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Reposted

Doug Henwood

@doughenwood.bsky.social

I almost got to break that story for The Nation, but The Economist beat us to it by a day or two.

Speaking again of Summers, I wrote this in my newsletter in May 2000. Larry answers the question “is Africa still vastly underpolluted?"

chatting with Larry
LO's editor was lucky enough to run into Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers at a party in Washington on April 15, and got to overhear some of his thoughts on the weekend's events and even ask a few questions. Early in the evening, surrounded by what appeared to be some loyal scribes, Summers enthused about how "proactive" the DC cops were, having arrested some 600 demonstrators, "including many of the leaders." Sum- mers is evidently unaware that the Direct Action Network types who constituted the hardcore of the demonstrators are resolutely anti-hierchical and don't have leaders in the
sense that he understands them. Later, as Summers was leaving, I got to ask him a few questions. Asked what he made of the crowds filling the streets, Summers, evidently forgetting his earlier enthusiasm for mass preemptive arrests, said he "admired their moral energy," but thought their prescrip- tions would only make the poor poorer. When it was pointed out to him that the gap be- tween the world's rich and poor had been widening under the policies he and his like- minded predecessors have pursued, he claimed that this has been a great time of progress for the world's poor. Finally, when asked if Africa was still vastly underpolluted — a refer- ence to his infamous 1991 memo, written when he was chief economist of the World Bank, suggesting that it was (see the LBO website for the text) — he seemed a bit startled, con- ceded that it was a "fair if unfriendly question," and said that it's been well established that he (or rather Lant Pritchett, the author of the words that went out under Summers' name) was merely being sarcastic and not serious. Looking at the state of the world's poorest con- tinent, it seems that truths are told in moments of "sarcasm" that elude the powerful in
their more serious capacities.

November 18, 2025 at 3:56 AM

Reposted

Doug Henwood

@doughenwood.bsky.social

Jesus, please smite them.

Erin Kane @dianamonkey.bsky.social · 11h

"Agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, ERO, and CBP intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25."

Exclusive: Trump DHS Plans Immigration Raids on Churches Over Holidays

The Trump Dept. of Homeland Security is briefing federal agencies on plans for immigration enforcement operations inside churches over holidays.

thisweekinworcester.com

November 18, 2025 at 2:53 AM

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Jake_Vig

@jakevig.bsky.social

Basically, the United States ran up until 2024 based on nothing more than the presumption that the administration would not do relentless crimes, and would stop if asked.

November 17, 2025 at 3:52 PM

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sirosenbaum.bsky.social

@sirosenbaum.bsky.social

This happened. This is nonfiction.

🏳️‍⚧️ Josephine Riesman 🕎 @josie.zone · 17h

READ MORE OF "TEETH BEACH" AT @flaminghydra.com

flaminghydra.com/teeth-beach-...

Comics panels in which my spouse asks a man to tell her the location of a special teeth beach

November 17, 2025 at 7:28 PM

Reposted

Jacob

@tullamore-jew.bsky.social

Antisemitism is a lot like Qanon child abuse conspiracies in that there’s this real and bad phenomenon and, parallel to that, what can only be described as a large scale mass psychosis about a mostly fictional version of the same phenomenon

November 16, 2025 at 8:48 PM

Reposted

commamonger 😷 (analogue writing assistant)

@commamonger.bsky.social

"Nobody cares about the longlist, Janet!" 😘

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 1d

My latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books pages.

Two pigeons on a London street, pecking at crumbs.

Pigeon 1:
"I'm sorry you missed out on the Booker prize. I thought your novel was wonderful."

Pigeon 2:
"It’s a stitch up! They always give it to a human!"

Pigeon 1:
"It’s nice they considered it."

Pigeon 2:
"Nobody cares about the longlist, Janet!"

Pigeon 2 again:
"Zadie Smith had a bestselling novel and an armload of literary prizes before she was 25*."

Pigeon 1:
"You’ve got to stop comparing yourself to Zadie Smith"

Pigeon 2:
"Why?"

Pigeon 1:
"We’ve all got to find our own path through the world. Plus, it’s much harder to type with claws."

pigeon 2:
"That’s true."

They both go back to pecking.

Pigeon 2:
"I’m glad you liked my book."

