Mike Shaw
zax2000.bsky.social
Mike Shaw
@zax2000.bsky.social
550 followers 190 following 2.1K posts
A yokel Bostonian bumbling around Seattle. Stints in 北京 and Bali along the way. I used to craft/edit journalists' spam. Geopolitics is my jam. I post, therefore I am.
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Pinned
Yes, YOU.
I'm subtweeting you.
Reposted by Mike Shaw
Geez. What was Halloween like before 1931????
Reposted by Mike Shaw
A Brief History of Halloween Isn’t Fun Anymore

🧵
The art of not bothering to deal.
RADDATZ: Should the president be meeting with Democrats to end the shutdown?

BESSENT: Well, what good does it do, Martha?
We're all sure that he doesn't.
Love how on CBS he says that a Canadian governor (Premier) running a TV ad is infringing on US sovereignty, but us sending billions of $ to aid Argentina's president is not.
Reposted by Mike Shaw
I'd make a bad news interviewer, because I'd crack up upon hearing "this is interference in US sovereign matters," like when an absurdist joke catches you off guard.

Canadian commenting on US policy towards Canada is unfair? And after the US president says Canada shouldn't be sovereign? Come on.
Bessent: "I've read that Ontario is spending up to $75 million on these advertisements and it's propaganda coming across our border to decry the tariffs. The premiere of Ontario seems to have come off the rails a little ... this is interference in US sovereign matters."
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Gallego: "It's murder. It's very simple. If this president feels they are doing something illegally, then he should be using the Coast Guard. If this is an act of war, then you use our military and then you come and talk to us first. But this is murder ... it's disgusting."
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The most important thing here is that the president is unilaterally raising taxes on you because he got mad at his TV
Totally, 100% spot-on.
The bottom line, and what I'm getting at, is that the price of admission to the Republican Party today is lying in the service of the dictator, like something out of Orwell's 1984; in this case, lying about the past.

Here's the rest of the doc for those who are interested.
Honestly, I don't know why more Democrats, during debates in Congress, don't just recite speeches that some current GOP members have given in the past that argue the exact opposite position that they hold now. They should do it w/o attribution, too. Just seen if anyone notices.
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We’ve already seen quite a few examples of ICE agents trying to kidnap someone and eventually giving up and running away because a crowd had gathered and shouted them down. That’s EFFECTIVE.
A lot of folks may think that just yelling at ICE agents is ineffective, but consider the cumulative psychological toll of being yelled at EVERY DAY when trying to do shit. Even the biggest asshole in the world who doesn't give a shit about other people will feel the pressure.
More from the scene
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You may not have food or healthcare for your children, but did you know that the White House will now have a classy dance floor for nepotistic pedophiles
This is scary.
It's odd for me to realize that my first-year undergraduates are at an age where they don't really remember that there was a form of US politics prior to Donald Trump. For them, Trump is not an aberration from the normal course of political discourse, but just how US politics is done.
Like everyone, I get pissed when I'm walking through my neighborhood or a park & see trash-strewn encampments or people sleeping rough. But I'm not pissed at the folks who are in that situation. I'm pissed that we aren't getting them into housing.

There should be basic shelter for all who need it.
A Washington state program that directed outreach workers to spend weeks building relationships with homeless people living under highways brought about 1,200 people inside. Seattle mayoral candidate Katie Wilson sees it as a model for the city.
In Seattle Mayoral Race, Tensions Between Crackdown and Compassion on Homelessness
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has ramped up sweeps of homeless encampments in his first term. In his reelection bid, he faces a progressive challenger who wants to curb them.
boltsmag.org
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If you are a service member or civil servant ordered to perform an operation in spite of concerns you raised about their legality, you have lawful options to blow the whistle. They do not involve leaking to the press.

Consult with qualified counsel. You can honor your Oath without breaking the law.
Boat strikes put US service members in legal jeopardy:

"Some junior officers have asked military lawyers, known as judge advocates general or JAGs, for written sign-off before taking part in strikes .... It does not appear that such memos were furnished, said one of the people."
Top Democrats demand details of spy agencies’ role in boat strikes
Democrats are demanding that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard share intelligence on lethal operations against alleged narcotics traffickers.
www.washingtonpost.com
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Reagan's approach to the world prominently featured two things:

1) Russian aggression bad, Western democratic alliance good
2) Free trade good, tariffs and other barriers to trade bad

Pretending it's the opposite is the sort of reality inversion only someone who rejects truth itself could buy.
This is fascism.

It is also beautiful resistance.
Border patrol agents deployed tear gas on the 3700 block of North Kildare where residents say a landscape worker, a resident, and a woman on a bike were detained. Video from a resident.
Trump ready to go to war to distract from the Epstein files.
krasnov’s daily epstein distraction, as Venezuela offered oil & minerals(US interventions: Cuba ’52, Guatemala ’54, Haiti ’91/’04, Honduras ’09, Nicaragua/El Salvador ’80s, Panama ’89, Venezuela ’02, Bolivia ’64/’19, Chile ’73, Argentina ’76, Uruguay ’73)🇺🇸
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I’m good with my taxes subsidizing social welfare for people who can’t afford food.

I’m enraged with my taxes subsidizing corporate welfare to businesses that won’t pay a living wage.
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Blue Jays dedicate 11-4 blowout to Donald Trump 🇨🇦
Even if I wasn't a 7th-generation Bostonian & die hard Red Sox fan who was genetically predisposed to hate all teams from LA I'd probably be rooting for the #BlueJays thid a year just on principle.

What a great win.
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A very offline cousin sent this to fam group chat. This story is breaking containment.
Not all heroes win World Series games.
Keep your eyes on this, Seattle. If the Baristas authorize a strike there is no city that can have a bigger impact on their action than we can.

Support your #Starbucks workers. Support @sbworkersunited.org .
The strike authorization vote has begun!

While voting commences, union baristas are holding 70 rallies and pickets through November 1st. It's time to get serious about finalizing fair contracts, Starbucks.
Baristas are rallying at Starbucks stores across the country this weekend. Here's why
As 70 rallies kick off across the country, unionized baristas say they’re fighting for fair pay and hours—just as fall coffee orders surge.
www.fastcompany.com
Waiting for all the "constitutional conservatives" to protest the empowerment of federal agents to break laws and arrest/assault citizens with impunity.

Where are all of the right-wing wackos who occupied a national park ranger station b/c of some silly grazing rights dispute? This is OK to them?