reading through the darkness
@ardentreader.bsky.social
Dog lover, amateur chef, bento enthusiast, science fiction nerd.
I work in tech and use words for a living.
I work in tech and use words for a living.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
if you wanna blame somebody I think Mark Warner is a pretty good choice. also I think a lot of the Biden Go drama was because Warner thought he could and should be President.
he's on the ballot in 2026 and does not afaik have a primary challenger
he's on the ballot in 2026 and does not afaik have a primary challenger
November 10, 2025 at 5:05 AM
if you wanna blame somebody I think Mark Warner is a pretty good choice. also I think a lot of the Biden Go drama was because Warner thought he could and should be President.
he's on the ballot in 2026 and does not afaik have a primary challenger
he's on the ballot in 2026 and does not afaik have a primary challenger
Reposted by reading through the darkness
Shutting down the government is a big deal. People have been hurt in big ways as a result of the decision. To have that suffering be for nothing—to re-open the government without actually having protected people’s health insurance and economic well-being—is unconscionable.
November 9, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Shutting down the government is a big deal. People have been hurt in big ways as a result of the decision. To have that suffering be for nothing—to re-open the government without actually having protected people’s health insurance and economic well-being—is unconscionable.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
i’m just so fucking tired of living through crisis after crisis and feeling like we have to beg for and negotiate with our own representatives to address the crises seriously. they shouldn’t have to be disciplined by the base into mustering an appropriate response to a fucking coup!
October 20, 2025 at 2:21 PM
i’m just so fucking tired of living through crisis after crisis and feeling like we have to beg for and negotiate with our own representatives to address the crises seriously. they shouldn’t have to be disciplined by the base into mustering an appropriate response to a fucking coup!
Reposted by reading through the darkness
I’m not sure they’ve lost interest. This is kind of like saying people stranded on the moon lose interest in playing volleyball.
breaking: if people can’t get paid they don’t want to spend. who would have thought!
November 9, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I’m not sure they’ve lost interest. This is kind of like saying people stranded on the moon lose interest in playing volleyball.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
SNAP cuts hit families hard—but pets go hungry too. You can help: search #petfoodbank in your state, ask shelters.
In NJ, Bergen County SPCA’s No Empty Bowls feeds cats & dogs—and they have an Amazon wishlist: 🐾
#SNAP #NoEmptyBowls
In NJ, Bergen County SPCA’s No Empty Bowls feeds cats & dogs—and they have an Amazon wishlist: 🐾
#SNAP #NoEmptyBowls
November 8, 2025 at 10:03 PM
SNAP cuts hit families hard—but pets go hungry too. You can help: search #petfoodbank in your state, ask shelters.
In NJ, Bergen County SPCA’s No Empty Bowls feeds cats & dogs—and they have an Amazon wishlist: 🐾
#SNAP #NoEmptyBowls
In NJ, Bergen County SPCA’s No Empty Bowls feeds cats & dogs—and they have an Amazon wishlist: 🐾
#SNAP #NoEmptyBowls
Yes, this will do the trick.
The terrifying rictus of an employee's fake smile, their anxious eye-measurements of whether they're close enough to trigger the mandatory interpersonal interaction, those are the missing ingredients. Those are the things I was looking for.
The terrifying rictus of an employee's fake smile, their anxious eye-measurements of whether they're close enough to trigger the mandatory interpersonal interaction, those are the missing ingredients. Those are the things I was looking for.
"Store employees are now required to smile if they are within 10 feet of a shopper.
They also must make eye contact with and wave to or greet the customer.
If they’re within four feet, the employee should ask how the customer’s day is going or if they need help."
🙄 Won't stop the boycott, y'all.
They also must make eye contact with and wave to or greet the customer.
If they’re within four feet, the employee should ask how the customer’s day is going or if they need help."
🙄 Won't stop the boycott, y'all.
Target is now requiring its employees to smile more
As the holiday season fast approaches, Target is urging its employees to add a little more “jolly” to their work routine.
www.wilx.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Yes, this will do the trick.
The terrifying rictus of an employee's fake smile, their anxious eye-measurements of whether they're close enough to trigger the mandatory interpersonal interaction, those are the missing ingredients. Those are the things I was looking for.
The terrifying rictus of an employee's fake smile, their anxious eye-measurements of whether they're close enough to trigger the mandatory interpersonal interaction, those are the missing ingredients. Those are the things I was looking for.