*Pigeon 2 is 3 years, 11 months and 22 days old, the equivalent of 42 in human years.
https://pigeonpedia.com/pigeon-years-to-human-years-calculator/

November 16, 2025 at 4:21 PM

Reposted

Doug Henwood

@doughenwood.bsky.social

My interview with Émile Torres on the appalling philosophies of the tech elite—transhumanism, longermism, and the rest, transcribed by Jacobin.

jacobin.com/2025/11/musk...

Tech Capitalists Don’t Care About Humans. Literally.

It’s not just a figure of speech to say tech titans are indifferent to humanity. From Peter Thiel to Elon Musk, many are adherents of a worldview that envisions humans being replaced by digital post-h...

jacobin.com

November 16, 2025 at 5:53 PM

grvsmth.bsky.social

@grvsmth.bsky.social

I like Townshend's top five Pete Townshend songs, but here are my five, a little more eighties-oriented!

1. Eminence Front
2. You Better You Bet
3. Athena
4. Pinball Wizard
5. Another Tricky Day

Pete Townshend On The Who's Farewell Tour, "Quadrophenia," And The Best Thing He's Ever Written

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

www.youtube.com

November 16, 2025 at 4:27 AM

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Puff the Magic Hater

@mskellymhayes.bsky.social

Please stop using language that suggests that people with criminal records are appropriate targets for this administration's violence. One in three adults has a criminal record. Stop playing sacrifice games with fascists. Stop surrendering entire categories of people in your own mind.

November 15, 2025 at 11:09 PM

grvsmth.bsky.social

@grvsmth.bsky.social

I think it's still Moscow on the Hudson. Hard to believe now, but to a lot of us in the US in the eighties, Russians were abstract villains. Williams's performance helped me to see them as regular people.

Sophia_Nyx 🏳️‍⚧️ @sophianyx.bsky.social · 3d

Without saying The Birdcage, fav Robin Williams film?

robin williams mouth wide open making the youtube thumbnail face. wearing a black shirt.

November 15, 2025 at 5:14 PM

Reposted

FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting)

@fairmediawatch.bsky.social

There has been wall-to-wall US corporate media coverage of the Department of Justice’s Epstein files and the battle over its release. So why has a hack that documented Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Israeli intelligence been largely ignored by US corporate media?

fair.org/home/emails-...

Emails Reveal Epstein’s Ties to Mossad—But Corporate Media Looked Away

Information from a major hack targeting Israel revealed that Jeffrey Epstein played a significant role in brokering multiple deals for Israeli intelligence.

fair.org

November 14, 2025 at 11:23 PM

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Pauline Park

@paulinepark.bsky.social

Angus & me celebrating our 6th 'friendversary' six years ago today (11.14.19)

November 15, 2025 at 12:57 AM

Reposted

The Onion

@theonion.com

Trump Denies Writing 36-Volume Comic Titled ‘Don And Jeff: Time Pedophiles https://theonion.com/trump-denies-writing-36-volume-comic-titled-don-and-jeff-time-pedophiles/

November 13, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Reposted

Noel Hidalgo 🗽❤️🚲

@noneck.org

"Normally, the CDC would publish weekly reports with detailed flu surveillance data, indicating regional trends, infection rates, strain types, illness severity, and more. However, the agency’s surveillance reporting page has gone silent..."

FRACK!

arstechnica.com/health/2025/...

This flu season looks grim as H3N2 emerges with mutations

UK facing one of worst flu seasons in history—and the US is next.

arstechnica.com

November 14, 2025 at 1:34 PM

Reposted

Naomi Klein

@naomiaklein.bsky.social

Absolute must read on the AI bailout-in-progress: apparently it's not enough that lifetimes of human ingenuity and creativity have been stolen and enclosed to create generative AI and balloon billionaire wealth - much more public looting is in store...

Sarah Myers West @smw.bsky.social · 5d

This week Open AI walked back a call for the govt to backstop financing for its trillion dollar investments in data centers. This was only the tip of the iceberg; a slow bailout for AI firms is already underway. Read more from @ambakak.bsky.social and I in @wsj.com: www.wsj.com/opinion/you-...

Opinion | You May Already Be Bailing Out the AI Business

Washington is treating the industry as if it’s too big to fail, even as the market sends lukewarm signals.

www.wsj.com

November 13, 2025 at 6:03 PM

Reposted

sirosenbaum.bsky.social

@sirosenbaum.bsky.social

This is the absolute worst version of the "this is just to say" meme ever

Rebecca Spang @rlspang.bsky.social · 5d

I have to tell you what really happened to the plums...

