Tootfinder

Remember in the Obama administration there was a fake scandal about the IRS “targeting” conservative nonprofits—and the press fell for it more or less wholesale?
Since then, it’s been hands off. So now we have a vast web of illegitimate right-wing nonprofits using tax-exempt dark money for influence-peddling, covert electioneering, and nest-feathering. Today’s case in point from the tireless David Fahrenthold. (Gift link.)

Trump-Allied Nonprofit Paid Millions to Companies Run by Insiders
The Conservative Partnership Institute’s three highest-paid contractors had connections to the group’s leaders or their relatives, raising concerns about self-dealing.

A U. N. Panel has long monitored the sanctions against North Korea .
In the Security Council on March 28, Russia vetoed an extension of the panel’s work, which it had previously supported.
China abstained and 13 other members voted for it.
As a result, the panel is to expire at the end of this month, and the rest of the world will know even less than it does now about North Korea’s quest.

This was a gift by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korean leader Kim…

North Korea sends arms to Russia. Now Putin pays back Kim Jong Un.
Russia is helping North Korea’s rogue regime, in Putin’s latest abdication of responsibility.

This is a fascinating read about cruising from @… have a gift link:
#cruise #atlantic #ocean

Gary Shteyngart: Crying Myself to Sleep on the Icon of the Seas
Seven agonizing nights aboard the Icon of the Seas

Daily Inspiration: "Criticism is just wisdom as yet unwrapped!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Criticism. When it's sincere, it can matter.
Criticism is ... a gift.  It's a gift of knowledge that, used the right way, allows you to gain insight and perspective on how to improve. 
Criticism is ... a reward. It's one of the hardest things to take, but with the right mindset, one of the most valuable bits of insight you can be rewarded with - because it means that…

Daily Inspiration: “Criticism is just wisdom as yet unwrapped!”

A profile of ElevenLabs, whose founders seem unprepared for how its impressive AI voice cloning tech can change the internet and unleash political chaos (Charlie Warzel/The Atlantic)

If you haven't tried Arc from the Browser Company, you're missing out on some very thoughtful UI design and useful features. It has become my daily-driver for personal use.
https://arc.net/gift/11c75427

While cleaning up my office, I came across some old amazon gift cards that I had won, and never used because they were for the US amazon store (I'm in Canada).
Do any of you know a teacher at a school that serves a low-income neighbourhood in the USA? I think such a person could make good use of the cards. (Knowing that teachers often have to dig into their own pockets for supplies).
Assuming the cards haven't expired...

“I am writing to express my sincere thanks for your investment in the next generation of theological leaders. As a Pentecostal, I want to stay open to the moving and inspiration of the Spirit. Tonight, I felt moved to reach out and extend my appreciation for your ministry as you work to create accessible education for those like me.”
—Incoming student Blake Long in a note to Rev. Nancy Taylor about her Scholarship Challenge, running through June 30.

A good friend who teaches at universities in Kyōto got married late in life, and had me give a speech in Japanese at the reception. I had wanted to keep it simple, but once my Japanese wife got involved, I ended up with all sorts of formal clothing and a more elaborate gift. The ceremonies were held at a hotel in the central city. The wedding chapel was inside the hotel but had windows above it. Typical of Japan, the ceremonies were eclectic, with Japanese and Western elements including song…

Wtf, #google doesn't consider California to be in the United States anymore?

Mehdi Hasan: "Do the justices want us to believe that they are concerned about creating a 'state-by-state patchwork'? Are you kidding me? What was [Dobbs], which dismantled a decades-old constitutional right to abortion... other than an explicit endorsement of a 'state-by-state patchwork'?"
https://ww…

The Supreme Court’s Gift To Donald Trump
Mehdi's Monday Memo

The Supreme Court's Gift To Donald Trump (Mehdi Hasan/Zeteo)
https://www.zeteonews.com/p/the-supreme-courts-gift-to-donald
http://www.memeorandum.com/240304/p95#a240304p95

If you haven't tried Arc from the Browser Company, you're missing out on some very thoughtful UI design and useful features. It has become my daily-driver for personal use.
https://arc.net/gift/11c75427

https://xyrena.com/products/attack-of-the-killer-tomatoes-™-extrait-de-parfum This would have been a great valentines gift!

