Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
@mecm.bsky.social
Content design/strategy, information architecture. Feminist. #BlackLivesMatter. #Baltimore. Civic tech, #a11y, vintage stuff, powerlifting. Kinda salty.
So, we’re getting towards holiday gift giving season, so here’s a list of cool stuff from my Etsy shop. Items $35 and over ship free in the U.S. and as always, if we know each other in some way, message me and I might be able to give you a non Etsy deal.
November 17, 2025 at 2:04 PM
So, we’re getting towards holiday gift giving season, so here’s a list of cool stuff from my Etsy shop. Items $35 and over ship free in the U.S. and as always, if we know each other in some way, message me and I might be able to give you a non Etsy deal.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
Nuzzi's fawning coverage of the sociopathic conspiracy crank she was having an affair with aided his rise to political power, which he is using to perpetrate the worst intentional public health catastrophe of our unnecessarily shortened lifetimes, and THAT is the STORY.
November 15, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Nuzzi's fawning coverage of the sociopathic conspiracy crank she was having an affair with aided his rise to political power, which he is using to perpetrate the worst intentional public health catastrophe of our unnecessarily shortened lifetimes, and THAT is the STORY.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply."
me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually
www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually
www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review
Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.
www.bostonreview.net
September 23, 2025 at 5:09 PM
"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply."
me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually
www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually
www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
Worth a watch. Push back. There’s mounting evidence showing that states/institutions that are pushing back are losing less than those that just comply.
September 22, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Worth a watch. Push back. There’s mounting evidence showing that states/institutions that are pushing back are losing less than those that just comply.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
The professor has been fired and senior administrators removed from their post. No mention of this in the New York Times, The Free Press, The Atlantic or other outlets who drove the campus speech moral panic.
Texas A&M University System orders audit of all courses after gender identity lesson goes viral
Details: bit.ly/42jauQZ
Details: bit.ly/42jauQZ
September 10, 2025 at 11:59 AM
The professor has been fired and senior administrators removed from their post. No mention of this in the New York Times, The Free Press, The Atlantic or other outlets who drove the campus speech moral panic.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
Alright, so I've been afraid to say this out loud, but I think after today, I can say it: In the first Battle of Los Angeles, the good people of LA County have prevailed. We beat ICE back. 1/
September 7, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Alright, so I've been afraid to say this out loud, but I think after today, I can say it: In the first Battle of Los Angeles, the good people of LA County have prevailed. We beat ICE back. 1/
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
It's happened! My newsletter has finally Gone Woke!
Trump appointed landlord app AirBnB's co-founder as the Chief Design Officer of the USA, right after DOGE blew up 18F (which did real work). And the UX commentariat cheers, because the vibes of a "seat at the table" play better than the reality.
Trump appointed landlord app AirBnB's co-founder as the Chief Design Officer of the USA, right after DOGE blew up 18F (which did real work). And the UX commentariat cheers, because the vibes of a "seat at the table" play better than the reality.
The aesthetics of success come at the cost of failure
It's easy to get a seat at the table. Just agree to become part of the problem.
productpicnic.beehiiv.com
August 31, 2025 at 9:21 PM
It's happened! My newsletter has finally Gone Woke!
Trump appointed landlord app AirBnB's co-founder as the Chief Design Officer of the USA, right after DOGE blew up 18F (which did real work). And the UX commentariat cheers, because the vibes of a "seat at the table" play better than the reality.
Trump appointed landlord app AirBnB's co-founder as the Chief Design Officer of the USA, right after DOGE blew up 18F (which did real work). And the UX commentariat cheers, because the vibes of a "seat at the table" play better than the reality.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
I have never seen so many public servants protest the mismanagement of a government. Trumpists will point to this as proof of the deep state, but the reality is that these are professionals who are desperately trying to get the public to understand how bad things are.
AP live feed of the CDC walkout in Atlanta. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ7Q...
LIVE: CDC staff plan walkout at Atlanta HQ after Trump firings
YouTube video by Associated Press
www.youtube.com
August 28, 2025 at 7:09 PM
I have never seen so many public servants protest the mismanagement of a government. Trumpists will point to this as proof of the deep state, but the reality is that these are professionals who are desperately trying to get the public to understand how bad things are.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
"Democratic-led states and select blue-leaning cities fought back in court and saw money for public health efforts restored — while GOP-led states sustained big losses."
Blue States That Sued Kept Most CDC Grants, While Red States Feel Brunt of Trump Clawbacks - KFF Health News
The Trump administration's cuts of public health funds to state and local health departments had vastly uneven effects depending on the political leanings of where someone lives, a new KFF Health News...
kffhealthnews.org
August 26, 2025 at 2:44 PM
"Democratic-led states and select blue-leaning cities fought back in court and saw money for public health efforts restored — while GOP-led states sustained big losses."
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
This is great: a National Guardsman standing up to say every member of the National Guard and military "is legally obliged to disobey an illegal order."
