(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
is this actually the first instance of a reverse Superbowl ad
Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash
Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash
Flock off
buff.ly
February 13, 2026 at 1:33 AM
is this actually the first instance of a reverse Superbowl ad
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
“The Constitution does not permit the government to arrest thousands of individuals and then disregard their constitutional rights because it would be too challenging to honor those rights.”
BREAKING: Judge Nancy Brasel, a Trump appointee, has issued a TRO in the Minnesota access-to-counsel case about treatment at Whipple.
"It appears that in planning for Operation Metro Surge, the government failed to plan for the constitutional rights of its civil detainees."
"It appears that in planning for Operation Metro Surge, the government failed to plan for the constitutional rights of its civil detainees."
February 13, 2026 at 12:24 AM
“The Constitution does not permit the government to arrest thousands of individuals and then disregard their constitutional rights because it would be too challenging to honor those rights.”
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
here is the book. highly recommend it. wwnorton.com/books/978132...
Savings and Trust
Winner of the 2025 Frederick Douglass Book Prize<br />A <em>Publishers Weekly</em> Best Nonfiction Book of 2024<br /><br />A leading historian exposes how the rise and tragic failure of the Freedman&#...
wwnorton.com
February 13, 2026 at 12:12 AM
here is the book. highly recommend it. wwnorton.com/books/978132...
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
Brandy Jensen on the cheating Norwegian biathlete: defector.com/adulterous-n...
February 12, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Brandy Jensen on the cheating Norwegian biathlete: defector.com/adulterous-n...
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
Much like it took Nixon to go to China, it took Kanye West to summarize American white supremacist culture (a song called "Heil Hitler" that is mostly about losing visitation rights)
February 12, 2026 at 11:47 PM
Much like it took Nixon to go to China, it took Kanye West to summarize American white supremacist culture (a song called "Heil Hitler" that is mostly about losing visitation rights)
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.
Breaking News: The Trump administration repealed the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life and well being, meaning that the EPA can no longer regulate them. nyti.ms/4rSszQu
February 12, 2026 at 8:38 PM
You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
i can remember how in the 80s and the 90s, imelda marcos’ shoe collection was a shorthand for comically naked thievery and corruption and now we have a first family who literally shat in golden toilets
one of the things that’s harder to see while we are in it, but will jump off the page at future historians, is how deeply corrupt *the entire trump family* is, and how they abused and and manipulated every lever of the federal government they could grab to steal everything that isn’t nailed down
News: The top-secret whistleblower complaint against Tulsi Gabbard is related to a conversation intercepted last spring in which two foreign nationals discussed Jared Kushner, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
February 12, 2026 at 9:18 PM
i can remember how in the 80s and the 90s, imelda marcos’ shoe collection was a shorthand for comically naked thievery and corruption and now we have a first family who literally shat in golden toilets
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
Tom Homan announced on that “Operation Metro Surge” — the Trump administration’s violent immigration crackdown in Minnesota — would be ending in around a week. Notably, DHS funding is set to expire this week unless Republicans and Democrats can agree on a budget bill.
Minnesotans Skeptical as “Border Czar” Homan Announces Drawdown of DHS Operations in State
One Minneapolis lawmaker urged residents to “remain cautious and vigilant until we can confirm what this truly means.”…
buff.ly
February 12, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Tom Homan announced on that “Operation Metro Surge” — the Trump administration’s violent immigration crackdown in Minnesota — would be ending in around a week. Notably, DHS funding is set to expire this week unless Republicans and Democrats can agree on a budget bill.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
yep, they're still at it in LA and Portland too
the media is gonna be like "time for a new narrative" and it's so important to keep talking about how none of the cities they invaded have become more safe since the spotlight shifted away from them
the media is gonna be like "time for a new narrative" and it's so important to keep talking about how none of the cities they invaded have become more safe since the spotlight shifted away from them
ICE “left” Chicago in November, but they’ve disappeared three people from my community in two days this week.
Don’t believe the hype about them, leaving Minnesota, either.
Don’t believe the hype about them, leaving Minnesota, either.
