Brian Gainor
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bgainor.bsky.social
Brian Gainor
@bgainor.bsky.social
190 followers 200 following 95 posts
Programmer with a linguistics background, dad, trekkie (he/him/his)
Mostly posting on Mastodon at @bgainor.mstdn.party.ap.brid.gy
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bgainor.bsky.social
Let's practice everyone: "I don't like this thing, but that doesn't mean other people can't." But while we're here, I think a better framing of this would be "apple pie is easy to screw up". I suspect this guy's just never had good apple pie.
rapsheet.bsky.social Ian Rapoport @rapsheet.bsky.social · 3d
Apple pie is bad. This is not really debatable. So is key lime pie, while we’re on the topic. Pecan pie is the 🐐 tho.
November 25, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
marceliusb.bsky.social
We don’t need to reform ICE.
We don’t need alternatives to ICE.
We don’t need to engage in dishonest debates wondering what the U.S. would do without ICE.

ICE isn’t even 23 years old. Most adults know a world without ICE. And the billions used to fund ICE can be used to meet people’s basic needs.
November 18, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
sadvil.bsky.social
TRUMP [after spending 5 minutes with Zohran]: surplus value, it’s a very wonderful thing, very wonderful, and they’re stealing it. Can you believe that?

We’re going to be looking very strongly at the bourgeoisie, what they’re up to
November 21, 2025 at 9:25 PM
bgainor.bsky.social
Sharing with alt text
NBC News: Death rates rose in hospital ERs after private equity firms took over, study finds The increased deaths in emergency departments at private equity-owned hospitals are most likely the result of reduced staffing levels, researchers say. @anthonyzenkus Hospitals that get bought out by private equity see a 13% increase in ER deaths. That's thousands of people a year who die needlessly so billionaire private equity bums can get even richer. It's time to take capitalism out of healthcare.
November 19, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
mcsweeneys.net
"Of course, it doesn’t feel right to want IT to HAPPEN. And it’s obviously not okay to try to make IT HAPPEN. That’s not what this is ABOUT, just to make things CLEAR LEGALLY as far as VARIOUS AGENCIES are concerned."
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/whe...
When It Happens
It’s been so long, you sometimes forget that eventually, IT will HAPPEN. It’s impossible to say when IT will HAPPEN. But it can’t be too long until...
www.mcsweeneys.net
November 13, 2025 at 7:27 PM
bgainor.bsky.social
Cartoon band made up of grungy-looking teenagers. Their name is Mystik Spiral, but they're thinking of changing it.
November 11, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
patwoods.bsky.social
Dems just wanted to win elections before caving. It doesn’t even read as self sabotage.
ezralevin.bsky.social Ezra Levin ❌👑 @ezralevin.bsky.social · 19d
I'm hearing the same thing. Dems are nearing a surrender. I'm shocked. Largest protest in history + best election night in years + polling showing we're kicking their ass in public opinion. And now Dems may cave.

