Steve Sikora
@artofangles.bsky.social
Former manager, bleeding edge tech services for visual communicators. Still sane. Gainfully retired.
Veteran🇺🇸
Seen from Key West to PEI 🇨🇦
#STEAM #Humanities #Civics #ClimateAction #PublicHealth #CyberSecurity #RuleOfLaw
#InformedCitizenry
#SlavaUkraini🇺🇦
Veteran🇺🇸
Seen from Key West to PEI 🇨🇦
#STEAM #Humanities #Civics #ClimateAction #PublicHealth #CyberSecurity #RuleOfLaw
#InformedCitizenry
#SlavaUkraini🇺🇦
Reposted by Steve Sikora
is there anybody even denying that the pardons are paid for or do we just kind of all accept this now?
GOP operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, convicted election fraudsters, were paid $960,000 in the second quarter to secure a pardon for a former nursing-home operator who defrauded the government of $38 million. Trump pardoned the man, Joseph Schwartz, last month.
Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon
Even some of the president’s closest advisers have been surprised by a number of the recent series of pardons.
www.wsj.com
December 26, 2025 at 6:53 PM
is there anybody even denying that the pardons are paid for or do we just kind of all accept this now?
Reposted by Steve Sikora
This how it works: felons pay other felons as intermediaries to purchase a pardon from a 34-count felon now exercising the pardon power.
December 25, 2025 at 10:36 PM
This how it works: felons pay other felons as intermediaries to purchase a pardon from a 34-count felon now exercising the pardon power.
Reposted by Steve Sikora
In courts of law, this is known as consciousness of guilt.
Steve Bannon: "If we lose the midterms and we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison, myself included."
December 26, 2025 at 7:59 PM
In courts of law, this is known as consciousness of guilt.
Reposted by Steve Sikora
This administration lied about the people it sent to an overseas torture prison. It lies about the people it’s deporting. It lies every day to gain political advantage. Not a chance in hell they won’t lie about huge swaths of people they suspect might vote for the other party.
December 27, 2025 at 12:31 AM
This administration lied about the people it sent to an overseas torture prison. It lies about the people it’s deporting. It lies every day to gain political advantage. Not a chance in hell they won’t lie about huge swaths of people they suspect might vote for the other party.
Reposted by Steve Sikora
Imagine watching Sinatra, son of Dolly & Antonini born in Genoa & Sicily, respectively, and Martin, son of Gaetano & Angela, born in Montesilvano, Italy & Ohio respectively, (Angela to parents born in Monasterolo, Italy), and crusading against the value of children of immigrants to the U.S.
December 26, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Imagine watching Sinatra, son of Dolly & Antonini born in Genoa & Sicily, respectively, and Martin, son of Gaetano & Angela, born in Montesilvano, Italy & Ohio respectively, (Angela to parents born in Monasterolo, Italy), and crusading against the value of children of immigrants to the U.S.
#PerformativeDisinformation and #Misinformation, an important thread via @katestarbird.bsky.social👇🏼
Good article, but I think we could add that many of the current government officials & influencers spreading political point-scoring falsehoods during crisis events HAVE BECOME gov officials & influencers BECAUSE of their bullshit-spreading talents. System effects of rotten attention dynamics.
Government Officials Once Stopped False Accusations After Violence. Now, Some Join In.
www.nytimes.com
December 27, 2025 at 7:11 AM
#PerformativeDisinformation and #Misinformation, an important thread via @katestarbird.bsky.social👇🏼
Reposted by Steve Sikora
"Every accusation is a confession" remains undefeated
I somehow missed this www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/...
December 27, 2025 at 2:01 AM
"Every accusation is a confession" remains undefeated
“…U.S. District Judge Amir Ali found that Zaid was likely to succeed on his claim that revoking Zaid’s security clearance violated the attorney’s constitutional #FreeSpeech and #DueProcess rights. Trump has called Zaid a 'sleazeball' and said the lawyer should be sued for treason.”
wapo.st/4jidDbh
wapo.st/4jidDbh
Trump suffers several defeats in effort to punish opposing lawyers
Courts have ruled against Trump’s efforts to take security clearances away from opposing lawyers. The latest loss comes in a case involving lawyer Mark Zaid.
wapo.st
December 27, 2025 at 6:16 AM
“…U.S. District Judge Amir Ali found that Zaid was likely to succeed on his claim that revoking Zaid’s security clearance violated the attorney’s constitutional #FreeSpeech and #DueProcess rights. Trump has called Zaid a 'sleazeball' and said the lawyer should be sued for treason.”
wapo.st/4jidDbh
wapo.st/4jidDbh
Reposted by Steve Sikora
1/2
-More-interesting-than-usual story on Trump's extortion demands on Harvard. (Remember when this was all about the MAGA/Fuentes team's heartfelt concern about antisemitism?)
