(VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
@braak.bsky.social
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
I encourage you to purchase my book, RADHIKA RAAD AND THE TOWER INGENIUS, which is now available (for purchase).
https://a.co/d/1nix74W
I will say, there were two groups that do the Lion Dance for Lunar New Year in Philadelphia's Chinatown, one is the Philadelphia Suns who are still around and I believe *only* do Lion Dance, but the other was Cheung Shu Pui's Hung Gar Kung Fu school.
White people online are really excited about Lunar New Year: defector.com/white-people...
White People Online Are Really Excited About Lunar New Year | Defector
I’m sure I’m telling on myself by revealing this, but Western astrological readings are a staple of my social feeds. (To tell on myself further: Scorpio sun, Gemini rising, Cancer moon.) I don’t…
defector.com
February 17, 2026 at 6:15 PM
I will say, there were two groups that do the Lion Dance for Lunar New Year in Philadelphia's Chinatown, one is the Philadelphia Suns who are still around and I believe *only* do Lion Dance, but the other was Cheung Shu Pui's Hung Gar Kung Fu school.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
one of the most interesting things about the viral lookmaxxing influencer, which none of the coverage seems to mention (but is hinted at here), is that at the end of all his 8+ hour streams he takes a girl "home" and they just sit there and gamble at the online casino that sponsors him
February 17, 2026 at 5:42 PM
one of the most interesting things about the viral lookmaxxing influencer, which none of the coverage seems to mention (but is hinted at here), is that at the end of all his 8+ hour streams he takes a girl "home" and they just sit there and gamble at the online casino that sponsors him
Fetterman / Emmanuel
Most Cursed Ticket go
Buttigieg/Bennett
Buttigieg/Bennett
Pre-litigating 2028 so that I'm ready when I'd disappointed
February 17, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Fetterman / Emmanuel
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
we are doing team building by imagining worst fucking campaigns imaginable, this is the only good primary discourse
Most Cursed Ticket go
Buttigieg/Bennett
Buttigieg/Bennett
Pre-litigating 2028 so that I'm ready when I'd disappointed
February 17, 2026 at 5:54 PM
we are doing team building by imagining worst fucking campaigns imaginable, this is the only good primary discourse
moreover, the point of public debate is *not* to create a *logical, persuasive argument*; the point of public debate is to perform your opponent as not worth listening to.
The drunk uncle theory.
You don’t argue with the casually homophobic uncle at Thanksgiving dinner to change his mind; you argue so that the closeted cousin at the kids table knows there’s safe people and better possibilities out there
You don’t argue with the casually homophobic uncle at Thanksgiving dinner to change his mind; you argue so that the closeted cousin at the kids table knows there’s safe people and better possibilities out there
agree with this (hah) but also think a particular mistake the left made for a long time online, and still makes to an extent, is failing to understand that the person whose mind you may actually change is the one reading the argument you're having, not the one you're arguing with
February 17, 2026 at 5:33 PM
moreover, the point of public debate is *not* to create a *logical, persuasive argument*; the point of public debate is to perform your opponent as not worth listening to.
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Letters sent by @epic.org yesterday calling on the FTC and nine states to investigate and block Meta's plan to add facial recognition to its Ray-Ban smart glasses.
A privacy, safety, and civil liberties disaster in the making—unless enforcers step up.
epic.org/epic-urges-f...
A privacy, safety, and civil liberties disaster in the making—unless enforcers step up.
epic.org/epic-urges-f...
February 14, 2026 at 3:39 PM
Letters sent by @epic.org yesterday calling on the FTC and nine states to investigate and block Meta's plan to add facial recognition to its Ray-Ban smart glasses.
A privacy, safety, and civil liberties disaster in the making—unless enforcers step up.
epic.org/epic-urges-f...
A privacy, safety, and civil liberties disaster in the making—unless enforcers step up.
epic.org/epic-urges-f...
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
This is also part of an effort to remove personal ownership from the computing market and force people into expensive and surveillance-heavy cloud subscriptions to replace the concept of a home computer, gaming machine, or tablet.
I understand framing the AI bubble RAM supply crisis in terms of stuff like video game consoles because nerds can conceptualize that but the framing does really undersell the sheer magnitude of how it's going to fuck up everything that even touches a computer.
February 17, 2026 at 5:13 PM
This is also part of an effort to remove personal ownership from the computing market and force people into expensive and surveillance-heavy cloud subscriptions to replace the concept of a home computer, gaming machine, or tablet.
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There is no drawdown. There is no retreat. ICE is just redistributing their assets to better avoid accountability.
The same day DHS announced the surge would end in Minnesota, ICE activity increased in small towns
The less densely populated areas outside the Twin Cities make it harder for protesters and observers to organize.
www.theverge.com
February 17, 2026 at 4:26 PM
There is no drawdown. There is no retreat. ICE is just redistributing their assets to better avoid accountability.
in the arts people will always talk about how "having the ideas" is actually the easy part but it seems like maybe that part is also pretty hard
AI filmmaking is completely unserious.
