alirey.bsky.social
@alirey.bsky.social
Reposted
I see there’s a post about microplastics going around with a photo of drinking straws, so here is my semi-regular reminder that the 3 biggest sources of microplastics are tires (45%), synthetic clothing particles (35%) and paint (~10%).
Lay article attached:
One of the biggest microplastic pollution sources isn’t straws or grocery bags – it’s your tires
Every few years, the tires on your car wear thin and need to be replaced. But where does that lost tire material go? The answer, unfortunately, is often waterways, where the tiny microplastic particle...
www.pbs.org
December 24, 2025 at 4:49 AM
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My latest newsletter is about the spiked 60 Minutes story and the reactionary psychology of Bari Weiss.
Bari Weiss Fulfills Her Destiny
stringinamaze.net
December 24, 2025 at 4:03 PM
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The U.S. economy grew at a 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter, despite the uncertainty created by tariffs and widespread concerns about affordability among households.
U.S. GDP Grew 4.3%, Surging in Third Quarter of 2025
Gross domestic product grew at a 4.3 percent annual rate, faster than the previous three months.
nyti.ms
December 23, 2025 at 4:40 PM
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On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up. But is still led to cuts that closed offices, canceled programs and deprived people of food, medicine and other aid.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:29 PM
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the end result of Trump 2 is going to be the complete collapse of the institutional right into an incoherent soup of billionaires and grifters all busy stabbing each other in the back

they spent decades constructing this infrastructure and it’s all coming tumbling down
December 22, 2025 at 11:46 PM
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here's the 60 minutes cecot video part 1 of 5 - recorded/uploaded by and all credit to @jasonparis.bsky.social

I just reduced background noise, chopped the 14 minutes into 3 minute segments each compressed under 100 mb for bsky's limits, cropped and rotated a few degrees for easier viewing on here
December 22, 2025 at 10:58 PM
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This has been made available, so for purposes of commenting on Bari Weiss's decision to spike the story, here's a live-post of that segment.

It begins with a "you may recall" summary of the deportation to el Salvador. Describes the admin's claim that it could deport the men without due process
December 22, 2025 at 10:16 PM
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New, at Can We Still Govern?
Poverty is not some insurmountable problem, we can fix it.
A group of National Academies of Science researchers review the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit during the pandemic, showing it cut child poverty in half. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-have-...
What have we learned about child poverty in America?
Members of a National Academy of Sciences committee share insights
donmoynihan.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:18 PM
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Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Surviving CECOT (full documentary) | Deported to a Maximum-Security Prison | FRONTLINE + ProPublica
YouTube video by FRONTLINE PBS | Official
m.youtube.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:26 PM
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It’s not just Gaza.

Netanyahu’s extremist government is supporting the violent annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank. This is illegal and immoral, and decades of American silence have enabled it.

NO MORE MILITARY AID FOR NETANYAHU.
Land Grab: Inside Israel’s Escalating Campaign for Control of the West Bank
Israeli seizure of Palestinian lands in the West Bank, often brutally, has accelerated, raising doubts about the prospects of a peaceful solution to the conflict.
www.nytimes.com
December 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
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from june: Trump’s Gaza Fantasy and the Network State: The Tech-Fueled Future of Privatized Sovereignty

www.techpolicy.press/trumps-gaza-...
Trump’s Gaza Fantasy and the Network State: The Tech-Fueled Future of Privatized Sovereignty | TechPolicy.Press
We’re watching the rise of a new anti-democratic extremism—networked, crypto-financed, and cloaked in the language of freedom, writes Gil Duran.
www.techpolicy.press
December 20, 2025 at 12:19 AM
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Great piece from Paul Musgrave on how Trump is, in essence, taking America private:
Taking America Private
The political-economic consequences of Mr. Trump
musgrave.substack.com
December 19, 2025 at 9:22 PM
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Vought is one of the top three or four enemies of the Constitution & American democracy. His removal from power is one of the highest priorities for any project of checking the dictatorship's lawless wielding of the vast powers of the state
Russ Vought set out to ensure a second Trump term would not be hampered by checks and balances:

“I don’t want President Trump having to lose a moment of time having fights in the Oval Office about whether something is legal or doable or moral.”

