Gregg

Gregg

@semperlost.bsky.social

Marine. Scholar. Volunteer.

111 followers48 following48 posts

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

I hate 2026

Los Angeles Times@latimes.com

Dolly Parton, the singer, songwriter, actor, businesswoman and national treasure who willed herself into being the very symbol of country music stardom, has died at 80. Read more: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

A low credit score and high interest rates will deplete you. I bought a Malibu in Jan ‘23 in which I have made the monthly payment + $20 every month. I have, just this last week, paid the amount I bought the vehicle for. I still owe $15k. If I pay it off tomorrow, I will still have spent $40,000.

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

the exact opposite

Ron Filipkowski@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social

Nothing illustrates the difference between the two parties heading into the midterms better than these 2 clips together of RNC Chair Joe Gruters and Dem nominee James Talarico talking about the senate election in Texas.

Gregg reposted

The Tennessee Holler
@thetnholler.bsky.social

🔥 SPRINGSTEEN: "I’m here to support Stephen Colbert, the first guy who lost his show because a president can't take a joke - and the Ellisons feel they need to kiss his ass… small-minded people with no idea what freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about." 🇺🇸

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

I’d say I’m embarrassed of Tennessee, but we’ve known for a while current legislative bodies don’t give two shits about what actual Tennesseans need and want. ..and I have hope that the good trouble will eventually prevail 🇺🇸

The New York Times@nytimes.com

Breaking News: Tennessee Republicans unveiled a new congressional map carving up the state's only majority-Black district, likely giving their party the ability to flip the state's lone remaining Democratic seat.

nyti.msTennessee Republicans Unveil New Congressional Map Carving Up Majority-Black House DistrictThe General Assembly is expected to quickly approve the map, which slices up Memphis, a majority-Black city that makes up most of the state’s lone Democratic district.
Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

In Allen v Milligan, wasn’t 9 months too short of a time to change the maps.. a selection of fair maps that were already provided for them? They said it would lead to voter confusion? @fivefourpod.bsky.social Now AL “leadership” is moving to change them in less than two weeks.

Marc Elias@marcelias.bsky.social

🚨BREAKING: Alabama lawmakers took initial votes Tuesday giving the greenlight to legislation that would change congressional and state senate district maps in primary elections that are already underway. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

democracydocket.comAlabama legislative committees approve GOP gerrymanders despite ongoing primary electionRepublican lawmakers advanced the measures amid furious opposition from Black Alabamians.
Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

from Wiki: In response to Kagan's dissent, Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence, joined by Alito, stating that under Purcell v. Gonzalez, courts should not enjoin enforcement of election-related laws or regulations so close to the election.

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

In response, Kagan noted that Alabama "enacted the current map in less than a week and can move quickly again if it wants to", and that the "primary is still 4 months away, while the general election is nearly 9 months away." By contrast, Purcell was decided only 15 days before the 2006 election.

Gregg reposted

Allison Gill
@muellershewrote.com

Codifying Roe, passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and holding members of this administration criminally accountable are important goals, but none of it sticks without Supreme Court reform.

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

Seeing Springsteen in Atlanta inspired so much hope. A truly cathartic experience to be in a packed stadium with everyone honoring our troops, dancing in the dark, raging against the machine, screaming “ICE OUT NOW!” and believing in a country we hope to become.

The New York Times@nytimes.com

Bruce Springsteen continued to believe in songwriting as a tool to hold his bruised, beloved country accountable, even in times when it would have been easier for him to look away. He’s on our list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters. nyti.ms/48xEf3J

Gregg reposted

Kevin Morris
@kevintmorris.bsky.social

Replying to @kevintmorris.bsky.social

But of course it did. And it went up even faster in 2022 and 2024 than ever before. Alito KNOWS this. It's why he reached back 5 cycles. He couldn't say, "well, things are hunky dory since the turnout gap has grown."

Gregg reposted

Peter
@notalawyer.bsky.social

one rhetorical trick the right uses is to reframe civil rights issues as being about racial discrimination in a very broad sense, when the actual civil rights movement was about a very specific type of racial discrimination directed at one very specific demographic

Gregg reposted

Acyn
@acyn.bsky.social

Reporter: What do you make of Republicans saying that Virginia— AOC: Wah wah wah. We have asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering. And for 10 years, Republicans have said no. What they’re just mad at is that they have been accustomed to a Democratic Party that rolls over.