I appreciate how consistently this article puts things in simple terms everyone can understand:
“My experience shows we should be especially wary of generative AI when there are real-life consequences to it being wrong. And we can’t necessarily trust companies experimenting with AI to make the right decisions to protect our interests.”
This is good reporting.
Gift link:
…

TurboTax and H&R Block now use AI for tax advice. It’s awful.
In our tech columnist’s tests, new chatbots in popular tax services were unhelpful or wrong as much as half of the time.

It might be possible for you to read this NYT (gift link) article about masked hoodlums with police support brutalizing pro-peace demonstrators, without being full of rage, but it isn’t for me.
https://www.…

How Counterprotesters at U.C.L.A. Provoked Violence, Unchecked for Hours
The New York Times used videos filmed by journalists, witnesses and protesters to analyze hours of clashes — and a delayed police response — at a pro-Palestinian encampment on Tuesday.

This story will be news to exactly no one who follows online transit talk. (So much so that I'm not going to use up one of my gift links on it.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/03/nyregion/nypd-parking-permit-abuse.html

N.Y.P.D. Often Ignores Parking-Permit Abuse, Report Says
Failing to ticket illegally parked cars with officially issued permits is “a form of corruption that erodes the public trust,” the Department of Investigation said.

the gift of in-flight wifi

Some great data viz in this @washingtonpost.com piece on local variation in winter warming trends
(gift link)
https://wapo.st/3Ils7VU

Fascinating article found in a browser tab: How Turkey abolished the caliphate in 1924.
“He spoke to nobody except the Chief of Police, whose duty it was to escort him to the frontier. When, towards midnight, the Simplon-Orient Express arrived with a special reserved coach the Caliph immediately entered the train, saying a few kind words to the officials. The Caliph was very much moved, and several of those present burst into tears.”
Gift link:

Analysis | A century after the last caliph
It’s been 100 years since the world had a formally recognized caliphate, a disappearance that’s left a deep imprint on 20th-century politics.

This morning's SCOTUS decision - or rather, yet another gift to TFG - makes me wonder:
Who has outbid John Oliver for the affections of Clarence Thomas? It is clear that somebody did.

"Giving is what we are called to do. The condition of your soul is enriched when you give more than what you’re taking and put others first. It is a joyous feeling that brings you closer to God."
—Ademuyiwa Bamiduro ‘13 M.Div. in the latest installment in our "Joy of Giving" series

Arc is offering more icons... as rewards for referrals... here's mine
https://arc.net/gift/a5998583

A friend is sharing Arc with you!
Experience a calmer, more personal internet in this browser designed for you. Let go of the clicks, the clutter, the distractions.

What was your very 1st 45/LP/cassette/CD?
When I was 5 or 6, I asked Santa for a record player. He brought me one from Sears (it had a lid & carrying handle like a little suitcase) & a single record: a 45 of Diana Ross/The Supremes’ Love Child. I laugh every time I think about it. My adoptive mother apparently felt that would be an awesome gift for her illegitimate adopted daughter. 😶😑🫤🤣 #Adoption

"The new Itasca County #jail includes a two-story display of the Ten Commandments, a choice that's come under fire by many who discovered it and other religious quotes on the walls during recent tours of the northeast #Minnesota facility..."
gift link:

Thou shalt not blend church and state, new Minnesota jail is told
Residents on tours who discovered religious quotes lining cellblock walls of the Grand Rapids facility allege First Amendment violation.

As Jack Matlock puts it, after the #coldwar the #US "had an opportunity to develop a security system based on #cooperation among the larger countries. Instead, the US too often chose

How bad is the Supreme Court now? It’s this bad:
“It’s a rogue court, a thoroughly corrupt one, one that is so far gone in its corruption that it feels free even from the practical obligation to clothe its corruption for the sake of appearances.”
(Josh Marshall, gift link.)

Lift and shift? The gift that keeps on giving. You are underestimating the amount and kind of problems you will have to handle.