Elise New seems to have offered them to Woody Allen in exchange for his involvement with her edX MOOC.

One creepy slimey scammy thing after another in those files.
(via splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app)

email from Elise New to Woody Allen: Dear Woody,
Tel:
Fax
As I know Jeffrey has told you, I really enjoyed our conversation on the plane last spring about William
Carlos Williams's "This Is Just to Say." You offered a reading of the poem that seemed to me
completely persuasive and plausible and, yet, also, one that is not strictly dictated or delimited by the
lines themselves. These are lines that seem to me unusually open to divergent readings-- including, for
instance, a reading much more coaxing and seductive; another, much more defensive and manipulative;
another, much more about language itself as a mode of sharing. I left our conversation wanting to
explore with you the aggressive (or maybe mock aggressive) reading you gave, as well as the way this
poem, perhaps more than many, sustains so many readings. You helped me think about Williams's
poem as it seems in some ways more like a "script" than a poem, a poem written in such a way as to be
turned by different voices in different directions, a poem that might even be "directed" by the reader. I'd
love to hear you read the poem again and, if you are willing, to discuss it a bit with me on camera for my
upcoming Massive Open Online Course on American poetry.

November 13, 2025 at 10:09 AM

grvsmth.bsky.social

@grvsmth.bsky.social

This is one of those posts where it's also worth reading the replies!

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 5d

emailing in a semi-literate manner isn’t a sign of stupidity, it’s another form of rich asshole arrogance because you don’t think you owe anyone coherent thoughts

November 13, 2025 at 4:26 PM

Reposted

Bryan Edward Stone (שָׁלוֹם)

@bestonetx.bsky.social

This has been their plan for a very long time.

"Where did this idea come from that everybody deserves free education, free medical care, free whatever? It comes from Moscow, from Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell."

-- Houston GOP representative Debbie Riddle, March 2003

Chris Tomlinson @cltomlinson.bsky.social · 4d

Gov. Greg Abbott is promising to destroy public schools by making it almost impossible for districts to raise taxes. He also said voters should have the power to reduce or eliminate school funding entirely. #txlege www.houstonchronicle.com/business/col...

Tomlinson: Abbott promises to starve public schools of tax revenues

Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to cut property taxes will starve public schools while he sends state money to private schools.

www.houstonchronicle.com

November 13, 2025 at 2:40 PM

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Noel Hidalgo 🗽❤️🚲

@noneck.org

oh god, this would be great!!!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Mhairi Forrest🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🤟🤟🤟 @mhairiforrest.bsky.social · 6d

I really like the idea that I saw a Canadian post: in Canada if lawmakers don’t come up w a budget, it triggers an election.

There is no shutdown.

November 11, 2025 at 10:17 PM

Reposted

sarah jeong

@sarahjeong.bsky.social

what if the firehose of fascist shit isn't wiping out the memory of the electorate? what if it's just hitting different things? and idk it seems like a persisting problem to me that dems aren't in lockstep with and fully tied to no kings, possibly the biggest social movement in american history

November 11, 2025 at 1:40 PM

Reposted

David Folkenflik

@davidfolkenflik.bsky.social

Update: In 3 recent editorials, WaPo failed to disclose owner Jeff Bezos's interest in the matter under discussion.

WaPo added one disclosure after @bgrueskin.bsky.social called it out.

Two weeks after my story, the other two editorials still have none. And the paper still won't say why

'Washington Post' editorials omit a key disclosure: Bezos' financial ties

Three times in the past two weeks, editorials at the 'Washington Post' failed to disclose that they focused on matters in which owner Jeff Bezos had a material interest.

www.npr.org

November 10, 2025 at 10:56 PM

Reposted

FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting)

@fairmediawatch.bsky.social

Happy birthday to Jeff Cohen, FAIR's founder, who showed us the way. Here's a piece he wrote a few years back recalling our origin story.

fair.org/home/35-year...

35 Years Later, Looking Back at the Founding of FAIR

It was 35 years ago this month that I left my beloved Venice, California, to move to New York City to launch FAIR.

fair.org

November 10, 2025 at 9:46 PM

Reposted

Bill Grueskin

@bgrueskin.bsky.social

Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...