(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
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
It's very clear that they aren't satisfied with cutting $1Trillion from Medicaid, they won't be satisfied until the only people with access to healthcare are the billionaires
February 14, 2026 at 8:55 PM
It's very clear that they aren't satisfied with cutting $1Trillion from Medicaid, they won't be satisfied until the only people with access to healthcare are the billionaires
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
Goes without saying but this is a Massive problem, not just in what they’re doing but who they are literally, per our sources, drawing inspiration — about what to do next in the twin cities and elsewhere — from how the U.S. has handled foreign wars including ones we lost
Trump and his people are talking about Minnesota — even during a supposed “drawdown” — both publicly and privately in the language of war and saving face after encountering sustained local resistance that drains resources & bleeds political support
zeteo.com/p/trump-minn...
zeteo.com/p/trump-minn...
Trump’s Losing His War in Minnesota. He’s Ready to Declare ‘Mission Accomplished’
Trump may trim back his terror campaign in Minneapolis, because it’s bleeding political support. It’s not over.
zeteo.com
February 14, 2026 at 8:18 PM
Goes without saying but this is a Massive problem, not just in what they’re doing but who they are literally, per our sources, drawing inspiration — about what to do next in the twin cities and elsewhere — from how the U.S. has handled foreign wars including ones we lost
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
call me a carceral urbanist or whatever but i think that if you murder an entire family with your SUV, at the very least, you should never be allowed to drive again
She fucking killed an entire family while speeding in her Mercedes SUV and they’re not going to even take her license away??
February 14, 2026 at 2:49 PM
call me a carceral urbanist or whatever but i think that if you murder an entire family with your SUV, at the very least, you should never be allowed to drive again
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
People's trust in journalism declined because of (1) a nonstop barrage of right-wing propaganda that mainstream journalism never tried to meaningfully counter, and (2) the news industry's stubborn insistence that it stood apart from the communities it served.
February 14, 2026 at 7:16 PM
People's trust in journalism declined because of (1) a nonstop barrage of right-wing propaganda that mainstream journalism never tried to meaningfully counter, and (2) the news industry's stubborn insistence that it stood apart from the communities it served.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
Honestly, if my experience as a journalist has taught me anything, it's that the vast majority of the audience does not pay enough attention to aggressive, probing journalism to be put off the whole enterprise by it. It's too long!
February 14, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Honestly, if my experience as a journalist has taught me anything, it's that the vast majority of the audience does not pay enough attention to aggressive, probing journalism to be put off the whole enterprise by it. It's too long!
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
It's true that probing journalism frequently ends up pissing lots of people off, but I'm not sure how to square this conclusion with the rise of woke. Aggressively holding a mirror up to American society was actually a transformatively popular thing!
This NYT column by @polgreen.bsky.social is the truest thing I've ever seen about the REAL reason public trust in the media collapsed
February 14, 2026 at 6:58 PM
It's true that probing journalism frequently ends up pissing lots of people off, but I'm not sure how to square this conclusion with the rise of woke. Aggressively holding a mirror up to American society was actually a transformatively popular thing!
Wonder Man a good example of the next phase of how comics works. First you got individual stories, some good, some bad. Then you get the interconnected stories. Then, whoops! Too much interconnection, it's now bloated and incomprehensible! And then final phase,
February 14, 2026 at 7:09 PM
Wonder Man a good example of the next phase of how comics works. First you got individual stories, some good, some bad. Then you get the interconnected stories. Then, whoops! Too much interconnection, it's now bloated and incomprehensible! And then final phase,
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
and menace to polite society #art #illustration
February 11, 2026 at 11:06 PM
and menace to polite society #art #illustration
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Not only did I get this comment from the medical examiner, I carefully read the police statement and got the indictments myself. This helped me not make the mistake a person with a huge platform did: repeating an error from a local crime reporter :)
www.autonomynews.co/second-kentu...
www.autonomynews.co/second-kentu...
On Monday, state police arrested another woman and her husband for "reckless homicide" related to a November 2024 miscarriage. The state hasn't released the estimated gestational age of the fetus and it won't give us the autopsy report. This detail could matter for the homicide charge:
February 14, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Not only did I get this comment from the medical examiner, I carefully read the police statement and got the indictments myself. This helped me not make the mistake a person with a huge platform did: repeating an error from a local crime reporter :)
www.autonomynews.co/second-kentu...
www.autonomynews.co/second-kentu...
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Remarkable: Majority of working class voters oppose deportations of undocumented immigrants with jobs/no criminal records, per new Marquette data.
Remember how pundits said 2024 meant Dems must become restrictionist to win back working class? I challenge that here:
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
Remember how pundits said 2024 meant Dems must become restrictionist to win back working class? I challenge that here:
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
February 14, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Remarkable: Majority of working class voters oppose deportations of undocumented immigrants with jobs/no criminal records, per new Marquette data.
Remember how pundits said 2024 meant Dems must become restrictionist to win back working class? I challenge that here:
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
Remember how pundits said 2024 meant Dems must become restrictionist to win back working class? I challenge that here:
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
Also the apathy some bystanders seemed to show was either 1) they were also queer and afraid that if they called the cops they'd also end up harmed or 2) actual apathy to domestic violence, because several people who heard it thought it was "just" a couple fighting and thus not important.
‘Heroic actions are a natural tendency’: why bystander apathy is a myth
A MYTH MADE UP BY COPS TO HIDE THE FACT THAT THEY STOOD BY AND LET KITTY GENOVESE DIE BECAUSE SHE WAS QUEER
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
A MYTH MADE UP BY COPS TO HIDE THE FACT THAT THEY STOOD BY AND LET KITTY GENOVESE DIE BECAUSE SHE WAS QUEER
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
‘Heroic actions are a natural tendency’: why bystander apathy is a myth
Modern research shows the public work together selflessly in an emergency, motivated by a strong impulse to help
www.theguardian.com
February 14, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Also the apathy some bystanders seemed to show was either 1) they were also queer and afraid that if they called the cops they'd also end up harmed or 2) actual apathy to domestic violence, because several people who heard it thought it was "just" a couple fighting and thus not important.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
hello minnesota and beyond! thank you for your kind messages. it is very weird to be the news when you cover the news. i love this beautiful state and journalism, and i am hopeful for better days. but we will be forever changed bc of the last two months.
Meet Minnesota Bathrobe Lady Sam Stroozas of MPR News | Minnesota Public Radio
Earlier this week, an unexpected and fast-moving incident unfolded in St. Paul, Minnesota involving both federal and local law enforcement. As crowds gathered and questions mounted, one of our MPR New...
www.mpr.org
February 14, 2026 at 4:44 AM
hello minnesota and beyond! thank you for your kind messages. it is very weird to be the news when you cover the news. i love this beautiful state and journalism, and i am hopeful for better days. but we will be forever changed bc of the last two months.
It's funny that we had something like this, and then Zuckerberg spent a gazillion dollars building the Metaverse and his idea for it was "what if you could be yourself, and use it to go to meetings".
Okay so this is a game where you can be Chapell Roan and fight the xenomorph with a sword, and Spongebob is just there for like color commentary
February 14, 2026 at 4:04 PM
It's funny that we had something like this, and then Zuckerberg spent a gazillion dollars building the Metaverse and his idea for it was "what if you could be yourself, and use it to go to meetings".
Okay I thought i understood what Fortnite was but I am increasingly unsure.
February 14, 2026 at 3:36 PM
Okay I thought i understood what Fortnite was but I am increasingly unsure.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
For the record, this is satire. You can Google the guy and see his other LinkedIn posts and his comments on this one. I hate being a buzzkill,* but I don't love how easily people get taken in and outraged on Bluesky, the Good, Smarter Social Media Website™.
*Not really, I kind of love it, tbh.
*Not really, I kind of love it, tbh.
February 14, 2026 at 3:23 PM
For the record, this is satire. You can Google the guy and see his other LinkedIn posts and his comments on this one. I hate being a buzzkill,* but I don't love how easily people get taken in and outraged on Bluesky, the Good, Smarter Social Media Website™.
*Not really, I kind of love it, tbh.