The BBB really is an onion: layers and layers of kicking ordinary people and poor people in the teeth. A neverending gobstopper of awful.
Buried in the Big Beautiful Bill were changes to food assistance that demanded “any future change be cost-neutral. Translation: no more benefit increases, even if food prices skyrocket.”
The result was “institutionalized hunger.”
@kristencrowell.bsky.social
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
The result was “institutionalized hunger.”
@kristencrowell.bsky.social
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
November 7, 2025 at 9:00 PM
The BBB really is an onion: layers and layers of kicking ordinary people and poor people in the teeth. A neverending gobstopper of awful.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
Just need everyone to Google the name "Rosalind Franklin" at this moment.
Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...
DNA scientist James Watson has a remarkably long history of sexist, racist public comments
“People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty,” he said in 2003. “I think it would be great.”
www.vox.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Just need everyone to Google the name "Rosalind Franklin" at this moment.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
one of the top 5 sitcom characters of all time. the world lost a lot when we lost andre braugher.
November 7, 2025 at 5:12 PM
one of the top 5 sitcom characters of all time. the world lost a lot when we lost andre braugher.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
So there’s a website called Deer Of St Nicholas which posts Christmas wish letters from Ukrainian children who had their childhood stolen by the war, anyone can pick a child and get them their present and it’s that time of the year again to achingly scroll it for hours again
November 7, 2025 at 8:21 AM
So there’s a website called Deer Of St Nicholas which posts Christmas wish letters from Ukrainian children who had their childhood stolen by the war, anyone can pick a child and get them their present and it’s that time of the year again to achingly scroll it for hours again
Reposted by reading through the darkness
bobby thought he was dead, he was going to get the dry rub
The head of the American Healthcare System saw someone collapse and immediately ran out of the room, and the president waited to see how long he could go without looking at the guy lol
November 6, 2025 at 7:57 PM
bobby thought he was dead, he was going to get the dry rub
Reposted by reading through the darkness
More proof oh how Facebook's business model is knowingly predatory
Quite the business model// Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show - www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM
More proof oh how Facebook's business model is knowingly predatory
😍
No interiors, though...
No interiors, though...
NEW — LEGO finally unveils their long-rumored 3600pc, $400 STAR TREK: TNG Enterprise-D brick set and limited-availability shuttlepod kit, coming in late November
#StarTrek #Lego
blog.trekcore.com/2025/11/lego...
#StarTrek #Lego
blog.trekcore.com/2025/11/lego...
LEGO Unveils New 3600-Piece STAR TREK: TNG Enterprise-D Brick Set
LEGO finally unveils their long-rumored 3600pc, $400 STAR TREK: TNG Enterprise-D brick set and limited-availability Shuttlepod kit, coming in late November
blog.trekcore.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:32 PM
😍
No interiors, though...
No interiors, though...
Reposted by reading through the darkness
Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.
November 5, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit
Defense says that the officer's testimony was "very questionable" because he said the sandwich both exploded in spray of mustard and onions and also landed in its wrapper on the ground.
November 5, 2025 at 8:29 PM
If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit
Reposted by reading through the darkness
It would be nice if the sheer scale of the wipeout made a lot of people in government and around government pause and think to themselves “what happens to me if Democrats get subpoena power next year” when faced with illegal directives from a rotting administrative corpse
November 5, 2025 at 1:06 PM
It would be nice if the sheer scale of the wipeout made a lot of people in government and around government pause and think to themselves “what happens to me if Democrats get subpoena power next year” when faced with illegal directives from a rotting administrative corpse
I actually believe this has just dawned on him, because he's surrounded himself with a sycophantic information bubble so thick that it took these results to penetrate it.
But he's outsourced too much to fanatics, and the GOP is too invested in seizing power through autocracy, to course correct now.
But he's outsourced too much to fanatics, and the GOP is too invested in seizing power through autocracy, to course correct now.
Trump to Republican senators: "I thought we'd have a discussion after the press leaves about what last night represented and what we should do about it and also about the shutdown and how that relates to last night. If you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for Republicans."
November 5, 2025 at 7:49 PM
I actually believe this has just dawned on him, because he's surrounded himself with a sycophantic information bubble so thick that it took these results to penetrate it.
But he's outsourced too much to fanatics, and the GOP is too invested in seizing power through autocracy, to course correct now.