Thanks to my absolutely amazing wife @… for the beautiful Valentine's Day gift that arrived today!
#ValentinesDay #Gift

My equivalent post on Twitter prompted a lot of impassioned and persuasive posts from people urging a #YesNo vote.
I feel I have to think on it more. A Constitutional referendum vote is important- too important for me to decide my vote based on impulse.

And being told you’re wrong by people who want to inform, not attack you, is a gift. I’m lucky to have people who would go to the trouble to explain why I might be wrong.

This birthday, March 27th, will be the first one where I’ve been engaged. And that’s the best gift of all.
(@… that doesn’t mean I don’t want a birthday gift of course)

Speaking as your third-favourite anthropomorphised Discordian hand grenade, I want to tell you that it's ok to go to bed a little early to give yourself the gift of a bit more rest before you have to face the fuckasses at the office tomorrow

Gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/opinion/anthropocene-planet-geology.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ek0.VpKr.MbA7xYrStkK3&smid=url-share

Opinion | Scientists Just Gave Humanity an Overdue Reality Check. The World Will Be Better for It.
Geologists just rejected a label for our troubled times. Good.

Definitely in my families. Worth wearing it for a few weeks at a time. I'll loan it to my wife sometime soon. Her mom's mental health declined because of it, and she died too early. The one I have was a gift from us kids to Dad, because of his heart problems.
We'd buy another for my wife in a heartbeat, but she doesn't want it--yet.
#HeartHealth Heartfelt gratitude to

9to5Mac (@9to5Mac@mastodon.online)
Attached: 1 image Apple Watch AFib feature gets new FDA seal of approval https://9to5mac.com/2024/05/02/apple-watch-afib-feature-fda/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

"Something went suddenly and horribly wrong for adolescents in the early 2010s... The problem was not limited to the U.S. Similar patterns emerged around the same time in Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, the Nordic countries, and beyond..."
(gift link)

The Terrible Costs of a Phone-Based Childhood
The environment in which kids grow up today is hostile to human development.

Why is a the NYT taking sources telling them Garland was doing the job the whole time, and doing their darndest to spin this into an anti-Garland story?
https://x.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1771321241405931763?s=20

Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) on X
THREAD: We learned a few more things today per multiple sources who spoke to the New York Times. I’ll post a gift link at the end of this thread. 1/

Thank you for the gift of your rap while I am waiting at the bus stop.

The Government Isn’t Ready for the Violence Trump Might Unleash - The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/biden-trump-january-6-preparedness/677995/?gift=Q6t2rABpJi…

The Government Isn’t Ready for the Violence Trump Might Unleash
The Biden administration should be preparing for the worst.

Kara Swisher’s “reputation as a fearless but fair-minded, straight-talking reporter” might be well earned but she’s also remarkably thin-skinned.
I respectfully challenged her on Twitter about an inaccurate story she wrote (one I was involved in and knew the details of) and not only did she double down on the inaccuracies, she blocked me. 🤷‍♂️
(Gift link)

Book Review: ‘Burn Book,’ by Kara Swisher
In “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story,” the pioneering journalist recounts a life in, and of, Silicon Valley.

Thoughts on the Supreme Court's Massive Gift to Trump (Dan Pfeiffer/The Message Box)
https://www.messageboxnews.com/p/thoughts-on-the-supreme-courts-massive
http://www.memeorandum.com/240229/p89#a240229p89

"Why are you always so angry?"
Because I believe that people deserve more than they are getting. Because the way we take away people's dignity and ability to thrive makes me sick.
I do not enjoy being angry. I'd rather play video games and play the guitar. But given the state of the world anger is a gift.

‘Challenge of a lifetime’: UK charity seeks applicants for jobs in Antarctica
> "The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) said it was seeking “passionate adventurers ready to take on the challenge of a lifetime” in jobs that include managing a museum, post office and gift shop as well as conducting penguin counts."
But do they run Linux?

This exquisite collaboration between artist Auriea Harvey and curator Regina Harsanyi is a gift to anyone who wants to learn more about digital art. Unwrapping it reveals virtuoso lessons in Internet art, emulation, 3-D scanning, indie video games, and augmented reality
https://www.

