Mary Bannister (MaryB)
@maryb2004.bsky.social
If you repost me I’ll probably block. Retired M&A lawyer. Lifelong learner. Reader. Favorite Authors: Dorothy Dunnett, Louise Erdrich, AS Byatt, Iain Pears, Robertson Davies. New France history buff.. http://alonewitheachother.blogspot.com
Pinned
Warning: if you follow thousands of users and 90% or more of your posts are re-posts of someone else then if you follow me I will block you. I am not interested in being reposted to the masses.
Did you ever think “I should read Moby Dick” but then put it off for later (like I did)? Now is your chance to join the BlueSky read. There is a special feed for our reactions that you can join by responding to Jacob’s post below. Pin the feed, get the book. Add the 🐳 to relevant posts. That's it.
THE MONTH OF DICK 2026 IS COMING IN JANUARY
Get ready!
1. Follow the feed: bsky.app/profile/jaco... and ask me to add you
2. Download the planned reading sequence
3. Get yourself an edition (book, free e-book, whatever)
4. Notify your bosom friends
5. Whale tattoo?
Get ready!
1. Follow the feed: bsky.app/profile/jaco... and ask me to add you
2. Download the planned reading sequence
3. Get yourself an edition (book, free e-book, whatever)
4. Notify your bosom friends
5. Whale tattoo?
December 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Did you ever think “I should read Moby Dick” but then put it off for later (like I did)? Now is your chance to join the BlueSky read. There is a special feed for our reactions that you can join by responding to Jacob’s post below. Pin the feed, get the book. Add the 🐳 to relevant posts. That's it.
This is hilarious!
Gift link here: www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
December 18, 2025 at 8:28 PM
This is hilarious!
OMG I am totally up for seeing this.
December 18, 2025 at 6:34 PM
OMG I am totally up for seeing this.
@cartercenter.bsky.social the unsubscribe link on your emails does not work. 404 error. Please fix.
December 18, 2025 at 4:24 PM
@cartercenter.bsky.social the unsubscribe link on your emails does not work. 404 error. Please fix.
Missouri government is full of idiots.
The capital gains tax cut was supposed to cause revenue loss of about $160 million in the current fiscal year, w/ongoing losses at $111 million. The state now expects $500 million loss this year and $360 million annually. #moleg #mogov
Missouri faces budget crunch as capital gains tax cut hits harder than expected • Missouri Independent
The capital gains tax cut passed this year by Missouri will cost far more than expected and shrink state revenues, a new estimate shows.
missouriindependent.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Missouri government is full of idiots.
Tonight is my yearly watch of Meet Me In St. Louis. 🎶
December 18, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Tonight is my yearly watch of Meet Me In St. Louis. 🎶
Gross. Profiting off tragedy.
ABC News has announced a one-hour TV special airing tonight that offers the latest details into the death of director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner. Titled The Rob Reiner Story: A Hollywood Tragedy, the news special airs tonight, Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 10 p.m. PT/ET, on ABC.
ABC News to Air Rob Reiner Special: 'The Rob Reiner Story: A Hollywood Tragedy'
ABC News has announced a one-hour TV special airing tonight that offers the latest details into the death of director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner. Titled The Rob Reiner Story: A Hollywood Tragedy, the news special airs tonight, Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 10 p.m. PT/ET, on ABC.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Gross. Profiting off tragedy.
Spent the morning finishing the deep cleaning of all my floors post-Thanksgiving (actually for the first time in a year for some of them). I want a nap. (Or maybe a Christmas cookie from the stash my sister sent me, hmmmm).
December 17, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Spent the morning finishing the deep cleaning of all my floors post-Thanksgiving (actually for the first time in a year for some of them). I want a nap. (Or maybe a Christmas cookie from the stash my sister sent me, hmmmm).
More for our TBR lists. #booksky. 🧵
Here's a brief thread of the fiction that has stayed with me most in 2025, a year in which I reviewed exactly 100 books, and was more grateful than ever for the chance to do so. First, these are screenshots of the three brilliant novels that made the WSJ Best Books list. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
December 17, 2025 at 5:42 PM
More for our TBR lists. #booksky. 🧵
For everyone’s TBR.
December 16, 2025 at 5:03 PM
For everyone’s TBR.
Reposted by Mary Bannister (MaryB)
More Frankenstein allusions. This is the year. 🔩
Oprah Pursues Dr. Phil On Ship Through Arctic
Oprah Pursues Dr. Phil On Ship Through Arctic
THE ARCTIC CIRCLE—With a vow to destroy the abomination she had created if it was the last thing she ever did, television host Oprah Winfrey has spent weeks on a ship pursuing Dr. Phil through the Arc...
theonion.com
December 14, 2025 at 7:40 PM
More Frankenstein allusions. This is the year. 🔩
☹️🎣🚤
Scientists warn federal funding cuts could undermine walleye recovery in Minnesota
www.startribune.com/scientists-w...
www.startribune.com/scientists-w...
December 14, 2025 at 6:28 PM
☹️🎣🚤
I’m having people over later and needed to run out to the store. I think the temperature is colder than yesterday but it didn’t feel as cold. Maybe less wind. But still cold. 🥶
December 14, 2025 at 5:34 PM
I’m having people over later and needed to run out to the store. I think the temperature is colder than yesterday but it didn’t feel as cold. Maybe less wind. But still cold. 🥶
Reposted by Mary Bannister (MaryB)
Fiddler on the roof, but with ICE agents playing the part of Cossacks. I know people think of Fiddler as a heartwarming story about a funny man doing Ya-ba-dibba-dibbas, but it's literally about pogroms like this
Masked men wearing ICE vests—but who refused to present a warrant or identify themselves—roped off a construction site, trapping two men on a roof for hours in subzero temps. Protesters gathered. Masked men eventually left, and one man on the roof was taken away by ambulance kstp.com/kstp-news/to...
