Ernest Post
@rehmi.bsky.social
doing things with stuff | wave optics | e-textiles | triboelectricity | kernel hacking | AR
Reposted by Ernest Post
"Every journalist at CBS News now knows that if you spend months working on a segment that makes the Trump administration look bad, it might get killed at the last second by someone who’s never worked in TV news & who reports directly to a billionaire with business before the administration."
Adversarial journalism depends on the premise that reporters can publish true, well-sourced information even when the subjects of stories would prefer they didn’t. Weiss has abandoned that premise.
trib.al/S3C3UWY
trib.al/S3C3UWY
Bari Weiss Has Thrown the CBS News Killswitch
The Trump administration now has a veto over the Tiffany Network’s newsroom.
trib.al
December 28, 2025 at 5:38 PM
"Every journalist at CBS News now knows that if you spend months working on a segment that makes the Trump administration look bad, it might get killed at the last second by someone who’s never worked in TV news & who reports directly to a billionaire with business before the administration."
Reposted by Ernest Post
Read Jim's whole thread! I also want to add some historical context. During the 1918 pandemic, there was so much confusion because many scientists still thought that a bacteria, not a virus caused the flu (because, as Jim notes, we couldn't even see viruses under a microscope yet).
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated that the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab virus from vaccine research, a defective influenza vaccine. Let’s analyze what a lie this is. First, in 1918, 107 years ago, virology was in its infancy
December 28, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Read Jim's whole thread! I also want to add some historical context. During the 1918 pandemic, there was so much confusion because many scientists still thought that a bacteria, not a virus caused the flu (because, as Jim notes, we couldn't even see viruses under a microscope yet).
Reposted by Ernest Post
This is the world Justice Kavanaugh sanctioned in his foolish & unnecessary concurring opinion to the Court’s order in Noem v Vasquez Perdomo. His hopes of cleaning up that blunder with a plaintive footnote in last week’s concurring opinion in Trump v. Illinois, demonstrates his staggering naïveté.
"'I have my ID!' Mubashir shouted repeatedly, as heard on the video. The agents do not respond."
www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
ICE agents tackle, arrest American citizen in Minneapolis
Federal immigration agents tackled and arrested a Somali American man in Minneapolis on Tuesday and detained him for about two hours for no apparent reason other than his ethnicity.
www.mprnews.org
December 28, 2025 at 4:32 PM
This is the world Justice Kavanaugh sanctioned in his foolish & unnecessary concurring opinion to the Court’s order in Noem v Vasquez Perdomo. His hopes of cleaning up that blunder with a plaintive footnote in last week’s concurring opinion in Trump v. Illinois, demonstrates his staggering naïveté.
Reposted by Ernest Post
Virginia State Sen. Bryce Reeves sends an email to his list this morning announcing his withdrawal from the U.S. Senate race.
11 minutes later, his campaign sends an email asking for endorsements for the U.S. Senate race.
11 minutes later, his campaign sends an email asking for endorsements for the U.S. Senate race.
December 28, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Virginia State Sen. Bryce Reeves sends an email to his list this morning announcing his withdrawal from the U.S. Senate race.
11 minutes later, his campaign sends an email asking for endorsements for the U.S. Senate race.
11 minutes later, his campaign sends an email asking for endorsements for the U.S. Senate race.
Reposted by Ernest Post
also clued me into this incredibly embarrassing subplot that i guess i missed at the time:
Trump’s ‘China Muse’ Has an Imaginary Friend
Who is Ron Vara? He seems to exist only in the books of Peter Navarro.
www.chronicle.com
December 28, 2025 at 1:54 PM
also clued me into this incredibly embarrassing subplot that i guess i missed at the time:
Reposted by Ernest Post
I wasn’t going to read this—I know what Navarro is—but I’m glad I clicked. There are worse people in the world, but never has there been such a crushingly devastating profile. Here is the true, puny, pathetic essence of Trumpism.