You've got people with $30k begging the internet for ideas by next week because they have nothing of their own to say, it's just slop for the sake of slop. Embarrassing state of affairs.
You've got people with $30k begging the internet for ideas by next week because they have nothing of their own to say, it's just slop for the sake of slop. Embarrassing state of affairs.
February 17, 2026 at 4:58 PM
in the arts people will always talk about how "having the ideas" is actually the easy part but it seems like maybe that part is also pretty hard
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I don't believe I've ever seen Ted Levine speak so candidly about his regrets of portraying Buffalo Bill in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. He and some of the crew on the film were asked about the film's cultural transphobia by The Hollywood Reporter.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
February 17, 2026 at 4:46 PM
I don't believe I've ever seen Ted Levine speak so candidly about his regrets of portraying Buffalo Bill in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. He and some of the crew on the film were asked about the film's cultural transphobia by The Hollywood Reporter.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
there was a good bit in the Highlander TV show when his girlfriend finds out he's immortal and keeps asking him about famous historic figures and he has to be like, "yeah I didn't know that guy, I was in France then" and I think that's funny, too.
imagine if you were a vampire that lived for 100s of years but you just had a regular guy's memory. Like a normal person. "What was Venice like in the 14th century" Ahhh, I don't...I don't fucking remember. There was a guy, Vincenzo? Maybe that was the 15th century. Wait, did I live in Venice?
February 17, 2026 at 4:46 PM
there was a good bit in the Highlander TV show when his girlfriend finds out he's immortal and keeps asking him about famous historic figures and he has to be like, "yeah I didn't know that guy, I was in France then" and I think that's funny, too.
Les fourmis! Ennemi numéro un!
I promise that I am not the only person to report that ANTS ATE MY LINKY
www.midilibre.fr/2021/05/27/c...
www.midilibre.fr/2021/05/27/c...
Compteur Linky : les fourmis, ennemi numéro un des clients d'Enedis
La présence de fourmis entraînerait près d'un millier de pannes de courant chaque année. Un phénomène connu par Enedis et dont les abonnés continuent de se plaindre.
www.midilibre.fr
February 17, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Les fourmis! Ennemi numéro un!
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Every member of the opposition party in Congress, and most journalists and producers, continues to use his platform to discuss politics—even as he encourages mass violence against trans people.
The world's richest man is broadcasting eliminationist rhetoric about a tiny, vulnerable minority, and virtually no one is going to treat it as a scandal. It's just normal now.
February 17, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Every member of the opposition party in Congress, and most journalists and producers, continues to use his platform to discuss politics—even as he encourages mass violence against trans people.
1,000 diaries that you fill out the first twenty pages of and then lose, scattered around Europe, every year you think to yourself, "okay, THIS time I'm gonna fill out the whole diary, I need to keep a record of my immortal damnation"
Figure you’d probably have a diary by that time
imagine if you were a vampire that lived for 100s of years but you just had a regular guy's memory. Like a normal person. "What was Venice like in the 14th century" Ahhh, I don't...I don't fucking remember. There was a guy, Vincenzo? Maybe that was the 15th century. Wait, did I live in Venice?
February 17, 2026 at 4:05 PM
1,000 diaries that you fill out the first twenty pages of and then lose, scattered around Europe, every year you think to yourself, "okay, THIS time I'm gonna fill out the whole diary, I need to keep a record of my immortal damnation"
imagine if you were a vampire that lived for 100s of years but you just had a regular guy's memory. Like a normal person. "What was Venice like in the 14th century" Ahhh, I don't...I don't fucking remember. There was a guy, Vincenzo? Maybe that was the 15th century. Wait, did I live in Venice?
February 17, 2026 at 4:00 PM
imagine if you were a vampire that lived for 100s of years but you just had a regular guy's memory. Like a normal person. "What was Venice like in the 14th century" Ahhh, I don't...I don't fucking remember. There was a guy, Vincenzo? Maybe that was the 15th century. Wait, did I live in Venice?
yah like, in a lot of ways, it seems like the Clintonian third-way politics was deliberately a mechanism to avoid Jesse Jackson's politics.
jesse jackson was constantly played as a punchline on 90s late-night TV to the point that i didn't understand his history of activism and serious left-leaning political platform until i was much older. i have to think, to some degree, that was on purpose.
February 17, 2026 at 3:44 PM
yah like, in a lot of ways, it seems like the Clintonian third-way politics was deliberately a mechanism to avoid Jesse Jackson's politics.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
jesse jackson was constantly played as a punchline on 90s late-night TV to the point that i didn't understand his history of activism and serious left-leaning political platform until i was much older. i have to think, to some degree, that was on purpose.
