Ben Harding
@blhiiii.bsky.social
Outlive the bastards. Edward Abbey
Oh Lord, lead me to utter words that are soft and sweet for someday I may have to eat them. Mo Udall
Moderate drinker with a cycling problem; Reality-based life form; not a hater. Curious.
Oh Lord, lead me to utter words that are soft and sweet for someday I may have to eat them. Mo Udall
Moderate drinker with a cycling problem; Reality-based life form; not a hater. Curious.
Pinned
Ben Harding
@blhiiii.bsky.social
· Oct 12
It’s Time for Americans to Start Talking About “Soft Secession”
Blue states are finally learning what red states have known all along: you don’t need federal permission to govern.
cmarmitage.substack.com
#SoftSecession resources.
I’ll keep adding things as I come across them.
Let’s start here:
cmarmitage.substack.com/p/its-time-f...
I’ll keep adding things as I come across them.
Let’s start here:
cmarmitage.substack.com/p/its-time-f...
Reposted by Ben Harding
In 2006 a high school English teacher asked students to write to a famous author & ask for advice.
KURT VONNEGUT - born 103yrs ago today - was the only one to respond.
His reply was a doozy.
KURT VONNEGUT - born 103yrs ago today - was the only one to respond.
His reply was a doozy.
November 11, 2025 at 10:39 AM
In 2006 a high school English teacher asked students to write to a famous author & ask for advice.
KURT VONNEGUT - born 103yrs ago today - was the only one to respond.
His reply was a doozy.
KURT VONNEGUT - born 103yrs ago today - was the only one to respond.
His reply was a doozy.
It’s stunning how the Ukrainians don’t just hunker down, but excel.
The level of service described here would not be possible with corrupt leadership. Just sayin’.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
The level of service described here would not be possible with corrupt leadership. Just sayin’.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Next day delivery, no weapons allowed: the unstoppable postal service keeping Ukraine going
Nova Poshta connects frontline cities to the capital, and to millions of refugees across Europe, delivering everything from home comforts to house moving boxes, even under fire
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:15 AM
It’s stunning how the Ukrainians don’t just hunker down, but excel.
The level of service described here would not be possible with corrupt leadership. Just sayin’.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
The level of service described here would not be possible with corrupt leadership. Just sayin’.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Our small, 20-some-head engineering firm had to negotiate health insurance every year. We lost, every year, and losing less badly took a huge amount of energy that could have been spent growing the firm.
Multiply by 350 million. #medicareforall
Multiply by 350 million. #medicareforall
Think about buying a car, a fun, stress-free negotiating process that everybody loves. Now imagine that if you don’t buy a car you die and if you buy the wrong car you also die
Trump: "I want the money to go into an account for people where they buy their own health insurance. It's so good. The insurance will be better. It'll cost less. Everybody is gonna be happy. They're gonna feel like entrepreneurs. They're actually able to go out & negotiate their own insurance"
November 11, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Our small, 20-some-head engineering firm had to negotiate health insurance every year. We lost, every year, and losing less badly took a huge amount of energy that could have been spent growing the firm.
Multiply by 350 million. #medicareforall
Multiply by 350 million. #medicareforall
At the busy divided 4-lane street that I had to cross I usually jaywalked because it was safer. I didn’t have to watch out for turning cars. Fast forward 20 years and we now have crosswalks lined mid-block.
NEW EPISODE: "The Creation of America's Car Culture." Producer Ilana Strauss talks to @norton.bsky.social about the two men who, in the 1920s, teamed up to sell more cars and shape the way cities handle traffic. Their legacy can be felt across the country today. podcasts.apple.com/lu/podcast/t...
November 11, 2025 at 5:06 PM
At the busy divided 4-lane street that I had to cross I usually jaywalked because it was safer. I didn’t have to watch out for turning cars. Fast forward 20 years and we now have crosswalks lined mid-block.
I helped start and for 25 years operate a small engineering consulting firm. By far our biggest operational challenge was providing health insurance to our employees. Almost every year we would have to change providers
Insurers would punish us with rate increases when one of our employees got sick.
Insurers would punish us with rate increases when one of our employees got sick.
I’m as capitalist as they get but Medicare for all is the best hope for US healthcare | Gene Marks
With the US government shut down over impending rises to insurance premiums it’s clear the status quo cannot continue
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:14 PM
I helped start and for 25 years operate a small engineering consulting firm. By far our biggest operational challenge was providing health insurance to our employees. Almost every year we would have to change providers
Insurers would punish us with rate increases when one of our employees got sick.
Insurers would punish us with rate increases when one of our employees got sick.
A fascinating look at work advancing the understanding of the structure of DNA, and at the darkness emerging from James Watson’s soul.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
The Double Helix
The discovery of the structure of DNA
www.theatlantic.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:58 PM
A fascinating look at work advancing the understanding of the structure of DNA, and at the darkness emerging from James Watson’s soul.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
November 10, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Ben Harding
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
What is living on is the effect of Reagan’s mass firing of controllers.
"This will live on" -- Duffy explains that flying will remain a mess even after the shutdown because so many air traffic controllers are retiring
November 9, 2025 at 3:25 PM
What is living on is the effect of Reagan’s mass firing of controllers.
I wish the Republicans _would_ dump the filibuster. It makes the undemocratic Senate even more so. While she doesn’t advocate for it, @hcrichardson.bsky.social presents a strong argument for why the filibuster should be done away with.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-7...
