Katherine Ward

@katheward.bsky.social

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•desert archaeologist, semi-retired
•rainshadow farm
•scanning horizon for hope 🌿

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Katherine Ward

In Private Speech, JD Vance Said the “Devil Is Real” & Praised Alex Jones as Truth-Teller Vance gave the speech to the secretive Teneo Network. The VP nominee has been a member of the Leonard Leo-backed group, which seeks to cultivate conservative influence in business & culture. Full video here:

In Private Speech, J.D. Vance Said the “Devil Is Real” and Praised Alex Jones as a Truth-Tellerwww.propublica.org Vance gave the speech to the secretive Teneo Network. The GOP vice presidential nominee has been a member of the Leonard Leo-backed group, which seeks to cultivate conservative influence in business a...

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Katherine Ward

This. This. This a thousand times

The reason that the language of domestic abuse and the language of authoritarianism looks the same is because it's just the same thing on a different scale.

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Katherine Ward

It is almost as if we need oversight over the judicial system.

An examination of more than 1,200 federal judges and state supreme court justices turned up dozens of judges who chose not to recuse when facing potential appearances of impropriety involving familial financial connections. www.propublica.org/article/judg...

Even When Big Cases Intersect With Their Families’ Interests, Many Judges Choose Not to Recusewww.propublica.org Ambiguous — and unenforced — recusal standards mean few checks and balances for top judges when cases involve their family members.

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Katherine Ward

Remember when J.D. Vance appeared with a podcaster who said "feminists need rape." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

J.D. Vance appeared with podcaster who once said "feminists need rape"www.motherjones.com The GOP Senate candidate proposed a “de-Nazification” plan for purging liberals from government.

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Katherine Ward

Devastation as world’s biggest #wetland: ‘those that cannot run don’t stand a chance’ #wildfire www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Devastation as world’s biggest wetland burns: ‘those that cannot run don’t stand a chance’www.theguardian.com Blackened trees, dead animals and scorched earth – early wildfires have already devastated Brazil’s Pantanal and local people worry they may lose the battle to save them

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Katherine Ward

On Saturday, Navajo nation marked the 45 year anniversary of the largest radioactive release in US history. One study found the company cleaned up only 1% of the spilled uranium. www.kunm.org/local-news/2...

Gathering will mark 45 years since the largest radioactive release in U.S. history hit New Mexicowww.kunm.org It’s been 45 years since the largest radioactive release in U.S. history occurred at Church Rock New Mexico. Members of the Navajo Nation will gather on Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the ...

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Katherine Ward

Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell was born #OTD in 1943. As a Cambridge grad student in 1967, she discovered an entirely new type of celestial object: Pulsars! In 1974 the Nobel was given to her advisor; she was left off. 🧪 👩‍🔬 🔭 Photo: National Science & Media Museum

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Katherine Ward

So my take is we shouldn't get too distracted by the Appalachia debate. Hillbilly Elegy was a smokescreen. He's been a VC-funded fascist from the beginning who happened upon a very old narrative to use. Frankly we lost the battle over it bc he got what he wanted. Fight him like a normal fascist.

When you make JD Vance about Appalachia, you almost give him a weight that he very clearly doesn't deserve. Dude's a hack who had a racist, classist campaign book ghostwritten like every other politician. He's just like every other right-wing nut.

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Katherine Ward

Vance was Heritage's pick so don't forget about Project 2025, which proceeds apace

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Katherine Ward

Reply to

Faine Greenwood

The Forest Troop baboons are a story of hope and also what if the billionaires all accidentally got the trash meat

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Katherine Ward

On an unrelated note, Robert Sapolsky also documented how, after poisoned meat killed off all the alpha asshole baboon males in the group he was studying, the group became FAR more peaceful and chill for multiple generations.

Personally, I’d go with Robert Sapolsky’s “A Primate’s Memoir” for insight into the GOP politician mind. Also, an extremely funny book.

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Katherine Ward

The thing I resent most deeply about modern billionaires is that the thought of humanity exploring space used to feel exciting and now it fills me with dread. It shouldn't have been the worst of us who first get to greet the stars in the sky.

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Katherine Ward

New from me: Cannon found the worst way possible to clean up the mess she’d made of the classified documents case, making a brand new mess in the process

Opinion | Judge Aileen Cannon has proved her critics rightwww.msnbc.com In dismissing Trump's classified documents case, Cannon found the worst way possible to clear the lengthy backlog of motions she had yet to rule on.

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Katherine Ward

"It's important to recognize the climate benefits of having trees with #UrbanCooling. It's measurable. With more severely hot days it's important people are able to escape that heat. Streets with a canopy are much more cool than untried streets, getting back to equity & health."

#YYCCC's historic housing hearings revealed Calgarians across the political divide love their trees & care about tree canopy. Hub #NatureNode members Druh Farrell, Robert Miller, Saadiq Mohiuddin & Heather Addy couldn't agree more. What's up with trees in #YYC? www.podcastics.com/episode/3033...