It’s really hard to talk about the concrete policies of a second Trump administration without sounding hysterical but holy hell would this be bad
(Gift link) #USpolitics
https://wapo.st/48tFoGy

Thousands of millionaires don’t even bother to pay their taxes, and Republicans keep protecting them. If you pay taxes, doesn’t that make you angry?
(Gift link.)
https://wapo.st/49VthDi

Thousands of millionaires haven’t filed tax returns for years, IRS says
The IRS said it stopped sending letters to people who didn’t file their tax returns, when the agency was strapped for funds. Now it’s going after the money.

This meme is hilarious. At least when we worked on iPad, we got an actual iPad (with Steve’s signature on it). But then again, the iPad was $500, and there were fewer of us.
Still, a postcard-sized paper poster is almost insulting. Why not commission someone to make a tiny Vision Pro for display or something? Better yet, machine it out of alum-ee-ni-um!
#Apple

Here's a nice review of the Ben Shahn exhibition currently up at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. We've got a couple of paintings on loan to it.
https://hyperallergic.com/868920/ben-shahn-ever-relevant-political-art/
<…

Ben Shahn’s Ever-Relevant Political Art
The American artist-activist’s work resonates with a special sharpness these days, more than half a century after his death.

Spent the evening at a music show by the Elliot Freedman Group.
It was hosted by Notional Space, a gift economy run venue that is a unique private home in my neighbourhood.
I love what Mark & Yumi are doing with the space. We need more like this.
#Vancouver #EastVan

The kids got so many treats yesterday at school for the Valentine's day. I don't know man, I feel like we have lost it with all the trash gifting that's going on. The teacher posted a pile of chocolates she received and I just can't help and wonder is this truly necessary? I usually leave the teacher gift part for the end of the year. But all these holidays in between, it's too much. I brought in V-day cards for our kindergarten kid, and nothing else for the other two.

🏉 #Rugby @…
'Mike' Hoskins Sotutu with his second try of the day.
Drua gift the Blues 7 points on the stroke of half time.
Blues 29-3
Game over methinks.

The Hebrew word for giving, natan (נתנ), is a palindrome, which reveals a deep truth about the reciprocal dynamic of giving: When one gives, they also receive in return.
In a recent study, researchers discovered that those who spent more of their income on others rather than themselves enjoyed significantly greater and longer lasting happiness. In fact, as little as a five-dollar gift was enough to produce measurable increases in one’s happiness. Overall, the self-reported happiness of…

Great thread. I still struggle with LLM in software engineering because of the number of errors it produces for anything other than predicting my next line of code or two. But I know others get great performance out of them. Still working at it.
However, I wouldn’t make any predictions yet as to where this will shake out socially except to say, I don’t think it’s a flash in the pan.

Phil Lesh Gives The Gift Of A Mike Gordon-Assisted Surprise Third Set For 84th Birthday At The Capitol Theatre [Photos/Videos/Audio]
#PhilLesh #MikeGordon #GratefulDead

Phil Lesh Gives The Gift Of A Mike Gordon-Assisted Surprise Third Set For 84th Birthday At The Capitol Theatre [Photos/Videos/Audio]
Phil Lesh celebrated his 84th birthday at The Capitol Theatre on Friday with Friends, a mini third set, and special guest Mike Gordon.

"for Republican lawmakers, criticizing university presidents for failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitism is a useful political issue with the potential to deepen divisions among Democrats — one that, unsurprisingly, they have pursued vociferously."
thing is, Democratic *voters* are not divided. 75% disapprove of Israel's actions in Gaza!

On criminalizing "deepfakes" and the technology used to create them. Gift.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/technology/an-ai-researcher-takes-on-election-deepfakes.html

The TikTok divestment bill fits into a long and important US tradition of forbidding a hostile foreign power from controlling a major communication platform (Zephyr Teachout/The Atlantic)

Critics of the TikTok Bill Are Missing the Point
America has a long history of shielding infrastructure and communication platforms from foreign control.

Went to a Ramen restaurant last night that required QR code scanning to see the menu & order food. Plus it requested a tip before any service occurred while sitting at the table. It felt like persuading them to act in my favor by gift of money. Does that count as requesting a bribe?

