(VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
@braak.bsky.social
2.1K followers 730 following 37K posts
It's me, braak, returned at long last from my social media exile. I encourage you to purchase my book, RADHIKA RAAD AND THE TOWER INGENIUS, which is now available (for purchase). https://a.co/d/1nix74W
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marisakabas.bsky.social
New — Video shared with me shows ICE officers in DC detaining a man on Friday.

Bystander filming asks man for his name. ICE agent lies and says he’s not allowed to speak to him “by law” and another says “We’ve arrested American citizens for being too close…If he gets any closer, put him in cuffs.”
braak.bsky.social
Right and "blackmail" has always been a canard because these guys have always been on the same side.
braak.bsky.social
Though, actually "they did destroy them and now they're refusing to release them because it would be obvious they destroyed them" is maybe the only really plausible explanation I have.
braak.bsky.social
Why wouldn't they just have quietly destroyed them!
braak.bsky.social
But at this point 1) I don't think they'd all be able the keep it together for this long, and 2) they've built it up SO MUCH that even if the files completely exonerated Trump, no one would believe it
braak.bsky.social
I.e., if you keep building them up and up and up and the release them right at the mid terms and it turns out there's nothing in them, the anticlimax essentially drains the entire opposition
braak.bsky.social
Yeah, it's like they're going out of their way to make it seem as incriminating as possible? Initially I thought this was a deliberate scheme -- go out of your way to make it seem as bad and suspicious as you can, then release them right when doing so would have maximum impact
braak.bsky.social
Reminds me of @leavittalone.bsky.social alone's Lettuce Guacamole Bacon Tomato Quail egg sandwich
alexandraerin.com
What does LGBT stand for? (Wrong answers only)

Lettuce, Girl, Bacon, and Tomato
jessisamess.gay
What does LGBT stand for? (Wrong answers only)

Like Gex, Bubsy's Trans
braak.bsky.social
I have been for the most part and Epstein Falser -- insistently believing that there's nothing particularly new or incriminating in the Epstein Files -- but these guys are really straining my ability to hold that position.
darthbluesky.bsky.social
that johnson is more terrified of seating a duly elected democrat who could force an epstein vote than having the entire government shut down really makes me wonder about that epstein vote tbh
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zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
braak.bsky.social
Keeper running across these Instagram reels of JD Vance trying to do parkour and eating shit, and while it's possible that this is someone is a costume, I think it's probably Sora. If so, this is the only good use case I can think of for it.
braak.bsky.social
Okay, well, if you want white people to stop murdering Venezuelans then I agree with you, and if you want white people to stop murdering Palestinians then I also agree with that. Unfortunately I got limited ability to influence this situation directly.
braak.bsky.social
Motion denied

::slams gavel in the shape of a chalupa::
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70sbachchan.bsky.social
Argentina edition of Libertarian bible
braak.bsky.social
Okay. Were you out there protesting either of those things?
braak.bsky.social
I dunno man, it doesn't seem correct to me to say that I personally must support evil because I was born from an evil race, but also I do think it's weird that you won't just say an obvious bad thing is bad.
braak.bsky.social
Yeah, of course. Do you think bombing Venezuelan fishing boats is bad?
braak.bsky.social
Okay. Do you think bombing Venezuelan fishing boats is bad?
braak.bsky.social
do you have a specific example of someone who doesn't want their tax money killing Palestinians but DOES want it killing Venezuelans?
braak.bsky.social
The answer to this was "my ninth grade English teacher thought I was extremely annoying".
braak.bsky.social
it wasn't a deliberate official punishment in which one tenth of the population was executed?"

"Well, this is a test about CONNOTATIVE meaning, not DENOTATIVE meaning!"

Okay! Fair enough! But if it's about connotative meaning, then why is "obliterated " wrong?
braak.bsky.social
When I was in the ninth grade I got points off on an English test where the question was like "The hurricane ____ the small town", and I picked "obliterated" instead of "decimated". "How," I asked, "could if be 'decimated', if
ryannorth.ca
I used to get mad when people misused "decimated" to refer to things that weren't 1/10th destroyed, but I've given it some thought and now I've done a complete 360 on it
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davidcorn.bsky.social
A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.
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donmoyn.bsky.social
The IRS is laying off people during the shutdown, even though it was rehiring staff it previously fired because it was so shorthanded.
This one stands out because firing IRS employees costs the government money, since they bring in about $6-8 for every dollar spent on tax enforcement
IRS Halts Layoff Plans, Begins Rehiring Amid Staffing Shortages
The agency is attempting to rebuild its workforce and restore public confidence.
Treasury Department: Treasury cut 1,446 employees on Friday. Two Internal Revenue Service employees confirmed layoffs were taking place at the tax agency, which has already shed more than 25,000 employees. One employee who was laid off was working Friday and exempt from shutdown furloughs.