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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost

@harrysimmons3578.bsky.social

200 followers 340 following 820 posts

An account of satire, in the vein of literary critic Henry Louis Mencken. Polemicist at Verdigris, please send essays [email protected] Send all hate mail to [email protected]

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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · Jun 21

Hi everyone.

At long last, here is my promised essay on stupidity, with the title slightly changed: 'Word to the Wise: Cheap Music, Numbs Brains, and Stupidity'.

I hope you enjoy!

vdgasjournal.com/2025/06/21/w...

Word to the Wise: Cheap Music, Numb Brains, and Stupidity

I have been asked to write about stupidity. I cannot think of why. Perhaps it is that glowing sagacity that rises, like steam, off my hateful words? Or, perhaps, there is some desire for a voice of…

vdgasjournal.com

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your #3 source for absurdist true crime 🔨 @davidgerard.co.uk · 20h

LLM AI exists to crush labour. That's not even my surmise, the people paying billions of dollars to fund this stuff are extremely open and explicit that this is their goal.

There are no ethical use cases for LLMs at this point in time. Maybe when the bubble has popped thoroughly. Not before.

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Shilpi Chhotray @shilpichhotray.bsky.social · 14h

ICE criminalizes survival.

In my latest conversation for @thenation.com, #BlackLivesMatter co-founder Patrisse Cullors unpacks the science behind movements — and why the fight for abolition is inseparable from the fight for a livable planet.

narrativeedit.substack.com/p/patrisse-c...

NO I.C.E.” mural by Los Angeles based artist noé olivas.

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 13h

-$33 BILLION in military aid over 2 years
-$45 MILLION every day
-$144/month per every 🇮🇱 citizen from 🇺🇸

As 🇮🇱 has free health care, free college, subsidized child care… and we do not.

Study: costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/paper/AidToI...

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Jack Mirkinson @jackmirkinson.bsky.social · 12h

remember when you hear trump called a peacemaker that his government created a group whose sole purpose was to murder starving palestinians

Emissary Of Night | ليلى @diplomatofnight.com · 15h

Gaza Humanitarian Fund "distribution sites" (Israeli killing fields) are being dismantled as part of the ceasefire

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Andrew Quemere @andrewqmr.bsky.social · 1d

A federal judge ordered the immediate release of a man “who went to [an] ICE office … for ‘a routine check-in’ on Aug. 22 and instead found himself bound and transported to the Plymouth County jail, where ICE planned to keep him locked up until they could figure out which country to send him to.”

Judge orders immediate release of Brazilian immigrant grabbed by ICE when he showed up for a scheduled appointment

For at least the third time in a week, a federal judge in Boston has ordered the release of an immigrant shoved into prison by ICE because the regime illegally decided to ignore the section of immigr...

universalhub.com

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Andrew Quemere @andrewqmr.bsky.social · 1d

“[A] federal judge in #Boston today ordered [ICE] to get a #Massachusetts man with serious medical problems out of a prison in Natchez, MS and bring him back to Massachusetts so that he can apply for the immigration equivalent of bail while he pursues his request to stay in the US permanently.”

Judge orders ICE to return Massachusetts man from the Mississippi hole they dumped him in

Continuing the battle against ICE's determination to ignore the parts of immigration law it doesn't like, a federal judge in Boston today ordered the regime to get a Massachusetts man with serious med...

universalhub.com

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Blaise Ulysse Bernard Collins @wittywebhandle.bsky.social · 15h

Going to be difficult to not be on the hook as a party for troops not getting paid when you veto a standalone bill that would have allowed the troops to get paid.

Aaron Fritschner @fritschner.bsky.social · 15h

A few minutes ago in the House:

- Speaker Mike Johnson officially cancels votes next week, extending the House recess through a fourth week

- House Republicans block Democrats from passing a bill to pay the troops during the shutdown, ensuring they will miss paychecks next week

House Press Gallery: During today's pro forma session, the Clerk read a message from the Speaker designating Tuesday, October 14 through Sunday, October 19 as a district work period.

Punchbowl's Briana Reilly: House gaveled in and out of its pro forma just now w/o recognizing Rep Elfreth, who was seeking to UC a mil pay bill from Rep Sykes.

Elfreth told reporters after that House Dems stand “ready and willing to take” up standalone legislation to pay troops.

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Christina(Tina) Hendriks @renissance1.bsky.social · 15h

gizmodo.com/sean-duffy-t...

