Rebecca J
@madgiraffewife.bsky.social
As a matter of fact, I don't have anything better to do
Reposted by Rebecca J
Not even seven months - six. After 186 days, one of America's leading universities and two of its most prestigious news outlets have already capitulated. And Trump's henchmen are just starting to wield the full powers of the federal government.
July 26, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Not even seven months - six. After 186 days, one of America's leading universities and two of its most prestigious news outlets have already capitulated. And Trump's henchmen are just starting to wield the full powers of the federal government.
Reposted by Rebecca J
I am no constitutional scholar, but I can't help but feel that "the President gets to dictate what every university can teach and what every television station should broadcast" is closer to what the founding fathers were worried about when it comes to free speech than trigger warnings on syllabi.
July 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
I am no constitutional scholar, but I can't help but feel that "the President gets to dictate what every university can teach and what every television station should broadcast" is closer to what the founding fathers were worried about when it comes to free speech than trigger warnings on syllabi.
Reposted by Rebecca J
You can never bend the knee enough to appease an authoritarian bully.
This is a devastating blow to academic freedom & freedom of speech at Columbia.
Never in the history of this nation has there been an administration so intent on the utter destruction of higher education as we know it.
This is a devastating blow to academic freedom & freedom of speech at Columbia.
Never in the history of this nation has there been an administration so intent on the utter destruction of higher education as we know it.
Columbia Agrees to $200 Million Fine to Settle Fight With Trump
www.nytimes.com
July 24, 2025 at 1:37 AM
You can never bend the knee enough to appease an authoritarian bully.
This is a devastating blow to academic freedom & freedom of speech at Columbia.
Never in the history of this nation has there been an administration so intent on the utter destruction of higher education as we know it.
This is a devastating blow to academic freedom & freedom of speech at Columbia.
Never in the history of this nation has there been an administration so intent on the utter destruction of higher education as we know it.
Reposted by Rebecca J
Latest: public contracts for Florida’s infamous new detention camp were scrubbed from a state database and replaced with bare-bones summaries.
A spokesperson tells me they contained “proprietary information,” but nobody’s really buying that. reason.com/2025/07/22/a...
A spokesperson tells me they contained “proprietary information,” but nobody’s really buying that. reason.com/2025/07/22/a...
'Alligator Alcatraz' contracts disappeared from a Florida state database
A state official says the contracts contained "proprietary information," so they were scrubbed and replaced with bare-bones summaries.
reason.com
July 22, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Latest: public contracts for Florida’s infamous new detention camp were scrubbed from a state database and replaced with bare-bones summaries.
A spokesperson tells me they contained “proprietary information,” but nobody’s really buying that. reason.com/2025/07/22/a...
A spokesperson tells me they contained “proprietary information,” but nobody’s really buying that. reason.com/2025/07/22/a...
Reposted by Rebecca J
Heartbreaking. “At this point, women have been cleared out of all of the military’s top jobs. They are not likely to be replaced by other women: Of the three dozen four-star officers on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, none is female”
A special Daily with a remembrance of my mother in the PS at the end on what would have been her 91st birthday:
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
The Administration Wants Military Women to Know Their Place
Pete Hegseth seems to be on a mission to erase women from the top ranks of the U.S. armed forces.
www.theatlantic.com
July 23, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Heartbreaking. “At this point, women have been cleared out of all of the military’s top jobs. They are not likely to be replaced by other women: Of the three dozen four-star officers on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, none is female”
Reposted by Rebecca J
A special Daily with a remembrance of my mother in the PS at the end on what would have been her 91st birthday:
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
The Administration Wants Military Women to Know Their Place
Pete Hegseth seems to be on a mission to erase women from the top ranks of the U.S. armed forces.
www.theatlantic.com
July 22, 2025 at 11:20 PM
A special Daily with a remembrance of my mother in the PS at the end on what would have been her 91st birthday:
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Reposted by Rebecca J
Say what you will about Andrew Johnson, but...
July 21, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Say what you will about Andrew Johnson, but...
Behold, my joy is full.
❤️😭❤️😭❤️
❤️😭❤️😭❤️
The Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard, who was traded to Milwaukee in 2023, have agreed on a three-year deal worth $42 million.
https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/2025/07/trail-blazers-and-damian-lillard-finalize-deal-for-superstars-return-to-rip-city.html
https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/2025/07/trail-blazers-and-damian-lillard-finalize-deal-for-superstars-return-to-rip-city.html
July 18, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Behold, my joy is full.
❤️😭❤️😭❤️
❤️😭❤️😭❤️
Reposted by Rebecca J
"Hey, our push to abolish birthright citizenship isn't going so well. Got any other ways to blast a big hole in the 14th Amendment?"
