skryptical
@skryptical.bsky.social
230 followers 590 following 150 posts
Gardening, wandering, cats. US politics, tech ethics, equality, diversity, climate, science, human rights, social justice, accessibility.
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Reposted by skryptical
clydes46.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/oreg...

Mean while Portland is burning down
oregonian.com
Portland's famous Unipiper was spotted at the Portland ICE protest where he played his bagpipes in front of Santa, Mr. Potato Head, Garfield and more -- all while surrounded by bubbles.

More on how the tone of Portland's protests has shifted: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...
Reposted by skryptical
kyivindependent.com
⚡️German airlines call to shoot down drones threatening airports.

Germany's airlines are calling for drones that threaten airport operations to be shot down, Der Spiegel reported on Oct. 11. The call to action comes amid a recent surge of unidentified drone sightings across Europe.
German airlines call to shoot down drones threatening airports
Germany's airlines are calling for drones that threaten airport operations to be shot down, Der Spiegel reported on Oct. 11. The call to action comes amid a recent surge of unidentified drone sighting...
kyivindependent.com
Reposted by skryptical
propublica.org
Jorge Ruiz’s blood alcohol level was far below the legal threshold for intoxication.

When his lawyers looked at similar car crash cases, they found that although Ruiz had the lowest amount of alcohol in his system, his sentence was by far the longest.

➡️ Full story: https://propub.li/3KDEql5
Article excerpt reads: Then it was Ruiz’s turn. He spoke for the first time in court.

“I want to say that I am sorry to the family,” Ruiz said. “I wouldn’t have wished for this to happen. I wish that this would have only been a dream.”

Lewis peered down from the bench at Ruiz.

“This is America,” Lewis said. “It’s the greatest country in the world and we have the right to trial in this country. I would never penalize you for exercising that right, but Mr. Lively talked about acceptance of responsibility, contrition, remorse. I haven’t seen any of that from you.”

He sentenced Ruiz to the maximum possible punishment, longer even than the 50 years requested by prosecutors: 99 years.

The court went quiet. Even the prosecutor was shocked.

Years later, Robinson remembered that moment. “That was not something that I had expected,” he said.
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manhasnoname.bsky.social
Non-existent violent crime and non-existent Antifa, you pathetic, complicit rag.
Reposted by skryptical
norbizness.bsky.social
I mean, how hollowed out IS your newspaper, your editorials are paint-by-numbers reactionary dogshit not even penned by anyone, and your news analysis is like a goddamn sane-washing town crier for White House propaganda. Homer was less concerned about Poochie elevation than you are about Trump.
Reposted by skryptical
kyivindependent.com
⚡️Over 135,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine identified by media investigation.

Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian service, has confirmed the identities of 135,100 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.
Over 135,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine identified by media investigation
Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian service, has confirmed the identities of 135,100 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.
kyivindependent.com
Reposted by skryptical
nytimes.com
The Trump administration canceled a $7 billion program intended to help low- and moderate-income families install rooftop solar panels. The cuts are dealing a disproportionate blow to the Republican-led states that propelled him back to office.
Solar for All Program Cuts Hit G.O.P and Democrat Voters Alike
The Trump administration canceled a $7 billion program intended to help low- and moderate-income families install rooftop solar panels.
nyti.ms
Reposted by skryptical
carlbergstrom.com
Left: In a desperate effort to find reasonable use case, OpenAI is running ads during the baseball playoffs about how you can use ChatGPT to plan a road trip. www.youtube.com/watch?v=go4o...

Right: What happens if you actually do that. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Open AI commercial about using ChatGPT to plan a road trip Hannah Read, 37, tried to use an AI chatbot to plan a trip to Norway with her partner and three children.

She wanted to drive from her home in Flintshire, north Wales and cross the North Sea by ferry.

"I thought it might make for a nice drive," Hannah says. "I asked ChatGPT if there was a ferry from the UK to Norway and it said there was one from Newcastle to Bergen."

She later checked a ferry travel website but found no such route exists.

A travel blog detailing how Brits can reach Norway says the last time the route operated was in 2008.

"I did feel a bit disappointed when I found out the information on ChatGPT was incorrect, as I'd got quite excited and had started planning the trip in my head," Hannah adds.

"My advice is don't rely on AI 100%, it's better to still do proper research."
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carlbergstrom.com
Thankfully, some of yesterday's CDC firings have been rescinded.