“I don’t know why he still goes to work, or if he even knows how boxed out he is. His life is a fiction. He’s not a player at all.“
Peter Navarro, Trump’s Ultimate Yes-Man
The tariff cheerleader established the template of sycophancy for Trump Administration officials.
www.newyorker.com
December 28, 2025 at 4:39 PM
I wasn’t going to read this—I know what Navarro is—but I’m glad I clicked. There are worse people in the world, but never has there been such a crushingly devastating profile. Here is the true, puny, pathetic essence of Trumpism.
Reposted by Ernest Post
Since the civil war, these people keep losing their minds, doing hateful things, try to ruin and overthrow the country, and then when they sober up demand to forget and forgive, shrug and move on. It's in the past. It's this fucked up abusive cycle rich people keep force fucking into existence.
We need Nuremberg trials for the Trump administration officials who illegally sent these men to a torture camp. No "forward, not backward" BS. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘We became famous, but at what cost?’: after the horrors of Cecot, the search for a normal life
After months of torture in the Salvadorian prison, the men deported from the US reunite with families in Venezuela
www.theguardian.com
December 28, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Since the civil war, these people keep losing their minds, doing hateful things, try to ruin and overthrow the country, and then when they sober up demand to forget and forgive, shrug and move on. It's in the past. It's this fucked up abusive cycle rich people keep force fucking into existence.
Reposted by Ernest Post
Problem is with impeachment power in a partisan Congress. It's a gun with no bullets; the idea that the electorate empowered a sovereign for four years, and it is anti-democratic to remove him, is so powerful (and so dumb) that you can never really crack his party and get the votes for conviction.
All time most incompetent political party
December 28, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Problem is with impeachment power in a partisan Congress. It's a gun with no bullets; the idea that the electorate empowered a sovereign for four years, and it is anti-democratic to remove him, is so powerful (and so dumb) that you can never really crack his party and get the votes for conviction.
Reposted by Ernest Post
Again, sure, but it was neither the president’s nor the AG’s job to do the Senate’s job for it. It all should have been over in February 2021, & the people everyone is actually angry at are all Republican Senators. Total failure of Article I of the Constitution. Presidentialism was a grave mistake.
December 28, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Again, sure, but it was neither the president’s nor the AG’s job to do the Senate’s job for it. It all should have been over in February 2021, & the people everyone is actually angry at are all Republican Senators. Total failure of Article I of the Constitution. Presidentialism was a grave mistake.
Reposted by Ernest Post
I've long wondered what would happen if all the women at the next big academic conference fancy-matched the dress code of the average male in attendance---like, if jeans, a sport coat, sneakers, and hair I rolled out of bed with work for you, they work for me
will also add - yes, this is my personal crusade - that turning podcasts into videos implicitly asks women to once again make more effort than men, as the bar for "camera-ready" for one gender is obviously higher than for the other
‘Painful to hear!’ How podcasts’ rush to video is turning them into dreadful listens
December 28, 2025 at 3:18 PM
I've long wondered what would happen if all the women at the next big academic conference fancy-matched the dress code of the average male in attendance---like, if jeans, a sport coat, sneakers, and hair I rolled out of bed with work for you, they work for me
Reposted by Ernest Post
Once you decide there's nothing bad enough the president can do to warrant impeachment you're kind of done. You're relegated to holding a bunch of hearings which is a PR battle for the subsequent election, but in the meantime you're stuck with a criminal president
I’ve seen no serious engagement from senior Dems about what, exactly, they plan to do in terms of reasserting congressional power, as in identifying the available tools and thinking seriously about ways to use them to dig us out of the current state of total constitutional collapse.
Pelosi: "Right now, Republicans in Congress have abolished the Congress. They just do what the president insists that they do. That will be over as soon as we have the gavel."
