Wizards of the Coast has rejected the request to voluntarily recognize United Wizards of the Coast's formation. Why? And what happens next? The post Proposed Wizards of the Coast Union Rejected, Goest to NLRB Vote appeared first on Hipsters of the Coast.

I started replying to ActBlue messages mentioning political consultant James Carville by unsubscribing with a note a la "I don't want to give money to a campaign that's going to hand that money to James Carville. I think he's part of the problem." I kinda worried each time. Democrats have a "circular firing squad" reputation. Was I furthering that? Now I'm reminded: I'm just trying to take ammo away from the circular firing squad. linked article headline: James Carville Says He’d Rather GOP Win…

I completely agree with Andrew McCarthy, who writes at National Review, that Trump's likely interference with Ukraine's access to Starlink/Starshield technology and illegal lifting of economic sanctions against Russia merit immediate Congressional attention.Not only was this ["energy ceasefire"] agreement non-existent; it was patently rigged against Ukraine. For three days Zelensky heeded Trump's warning to cease attacks on Russian refineries, but Russia continued pounding Ukraine's electrical…

Last spring, Democrats were set to gain two seats in the Senate, leaving the Republicans with a one-seat majority. With some luck, Democrats might have taken three seats and split control of the Senate, leaving Vice-President Vance to tie-break split votes. Now Democrats not only have an excellent shot at gaining four seats for a one-seat majority, they also have a surprisingly good shot at gaining as many as seven seats for as much as a four-seat majority. That shift took only five months.…

We should get Palantir out of our public services before it becomes locked in. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 14th October 2026 What a world we live in. Imagine: gangs dragging civil servants off commuter trains and beating them up because they handed government data jobs to the wrong contractor – and the government changing its procurement decisions as a result. Well, OK, it might not have happened yet, but it’s only a matter of time. As the former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson…

The issue Nearly every director now uses AI for board work, and an obvious use, having a model digest the pack, hands over the one task Australian law says a director must do personally. Why it persists A digest looks like preparation and shows no trace of what it left out, so the cost stays invisible until a figure that mattered turns out to have sat in the pages nobody read. What to do Read the pack first and question the model second, about what you missed; if the pack is too long to read,…

Trump Waives Sanctions on Russia It now looks that Donald Trump has picked sides in the war between Russia and Ukraine: He is for Russia and against Ukraine. He wants Russia to win. Maybe then Russian President Vladimir Putin will let Trump build Trump Tower Moscow, the tallest building in Europe, with a golden penthouse at the top gifted to Putin. When questioned about whether he asked Elon Musk to reduce Ukraine's ability to use his satellite system, Starshield—something critical to Ukraine's…

Ironically, via Twitter/X: This is what billionaire ownership of the media means: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta shut down the No Kings account for hours during the height of their protests. Meta suppressed accounts supporting Brazil President Lula da Silva in the recent election. Larry Ellison’s TikTok blocked advertising for a documentary criticizing Elon Musk. Fight back. Defeat oligarchy. Preserve democracy. This is why I remain a believer in indieweb principles. I quibble, and often, with my…

At the end of last month (30 September 2026) the Equity, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Sub-Committee discussed the commission of new research by William Pettigrew on the City of London council’s role in the abolition of slavery. It appears the council doesn’t want the public to know much about this commission although it will no doubt trumpet any research results it views as favourable to itself. There was no written report and strenuous efforts were made to move parts of the public…

I noticed in the replies to a Bluesky post recently that people are misreading certain polls in a way that drastically overstimates the support for Trump—and it’s not his supporters doing the misreading in this case, but his critics. A YouGov poll in September asked the question “How popular is Donald Trump in Western Europe?” and graphed the results by net favourability, showing −67 for France, −74 for Spain, −75 for Britain, −76 Italy, −78 Germany, and a spectacular −91 for Denmark. Some…

General not much to say in terms of surgery recovery, at this point there's only some discomfort left in certain positions and range of movement is approaching what it was before back to work and immediately finding praise for slop in my inbox 😒 first session of face stabbing since surgery, keeping up making progress somehow one of my earrings got infected xd temporarily taking the stud out to thoroughly clean the entire area with antibacterial soap and disinfecting the stud with alcohol before…

This infernal illness ebbs, and it flows, and yesterday it ebbed. Or flowed. Whichever one equates to "got worse." I have to try to rest, in order to make sure I'll be able to do the weekday posts. I had already picked out the letters, so we'll have some during the regular week, and some of the remainder next weekend. - Z Click here for full story

USA.gov on How, When, & Where To VoteThe Ballot Brief, a nonpartisan elections guide. Calendar of dates. Look up info for your ballot by putting in your ZIP.Vote 411. Personalized ballot & candidate info for voters. Local, state, or federal. A nonpartisan site run by The League of Women Voters. All responses come directly from the candidates, unedited.The Democracy Download: A Mini-Course on Countering Election Misinformation. A short free online course by the American Civil Liberties Union.I…

MapQuest on Bluesky: Turn on the Surveillance Layer in Map Options to see known license plate readers from Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions (Vigilant), Genetec, Axis Communications, Axon, Leonardo (ELSAG), Neology, Rekor, PlateSmart, Ubicquia, Verkada, and other outdoor surveillance cameras. I was happy when MapQuest refused to change the names of certain bodies of water, but it wasn't enough to compel me to download their app. Today I downloaded their app.