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Katherine Ward

9,000 evacuated in northeast Canada due to #wildfires phys.org/news/2024-07... via @physorg_com

9,000 evacuated in northeast Canada due to wildfiresphys.org Around 9,000 people have been evacuated in northeastern Canada because of raging wildfires, officials said Saturday.

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Katherine Ward

Texas #wildfires forces shutdown at nuclear weapon facility. Here is what we know apnews.com/article/texa...

Texas wildfires forces shutdown at nuclear weapon facility. Here is what we knowapnews.com A nuclear weapons facility was forced to evacuate most of its staff due to a wildfire blazing rapidly across the Texas Panhandle.

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Katherine Ward

I caught this Acmon blue butterfly at the right angle where the natural light has caused the scales to iridesce across the entire spectrum of colors, but still dominated by the indigo-blue the species is named for 📷🌈🦋

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Katherine Ward

'You Should Retire': Ocasio-Cortez Rips 'Functionally Useless' Senior Dem Over Trump www.huffpost.com/entry/alexan...

'You Should Retire': Ocasio-Cortez Rips 'Functionally Useless' Senior Dem Over Trumpwww.huffpost.com The progressive lawmaker called out a colleague over comments about the upcoming presidential election.

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Katherine Ward

It’s understandably not as salient as health in people’s minds, but we’re also a lot better at the aesthetics of sustainability rather than actual sustainability.

I'm reminded again how culturally we're obsessed with the aesthetics of health not actual health.

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Katherine Ward

"We should be able to discriminate against trans kids" is a hell of a message to run on, and yet ...

Republicans have voted to overturn a Biden administration rule that prohibits discrimination against transgender students based on their gender identity. www.metroweekly.com/... #transgender #trans #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA

U.S. House Votes to End Transgender Student Protectionswww.metroweekly.com The House approved a resolution to reverse Title IX, Biden's rules designed to protect transgender students from discrimination.

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Katherine Ward

I’ve said this a million times, but I’m genuinely frightened about what Musk’s fascist propaganda network is doing to do to our politics. I really wish someone, anyone, would come up with a collective strategy to get journalists, organizers and elected officials off the platform.

Dipping back into Twitter to lurk on assassination stuff and truly, from the bottom of my heart, unless you have massively curated lists, no one in media or politics should be microwaving their neurons on there.

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Katherine Ward

And this is how fascism wins. It convinces moderates to stop using the correct language to name what our enemy is and make no mistake. Trump and the Republicans are a fascist anti-democratic enemy to every real American who believes in the Constitution and rule of law. Do not stay silent.

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Katherine Ward

“One local police officer climbed to the roof and encountered Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder, and Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump, and that’s when Secret Service snipers shot him”

Local officer encountered gunman just before he shot toward Trump at rally, sources tell APapnews.com Sources tell The Associated Press that a local law enforcement officer encountered the gunman moments before he fired toward former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania.

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Katherine Ward

This was just 10 days ago. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Stop telling us the political rhetoric is becoming too violent if you’re too cowardly to mention who, exactly, is making it so.

Trump-Endorsed Candidate for Governor: ‘Some Folks Need Killing’www.rollingstone.com North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson declared "some people need killing" during a Sunday sermon.

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Katherine Ward

😲The court said in their decision, “the district court correctly found that Kansas does not recognize a duty by a healthcare provider to safeguard, protect, and maintain the confidentiality of a patient’s medical records.”

What in the fucking fuck, Kansas Court of Appeals?

Kansas court says healthcare providers not required to keep medical records privateapple.news KANSAS CITY, Kan. (WDAF) — A decision by the Kansas Court of Appeals says that healthcare providers are not required to keep your medical records confidential under common law.

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Katherine Ward

Yeah I keep seeing this reaction, but it’s wholly at odds with the history of these things. The bump Reagan got was short lived and that was the exception to the rule. TR, George Wallace, Gerald Ford all survived attacks but did not win their races.

People who are assuring us that this means Trump is going to win are clearly unfamiliar with the deeply weird lore of this country's THREE mid-seventies presidential-candidate assassination attempts.

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Katherine Ward

Reply to

Celeste Pewter

Remember: here's the breaking news handbook. All of these are good rules to stand by at the moment.

"In secretive hearings, the University of Florida set aside recommendations to lightly punish some of the college students arrested after pro-Palestinian protests on campus and instead kicked them all out of school for three to four years."

University of Florida suspends arrested pro-Palestinian protesters for up to 4 yearswww.gainesville.com Chris Summerlin, UF's new dean of students, set aside recommendations to lightly punish some of the college students.

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Katherine Ward

This is an awesome discovery! The planet is tidally locked to its star, so the same side always faces the sun. That's why it'd have that 'eyeball' look--the sun's concentrated heat would melt the ice there that otherwise blankets the world.

YOU GUYS THEY FOUND AN EYEBALL PLANET

'Eyeball' planet spied by James Webb telescope might be habitablewww.livescience.com Located 50 light-years from Earth, the beady-eyed exoplanet LHS 1140 b could be a perfect candidate for discovering liquid water outside the solar system, new research suggests.