December 28, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Once you decide there's nothing bad enough the president can do to warrant impeachment you're kind of done. You're relegated to holding a bunch of hearings which is a PR battle for the subsequent election, but in the meantime you're stuck with a criminal president
Reposted by Ernest Post
I have yet to meet a small business owner who wants to pay more for imported goods thanks to tariffs, wants it to be harder to hire/retain talent thanks to xenophobic immigration policies and try to sell things in the face of collapsing consumer sentiment.
Kelly Loeffler: "I don't think small business owners have ever been so excited to pay their taxes thanks to President Trump."
December 28, 2025 at 4:15 PM
I have yet to meet a small business owner who wants to pay more for imported goods thanks to tariffs, wants it to be harder to hire/retain talent thanks to xenophobic immigration policies and try to sell things in the face of collapsing consumer sentiment.
Reposted by Ernest Post
Violent white supremacist podcaster Joe Oltmann announces he's seeking the 2026 Republican nomination for governor of Colorado in an online livestream on Friday, Dec 26, 2025. Fringe figure who embrace violence against other Americans are increasingly a par of the GOP mainstream.
Colorado podcaster who has called for political foes to be executed joins GOP primary for governor
Joe Oltmann, the conservative Colorado podcaster who has repeatedly called for Colorado’s top elected officials to be executed and whose uncorroborated claims that the 2020 election was rigged spawned...
gazette.com
December 28, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Violent white supremacist podcaster Joe Oltmann announces he's seeking the 2026 Republican nomination for governor of Colorado in an online livestream on Friday, Dec 26, 2025. Fringe figure who embrace violence against other Americans are increasingly a par of the GOP mainstream.
Reposted by Ernest Post
Nothing about this is normal. I don't even know where to start other than to say again -- this is not normal.
December 28, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Nothing about this is normal. I don't even know where to start other than to say again -- this is not normal.
Reposted by Ernest Post
Historians: Quibbling Over Exact Definition Of Concentration Camp Sign Of Healthy Society https://theonion.com/historians-quibbling-over-exact-definition-of-concentration-camp-sign-of-healthy-society/
December 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Historians: Quibbling Over Exact Definition Of Concentration Camp Sign Of Healthy Society https://theonion.com/historians-quibbling-over-exact-definition-of-concentration-camp-sign-of-healthy-society/
Reposted by Ernest Post
Agrivoltaics boost crop yields even when the solar panels aren’t generating power. New research from Canada shows that shading crops with elevated solar panels creates a cooler, wetter microclimate that can lift yields and improve performance across dozens of crops. buff.ly/6eqClf1
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
The gift that keeps on giving: How solar panels on farms can help increase crop yields
A new study finds farmers can enjoy increased crop yeilds under partial shade of solar panels long after they stop working decades from now.
buff.ly
December 28, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Agrivoltaics boost crop yields even when the solar panels aren’t generating power. New research from Canada shows that shading crops with elevated solar panels creates a cooler, wetter microclimate that can lift yields and improve performance across dozens of crops. buff.ly/6eqClf1
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Reposted by Ernest Post
I feel like the Framers were very specific about this not happening
🚨 New: “Presidency Boosts Trump’s Net Worth By $3 Billion In A Year”
“Vaulted him 118 spots on The Forbes 400, where he lands at No. 201 this year.”
@danalexander21.bsky.social for @forbes.com
“Vaulted him 118 spots on The Forbes 400, where he lands at No. 201 this year.”
@danalexander21.bsky.social for @forbes.com
Trump Jumps 118 Spots On The Forbes 400 List Thanks To Presidency
Donald Trump lost money during his first term. Out of office, he found a formula for profiting off politics—now he’s piling up billions.
www.forbes.com
December 28, 2025 at 4:56 AM
I feel like the Framers were very specific about this not happening
Reposted by Ernest Post
Hanging out with German relatives this week and all them have been like, “Oh yeah that’s definitely a Hitler you got there. You wanna fix that now or else you got a REAL problem down the pike.”
