Vaska Raeca
@vaskaraeca.bsky.social
He/Him
Technical Writer
Professional Doomscroller
Fan Of A Certain Spectre Haunting Europe
Technical Writer
Professional Doomscroller
Fan Of A Certain Spectre Haunting Europe
Pinned
Vaska Raeca
@vaskaraeca.bsky.social
· Jan 1
This account incoherently posts about the environment, politics, animal welfare, queer issues, the arts, world endurance championship racing, books, tea, systems analysis, various cats, movies, and the nuclear apocalypse in popular culture.
The degradation of the environment by sprawl, pollution, and global warming is starting to affect previously stable species. The results can be catastrophic, not only because of extinction but also because of the knock-on effects on other species that exist in cooperation with them. #environment
The West’s vanishing porcupines - High Country News
Scientists are racing to figure out why porcupines are disappearing from their former stomping grounds.
www.hcn.org
December 8, 2025 at 9:01 PM
The degradation of the environment by sprawl, pollution, and global warming is starting to affect previously stable species. The results can be catastrophic, not only because of extinction but also because of the knock-on effects on other species that exist in cooperation with them. #environment
Colorado was always going to have a hard time because of the bloodlust of hunters in Wyoming and Montana, along with the usual whining from ranchers. And of course, the Trump administration has deliberately made things worse by banning the import of wolves from Canada because reasons. #environment
Colorado has wolves again for the first time in 80 years. Why are they dying?
A controversial reintroduction program is off to a messy start.
www.vox.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Colorado was always going to have a hard time because of the bloodlust of hunters in Wyoming and Montana, along with the usual whining from ranchers. And of course, the Trump administration has deliberately made things worse by banning the import of wolves from Canada because reasons. #environment
Almost monthly, there's some news article that slides by almost unnoticed with a headline that sounds like the start of an apocalyptic movie. And this isn't even a new phenomenon; there are already problems with whales having to change their singing and move because of shipping traffic. #environment
‘The narwhals stop calling’: how the noise from ships is silencing wildlife in the Arctic
Evidence that the whales and other marine animals are particularly vulnerable to sound is driving calls for quieter vessels
www.theguardian.com
December 8, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Almost monthly, there's some news article that slides by almost unnoticed with a headline that sounds like the start of an apocalyptic movie. And this isn't even a new phenomenon; there are already problems with whales having to change their singing and move because of shipping traffic. #environment
Anyone who has driven past the remnants of the once beautiful Owens Lake knows it as a warning of when aquifers are carelessly drained, and the toxic runoff of pesticides and other pollutants dries, spreads, and sickens. Utah has ignored this warning, and the costs are getting higher. #environment
A drying Great Salt Lake is spewing toxic dust. It could cost Utah billions.
A new report from two environmental groups says elected officials and scientists aren't taking the problem seriously enough.
grist.org
December 8, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Anyone who has driven past the remnants of the once beautiful Owens Lake knows it as a warning of when aquifers are carelessly drained, and the toxic runoff of pesticides and other pollutants dries, spreads, and sickens. Utah has ignored this warning, and the costs are getting higher. #environment
Ranchers already enjoyed taxpayer-subsidized grazing on public lands, sometimes as low as one cent an acre. Now Trump wants to open more protected areas to agribusiness whose herds, that are no longer monitored, are reducing thousands of fragile square miles of grassland to desert. #environment
Wealthy Ranchers Profit From Public Lands. Taxpayers Pick Up the Tab.
A ProPublica and High Country News investigation found that government programs supporting grazing on public lands prop up a wealthy few while harming the environment. The Trump administration is…
www.propublica.org
December 5, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Ranchers already enjoyed taxpayer-subsidized grazing on public lands, sometimes as low as one cent an acre. Now Trump wants to open more protected areas to agribusiness whose herds, that are no longer monitored, are reducing thousands of fragile square miles of grassland to desert. #environment
Sure is interesting how the MAHA administration packed the EPA with chemical industry lobbyists who want to repeal laws on PFAS and have already approved dangerous new pesticides for crops. Almost as if the whole health thing was a cover for massive deregulation to please big business. #environment
The Trump Administration Is Deregulating Forever Chemicals
The Trump administration is taking steps to further deregulate dangerous “forever chemicals,” or PFAS, increasingly ubiquitous chemicals that don’t easily break down and are linked to a wide range of…
jacobin.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Sure is interesting how the MAHA administration packed the EPA with chemical industry lobbyists who want to repeal laws on PFAS and have already approved dangerous new pesticides for crops. Almost as if the whole health thing was a cover for massive deregulation to please big business. #environment
American Indian lands were designated as sacrifice zones in the 1970s, where the land and the people could be exploited and abandoned. Some of them survived the radiation sickness and are still deserving of compensation for the lies the government and its aligned corporations told them. #environment
They Worked Underground in the Uranium Mines. They've Been Surrounded by Death Ever Since.
