westoftravis.bsky.social

I’m seeing people reacting by pointing out that he’s obviously wrong. I appreciate that, but it’s also a pointless exercise. The problem isn’t that he’s wrong. The problem is that this is normal in American politics — and it’s been normal for a while.

Look, I know all the reasons we got here, but we really need to start seriously thinking about what we do in a world where The Markets punish whole countries for voting for decency, compassion, and fairness. We must stop pretending the capitalist machine is an objective, value neutral force.

no amnesty

Harry Kane opened his online chess account during the Ballon d'Or red carpet, this is the price of greatness

The vile attacks on Amy Acton need to be seen in the context of a party that *needs* people to believe women fabricating sexual assaults is common as rainwater. Because it’s pretty much the only way to evade the conclusion that the president is a rapist.

Shoutout to whoever figured out how to get Turnstile permits to play the National Mall from the current administration lol

The funniest thing about this missive is that it is about Bill Maher.

Dads in the basement at 11:30pm after everyone else has gone to bed

Lula Goes HARD

Lula winning is great for the planet, great for Brazil, and great for people who aren't revanchist assholes everywhere in the world, but let's not forget that it's also going to make some of the worst people on Earth extremely sad and mad. We should enjoy that, as a little treat.

imagine if a democratic candidate anywhere said something like this about a jewish candidate, would be a ten-alarm fire in every media outlet for days. but the literal president promoting this sort of insane bigotry against a muslim won't even merit a story

some good local political drama: there's a crowded mayoral race in a nearby town, and one local business owner put out signs opposing a local councilwoman who's running. the signs get stolen, but it turns out he put airtags in them and they were traced to the councilwoman herself.

Michael that is the opposite of how umbrellas work

These companies are sociopathic. They are showing us who they are. Believe them.

Let’s just recall that she is talking about a twelve-year-old.

Just going to be straight here — no pun intended: I am the only journalist who has been covering this issue in depth, was often the only journalist at hearings, and was the only one explaining what DOJ was actually arguing here. Support my work if you can: www.lawdork.com/subscribe

There are literally multiple books about how Martin Luther King moved toward Malcolm X's worldview by the end of his life but go off.

really can't get over the idea of a closeted trans kid getting one of those fake transgender resource mailers going out in texas and just having their stomach tie up in knots that someone knows who they are

“tied an onion to my belt which was the style at the time”

I feel seen

The Guardian's homepage right now... 1. "UK approves Jackdaw gasfield in North Sea" 2. World must cut emissions by 18% in four years ‘to find our way back’, UN says

There's a real sense of vertigo sometimes from reading US tech news. What the fuck do you mean your baby monitors have ads

In the bedrock of my soul I know he started out thinking the press pool was a literal pool and has been seething with disappointment since he discovered the mistake

ironically, a program seemingly designed to just give money to the regime's friends and allies is textbook fraud

It also seems kind of bad that the Justices's book deals are interfering with their ability to hear cases. This isn't just one Justice being recused out; this is the entire Court lacking the quorum to hear the case at all.

PAXTON: hey we're catching a lot of shit for holding our final rally at the alamo, the site of an infamous Texas doomed last stand TRUMP:

if we're gonna do gladwell discourse, i would be remiss if i didn't bring up his argument that an all-time nigerian basketball team would be the best single-race all-time basketball team. among many interesting claims, he argued that the starting point guard for the nigerian team would be steve nash

I agree with this (imo excellent) essay & will add that the danger of a commitment to politics that always puts one personally in the category of the oppressed as a way of reconciling psychic tension is also the source of red-brown alliances and horseshoe politics (Compact and increasingly Jacobin)

To be a bit more pointed, feminism presents this contradiction to male leftists in a way many other progressive politics do not and the increasingly shrill efforts to recast women as an HR-lady oppressor class are the product of a refusal to admit that sometimes your principles come at your expense

Meanwhile the UK is debating whether trans people should have their own emergency departments, lest they be seen by others. Or whether we should instead use infectious disease isolation units for trans people

A career Supreme Court reporter revels in a Christian nationalist attack from a Republican politico portraying himself as just some guy asking questions

Bluesky is a great app for finding out who hasn't lost sleep over how they'll make rent, or skipped medical treatment because they couldn't pay, or who can't muster up the low levels of imagination to see how living that close to disaster comes with psychological costs

*post-reform,* in the functioning new democracy we build, there are a lot of structural changes to the Supreme Court that are better than simply "add some seats." But to get there, to be able to build that new democracy, you gotta just add some seats so the current court can't stop you.

it is very important to understand that, at a fundamental operational level, La Liga is three elderly Spanish aristocrats who all hate each other's guts

On Wednesday, October 21st—Ursula's birthday—please join us as we announce the recipient of the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction! The announcement will be on YouTube at 9 am Pacific time. www.youtube.com/@ursula.k.le...

Whether the past investigation finding nothing can lead to this new one being closed—that takes for granted the admin is restrained by law. I think it’s more useful to track who is pushing the current investigation and who is allowing it to proceed (some of which is also detailed in this story):