-Headline badly mismatches contents of the story. As the reporting makes clear, the "escalation" is all on MAGA side.
-More-interesting-than-usual story on Trump's extortion demands on Harvard. (Remember when this was all about the MAGA/Fuentes team's heartfelt concern about antisemitism?)
-Headline badly mismatches contents of the story. As the reporting makes clear, the "escalation" is all on MAGA side.
December 26, 2025 at 6:05 PM
1/2
-More-interesting-than-usual story on Trump's extortion demands on Harvard. (Remember when this was all about the MAGA/Fuentes team's heartfelt concern about antisemitism?)
-Headline badly mismatches contents of the story. As the reporting makes clear, the "escalation" is all on MAGA side.
-More-interesting-than-usual story on Trump's extortion demands on Harvard. (Remember when this was all about the MAGA/Fuentes team's heartfelt concern about antisemitism?)
-Headline badly mismatches contents of the story. As the reporting makes clear, the "escalation" is all on MAGA side.
Reposted by Steve Sikora
2/2
Headline that would fit the same space, and better match reporting in the article:
"Private Letters Show Trump Escalating
Demands on Harvard"
Also, this is not a "duel." It's extortion. And, the actual story makes that clear!
Story here: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
Headline that would fit the same space, and better match reporting in the article:
"Private Letters Show Trump Escalating
Demands on Harvard"
Also, this is not a "duel." It's extortion. And, the actual story makes that clear!
Story here: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
December 26, 2025 at 6:10 PM
2/2
Headline that would fit the same space, and better match reporting in the article:
"Private Letters Show Trump Escalating
Demands on Harvard"
Also, this is not a "duel." It's extortion. And, the actual story makes that clear!
Story here: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
Headline that would fit the same space, and better match reporting in the article:
"Private Letters Show Trump Escalating
Demands on Harvard"
Also, this is not a "duel." It's extortion. And, the actual story makes that clear!
Story here: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
Reposted by Steve Sikora
This is related to the idea that if white people don't have 100% of high-prestige jobs, awards, recognition etc it's evidence of discrimination against whiteness. It's where "great replacement" logic leads you. bsky.app/profile/donm...
I see this on the right - the idea that the existence of foreign academic staff and faculty are evidence of discrimination against natives. It's not discrimination, its selection: academia is a global marketplace, the US is the biggest center of that market. So yes, some foreign talent will win.
Striking nativist editorializing by the federal judge who just upheld the $100,000 tax on high-skill immigrants.
She opines that it’s “troubling” that universities hire talent from abroad at all, instead of only native grads.
Then admits (!) that opinion is irrelevant (So why write it? Venting?)
She opines that it’s “troubling” that universities hire talent from abroad at all, instead of only native grads.
Then admits (!) that opinion is irrelevant (So why write it? Venting?)
December 26, 2025 at 6:00 PM
This is related to the idea that if white people don't have 100% of high-prestige jobs, awards, recognition etc it's evidence of discrimination against whiteness. It's where "great replacement" logic leads you. bsky.app/profile/donm...
Reposted by Steve Sikora
Striking nativist editorializing by the federal judge who just upheld the $100,000 tax on high-skill immigrants.
She opines that it’s “troubling” that universities hire talent from abroad at all, instead of only native grads.
Then admits (!) that opinion is irrelevant (So why write it? Venting?)
She opines that it’s “troubling” that universities hire talent from abroad at all, instead of only native grads.
Then admits (!) that opinion is irrelevant (So why write it? Venting?)
December 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Striking nativist editorializing by the federal judge who just upheld the $100,000 tax on high-skill immigrants.
She opines that it’s “troubling” that universities hire talent from abroad at all, instead of only native grads.
Then admits (!) that opinion is irrelevant (So why write it? Venting?)
She opines that it’s “troubling” that universities hire talent from abroad at all, instead of only native grads.
Then admits (!) that opinion is irrelevant (So why write it? Venting?)
Reposted by Steve Sikora
Carol of the Bells ("Shchedryk") from Ukrainian Defenders at Sofiivska Square, in the heart of Kyiv.