Sean Duffy Threatens to Fire Air Traffic Controllers as 10% Call Out Sick During Shutdown

gizmodo.com

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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 1d

LMAOOOOO

A bunch of comedians tried to make up for their participation in the Riyadh comedy festival by donating their pay to Human Rights Watch and Human rights Watch was like “nah bitch we don’t want your dirty blood money” 😂😂 I’m dying

Human Rights Watch Doesn’t Want Any Riyadh Comedy Festival Money

Taking money from those who took money from Saudi Arabia would impact perception of the org’s independence.

www.vulture.com

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your #3 source for absurdist true crime 🔨 @davidgerard.co.uk · 19h

AI advocates, to a person, are literally unable to tell good from bad. When you say you can, they think you're *lying*.

Anna Carey @urchinette.bsky.social · 1d

AI advocates fundamentally have no understanding of creativity and my God, it’s grim to behold. Even on the days when hitting my book’s wordcount target is like drawing blood from a stone, I don’t want a fucking machine to do it for me. And not just because the result would be soulless shit.

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 2d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

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Dwayne Monroe @cloudquistador.bsky.social · 23h

But of course! This system will not endure.

H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 1d

@cloudquistador.bsky.social

Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 3d

Ohhhhh, I know what I'm giving to my fire marshals tomorrow to make them sad and delve into The Code. futurism.com/future-socie...

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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 1d

@cloudquistador.bsky.social

Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 3d

Ohhhhh, I know what I'm giving to my fire marshals tomorrow to make them sad and delve into The Code. futurism.com/future-socie...

First Responders Are Being Overwhelmed by Data Center Fires

First responders in a small Ohio town have answered 84 emergencies between two Amazon data centers, all on the taxpayer's dime.

futurism.com

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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 5d

You can read the full essay—that Baldwin wrote after Angela had been arrested and put on trail—here

An Open Letter to My Sister, Miss Angela Davis | James Baldwin

One might have hoped that, by this hour, the very sight of chains on black flesh, or the very sight of chains, would be so intolerable a sight for the American people, and so unbearable a memory, that...

www.nybooks.com

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ACLU @aclu.org · 1d

BREAKING: A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Trump from deploying federalized National Guard troops into Chicago.

This ruling reinforces what we already knew: It is illegal for the president to use manufactured emergencies to send soldiers into our cities.

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sayitwithaloha.bsky.social @sayitwithaloha.bsky.social · 1d

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Live Updates: Federal Judge Restricts Troop Deployment in Chicago Area

www.nytimes.com

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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 1d

psyche.co/guides/how-t...

How to live like an Epicurean | Psyche Guides

Forget shallow hedonism. Follow this philosophy for wondrous, unexpected joys and resilience against inevitable misfortune

psyche.co

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Michelle 🪷🇲🇽🇺🇸🌵 @chicana74.bsky.social · 2d

This headline 🤣🤣🤣

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Ergofoxxxy @ergofoxxxy.bsky.social · 1d

The federal court system rn

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Trump Litigation Updates @trumplitigation.lawfaremedia.org · 1d

NEW: A federal judge in Illinois has granted a temporary retraining order which prevents federal agents from using force against journalists. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

1. It is hereby ORDERED that Defendants,1 their officers, agents, assigns, and all
persons acting in concert with them (hereafter referred to as “Federal Agents”), are temporarily
ENJOINED in this judicial district from:
a. Dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical
force against any person whom they know or reasonably should know is a Journalist, unless
Defendants have probable cause to believe that the individual has committed a crime.
Defendants may order a Journalist to change location to avoid disrupting law enforcement,

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The New Statesman @handle.invalid · 1d

The Israel-Hamas agreement may mark the beginning of the end for the Israeli PM

Has Netanyahu won the war?

www.newstatesman.com

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Cozca @cozca.bsky.social · 1d

Call attention to the federal charges of targeted activists in Portland, Oregon.
Those of us with federal charges are being prosecuted in silence with zero media coverage as they federally railroad us.

Please help boost!

TeslaTakedownPDX @teslatakedownpdx.bsky.social · 1d

SUNDAY AT ELIZABETH CARUTHERS!

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 1d

@drannieandrews.com

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Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 2d

If ICE agents are willing to shoot a US citizen in broad daylight, as they did with Marimar Martinez in Chicago, imagine what they’re doing to undocumented immigrants.

They shot her in front of witnesses & with body cams turned on

The horrors facing those disappeared to camps are sure to be worse

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: A federal judge in Illinois has blocked Trump administration authorities from using force against journalists in the Chicago area — including threats or arrest or riot control weapons. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 1d

"I said I was Jewish. They ripped me by the ear and forced me to bend down and stare at the flag of the state of Israel."

5 Days in Israel’s Desert Prison: Jewish Flotilla Activist David Adler on Harrowing Detention Ordeal

Israeli forces have abducted over 500 peace activists over the past week who were sailing to Gaza in an effort to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged territory. Organizers of the Global Sumud Flo...

www.democracynow.org

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