News Link I don’t know what is going on but Steve was a fan of Ruger guns, especially the NO. 1 rifle. He would be disappointed. Money is likely behind it. Another corporation may have bought them. Usually that leads to cheapened products as they exploit the name.

From Japan, 1941: Countdown to Infamy, by Eri Hotta (Vintage, 2013), pp. 397-400: ON AUGUST 17, 1945, three days after the emperor announced on the radio Japan’s total defeat, Prince Higashikuni became the first (and most probably the last) prime minister chosen from the imperial house. It was up to him to disarm the nation, hand over the country to the Allied occupation forces, sign the document accepting Japan’s unconditional surrender, and, most critically, raise the morale of the thoroughly…

“Stathas pleaded guilty in 2023 to enticing a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity” (18 U.S.C. § 2422(b)). He was sentenced to 180 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release. As part of the arrest and investigation, the police seized Stathas’ car, cellphone, wallet, and other electronics. Per 18 U.S.C. § 2428(a)(1), the judge should have ordered (but did not) a forfeiture of “any property, real or personal, that was used or intended to be used to commit or to facilitate the…

Following Wednesday’s successful one-day stoppage, there were meetings of union members yesterday (Friday) to set up roster’s and make other preparations for similar industrial action on Wednesday 21st October. On Friday evening, however, a message was sent round indicating that next week’s strike action had been suspended on the grounds that a process had been agreed to construct a process for formal pay talks. That announcement made it onto the news last night. It is of course a good thing…

Theodoros Zarkos, MSc, Medical Ethicist - Social Scientist - European Social Policy and Social Rights; Independent Researcher, Kiato, Greece Photo credit: maido155, via Wikimedia Commons The European Commission’s proposal for an EU KIDS Act, published on 17 September 2026, contains a provision that is easy to misread if it is viewed in isolation. Article 14 would create specific duties for AI companions and general conversational chatbots accessible to minors. Yet the proposal does not begin…

There is a newly leaked bill that Anthropic is purportedly shopping around is (if you assume its bugs get fixed). It is similar to the FRONTIER Act, with stronger preemption of state laws, stronger transparency provisions and weaker enforcement provisions. Having slept on this, I find it unacceptable that Anthropic is actively shopping exactly the type of bill I have warned we will need to fight against during the lame duck session. They are trying to use this last time with a Republican…

About two weeks ago, I read Regime Change, the account by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swann of Trump's first year in office. I did not take any notes, and my brain, as usual, has far too many demands upon it, and I don't think I can write a review that would do it justice now. I can however draw on the general impressions that it left me with that shed a lot of light on the horrible flaw at the heart of the Trump administration, one that will keep it from doing almost anything effectively for…

For the Balkinization symposium on Diego Zambrano, How Americans Enforce the Law (Stanford University Press, 2026).Brian T. Fitzpatrick How can the author of The Conservative Case for Class Actions say a bad word about a book that argues that private enforcement of the law is a vivid example of American exceptionalism? I can’t. We conservatives are a patriotic lot; we shamelessly believe that America is mostly better than the rest of the world. In my view, this includes even our embrace of…

How employment is changing at Anthropic is a fascinating read.

Whether…a…person has a vagina or a penis has no bearing on the deadliness of a firearm. – Judge Carlyn Addison Monsters Some states appear to be determined to reverse civil rights progress: Paris Lee was shot six times and killed by Samuel Ward Jr…[who] was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in May 2025. He claimed it was self-defense, but the jury didn’t buy it…however, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals [has] reversed his conviction…declar[ing] that…[by] not disclosing [that] the…

Katie, We Hardly Knew Ye Most readers will have heard the news by now, but newly minted White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia is now former White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, as she was cashiered by Donald Trump yesterday. Click here for full story

Oldham Corporation Transport operated electric trams and Leyland buses in Lancashire from 1900 until joining SELNEC PTE on November 1, 1969.

Katie Zacharia fired after five days as White House press secretary: Zacharia had a rocky start to her tenure as press secretary, hosting a widely panned first briefing on Tuesday. She had also faced questions over her legal credentials after admitting she did not pass the bar exam. Not even half a Mooch.

I haven’t read all of Alexis de Tocqueville’s (1805-1859) famous book “Democracy in America” (published in two volumes in 1835 and 1840), but I’ve read some of it. My main memory is how de Tocqueville emphasised the violence in American political culture. My other encounter with de Tocqueville was in David Runciman’s brilliant lecture on “Can democracy survive in America?” (or something like that). The lecture was before Trump’s first term, and Runciman didn’t answer the question yes or no.…

Pamiętacie tę scenę z pierwszego aktu The Big Short? Oczywiście że pamiętacie, to ta scena ze wstawką z Anthonym Bourdainem mówiącym o jedzeniu trzydniowego halibuta. Jared Vennett: You want me to really blow your mind? When the market deems a bond too risky to buy, what do you think we do with it? Take a guess.Vinnie Daniel: I don't know. You tell me.Jared Vennett: Alright, you think we just warehouse it into the books? No. We just repackage it with a bunch of other shit that didn't sell and…