February 17, 2026 at 3:40 PM
jesse jackson was constantly played as a punchline on 90s late-night TV to the point that i didn't understand his history of activism and serious left-leaning political platform until i was much older. i have to think, to some degree, that was on purpose.
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As an attorney with occasional experience with the Equal Time rule, I can explain what's going on here and how the FCC's Brandon Carr is leveraging his position to force late night and daytime talk show hosts to exclude Democratic candidates.
First I need to explain the Equal Time rule itself. 1/
First I need to explain the Equal Time rule itself. 1/
Stephen Colbert said that the FCC and CBS - which is in no way a compromised or complicit organization - wouldn’t allow him to broadcast an interview with Democratic State Rep James Talarico. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/a...
Colbert Doesn’t Give an FCC About Calling Out CBS
www.nytimes.com
February 17, 2026 at 1:37 PM
As an attorney with occasional experience with the Equal Time rule, I can explain what's going on here and how the FCC's Brandon Carr is leveraging his position to force late night and daytime talk show hosts to exclude Democratic candidates.
First I need to explain the Equal Time rule itself. 1/
First I need to explain the Equal Time rule itself. 1/
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“We’re not a perfect people. Yet, we are called to a perfect mission. Our mission to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to house the homeless, to teach the illiterate, to provide jobs for the jobless, and to choose the human race over the nuclear race.”
Jessie Jackson
REST IN PEACE
Jessie Jackson
REST IN PEACE
February 17, 2026 at 10:44 AM
“We’re not a perfect people. Yet, we are called to a perfect mission. Our mission to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to house the homeless, to teach the illiterate, to provide jobs for the jobless, and to choose the human race over the nuclear race.”
Jessie Jackson
REST IN PEACE
Jessie Jackson
REST IN PEACE
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
One of the best selling books in the UK in 1974 by one of its most well known writers
February 17, 2026 at 7:05 AM
One of the best selling books in the UK in 1974 by one of its most well known writers
There's actually only two kinds of divination: augury, which is learning the language of birds and snakes (&c), and necromancy, which is communicating with the dead. A lot of divination like cartomancy, i ching, tea leaves, pyromancy, these are all actually a form of necromancy. How?
Meta has patented AI that can run a dead person's account, continuing to post and chat on their behalf
It can message and video call by replicating a user's online behavior using their past data
It can message and video call by replicating a user's online behavior using their past data
February 17, 2026 at 2:42 PM
There's actually only two kinds of divination: augury, which is learning the language of birds and snakes (&c), and necromancy, which is communicating with the dead. A lot of divination like cartomancy, i ching, tea leaves, pyromancy, these are all actually a form of necromancy. How?
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
I know I said this in my other thread, but it bears repeating: the censorship of Colbert's interview of Talarico is about the regime trying to dictate a state religion, and then controlling critiques of it.
February 17, 2026 at 12:40 PM
I know I said this in my other thread, but it bears repeating: the censorship of Colbert's interview of Talarico is about the regime trying to dictate a state religion, and then controlling critiques of it.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
I... had not noticed this, and it seems inarguable.
Algorithmic media and social media are completely different things.
Smashing the two together in different dilutions is leading us into weird places.
Algorithmic media and social media are completely different things.
Smashing the two together in different dilutions is leading us into weird places.
February 16, 2026 at 3:47 PM
I... had not noticed this, and it seems inarguable.
Algorithmic media and social media are completely different things.
Smashing the two together in different dilutions is leading us into weird places.
Algorithmic media and social media are completely different things.
Smashing the two together in different dilutions is leading us into weird places.
Yeah okay but look a limited series of Peter B. Parker trying to be Spider-Man while also having adult problems like a mortgage and getting his kid to daycare would in fact be good.
I'm not saying *instead*! But in addition to?
I'm not saying *instead*! But in addition to?
I see a lot of online discourse that is essentially "this thing I like should only be aimed at people like me" and like... I get it, it's hard to let go. But if your problem is that corporate IP continues to be corporate IP, you don't need Spider-Man to be aged up, you need to get new interests.
February 17, 2026 at 1:56 PM
Yeah okay but look a limited series of Peter B. Parker trying to be Spider-Man while also having adult problems like a mortgage and getting his kid to daycare would in fact be good.
I'm not saying *instead*! But in addition to?
I'm not saying *instead*! But in addition to?
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This is so sweet, and my first thought is that you couldn't put it on TV today without somebody threatening to bomb the station
I don’t know who needs to hear Jesse Jackson leading the kids on Sesame Street in this beautiful call-and-response reminding them that every child is somebody, but here it is
February 17, 2026 at 1:54 PM
This is so sweet, and my first thought is that you couldn't put it on TV today without somebody threatening to bomb the station