The uranium industry left a trail of sickness and loss through Navajo territory, yet Trump is pushing for another mining boom.
inthesetimes.com
December 5, 2025 at 6:01 PM
American Indian lands were designated as sacrifice zones in the 1970s, where the land and the people could be exploited and abandoned. Some of them survived the radiation sickness and are still deserving of compensation for the lies the government and its aligned corporations told them. #environment
It's been almost three decades, but establishment Democrats are still torpedoing popular and necessary legislation to please Republicans who never reciprocate and will stick the knife in the second they find an opportunity. #environment
Pennsylvania bailed on a carbon market to appease Republicans
Governor Josh Shapiro pulled of the the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in exchange for a budget. Critics say he “got rolled.”
grist.org
December 5, 2025 at 5:02 PM
It's been almost three decades, but establishment Democrats are still torpedoing popular and necessary legislation to please Republicans who never reciprocate and will stick the knife in the second they find an opportunity. #environment
That we've had AI encourage a major arson, several violent attacks, and multiple suicides, and none of the CEOs of these companies are rotting in prison, and their companies burned to the ground, is an indictment of our system.
ChatGPT hyped up violent stalker who believed he was “God’s assassin,” DOJ says
Podcaster faces up to 70 years and a $3.5 million fine for ChatGPT-linked stalking.
arstechnica.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:18 AM
That we've had AI encourage a major arson, several violent attacks, and multiple suicides, and none of the CEOs of these companies are rotting in prison, and their companies burned to the ground, is an indictment of our system.
It's unlikely Trump knew who Juan Hernández is, or even where Honduras is located, but tech ghouls Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen do. Both backed Hernández in return for him creating Próspera, an SEZ where they can park projects and money that would otherwise attract taxation and legal issues.
Why did Trump pardon the former Honduran president? Follow the Tech Bros.
With Roger Stone taking a victory lap for having come up with the idea in the first place.
www.motherjones.com
December 4, 2025 at 11:00 PM
It's unlikely Trump knew who Juan Hernández is, or even where Honduras is located, but tech ghouls Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen do. Both backed Hernández in return for him creating Próspera, an SEZ where they can park projects and money that would otherwise attract taxation and legal issues.
While the suspicion that the Trump administration wants to invade Venezuela for the oil is understandable, the real motivation is to please a small clique of ex-pat right-wing politicians and businessmen who are exerting a toxic control of American policy in the same manner as ex-Batista Cubans.
Marco Rubio’s Sales Pitch: War in Venezuela - The American Prospect
Right-wing exiles in South Florida want regime change. Rubio is selling it with a false narrative about drug trafficking.
prospect.org
December 4, 2025 at 10:00 PM
While the suspicion that the Trump administration wants to invade Venezuela for the oil is understandable, the real motivation is to please a small clique of ex-pat right-wing politicians and businessmen who are exerting a toxic control of American policy in the same manner as ex-Batista Cubans.
America financed and supplied dictators throughout Central and South America, causing horrific violence that economically, politically, and socially destabilized nations for decades. Desperate parents sent children north to escape the violence, and they grew up only knowing America as their home.
What Happened to the Migrants the U.S. Dumped in Panama?
Nearly 300 people were sent to a country they’d never lived in. The journey didn’t end there.
nymag.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:00 PM
America financed and supplied dictators throughout Central and South America, causing horrific violence that economically, politically, and socially destabilized nations for decades. Desperate parents sent children north to escape the violence, and they grew up only knowing America as their home.
Although the prison population is declining, the number of people being held in jails before trial, sometimes for years, is rapidly expanding. This is leading to a boom in construction, often on or adjacent to toxic Superfund sites, meaning innocent people are being poisoned.
Carceral Sinks: A Silent Toxic Jail Boom in the US - Failed Architecture
In the US, officials increasingly look to toxic sites to incarcerate populations deemed both temporary and surplus.
failedarchitecture.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Although the prison population is declining, the number of people being held in jails before trial, sometimes for years, is rapidly expanding. This is leading to a boom in construction, often on or adjacent to toxic Superfund sites, meaning innocent people are being poisoned.
All police and security forces enforce the inherent racism of their nation, both as a demand of elite interests and a reflection of the bigotry of their members. ICE is merely acting out the next phase, where citizenship means nothing; only skin color has value.
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
December 4, 2025 at 6:55 PM
All police and security forces enforce the inherent racism of their nation, both as a demand of elite interests and a reflection of the bigotry of their members. ICE is merely acting out the next phase, where citizenship means nothing; only skin color has value.
The Navy isn't some reluctant actor; it aggressively pushed for this campaign because the War on Drugs gives it an easy way to obtain funding, and each strike is another promotion. The Navy has killed hundreds around the Caribbean since the 1980s.
November 28, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The Navy isn't some reluctant actor; it aggressively pushed for this campaign because the War on Drugs gives it an easy way to obtain funding, and each strike is another promotion. The Navy has killed hundreds around the Caribbean since the 1980s.
This was after the first Trump administration halted the program, while in the second term, nearly a dozen Afghan nationals who were involved with the American military have been threatened with deportation. This fear would certainly not have helped anyone's mental state.