February 12, 2026 at 7:17 PM
yep, they're still at it in LA and Portland too
the media is gonna be like "time for a new narrative" and it's so important to keep talking about how none of the cities they invaded have become more safe since the spotlight shifted away from them
the media is gonna be like "time for a new narrative" and it's so important to keep talking about how none of the cities they invaded have become more safe since the spotlight shifted away from them
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
And they're still grabbing observers like Maria Santay.
www-nbclosangeles-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nbcl...
www-nbclosangeles-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nbcl...
February 12, 2026 at 10:01 PM
And they're still grabbing observers like Maria Santay.
www-nbclosangeles-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nbcl...
www-nbclosangeles-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nbcl...
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
two days ago, the WSJ described young people as "splurging on" rotisserie chicken, the $6 item that, by weight, is the cheapest meat at the grocery store. the ruling class tells each other with increasing desperation that we deserve what they're doing to us
February 12, 2026 at 9:28 PM
two days ago, the WSJ described young people as "splurging on" rotisserie chicken, the $6 item that, by weight, is the cheapest meat at the grocery store. the ruling class tells each other with increasing desperation that we deserve what they're doing to us
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
Much like the theory that infinite monkeys at infinite typewriters will write Shakespeare, a large enough concentration of evangelical American Protestants will produce Magdalene laundries
The Trump administration is incarcerating migrant girls in, essentially, a forced pregnancy camp.
Trump administration is sending pregnant migrant girls to South Texas shelter flagged as medically inadequate
Government sources and advocates for the children worry the goal is to concentrate them in Texas, where abortion is banned.
www.kut.org
February 12, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Much like the theory that infinite monkeys at infinite typewriters will write Shakespeare, a large enough concentration of evangelical American Protestants will produce Magdalene laundries
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
and they were relatively well-off and well-known! we gotta do something about health system for all of us!!!!
Chadwick Boseman and James van der Beek both died in their 40s of an illness that's treatable if a colonoscopy catches it but almost no insurer covers them for people under 45, this is what Engels meant by "social murder"
February 12, 2026 at 7:13 PM
and they were relatively well-off and well-known! we gotta do something about health system for all of us!!!!
don't really speak Spanish but I get the gist I think
El Vaticano presenta a Waria, la némesis malvada de la Virgen María
La Iglesia Católica Romana ha introducido un nuevo personaje en un congreso religioso en Roma: Waria, la contraparte malvada de María. Según el cardenal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, prefecto del estudio del C...
www.elmundotoday.com
February 12, 2026 at 7:15 PM
don't really speak Spanish but I get the gist I think
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
We need to dismantle ICE and CBP when Democrats are in the majority.
In the meantime, we cannot send another cent to DHS without massive reforms to protect the American people.
In the meantime, we cannot send another cent to DHS without massive reforms to protect the American people.
February 12, 2026 at 4:46 PM
We need to dismantle ICE and CBP when Democrats are in the majority.
In the meantime, we cannot send another cent to DHS without massive reforms to protect the American people.
In the meantime, we cannot send another cent to DHS without massive reforms to protect the American people.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
still looking for those photos of amy klobuchar on the streets standing up to ICE like we saw from jason chavez and elliott payne and doron clark, to name just a handful of electeds who are out here protecting people
Minnesotans stood together, stared down ICE, and never blinked.
February 12, 2026 at 6:04 PM
still looking for those photos of amy klobuchar on the streets standing up to ICE like we saw from jason chavez and elliott payne and doron clark, to name just a handful of electeds who are out here protecting people
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
‘Imprison all women’ may sound outrageous. But all of the horrors that are routine today started out as some ghoulish guy being allowed to say stuff like this without being beaten with hammers.
Fuentes, yesterday: “Our #1 political enemy is women because women constrain everything, every conversation, every man, everything. They have to be imprisoned. They are the ones that are hurting the fertility rate. They're the ones making us sympathetic to poor people, which are also brown people.”