Merry Christmas, friends!
📹: miarodriges / Threads
Merry Christmas, friends!
📹: miarodriges / Threads
December 24, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Carol of the Bells ("Shchedryk") from Ukrainian Defenders at Sofiivska Square, in the heart of Kyiv.
Merry Christmas, friends!
📹: miarodriges / Threads
Merry Christmas, friends!
📹: miarodriges / Threads
Reposted by Steve Sikora
Watch Bing Crosby’s Final Christmas Special, Featuring a Famous Duet with Bowie, and Bowie Introducing His New Song, “Heroes” (1977)
Watch Bing Crosby’s Final Christmas Special, Featuring a Famous Duet with Bowie, and Bowie Introducing His New Song, “Heroes” (1977)
Bing Crosby died in October of 1977, but that didn't stop him from appearing in living rooms all over America for Christmas.
www.openculture.com
December 24, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Watch Bing Crosby’s Final Christmas Special, Featuring a Famous Duet with Bowie, and Bowie Introducing His New Song, “Heroes” (1977)
Reposted by Steve Sikora
When Salvador Dalí Created Christmas Cards That Were Too Avant Garde for Hallmark (1960)
When Salvador Dalí Created Christmas Cards That Were Too Avant Garde for Hallmark (1960)
The nature of marketing in the nearly-over 2010s, with all its unexpected brand crossovers and collaborations, gave rise to many strange commercial bedfellows.
www.openculture.com
December 24, 2025 at 10:48 PM
When Salvador Dalí Created Christmas Cards That Were Too Avant Garde for Hallmark (1960)
Reposted by Steve Sikora
An enraging trend right now, from CBS to the CDC, of people actively undermining institutions, then taking the reins of those institutions and claiming they need to rebuild the trust they helped destroy. (Also, people already trusted 60 Minutes.) bsky.app/profile/just...
Bari Weiss just sent this Christmas Eve email to the CBS News staff about "building trust," which includes her tripling down on spiking the CECOT piece "to make sure it's comprehensive and fair."
One CBS staffer tells me: "She really has no idea how insulting she comes across."
One CBS staffer tells me: "She really has no idea how insulting she comes across."
December 24, 2025 at 6:52 PM
An enraging trend right now, from CBS to the CDC, of people actively undermining institutions, then taking the reins of those institutions and claiming they need to rebuild the trust they helped destroy. (Also, people already trusted 60 Minutes.) bsky.app/profile/just...
Reposted by Steve Sikora
Two of the four signers of this letter to CBS News staff — Weiss and Rubenstein — are conservative oped writers who have done little, if any, actual news reporting in their careers.
It’d be like having a sophomore biology major telling a cardiologist how to do a heart transplant.
It’d be like having a sophomore biology major telling a cardiologist how to do a heart transplant.
December 24, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Two of the four signers of this letter to CBS News staff — Weiss and Rubenstein — are conservative oped writers who have done little, if any, actual news reporting in their careers.
It’d be like having a sophomore biology major telling a cardiologist how to do a heart transplant.
It’d be like having a sophomore biology major telling a cardiologist how to do a heart transplant.
Reposted by Steve Sikora
"Weiss is following a long-standing instinct to turn every Trump abuse into a debate, a generosity she does not afford targets on the left...impossible to take her objections at face value given the context in which she's operating."
[email protected]
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
[email protected]
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Stop Defending Bari Weiss
It is impossible to take her actions at face value given the context in which she is operating.
www.theatlantic.com
December 24, 2025 at 8:53 PM
"Weiss is following a long-standing instinct to turn every Trump abuse into a debate, a generosity she does not afford targets on the left...impossible to take her objections at face value given the context in which she's operating."
[email protected]
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
[email protected]
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Steve Sikora
CBS destroying a brand they built up over the course of like 100 years for one criminal idiot is a pretty funny bit
'Smallest audience ever': Kennedy Center Honors tank on CBS after Trump takes over
www.rawstory.com/trump-kenned...
www.rawstory.com/trump-kenned...
'Smallest audience ever': Kennedy Center Honors tank on CBS after Trump takes over
"The Kennedy Center Honors" reportedly drew its lowest ratings ever after President Donald Trump announced he would host the event."According to preliminary Nielsen data, 'The Kennedy Center Honors' o...
www.rawstory.com
December 24, 2025 at 10:44 PM
CBS destroying a brand they built up over the course of like 100 years for one criminal idiot is a pretty funny bit
Reposted by Steve Sikora
WHO GIVES A DAMN?
