Lonnie Rouse shuffled into a wood-paneled conference room at the Washington state Capitol in March 2018. It had been nearly a decade since medical experts diagnosed him with a neurological disease they attributed to his exposure to chemicals at work. In the time since, he had acquired a stutter, begun limping and lost several teeth biting into a banana.

For nearly 20 years, Rouse had packaged plutonium and monitored radioactive waste at the Hanford Site, a now-decommissioned Department of Energy nuclear weapons production plant in south-central Washington and one of the most contaminated nuclear sites in the country. Tanks full of radioactive sludge exposed him to at least 48 potentially hazardous chemicals. The worksite was so toxic, he said, that the floor once melted the rubber off his boots.

The smell of ammonia serves as a warning, workers say, that the underground tanks holding a mix of radioactive sludge have burped chemical vapors into the air above. From 1998 to 2008, it was Rouse’s job to monitor the toxic waste held in the “tank farms.” The containers together hold more than 50 million gallons of liquid waste. Rouse says he lost count of how many times tanks released toxic vapor that took his breath away, sometimes knocking him to the ground and making him vomit and bleed from his nose. According to a 2014 report funded by the federal government, tank farm workers exposed to chemical vapors commonly reported nausea, headaches and nosebleeds.

The liquid sloshing around in those tanks represented the radioactive byproducts of the Cold War. Hanford produced two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear arsenal and fueled the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945.

Kathleen Kersey spent 10 years at Hanford, during both the production and cleanup stages. Much of her work involved measuring radiation around the site and making sure levels were safe. She says her safety training covered radiation, but not other hazards like chemical vapors burping from the waste tanks.

Kersey struggles to walk, has short-term memory problems and at one point lost vision in her right eye for three months. A doctor diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis, which is a neurological disorder, one of the categories of illnesses the state’s presumption law recognizes as related to chemical exposure at Hanford. In 2019 she filed a claim, which the state approved.

The DOE has appealed, arguing that something other than her time at Hanford caused her multiple sclerosis.

State records show that the DOE has filed more than 500 appeals since the presumption law passed in 2018. In 20 cases, as it did with Rouse, the DOE has appealed a single worker’s claim half a dozen times or more.

“We have seen tremendous pushback from DOE on essentially almost every single case that’s been brought,” said Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown.

L

4 was too scary to keep doing business.

Instead of firing this asshat for theft or public tax dollars , he’s shifted him into a new position which he’s unqualified for while the entire education system is being gutted.

Every time conservatives win, everyone but the ultra rich lose.

Fuck Doug Ford

gouache on paper

perhaps one day when my skill matches my imagination i will repaint it with oils

By https://x.com/116116116EL/status/2113262572950401332

In a 45-page indictment filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, Lucas and six co-defendants were charged with conspiring to distribute and possess marijuana, conspiring to launder money, laundering money, and committing bribery by distributing large quantities of illegal marijuana under the auspices of her legal medical cannabis business.

Lucas, an 82-year-old great-grandmother, has served in the Virginia Senate since 1992. She faces five of the eight charges included in the indictment. These charges arrive five months after the FBI raided Lucas’s office in Portsmouth, Virginia, and the neighboring cannabis dispensary she co-owns.

Photo by Kevin Woblick on Unsplash

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Anti-transgender ads have flooded TV in Republican states this election season, and they are almost impossible to miss. The goal is to trigger a transphobic reaction from everyday voters and get them to vote against the Democratic candidate in whatever race the ads run in, a goal the ads are failing to achieve this year. But while the ads may be struggling to move voters, conservatives are noticing an unintended side effect of saturating the airwaves with ads targeting transgender people: they are also reaching the children of conservative parents. Now, parents on r/Conservative, a popular conservative forum on Reddit, are lamenting that the ads are teaching their kids that transgender people exist, with one fearing that conservatives are “talking the very things we don’t want into existence.”

“I’m in Texas, and it seems like every commercial break has 4–6 political ads, most of them attacking James Talarico,” the post starts, before lamenting, “My kids didn’t even know what transgender meant until these ads started airing. Now they’re hearing about it constantly, and not because they went looking for it. The anti-Talarico ads seem to talk about these issues more than anyone else does. It irritates me especially when I don’t want to explain what they’re talking about to my children.”

The poster then goes on to explain that they are worried the ads might make their children trans, stating, “Constantly talking about the things we oppose is actually giving them more attention than they would otherwise receive. Again I get the angle, keep these people away from influential positions within our government and advertising it. But we’re practically talking the very things we don’t want into existence.”

See the full post here:

The volume that the parent describes here is real. AdImpact has placed total ad spending in the Texas Senate race at $442 million as of early October, and a large portion of those ads have targeted transgender people. Meanwhile, America PAC, Elon Musk’s super PAC, has pledged $100 million in ads, and much of that money has likewise gone to ads targeting trans people. Trans people have reported seeing the ads in airports, at sporting events and while just spending time with their families—it is no surprise that cisgender people and their children are likewise seeing the ads when they would rather not.

The extreme focus on transgender people stands in stark contrast to what voters actually care about or find salient in their day-to-day lives. Recent polls show that even when voters can pick up to five top issues, transgender issues do not make the cut, ranking dead last. And Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they care about such issues. Saturating the airwaves with such ads appears to serve only to irritate voters, and now conservatives are even wondering if the ads are introducing the topic to their own children.