December 14, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Fiddler on the roof, but with ICE agents playing the part of Cossacks. I know people think of Fiddler as a heartwarming story about a funny man doing Ya-ba-dibba-dibbas, but it's literally about pogroms like this
Reposted by Mary Bannister (MaryB)
Today in "Don't Trust AI to Tell You Facts": How several different "AI" programs messed up the simple fact of to whom I dedicated a book, and what that means for how much you should trust "AI" to tell you the truth about things (spoiler: not much at all):
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
“AI”: A Dedicated Fact-Failing Machine, or, Yet Another Reason Not to Trust It For Anything
I search my name on a regular basis, not only because I am an ego monster (although I try not to pretend that I’m not) but because it’s a good way for me to find reviews, end-of-the-yea…
whatever.scalzi.com
December 13, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Today in "Don't Trust AI to Tell You Facts": How several different "AI" programs messed up the simple fact of to whom I dedicated a book, and what that means for how much you should trust "AI" to tell you the truth about things (spoiler: not much at all):
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
Interesting Interview with Rob Reiner.
On this anniversary week of “A Few Good Men” (1992):
“.. He said, “Raaaaab, you don’t understaaaand. I looove to aaaaact.’”
@richeisenshow.bsky.social
“.. He said, “Raaaaab, you don’t understaaaand. I looove to aaaaact.’”
@richeisenshow.bsky.social
December 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Interesting Interview with Rob Reiner.
Reposted by Mary Bannister (MaryB)
notice who's repping him in his lawsuit - the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is a very conservative public interest advocacy group
Chavarria, a U.S. citizen, was held at the airport "for more than four hours and released only after he finally agreed to let the agents search his smartphone, tablet, and laptop computer. The agents...informed him that he had no Fourth Amendment right to resist." @pacificlegal.bsky.social is suing.
CBP agents held this U.S. citizen for hours until he agreed to let them search his electronic devices
A federal lawsuit argues that perusing travelers' personal data without a warrant or probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment.
reason.com
December 13, 2025 at 12:45 AM
notice who's repping him in his lawsuit - the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is a very conservative public interest advocacy group
Reposted by Mary Bannister (MaryB)
For everyone struggling with the new OS interface....
You can adjust the transparency, thank goodness! I myself prefer "Tinted".
How to change:
→ "Tinted" = Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass
→ "Reduce Transparency" = Accessibility > Display & Text Size
How to change:
→ "Tinted" = Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass
→ "Reduce Transparency" = Accessibility > Display & Text Size
December 12, 2025 at 4:50 PM
For everyone struggling with the new OS interface....
Reposted by Mary Bannister (MaryB)
New! Washington Post readers revolt against Bezos’s editorial board: presswatchers.org/2025/12/wash...
Washington Post readers revolt against Bezos’s editorial board | Press Watch
The AI summaries of reader comments have become a must read
presswatchers.org
December 12, 2025 at 5:22 PM
New! Washington Post readers revolt against Bezos’s editorial board: presswatchers.org/2025/12/wash...
Well, I braved the Post Office for Christmas Stamps this morning and it wasn’t too bad! Cards all mailed. 🎄🧑🏻🎄
December 12, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Well, I braved the Post Office for Christmas Stamps this morning and it wasn’t too bad! Cards all mailed. 🎄🧑🏻🎄
Reposted by Mary Bannister (MaryB)
My November Reading: perfectretort.blogspot.com/2025/12/nove... #Booksky
November 2025 Reading
a blog primarily about books
perfectretort.blogspot.com
December 12, 2025 at 5:36 PM
My November Reading: perfectretort.blogspot.com/2025/12/nove... #Booksky
I quit Meta last year. No FB, no Insta, no Whatsapp. I could no longer justify being a product Zuck could market to advertisers.
You thought the patriarchy was going to stop with trans people? Really? www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Meta shuts down global accounts linked to abortion advice and queer content
More than 50 organisations report sites being restricted or removed, with abortion hotlines blocked and posts showing non-explicit nudity triggering warnings
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2025 at 11:03 PM
I quit Meta last year. No FB, no Insta, no Whatsapp. I could no longer justify being a product Zuck could market to advertisers.
Reposted by Mary Bannister (MaryB)
In the latest @thetls.bsky.social I review Lily King's Heart the Lover
Oh love!
Lily King’s Heart the Lover plays out on a knife edge: on one side lie the hazards of cliché and sentimentality; on the other, the possibilities of
www.the-tls.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:36 PM
In the latest @thetls.bsky.social I review Lily King's Heart the Lover
So many victories to celebrate today. And I’m now home for the day so I can actually have a drink tonight to celebrate. 🥃
You have to recognize your victories when they come and this was a terrible day for the DOJ.
You have to recognize your victories when they come and this was a terrible day for the DOJ.
December 11, 2025 at 10:45 PM
So many victories to celebrate today. And I’m now home for the day so I can actually have a drink tonight to celebrate. 🥃
You have to recognize your victories when they come and this was a terrible day for the DOJ.
You have to recognize your victories when they come and this was a terrible day for the DOJ.