🎵 I asked Hank Williams, ''How lonely does it get?''
Hank Williams hasn't answered yet
But I hear him coughin'
All night long
About a hundred floors above me
In the Tower of Song
DooDumDumDum, Da DooDumDay 🎵
(every time I saw him perform this song live, the audience would howl with laughter when he got to the next part...)
🎵 I was born this way, I had no choice
I was born with the gift of a golden voice🎵
😟 …

The saying 'Brexit, the gift that keeps giving' feels very appropriate to a Dutch person, particularly in this case. One of the meanings of 'gift' is 'poison' in Dutch.
Britain is becoming a toxic chemical dumping ground – yet another benefit of Brexit

In the case of Snyder v United States, which the Supreme Court will hear on April 15th, James E. #Snyder is claiming that when a public official accepts a “#gift” from a person or corporation who has benefited from that public official’s actions, that should not be legally considered a

The Supreme Court Case Designed To Legalize Bribery
Snyder v. United States could make it legal for public officials to accept rewards for their corrupt actions.

Here are my favorite valentine's day cards! Feel free to send me more!
Check out these: https://mastodon.social/@anubiarts/111924676482661492 by @…

Anubi (@anubiarts@mastodon.social)
Attached: 4 images Oh no! For some silly reason you forgot to have a gift for your partner or loved one? Worry not, I got the perfect solution for you... Silly Animal Redraw Valentine Cards! Perfect for your true love If it wasn't obvious, these are free to use! #MastoArt #FediArt #PixelArt #ValentinesDay #ValentineCard #Cats #Animals

This WaPo article [1] where they interviewed New Yorkers about whether they’d make good jurors in the Shitgibbon’s hush money payments trial is sadly pretty fluffy, but this quote had me in stitches:
[1] https://wapo.st/3U129ML (gift article, so shouldn’t be paywalled, in theory…)

12 New Yorkers on if they could be impartial jurors in Trump’s hush money trial
Jury selection is slated to start Monday in the long awaited hush money trail. We asked New Yorkers how they’d fare being on the jury. Could they be impartial in judging the former President?

Kkkk, alguém tem que vender um bonequinho da #Frieren para eu comprar e colocar do lado desse aqui rs.
https://jaysbrickblog.com/reviews/revi

“Imagine Vladimir Putin had said publicly that he'd prefer a Trump presidency. What a gift for the Biden campaign.” https://flip.it/u8zx39

Why Russia's Putin backing Biden for the US presidency is not what it seems
Had he backed a Trump presidency, it would have been a bigger gift for Joe Biden, says Steve Rosenberg.

Putin gifts Kim Jong-un domestic car ‘to signify special friendship’: https://benborges.xyz/2024/02/20/putin-gifts-kim.html

Gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/opinion/anthropocene-planet-geology.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ek0.VpKr.MbA7xYrStkK3&smid=url-share

Opinion | Scientists Just Gave Humanity an Overdue Reality Check. The World Will Be Better for It.
Geologists just rejected a label for our troubled times. Good.

I very much appreciate this gift from my friend and colleague @… but part of me also suspects he is saying I am very old. 🤔
#PennyFarthing

Why is a the NYT taking sources telling them Garland was doing the job the whole time, and doing their darndest to spin this into an anti-Garland story?
https://x.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1771321241405931763?s=20

Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) on X
THREAD: We learned a few more things today per multiple sources who spoke to the New York Times. I’ll post a gift link at the end of this thread. 1/

Kara Swisher’s “reputation as a fearless but fair-minded, straight-talking reporter” might be well earned but she’s also remarkably thin-skinned.
I respectfully challenged her on Twitter about an inaccurate story she wrote (one I was involved in and knew the details of) and not only did she double down on the inaccuracies, she blocked me. 🤷‍♂️
(Gift link)

Book Review: ‘Burn Book,’ by Kara Swisher
In “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story,” the pioneering journalist recounts a life in, and of, Silicon Valley.

Harari is a good writer which is evident if you read his spot-on analysis of how Netanyahu is handling the current war in Gaza.
https://www.