For a political party that has made fearmongering over kids learning about trans people in schools a major component of its mission, from banning books to forbidding gay-straight alliances, the move to saturate the airwaves with transgender topics may be seen as puzzling and hypocritical. The ads may indeed be the first introduction many children in conservative families receive to the idea that transgender people exist, and some of these kids are likely to one day realize they are trans themselves. Unfortunately, these ads also serve to ingrain hostility towards transgender people. In states where trans people already struggle to get by, the impact of such abuse may last far beyond election day**,** no matter who is elected.

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Laura Danbom, a Seattle-based worker who is still employed by Amazon, said Wednesday that the manager raped her following a cocktail reception hosted by Amazon on a 2023 business trip to New York. She said she reported the alleged assault to the police, colleagues, and Amazon’s Human Resources Department in the aftermath.

The lawsuit accuses Amazon of creating a hostile work environment by requiring Danbom to continue working with the manager. It also claims Amazon violated Washington’s Silenced No More Act, which prevents employers from blocking employees from speaking about their sexual assaults. Danbom said Human Resources leaders told her not to discuss the incident with other employees.

“ I was so heartbroken that my company of seven years, at the time, wouldn't protect me and actually wanted to cause more harm, it felt like, to have to work with him and interact with him and not move him,” she said in an interview with KUOW. “It just shattered me.”

According to Danbom, Amazon leadership investigated her allegations and said they did not find sufficient evidence to prove them. She said the colleagues she told about the incident were not interviewed.

Her attorney, Jay Free, said he spoke with the New York Police Department and learned Amazon had not requested the police report associated with Danbom’s case. It included DNA evidence from a condom that Danbom provided the police, though a sample from the accused was never collected for comparison, according to the lawsuit.

Amazon did not respond to detailed questions about the allegations in the complaint. Instead, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel provided the following written statement:

"We take any allegation of this nature extremely seriously, and we have zero tolerance for workplace sexual misconduct or violence of any kind. We thoroughly investigate each report we receive and take appropriate action, up to and including termination, against those who are found to have violated our policies. We have robust policies and trained investigators in place to ensure each concern is heard and addressed with the proper care. While we don't have more to share about the specifics of this pending litigation at this time, we continue to follow our rigorous processes and to hold all employees to the same high standards."

Following the investigation, Danbom said she was asked to move into a new role that would require more contact with the senior manager. She said she transferred to another department at the company to avoid him, walking away from a promotion in the process.

“ This shouldn't happen to anybody,” she said. “You shouldn't be subjected to working with your rapist. I just know they can do better. They have the resources, and I encourage women to come forward, feel safe in doing so at Amazon and that these issues come to light."

https://pepsipu.com/blog/2026-10-switch2-jailbreak-ns2jb/

With the rate things have been moving I'm half expecting to see the new Mario Kart running on a hacked PS5 by New Year's

Base idea lovingly stolen and reworked from @Auster@thebrainbin.ora

Star Trek: V'ger? I hardly know her!

The people of Earth develop nuclear power. Naron, a long-lived Rigellian who serves as the Keeper of galactic records, notes this achievement and records humanity as having reached maturity. Until he discovers something else... Despite the seriousness of the subject, Asimov keeps a light touch in this very short story.

A 1-minute read.

Naron of the long-lived Rigellian race was the fourth of his line to keep the Galactic records.

He had the large book which contained the list of the numerous races throughout the Galaxies that had developed intelligence, and the much smaller book listing those races that had reached maturity and had qualified for the Galactic Federation. In the first book, a number of those listed were crossed out; those that, for one reason or another, had failed. Misfortune; biochemical or biophysical shortcomings; social maladjustment, etc., took their toll. In the smaller book, however, no member listed had yet blanked out.

And now Naron, large and incredibly ancient, looked up as a messenger approached.

“Naron,” said the messenger. “Great One!”

“Well, well, what is it? Less ceremony.”

“Another group of organisms has attained maturity.”

“Excellent. Excellent. They are coming up quickly now. Scarcely a year passes without a new one. And who are these?”

The messenger gave the code number of the Galaxy and the coordinates of the world within it.

“Ah, yes,” said Naron. “I know the world.” And in flowing script, he noted it in the first book and transferred its name into the second—using, as was customary, the name by which the planet was known to the largest fraction of its populace. He wrote: Earth.

He said, “These new creatures have set a record. No other group has passed from intelligence to maturity so quickly. No mistake, I hope.”

“None, sir,” said the messenger.

“They have attained to thermonuclear power, have they?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, that’s the criterion.” Naron chuckled. “And soon their ships will probe out and contact the Federation.”

“Actually, Great One,” said the messenger, reluctantly, “the Observers tell us they have not yet penetrated space.”

Naron was astonished. “Not at all? Not even a space station?”

“Not yet, sir.”

“But if they have thermonuclear power, where then do they conduct their tests and detonations?”

“On their own planet, sir.”

Naron rose to his full twenty feet of hight and thundered, “On their own planet?”

“Yes, sir.”

Slowly, Naron drew out his stylus and passed a line through the latest addition in the smaller book. It was an unprecedented act, but, then, Naron was very wise and could see the inevitable as well as anyone in the Galaxy.

“Silly asses,” he muttered.

linky to encompassing tweet by blumenthal