Mastodawn

My giant spinning flowers coming out of winter storage are a sure sign of spring.
They discourage the deer and later the birds that would forage in my raspberry patch.
Watching them spin from my kitchen window makes me smile.
My first ever toot on Mastodon was a similar photo in 2022.
No matter what transpires wherever else they keep on spinning. Kind of like us. We keep going joyfully and defient against all odds.

janggolan 3h ago

Jay Kuo 3h ago

Someone’s gonna have to take the fall for this. Video: https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mhqjrzxqeh2s

janggolan 3h ago

Prof. Sam Lawler 8h ago

The American Astronomical Society's 2nd round petition to deny (written by me and many others) is now published: https://pub-92a1d770e9be416e8558d475b4b5b847.r2.dev/afb0661e-408a-4b87-b72e-87c20f38b0cd.pdf

Every single section starts with "SpaceX's Opposition does not resolve the concerns raised by AAS" because they fucking didn't resolve anything (but at least they didn't openly mock astronomers like they did with Amazon a Viasat. Wild.)

Special shout-out to the fedi-person who suggested the Indianapolis 500 crash analogy, which made it in to our response!

janggolan 5h ago

ya know, if i was truly experimental, i'd make pancakes using fudge brownie mix

janggolan 5h ago

Wokebloke for Democracy 7h ago

" A report published last week by the Cato Institute, written by director of immigration studies David J. Bier, found that the State Department and Department of Homeland Security were receiving millions of applications from immigrants whom Trump has made ineligible for legal status and pocketing the fees without ever processing the requests."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/immigration-fee-fraud-state-dept

#TrumpAndEpstein #Money #Grift #Immigration #GrandTheft #USTreasury

Trump State Dept. Accused of ‘Largest Fee Fraud in History’ of US Immigration System | Common Dreams

An immigration researcher at the Cato Institute found that the Trump administration is "raking in billions of dollars in immigration fees and not providing the adjudications that applicants are entitled to."

Common Dreams

janggolan 5h ago

emptywheel 5h ago

Notorious left-wing outlet Financial Times examines how Trump's ICE raids have damaged businesses in the Rio Grande and the US more broadly. www.ft.com/content/7b3b...

The economic cost of Trump’s migrant crackdown

The US president’s immigration policies could hit construction, agriculture and hospitality as well as consumer spending

Financial Times

janggolan 5h ago

"People are going to lose jobs. People are going to suffer economically. I think it's easy to dismiss expertise in the government because most of the time the effect of expertise on your life as an American citizen is more or less invisible. Things just work. Things just go, the lights go on, airplanes fly, oil gets delivered and so on. But I think what we're seeing now is the collapse of government, of expertise in the government… Gradually, and then all at once."
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2026/03/23/death-of-expertise-trump-democracy

Are we witnessing the death of expertise?

Analyst Tom Nichols says the Trump administration is fundamentally incompetent. And he says there’s been a systematic erosion of expert trust for years — which is dangerous for American democracy.

janggolan 6h ago

Forest Fern 7h ago

"Be yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search, or struggle. Just be."

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching

Couldn't have come at a better time, especially after being hard and down on myself. Still, next career isn't going to fall into my lap, but at least I know to just breathe, be kind to myself, & keep strolling along, forward.

#Buddhism #ThichNhatHanh

janggolan 6h ago

Aaron Rupar 7h ago

Trump: "If you read the papers, you'd think we're tied, you'd think we're in a tough battle. We're roaming free over Tehran. The city. Tehran. As opposed to Iran. We can do whatever we want. Today, we were gonna have the privilege of shooting down a very big electric generation plant."

janggolan 7h ago

Deb Nam-Krane 7h ago

Blue Bottle (Nestle) has refused to negotiate a contract for over a year. Please join #BBIU and boycott Blue Bottle until Nestle signs a contract. (My daughter is a barista at one of the #Boston stores, so you'd better believe this is personal to me.)

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-blue-bottle-no-contract-no-customers

#labor

@janggolan

Trump State Dept. Accused of ‘Largest Fee Fraud in History’ of US Immigration System | Common Dreams

The economic cost of Trump’s migrant crackdown

Are we witnessing the death of expertise?

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