Zach A.

for the youths who werent around for the iraq installment
- dont believe anything the govt says about progress
- no the democrats dont have to say getting rid of the baddie was good and therefore they have to support the war
- the war needs to be ended
- the media is not your ally and they love war

They said it. We’re all thinking it.

Every senator who voted to confirm RFK Jr owns this tragedy. Every single one.

Wake up, Dem leadership!!

The racism section of this speech is stomach-churning. #SOTU

Yikes.

Charlie Kirk repeatedly pushed the white supremacist Great Replacement Theory and regularly made racist comments in his public statements.

If we can't call someone so explicitly racist "a racist" without getting fired, who else is off limits?

Donald Trump? Nick Fuentes? David Duke?

One of the kind of fucked up parts of the ICE occupation here is that a lot of folks want to believe it’s over, and the media seems to tell us it’s over, but folks on the ground are still seeing tons of activity and vulnerable people are still (rightfully) terrified to go outside. We can’t stop yet.

The hidden ICE blueprint that should horrify every American | Will Bunch An internal Department of Homeland Security document shows how ICE plans to cram thousands of detained human beings inside a Georgia warehouse.

What's more shocking than ICE's plan to cram as many 8,500 humans into massive, soul-crushing warehouses?

Seeing the actual DHS floor plan that echoes slavery ships and history's worst gulags with no rec space but a gun range for guards

My new column on the camps www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...

An ICE agent shot and killed Ruben Ray Martinez, a US citizen and San Antonio resident, in March 2025. Then ICE and the Texas Department of Public Safety covered it up. He was 23 years old. I am calling for a full investigation into this shooting, including why there was an 8-month cover up.

The Left Doesn't Hate Technology, We Hate Being Exploited Techno-cynics are all just wounded techno-optimists.

SO GOOD! "the idea that my political ideology is synonymous with hating technology is confusing. Every leftist I know has a hard-on for high speed rail or mRNA vaccines. But the “left is missing out” blog positions generative AI as the only technology that matters." -- @xoxogossipgita.bsky.social

In my latest for @unherd.com, I once again note that, at a time when the Trump administration is leaning into insane amounts of chaos and authoritarianism, it would be nice if we had an opposition party that wasn't...whatever this is.

unherd.com/newsroom/boy...

If a Prince can be held accountable, so can a President.

Respondents engage in a deliberately dense three-step maneuver to reach their core absurd conclusion that no further relief is warranted.  Step 1: Identify an immaterial difference between two things that are functionally the same. [Opp. at 9; Dkt. No. 103 at 3].  Step 2: Insist that the immaterial difference is so consequential that it can violate separation of powers. [Opp. at 12; Dkt. No. 103 at 3]. Finally, and most importantly,  Step 3: Make sure to never mention the Constitution with the hope that a federal court will not notice. [See generally Opp.; Dkt. No. 103 at 3].

I missed this real banger of an opinion yesterday from judge sunshine sykes (the best-named judge), vacating the BIA ruling on mandatory immigration detention

spinosaurus mirabilis' skull compared to a cassowary

a warm welcome to spinosaurus mirabilis, a new species of spinosaurus described from the farak formation of niger by sereno et al. 🏝️ this species is distinguished by a scimitar-shaped nasal-prefrontal crest
(art by dani navarro)

and since i love you guys so much, here they are in motion

Pencil drawing of two crows in a tree with heavy snow fall. One crow is pulling a PRIVATE PROPERTY sign off of the tree. The crows are now on the snowy ground. One says "Hold on tight!" the other replies "To what?" looking down at the sign it is standing on. The first crow pushed the second and it slides down a hill screaming AAAAAHHHH. Perspective from between the legs of the crow going down the hill. Snow streams by as it continues to scream AAAAAAHHHHHHHH. The first crow watches from the top of the hill as the second screams "I'll never forgive youuuuuuu". The second crow's scream continues "uuuuu–oh I've stopped. That was thrilling!" It is covered in snow, face is plastered with the stuff. In the distance at the top of the hill, the first crow is crying "my turn! my turn!"

Hold On Tight

“Is there a technology the left is excited about?”

High-speed rail! MRNA vaccines! New cancer treatments! Solar and wind energy collection! Better and longer-range EVs! That wood that's harder than steel! New apples! Fibermaxxing! Buldak Swicy ramen! Muppets! Muppets are too a technology, shut up!

Ho-lee Shit. This is phenomenally good news. Department of Education rolls back— for now— its attempts to destroy Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility initiatives. Keep an eye on them, of course, and watch for the hidden knife, always, but for now: Fantastic news.

Your anti-ageing stack should include this vaccine The shingles vaccine seems to reduce the risk of dementia. There is speculation that it might slow down ageing

We live in a bizarre world where longevity influencers tell millions to take rapamycin, sit in hyperbaric oxygen chambers, blast themselves with red light therapy, and take 50+ supplements daily. Meanwhile something that cuts dementia risk by 20% Is invisible.

open.substack.com/pub/overmatt...

FDA reverses course, agrees to review Moderna’s flu vaccine The FDA reversed course and told Moderna it would review its application for a new flu vaccine, the company announced Wednesday.

#FDA backs down on #Moderna: The agency had refused to review the company's licensure application for an mRNA flu vaccine, but after significant pushback has relented. www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/f...

I'm not sure if it's worth adding this, but in case anyone's wondering, @AmandaAskell is a brilliant philosopher doing by far the most important philosophical research anyone in the world is doing right now (in terms of both impact and philosophical interest). I've had the privilege of seeing her at many stages along this journey, from a chance meeting in the hallways of Coombs (the building where ANU Philosophy used to be) back in about maybe 2015, to a visit with her at OpenAI's offices on the day, more or less, that she and others decided to leave OpenAI to form Anthropic, to a number of workshops and other things since, where she showed an incredible generosity of spirit to the folks both in philosophy and in the FAccT community who most needed to learn from her work.

I helped build the FAccT academic conference, and white men like Seth have to come along and make sure that the people we tried to get away from, the TESCREAL eugenicist ghouls, have every academic space in addition to the billions they're drowning in.

pretty stunning chart

Neat paper! I especially like the cartoon summary figure in the Appendix

right wingers have been very mad at rep brad tabke for openly helping ICE resistance and everything they share just makes him look cool as hell

and don’t forget he won this seat by only 14 votes!

Huh, I'm no political expert but "we don't want punish child rapists because the stock market is doing well" seems like bad optics.

photo of Pam Bondi testifying in the foreground as a group of 7 women and 1 men raise their hands

Likely-historic photo by NBC News of all the Epstein victims asked to raise their hands if they've not yet been asked to meet with the DOJ as Bondi testifies in foreground

For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career — from his embrace of birtherism to his hatred of birthright citizenship — cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism. Trump is not profound. He has been the same person this whole time. The question is why so many others have refused to see what he has never bothered to hide.

This, from @jamellebouie.net is exactly right. And I think so many folks have refused to see or admit what Trump is because admitting implicates them, or their families, so denial is easier.

In 1927, Donald Trump’s father was arrested after a Klan riot in Queens On Sunday, Trump declined to disavow the support of white supremacists.

In light of Trump’s post yesterday, some history:

“On Memorial Day 1927, 1,000 white-robed Klansmen marched through the Jamaica neighborhood, eventually spurring an all-out brawl in which seven men were arrested. One of those arrested was Fred Trump.” www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix...