maryrichardson
@richardsonm.bsky.social
Libraries, archives, books, art, music, dogs
Reposted by maryrichardson
It’s also worth noting that with the decimation of the Dept of Ed, enforcement of Title IX, which is supposed to mitigate gender discrimination in education, is basically gone, which also protects men who (benefit from the) abuse (of) women. A horrible, horrible web of interconnected misogyny.
Eliminating gender studies courses helps to ensure that universities and other institutions will continue to protect men who benefit from the abuse of women and girls, either directly or through their connections to those who exploit girls and women for profit.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott
Texas A&M University is the latest school to end women’s and gender studies programs and teaching race. We know why
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:46 PM
It’s also worth noting that with the decimation of the Dept of Ed, enforcement of Title IX, which is supposed to mitigate gender discrimination in education, is basically gone, which also protects men who (benefit from the) abuse (of) women. A horrible, horrible web of interconnected misogyny.
Reposted by maryrichardson
One more quick thread, and then I'm getting out of here to walk my dog in the sun.
I think a lot about the authoritarian personality. I won't start going on about that because this thread would last forever, but I just want to say one thing about it.
I think a lot about the authoritarian personality. I won't start going on about that because this thread would last forever, but I just want to say one thing about it.
February 12, 2026 at 8:57 PM
One more quick thread, and then I'm getting out of here to walk my dog in the sun.
I think a lot about the authoritarian personality. I won't start going on about that because this thread would last forever, but I just want to say one thing about it.
I think a lot about the authoritarian personality. I won't start going on about that because this thread would last forever, but I just want to say one thing about it.
Reposted by maryrichardson
MAHA: Eating a giant steak cooked in butter alongside beef tallow fries and washing it down with coffee spiked with butter
Not MAHA: Clean air, clean water, health insurance, vaccines, disease monitoring, scientific research, food assistance, food safety, bike lanes
Not MAHA: Clean air, clean water, health insurance, vaccines, disease monitoring, scientific research, food assistance, food safety, bike lanes
February 13, 2026 at 6:18 PM
MAHA: Eating a giant steak cooked in butter alongside beef tallow fries and washing it down with coffee spiked with butter
Not MAHA: Clean air, clean water, health insurance, vaccines, disease monitoring, scientific research, food assistance, food safety, bike lanes
Not MAHA: Clean air, clean water, health insurance, vaccines, disease monitoring, scientific research, food assistance, food safety, bike lanes
Reposted by maryrichardson
The year is 2015. China is getting richer and more powerful every year, but America has three trump cards: universitities, biomedical research, and immigration.
February 13, 2026 at 7:58 AM
The year is 2015. China is getting richer and more powerful every year, but America has three trump cards: universitities, biomedical research, and immigration.
Reposted by maryrichardson
The EU has just voted, by a VERY wide margin, for the full recognition of trans women as women…!
February 12, 2026 at 4:06 PM
The EU has just voted, by a VERY wide margin, for the full recognition of trans women as women…!
Reposted by maryrichardson
It appears someone hacked into a Chicago Department of Transportation traffic sign in the Loop to display vulgar messages about President Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Traffic sign in downtown Chicago displays vulgar messages about Trump, ICE
It appears someone hacked into a Chicago Department of Transportation traffic sign in the Loop to display vulgar messages about President Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
www.cbsnews.com
February 13, 2026 at 4:16 AM
It appears someone hacked into a Chicago Department of Transportation traffic sign in the Loop to display vulgar messages about President Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Reposted by maryrichardson
Right, another key thing that historians do is working with important records that have not been digitized.
And the vast majority of the world’s records *have not been digitized* and thus do not exist in any format that LLMs/AI can work with.
And the vast majority of the world’s records *have not been digitized* and thus do not exist in any format that LLMs/AI can work with.
it's literally impossible for an LLM to do a historian's job
it's not even LLMs sucking it's that they need data input to do anything and where's that data supposed to be coming from without historians
never met a computer that can dig through a thousand year old book in a library
it's not even LLMs sucking it's that they need data input to do anything and where's that data supposed to be coming from without historians
never met a computer that can dig through a thousand year old book in a library
February 11, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Right, another key thing that historians do is working with important records that have not been digitized.
And the vast majority of the world’s records *have not been digitized* and thus do not exist in any format that LLMs/AI can work with.
And the vast majority of the world’s records *have not been digitized* and thus do not exist in any format that LLMs/AI can work with.
Reposted by maryrichardson
I know there are more insidious uses of AI, but one of the most depressing to me is when it pops up in local TV ads. These things are supposed to be folk art; put your uncle in a bad wig like god intended.
February 13, 2026 at 12:38 AM
I know there are more insidious uses of AI, but one of the most depressing to me is when it pops up in local TV ads. These things are supposed to be folk art; put your uncle in a bad wig like god intended.
Reposted by maryrichardson
People! Always making little guys :)
A little blue hippo made by an Egyptian artisan around 4,000 years ago! 🦛 ❤️
Decorated with river plants and lotus flowers, blue faience hippos are associated with the life-giving Nile and rebirth. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. 📷 by me
#Archaeology
Decorated with river plants and lotus flowers, blue faience hippos are associated with the life-giving Nile and rebirth. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. 📷 by me
#Archaeology
February 12, 2026 at 1:06 AM
People! Always making little guys :)
Reposted by maryrichardson
The art that sticks with us acknowledges messiness, complexity. Human morals are rigid, while our realities muss the lines in ways that haunt or enliven or infuriate us.
A computer does know rigidity—but only the rigidity that we give it. You cannot program ennui or envy or disdain.
A computer does know rigidity—but only the rigidity that we give it. You cannot program ennui or envy or disdain.
February 11, 2026 at 11:42 PM
The art that sticks with us acknowledges messiness, complexity. Human morals are rigid, while our realities muss the lines in ways that haunt or enliven or infuriate us.
A computer does know rigidity—but only the rigidity that we give it. You cannot program ennui or envy or disdain.
A computer does know rigidity—but only the rigidity that we give it. You cannot program ennui or envy or disdain.
Reposted by maryrichardson
There is no amount of technological advancement that can process enough to become art. It is, by necessity, a human thing, with a relationship with its human creator. Computers can only classify, predict, emulate. They cannot understand aesthetics on any level, short of labeling.
February 11, 2026 at 11:46 PM
There is no amount of technological advancement that can process enough to become art. It is, by necessity, a human thing, with a relationship with its human creator. Computers can only classify, predict, emulate. They cannot understand aesthetics on any level, short of labeling.
Reposted by maryrichardson
Science should really get on inventing a kind of news that is good
February 11, 2026 at 11:35 PM
Science should really get on inventing a kind of news that is good
Reposted by maryrichardson
Spanberger is a moderate Democrat who used to work for the C.I.-fucking-A. It should put the actions of Schumer and Jeffries into perspective for everyone. Are they Republicans? Because they sure act like it.
They need to get the fuck out.
They need to get the fuck out.
NEW: Abigail Spanberger this afternoon ordered that all state agencies leave ICE's 287(g) program.
This means that the state police (and some other agencies) will no longer be empowered to detain and arrest people for ICE.
Big, big move by the governor within weeks of coming into office.
This means that the state police (and some other agencies) will no longer be empowered to detain and arrest people for ICE.
Big, big move by the governor within weeks of coming into office.
Virginia’s New Governor Ends ICE Program. Local Contracts Remain, For Now. - Bolts
Abigail Spanberger left the 287(g) program, which empowered state law enforcement to detain immigrants. Will Democrats also bar local police and sheriffs from the program?
boltsmag.org
February 4, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Spanberger is a moderate Democrat who used to work for the C.I.-fucking-A. It should put the actions of Schumer and Jeffries into perspective for everyone. Are they Republicans? Because they sure act like it.
They need to get the fuck out.
They need to get the fuck out.
Reposted by maryrichardson
This goes to my longstanding soapbox: everything is a disability policy from housing to health care to urban planning to mass transit.
Snowstorms are more than just an inconvenience for wheelchair users. Inadequate snow clean-ups means a loss of autonomy for many. New for me at @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Snowstorms are hell for wheelchair users—but they don't have to be
"You can't physically move. You can't do anything."
www.motherjones.com
February 4, 2026 at 1:57 AM
This goes to my longstanding soapbox: everything is a disability policy from housing to health care to urban planning to mass transit.