It’s a public service, right there in the name. It exists as a public good for all the people in this country. It’s not supposed to turn a profit, you dolts.
Go audit the Pentagon and see what kind of return on investment we’re getting there.
It’s a public service, right there in the name. It exists as a public good for all the people in this country. It’s not supposed to turn a profit, you dolts.
Go audit the Pentagon and see what kind of return on investment we’re getting there.
The USPS faces a tight squeeze. With fewer people using the mail, it’s lost more and more money: $9 billion in the 12 months ending in September alone.
https://cnn.it/4qkeNoF
https://cnn.it/4qkeNoF
December 24, 2025 at 5:52 PM
WHO GIVES A DAMN?
It’s a public service, right there in the name. It exists as a public good for all the people in this country. It’s not supposed to turn a profit, you dolts.
Go audit the Pentagon and see what kind of return on investment we’re getting there.
It’s a public service, right there in the name. It exists as a public good for all the people in this country. It’s not supposed to turn a profit, you dolts.
Go audit the Pentagon and see what kind of return on investment we’re getting there.
Reposted by Steve Sikora
Imagine interviewing a victim of torture and independently confirming the details of his torture and then being told you can’t broadcast it because the people who ordered the torture wouldn’t give their side of the story.
December 23, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Imagine interviewing a victim of torture and independently confirming the details of his torture and then being told you can’t broadcast it because the people who ordered the torture wouldn’t give their side of the story.
Reposted by Steve Sikora
A #BlueskyLullaby for tonight: Beth Wood sings "The Peace Carol." See you around.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=83L2...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=83L2...
The Peace Carol
YouTube video by Beth Wood - Topic
www.youtube.com
December 24, 2025 at 7:31 AM
A #BlueskyLullaby for tonight: Beth Wood sings "The Peace Carol." See you around.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=83L2...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=83L2...
Reposted by Steve Sikora
“It’s the new Jeffrey Epstein jet.”
Kristi Noem “posting a fun video in front of caged, tatted men.”
Look how Bari Weiss’ The Free Press wrote about CECOT — the El Salvador megaprison Trump shipped people to — just months before she stopped the 60 Minutes segment on it:
zeteo.com/p/bari-weiss...
Kristi Noem “posting a fun video in front of caged, tatted men.”
Look how Bari Weiss’ The Free Press wrote about CECOT — the El Salvador megaprison Trump shipped people to — just months before she stopped the 60 Minutes segment on it:
zeteo.com/p/bari-weiss...
December 23, 2025 at 9:02 PM
“It’s the new Jeffrey Epstein jet.”
Kristi Noem “posting a fun video in front of caged, tatted men.”
Look how Bari Weiss’ The Free Press wrote about CECOT — the El Salvador megaprison Trump shipped people to — just months before she stopped the 60 Minutes segment on it:
zeteo.com/p/bari-weiss...
Kristi Noem “posting a fun video in front of caged, tatted men.”
Look how Bari Weiss’ The Free Press wrote about CECOT — the El Salvador megaprison Trump shipped people to — just months before she stopped the 60 Minutes segment on it:
zeteo.com/p/bari-weiss...
Reposted by Steve Sikora
Journalism is supposed to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted,” but Bari Weiss has it backwards. My new column https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/23/bari-weiss-60-minutes-cecot-episode-censorship?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Bari Weiss yanking a 60 Minutes story is censorship by oligarchy | Margaret Sullivan
Weiss ought to cut her losses, green-light the piece, and try to start acting like an editor – not like a cog in the machine of authoritarian politics and oligarchy
www.theguardian.com
December 23, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Journalism is supposed to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted,” but Bari Weiss has it backwards. My new column https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/23/bari-weiss-60-minutes-cecot-episode-censorship?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Reposted by Steve Sikora
It's long been known that if you do redactions improperly, someone can copy and paste redacted text and get it to appear. I recall that happening with a document we received at the Chicago Tribune more than a decade ago. The fact that the Trump regime doesn't know this is a scandal in itself. 1/2
Some Epstein file redactions are being undone with hacks
Un-redacted text from released documents began circulating on social media on Monday evening
www.theguardian.com
December 23, 2025 at 8:17 PM
It's long been known that if you do redactions improperly, someone can copy and paste redacted text and get it to appear. I recall that happening with a document we received at the Chicago Tribune more than a decade ago. The fact that the Trump regime doesn't know this is a scandal in itself. 1/2