Democrats have declared victory in a Pennsylvania state House seat that Republicans held for nearly 30 years.

In a special election for the state House’s 12th District seat, Democrat Brandon Dukes is leading over Republican Scott Timko by less than 100 votes, 8,434 to 8,346, with 99 percent of votes counted.

Dukes told the local Cranberry Eagle Tuesday night, “I’m ecstatic. I’m shocked.”

“I’m still processing this. We just flipped a Trump plus-18 seat, and we flipped a red seat that’s been red for almost 30 years. We made history,” Dukes said.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/51594048

August 18, 2026

from The Forward [Jewish publication from USA]

A new whistleblower report alleges that the Trump Administration’s investigations into campus antisemitism were merely efforts to extract millions from universities, under the pretense of rooting out hate.

#SanctionIsrael #StopStarvingGaza #DefendFreeSpeech #FreePalestine #BlockTheBombs #EndBlockadeOfGaza #RestoreFundsToUNRWA #GazaBelongsToPalestine #IsraeliCrimesAgainstHumanity #ArrestNetanyahuAndGallant #USHandsOffICC #StopArmingIsrael #AntiZionismIsNotAntisemitism #BDS #DivestFromIsrael #SolidarityWithPalestineIsNotAntisemitism #EqualRightsForAllFromTheRiverToTheSeaIsNotAntisemitic #JewHatredHurtsPalestine

Passive investing turned everyone into a tech investor without anyone asking permission. That’s the uncomfortable reality your pension statement won’t spell out. Concentration risk isn’t theoretical — it’s sitting inside the funds you forgot you owned, quietly indexed to the same seven companies the ECB just flagged as the core of a potential AI Infrastructure financial stability problem.

• src: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/120370574
• src: https://x.com/MYVia_MOKOLS/status/1810109033199857733
• donmai: https://donmai.moe/posts/7826533

By Bill Bramhall, https://www.gocomics.com/bill-bramhall/2026/08/18

In the video, Ben Gvir points towards what appears to be an active construction site and says the complex will include “viewing chambers where crime victims will be able to come and watch” Palestinians being hanged.

Unpopular opinion: toilets are perfectly shaped to make farts as loud as possible.

I'd like to call it Fedivision.

I know Lemmyvision exists and it is awesome but it focuses on country instances, whereas Fedivision would be about the fediverse as a whole and would see each instance as a potential contestant. Lemmy, mastodon, misskey, pixelfed you name it.

And yes, unlike Lemmyvision, Fedivision will be about people singing, composing, mixing (sometimes bad) songs, not submissions of songs from original artists. Contestants will be able to sing or play an existing song or submit something they cooked themselves.

I feel like this approach is more compatible with Fediverse in general, as all instances already act like a country: they have their own culture, people, and "laws". Fedivision will be about the culture of each instance instead of countries.

I want to make it a reality, I need help and feedback from y'all. I am not really an artist in any way, so it would be really cool if somebody cooked a poster.

Do you think this is feasible? What would you like to add? Let me know.

The Senate GOP campaign arm, in a private memo to top AI companies, warns that toxic views of U.S. data centers are killing the party's chances of holding a vital seat in Ohio.

It's one of those freshnel lenses you glue to your rear window to act as a fisheye lens. It's actually surprisingly good. I can see the ground about 1.5m (5ft) behind me. I wish it would reach my rear bumper as that's what I'd like to see but this helps!

Also, I took the picture with a poor man's smartphone - my apologies.

This is probably "cheating", especially when it's a neglected article on "Wikkkipedia", but this one rubs me particularly hard.

To be slightly fair to myself: This article isn't (immediately) about politics! (Yes, I know, almost everything is in some way related to politics, SHUT UP!)

Perhaps one of my "favorite" lines from here:

Generally, humans find prolonged silence uncomfortable, and sometimes unbearable.

"Hi! I'm neurotypical! This is how you be neurotypical! Do YOU want to be neurotypical?"

This whole article feels like it's been ripped out of an ABA handbook or something, I fucking HATE it.

"Alright userse31, make sure to say "hi" to everyone! By the way, can you tell me what these faces and bits of body language mean for the 10 billionth time?"

Bosses who ask their employees to work overtime may try to motivate them by using small talk to temporarily decrease their difference in status.[14]

Laughs in autistic "Yeah I know exactly what you're doing, and I don't find it "cute". Now go fuck yourself capitalist pest."

The balance between functional conversation and small talk in the workplace depends on the context and is also influenced by the relative power of the two speakers. It is usually the superior who defines the conversation because they have the power to close the small talk and "get down to business."[15]

That's called class dynamics you insufferable liberals!

When people are asked, "How are you?" they normally would not give a detailed description of how they are doing. Instead they would use a generic response that keeps the social climate positive and appropriate.[19]

I have been stabbed in the chest, but with words. With WORDS I tell you!

Don't get me started on the section about gender.

Surprisingly: No mention of us neurodivergents!