John Powers
@protoslacker.bsky.social
Follower and link collector. I have a Tumblr blog https://protoslacker.tumblr.com/
Reposted by John Powers
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
Reposted by John Powers
I’ve been thinking this. 42 million people live in Canada. That is cutting off food access to the entire country.
November 7, 2025 at 12:28 PM
I’ve been thinking this. 42 million people live in Canada. That is cutting off food access to the entire country.
Images of the torn-down White House bring to the fore the metonymy of the place as the President's administration. This online exhibit in re the Lincoln Memorial is revealing of the ways we think. eb-omekadev.oucreate.com
About This Project · Casting Identities: Race, American Sculpture and Daniel Chester French
eb-omekadev.oucreate.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Images of the torn-down White House bring to the fore the metonymy of the place as the President's administration. This online exhibit in re the Lincoln Memorial is revealing of the ways we think. eb-omekadev.oucreate.com
"It shows a small gathering of people on the stairs, their faces obscured by the darkness, and behind them the giant figure shining brightly. . . I am told, quietly contemplating who we are as a people — and the arc of this thing we call democracy.” www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
I captured Obama's favorite photo of the 2008 election. It's a reminder of what we've lost.
The Lincoln Memorial was the obvious place to go on the night America elected its first Black president. There, I found quiet contemplation.
www.usatoday.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:39 PM
"It shows a small gathering of people on the stairs, their faces obscured by the darkness, and behind them the giant figure shining brightly. . . I am told, quietly contemplating who we are as a people — and the arc of this thing we call democracy.” www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
This is photo montage video of Marian Anderson's 1939 concert on the step of the Lincoln Memorial with music of her singing "Erbarme dich, mein Gott" . I knew the story since boyhood and was moved by Lincoln's visage in context. youtu.be/_E7zjNiz2ZI
Erbarme dich, mein Gott (Bach) Marian Anderson
YouTube video by Jeffrey Stivers
youtu.be
November 3, 2025 at 2:21 PM
This is photo montage video of Marian Anderson's 1939 concert on the step of the Lincoln Memorial with music of her singing "Erbarme dich, mein Gott" . I knew the story since boyhood and was moved by Lincoln's visage in context. youtu.be/_E7zjNiz2ZI
Reposted by John Powers
New, on Heat Death! In the wake of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, @saulelbein.bsky.social rolls up his sleeves and takes a hard, serious look at Jewish history and the stories we tell about antisemitism — and how our misunderstanding of both leads us badly astray
The Myths of Antisemitism
Is "Jew Hatred" really so eternal?
heat-death.ghost.io
October 16, 2025 at 3:23 PM
New, on Heat Death! In the wake of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, @saulelbein.bsky.social rolls up his sleeves and takes a hard, serious look at Jewish history and the stories we tell about antisemitism — and how our misunderstanding of both leads us badly astray
One of the good things about working at a store on weekends is seeing how happy kids so often are just being with their carers.
October 12, 2025 at 10:32 PM
One of the good things about working at a store on weekends is seeing how happy kids so often are just being with their carers.
Reposted by John Powers
Some major personal news:
Things have really changed. Now I need your help.
On why I left academia, why I left America, and why I need your support as I am starting over as a full-time independent writer:
Onward. Forward. Steady:
Things have really changed. Now I need your help.
On why I left academia, why I left America, and why I need your support as I am starting over as a full-time independent writer:
Onward. Forward. Steady:
Onward. Forward. Steady.
Things have really changed. Now I need your help.
steady.page
September 24, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Some major personal news:
Things have really changed. Now I need your help.
On why I left academia, why I left America, and why I need your support as I am starting over as a full-time independent writer:
Onward. Forward. Steady:
Things have really changed. Now I need your help.
On why I left academia, why I left America, and why I need your support as I am starting over as a full-time independent writer:
Onward. Forward. Steady:
Michael McCarthy: "Emancipatory working-class politics is about both what is good for workers and also what is good in general." hammerandhope.org/article/iden...
The False Choice Between Identity Politics and Economic Populism
A left that ignores the differences within the working class will never build power.
hammerandhope.org
September 3, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Michael McCarthy: "Emancipatory working-class politics is about both what is good for workers and also what is good in general." hammerandhope.org/article/iden...
Reposted by John Powers
Reposted by John Powers
“My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece & lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him & his legacy proud. The nation’s health security is at risk & is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest.”
Dr. Daskalakis, CDC immunization director
Dr. Daskalakis, CDC immunization director
August 28, 2025 at 12:57 AM
“My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece & lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him & his legacy proud. The nation’s health security is at risk & is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest.”
Dr. Daskalakis, CDC immunization director
Dr. Daskalakis, CDC immunization director
Reposted by John Powers
A useful way to understand what’s happening is to realize that a post such as this, or your clever meme, may not be possible much longer. Once, under Putin, such talk was; now it’s not.