What the actual eff https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/trump-rally-nato/677426/?gift=otEsSHbRYKNfFYMngVFweHeWX-epE-LoWLEpl4ZMp0Q

Trump Encourages Putin to Attack NATO Members
At a rally on Saturday, the former president announced he would tell the Russians “to do whatever the hell they want” to states delinquent in their bills.

I'm not a mom, so what do I know... But I don't think the moms in my life want light bulbs for Mother's Day: https://mastodon.social/@verge/112298518228036562

Who will hold Trump accountable?
“… outrageous that the former president would get this unexplained courtesy after years of willfully defrauding the public.… If there seems to be a different set of rules for Trump, under which there is always a reason to look the other way or give him a second chance, that’s because for all intents and purposes, there is."
Always read Jamelle Bouie [gift link]

Opinion | No One Is Above the Law, Except, Apparently, Donald Trump
If there seems to be a different set of rules for the former president, that’s because, for all intents and purposes, there is.

Crushing to score in the last minute of extra time and have it ruled out by VAR for offside. Almost evens up the dodgy penalty gift from VAR earlier.

Also if you try to do a "cute" penalty (looking at you, Casemiro), you should be dumped out of the squad and forced to do 1000 hours of community service.

#Football

“If approved, members of class-action lawsuit may be able to claim $15 gift card “
That's 15 trips to Dollarama!
*looks at last receipt from Dollarama*
Oh wait, no.
#Affordability #Consumerism

"A legitimate presenting security researcher who has reported multiple vulnerabilities to Apple has been charged with allegedly breaking into a system connected to Apple’s backend, and then using that access to defraud the tech giant out of $2.5 million worth of gift cards and electronics, according to recently unsealed court records. Staggeringly, Apple explicitly thanked the defendant, Noah Roskin-Frazee, in a security update on January 22, nearly two weeks after he was arrested.&quot…

A Security Researcher Allegedly Scammed Apple
Staggeringly, Apple thanked the defendant, Noah Roskin-Frazee, in a security update less than two weeks after he was arrested.

Marilynne Robinson is one of the greatest living Christian novelists, by which I don’t just mean that she’s a Christian—though she is an active one—but that her great novels and her versatile, morally stringent essays reflect a deep knowledge and love of Christianity.
Robinson, who has taught Bible classes and preached at her church in Iowa City, Iowa, is a learned lay theologian of the Calvinist variety.
“Reading Genesis” is Robinson’s literary analysis of the first book of t…

Marilynne Robinson Considers Biden a Gift of God
The celebrated writer discusses human freedom, immortality and the “stinginess” that has settled into the country.

For mysterious reasons, it's taken WaPo two months to report on the 1/1/24 death of Turing Award winner Niklaus Emil Wirth, who brought us Pascal and Modula-2 and evidently even the computer mouse. Gift link. #NEW
https://wapo.st/42YuMyl<…

The TikTok divestment bill fits into a long and important US tradition of forbidding a hostile foreign power from controlling a major communication platform (Zephyr Teachout/The Atlantic)

“Imagine Vladimir Putin had said publicly that he'd prefer a Trump presidency. What a gift for the Biden campaign.” https://flip.it/u8zx39

Why Russia's Putin backing Biden for the US presidency is not what it seems
Had he backed a Trump presidency, it would have been a bigger gift for Joe Biden, says Steve Rosenberg.

“The fruit of my experience has this bitter aftertaste: that I do not now believe that any of the hundreds of executions I carried out has in any way acted as a deterrent against future murder. Capital punishment, in my view, achieved nothing except revenge.”
(Gift link. Feel free to look for some non-paywalled link.)
The puzzling afterlife of Britain’s last executioner

The puzzling afterlife of Britain’s last executioner
What the enduring cult of Albert Pierrepoint says about the appeal of capital punishment in the UK

It's the whole Crypto--Shit-Sandwich again
https://infosec.exchange/@josephcox/112292489809133635

#TodayILearned about yet another awful gift from Ronald Reagan: a legalized kickback scheme in the medical insurance industry perpetrated by Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) companies. By obfuscating the real price of drugs behind rebates (i.e. kickbacks), PBMs incentivize the rapid #enshittification