Trump Approved National Guard Shooting Suspect’s Asylum
Law enforcement sources say the suspect in an ambush near White House was granted asylum in April.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:09 PM
This was after the first Trump administration halted the program, while in the second term, nearly a dozen Afghan nationals who were involved with the American military have been threatened with deportation. This fear would certainly not have helped anyone's mental state.
Between their enthusiasm for banning being trans people (and Link for pointing this out), Palestinians under the guise of fighting spam, and now people trying to help Palestinians, Bluesky is working hard to drive this platform over a cliff.
Hey @bsky.app @safety.bsky.app @support.bsky.team please unsuspend Goran immediately.
Goran is a great person, a great artist, and the whole anti-Palestine thing youre on is one of those "Ford funding Hitler" disasters you remember being shocked and dismayed by when you learned of in middle school.
Goran is a great person, a great artist, and the whole anti-Palestine thing youre on is one of those "Ford funding Hitler" disasters you remember being shocked and dismayed by when you learned of in middle school.
November 26, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Between their enthusiasm for banning being trans people (and Link for pointing this out), Palestinians under the guise of fighting spam, and now people trying to help Palestinians, Bluesky is working hard to drive this platform over a cliff.
What's that? You wanted funds to protect and evacuate people in the case of an earthquake, flood, or fire? Sorry, we spent that violently beating and arresting students for daring to criticize Israel's ongoing genocide. #israel
How California Spent Natural Disaster Funds to Quell Student Protests for Palestine
California’s Law Enforcement Mutual Aid fund has been used to fight fires, floods, earthquakes — and student protests at public universities.
theintercept.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:35 PM
What's that? You wanted funds to protect and evacuate people in the case of an earthquake, flood, or fire? Sorry, we spent that violently beating and arresting students for daring to criticize Israel's ongoing genocide. #israel
One of my coworkers said I looked like Gavin Newsom and I think I'm going to die of shame.
November 23, 2025 at 4:56 PM
One of my coworkers said I looked like Gavin Newsom and I think I'm going to die of shame.
Might start using TikTok if this gets a full rollout (and that ghoul Ellison doesn't turn the site into a right-wing hellscape)
TikTok is letting users control how much AI content they see
You’ll be able to see more — or less — AI content.
www.theverge.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Might start using TikTok if this gets a full rollout (and that ghoul Ellison doesn't turn the site into a right-wing hellscape)
Besides pointing out, again, the disingenuous tactics of people who shouted the loudest about 'cancel culture,' this shows how even the mildest comment is made into a hysterical culture war moment by the right and needs to face retaliation.
www.reuters.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Besides pointing out, again, the disingenuous tactics of people who shouted the loudest about 'cancel culture,' this shows how even the mildest comment is made into a hysterical culture war moment by the right and needs to face retaliation.
Sure is interesting how QAnon has gone silent now there's an actual cabal of pedophile elites in the top rungs of government (and I don't enjoy that that sentence, which would have sounded insane only a few years ago, is now a rational description of reality)
The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
www.propublica.org
November 19, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Sure is interesting how QAnon has gone silent now there's an actual cabal of pedophile elites in the top rungs of government (and I don't enjoy that that sentence, which would have sounded insane only a few years ago, is now a rational description of reality)
The man who was screaming about Biden's 'autopen' has perhaps hundreds of pardons, and who knows what else, sporting identical signatures, and I'd bet real money someone is signing them for him as part of the corruption scheme.
Justice Department quietly replaced 'identical' Trump signatures on recent pardons
President Donald Trump is facing new scrutiny over the use of a replicated signature on several recent pardons.
apnews.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:45 PM
The man who was screaming about Biden's 'autopen' has perhaps hundreds of pardons, and who knows what else, sporting identical signatures, and I'd bet real money someone is signing them for him as part of the corruption scheme.
The heads of Apple, Nvidia, Dell, General Motors, Paramount, Chevron, Citi, Ford, Bechtel, Blackstone, and others came to cozy up with a regime that murders journalists, protestors and spent years bombing and starving millions in Yemen.
Who Attended Trump’s Dinner for the Saudi Crown Prince?
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:40 PM
The heads of Apple, Nvidia, Dell, General Motors, Paramount, Chevron, Citi, Ford, Bechtel, Blackstone, and others came to cozy up with a regime that murders journalists, protestors and spent years bombing and starving millions in Yemen.
Boosting domestic ginger farming would not only reduce the huge amount of carbon produced by shipping millions of tons to the United States each year, but also open the possibility of new varieties that don't have to be frozen for transport. #environment
Tarheel Ginger - Offrange
We import almost all of this common kitchen ingredient, but a team of North Carolina researchers is asking: Why not grow it here?
ambrook.com
November 16, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Boosting domestic ginger farming would not only reduce the huge amount of carbon produced by shipping millions of tons to the United States each year, but also open the possibility of new varieties that don't have to be frozen for transport. #environment