*Not really, I kind of love it, tbh.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
"The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women & girls apparently knew no bounds, whether they actually slept with the women on offer or simply shared Epstein’s fantasies in order to gain influence or funding."
Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott
Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott
Texas A&M University is the latest school to end women’s and gender studies programs and teaching race. We know why
www.theguardian.com
February 14, 2026 at 8:05 AM
"The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women & girls apparently knew no bounds, whether they actually slept with the women on offer or simply shared Epstein’s fantasies in order to gain influence or funding."
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Yes. But worth noting that UCLA also didn't fight. Its faculty and staff did all on their own.
Once more: Columbia could have fought; it chose not.
NEW: The Trump administration has dropped its appeal of a federal court order blocking its $1.2-billion settlement demand to UCLA over alleged campus civil rights violations: www.latimes.com/california/s...
February 14, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Yes. But worth noting that UCLA also didn't fight. Its faculty and staff did all on their own.
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
"[I]f he accepts the public ignorance, it puts him at odds with his job as a journalist, which is not to coddle ignorance."
I wish more journalists understood this -- on a wide range of topics.
I wish more journalists understood this -- on a wide range of topics.
On the heels of this post last night, I wrote about using the term "concentration camp" and why it matters.
February 14, 2026 at 2:31 PM
"[I]f he accepts the public ignorance, it puts him at odds with his job as a journalist, which is not to coddle ignorance."
I wish more journalists understood this -- on a wide range of topics.
I wish more journalists understood this -- on a wide range of topics.
France and Germany are part of a shared civilization whose defining characteristic since like the 9th century is basically "they keep going to war with each other".
France and Germany are part of a shared civilisation but it didn't stop them from going to war with each other four times between 1800 and 1950
Rubio just made a speech to the European defense community in Munich that did not mention Ukraine. Or democracy. Or US business deals with Russia. Or the administration's plans to support the European far right. But there were lots of nice words about our common civilization.
February 14, 2026 at 2:31 PM
France and Germany are part of a shared civilization whose defining characteristic since like the 9th century is basically "they keep going to war with each other".
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this feels like a Roger Bannister four minute mile moment for "reactionary centrism". a level of reactionary centrism doctors (of political science) assured us was impossible but that training, dedication, ingenuity, and the Indomitable human spirit were determined to overcome
Physically incapable of analyzing politics outside of this insipid frame.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
February 14, 2026 at 2:20 PM
this feels like a Roger Bannister four minute mile moment for "reactionary centrism". a level of reactionary centrism doctors (of political science) assured us was impossible but that training, dedication, ingenuity, and the Indomitable human spirit were determined to overcome
Reposted by (VFP) Strategic Gravitas Reserve
Calling the requirement for a judicial warrant before entering a person’s home one of the Democrats’ “new restrictions on federal immigration agents” crosses the line into outright falsehood. It’s in the Bill of Rights! A rule as old as the republic.
February 14, 2026 at 4:29 AM
Calling the requirement for a judicial warrant before entering a person’s home one of the Democrats’ “new restrictions on federal immigration agents” crosses the line into outright falsehood. It’s in the Bill of Rights! A rule as old as the republic.
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Physically incapable of analyzing politics outside of this insipid frame.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
February 14, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Physically incapable of analyzing politics outside of this insipid frame.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
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'We should learn to speak in a language that rich people who don't dream can't comprehend.' - Beautifully put.
February 14, 2026 at 9:27 AM
'We should learn to speak in a language that rich people who don't dream can't comprehend.' - Beautifully put.
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Meta's plan for launching glasses that people can use to secretly identify strangers on the street is to do it "during a dynamic political environment" when people who care about why that's bad are "focused on other concerns."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Meta's plan for launching glasses that people can use to secretly identify strangers on the street is to do it "during a dynamic political environment" when people who care about why that's bad are "focused on other concerns."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
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This pops up every once in awhile and I always share it. Wu Tang goes in and out of popularity with the times, but there's no denying there was a Dream Team level of talent and brilliance on that roster. True artists.
February 14, 2026 at 1:32 AM
This pops up every once in awhile and I always share it. Wu Tang goes in and out of popularity with the times, but there's no denying there was a Dream Team level of talent and brilliance on that roster. True artists.