Pinned
Reposted by basal wrathbone
Supreme Court weighs Trump’s bid to fire independent agency board members
Supreme Court weighs Trump’s bid to fire independent agency board members
The court’s six conservative justices already have signaled strong support for the Trump administration’s position.
buff.ly
December 8, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Supreme Court weighs Trump’s bid to fire independent agency board members
Reposted by basal wrathbone
as someone from a small country beset by larger powers aspiring to dominate it i always tend to assume that first and foremost tolkien's legendarium should be read as a postcolonial work: it is full of anxiety about the small being overwhelmed by the mighty and what that does to the soul
December 8, 2025 at 11:25 AM
as someone from a small country beset by larger powers aspiring to dominate it i always tend to assume that first and foremost tolkien's legendarium should be read as a postcolonial work: it is full of anxiety about the small being overwhelmed by the mighty and what that does to the soul
Reposted by basal wrathbone
Not everyone who says to me "Woke! Woke!" will enter the kingdom of heterodoxy.
December 7, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Not everyone who says to me "Woke! Woke!" will enter the kingdom of heterodoxy.
Reposted by basal wrathbone
Tom Cotton saying “President Bush” like his brain is still running Windows XP is honestly the least surprising thing he’s ever done.
December 7, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Tom Cotton saying “President Bush” like his brain is still running Windows XP is honestly the least surprising thing he’s ever done.
We keep hearing the same thing: “I don’t know, I know nothing.”
At root, these people have absolutely no shame in portraying themselves as uninformed idiots. They take sneering pride in it.
Knowledge, expertise, skill, even competence itself has become politicized and polarized.
At root, these people have absolutely no shame in portraying themselves as uninformed idiots. They take sneering pride in it.
Knowledge, expertise, skill, even competence itself has become politicized and polarized.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you support the pardon of the former Honduran president?
SCHMITT: I'm not familiar w/ the facts or circumstances
S: What do you mean you're not familiar? It's been front page news
SCHMITT: You spew Democrat talking points every single week, which is why your ratings are so bad
SCHMITT: I'm not familiar w/ the facts or circumstances
S: What do you mean you're not familiar? It's been front page news
SCHMITT: You spew Democrat talking points every single week, which is why your ratings are so bad
December 7, 2025 at 3:11 PM
We keep hearing the same thing: “I don’t know, I know nothing.”
At root, these people have absolutely no shame in portraying themselves as uninformed idiots. They take sneering pride in it.
Knowledge, expertise, skill, even competence itself has become politicized and polarized.
At root, these people have absolutely no shame in portraying themselves as uninformed idiots. They take sneering pride in it.
Knowledge, expertise, skill, even competence itself has become politicized and polarized.
When the merger creating Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids was challenged by the FTC, the pyramid schemers behind it won on home court advantage and a sketchy covenant to not abuse market power.
That covenant turned out to be worthless, and Spectrum recently merged w/ Beaumont to form Corewell.
That covenant turned out to be worthless, and Spectrum recently merged w/ Beaumont to form Corewell.
NEW: In a five-part series, “Sick in a Hospital Town,” ProPublica’s @gingerthompson.bsky.social pursues the question:
Why are people in Albany, Georgia, so sick when its most powerful institution is a hospital?
Start with Part 1 here:
Why are people in Albany, Georgia, so sick when its most powerful institution is a hospital?
Start with Part 1 here:
Sick in a Hospital Town, Part 1: The Business of Care
Welcome to Albany, Georgia, where one hospital dominates the political and economic landscape. The story of Phoebe Putney Memorial is the story of American health care.
projects.propublica.org
December 7, 2025 at 1:33 PM
When the merger creating Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids was challenged by the FTC, the pyramid schemers behind it won on home court advantage and a sketchy covenant to not abuse market power.
That covenant turned out to be worthless, and Spectrum recently merged w/ Beaumont to form Corewell.
That covenant turned out to be worthless, and Spectrum recently merged w/ Beaumont to form Corewell.
Reposted by basal wrathbone
This is an incredibly informative read, and as a bonus it lands in the same place I've been for years - overturning Citizens United isn't enough, you've got to go after Buckley v. Valeo.
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse.
Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 11:36 PM
This is an incredibly informative read, and as a bonus it lands in the same place I've been for years - overturning Citizens United isn't enough, you've got to go after Buckley v. Valeo.
This is a terrible idea cooked up by terrible people
A Medicare pilot program will allow private companies to use artificial intelligence to review older Americans’ requests for certain medical care — and will reward the companies when they deny it ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/12/05/r...
