melissagaskill.bsky.social
@melissagaskill.bsky.social
Science writer, #nature #ocean #scuba #wildlife #environment #travel #ISS #NASW #Austin http://melissagaskill.blogspot.com
Spineless creatures, possibly the world’s oldest beer receipt and more: 2025’s best Books in brief www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Spineless creatures, possibly the world’s oldest beer receipt and more: 2025’s best Books in brief
Bibliophile Andrew Robinson reveals 10 essential science reads from the past year.
www.nature.com
December 1, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted
When newspapers are owned by billionaires you get headlines like this 🤡

The Jeff Bezos- owned @washingtonpost.com , folks 🙃 🤦🏻‍♂️
December 1, 2025 at 4:52 PM
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Withholding support from corporations enabling the Trump regime is a powerful way to fight authoritarianism. Supporting the organizations who do fight back hard and organize others to fight is just as important. If you can, pitch in to power your friendly pro-democracy organizers at Indivisible.
November 30, 2025 at 10:29 PM
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As tempting as it may be, RESIST. Don't do it!
November 30, 2025 at 10:26 PM
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Immigration officers were sent to Chicago to detain and deport “violent offenders” that DHS said were released from jails because of “sanctuary” policies. The agency says it has arrested more than 4,000 people, but only about 120 of those have a criminal record.
DHS swept Chicago to get ‘the worst’ criminals. Many have no record.
Aggressive tactics in Chicago have been deployed in DHS’s “Operation Midway Blitz” to round up more than 4,000 people, only a small portion of whom have major criminal records.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 30, 2025 at 11:00 PM
🤔
They’re simultaneously arguing that soldiers have to follow all orders from the president, legal or not, but they get to ignore orders from a federal judge if they feel they’re not legal.
KARL: Did you know about the judge's order when you issued your order for the planes to continue?

KRISTI NOEM: This is an activist judge. We comply with all federal orders that are lawful and binding.
November 30, 2025 at 8:58 PM
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"Orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal."
Senator Kelly is correct.

Plus a Public Service Announcement:

KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.

The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
November 30, 2025 at 7:32 PM
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A federal judge has released footage from nearly four dozen body cameras showing immigration agents’ ‘unprecedented’ use of force during their months-long deportation blitz in the Chicago area.
Bodycam video shows feds’ aggressive tactics in vivid detail: ‘Deploy f---ing gas’
chicago.suntimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 7:01 PM
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Walmart and McDonald’s are among the top employers of workers who rely on food stamps.

McDonald's CEO raked in $18.2M last year — over 1,000x the company's median employee pay.

Walmart's CEO pocketed $27.4M — 930x the company's median employee pay.

See the problem?
November 30, 2025 at 5:30 PM
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"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:30 PM
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News media has to do better with headlines that present false and unverified public health claims.
November 29, 2025 at 11:48 PM
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"Even if the U.S. were at war with the traffickers, an order to kill all the boat’s occupants if they were no longer able to fight 'would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime,' said Huntley, now director of the national security law program at Georgetown Law."
November 28, 2025 at 5:53 PM
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Even now, thinking about himself
November 28, 2025 at 12:58 AM
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MAJOR: The Trump Administration has been caught lying about the D.C. shooting suspect.

The truth: He was vetted by Trump. He had a CIA badge, worked with the CIA in Afghanistan, and granted asylum by Trump in April.

Spread this everywhere. Subscribe to support my work, even on Thanksgiving:
Major Update: The Trump Administration Caught Lying About D.C. Shooting Suspect as CIA Ties Exposed
Good afternoon, everyone.
open.substack.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:24 PM
She's not wrong, it's just that the barbarians are the opposite of what she thinks. (Acknowledging that most of the individual guard members are not the problem)
Pirro: "These Guardsmen and all who are here to protect the District are the line that separates a civilized society from a barbaric one."
November 27, 2025 at 4:42 PM
The only hard work he's done is avoiding doing his actual job.
Speaker Mike Johnson is "crushed by his workload."

Bitch, please! You've been on a self-conferred vacation the past few months.
November 27, 2025 at 4:37 PM
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November 27, 2025 at 4:30 PM
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Whether it's the rich hoarding ungodly wealth or the poor hoarding devices, both classes are equally at fault for the economy.
November 27, 2025 at 4:10 PM
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"A true peace must reduce the likelihood that the aggressor will resume or expand its violence; it cannot strengthen his hand while weakening the victim’s." lnk.thebulwark.com/4pzTkrK
A Letter from Clausewitz to Secretary Rubio
Channeling the author of ‘On War’ on the U.S. pursuit of peace in Ukraine.
lnk.thebulwark.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:31 AM
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From two days ago.
Talked to some National Guard kids from West Virginia on the street near my office. They don't have leave to go home for Thanksgiving this week.

They can't see their families, because the president wants to use them as political props. No doubt, though, there'll be a feast at Mar-a-Lago Thursday.
November 26, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Guard shouldn't have been there in the first place. This is on you, dude
Pete Hegseth says Trump has asked him to add 500 more National Guard troops to Washington D.C.

It's unclear why he seems to be smirking throughout much of this.

x.com/dowresponse/...
November 26, 2025 at 10:15 PM
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If you _do_ want to know the true science on the environmental consequences of offshore wind development, we did a story based on two different systematic reviews, plus a bunch of other studies, in this piece:

hakaimagazine.com/news/offshor...
Environmentally, Offshore Wind Is … Fine | Hakai Magazine
How often can you say that about an energy generation system?
hakaimagazine.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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Every year around Thanksgiving, I see tons of grad students post heartbreaking messages on social media about how their loved ones don’t understand or support their decision to study what seems like something pointless or silly.

Perhaps my American Scientist essay can help!

🧪🌎🦑 #SciComm
“Why Are We Funding This?”
Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.
www.americanscientist.org
November 25, 2025 at 6:42 PM
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A democracy where a coordinated effort by national leaders of one party to subvert an election outcome does not lead to any real consequences is a democracy unlikely to last long
November 26, 2025 at 4:35 PM