My name is Captain Dylan Blaha, and this message is for members of the National Guard across the USA.
I've served in the Illinois Army National Guard for over 12 years, including a deployment to Afghanistan and three years on active duty in Europe.
What's going on right now is not normal.
I've served in the Illinois Army National Guard for over 12 years, including a deployment to Afghanistan and three years on active duty in Europe.
What's going on right now is not normal.
August 23, 2025 at 11:52 PM
This is great: a National Guardsman standing up to say every member of the National Guard and military "is legally obliged to disobey an illegal order."
One of the deep issues of liberalism is the assumption that if you just explain things properly, all people will come around to believe the correct thing. And thus, there’s an impulse to blame themselves for not communicating 100% accurately.
I understand, as a matter of epistemic & social hygiene, that one should not simply *assume* that the latest right-wing thing is a result of dumb, selfish people believing deliberate lies. One has to be open to other possibilities.
But conversely, it makes no sense to me ...
But conversely, it makes no sense to me ...
August 24, 2025 at 1:11 AM
One of the deep issues of liberalism is the assumption that if you just explain things properly, all people will come around to believe the correct thing. And thus, there’s an impulse to blame themselves for not communicating 100% accurately.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
They fired all my friends who were experts at doing this so that they could hire corrupt vendors to do this poorly
I can't be the only person disgusted by this cynical, lying garbage. (Sidenote: "America By Design" was a great book on the history of how engineers sold themselves down the river to corporate interests, RIP Dave Noble). www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Improves our Nation Through Better Design
IMPROVING GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to launch the “America by Design” initiative, establishing the
www.whitehouse.gov
August 22, 2025 at 1:39 AM
They fired all my friends who were experts at doing this so that they could hire corrupt vendors to do this poorly
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
Thank god I put it in The Paper because they are going to pretend none of this ever happened.
Altman says all sorts of things, all the time. But the hard pivot away from AGI/superintelligence rhetoric by Eric Schmidt is genuinely jarring, sort of funny, and I think telling nymag.com/intelligence...
August 20, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Thank god I put it in The Paper because they are going to pretend none of this ever happened.
So, as someone observing a lot of online discussion of tariffs (including from MAGA folks) and someone who has stumbled into becoming the proprietor of a small business over the last year or so, I am now:
1. No longer surprised at the rate of failure of small businesses….
1. No longer surprised at the rate of failure of small businesses….
August 6, 2025 at 2:43 PM
So, as someone observing a lot of online discussion of tariffs (including from MAGA folks) and someone who has stumbled into becoming the proprietor of a small business over the last year or so, I am now:
1. No longer surprised at the rate of failure of small businesses….
1. No longer surprised at the rate of failure of small businesses….
I don’t believe this person actually exists but, if it did, it would kind of prove the point of why people are critiquing the ad. Mind you, no one offering a critique of the ad has any kind of formal leadership or spokesperson role within the Democratic Party.
A message I just got from a buddy of mine, who’s a long time Democratic Party campaign consultant: “This Sydney Sweeney thing is the kind of thing that turns men away from our party. It’s why men think our party is weak & insane.”
My response to him? “Fuck yea it is. You are exactly right.”
My response to him? “Fuck yea it is. You are exactly right.”
July 30, 2025 at 9:06 PM
I don’t believe this person actually exists but, if it did, it would kind of prove the point of why people are critiquing the ad. Mind you, no one offering a critique of the ad has any kind of formal leadership or spokesperson role within the Democratic Party.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
Shout out to the WSJ journalists who reported on Vought’s impoundment by footnote, causing the White House to walk it back. Impact journalism!!
UPDATE: The pause was scrapped Tuesday evening after intervention by top White House officials. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Trump Administration Scraps Effort to Pause Health-Research Funding
The administration halted and then restarted billions in new research grants flowing from the National Institutes of Health.
www.wsj.com
July 30, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Shout out to the WSJ journalists who reported on Vought’s impoundment by footnote, causing the White House to walk it back. Impact journalism!!
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
Everything he said is wrong.
The NIH is a boon to states economically.
It did not, in any respect, cause the pandemic. This is lab leak bullshit.
And the final claim is just an open admission they’re imposing rightist ideology on science.
It’s a war on science this administration is waging.
The NIH is a boon to states economically.
It did not, in any respect, cause the pandemic. This is lab leak bullshit.
And the final claim is just an open admission they’re imposing rightist ideology on science.
It’s a war on science this administration is waging.
TAPPER: 14 Republicans say you're risking undermining critical research by holding up NIH funding
VOUGHT: If they were a company, their stock price would in shambles. They in some respects caused the pandemic. You have an entire institute that does nothing more than DEI research at the NIH.
VOUGHT: If they were a company, their stock price would in shambles. They in some respects caused the pandemic. You have an entire institute that does nothing more than DEI research at the NIH.
July 28, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Everything he said is wrong.
