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Created
Sat, 15/04/2023 - 03:05

Now, the verified Sneetches had checks of pure blue.
But the unverified Sneetches, they wanted checks too!
Those checks weren’t so big. They were really quite small
You might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all.

But you only had clout if you rocked a blue check,
And most Sneetches in Tweetland didn’t have that connect.

Then one day as the Twitterverse was tweeting and fave-ing,
And plotzing and cloxing and doxing and raving,
And wishing their accounts had the blue checks of the stars…
A stranger zipped up in the strangest of cars.

“My friends," he announced in a voice cocksure and keen,
“My name is Elon McMusky McPeen.
I’ve just purchased this site
For a cool 44 bill,
And I’ve got empty coffers that I must refill!”

“You know me from Tesla.
I got dumped by Grimes.
I’ve shot my wad into space
Many hundreds of times!”

“I work day and night, and I work at great speed.
My algorithm’s like a self-driving car: guaranteed!”

Created
Sat, 15/04/2023 - 03:03
. As I was writing this song one Sunday, I imagined myself floating into space and looking down at my own body. I was imagining myself dying. Morbidly obsessed with these thoughts, I wrote this song about death. The next day I was told that Guy [Burchett], our 17-year-old messenger boy, had been tragically killed […]
Created
Sat, 15/04/2023 - 02:30
If you are following the issue of abortion right now you almost surely have a headache. There is just so much happening all over the country that it’s very hard to wrap your head around what’s going on and how to fight it. This was the predictable outcome of overruling Roe v. Wade to “send it back to the states” because it was always part of the anti-abortion movement strategy. Instead of fighting on one front at the national level, pro-choice advocates would be forced to fight on many different fronts in many different ways while at the same time battling back one attempt after another in the federal courts to degrade the right in the states where it is legal. The final goal remains a national ban even if they have to get it done incrementally. This was always obvious by the fact that while they always piously proclaimed that abortion is murder while at the same time insisting that they merely wanted to return the issue to the states, as if it was fine with them if some states decided to keep it legal. What they really wanted to do was disperse the resources and energy and wear down the opposition. So far, it isn’t working.
Created
Sat, 15/04/2023 - 00:30
Wanted to impress his friends, did he? Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, 21, has been arrested by the FBI as the suspect in the leak of hundreds of classified military document to the internet (Washington Post): The leak, probably the military’s largest in at least a decade, has revealed secrets about everything from gaps in Ukrainian air defenses to the specifics of how the United States spies on its allies and partners. […] The crisis has blindsided the Pentagon, which did not become aware until last week that secrets had for weeks been spreading online, and forced the Biden administration to have awkward conversations with allies and partners about explosive issues. The FBI did not descend on the Teixeira home until after The Post revealed numerous details about the still-anonymous leaker on Wednesday night, and after the New York Times followed up on Thursday by naming Teixeira. The FBI’s lag in response time may be explainable, but when they did after the press got there first, boy howdy! He’s from a patriotic family — and allegedly leaked U.S. secrets, reads the Post headline. The irony is not lost on you, Dear Readers, nor is it on Jeff Sharlet.
Created
Fri, 14/04/2023 - 23:00
DeSantis signs six week abortion ban Stranger things have happend besides Donald Trump’s presidency and Demogorgons. So, it would be unwise to predict that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed away his Oval Office aspirations last night. But then, it’s Ron DeSantis (Washington Post): Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signeda bill Thursdaythat would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, after the legislature passed the bill earlier in the day. The measure cuts off what has become a critical access point for abortion care in the South since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. DeSantis signed the bill late at night and released a photo just after 11 p.m. — a sharp contrast to how he celebrated a 15-week ban on abortion last spring with speeches and live media coverage at a church. The quiet passage underscored DeSantis’s reluctance to talk about the bill as he tours the country touting other legislative achievements. DeSantis is giving the GOP’s rabid primary voters the Handmaid’s Tale America they demand while making as little public show about it in front of non-MAGA general election voters.
Created
Fri, 14/04/2023 - 23:00

EDITED BY PETER ORNER AND LAURA LAMPTON SCOTT


Jean Marseille and his son, Diego.

- - -

Jean Marseille recorded these dispatches on his phone while surviving on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from October through December 2022. As the chaos that followed the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 devolved into further lawlessness, Jean witnessed firsthand a city in free fall.

Created
Fri, 14/04/2023 - 22:00

1. Your goal is to retrieve your treasure from a monstrous entity.

2. All you need is pen and paper, but expensive software makes it much easier.

3. The rules are constantly being updated, but they’re still shackled to a system from the 1970s.

4. You’re constantly referring back to an incomprehensible spreadsheet.

5. You’d have put more effort into your backstory if you knew it would be this important later.

6. Some classes have a much easier time than others, and it’s unclear why.

7. You’re drowning in acronyms.

8. Being a Cleric has its advantages.

9. If you’re a musician, this is going to be extra complicated.

10. Every check can result in a circumstantial bonus or a penalty.

11. Groups who can afford it hire an unsavory rogue to do their dirty work.

12. When in doubt, just round the number down.

13. If you want to get away with this bluff, you’d better come up with a damn good story.

14. Tread carefully. Traps are everywhere.

15. You’re unsure whether your opponent is Lawful or just Chaotic—but they’re definitely Evil.