It ain't over til it's over, so please do call if you've got a Dem senator.
joshtpm.bsky.social Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 19d
Sounds like the squishes in the senate caucus are ready to pull the plug with no ACA changes. This is real. If you want to register your opinion you shld call yr senator in the next hour. They not only want to reopen w/nothing. They want cover from their colleagues who still want to hold out.
November 9, 2025 at 11:15 PM
bgainor.bsky.social
To be fair, I think she's right, in that she doesn't give a fuck, and neither do any of her colleagues
acyn.bsky.social Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 19d
Shaheen: So let me be clear. No one in the senate chamber wants to extend the ACA tax credits more than I do.
November 10, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
zachwahls.bsky.social
Senator Schumer has failed to lead this party in one of its most critical moments, and Americans will pay the price. It’s time for him to step down from leadership and make way for a new generation willing to fight for the people instead of the powerful.
November 10, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
evilcleverdog.bsky.social
Using ChatGPT
edithcharles.bsky.social Edith @edithcharles.bsky.social · Aug 23
What's something that isn't considered embarrassing but you think it should be?
August 23, 2025 at 7:01 AM
bgainor.bsky.social
Smucker really is one of the slimiest of the bunch, and that's saying something (gonna sue me too, Lloyd?)
October 14, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
laurenthal.bsky.social
Electricity now costs 267% more (!!) for 1 month vs. what it cost 5 years ago near data center hotspots. Awesome reporting from Josh Saul @dinabass.bsky.social Leonardo Nicoletti @naurtorious.bsky.social Demetrios Pogkas (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring
Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.
www.bloomberg.com
September 29, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
joolia.bsky.social
The rebranding of reactionary gender and biological essentialism as “heterodox and challenging ideas to which liberal students must be exposed” is one of the greatest achievements of our stupid era. Congratulations to the reactionary centrists who helped make it happen - you dupes, you utter dolts.
jonathancohn.bsky.social Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · Sep 27
“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders
www.nytimes.com
September 27, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
figgityfigs.bsky.social
Pretty fucking sure there’s a word in Arabic that means submission, lol. It’s a famous one. I bet you know it.
insideukraine.bsky.social Inside Ukraine 🇺🇦 @insideukraine.bsky.social · Sep 22
US Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack:

Peace is an illusion. There has never been peace.

There will probably never be peace.

Somebody wants dominance, which means somebody has to submit. There is no Arabic word for submit. They can't wrap their head around submit.
September 23, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
kirbyconrod.bsky.social
Please boost! #linguistics student here at Swarthmore is running a survey for English speakers (who don't know Mandarin / any other tone languages) about how we learn tones. Take a few minutes to help out with this student research!
swarthmore.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Online Survey Software | Qualtrics Survey Solutions
Qualtrics sophisticated online survey software solutions make creating online surveys easy. Learn more about Research Suite and get a free account today.
swarthmore.az1.qualtrics.com
September 22, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
lexmcmenamin.com
new from @kylietcheung.bsky.social in @teenvogue.com: recently, men have impersonated plainclothes ICE agents to assault women—only possible, she argues, because state agents commit violence with impunity.

"To be clear, men wouldn’t be posing as ICE agents and assaulting women if ICE didn’t exist."
How ICE Raids Are Making It Easier for Civilian Men to Assault Immigrant Women
"This phenomenon is only possible because of the outsized power that state agents have always had to abuse and control women and victims' bodies," argues Kylie Cheung.
www.teenvogue.com
September 22, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
michaelhobbes.bsky.social
As usual with this issue, Harris is calling for a compromise that already exists. Every sporting body has standards for how long athletes must be on hormones before they can compete as women.

The problem isn’t that we’re ignoring ‘reasonable concerns,’ the problem is that republicans are lying.
I agree with the concerns expressed by parents and players that we have to take into account biological factors such as muscle mass and unfair student athletic advantage when we determine who plays on which teams, especially in contact sports,, Harris writes. "With goodwill and common sense, I believe we can come up with ways to do this, without vilifying and demonizing children."
September 20, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
scumbelievable.bsky.social
While I got my knuckles rapped by corporate America for being rude and tasteless about a guy who dreamed of the stoning of me and everyone I love, Fox's Brian Kilmeade advocated explicitly for the state murder of all homeless people -- on live TV, no less -- to virtually no response.
September 17, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
marisakabas.bsky.social
the problem with media corporations negotiating with fascists is that the negotiation is never over.
karlbode.com Karl Bode @karlbode.com · Sep 17
this is quite genuinely insane, and I want to believe the backlash to this will be severe
ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Off Air for Charlie Kirk Comments
www.nytimes.com
September 17, 2025 at 11:02 PM
bgainor.bsky.social
It's journalistic malpractice to report this as if it's simple record keeping and not intentional voter suppression.
September 16, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
November 17, 2021 www.mypanhandle.com/news/local-n...
MANKATO, Minnesota (AP) - Charlie Kirk stood 80 miles from where George Floyd was murdered, faced an overwhelmingly white audience, and declared he was going to say things "no one dares say out loud." What followed was an avalanche of aspersions and debunked claims about Floyd, the Black man whose death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer set off a global reckoning over racial injustice and broad calls for change. But the white conservative agitator had a counter view: Floyd was a "scumbag," he said, unworthy of the attention.
September 15, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
bgainor.mstdn.party.ap.brid.gy
I know enough linguist experience to be fascinated by this sentence, yes
Screenshot from indeed.com of the text "Do you know Linguist experience?"
September 15, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
karenattiah.bsky.social
And yes, I was the last Black full-time columnist in the Opinion section.

