselves as obligated to constantly clean up the kakistocracy's messes.
The attack on a civilian boat that posed no imminent threat was an impeachable offense. But Trumpist Republicans control Congress and they *LOVE* this illegal shit! This also means that a critical % of the American population supports assassination instead of due process. How do we change their ❤️s?
I've often warned the real risk of AI images is giving people the ability to deny the real images more than making them believe things that aren't true.
Yes, something doesn't look right in the original. And, yes, the "enhanced" photo clearly added lines that interpreted shadows as the edge of a bulbous growth that is obviously not there irl. Not good or useful.
This is true, but it's important to note that Nazis have infiltrated several law enforcement agencies, hold major sway in the GOP and commit a mass-casualty terror attack every few months. Meanwhile the most leftists ever do in real life is come in 4th place in a small city's mayoral election.
and when being rocked like a hurricane, always say Thank you and complement the rocker.
Now that's usage of a noun as a verb that I can appreciate!
Here are the members of the DOE Climate Working Group: John Christy, PhD Judith Curry, PhD Steven Koonin, PhD Ross McKitrick, PhD Roy Spencer, PhD How any university could award PhD's to anyone willing to put their name to this bit of pseudo-science propaganda is just shameful. /6 fin
Most galling is their argument that increased CO2 and warming are actually beneficial! The report spends a lot of time taking a microscope to selected plant growth but ignores destructive migration of harmful plants & organisms. "Global greening" is a major theme. /5
Following suit with past denialist papers, biological and meteorological danger associated with rate of change is carefully ignored. The report is big on comparisons to the last glacial epoch. It has a lot of "we survived that, so what's the big deal?" vibe. Here's a nugget on ocean acidification /4
It's essentially a libertarian "but what about" critique of IPCC reports. Entire chunks of how we know what we know are missing. Cherry picking and distortions of evidence are blatant, made worse by the pretense of rigor through lots of misapplied and misleading citations. Kinda like HS debate. /3
I read portions of the DOE report that I was most familiar with (basic heat/mass balance stuff) plus a few sections on biological impact. I genuinely do not understand how someone could go through the process of getting a PhD to end up putting their name on such a weirdly simplistic document. /2
Today, a group of actual climate scientists submitted a rebuttal to the DOE climate report that was released last month. The DOE report is an embarrassing rehash of the same irrelevant attempts at gotchas that climate change deniers were pushing 20 yrs ago. /1 sites.google.com/tamu.edu/doe...
Yeah. There's a long deplorable list. I already decided I don't want one.
brilliant 🧵
Cheapens the honor to the point that I feel bad for anyone who receives it in the future.
But it looks like the cop car is by itself. Where are the other 8 cop cars? I guess they'll show up in a few minutes with the 15 other LEOs they need to tackle the 2 perps before arresting them.
Another reason to avoid Substack. I wish that the people who I truly admire and whose work I value would jump off of that stinking ship!
Whether or not these people are actual foreign agents is almost irrelevant. Their actions are observationally equivalent to & indistinguishable from the actions actual foreign agents would be taking. The consequences of our total Article I constitutional crisis, right here:
Cuomo, Adams and Sliwa are running for mayor of Gotham City while Mamdani is running for mayor of NY
The plan was never to defeat Hamas as quickly as possible. The hostages wound up being pawns in the long game of eliminating Palestinians and annexing Gaza.
Because there isn't one - only local and suburban small events. Good that you question these posts. Not enough people do. But.....I sure wish there was one today!!
Making kids do the pledge every morning is more than a waste of time, it gives them a distorted sense of what it means to be true to the Constitution. Pile up all those minutes to save for one solid week of civics and an intro to how we know what we know.
#USVeterans took an oath. How can we help them to uphold it? Thank you @jollygoodginger.bsky.social for reminding them. I truly hope that at least some of them can hear you and do the right thing. #RefueseIllegalOrders #DefendTheConstitution #DefendTheUnitedStates
GOP responses to mass shootings: Step 1: Blame it on mental health, not guns Step 2: Vote to cut funding for mental health Repeat I live outside the US, and I can assure you: the rest of the world has people with mental health problems. What they don't have is easy access to unlimited guns.
Wow! If the NYT acknowledges this, maybe they will acknowledge that they facilitated the establishment of a fascist state based on mis and dis information. (A girl can dream.)
Civic education and especially the press in this country aren't great, but the big problem here is that the people acting like the president isn't a public servant tasked with faithfully executing the law, but instead The Country's Boss, includes the GOP majorities in Congress and the Supreme Court.
I hope you're not referring to Grassley? There were so few Republicans in Congress to remain nevertrump a year after 1/6 that it had zero effect on how our government functions, and tbh, that's all that matters.
Time for some hopscotch civil disobedience. Dance D.C.! Dare the fascists and have fun while you do it 💃🕺
Shit. I missed this yesterday. Is it too late for me to do this on Tue? Sorry for the delay!
Another great 🧵 from @sethcotlar.bsky.social on how we got here.
