Tootfinder

On the heels of the hottest summer ever recorded in the US,
the Trump administration has said it will 🔥erase any limits on emissions from coal and gas plants
that are dangerously heating up our planet.
🆘 The US Environmental Protection Agency said it will strip itself of its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions coming from power plants under the Clean Air Act, removing a key tool to address the climate crisis.
❌By erasing any limits on such emissions from coal…

US ends limits on coal and gas plant emissions, removing key tool to battle climate crisis
Trump’s EPA strips itself of regulation ability, gutting Clean Air Act in what experts say is a gift to planet polluters

I had a dream I was watching a documentary called "A History of Genocide" that basically had this premise. There's an Öcalan quote in Democratic Confederalism that I'm gonna have to track down again where he said something along the lines of "States are easier to rule when they only have one culture, so there's an implicit force driving all states towards genocide."

Will ‘Coxon Day’ save us from AI destruction?
Sept. 8, 2026, may come to be known as “Coxon Day.”
That would be a reference to 27-year-old Jacob Coxon,
an AI researcher and whistleblower at Anthropic (and previously OpenAI)
who resigned in protest of the unchecked danger his work poses to us all.
He posted a warning to the world on X that has gone viral.
“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” Coxon…

Will 'Coxon Day' save us from AI destruction?
Jacob Coxon, an AI researcher, issued a public warning that went viral about the dangers of artificial intelligence and quit his job in protest. Will it make a difference?

A dozen memes (in a thread) of the foreign policy moment: capitulation, surrender, losing the war.
🧵 1 of 3
#USpol #Iran #kegseth

Just finished "What Elephants Know" by Eric Dinerstein. Leaves me with very mixed feelings: it's a novel in many ways about Nepal, and I don't doubt that the author's experience living there gives him a not-insignificant window into the culture, plus there are multiple people mentioned in the acknowledgements as judging faithfulness to Nepali culture. I myself have no direct connection to the country, nor enough knowledge to see any clear inaccuracies in the writing, nor ways in which it directly disrespects the culture.
That said, my instincts say this is a portrayal of the culture and country that probably elides much about the downsides of foreign influence and the monarchy (something I naturally distrust as an anarchist). At minimum, the internal contradiction is clear between the police as an inept and dangerous institution when encountered directly, but as a clean and unproblematic way to resolve problems with criminals when the Maroons subplot needs wrapping up. This is typical of neoliberals who have begun to acknowledge the most obvious problems with police but who refuse to admit the necessity of police abolition. Furthermore, there's a strong thread of white saviorism thrown in, and a big piece of meritocracy to go along with it. This story presents only highly particular fictionalized solutions to the real structural problems facing the elephants and other animals it describes, and the solutions it imagines require reliance on institutions which are in the real world fundamentally untrustworthy.
I enjoyed learning about the ecology of the Nepali borderlands, and about the cultures surrounding elephants there, plus some of the diversity of religions and cultures that interact in the area, and the story was satisfyingly written in terms of the main character's trials and responses to them, if I disregard the issues mentioned above.
If anyone has recommendations for novels in English (including via translation) by actual Nepali authors, I'd love to hear them, as I'll be looking for that perspective to balance this one.
#AmReading #ReadingNow #Bookstodon

Republicans are keeping a tight grip on their pearls.
“Mamdani and AOC seem to be having the time of their lives while everyone else is paying respects to the deceased,” wrote Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on X.
“I was standing next to them the whole time. The camera just caught her greeting him hello,” Ragusa wrote on X. “Multiple other politicians were laughing and joking behind me. Republicans and Democrats.
“And for the record I am a life long republican who has been very…

Republicans’ 9/11 Smear About AOC and Mamdani Instantly Collapses
One of Rudy Giuliani’s aides debunked the claim.

Democratic socialists aren’t coming to threaten your way of life
How deeply is President Trump mired in disasters of his own making?
Let me count the ways:
His deeply unpopular war against Iran resulted in a stronger Iran regime,
dared Iran to restrict the Strait of Hormuz
and led to a damaged-but-hardly-obliterated nuclear program.
On the home front, gas and grocery prices are high, and consumer confidence is low.
The looming midterm elections cou…

Column: Democratic socialists aren't coming to threaten your way of life
A spate of political victories by Democratic socialists show that many on the left are looking for new blood.

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan,
embraced Donald Trump’s suggestion that the two represent
“VERY DIFFERENT” versions of the US,
-- pledging to fight inequality while the president is “making billions of dollars off of you”.
In a Saturday night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump shared an image of himself and the first lady, Melania Trump, beside a photo of El-Sayed, who is Muslim, and his wife, Sarah Jukaku, wearing a hijab.

Abdul El-Sayed embraces Trump claim he represents ‘very different’ America
Michigan nominee, who spoke to Obama after primary win, vows to fight inequality as president ‘makes billions off you’

A Florida lawyer who describes himself as Donald Trump’s boyhood “best friend”
is pushing the president to declare a national emergency
to enable him to take control of November’s midterms, according to a report.
Peter Ticktin, 80, is a long-time believer in the claim that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Trump by a vast voter fraud conspiracy
told CNN in a new interview that the threat remains real

Trump’s childhood pal is pushing him to declare national emergency and seize control of midterms: report
Lawyer Peter Ticktin claims Democrats are conspiring to steal November’s vote, this time with a view to removing Trump and JD Vance from power and installing Hakeem Jeffries in their place

Wildfire bill flameout sad for California
I’m in my seventh decade of covering California governors and legislatures and never have seen — or heard of — anything like this:
a legislative leader backing out of a deal agreed to with the governor and the other house’s leader.
The episode raised doubts about Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’ leadership capability.
The Hollister Democrat signed off on the deal with Newsom and Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limon (D-Santa …

Column: Wildfire bill flameout sad for California
It was unprecedented and stunning: California’s governor and top two legislative leaders negotiated a compromise on a big bill — and one house rebelled, refusing to bring it to a vote.