Washington Post -- operating in a city which for a long time has been majority Black, is now without any full-time Black opinion writers.
September 15, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
clairewillett.bsky.social
reposting with alt text because this feels incredibly significant. the right-wing disinfo machine means a lot of the people grieving Charlie Kirk never heard any of the things he said that would have tarnished his brand as Guy Who Just Wants to Have Dialogue Across the Aisle
One thing that has become really clear since yesterday is that we live in at least two different realities. Talking to a friend who only knew Charlie as a Christian motivational speaker because that's all that ever came across her feed. Showed me videos I've never seen before of him saying perfectly reasonable and empowering things. I showed her videos she'd never seen before of his racism, misogyny, homophobia, advocating for violence against specific groups of people. She was horrified by his remarks about Pelosi's husband's attacker being bailed out and celebrated for his violent act. She was horrified by a number of things that he said, but she had never seen or heard them before, the same as I had never seen or heard the generalized clips of him sounding like a perfectly nice loving man and father. Neither of us had a whole picture of this man. I mentioned he was a known white supremacist and she thought I was joking. She talked about him giving a speech about finding your purpose and doing good in the world and I thought she was joking. I saw why this friend was mourning the loss of a person she thought was a good person. My friend, bless her, saw why I feel the way I do about him. We understood each other better. In spite of a multi-billion dollar internet machine specifically focused on keeping us apart. Because we talked to each other with the desire to listen and to learn rather than the desire to change someone else's mind or to be "right". None of those motivational things he said change my opinion about him because they don't erase the negativity, the subtle calls for violence, the belittling and denigrating of other races religions genders etc. His negative and blaming comments about homeless people, the poor, and victims of domestic violence. His comments about rounding up people who didn't think like him and putting them in camps where their behavior could be corrected. That time he said empathy was a made-up word he didnt believe in. That other time he said the Civil Rights Act was a mistake. The time he said most people are afraid when they get on a plane and see that there's a black pilot. His anti-vaccination rhetoric and his active campaigning against people being allowed to wear masks for their own health. His open support of fascism and white supremacy. To me, all of those are fully unchristian sentiments. Those are undeniable and just one of them would be a deal-breaker for me. All of them together are a picture of a man who was polarizing, enraged a lot of people and rightly so, but even with all of that I would never wish upon him or especially his children the end that he got. Oh, and my friend had never heard, and God help me I don't know how she escaped the news, but she had never heard of the Minnesota legislators who were shot in June. The husband and wife and dog who were killed, one after throwing themselves over their child to protect the child. The other couple who somehow survived. Politically motivated attacks specifically because they were democrats. She learned about those shootings that happened months ago because I showed her Charlie Kirk's comments about them. The kidnapping plot against a female Midwestern Democratic governor. The assassination attempt against Pennsylvania's democratic governor. All things Charlie had plenty to say about while supporting the Second Amendment and bashing the Democratic party. She didn't know about any of it because we're all living in two different worlds and none of us have the whole story.
September 13, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Brian Gainor
nberlat.bsky.social
again, it is possible to denounce the shooting of Kirk without lying about who Kirk was.
September 11, 2025 at 3:55 PM