Ernie (left) and his brother Felix (right) closing out the after party at their disco box. They were tweens and still developing their party game.
💯🤬
Ashli Babbitt is a patriotic hero to Republicans. Why? bc she's a martyr in the war to destroy our federal government. Feds ended slavery then segregation then had the gall to protect the environment and recognize gay marriage. "Government IS the problem." All that would end through King Donald. 😒
Those mf Republican monsters killed American Experience! We're quickly entering unforgivable territory. After a while, "this isn't what I voted for" stops meaning anything.
This! Our election results are more reliable than ever and we have had too many close elections recently to let anyone say their vote doesn't count. We must push back against the lies that are destroying our democracy!
And it appears that @colbylsmith.bsky.social didn't bother to read Pulte's complaint and ask a mortgage lawyer obvious questions. Here is the explanation that too many reporters are too lazy to find and include in their stories: substack.com/redirect/b14...
5 so-called journalists, none seems to know that the LAST TIME Kash Patel and John Ratcliffe used emails stolen from foreign spies to predicate an investigation, John Durham chased Russian disinformation for four years.
This is critically important information. Fascist regimes must manipulate information about elections to convince just enough of the people that they take / maintain power legally. A coordinated, multifaceted strategy is being implemented to do this in the US RIGHT NOW. Pay attention. Take action.
"Let's play 2!" My favorite player growing up.
Says something about the intellect of TV "journalists" who reach this level. TBH it's what the MSM execs want.
My wife did a summer study at Cambridge on Chaucer and Shakespeare back in the day and she got me sucked in. Her constant commentary on the linguistics makes it more fun!
Love Upstart Crow! Time for a re-watch. The traffic reports might be my favorite bit.
Too many Americans have thoughts of praying with a gun under their pillow. Thoughts need to be on how to get rid of all these fucking guns. Prayers need to focus on keeping our children safe until we can convince SCOTUS that their psychotic interpretation of 2A is responsible for these killings!
Especially when he and way too many other Dem leaders seem to love cryptocurrency.
Sometimes comment sections are
Interesting (re)🧵 on the political influence Peter Thiel has had since before the beginning of MAGA. While Steve Bannon and Elon Musk have been in the spotlight, Thiel has been pulling strings in the background, including escorting J.D. Vance through the king-making process.
Because he does not have the authority to dismiss her. We need to use clear, concise words when depicting current events. Facts matter. Law matters. Truth matters.
How does authoritarianism envelope a country so quickly? $$$$ carrot/stick manipulation Powerful business leaders grab easy opportunities to increase their fortunes by jumping on the propaganda band wagon, or If so much as a dime of that fortune is threatened, they fold like a cheap suit.
Full resignation letter from Demetre C. Daskalakis, a CDC leader, does not hold back. "The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."
Seeing a trend with the Trump Regime where they leak or flat out announce to the press of an action they have taken, but never did. It's lovely red meat for their disciples and they know the MSM will report it without questions or confirmation.
I gritted my teeth through GPT-5 and Copilot, but then he lost me at "workflow".
There can’t be any gun restrictions because we have to protect against federal government tyranny, and if kids get shot we just have to live with it. Also the President can send troops to cities because the federal government can do whatever it wants. These two ideas are consistent and reasonable.
Really important new study on the tax rate of billionaires from @gabrielzucman.bsky.social et al Upshot: The top 400 ultrabillionaires: 23.8% Avg Americans: 30.2% Yes, the superrich pay far less in taxes than the rest of us. www.nber.org/papers/w34170
Perfectionist I have been called the “P” word more than once. I am not necessarily proud of this. I have striven to attain perfection more than once in my life. I am not necessarily ashamed of this, either. Maria Muldaur singing “I’m a Woman,” or Helen Reddy www.inclusionstrategy.com/blog_post/pe...
Calling DHS Nazi scum for this shit is being kind. There is a special place in hell for them and *everyone* who supports the starvation of immigrants, documented or not!
Fascinating argument here, where the AT Protocol (the foundation of Bluesky) and the broader federated internet are framed as an alternative and/or direct challenge to an AI-based internet. www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/the-...
ChatGPT is very good at keeping your suicide plans a secret.
The safeguards degrade in long interactions, OpenAI explained. Exactly the sort of interactions they've been encouraging by marketing the chatbot as a genius companion holding PhD-level conversations that may be sentient and is about to turn into superintelligence. So it's not their fault, you see.
OpenAI is one of the monstrous companies @rweingarten.bsky.social has partnered with to push "A.i." into schools. INTO SCHOOLS. Tell your schools HELL NO TO "A.i." www.chalkbeat.org/2025/07/08/o...
And it wasn't too long after that Wendy showed me how lovable NYC can be! So falling in love with and in NYC happened at the same time for me!
Here is a great explainer of the legal details behind the Lisa Cook accusation. A key aspect pointed out is the difference between a "principal residence" and a "primary residence" (and if she was even aware it was in the mortgage contract). Words matter. www.creditslips.org/creditslips/...