(Published October w/ @newyorker.com)
Russell Vought, Trump’s Shadow President
From the wholesale gutting of federal agencies to the ongoing government shutdown, Russell Vought has drawn the road map for Trump’s second term. Vought has consolidated power to an extent that inside...
www.propublica.org
December 19, 2025 at 4:56 PM
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Opinion | Olivia Nuzzi, Karine Jean-Pierre and Eric Trump Have All Written the Same Book
www.nytimes.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:17 AM
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Virginia Heffernan wrote this shortly after the 2016 election and it still holds true
December 16, 2025 at 4:21 AM
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Speaking ill of the dead is controversial, particularly when it was a violent death. It’s edgy; it’s sensitive; best avoided in most cases, etc.

Baselessly making another person’s murder *about yourself,* and then approving of it, is a different thing. That is delusional, narcissistic, sociopathic.
December 15, 2025 at 9:51 PM
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Our NYT piece examines Hamm's determined, 15-year campaign to reshape US energy policy. Why? He wanted to extend out the life of fossil fuels to allow his family-controlled company to keep drilling. He argued this is essential to US. energy security. A free link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/b...
The Oilman Who Pushed Trump to Go All In on Fossil Fuels
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:31 AM
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This is incredible (good news too): “After a 40% fall in 2024 in battery equipment costs, it’s clear we’re on track for another major fall in 2025…The economics for batteries are unrecognizable, & the industry is only just getting to grips with this new paradigm”
www.pv-magazine.com/2025/12/12/b...
Batteries now cheap enough to make dispatchable solar economically feasible
Energy think tank Ember says utility-scale battery costs have fallen to $65/MWh outside China and the United States, enabling solar power to be delivered when needed.
www.pv-magazine.com
December 14, 2025 at 5:07 PM
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The theory of power that says conservatives as a whole, and young right-wing men in particular, are victims repressed by the left-wing forces dominating society is, in a word, insane.

It cannot possibly be addressed, because it's not true. It's just rationalization for hatred and hurting others.
The New Right's Theory of Power is Insane
It is simply not true that radical leftists took over all major institutions and use them to crush the right, and mainstream figures should stop being afraid to say so
www.arcdigital.media
December 14, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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Assigned to a prison job paying $0.13 per hour, Abron Arrington refused to work, figuring his time could be better spent learning physics.

The Colorado DOC punished him with bouts of solitary confinement.
Forced Labor Continues in Colorado, Years After Vote to End Prison Slavery 
Coloradans voted in 2018 to amend their state constitution to ban forced labor in prison. Years later, incarcerated people are still being punished for refusing work assignments.
boltsmag.org
December 14, 2025 at 3:29 PM
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Extraordinary courage from Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim, 43-year-old father of two, who bravely risked his life to save his neighbors celebrating Hanukkah.

Praying for his full & speedy recovery.

And so deeply inspired by his example.
WATCH: Bystander disarms active shooter at Bondi Beach in Sydney
December 14, 2025 at 2:37 PM
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December 12, 2025 at 7:33 PM
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Warned that this was going to happen. And if Trump’s DOJ doesn’t fight it, I’m not sure there’s much that can be done to stop it.

radleybalko.substack.com/p/magas-300-...
December 11, 2025 at 4:59 AM
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"We live in hell, and the rapacious need for growth in every industry, unrelenting, forever and ever, is decimating all of our institutions and our way of life."

Amanda Dobbins, on fire
December 10, 2025 at 10:20 PM
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Parkinson’s disease has environmental toxic factors, not just genetic. www.wired.com/story/scient...
Scientists Thought Parkinson’s Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the Water
New ideas about chronic illness could revolutionize treatment, if we take the research seriously.
www.wired.com
December 10, 2025 at 11:04 AM