UPDATE: A GOP-controlled House Appropriations subcommittee voted 9-6 along party lines to advance a funding bill that calls for excluding people living in the states without legal status from #2030Census results that the 14th Amendment says must include the “whole number of persons in each state”
Republicans renew a bid to remove noncitizens from the census tally behind voting maps
GOP lawmakers are trying again to exclude millions of non-U.S. citizens living in the states from census counts that the 14th Amendment says must include the "whole number of persons in each state."
www.npr.org
July 17, 2025 at 1:48 AM
"Hey, our push to abolish birthright citizenship isn't going so well. Got any other ways to blast a big hole in the 14th Amendment?"
Reposted by Rebecca J
If the academy were going to give an oscar to Sally Hawkins for a film in which she dives into water in order to rescue a mystical creature from South America, it should have been for Paddington 2 instead of The Shape of Water.
July 16, 2025 at 12:28 AM
If the academy were going to give an oscar to Sally Hawkins for a film in which she dives into water in order to rescue a mystical creature from South America, it should have been for Paddington 2 instead of The Shape of Water.
Reposted by Rebecca J
I have to console victims of scams all the time and I tell them that often scammers are talented professionals with years, maybe decades, of experience. Like if a veteran MMA fighter beat you up in a bar fight you won’t say “I’m such a wimp.” You’d say a trained experienced fighter beat me.
ngl my first reaction upon discovering our intern had fallen for a gift card scam in her first week (an impersonation attack based on details from linkedin, literally the kind of problem that @blockpartyapp.com is solving, an actual example we use in our marketing) was
OMG how could you be so dumb
OMG how could you be so dumb
July 15, 2025 at 10:38 PM
I have to console victims of scams all the time and I tell them that often scammers are talented professionals with years, maybe decades, of experience. Like if a veteran MMA fighter beat you up in a bar fight you won’t say “I’m such a wimp.” You’d say a trained experienced fighter beat me.
Reposted by Rebecca J
I get called a Nazi occasionally (used to be a prosecutor, support the existence of some system of law, don’t live in a yurt, defend free speech for everyone including Nazis, etc.) and it really doesn’t bother me. There’s no sting. It’s so plainly silly.
It seems to sting these guys.
It seems to sting these guys.
Gutfeld: “We need to learn from the blacks. The way they were able to remove the power from the n-word word by using it. So from now on it’s: What up, my Nazi? Hey, what up, my Nazi? Hey, what's hanging, my Nazi?”
Kennedy: “Nazi, please!”
Gutfeld: “Thank God you did a hard ‘i’ there.”
Kennedy: “Nazi, please!”
Gutfeld: “Thank God you did a hard ‘i’ there.”
July 15, 2025 at 10:29 PM
I get called a Nazi occasionally (used to be a prosecutor, support the existence of some system of law, don’t live in a yurt, defend free speech for everyone including Nazis, etc.) and it really doesn’t bother me. There’s no sting. It’s so plainly silly.
It seems to sting these guys.
It seems to sting these guys.
Reposted by Rebecca J
Police are advised to put people on their sides once they’re restrained in handcuffs – something that didn’t immediately happen when a 52-year-old man suffering a mental health crisis died last month after Portland officers kept him face down on his stomach before realizing he was unresponsive.
Police restraint tactics questioned after Portland man’s death in custody
National police research group warns prone position can lead to fatal carbon dioxide buildup, recommends immediate side positioning after handcuffing.
www.oregonlive.com
July 16, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Police are advised to put people on their sides once they’re restrained in handcuffs – something that didn’t immediately happen when a 52-year-old man suffering a mental health crisis died last month after Portland officers kept him face down on his stomach before realizing he was unresponsive.
Reposted by Rebecca J
I compared ZIP code level rents versus homes permitted from 2018-2024 and guess what!
Places that permitted the most new homes had the slowest rent growth, and in places where almost nothing was permitted, rents *skyrocketed*
Places that permitted the most new homes had the slowest rent growth, and in places where almost nothing was permitted, rents *skyrocketed*
June 24, 2025 at 10:21 PM
I compared ZIP code level rents versus homes permitted from 2018-2024 and guess what!
Places that permitted the most new homes had the slowest rent growth, and in places where almost nothing was permitted, rents *skyrocketed*
Places that permitted the most new homes had the slowest rent growth, and in places where almost nothing was permitted, rents *skyrocketed*
I'm just a 54yo woman standing in front of an insurance app, asking it not to make me click backward through a calendar for 650 months in order to enter my birthdate.
