fitterhappier

I’m not a political journalist, so was gladly surprised at the community I found here last night. To Americans anxious about the upcoming elections, a key thing we learned in Brazil that might help you: DO NOT engage with the far-right online. Don’t share rage bait. Amplify your people. Ignore them.

This is literally the end of the rule of law. If a President can pardon people committing crimes on his behalf - and the Supreme Court says he himself can't be prosecuted for crimes committed as part of his job - then the government becomes a lawless entity able to violate our rights without limit.

The moon wisely keeping its distance

I am in Cap Haitien interviewing people deported from the United States. I have been doing this kind of work for almost a decade and it literally does not get more dire than this. People have lost everything they built in the U.S. and are terrified and have no place to go or way to live.

Ancient yew and oak, growing side by side for probably centuries, their roots and crowns locked in a tight embrace. The magic of an Irish rainforest 🌍

I have always liked the word bellwether. It derives from the practice of shepherds hanging a bell around the neck of a wether (a castrated male sheep) to lead and track the flock. The word evolved to be anything that guides or predicts the way forward. When I taught virology, I would

Visitors to the US are on track to drop by almost two million year-on-year. “We’re the only major country in the world losing visitation,” the head of the US Travel Association said. “It’s mind-boggling.” www.semafor.com/article/09/2...

This is the Stolen Neighbors Quilt. Each of the 11,000 squares represents a person taken by ICE in Minnesota.

I caught the cutest thing ever on the Katmai bear cams

Never been to the opera before? Now’s your chance. We’re giving away 70,000 free tickets to the @metopera at the iconic Lincoln Center. Go to on.nyc.gov/opera to enter the lottery. There’s not a bad seat in the house.

Still patiently waiting to be "left behind" by AI rather than it chasing me across every damn space like a slasher in a low budget flick.

Future me watching temporary -productivity-burst me commit to meetings and calls.

The spirometer, used to help doctors diagnose lung disease, had a so-called race equation built into it. It was drawn from assumptions about the anatomy of Black people that were false and based on “science” traced back to American slavery. Why are hospitals around the US still using it?

Live report from the Minnesota State Fair, located in the heart of American democracy, where there’s an ICE Out adaptation of Picasso’s Guernica made entirely from crops

This is why they coined the term "cancel culture" and attacked it so furiously. What they were calling cancel culture was actually the conscience of civil society, which is their enemy.

Send this to a young adult who looks at their phone while walking on campus.

"Under MTA rules, dogs are allowed on the NYC subway only if they are fully enclosed in a container or bag and carried in a way that does not annoy other passengers." 😂

Do you remember when a fundraising campaign for the Navajo and Hopi people went viral during the pandemic, as people recalled the generosity of native Americans to Irish people during the famine? If you were one of those who donated - you are invited to have your photo taken …

Fascists lie all the time not to make the lies matter but to remove weight from the truth. In this way, sincerity is a weapon against fascism. It is how we embrace the heft of truth.

“Earnestness is cringe” is just the mirror image of “cynicism is savvy” and the matching partner to “lol nothing matters” which is the fertile ground for fascism to grow. Hope is cringe. Progress is cringe. Change is cringe. Getting together with other people and imagining something better? Cringe.

If you are wrestling with existential unease, feeling unsatisfied with your life choices, and worrying that you best days are already behind you, it may mean you are experiencing a midlife crisis; or it may just mean you are experiencing life amidst crises.

Axios writer: I melted my brain with AI. Not only can I no longer read, but I don't even understand the purpose of reading anymore. Here's how you can also do this. www.axios.com/2026/08/11/r...

Yikes. Women accounted for all of the job losses and all of the labor force decline in July, according to @nwlc.org

How would I get by without AI? If I need a factually-dubious opinion expressed in a cliched manner with unearned confidence, I’ll just talk to a straight white cis man. I can get by on small-batch, locally-sourced, artisanal mansplaining, the way we always used to.

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

This concept was introduced to me as "run the dishwasher twice" and was an important part of my executive functioning recovery as well as my path to self-acceptance.

Remembering Sinéad O'Connor, who died three years ago, on July 26, 2023. Photo by Andreas Larsson. #sineadoconnor

avoid bagged greens, buy whole fruits and vegetables, buy local produce or frozen produce, trim away outer layers of produce and wash thoroughly, and when you can, heat or reheat your food to 158 degrees F which kills the parasite.

When I worked in WaPo Opinions in 2017-2018, senior editors specifically told junior editors not to factcheck Marc Thiessen and other MAGA columnists, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to publish anything by them at all, and “we need them for intellectual diversity.”

Founded by two queer femme moms of color in 2014, The Radical Monarchs "affirm young girls and gender-expansive youth so that they stay rooted in their collective power, brilliance and leadership in order to make the world a more just and peaceful place."

"Members of the group Patriot Front ride the metro as a commuter looks on, during the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 4, 2026. REUTERS/Cheney Orr"

America keeps trying to get me to go to her birthday party and I’m like no girl u need to go to the hospital

Here’s how I realized I had long covid. I got sick but improved. A month later was Christmas. I did all my usual activities - baking, hosting, good solid walks. On New Year’s Day I collapsed getting out of bed, couldn’t get up for a week, and never, ever got that level of energy back.

By the way: if the FBI shows up at your doorstep and is like “I’d just like to ask some questions” they don’t have to read you your Miranda rights. You still have the right to remain silent. You can just say, “no, thank you, I’m not interested in talking to you” and have that be it.

Musk says not a single person has died due to him axing USAID. Sadly, part of my job involves tracking aid spending. So here’s a thread with just some of the people who lost their lives because of USAID cuts