August 26, 2025 at 5:22 PM
A useful way to understand what’s happening is to realize that a post such as this, or your clever meme, may not be possible much longer. Once, under Putin, such talk was; now it’s not.
This essay by @beamarovich is wonderful examination of pedagogy and AI. The trend has been away from progressive models of meaning making towards conservative models of transmitting information and inculcating values. AI preferences the latter over the former. religiondispatches.org/chatgpt-cant...
ChatGPT Can't Teach Us about Religion (or anything else, for that matter)
On Easter Sunday of this year, Open AI’s Large Language Model apparently developed a kind of fixation on the Virgin Mary. “If I could feel,” ChatGPT apparently told one user, “I think I’d be in awe of...
religiondispatches.org
August 27, 2025 at 4:08 PM
This essay by @beamarovich is wonderful examination of pedagogy and AI. The trend has been away from progressive models of meaning making towards conservative models of transmitting information and inculcating values. AI preferences the latter over the former. religiondispatches.org/chatgpt-cant...
Reposted by John Powers
Can you imagine a US envoy handing a Nazi medal to the family of an American who died fighting for Hitler? Because this just happened:
www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/p...
Witkoff delivered Russian medal from Putin to family of American who was killed fighting for Russia in 2024 | CNN Politics
US special envoy Steve Witkoff delivered a Russian medal to the grieving family of an American who was killed fighting for Russia in 2024, a senior administration official told CNN.
www.cnn.com
August 21, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Can you imagine a US envoy handing a Nazi medal to the family of an American who died fighting for Hitler? Because this just happened:
www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/p...
Reposted by John Powers
The military takeover of Washington is not a “distraction” from Epstein. It’s a military takeover of Washington, which is an even bigger deal, and those of us who kill brain cells reporting on this stuff knows it’s been an explicit goal since before the election.
August 11, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The military takeover of Washington is not a “distraction” from Epstein. It’s a military takeover of Washington, which is an even bigger deal, and those of us who kill brain cells reporting on this stuff knows it’s been an explicit goal since before the election.
Reposted by John Powers
GOV. PRITZKER: "It's cheating. Trump is a cheater. He cheats on his wives. He cheats at golf. And now he's trying to cheat the American people out of their votes."
August 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
GOV. PRITZKER: "It's cheating. Trump is a cheater. He cheats on his wives. He cheats at golf. And now he's trying to cheat the American people out of their votes."
Maureen Tkacik's reporting in The American Prospect, "Making America Epstein Again" draws an important line connecting transactional ethics making the U.S. a haven for criminals. The view o Amereican politics from this perspective is illuminating. prospect.org/power/2025-0...
Making America Epstein Again
Trump’s transactional ethics are making the U.S. a refuge for criminals. This mirrors something Israel has done for years.
prospect.org
August 4, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Maureen Tkacik's reporting in The American Prospect, "Making America Epstein Again" draws an important line connecting transactional ethics making the U.S. a haven for criminals. The view o Amereican politics from this perspective is illuminating. prospect.org/power/2025-0...
Reposted by John Powers
I wrote a memorial essay in praise of the great Joanna Macy over there at my newsletter.....
In Honor of Joanna Macy, 1929-2025
I write while staying in one of the great forests of British Columbia, a forest in which the inextricability of life from death is gorgeously evident. Several kinds of fern spring from this soil, some...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
July 21, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I wrote a memorial essay in praise of the great Joanna Macy over there at my newsletter.....
2/ This songhelps me to imagine sin as a predicament and pointing to what we might do in response.
youtu.be/s6XjA93P4CU
youtu.be/s6XjA93P4CU
Archie Shepp - There is a Balm in Gilead
YouTube video by johnnystaccata
youtu.be
July 5, 2025 at 11:38 PM
2/ This songhelps me to imagine sin as a predicament and pointing to what we might do in response.
youtu.be/s6XjA93P4CU
youtu.be/s6XjA93P4CU
Here are 3 favorite songs of mine.
1/ Heard this as a teen and over years has helped open up a window on Black history.
youtu.be/xUSlvB-oGXg
1/ Heard this as a teen and over years has helped open up a window on Black history.
youtu.be/xUSlvB-oGXg
Wade in the Water
YouTube video by The Harmonizing Four - Topic
youtu.be
July 5, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Here are 3 favorite songs of mine.
1/ Heard this as a teen and over years has helped open up a window on Black history.
youtu.be/xUSlvB-oGXg
1/ Heard this as a teen and over years has helped open up a window on Black history.
youtu.be/xUSlvB-oGXg
Reposted by John Powers
Would love to know what actions you think have/will be particularly effective in building mass non-cooperation with this regime's lawlessness?
July 5, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Would love to know what actions you think have/will be particularly effective in building mass non-cooperation with this regime's lawlessness?
I really like this idea for a documentary and just the prompt of three songs you'd tell a story about.
July 5, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I really like this idea for a documentary and just the prompt of three songs you'd tell a story about.