But he's outsourced too much to fanatics, and the GOP is too invested in seizing power through autocracy, to course correct now.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
This is a big deal. A very big deal.
Last night, we ended a Republican supermajority in Mississippi.
www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-...
www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-...
Mississippi Democrats Break Republican Senate Supermajority, Flipping 3 Legislative Seats
After 13 years, Mississippi Democrats broke the Republican Party's supermajority in the Mississippi Senate, flipping 3 legislative seats.
www.mississippifreepress.org
November 5, 2025 at 12:05 PM
This is a big deal. A very big deal.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
Rating changes in California following redistricting, via Sabato’s Crystal Ball, UVA Center for Politics.
November 5, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Rating changes in California following redistricting, via Sabato’s Crystal Ball, UVA Center for Politics.
🧵
Not to over-meta stuff, but the redistricting fight is a glaring example of how so much Republican strategy revolves around assuming Democrats won’t fight back. They truly didn’t fathom that California and certainly now Virginia will retaliate, and they have realized immediately they are now fucked.
November 5, 2025 at 4:03 PM
🧵
I always wondered why ol' Marco gave up his safe Senate seat to become Trump's SoS, abandoning all his previous positions in the process.
The opportunity to influence President Good Brain into toppling Maduro or outright invading Venezuela is the first thing that's made sense of that decision.
The opportunity to influence President Good Brain into toppling Maduro or outright invading Venezuela is the first thing that's made sense of that decision.
"The support for the more aggressive options is coming from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the acting national security adviser, and Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser."
Trump Weighs Options, and Risks, for Attacks on Venezuela
www.nytimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 8:17 PM
I always wondered why ol' Marco gave up his safe Senate seat to become Trump's SoS, abandoning all his previous positions in the process.
The opportunity to influence President Good Brain into toppling Maduro or outright invading Venezuela is the first thing that's made sense of that decision.
The opportunity to influence President Good Brain into toppling Maduro or outright invading Venezuela is the first thing that's made sense of that decision.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
Hello from Time-change-with-a-toddler Land!
THE SCIENCE SUGGESTS THAT YEAR ROUND STANDARD TIME IS BEST.
I know it’s the least of our worries right now, but let’s get some data driven policy going and end this hellscape of twice a year time change.
med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...
THE SCIENCE SUGGESTS THAT YEAR ROUND STANDARD TIME IS BEST.
I know it’s the least of our worries right now, but let’s get some data driven policy going and end this hellscape of twice a year time change.
med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...
Study suggests most Americans would be healthier without daylight saving time
According to a new analysis by Stanford Medicine scientists, changing clocks twice a year disrupts circadian rhythms, leading to higher rates of stroke and obesity.
med.stanford.edu
November 3, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Hello from Time-change-with-a-toddler Land!
THE SCIENCE SUGGESTS THAT YEAR ROUND STANDARD TIME IS BEST.
I know it’s the least of our worries right now, but let’s get some data driven policy going and end this hellscape of twice a year time change.
med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...
THE SCIENCE SUGGESTS THAT YEAR ROUND STANDARD TIME IS BEST.
I know it’s the least of our worries right now, but let’s get some data driven policy going and end this hellscape of twice a year time change.
med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...
Reposted by reading through the darkness
Anyway, we need some joy, so here's the Egyptian foreign minister being given a Lego Pyramid by the Danish foreign minister.
November 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Anyway, we need some joy, so here's the Egyptian foreign minister being given a Lego Pyramid by the Danish foreign minister.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
Chat, I'm not sure if a system that endlessly rewards being a cruel, dishonest, soulless hack and endlessly punishes doing something useful or good is a system that will survive, or a system that we want to survive.
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Chat, I'm not sure if a system that endlessly rewards being a cruel, dishonest, soulless hack and endlessly punishes doing something useful or good is a system that will survive, or a system that we want to survive.
Reposted by reading through the darkness
Can we all agree that when a president pardons a guy who was convicted for financing terrorists, and then says he didn't know the guy but "I was told" to pardon him, the follow question MUST be "Who told you to pardon him?" But CBS never asked: who is making decisions in the White House? 1/
November 3, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Can we all agree that when a president pardons a guy who was convicted for financing terrorists, and then says he didn't know the guy but "I was told" to pardon him, the follow question MUST be "Who told you to pardon him?" But CBS never asked: who is making decisions in the White House? 1/