This reminds me of something Toni Morrison wrote.
07.03.2026 01:43
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This reminds me of something Toni Morrison wrote.
if you read nothing else from rodger sherman in your entire life please read these paragraphs from the end of his newsletter, possibly the most important paragraphs anyone has ever written about Team USA
Henceforth, I will be describing the way that U.S. men’s hockey spectacularly squandered good will, brand recognition, and fan loyalty as “pulled a Target.”
They pulled a Target.
And so if you really *mean* "never again" -- if you're serious about it -- then the time to intervene, the time to speak up, the time to stop it, is *when it is still small*. When it's just a casual slur. When it's just sports. When it's just asking questions. When it's framed as anti-PC.
The time to prevent the thing from happening is *early*, as it is gaining steam. These things always start small, with efforts to weaken the norms against discrimination, with casual, unreflective slurs. They start with wedge policies (not gays, just gay adoption! not trans, just sports!).
This thread is great, but this piece sticks out. When trying to prevent another “never again” moment, we have to push back early, on the small things, when it’s not yet cool, still cringe even. If we wait until the tanks are already rolling, the detention facilities full, then it’s too late.
They do more than just represent us in a global athletic competition once every four years; they help us remember that we are a nation still becoming, still unfinished, still with chapters left to write, and that we are among their 342 million co-authors.
johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/the-us-oly...
The magic isn’t over.
In two weeks will be the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milano-Cortina, in which you’ll be able to witness exceptional athletes with disabilities do things you’d never be able to do. ✨
Alysa Liu: "THAT'S WHAT I'M FUCKING TALKING ABOUT" 🗣️
BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide.
This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.
Sowing fear of "ICE at the polls!" could do more to suppress votes than any actual ICE at the polls. Here's an explanation of the right's strategy on this, along with my recommendations for what to do instead of playing along.
katestarbird.substack.com/p/effective-...
Authoritarians cannot understand regular people because they themselves are cowards
Fear motivates them, so they assume it motivates everyone. They can't imagine risking their lives for a stranger, for free
It's why they've beat a public retreat in Minneapolis, and it's how we'll ultimately win
"Maybe all we do is frustrate," Star said. "Give someone one more day with their daughter or their dad.
"But if you lost your dad, or you lost your daughter, you would give anything to have one more day with them. And that’s what we can do.”
My latest for Slate
"Asking you to give me equal rights implies that they are yours to give. Instead, I must demand that you stop trying to deny me the rights all people deserve" Elizabeth Peratrovich
Spotlight graph of X discourse about the shooting/killing of a man by ICE agents on January 24 in Minneapolis. Graph showing X posts along time (X axis) and cumulative number of X posts shared by that time (Y axis). Post counts are estimated (by Brandwatch) and include both X posts and reposts where the text contained terms indicating the post was about the *shooting AND the video* during the time period. Individual posts are plotted on the graph, sized by the number of reposts that post received (during the time period). Plotted posts are limited to posts that received >1 reposts. Two posts are highlighted. One by @gremloe (1/24/2026, 12:31:31 PM EDT): “It appears from zooming in just moments before ICE/CBP shoot yet another US citizen, one agent removes the victims firearm from his waste holster. The victim was UNARMED when he was shot multiple times. This is a state execution. Again.” A second by @bennyjohnson (1/24/2026, 1:21:28 PM EDT): “Tim Walz just a few days ago was climbing on the gate of his mansion urging protesters to keep causing “trouble” and fighting ICE. An armed man just attacked agents and got killed. See how that works? Minnesota officials are fueling this.”
If you're interested in seeing how framing contests are taking shape after the ICE killing of another person in Minneapolis, here's a window into the conversation on X this morning.
Link to interactive graph: faculty.washington.edu/kstarbi/Spot...
* I put this together quickly. Sorry for any errors
"The flimsy politics of citizenship might seem like the detail that distinguishes Liam's story from the stories of our own kids," writes @inaeoh.bsky.social. "But his innocence, like the innocence of all kids, is unimpeachable. We know this child: his goodness, his superheroes, his winter hat."
@thekenchilds.com I'm particularly curious about women's bob and who the frontrunners are for brakewomen. We know Leonie Fiebig is out 💔 because she posted, but otherwise I haven't seen anything definitive and it looks like several countries are still swapping brakewomen around to find best matches.
@thekenchilds.com Hey, Ken, I'm a long time reader, but infrequent replier. Sadly I haven't been able to follow bob closely this year: timezones/life is crazy.
Going into this last weekend, the drivers for the Olympics are looking mostly set, but brakeman selection may still be up in the air... 1/2
Live from Maples Pavilion: Duke (10-6, 5-0 ACC) at Stanford (14-3, 3-1 ACC)
TV: ESPN (Courtney Lyle and Stephanie White)
Audio: Varsity Network app
Stanford is 4-3 all-time against Duke and 2-0 in Maples Pavilion
#ncaaw
If you are a resident of California, the state now has a portal where you can demand deletion of your personal data from 500+ registered data brokers with a single request form, for free.
consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov
Live from Maples Pavilion: California (8-3) at Stanford (8-2)
TV: ACCNX
Radio: The Varsity App
Cal is looking to win its 3rd straight in the series, something the program hasn't done since the 1985-86 season
#ncaaw
Most of modern anxiety is just trying to patch the legacy code of the human brain. We’re running Windows 11 (bad) on hardware designed for the Pleistocene Savannah (also bad). Expect bugs.
narrator: 50 years ago...
me: [nods] in 1945
narrator: in 1975...
me: what
I have no questions tonight, but I just wanted to say thank you for your coverage over the years!
I've been seeing the athletes' posts of their first runs on the Olympic track on socials and I am SO READY for the season to begin.
Photo of square orange tiles, set into the ground, across one of which several cats footprints are clearly visible.
One day, nearly 2000 years ago, a cat dashed across some drying tiles, somewhere near Hadrian's Wall.
It's immortality of a kind, isn't it?
This is a better explanation and coverage on the dark side of gaming and online culture than most mainstream media orgs have.
Because for years, mainstream media ignored / disbanded their gaming culture coverage.
Bay fans did Free DC at minute 51. Solidarity 🫶🫡 #nwsl
cc: @dreyesceron.bsky.social
"As a millennial, I am apparently urged to be concerned about this phenomenon of Gen Z folks supposedly failing to appropriately interact with me through sufficiently pleasant facial expressions, so I thought it might be helpful to offer my thoughts."
(around an image of a chalkboard with chalk) SAFE SCHOOLS FOR EVERY STUDENT A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE FOR ACTION
Every student, no matter their immigration status, deserves to feel safe at school. The Safe Schools for Every Student campaign is about making sure school boards adopt policies that keep schools safe for all students: indivisi.org/safe-schools