Nick Fuentes: “The number one political enemy in America is women. … They have to be imprisoned.”
www.mediamatters.org
February 12, 2026 at 2:57 PM
‘Imprison all women’ may sound outrageous. But all of the horrors that are routine today started out as some ghoulish guy being allowed to say stuff like this without being beaten with hammers.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
Someone was abducted at 10 AM by ICE on Central Ave. Their coworker says they’ve lived here for over 20 years, are documented, and have 3 kids who were born here.
Don’t be fooled by headlines when they’ve been lying to us the whole time. We still need you out patrolling until every agent is gone.
Don’t be fooled by headlines when they’ve been lying to us the whole time. We still need you out patrolling until every agent is gone.
February 12, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Someone was abducted at 10 AM by ICE on Central Ave. Their coworker says they’ve lived here for over 20 years, are documented, and have 3 kids who were born here.
Don’t be fooled by headlines when they’ve been lying to us the whole time. We still need you out patrolling until every agent is gone.
Don’t be fooled by headlines when they’ve been lying to us the whole time. We still need you out patrolling until every agent is gone.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
you didn't do shit
Minnesotans stood together, stared down ICE, and never blinked.
February 12, 2026 at 5:33 PM
you didn't do shit
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
To everyone thanking me, much appreciated but not why I posted! Pls support your local immigrant defense group like:
The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota: www.ilcm.org/donate/
Or my hometown LUCE: www.lucemass.org/donate
Or Google your city/state & “immigrant defense” to find your local heroes!
The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota: www.ilcm.org/donate/
Or my hometown LUCE: www.lucemass.org/donate
Or Google your city/state & “immigrant defense” to find your local heroes!
February 12, 2026 at 12:29 AM
To everyone thanking me, much appreciated but not why I posted! Pls support your local immigrant defense group like:
The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota: www.ilcm.org/donate/
Or my hometown LUCE: www.lucemass.org/donate
Or Google your city/state & “immigrant defense” to find your local heroes!
The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota: www.ilcm.org/donate/
Or my hometown LUCE: www.lucemass.org/donate
Or Google your city/state & “immigrant defense” to find your local heroes!
Tommy Lasorda
Who's the most famous alum of your high school?
I'll go first: David Draiman of Disturbed
I'll go first: David Draiman of Disturbed
guys i just found out i went to the same high school as howard lutnick. please respect my privacy at this time.
February 12, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Tommy Lasorda
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
really interesting to me how many professional political commentators have basically retconned the draconian immigration enforcement policies of Obama and Biden out of existence and have completely swallowed the right wing narrative of immigration enforcement
Not going to read them all because jesus fucking christ but this is nasty work from Friedersdorf
February 12, 2026 at 4:29 PM
really interesting to me how many professional political commentators have basically retconned the draconian immigration enforcement policies of Obama and Biden out of existence and have completely swallowed the right wing narrative of immigration enforcement
Conservative argument is always like this. "If you won't be conservative, a worse, meaner kind of conservative will appear and force you to be."
Not going to read them all because jesus fucking christ but this is nasty work from Friedersdorf
February 12, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Conservative argument is always like this. "If you won't be conservative, a worse, meaner kind of conservative will appear and force you to be."
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
Subscribe to @hellgatenyc.com, support worker-owned local NYC journalism, and get your open-streets-in-crisis news nearly a week before NYMag gets around to covering it!
hellgatenyc.com/open-street-...
hellgatenyc.com/open-street-...
February 12, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Subscribe to @hellgatenyc.com, support worker-owned local NYC journalism, and get your open-streets-in-crisis news nearly a week before NYMag gets around to covering it!
hellgatenyc.com/open-street-...
hellgatenyc.com/open-street-...
re-listening to the If Books Could Kill on BLINK, and I think an interesting indicator of good criticism is that they suss out both the thesis, and expand on it (i.e., the opposite of Blink is Bonk, which is when you think you have good intuition about something but actually you're always wrong).
February 12, 2026 at 3:34 PM
re-listening to the If Books Could Kill on BLINK, and I think an interesting indicator of good criticism is that they suss out both the thesis, and expand on it (i.e., the opposite of Blink is Bonk, which is when you think you have good intuition about something but actually you're always wrong).