randy r. potts
@thephatic.bsky.social
3.7K followers 1.7K following 570 posts
journo, editor, photog; Hromadske, TVPWorld, New Yorker, AJE, VQR, et al Tulsa / DC / mieszkam w Warszawie DM for Signal
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thephatic.bsky.social
I personally much prefer Anna Karenina, but then I personally wouldn't rec Tolstoy at all? Leskov, Goncharov, Chekhov, Gogol, all much better.
thephatic.bsky.social
it took Putin between 5-10 years to truly bend the Russian Duma over like this
johnlk.bsky.social
This is the fucking Prussian constitutional crisis. If you let them fund the military without Congressional authorization you've just given up on constitutional government. Congress is a dead letter.
Reposted by randy r. potts
marbleliberal.bsky.social
Who owns the army is THE constitutional question of the 17th century
jim0novak.bsky.social
The U.S. Constitution's Army Clause (Article I, Section 8) requires that congressional appropriations to raise and support armies must be for a term no longer than two years.

They feared standing armies.

The Founders were more radical anti-fascists than common knowledge would expect.
thephatic.bsky.social
this has Russ Vought's fingerprints all over it - the executive, grabbing that purse
samhalpert.bsky.social
Dems floated a narrow bill to fund the military, which can’t move because the House isn’t in session. Meanwhile, DoD is now going to spend funds not appropriated by Congress to ensure military paychecks continue.

POTUS now both commands and provisions the military. Unconstitutional and SO dangerous
The Office of Management and Budget sent a notification to Congress about their intent to use research and development funds to pay members of the military, two sources with direct knowledge tell NBC News.
A spokesperson for the OMB confirmed to NBC
News that it plans to use the research and development funds and that there are two years' worth of funds available within the Department of Defense.
Reposted by randy r. potts
thephatic.bsky.social
"you're gonna get the dog" is such colorful, vivid imagery but in the absolute worst way
nathankalmoe.bsky.social
“He told the officers that he was born in CA. After objecting to being taken into custody & saying he hadn’t done anything wrong, an officer can be heard on the video saying, ‘We’re gonna put you in cuffs or you’re gonna get the dog.’ Miranda was then struck from behind.”
thephatic.bsky.social
what really burns is that you know this discussion happens every day in the editing rooms and yet, so far, no NYT reporters are speaking up and explaining how their editors are silencing them - which leads me to conclude the reporters are ok with it - which - yeh - um -
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Collect a claim from one side, collect a claim from the other, present them both to the reader with an awkward shrug and a "who can say?"

And the photo choice -- Noem's looking down ... on what? The reverse angle showed a small crowd and a quiet street. But can't show that, it's biased to one side!
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.
Reposted by randy r. potts
anthonyjrivera.bsky.social
Some messages are printed on 18-by-24-inch yard signs or smaller placards; others are drawn ornately by hand on paper or written in chalk. The few who will talk about the signs they created say the urgency of the moment compelled them to act.

(🎁link below)

wapo.st/4nJqjZQ
Signs popping up around D.C. note: ‘ICE kidnapping happened here’
The signs range in style and mark numerous locations where people have been taken by federal agents.
wapo.st
Reposted by randy r. potts
thephatic.bsky.social
it being Natl Coming Out day, here's my story - 20 yrs ago this fall, I came out and was soon a divorced single dad of 3 with no family, no money, no anything, just a will to live and to be the best father I could be; it was fucking hard, pretty much every day, but I would still make the same choice
Reposted by randy r. potts
amandaclinton.bsky.social
Spotted in Tulsa 🫶🏼❤️🌎✌🏽
Reposted by randy r. potts
thejenniwren.teamlh.social
🧵
ICE abducted a 15-year-old autistic boy during a bathroom break and kept him hidden for nearly a week.
His mother thought he was missing. Even local police couldn’t find him because ICE never told anyone they had him.

He was selling fruit with his mom when he asked to use the restroom.
Reposted by randy r. potts
jakemgrumbach.bsky.social
It’s this multiple times a day
They don't even bother to lie badly anymore.
I suppose that's the final humiliation.
thephatic.bsky.social
actually looks *worse* than Warsaw ca. 1945
josepgoded2.bsky.social
Israeli forces caused extensive destruction to civilian homes in Gaza City.
thephatic.bsky.social
my Warsaw hood in the fall
Reposted by randy r. potts
andreapitzer.bsky.social
The closing stanzas from Paul Muldoon’s “Hedgehog.”
The hedgehog gives nothing
Away, keeping itself to itself.
We wonder what a hedgehog
Has to hide, why it so distrusts.

We forget the god
Under his crown of thorns.
We forget that never again
Will a god trust in this world.
thephatic.bsky.social
oooof. Also, my neighborhood here has so many of these little gods running around at night, they are the cutest.
thephatic.bsky.social
there is no "safe" place for queer people anywhere on this earth; we have to learn to fight and to relish that fight, regardless of where we find ourselves - bc of our path, we are always stronger than the straights - always - ALWAYS
thephatic.bsky.social
I am absolutely the first out of the closet person in my office here in Warsaw and no, it's not always easy, and I definitely fear that if the govt changes I could lose my job etc; even in a "queer paradise" like Berlin, a trans American is rn in deportation proceedings for being pro-Gaza -
thephatic.bsky.social
in these times, we need to find a new way to persist without offering false hope -we don't come out, or stand up and be ourselves, bc we think that will make things "better" - we do it bc we have to - bc every other choice is, somehow, worse - we have to not only fight but learn to ENJOY THE FIGHT
thephatic.bsky.social
I've long thought the "It Gets Better" era - which I happily participated in - was not ideal mostly bc it often lead to false hope. My journey as an out of the closet man from Tulsa OK never really got easier and has always felt a bit like waiting for Godot. It's "better," but not like I expected.
thephatic.bsky.social
it being Natl Coming Out day, here's my story - 20 yrs ago this fall, I came out and was soon a divorced single dad of 3 with no family, no money, no anything, just a will to live and to be the best father I could be; it was fucking hard, pretty much every day, but I would still make the same choice
Reposted by randy r. potts
bgrueskin.bsky.social
Remember that there are righteous people among us, always.

Left: Netherlands, 1942

Right: Illinois, 2025
One day in the summer of 1942, after the onset of the deportations of the Jews from Holland to “the East”, a student, who was a courier for the ASG student underground group in Amsterdam, approached the de Vries family, asking them to hide a Jewish child. The de Vrieses, who had two children of their own, decided to accept the offer despite the risk that was involved in hiding Jews, and soon four year-old Louise Pinto was brought to their home. Amid the smoke bombs and screams that ricocheted throughout a South Shore building last month during a massive military-style immigration raid, one man heard a knock on his door.

On the other side was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for his help.

“I wasn’t planning on letting her stay, but I didn’t know what the hell was going on,” the man said of his Venezuelan migrant neighbors. But he quickly relented. The little girl was inconsolable and hid under his bed.

“I didn’t want them to take her,” said the man, who didn’t want to be named because he fears he’ll be targeted by federal authorities for his actions.

“I gave her my bedroom, and I just told her, ‘Just stay there. Don’t open, don’t, shh, just stay quiet,’” he recalled telling the mom and daughter as he choked back tears.