December 28, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Hanging out with German relatives this week and all them have been like, “Oh yeah that’s definitely a Hitler you got there. You wanna fix that now or else you got a REAL problem down the pike.”
Reposted by Ernest Post
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 5:27 PM
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
Reposted by Ernest Post
Trump’s wealth increased by about $2.5 bn since his reelection, to $6.9 bn. Eric’s increased 10×, to $400 mn. Don Jr.’s 6×, to $300 mn. Barron, a college sophomore, is worth $150 mn. Trump's policies are picking winners and losers—and blurring the lines between business and government. n.pr/48P2QSb
How Trump's 'crony capitalism' has shaken up U.S. business
His policies are picking winners and losers — and blurring the lines between business and government.
n.pr
December 28, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Trump’s wealth increased by about $2.5 bn since his reelection, to $6.9 bn. Eric’s increased 10×, to $400 mn. Don Jr.’s 6×, to $300 mn. Barron, a college sophomore, is worth $150 mn. Trump's policies are picking winners and losers—and blurring the lines between business and government. n.pr/48P2QSb
Reposted by Ernest Post
People need to stop saying, "This is not who we are."
This is exactly who we are, and we need to stop being that.
This is exactly who we are, and we need to stop being that.
December 28, 2025 at 4:19 PM
People need to stop saying, "This is not who we are."
This is exactly who we are, and we need to stop being that.
This is exactly who we are, and we need to stop being that.
Reposted by Ernest Post
I just taught my lecture course on mid-20th c US history, which starts with Harding and concludes with Nixon.
For the first time, I had to pause and stress that those scandals were actually shocking at the time and, what’s more, that Americans actually demanded people be held accountable.
For the first time, I had to pause and stress that those scandals were actually shocking at the time and, what’s more, that Americans actually demanded people be held accountable.
All of the money that changed hands in the Teapot Dome scandal totaled less than $10 million after adjusting for inflation, and it was considered so corrupt we still teach it in high school government classes a century later.
Corruption so pungent, it wafts right off the page:
Lobbyists who do pardon deals “say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal.”
Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Lobbyists who do pardon deals “say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal.”
Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
December 27, 2025 at 9:30 PM
I just taught my lecture course on mid-20th c US history, which starts with Harding and concludes with Nixon.
For the first time, I had to pause and stress that those scandals were actually shocking at the time and, what’s more, that Americans actually demanded people be held accountable.
For the first time, I had to pause and stress that those scandals were actually shocking at the time and, what’s more, that Americans actually demanded people be held accountable.
Reposted by Ernest Post
Once again, the whiplash I’m getting from finishing a book about the 1960s Civil Rights Division *fighting* discriminatory measures designed to suppress the vote and then reading its current leader defending those same kinds of measures today.
December 28, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Once again, the whiplash I’m getting from finishing a book about the 1960s Civil Rights Division *fighting* discriminatory measures designed to suppress the vote and then reading its current leader defending those same kinds of measures today.
Reposted by Ernest Post
This is how you know a wealth tax is the right thing to do
December 28, 2025 at 3:50 PM
This is how you know a wealth tax is the right thing to do
Reposted by Ernest Post
Rob, is it true you created an early language model trained on scraped data? "Mark V Shaney"?
Is it also true that it pretended to be a human, sending unsolicited messages on Usenet forums for lonely singles?
That's just what I'm seeing here on Wikipedia...
Is it also true that it pretended to be a human, sending unsolicited messages on Usenet forums for lonely singles?
That's just what I'm seeing here on Wikipedia...
December 28, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Rob, is it true you created an early language model trained on scraped data? "Mark V Shaney"?
Is it also true that it pretended to be a human, sending unsolicited messages on Usenet forums for lonely singles?
That's just what I'm seeing here on Wikipedia...
Is it also true that it pretended to be a human, sending unsolicited messages on Usenet forums for lonely singles?
That's just what I'm seeing here on Wikipedia...