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Rika⁷

@commanderrika.blacksky.app

4.2K followers 1.2K following 4.4K posts

Writer+Illustrator. She/Her. 💜 Blackness 💜 Books 💜 BTS 💜 Stories in Lightspeed, FIYAH, Strange Horizons, Fantasy, and Apparitions

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Rika⁷ @commanderrika.blacksky.app · Sep 1

Hi! I have a story out in Small Wonders today! This is a little horny gremlin of a tale and I hope you take a chance on it, if you're into words and whatnot.

Small Wonders @smallwondersmag.com · Sep 1

What takes you out of time? And what is sweet enough to bring you back into it again? Read Marika Bailey's "Gifted and Talented" today and consider what moves you so that you could move others:

Gifted and Talented - Small Wonders

Being beyond time is a revolution against creation most bodies aren’t built to bear. It’ll kill you, that dark matter time.

smallwondersmag.com

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Ben Verschoor @benverschoor.bsky.social · 1d

Pete Postlethwaite never gave a bad performance and elevated every movie he was in

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Will McKinley @willmckinley.bsky.social · 2d

"CBS is no longer independent, but under the tutelage of a conservative billionaire who is putting more than his thumb on the scale."

Kudos to Dan Rather, a 44-year veteran of CBS News, for speaking truth to power.

deadline.com/2025/10/dan-... #CBS #Paramount

Dan Rather Says Bari Weiss Hire And Skydance-Paramount Merger Mark “A Dark Day In The Halls Of CBS News”

Rather said that Weiss' hire will add to fears journalists have of losing their jobs.

deadline.com

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Helen Mask 🔜 Seattle oddities🔜Pdx oddities 🔜kumoricon @hemask.bsky.social · 1d

Started sketching this a few years ago and decided I’m ready to finish it. I completed the inking tonight and I have lots of details to add in coloring stage. (They are the morning and evening star)

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 1d

About a month ago, the Trump administration got rid of the de minimis exemption, whereby packages valued under $800 could slide in without import duties. Now there's a backlog as the government can't process all of this paperwork, leading to UPS just destroying packages

Business Insider headline reads: UPS is telling customers that their packages coming to the US are marked for destruction.

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Slurmsadako MacKenzie @slurmsmackenzie.bsky.social · 1d

GenAI truly was the worst technology to come along at this moment.

An energy and water guzzler when we most urgently need to take climate action.

A disinformation machine as our journalism fails.

A bias machine as fascism takes root.

A job killer in a cost of living crisis.

Bria "tries to write a book" Horses @thevoidencore.bsky.social · 6d

The "cognitive decline and brain damage from repeat COVID infections" and "easy to use robot that makes slop and melts your critical thinking skills" is a hell of a combo in a post-fact media ecosystem

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SAPRO @saproartist.bsky.social · 1d

Alfy oc commission for duskwights 🤍

Illustration of a character with glasses. He’s holding the frame of his glasses. One of his eyes has exuded strange patterns resembling eyes. His shirt is a frayed blouse with a cravat. The lower half of his body seems to be a large centipede’s. His long hair is displayed like a sharp set of teeth.

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Capital B @capitalb.bsky.social · 22h

“In this environment that we’re in right now, it feels like an understatement to say that there’s misinformation being spread about this community. People really forget that we’re human beings.”

No One Was Helping Black Transgender Youth. So These Parents Stepped In.

A new nonprofit provides resources to Black families of transgender and nonbinary youth at a moment of heightened political hostility.

capitalbnews.org

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 21h

IMHO, LLMs will be an economic negative for years.

They'll do a worse job than humans,

but will still replace humans because they're cheaper for employers,

but really they're costlier, it's just that lots of costs get externalized to society by our horrible energy/tax policies.

Lose-lose-lose.

The Real AI Risk is ‘Meh’ Technology That Takes Jobs and Annoys Us All

While AI doomsday scenarios dwell on the risks posed by superintelligent robot overlords, one Nobel-Prize winning economist fears a more mundane possibility.

www.bloomberg.com

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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 21h

Bar associations need to start disbarring. There's immediate precedent with Giuliani. To the point @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social has repeatedly made, a polity that allows elites to repeatedly lie, obviously and with impunity, is not sustainable. Feels like the legal profession is at the same juncture.

Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 1d

The case against Comey is beyond weak. The case against James is worse. It is based on a lie, and they know they're lying because exculpatory evidence that contradicts the indictment had already been presented to a grand jury in another jurisdiction. Everyone involved with this needs to be disbarred

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 21h

Being such a responsible company, I’m sure they’ve gamed out the potential societal harms and have a plan for mitigating them. 💀

Are deepfakes of dead people rewriting the past?

While OpenAI's Sora has some guardrails around the likenesses of living people, protections around the likenesses of those who have died appear to be an afterthought.

www.nbcnews.com

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Derf Backderf @derfbackderf.bsky.social · 20h

With the holidays upon us, don't give to Salvation Army. Not even change. It's a scumbag "charity" run by anti-gay zealots.

Habitat for Humanity is great. Your local Food Bank is great.

So many "charities" are for-profit scams. Use Charity Navigator to vet them. www.charitynavigator.org

Fascist Dem Tracker @fascistdemtracker.bsky.social · 1d

Fun fact about the Salvation Army: they use a form of substance use treatment called work therapy. Oh, and by treatment, I mean they have people who have been convicted of drug charges work for their stores & warehouses in exchange for room, board, around a $1 a week, and minimal actual therapy.

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Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 20h

There was a moment, very recently, when the popular sentiment was firmly in favor of addressing police violence and unaccountability; the response from these same politicians was “fund the police.”

Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 20h

“But the politicians are scared of police violence,” hmm how do you think we feel about it?

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 19h

Like a piece of shit eating itself.

University Using AI to Falsely Accuse Students of Cheating With AI

Australian Catholic University used an AI tool to falsely accuse students of cheating us an AI, taking months to clear their name.

futurism.com

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C. Buckthorn @cbuckthorn.bsky.social · 1d

This is amazing. I laughed out loud www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

As 32-year-old Rich points out, though, "it's not like using ChatGPT guarantees success".
When he met someone in a bar one Friday night and swapped social media handles, he asked AI what his next move should be.
ChatGPT discerned that sending an initial message on Monday midmorning would set the right pace. "Then it gave me some options for what the message could be," says Rich.
"Keep it light, warm, and low-stakes so it reads as genuine interest without urgency," the bot advised. "Something like: Hey Sarah, still laughing about [tiny shared moment/reference if you've got one] - good to meet you!" Rich went back and forth with ChatGPT until he felt they'd hit upon exactly the right message ("Hey Sarah, it was lovely to meet you") but sadly she never replied, he says. "It's been two weeks now."

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Rika⁷ @commanderrika.blacksky.app · 1d

"I'm your private bunny,
Bunny for carrots,
Hop where you wa-ant me to.

I'm your private bunny,
Bunny for carrots,
And any old garden will do."

-a Millennial singing to their baby one of the few songs they remember the tune to

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 1d

New — Video shared with me shows ICE officers in DC detaining a man on Friday.

Bystander filming asks man for his name. ICE agent lies and says he’s not allowed to speak to him “by law” and another says “We’ve arrested American citizens for being too close…If he gets any closer, put him in cuffs.”

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Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.bsky.social · 1d

lol gentle reminder that DEI is not illegal. Supporting marginalized groups is not illegal. Anyone reneging on support is making a CHOICE to do so.

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Toya 🚀🔭 @astrotoya.bsky.social · 1d

Everyone,

I’m under so much stress that I couldn’t sleep. I haven’t slept. I am short of my car payment and I have nothing.

I was raped in July, lost a pregnancy shortly after and my job and Covid messed me up.

So if anyone can please help me keep my car and help me pay for daycare, please.

Toya 🚀🔭 @astrotoya.bsky.social · 2d

Everyone, I’m 2 months behind on my car payment and it could be taken soon if I don’t at least pay the $360 I owe them.

Begging yall to please help me with this and help me with daycare. I’m $110 behind on that too.

My v e n m o is : @astrotoya
My c a s h a p p : $astrotoya
or PayPal.me/toyamck

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Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH @geauxgabrielle.bsky.social · 1d

Joe Biden lost his bid for president 4 times and was a LAUGHINGSTOCK til Barack needed a moderate racist to cosign him to get to the White House.

And he only got elected because of people’s DESPERATION for “normalcy.” Not his policies.

And if people cant ADMIT THAT then we’re nowhere near

RedRooster @redrooster.needs.girlfriend.fyi · 1d

Hilary and Joe are seven-time certified losers, with just one win between them. The Clintons ruined the Democratic Party

Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH @geauxgabrielle.bsky.social · 1d

I’m racist towards the white man who fought for segregation so his kids didnt have to go to school in “race jungles” and the woman who told her husband to bomb a small country before she took him back for his infidelity

Shut your ass up lmaoooo

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...emotional depth of a teaspoon 😩 @troublemakersup.bsky.social · 1d

New Yorkers and other residents of the tri-state-metro-area... ConEd is warning about possible power outages due to the approaching Nor'easter.

Please keep all your devices charged, have an emergency light source, and make sure your yard is clear of potentially damaging flying objects.

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cait (and adonis) @cait.bsky.social · 1d

I genuinely cannot express how vital it is that you train yourself to recognize AI-generated images and videos for your own good because none of this is going away and many, many people are counting on you to fall for their shit

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Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 2d

Just bc a book contains a protagonist between 10 and 30, especially a female protagnoist, doesn't mean it's YA. Just bc the book is written by a woman (or someone you incorrectly assume is a woman), doesn't make it YA. Just bc a book is fun, written colloquially, or has romance doesn't make it YA.

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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 1d

The leadership of the measles outbreak response was fired in the RIF spree while RFK JR attempts to completely dismantle measles vaccine access for children.

Measles (Rubeola)
MENU V
As of October 7, 2025, a total of 1,563 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States. Among these, 1,542
measles cases were reported by 42 jurisdictions: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, lowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. A total of 21 measles cases were reported among international visitors to the U.S.
There have been 44 outbreaks** reported in 2025, and 87% of confirmed cases (1,355 of 1,563) are outbreak-associated. For comparison, 16 outbreaks were reported during 2024 and 69% of cases (198 of 285) were outbreak-associated.

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Aubrey Gilleran @aubreygilleran.bsky.social · 1d

Relatedly, I recall a lot of "the joy of canceling plans" jokes and memes from the 2010s and now folks are talking about a loneliness epidemic, and, well...

Aubrey Gilleran @aubreygilleran.bsky.social · 1d

People will scoff at virtue signaling and then wonder why today’s billionaires don’t build museums, libraries, hospitals, and universities like Gilded Age ones did.

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Reveal @revealnews.org · 1d

Hundreds of Haitians came to Greeley, Colorado, looking for a place to stay and a good job at JBS, the largest meat producer in the world.

Instead, they found squalid housing and an unsafe workplace.

Now, they’re being deported.

Haitian immigrants went to Colorado for the promise of jobs. What they found is being called human trafficking.

Haitian immigrants moved to Colorado on the promise of a good job and a place to stay—only to be mistreated. Now, they could be deported

revealnews.org

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