Or it may also be a way of laundering or concealing the true purpose of any payments to Russia, which could have to do with some kind of collusion and ratfucking in the midterms

Scott Horton@robertscotthorton.bsky.social · yesterday

I think this analysis is correct. Reports out of Russia for the last six weeks show huge diesel shortages and long lines of cars trying to get it. Russia doesn't have the diesel Trump says he's buying for them. This is all for another purpose, which is psy ops.

Far too many people simply hate children for existing

elon musk has more empathy for lines of code than a majority of humanity

onion person@junlper.beer · yesterday

its feels like a mass psychosis where tech leaders continue to insist you can be cruel, mean, and hurt the feelings of lines of code

The sines qua non for any other democratic policy in 2029: 1) courts reform 2) trust-busting media monopolies 3) wealth tax for billionaires Without these, everything else is DOA. Any other policy’s timeline must include this in the critical path.

Cheri Jacobus@cherijacobus.bsky.social · yesterday

"I think we need to be really honest about the fact and say it with some frequency that oligarchs control the media in the United States of America" says Chicago veteran news exec, reporter, and producer, @newsjennifer.bsky.social jenniferschulze.substack.com

Republicans had the balls to criticize Zelenskyy for appearing with Dems in Pennsylvania in Sept 2024. Not only had Trump already blackmailed him in 2020, it was obvious Trump was going to do much worse starting in 2025 — so of course he wanted Democrats to win over the pro-Russia axis-of-evil party

Micah@rincewind.run · yesterday

going from defending ukraine against russia’s unprovoked war of aggression to directly funding the russian war machine what an abject disgrace

Every cycle needs its BS valuation metric

A real welfare state and universal health care require broad taxation, including the middle class. But high end wealth taxation is the kind of tax that protects democracy and the rule of law, and prevents aristocratic dynasties. It keeps us human.

New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854

Animal movies are a lot funnier if you pretend humans can hear them, they are just ignoring them each time they’re speaking. Except for animal comedies, then it just becomes kind of sad

We need to incept the idea of Trump renaming the GOP to the Trump Party, and by “incept” I mean have a reporter mention it once within his earshot and he’ll become obsessed with it and not let it go

HELL Kennedy@helenkennedy.com · 2d ago

From Reddit:

Just a reminder how much Tom Emmer has debased himself for power:

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d ago

Tom Emmer refers to Somali-Americans as "enemy combatants" and says they should be "rounded up and put in jail"

They’ve been pretty upfront about it too, claiming that basically everything will belong to the people that own the AI systems — but hey don’t worry, sometime in the future we’ll generously implement UBI so everything will be cool and you’ll be taken care of, don’t fret, we’re very altruistic

Micah@rincewind.run · 2d ago

the reason “AI will create so much abundance we will have a utopian society” rhetoric falls so flat is that the people building it will never, ever share their bounty unless it is taken from them and we all know it

The degree to which this business genius does not understand literally anything about business never fails to shock me

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago

Trump: "If we decided not to buy watches from Switzerland, they wouldn't be elite anymore and we would save about $40 billion"

In some ways, the era of social media has been perfect for Conservatives and the game they're playing

Hilarious description of Susan Collins’s voice:

LaDelfa@ladelfa.bsky.social · 4d ago

she sounds like she's coming out of a Leslie speaker cabinet

Some dumbass young republican chud trying to heckle AES, only to get completely roasted like a morsel over a roaring bonfire. Might as well go find an insult comic on a slow night at the comedy club to try and heckle

Dominique Baker@bakerdphd.bsky.social · 4d ago

Sure www.michigandaily.com/news/governm...

Sometimes my wife and I like to send each other text messages as though they’re democratic fundraising messages, and I believe she has produced the jewel of the form.

"By using AI, tasks like essays that used to take hours can be completed in minutes!" Sure, like how if I arrive at the gym and immediately go for a shower, my workout is done in record time. And if I throw my sandwiches straight in the bin, I can finish my lunch in under 10 seconds.

