Jake Ponders 'n'at

Other stuff: Jake's Book Covers (eclectic photographs and photo illustrations) at jakesbookcovers.com // After Dreiser (following the tire tracks of the "original road trip" of 1915) at afterdreiser.com/roadtrip // AND my other tumblr Jake Rambles n'at (photographs along the roadways) jwood719.tumblr.com

[depsidase]

[jwood718]

"...the fridge is full if you can pay."

The housing is yours if you can pay.

The health care is yours if you can pay.

You can change jobs and move to a new town if you can pay.

[jwood718]

After another pass of rain, looking East:

yeah, it was that yellow, catching the rays of sunlight for a few minutes, while to the West:

an intense blue sky showing through.

Later, as the last of the day's light faded:

Wood & Bradshaw, 2026

[jwood718]

‘It’s torture’: prisoners’ letters expose subterranean Oklahoma ‘dungeon’ known as the tombs

Exclusive: letters from inside the underground H Unit of Oklahoma state penitentiary allege beatings, vermin, degrading punishment and in ma

by Hilary Andersson.

An entire unit that's built so the cells are "banked into the earth" and sometimes the electric lights are just left off? Mice gathered around food trays? Rape and murder as every-day things?

Of course the state corrections department says there's nothing wrong, of if there were, they'd fix it!

[assignedmale]

[jwood718]

"Healthily" = cultural normative, or so it seems.

[mutant-what-not]

This panel is from a vintage comic book often attributed to artist Steve Ditko.

[jwood718]

"We want you! We want you! We want you as a new recruit!"

[guerrillatech]

[audible-smiles]

People die on the job every summer. Remember that water and shade breaks are crucial when working in the heat, and calling emergency services for signs of serious heat illness (fatigue, nausea/vomiting, headaches, dizziness, clammy skin, confusion, agitation, slurred speech, high body temperature, rapid heart rate, etc.) is entirely appropriate. If you’re afraid to call 911 for reasons such as being undocumented, you’ll need to get very familiar with how to prevent, recognize, and treat heat illness. If you are symptomatic and not allowed a break, water, or medical treatment, walk out. No matter how broke you are, your job is not worth your life.

[ominous-signs]

Official please put yourself first sign

[jwood718]

I've often compared current working situations with the old UPS slogan: "Moving at the Speed of Business" as a way to highlight how, with a "global economy," with quarterly profits more important than long-term planning, people just don't matter as much as they should.

[assignedmale]

[jwood718]

"...all the lipgloss."

nice

[dinovelvet]

[dumbmirror]

Vlad The Inhaler

[jwood718]

Ha! Nice

Also: why didn't I think of that?

[catasters]

[jwood718]

Ha! Nice.

[depsidase]

[jwood718]

Reminds me of King's "...the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice..."

[oneheadtoanother]

[jwood718]

Ha.

[jwood718]

The Real “Divide” Among Democrats Over Israel Is Between Party Leadership and Voters

Supporting Israel is now a fringe position among Democratic voters. Why does the media keep covering it like a 50/50 issue?

...On Wednesday, Axios, citing “numerous” anonymous “House Democrats” and “aides,” attempted to paint a Rep. Rashida Tlaib-led bill to end U.S. support as a provocation dividing Democrats. “An impending House vote to constrain the Trump administration from joining Israel’s war in Lebanon has some Democrats fuming that one of their own members is forcing them to take an agonizing vote,” reporter Andrew Solender lamented.

But what Solender fails to note is that Tlaib’s bill is overwhelmingly the majoritarian position among Democrats. A recent Arab American Institute commissioned poll found that 62 percent of Democrats “believe the U.S. should take more steps to pressure Israel to stop bombing and leave southern Lebanon,” and only 17 percent disagree. The substance of Tlaib’s bill is the Democratic voter position by almost 4 to 1. The tension in this story, such as it is, is between anonymous “Democratic leadership” and rank-and-file Democrats. And we know this because every single source in the Axios article opposing the war powers resolution had to be anonymous, while everyone supporting it proudly put their name on their quotes. What does this tell us about how popular support for Israel’s boundless violence in the Levant is? 

[jwood718]

Looking East, in between storm cells:

while the view to the West was completely socked in-gray. Then the rain came back.

Bradshaw & Wood, 2026

[my0clonic-jerk]

[jwood718]

Philly Cops Admit That They’re Tracking “First Amendment Activity” Critical of AI

A law enforcement document obtained by The Intercept shows police scan social media looking for posts opposing AI data centers.

“Domestic violent extremists (DVEs) are likely interested in targeting artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, posing a physical and cyber threat to infrastructure in the Philadelphia regional area,” the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center wrote in a December alert.

...longtime Philadelphia civil rights lawyer Paul Hetznecker said he was troubled by the fusion center’s association of AI skeptics with terrorists.

“Those are legitimate, popular political concerns that are raised by local communities,” Hetznecker said. “This particular report from [the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center] reflects a very dangerous attempt to characterize that protected First Amendment activity — activity which is fundamental to our democracy — as something other, something more dangerous, a breeding ground for something more sinister.”

Beyond the usage of power and water that data centers suck up, there's the question of who actually benefits, who profits, and who controls the technology.

[jwood718]

Colorado Gov. Polis Signs New Conversion Therapy Ban, Defying Supreme Court

The law uses a private right of action to bypass a recent SCOTUS ruling allowing conversion therapy.

The bill defies the ruling through a clever mechanism: rather than banning conversion therapy outright, it allows survivors to sue the practitioners who subjected them to it, using a private right of action—notably, the same legal mechanism first pioneered by Republicans to get around Roe v. Wade in Texas.,,Once [the law] takes effect, it should immediately make conversion therapy financially prohibitive in the state, as any practitioner who engages in it faces unlimited civil liability with no statute of limitations on claims.

[jwood718]

Story from The Daily Beast