July 14, 2025 at 7:44 PM
I'm just a 54yo woman standing in front of an insurance app, asking it not to make me click backward through a calendar for 650 months in order to enter my birthdate.
Just a fantastic piece on immigration from Kevin Williamson. Highly recommend.
thedispatch.com/article/ille...
thedispatch.com/article/ille...
‘Just a Normal Life’
In Los Angeles, a prayer to the patron saint of lost causes.
thedispatch.com
July 12, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Just a fantastic piece on immigration from Kevin Williamson. Highly recommend.
thedispatch.com/article/ille...
thedispatch.com/article/ille...
Reposted by Rebecca J
Sharing, just in case anyone needs a gift version… we’re not always mean - just occasionally ;-) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Thirty-Two Short Stories About Death in Prison
These stories don’t mention Jeffrey Epstein, but they are about him.
www.theatlantic.com
July 7, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Sharing, just in case anyone needs a gift version… we’re not always mean - just occasionally ;-) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Reposted by Rebecca J
I wrote about Epstein’s suicide and how the disbelief about it shows a lack of familiarity with how inhuman America’s prison’s are. It remains one of the things that made people maddest (not saying jail is bad, disbelieving he was murdered).
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Thirty-Two Short Stories About Death in Prison
These stories don’t mention Jeffrey Epstein, but they are about him.
www.theatlantic.com
July 7, 2025 at 2:16 AM
I wrote about Epstein’s suicide and how the disbelief about it shows a lack of familiarity with how inhuman America’s prison’s are. It remains one of the things that made people maddest (not saying jail is bad, disbelieving he was murdered).
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
If anyone needs me, I'll be observing America's 249th birthday under a blanket in the fetal position.
July 4, 2025 at 5:27 PM
If anyone needs me, I'll be observing America's 249th birthday under a blanket in the fetal position.
Reaganite conservatism is dead. The Republicans killed it. (Actually, "slaughtered" might be the appropriate term.) The only question now is which variety of irresponsible authoritarianism one prefers.
For me that would be the version that flails aimlessly instead of cultishly following one guy.
For me that would be the version that flails aimlessly instead of cultishly following one guy.
July 4, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Reaganite conservatism is dead. The Republicans killed it. (Actually, "slaughtered" might be the appropriate term.) The only question now is which variety of irresponsible authoritarianism one prefers.
For me that would be the version that flails aimlessly instead of cultishly following one guy.
For me that would be the version that flails aimlessly instead of cultishly following one guy.
Reposted by Rebecca J
"US manufacturing mired in weakness as tariffs bite" share.google/73Pl6oGlKJoj...
"With manufacturers facing weak demand and higher prices for inputs, employment declined further last month"
"With manufacturers facing weak demand and higher prices for inputs, employment declined further last month"
July 1, 2025 at 11:44 PM
"US manufacturing mired in weakness as tariffs bite" share.google/73Pl6oGlKJoj...
"With manufacturers facing weak demand and higher prices for inputs, employment declined further last month"
"With manufacturers facing weak demand and higher prices for inputs, employment declined further last month"
Why is this so accurate
"A sizable portion of elected Republicans hold on to a residual image of themselves as avatars of a green-eyeshade, business-first party that no longer exists. They’re like a middle-aged man standing in front of a mirror, sucking in his gut and smiling."
The Republican Party Is a Deluded Middle-Aged Man
The Big Beautiful Bill is a midlife crisis for congressional Republicans.
www.thebulwark.com
July 2, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Why is this so accurate
Nick Catoggio, correct as usual:
"Reaganites have given up on trying to govern and are resorting to what they know—tax cuts uber alles, sledgehammering Medicaid, etc. There’s no 'theory' behind what they’re trying to accomplish. They’re twitching, as people in their death throes often do."
"Reaganites have given up on trying to govern and are resorting to what they know—tax cuts uber alles, sledgehammering Medicaid, etc. There’s no 'theory' behind what they’re trying to accomplish. They’re twitching, as people in their death throes often do."
July 1, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Nick Catoggio, correct as usual:
"Reaganites have given up on trying to govern and are resorting to what they know—tax cuts uber alles, sledgehammering Medicaid, etc. There’s no 'theory' behind what they’re trying to accomplish. They’re twitching, as people in their death throes often do."
"Reaganites have given up on trying to govern and are resorting to what they know—tax cuts uber alles, sledgehammering Medicaid, etc. There’s no 'theory' behind what they’re trying to accomplish. They’re twitching, as people in their death throes often do."
Reposted by Rebecca J
Second look at strange women lying in ponds distributing swords as basis for government?
June 29, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Second look at strange women lying in ponds distributing swords as basis for government?
Reposted by Rebecca J