This is so fucked up

ProPublica@propublica.org · 5d ago

4/ Fernando Vasquez, an 18-year-old citizen, was on break from work when agents chased and handcuffed him, then put him in their truck. After realizing their mistake, the agents left the teen alone in the woods, with no way to get home. Then they threw his ID out of the truck.

If we are just comparing people who held elected office, what is the ratio of Republicans to Democrats who have been arrested for pedo stuff? Seriously, is it at 10:1 yet?

David Roberts@volts.wtf · 5d ago

The press will do stories on Republican sex creeps, but it will never, ever point out -- much less make an ongoing narrative out of -- the fact that the GOP has been *ridden* with sex creeps for decades. You have to be blind not to see the pattern.

"South Korea has already run the experiment. Its law requires the National Assembly to vote on presidential impeachment by anonymous ballot, and that rule has now removed two presidents." [@andycraig.bsky.social]

A Democratic Senate Should Adopt Secret Impeachment Ballots on a Priority Basis

Such a change, requiring no constitutional amendment, would free senators to vote their judgment instead of their fears

theunpopulist.net

Found the perfect screengrab to use the next time someone tries to tell me I’m missing out on important discourse by not using Elon Musk’s mircoblog site

Apparently Democrats could just revoke all red states’ funding and then just offer some crumbs right before the election to buy their votes back (Please Dems do not offer even crumbs, these people are beyond saving, like throwing money at your drug addict friend after giving him his 36th chance)

Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR)@hcrichardson.bsky.social · 5d ago

The amount of money the administration is promising in order to buy votes is significantly less than the amount of money it is taking away in programs and services. And it's OUR money!

This is exactly how I imagine I would react after I came to see the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace, the Bread of Life. The experience would be so poignant and beautiful that I would feel compelled to start by spitting right wing culture war talking points and how America is full of degeneracy

Christian Nightmares@christiannightmare.bsky.social · 6d ago

"Talk about testosterone!" Apparently, this guy met Manly MAGA Jesus in Heaven...

It’s not, and anyone who loves the free market (the real free market, not the bastardized caricature we have now) should be terrified and find themselves in grave opposition to the current administration. But our business elites are too busy stuffing their faces, because they don’t actually care

Simon Owens@simonowens.bsky.social · 6d ago

Honestly don’t know how we continue functioning as a society with such a small number of people vacuuming up this much wealth. Basically the equivalent of the US defense budget was rerouted to 500 people in just the last nine months.

There’s also some room for democrats to carve out a large niche here too. Rail against billionaires. Rail against scammers. Spam calls. Influencers. Social media. Supplements. Try anything. Anything that people hate (even if they use it, they still want to hate it). Make it personal

jamelle@jamellebouie.net · 6d ago

feels like at least part of what is happening is that a lot of people want politics to solve the "my life feels empty" problem and the populist right is directly appealing to them

feels like at least part of what is happening is that a lot of people want politics to solve the "my life feels empty" problem and the populist right is directly appealing to them

I wonder if we can get Jack Smith to run for president. That’s exactly the type of person we need to pursue the Trumpistas to the ends of the earth and make sure they do real time

The fraternity brothers in the group chat who cheer violence? That behavior is being modeled by the president of this country. I cannot stress this enough — Trump is teaching young men how to be abusive every time he opens his mouth.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

Trump: "We've gonna shove it up their ass ... They are a bunch of dumb son of a bitches" Remember when presidents had dignity? Here's a lowlight supercut from Trump's rally tonight in Ohio:

To the teamsters this is also a way of “hedging bets”. They figure if the dem senator wins all is forgiven and they’ll bend over backwards for labor regardless, whereas if the republican wins they’re screwed. Why it’s time for Dems to get ruthless and vindictive- don’t support us? Rue the day we win

Sam@samd.bsky.social · last wk.

what the fuck is wrong with the teamsters man Roger Marshall is a ghoul who sued his own patients and threw them in prison!