Medicare’s new AI experiment sparks alarm among doctors, lawmakers • Ohio Capital Journal
A Medicare pilot program will allow private companies to use artificial intelligence to review older Americans’ requests for certain medical care — and will reward the companies when they deny it.
ohiocapitaljournal.com
December 6, 2025 at 6:33 PM
This is a terrible idea cooked up by terrible people
The “ditto” from an imperialist aggressor says it all.
This quote works just as well if you swap out the concept of peace with isolation (masquerading as sovereignty)
Divide and conquer: the oldest trick in the book
This quote works just as well if you swap out the concept of peace with isolation (masquerading as sovereignty)
Divide and conquer: the oldest trick in the book
December 6, 2025 at 6:28 PM
The “ditto” from an imperialist aggressor says it all.
This quote works just as well if you swap out the concept of peace with isolation (masquerading as sovereignty)
Divide and conquer: the oldest trick in the book
This quote works just as well if you swap out the concept of peace with isolation (masquerading as sovereignty)
Divide and conquer: the oldest trick in the book
Reposted by basal wrathbone
It’s weird that news organizations like the BBC are covering this as if it’s a real thing with a real process behind it—and not clearly some nakedly invented “participation trophy” by a corrupt organization to curry favor with a corrupt and easily manipulated man-child. www.bbc.com/sport/footba...
Donald Trump: US president named inaugural Fifa Peace Prize winner
US President Donald Trump receives the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize before the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
www.bbc.com
December 6, 2025 at 10:23 AM
It’s weird that news organizations like the BBC are covering this as if it’s a real thing with a real process behind it—and not clearly some nakedly invented “participation trophy” by a corrupt organization to curry favor with a corrupt and easily manipulated man-child. www.bbc.com/sport/footba...
Reposted by basal wrathbone
Sits backwards on chair: "Let me tell you a story about ANOTHER carpenter who stood up to a corrupt and murderous regime."
December 5, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Sits backwards on chair: "Let me tell you a story about ANOTHER carpenter who stood up to a corrupt and murderous regime."
Reposted by basal wrathbone
EXACTLY HOW ICE SHOULD BE TREATED!!!! BASTA!!! FO!!!
December 6, 2025 at 5:24 PM
EXACTLY HOW ICE SHOULD BE TREATED!!!! BASTA!!! FO!!!
Reposted by basal wrathbone
people genuinely don't realize how awful civil conflict is
December 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
people genuinely don't realize how awful civil conflict is
Reposted by basal wrathbone
It starts with knowing the truth. Don’t allow yourselves to be gaslit into believing this is a real question.
December 6, 2025 at 2:44 PM
It starts with knowing the truth. Don’t allow yourselves to be gaslit into believing this is a real question.
Friendly reminder that the people in power -government and private sector- are trying to depopulate the planet
some of the best science and pandemic prevention work — after tens of millions of pandemic deaths worldwide — defunded.
Yesterday, we sent this message to the @viralemergence.org team, bringing a (hopefully temporary) end to our project three years into what started as a decade of planned work. /1
December 6, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Friendly reminder that the people in power -government and private sector- are trying to depopulate the planet
Folks, there is no way to overstate how much eugenics, like its attendant political philosophy fascism, is an ideological framework built entirely on fraudulent concepts.
These are just dumb ideas for intellectually lazy people, not brutally efficient methods people shy away from out of softness.
These are just dumb ideas for intellectually lazy people, not brutally efficient methods people shy away from out of softness.
December 6, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Folks, there is no way to overstate how much eugenics, like its attendant political philosophy fascism, is an ideological framework built entirely on fraudulent concepts.
These are just dumb ideas for intellectually lazy people, not brutally efficient methods people shy away from out of softness.
These are just dumb ideas for intellectually lazy people, not brutally efficient methods people shy away from out of softness.
Reposted by basal wrathbone
you know how i know im a 44yo dad? how much i laughed at this shit
December 6, 2025 at 3:31 AM
you know how i know im a 44yo dad? how much i laughed at this shit
Reposted by basal wrathbone
the young groyper republican is, like, excluding for income, the *textbook* example of a target for radicalization by basically every extremist group in human history, just a self-hating human-shaped vessel waiting to be filled up by the darkest thing that comes along
they've just never had to work hard for anything, they've never had to fight for anything, they're never satisfied with their efforts, they've never had anything they wanted to fight *for*, they don't believe in anything or anyone, including themselves
December 6, 2025 at 3:46 AM
the young groyper republican is, like, excluding for income, the *textbook* example of a target for radicalization by basically every extremist group in human history, just a self-hating human-shaped vessel waiting to be filled up by the darkest thing that comes along
Reposted by basal wrathbone
Every interview with a right-wing politician is like: "Mr. Hitler is adamant: If we sacrifice enough children, Santa Claus will come back and deliver 5% GDP growth. But I have to ask him: Do you ever worry that your relentless advocacy for working folks offends the rootless cosmopolitan parasites?"
