people think propaganda is posters that look vaguely soviet or nazi and often very orwellian. they don't think of propaganda in a soft power sense

jenny tightpants@jtp.bsky.social · 23h ago

a CIA agent says to a KGB agent "i gotta hand it to you guys, you commies really know how to get people riled up with your propaganda." the KGB agent replies, "thanks, but it's nothing compared to you americans." the CIA agent replies "what do you mean? we don't have propaganda."

You kids today don't suffer like I suffered in my day, which is good because suffering is bad. COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/burnout PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm... STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com

Good fucking morning, BlueSky. The patriarchy is particularly insidious in how it can create unfair divisions of labor by just letting what was working out anyways continue overlong. Communication is key,communicating the right amount is hard. But the sun is out and today is a good day to not work.

Case in point: I work in tech support. Translating a complicated piece of software from client intention to what's going on in the UI and back stubbornly refuses AI automation. Claude sometimes makes things faster, but like once a month. And requires someone skilled in the art to check it.

It's a good if crude rule of thumb that a third of any population are born fascists. The important thing is never letting them grow to self-awareness or learn the viability of fascism. A sizeable chunk of the Star Wars fandom has long treated the Empire like parched man in the desert drinking water

Evan Washington@eewash.bsky.social · 2d ago

I had no idea this was a type of guy??

Good fucking morning, BlueSky! It's amazing how having a newborn can help you differentiate between 2 hours of sleep, 3-4, 6 and the new, S-tier, 9+ hours of sleep. We conked. It was needed. Happy Halloween, we'll be hiding because our neighborhood doesn't get anyone and we will be asleep, lol.

Wifey: "I needed that sleep, I was starting to get furious at other people for sleeping." Me: "That sounds like a serial killer origin story. Exhausted from baby, she starts with her (deserving) husband, and goes on to the neighborhood." Wifey: "Coming soon to a theater near you: Mama"

Good fucking afternoon, BlueSky. Just added my newborn to my insurance, for the low, low price of $187ish a month. Behold, the reward for raising America's next generation. May she never have to worry about such bullshit.

ICE didn’t pay these people. Some guy, at some desk, said “pay these people.” A lot of making the country functional again will be the boring but necessary work of dragging that guy before a Congressional Committee, publicly asking why he did it, and banning him from government work.

Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · 3d ago

ICE paid CoreCivic $495 million for a prison in Minnesota that's only worth $75 million. Asked why, CoreCivic said, “The federal government ultimately determined the sale price following its assessment process.” CoreCivic donated half a million dollars to Trump.

If you want more Patrick Stewarts, then you publicly fund the arts and learning programs, so that working class kids can find their way into making a career in them.

I need suggestions for how to construct my Halloween costume. I’m going as the scariest thing imaginable: a meeting invite from your manager for 8:00 am tomorrow entitled “Quick Sync”.

jean-luc picard was one of the best, least-toxic, examples of masculinity available to me as a kid. He was someone who showed that refined tastes didn't have to pair with terrible politics: you can be a space communist who leads from the front and loves classical music and theater.

In honor of our captain, one of my favorite candid moments: giving his partner an impromptu acting lesson while stoned out of his gourd. Godspeed, Sir Patrick. The stage will never be the same. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BV1...

Patrick Stewart - Quadruple Take Masterclass Of Acting While High

YouTube video by smartphonepsychic

youtube.com

Patrick Stewart was a trained Shakespearean actor, he knew Shakespeare better than you know your own internal monologue and here he was fuckin around doing improvised Shakespeare stories for a $15 ticket. One night only. And he was *a goddamn delight.* 10 minutes before the show was supposed to end

Patrick Stewart was such a good actor that little kid me was convinced that TNG's crew was how adults solve problems. There aren't any adults in the room, but props to a man who was a convincing one, onscreen and off.

i can't.

Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness@tangledwilderness.bsky.social · 3d ago

As if things aren't hard enough, now we have to face it all without Patrick Stewart?

Anyone who says this has abandoned the principal of inalienable rights, and with it all of the societal values that make democracy worth fighting for. Once you let people be legislated for targeting, you're in for fascism with extra steps. That's the whole fight.

Sheryl Weikal says Prosecute ICE@leftistlawyer.com · 3d ago

I've started seeing cis people telling trans people that "you can just go stealth" in response to our concerns about Democratic transphobia, and even if that were true for all of us - and for many of us, it's not - that is honestly an incredibly gross thing to say. We shouldn't have to.

Who feels squeezed and why might bear looking into. You can balance on the edge for a long time, especially if you have credit cards/a mortgage to borrow against/parents to help out, etc. Who has fallen through the cracks doesn't hit the full extent of who feels the abyss under them.

BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 4d ago

I think one of the confusions of economic discourse of the moment is the difference between “squeezed” and “struggling.” I’m going to use my own position. We have a comfortable household income by U.S standards, albeit in an expensive city. I can buy nice things and be generous to others

Apparently baby doesn't like Sinéad O'Connor and the Chieftains performance of The Foggy Dew. I am sorely disappointed, kid. youtu.be/yaS3vaNUYgs?...

Sinéad O'Connor & The Chieftains - The Foggy Dew

YouTube video by Siobhán McCarthy

youtu.be

Good fucking morning, BlueSky. My daughter is crying, screaming, (metaphorically, thank Zaros Lord of Chaos) throwing up at the horror, the terror, the absolute torture of...pants. It's a family trait, honestly.

R+9.8, if I'm a Florida Republican operative I'm fervently wishing I could afford to skip work and be blackout drunk for a week straight

I mean this all makes sense when you think about it. They'd kill Star Trek if they could. Hell I think that's why they hired Alex Kurtzman to oversee its demise. I can't imagine what's about to happen to it now that Paramount is now UPN for Nazis

Mass Effect 5 studio was reportedly told to tone down inclusivity by EA after Saudi Arabia buyout, former BioWare dev alleges, "so as to not cause offense"

It was allegedly instructed to remove a flag "too similar to the LGBTQIA+ flag"

gamesradar.com

The more I learn about nyc ballot props 1 & 3 the more passionate I am about the need to pass them. Talk to your friends about the ballot measures! The @hellgatenyc.com explainer is the best. www.instagram.com/p/DfAmjY7FGr... I mean look at this! Just petty rich guys who hate street life. AND

It has been a full year since I moved to Bushwick, but one of my partners had to stay in Buffalo - and be apart from their wife of a decade - until they could get employment in New York. The good news is they got a job! I humbly ask for help to bring them home. gofund.me/87545268b

Donate to Bringing Taylor Home to Bushwick, organized by Corey Griswold

Back at it again at the Krispy Kreme. This time, we are completing our triad in the … Corey Griswold needs your support for Bringing Taylor Home to Bushwick

gofund.me

Brief FAFO story. Last year, Landlord told Client to get out because Client is a Muslim immigrant. Client just wanted to leave quietly, but Landlord insisted that Client also pay the rest of the rent on the Lease, because Landlord said Muslims couldn't be trusted because of Taqiyya,

I should note - as a parent of adult kids, I think that I and others like me are concealing to a large extent how bad this economy is. We spend more on the kids household than on our own at this point. If we weren’t living extremely minimally, I have no idea how we would do it.

Good fucking morning, BlueSky! My daughter has decided to gift me and Wifey with 8 hours of sleep! I am introducing my daughter to ABBA, and we're starting early on giving her a sense of rhythm. Life is pretty glorious, folks.

Today, my daughter has discovered The Dreaded False Boob. I am sorry, little one. You will find no nutrition in here, as desperately as you want there to be.