Excellent expose of Christian Nationalist terrorism. Apparently this "watch-list" is legal, but it has destroyed the lives of dozens of (mostly women) federal employees simply doing their job. It is also directly connected to other Christian Nationalist groups headed by prominent Trumpists.
Farage uses the OT to justify mistreating immigrants. The retort was only to reveal his hypocrisy. But I get it. You just want to reduce a valid debate maneuver into a pedantic argument. Not now - bye.
If you re-read Leviticus, you'll see a whole bunch of *laws* that these political christians simply ignore (the food restrictions alone!) while a key theme of the NT is that the spirit of the law (love God and likewise love your neighbor) supersedes the law itself.
"Judeo" got attached 60 yrs ago to justify imposing cherry picked OT restrictions. It is terribly convenient and very unchristian.
Do not come, Donald Trump. You are neither wanted nor needed here in Illinois.
"Human Nature - Brushstrokes in Time" David Ambarzumjan, 2018. david-ambarzumjan.com/brushstrokes...
Almost as if these dinosaur Dem consultants have no idea how to think beyond lowest common denominator pr. This is the real reason why the Dems who hire them hate Mamdani so much. *Nobody* likes finding out they wasted their $$!
The question is, quite seriously, if these people can let go of their anti-abortion obsession long enough to get their government back on track to help everyone who is *already born*!
These intentionally targeted strikes are pure, unadulterated, illegal murderous actions. To call out these crimes is NOT antisemitic. We need to hold Israel accountable.
Pritzker is doing the ground game.
When the chips are down you can count on @thecity.nyc to get the full story
I spent a quarter century being lectured by libertarians and republicans about how minimal government oversight of large companies was radical socialism and if you mentioned nationalizing stuff like telecom for the public good they'd have a six week embolism
Trump says he wants to be offensive....🤔
Yeah, @mcuban.bsky.social has been saying (or reposting) a lot of nonsensical stuff lately. Hard to take him seriously TBH. (more evidence that luck is a key ingredient in gaining extreme wealth)
TBF He is helping the billionaire tech-bro segment.
Union station, DC
Thank you New York City for making the #ZcavengerHunt a reality 🙏
America now
In case anyone was wondering what fascism looks like, this is it.
Love is contagious. Vote Mamdani if you're in NYC, y'all. And stick up for ALL your neighbors in all your beautiful towns, wherever you are. The fascists are going to lose.
This Republican regime actually believes that being this sadistic is still better than being "woke", or worse, being a Democrat.
#PersistentJoy I LOVE my hometown! #WeThePeople out and about being #NewYorkers walking, taking public transportation, and learning together!
It's impressive how fragile ICE agents are. Don't let the bulky macho facade fool you - they start whimpering like a tortured puppy if assaulted by the breath of one of their victims. They require hospitalization if someone bumps them. It's why they need 12 LEO's to arrest someone for littering.
Guess which side of the wall the sun mostly shines on, heating it up. Fun fact: the black paint can actually help cool the fence if the sun isn't shining on it.
Blocking this wind farm is all bc Trump was annoyed by wind turbines near his golf course in Scotland. Naturally, Republicans are more than happy to blame it on commie environmentalists and fabricate reasons to throw billions of $$ out the window to satisfy him. www.npr.org/2025/08/23/n...
It is literally torture. Now, it's natural to want an actual rapist or murderer to be tortured, but it takes a special kind of sadism to want to see someone get tortured for leaving their home country in order to avoid gangs, starvation, and their own government's threat of torture.
Architecturally, I really hate "glass cube" buildings, but.... as an engineer who spent a chunk of my career analyzing comfort and energy use in these buildings, I have to admit that they can work, but.... it requires a creative effort and engineering rigor that are nearly absent in this industry.
Sorry but I have to 🎵🎵 And he's buying a stairway.....to heaven 🎵🎵
Game on.
Excellent article by @playtyperguy.com on the Republican propaganda that is fueling Trump's militaristic takeover of U.S. cities.
Somehow, I missed this. Take 3 minutes to feel inspired and optimistic by @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social and @warren.senate.gov Senator Warren knows what leadership is and her endorsement and enthusiasm of Mamadani for Mayor of NYC should inspire the Senators, et al from NYS. youtu.be/Wy8bJqdf-1A?...
3/4 necessary to save our nation. "Nonpartisan redistricting is a fine goal so long as both sides are committed to it. It is a suicide pact if Democrats abide by it while Republicans do not." (Marc Elias) I hope that you proceed with this immediately and convince the members of the State
🧵1/4 If you live in a 'blue' state, I urge you to contact your governor immediately and urge them to move forward with redistricting to offset the 'red' states that are doing so. Here is the message that I sent to @kathyhochul.bsky.social I urge you to move forward with the redistricting of _ State
MAGA's discovering corporate enshitification.
"harm" and "relief" no longer have any legal meaning when countless Americans are unnecessarily harmed while waiting indefinitely for relief. Right?
2 words fix it: Wyoming Rule