I don’t get how Jenrick can actually believe that we should shrink the population and then start making more of our own things from pots and pans to what iPhones? How does he think that happens?
December 6, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Every interview with a right-wing politician is like: "Mr. Hitler is adamant: If we sacrifice enough children, Santa Claus will come back and deliver 5% GDP growth. But I have to ask him: Do you ever worry that your relentless advocacy for working folks offends the rootless cosmopolitan parasites?"
Least surprising crossover of 2025
EXCLUSIVE: Epstein didn’t just prey on children. He helped bankroll and embed a worldview of race science, climate “culling” and eugenics inside Silicon Valley’s elite AI networks. Tonight we publish the final part of my
@bylinetimes.bsky.social investigation bylinetimes.com/2025/12/05/h...
@bylinetimes.bsky.social investigation bylinetimes.com/2025/12/05/h...
How Epstein Channelled Race Science and 'Climate Culling' Into Silicon Valley’s AI Elite
The Epstein files expose how racial hierarchy, genetic “optimisation” and even climate-driven population culling circulated inside Big Tech circles
bylinetimes.com
December 6, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Least surprising crossover of 2025
Reposted by basal wrathbone
Polio and measles killed about 700k people annually before vaccines.
Vaccines kill <5
But yeah, polarization.
Vaccines kill <5
But yeah, polarization.
Wow. Tracy Beth Høeg, the FDA's new acting director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) just put this slide up during her presentation to ACIP.
We have left reality.
We have left reality.
December 5, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Polio and measles killed about 700k people annually before vaccines.
Vaccines kill <5
But yeah, polarization.
Vaccines kill <5
But yeah, polarization.
Pretty damned sad when you have the power of a major enterprise at your fingertips and the best you can do with it is no better than what the average 12 year old would come up with
Sabrina Carpenter ratioed the White House after it used her song in an ICE video.
The WH deleted the post…but now it’s back with a new ICE video, this time using an altered clip from Carpenter’s SNL monologue.
The WH deleted the post…but now it’s back with a new ICE video, this time using an altered clip from Carpenter’s SNL monologue.
December 6, 2025 at 5:19 AM
Pretty damned sad when you have the power of a major enterprise at your fingertips and the best you can do with it is no better than what the average 12 year old would come up with
Reposted by basal wrathbone
If the rich wine moms are sick of being condescended to when it comes to genocide??? And needing to lecture Hillary Clinton about intersectionality?
Democrat’s traditional leaders do not understand the rage we feel! They are not equipped to navigate reality
Democrat’s traditional leaders do not understand the rage we feel! They are not equipped to navigate reality
Hillary Clinton Delivers Israeli Propaganda Proving Why Corporate Dems Fail
Podcast Episode · IHIP News · 12/05/2025 · 25m
podcasts.apple.com
December 6, 2025 at 1:03 AM
If the rich wine moms are sick of being condescended to when it comes to genocide??? And needing to lecture Hillary Clinton about intersectionality?
Democrat’s traditional leaders do not understand the rage we feel! They are not equipped to navigate reality
Democrat’s traditional leaders do not understand the rage we feel! They are not equipped to navigate reality
Reposted by basal wrathbone
Lots of bad stuff in Trump's National Security Strategy but this caught my eye.
First for the absurd clap-for-Tinkerbell logic: if we're "unapologetic" and "believe," then it's more "effective"? Come on.
Second because Trump has done more damage to "soft power" than anyone else in our lifetimes.
First for the absurd clap-for-Tinkerbell logic: if we're "unapologetic" and "believe," then it's more "effective"? Come on.
Second because Trump has done more damage to "soft power" than anyone else in our lifetimes.
December 5, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Lots of bad stuff in Trump's National Security Strategy but this caught my eye.
First for the absurd clap-for-Tinkerbell logic: if we're "unapologetic" and "believe," then it's more "effective"? Come on.
Second because Trump has done more damage to "soft power" than anyone else in our lifetimes.
First for the absurd clap-for-Tinkerbell logic: if we're "unapologetic" and "believe," then it's more "effective"? Come on.
Second because Trump has done more damage to "soft power" than anyone else in our lifetimes.