But this should be a major scandal, not business as usual in this shitshow of an administration. It's either spectacular incompetence or an effort to make even politically untouchable positions feel precarious to those in them.
helenbranswell.bsky.social
100s of #CDC employees were notified Friday they were being fired — RIF'd. The firings cross multiple parts of the agency, endangering its core mission of keeping Americans safe.
Saturday, some were informed they were RIF'd in error.
Hard to imagine how this happens www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...
CDC battered by government shutdown firings, while some are rescinded
The White House’s mass firing of CDC staff on Friday has decimated offices related to injury prevention, respiratory disease surveillance, and chronic disease, according to four people familiar with t...
www.statnews.com
Reposted by skryptical
governor.ca.gov
I’m signing SB 41 to lower health care costs for all Californians.

Alongside the 2025 budget and CalRx, this bill marks the most aggressive effort in the nation to drive down prescription drug prices, boost transparency, and ensure savings reach consumers and families.
skryptical.bsky.social
Compare that milquetoast with this: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u... which is behind a barrier to reading about our democracy, as is the critique in TNR (which points out that NYT should be using the correct term, "propaganda" for this blatant lying). newrepublic.com/article/2016...
How Right-Wing Influencers Are Shaping the Guard Fight in Portland
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by skryptical
casuallychaotic.bsky.social
"My god, it's a hellscape out there.

"People are... I can barely bring myself to say this but, they're talking to each other pleasantly while sharing food and drinks with one another.

"Some are even dancing without any regard for the social standing of the other people involved.

"Total chaos."

😄
Reposted by skryptical
kenwhite.bsky.social
Also: if you work for ICE, even if you’re not one of the ones arresting citizens or tackling 15-year-olds or zip-tying kids together and segregating them by race, you’re part of the mechanism making it happen, and you should suffer long-term social and post-regime-change consequences.
aricohn.com
Some weirdo on Twitter has been absolutely melting down for like 36 straight hours because I posted:

When this is over, do not forget what ICE did, and what ICE is. And do not make room for them in society. Make sure they know that they are, and will continue to be, reviled and beneath contempt.
Reposted by skryptical
parkroseperma.bsky.social
This is what patriotic Americans look like.
skryptical.bsky.social
This is the Minnesota assassin, a white Christian conservative extremist, who had 70 people on his list: apnews.com/article/minn...

Please repost this whenever you see the preposterous lie that this guy is an example of the violent left. #uspol
skryptical.bsky.social
"As the nation reels from another devastating mass shooting...at a Mormon church in suburban Michigan—Republican leaders have remained notably silent following revelations that the gunman was a devoted Trump supporter who once proudly wore the label “Ultra MAGA.”
dailyboulder.com/gop-silent-a...
GOP Silent as Mormon Church Gunman Identified as ‘Ultra MAGA’ Trump Supporter
The man who stormed a Mormon church with an assault rifle and left four people dead was a self-described "Ultra MAGA" Trump supporter, a former Marine, and a father of one.
dailyboulder.com
skryptical.bsky.social
It's almost as if using numbers would be too informative.
Reposted by skryptical
carlbergstrom.com
Fustiliarian Friday: Trump/Kennedy/GOP use the shutdown as an excuse to destroy the CDC’s elite field epidemiology team and one of the most important epidemiology journals in the world.

Gift link.
Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by skryptical
theophite.bsky.social
my big low-hanging fruit is healthcare REITs, which primarily exist as a way to extract enormous profits from "nonprofit" hospitals
schnorkles.bsky.social
Your single best "we could remove this with very little damage to the system as it is almost completely vestigal and it would see meaningful cost decreases" are PBMs.

But very few people even know PBMs exist, and they like to keep it that way.
Reposted by skryptical
parkroseperma.bsky.social
Portland continues to disprove the lies of the propagandists and show the world that we are whimsical, non-threatening working class Americans exercising our Constitutional rights and the regime is unhinged, extreme, and as Alan Ginsberg said, "one mind, brute force, and full of money."
MAGA Implodes over Kristi Noem’s “Stare Down” with Man in Chicken Suit
A good New York Times piece on Portland nevertheless demonstrates how the conventions of objective reporting fail to accurately capture the bad faith driving pro-Trump propaganda.
newrepublic.com
Reposted by skryptical
parkroseperma.bsky.social
When we talk about new nonviolent tactics emerging and how every action of the regime gives us a chance to be creative, adaptive, and get control of the narrative: the protestors at the Portland ICE facility are giving a master class right now.
aliciavlozano.bsky.social
Someone showed up with a cart of inflatables. The protest is now a dance party outside the PDX ICE facility. Federal police have mostly stood back but did unleash a toxin into the air @nbcnews.com