Here you go - just in time for Christmas shopping - the Breaking Bad 'Crystal Ship' for your 6-8 year olds!
691 pcs Bus Car Building Blocks Creative House Van Building Bricks Kit Model Rv Desktop Building Bricks Assembly Building Kit Halloween Thanksgiving Day Christmas Gift - Toys & Games - Temu

Meanwhile, in Canada…
“After he surfaced on a British Columbia beach this month, Emerson the elephant seal became a local celebrity. Fans petted the 2-year-old, posed with him for selfies and tried to rub noses with him. “He’s obviously made it very clear that he wants to be in the Victoria area…”
<WaPo gift link> https://wapo.st/…

A celebrity seal was moved 125 miles away. He showed up again days later.
Canadian wildlife officials relocated Emerson the elephant seal this month after his fans wouldn’t stop petting him.

Billionaire #Charles #Koch, who turned 88 on November 1, is funneling his wealth into two #secretive #organizations that can continue his right…

Charles Koch's audacious new $5 billion political scheme
Billionaire Charles Koch, who will turn 88 on November 1, is funneling his wealth into two secretive organizations that can continue his right-wing political advocacy for years. Koch structured more than $5 billion in donations to exploit a loophole to allow him to avoid paying capital gains or gift taxes. It's not surprising that Koch is familiar with the loophole — he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying to create it.

Meta, Google, Snap, and Amazon all benefit from the US TikTok ban; Mark Zuckerberg criticized TikTok's Chinese roots in 2019, part of Meta's broader campaign (Will Oremus/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/…

Analysis | Congress’ first tech crackdown in years is a gift to Big Tech
Meta and Google stand ready to reap a TikTok ban’s rewards.

#HappyValentinesDay. Here's a grumpy-looking Cupid on a wooden heart cut-out made by #TomataDuPlenty.
David Xavier Harrigan, a.k.a., Tomata du Plenty (1948 – 2000), was one of the founders of Seattle’s early-1970s punk scene with the Ze Whiz Kidz counterculture theatre troupe and fr…

US Treasury Secretary: Congressional inaction on Ukraine aid is 'gift' to Putin: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/07/us-treasury-secretary.html

Our precious planet ❤️ #EarthDay

Earth from Space in 4K
Everything that happens on the International Space Station revolves around one thing: Earth, sixteen times a day! So for Earth Day, NASA offers a gift you

Meta, Google, Snap, and Amazon all benefit from the US TikTok ban; Mark Zuckerberg criticized TikTok's Chinese roots in 2019, part of Meta's broader campaign (Will Oremus/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/…

Analysis | Congress’ first tech crackdown in years is a gift to Big Tech
Meta and Google stand ready to reap a TikTok ban’s rewards.

#TodayILearned about yet another awful gift from Ronald Reagan: a legalized kickback scheme in the medical insurance industry perpetrated by Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) companies. By obfuscating the real price of drugs behind rebates (i.e. kickbacks), PBMs incentivize the rapid #enshittification

"Roughly 80 percent of House Republicans just lined up behind a plan to cut Social Security and ban all abortions."
House GOP plan would cut Social Security, ban all abortions - Vox
https://www.vox.com/politics/24108954/repu

House GOP plan would cut Social Security, ban all abortions
The House’s largest GOP caucus — the Republican Study Committee — this week unveiled a budget that would cut Social Security and ban all abortions. That’s a huge gift to President Biden’s reelection campaign.

Remember the unsettling video montages of dozens of Sinclair Broadcasting Group anchors reading same neofascist scripts? The journalist who produced those has been indicted for accessing a service to obtain the source material for those and other videos. (Gift link).

https://wapo.st/3uI11VQ

Fun article on the Times's new word hunt #puzzle. (Gift link.)
https://www.…

The Times’ New Word-Search Game Is Genius
Word search isn’t just for children anymore.

A look at the costs of a smartphone-based childhood, as Gen Z struggles with poor mental health and lags behind previous generations on many important metrics (Jonathan Haidt/The Atlantic)
https://www.