Reposted by maryrichardson
happening this morning in Minneapolis -- ICE agents drawing guns on observers. I reiterate again that it is only a matter of time before DHS kills more innocent people in Minnesota. Congress needs to shut this shit down right now.
February 3, 2026 at 4:19 PM
happening this morning in Minneapolis -- ICE agents drawing guns on observers. I reiterate again that it is only a matter of time before DHS kills more innocent people in Minnesota. Congress needs to shut this shit down right now.
Reposted by maryrichardson
The public library is an essential component of a 21st-century left political project as an example of both what is already available to us and what can be improved upon in the future. The library is a public good, and it is free as a public service.
I want more people to make the connections.
I want more people to make the connections.
January 31, 2026 at 10:58 PM
The public library is an essential component of a 21st-century left political project as an example of both what is already available to us and what can be improved upon in the future. The library is a public good, and it is free as a public service.
I want more people to make the connections.
I want more people to make the connections.
Reposted by maryrichardson
Never forget that the people who convinced you trans people are a threat to your children all belong to a network of child rapists.
January 31, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Never forget that the people who convinced you trans people are a threat to your children all belong to a network of child rapists.
Reposted by maryrichardson
The funny thing about a certain type of angry conspiracy guy is that they’re literally being confronted with an elite paedophile ring and a tyrannical government at the same time right now, and because it isn't being done by the people they wanted it to be done by they’re all being pussies about it
January 31, 2026 at 9:20 AM
The funny thing about a certain type of angry conspiracy guy is that they’re literally being confronted with an elite paedophile ring and a tyrannical government at the same time right now, and because it isn't being done by the people they wanted it to be done by they’re all being pussies about it
Reposted by maryrichardson
I was just saying to Portia that it is a 4th amendment violation. It's driving me nuts that no one is really talking about how unconstitutional it is to be bashing through people's cars and pulling them out through the window
Can we talk legalities for a minute?
Isn’t breaking a car window the same thing as battering down a door?
It’s illegal, right? I feel like I’m going insane because none of the news sources mention this.
Isn’t breaking a car window the same thing as battering down a door?
It’s illegal, right? I feel like I’m going insane because none of the news sources mention this.
January 29, 2026 at 9:35 PM
I was just saying to Portia that it is a 4th amendment violation. It's driving me nuts that no one is really talking about how unconstitutional it is to be bashing through people's cars and pulling them out through the window
Reposted by maryrichardson
We can learn many things from many different sources in our lives.
January 29, 2026 at 2:18 AM
We can learn many things from many different sources in our lives.
Reposted by maryrichardson
We need to talk about the rise of "smol bean fascism" where you have all the guns and the immunity but the really scary people are the ones with whistles and phone cameras and they're giving you generational trauma and ptsd by filming you killing people for no reason
January 28, 2026 at 9:25 PM
We need to talk about the rise of "smol bean fascism" where you have all the guns and the immunity but the really scary people are the ones with whistles and phone cameras and they're giving you generational trauma and ptsd by filming you killing people for no reason
Reposted by maryrichardson
When the Baileys’ favorite pickleball influencer posts an anti-ICE reel
Schumer calls for Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to be removed from their jobs.
January 28, 2026 at 7:30 PM
When the Baileys’ favorite pickleball influencer posts an anti-ICE reel
Ishmael, our dear narrator, does a fine job of telling us what his shipmates are up to and how they contribute to the mission. But what does HE do, exactly? He doesn’t even tell us about cuddling with Queequeg anymore. 🐋
January 28, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Ishmael, our dear narrator, does a fine job of telling us what his shipmates are up to and how they contribute to the mission. But what does HE do, exactly? He doesn’t even tell us about cuddling with Queequeg anymore. 🐋
Reposted by maryrichardson
Definitely not Photoshopped.
January 28, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Definitely not Photoshopped.
Reposted by maryrichardson
Itsa me
i am really excited to publish the first new WORK IS FOUR LETTERS in quite awhile. this one is with @dansinker.com, whose work i have enjoyed since i was literally a teenager. i hope you like it as much as i did, and go follow dan.
Dan Does Everything
I desperately want the world to be better than it is, and so most of what I make is about that. It’s about trying to push us forward toward a future that is better than the shit we’re l…
golikehellmachine.com
January 28, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Itsa me