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-7...
November 7, 2025
The repercussions from Tuesday’s vote, in which Democratic candidates were victorious across the country, continue to echo.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:44 PM
I wish the Republicans _would_ dump the filibuster. It makes the undemocratic Senate even more so. While she doesn’t advocate for it, @hcrichardson.bsky.social presents a strong argument for why the filibuster should be done away with.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-7...
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-7...
Sean, the prime directive is maintaining separation. Maintaining flow is secondary. Controllers are likely working to rule+ in order to have a larger factor of safety to manage their stress
P.S. What precipitated the staffing shortage for ATC was the Reagan firings
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/t...
P.S. What precipitated the staffing shortage for ATC was the Reagan firings
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/t...
November 7, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Sean, the prime directive is maintaining separation. Maintaining flow is secondary. Controllers are likely working to rule+ in order to have a larger factor of safety to manage their stress
P.S. What precipitated the staffing shortage for ATC was the Reagan firings
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/t...
P.S. What precipitated the staffing shortage for ATC was the Reagan firings
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/t...
Reposted by Ben Harding
@djinnandtonic.bsky.social with the bangers:
November 6, 2025 at 7:57 PM
@djinnandtonic.bsky.social with the bangers:
Please, God. Please.
Steve Bannon: If we lose the midterms and we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison, myself included.
November 7, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Please, God. Please.
Courage.
“Zwerner, who evacuated students from her classroom even after she was shot, has had five hand operations and still has a bullet lodged in her chest.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
“Zwerner, who evacuated students from her classroom even after she was shot, has had five hand operations and still has a bullet lodged in her chest.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Virginia school teacher shot by six-year-old student awarded $10m in damages
Abigail Zwerner alleged assistant principal ignored reports that a firearm was on school property
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Courage.
“Zwerner, who evacuated students from her classroom even after she was shot, has had five hand operations and still has a bullet lodged in her chest.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
“Zwerner, who evacuated students from her classroom even after she was shot, has had five hand operations and still has a bullet lodged in her chest.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
At the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, Canada produced a life-size statue of the Prince of Wales made of butter.
@katharinehayhoe.com, take note.
@katharinehayhoe.com, take note.
November 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM
At the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, Canada produced a life-size statue of the Prince of Wales made of butter.
@katharinehayhoe.com, take note.
@katharinehayhoe.com, take note.
Anyone want to guess what airports these might be?
U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY EXPECTED TO ANNOUNCE 10% CUT OF SCHEDULED CAPACITY AT 40 MAJOR HIGH TRAFFIC AIRPORTS STARTING FRIDAY -- SOURCES
November 5, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Anyone want to guess what airports these might be?
I’m with @jonathanbchait.bsky.social.
The filibuster is anti-deomocratic and Dems should take this opportunity to rid us of it. As Chait points out, it works in favor of Republicans. If 2026 is a wave, Dems will be glad it’s gone.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
The filibuster is anti-deomocratic and Dems should take this opportunity to rid us of it. As Chait points out, it works in favor of Republicans. If 2026 is a wave, Dems will be glad it’s gone.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Trump Is Right: Ditch the Filibuster
The tactic is a deformed anachronism. Its demise would benefit the whole country, and Democrats especially.
www.theatlantic.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:16 PM
I’m with @jonathanbchait.bsky.social.
The filibuster is anti-deomocratic and Dems should take this opportunity to rid us of it. As Chait points out, it works in favor of Republicans. If 2026 is a wave, Dems will be glad it’s gone.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
The filibuster is anti-deomocratic and Dems should take this opportunity to rid us of it. As Chait points out, it works in favor of Republicans. If 2026 is a wave, Dems will be glad it’s gone.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Ben Harding
Federal agents pulling a woman out of Rayito Del Sol, a daycare by Lane Tech high school
November 5, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Federal agents pulling a woman out of Rayito Del Sol, a daycare by Lane Tech high school
This warning.
Just wrote an upbeat (!) Morning Shots.
I mean, if not today, when?
We should relish this moment. For a few hours. Because we should realize that these results are going to make the Trump administration even more aggressive about tilting the 2026 playing field, and we need to be ready for that.
I mean, if not today, when?
We should relish this moment. For a few hours. Because we should realize that these results are going to make the Trump administration even more aggressive about tilting the 2026 playing field, and we need to be ready for that.
November 5, 2025 at 5:30 PM
This warning.
Reposted by Ben Harding
The ADL has decided to treat fascists as allies and progressives as enemies. For a group that is tasked with protecting American Jews, that is a world historic fuck up.
I will never forgive these people for their moral decrepitude.
I will never forgive these people for their moral decrepitude.
November 5, 2025 at 3:16 PM
The ADL has decided to treat fascists as allies and progressives as enemies. For a group that is tasked with protecting American Jews, that is a world historic fuck up.
I will never forgive these people for their moral decrepitude.
I will never forgive these people for their moral decrepitude.
Yes. This could backfire spectacularly. 🤞🤞🤞
Of course the risk of doing radical mid-decade gerrymandering for Rs in midterms always was that they weakened a lot of formerly safe Repub districts by moving R voters into Dem districts, which would backfire spectacularly if you have a blue wave scenario - making it a tsunami.
November 5, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Yes. This could backfire spectacularly. 🤞🤞🤞