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

GF & I decided to redistrict Alabama blind/from scratch using districtr. We tried to focus on keeping them geographically together, of similar economic/cultural interests, and w/ a hub in each. A nice, fun exercise to see how we did w/o county lines or guides. Thoughts? districtr.org/plan/378521

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

How do we get to a place—once this one big boisterous blundering era is through—where our election maps are more based on fair/even statistics. I’ve also wondered what a survey of where people shop vs their home would look like, like a sort of geo-pull grouping.

Headquarters@headquartersnews.bsky.social

16 years ago, Republicans gerrymandered Virginia, taking 8 out of 11 seats in the House of Representatives. Tomorrow, Virginia voters will have the chance to combat Trump's gerrymandering efforts by voting YES on the referendum.

Gregg reposted

The Washington Post
@washingtonpost.com

Breaking news: Virginia voters approved a referendum to draw new congressional districts that could add up to four Democratic seats in the House, AP projects, giving Democrats an advantage in the national redistricting war begun by Republicans.

washingtonpost.comVirginia passes redistricting measure that could help Democrats retake the HouseThe referendum creates as many as four Democratic-leaning districts in Virginia ahead of the midterm elections.
Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

I used to give presentations on how being a student veteran, how service meant something. Each day in this Trump administration, I’m coming to realize it means jack shit.

Guardian US@us.theguardian.com

A US army sergeant with 27 years of military service – including deployment to Afghanistan – has said that federal immigration agents recently arrested his wife during an appointment at an El Paso, Texas, immigration office.

theguardian.comFederal agents detain wife of another US army member: ‘ICE is out of control’Jose Serrano, a sergeant, said Deisy Rivera Ortega, his wife, was arrested at an immigration appointment
Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social
Overdue Podcast@overduepod.bsky.social

"Dune is the paradigmatic fantasy of the Age of Aquarius. Its concerns – environmental stress, human potential, altered states of consciousness and the developing countries’ revolution against imperialism – are blended together into an era-defining vision of personal and cosmic transformation."

theguardian.comDune, 50 years on: how a science fiction novel changed the worldIt has sold millions of copies, is perhaps the greatest novel in the science-fiction canon and Star Wars wouldn’t have existed without it. Frank Herbert’s Dune should endure as a politically relevant ...
Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

Incentivize innovation like this! Comments worth perusing.

Koreen Brennan@koreen.bsky.social

France passed a law requiring solar panels on every parking lot with more than 80 spaces. Equals 10 nuclear reactors Reduces heat island, shades cars The US -- 800 million parking spaces. Most of them are uncovered asphalt sitting in direct sunlight. Why aren't we doing this?

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

“I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee…” —Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

“…I have also told them not to work for companies which make massacre machinery, and to express contempt for people who think we need machinery like that.”

Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

Yall thought 5% inflation was bad, just wait til you read the percent increase of the War* budget..

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com

President Trump officially requested $1.5 trillion in spending for the Pentagon next fiscal year, which would be the largest defense budget in U.S. history. The White House’s 2027 fiscal year budget proposes a 42 percent increase in defense spending.

washingtonpost.comTrump requests record-breaking budget of $1.5 trillion for PentagonThe budget proposes a 42 percent increase in defense spending, and Trump’s request comes as Congress grapples with the ballooning costs of the war in Iran.
Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

I am almost certain @philklay.bsky.social has read Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I am also certain that I have failed, because I do not believe that I have a Phil Klay book on my shelf.

New York Times Opinion@nytopinion.nytimes.com

“I have plenty of complaints about the war I served in two decades ago: the Iraq war was ill-conceived, hubristic and marred by poor leadership at the highest level,” Phil Klay writes. “But I did know why I was there. What exactly do our service members think we’re trying to do in Iran?”

nyti.msOpinion | Trump Has Made a Fundamental Miscalculation about IranAmerica shouldn’t fight a war like this.
Gregg
@semperlost.bsky.social

Operation Iraqi Freedom started 23 years ago today. Saddam, and Baghdad, fell just 42 days later. That war raged on 9 years after Bush declared “mission accomplished,” while Afghanistan was put on the back burner. Black Flags by Joby Warrick is a must read, especially today. #generationkill

You are up to date.