The NIH is a boon to states economically.
It did not, in any respect, cause the pandemic. This is lab leak bullshit.
And the final claim is just an open admission they’re imposing rightist ideology on science.
It’s a war on science this administration is waging.
The NIH is a boon to states economically.
It did not, in any respect, cause the pandemic. This is lab leak bullshit.
And the final claim is just an open admission they’re imposing rightist ideology on science.
It’s a war on science this administration is waging.
This is correct. My professional expertise is communications and digital strategy AND I currently support a federal agency under attack rn.
Do my clients sometimes do not a great job explaining their value? Yes. Does that matter when you have bad actors completely distorting reality? No.
Do my clients sometimes do not a great job explaining their value? Yes. Does that matter when you have bad actors completely distorting reality? No.
You hear this a lot on the left but it isn't true. USAID did not "fail to tell its story to Americans," the right targeted the agency with lies and misinformation.
Ultimately this narrative turns conservative attacks into even more calls for the left to reform.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/o...
Ultimately this narrative turns conservative attacks into even more calls for the left to reform.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/o...
June 30, 2025 at 9:40 PM
This is correct. My professional expertise is communications and digital strategy AND I currently support a federal agency under attack rn.
Do my clients sometimes do not a great job explaining their value? Yes. Does that matter when you have bad actors completely distorting reality? No.
Do my clients sometimes do not a great job explaining their value? Yes. Does that matter when you have bad actors completely distorting reality? No.
My husband’s cousins in Chile said that people lined the streets in Santiago when Pinochet’s funeral procession came by and cracked bottles of champagne celebrating that the bastard was dead and spat at the motorcade as it passed by. That’s the energy I am bringing.
When Trump finally dies there will be calls for civility and “respect for the office” from even his harshest critics and I’m telling you right now I plan on saying things so harsh they might knock the earth off its axis
The consoler-in-chief
June 18, 2025 at 4:19 AM
My husband’s cousins in Chile said that people lined the streets in Santiago when Pinochet’s funeral procession came by and cracked bottles of champagne celebrating that the bastard was dead and spat at the motorcade as it passed by. That’s the energy I am bringing.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
normally if you want to spend millions of dollars on something no one goes to you have to make a joker movie
About an hour until parade start time in D.C., and there are plenty of prime viewing spots wide open, particularly toward the beginning of the route.
June 14, 2025 at 9:40 PM
normally if you want to spend millions of dollars on something no one goes to you have to make a joker movie
I read a lot of George Orwell (his political essays not Animal Farm) in my early 20s and in one of them he commented on how in a meeting of 12 English socialists there would be at least 5 different versions of socialism represented and nothing would get decided.
The people railing about Cowardly Liberals right now really don’t seem to understand how I bet at least 90% of the people who show up to protest would self-identify as if you asked them about their political beliefs
June 13, 2025 at 2:19 PM
I read a lot of George Orwell (his political essays not Animal Farm) in my early 20s and in one of them he commented on how in a meeting of 12 English socialists there would be at least 5 different versions of socialism represented and nothing would get decided.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
There's a real attentional trap that all protest movements face and have faced for a long time. If you pull off protests that are polite and civil, even if large, they will struggle to get coverage. Reporters will dismiss them as not newsworthy.
June 10, 2025 at 8:10 PM
There's a real attentional trap that all protest movements face and have faced for a long time. If you pull off protests that are polite and civil, even if large, they will struggle to get coverage. Reporters will dismiss them as not newsworthy.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
Amazing how hard it is to write: “Police shoot at journalists.”
June 11, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Amazing how hard it is to write: “Police shoot at journalists.”
Some vintage stuff from the past couple of weeks, coming to Etsy soon. First this mid century modern wooden jewelry box with a 3-panel landscape painting on it.
June 1, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Some vintage stuff from the past couple of weeks, coming to Etsy soon. First this mid century modern wooden jewelry box with a 3-panel landscape painting on it.
Reposted by Mary Carroll-Mason (she/her)
A junkie unmoored from reality destroyed our govt:
"The drug has psychedelic properties and can cause dissociation from reality. Chronic use can lead to addiction and problems with bladder pain...Mr. Musk told people that his ketamine use was causing bladder issues"
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/u...
"The drug has psychedelic properties and can cause dissociation from reality. Chronic use can lead to addiction and problems with bladder pain...Mr. Musk told people that his ketamine use was causing bladder issues"
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/u...
On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama
www.nytimes.com
May 30, 2025 at 11:12 AM
A junkie unmoored from reality destroyed our govt:
"The drug has psychedelic properties and can cause dissociation from reality. Chronic use can lead to addiction and problems with bladder pain...Mr. Musk told people that his ketamine use was causing bladder issues"
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/u...
"The drug has psychedelic properties and can cause dissociation from reality. Chronic use can lead to addiction and problems with bladder pain...Mr. Musk told people that his ketamine use was causing bladder issues"
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/u...