MeMartin
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markskyde.bsky.social
MeMartin
@markskyde.bsky.social
Since 2003 in middle Europe in Germany. English faculty of an international German university.
Hobbies: making & listening to music, cooking, biking, running, travel, reading
The next escalation in the maniacal quest for Greenland: a food fight at Davos, starting with jets of squirting Heinz ketchup flying through the air. Oh say, can you see?
January 20, 2026 at 10:09 AM
He wants: Greenland, Canada, diverse countries in Central America. The way to stop this is already in the laws; Congress merely needs to use its power in the Constitution and in laws long passed. Will Congress use the powers for which it was created?
January 19, 2026 at 7:38 PM
I have a C1 (advanced) German language certificate. If I give it to you, can you then speak advanced German? If I have a famous peace prize and give it to you, does that make you a person of peace?
January 17, 2026 at 8:10 AM
A classic instruction manual to understand the development and function of a totalitarian regime: "The Origins of Totalitarianism" by Hannah Arendt.
Though couched in Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union, the principles obviously apply to events unfolding now.
January 12, 2026 at 1:22 PM
"Alles ereignet sich zweimal - einmal als Tragödie und einmal als Farce." Karl Marx
(Everything happens twice - once as tragedy and once as farce.)
(Befinden wir uns jetzt in der Tragödie oder in der Farce?)
(Are we now in the tragedy or farce?)
January 11, 2026 at 9:05 AM
Macht beginnt immer dort, wo die Öffentlichkeit aufhört. (Power always begins where the public sphere ends.)
Hannah Arendt: Totale Herrschaft.
January 10, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by MeMartin
November 8, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by MeMartin
Negotiations have stalled. Trump keeps changing his policies. Ukrainians, backed by Europeans, are taking matters into their own hands, by targeting the Russian oil industry:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Ukraine’s Plan to Starve the Russian War Machine
Negotiations have stalled. Trump keeps changing his policies. Ukrainians, backed by Europeans, are taking matters into their own hands. ​​​​​
www.theatlantic.com
September 24, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by MeMartin
Das ständige Gleichsetzen von echten, teilweise gewaltvollen Angriffen auf Meinungs- und Pressefreiheit mit unbequemer Kritik oder Widerspruch ist nicht nur falsch – es ist brandgefährlich.
September 24, 2025 at 1:05 PM
"Freiheit ist das Fehlen nötigender Willkür"

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Königsberg, Ostpreußen

(Freedom is the absence of coercive arbitrariness)
September 22, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by MeMartin
What's happening with Jimmy Kimmel is about politics and power.
September 19, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by MeMartin
Where the separate divisions of ANTIFA landed on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944:
September 18, 2025 at 11:19 PM
A 2024 report from a research arm of the Department of Justice itself noted that “[s]ince 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists.”
From: H C Richardson, "Letters from an American" September 16, 2025
September 17, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Gisèle Pelicot made her legal case public. Why? "Shame has to change sides." "Die Banalität des Bösen": one person's or group's power over others to act as the persons please, devoid of consequences. Shame changed sides after WWII; it will now when shame becomes and remains public in any venue.
September 8, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by MeMartin
Republicans know they will lose control of Congress if they don't rig the maps and make it harder for people to vote. Donald Trump fears a Democratic Congress and will do anything he can to prevent it. That is why those of us in the pro-democracy movement need to be ready to stand up and fight back.
September 5, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by MeMartin
It’s Putinism — no one anywhere can be free because my people might get ideas
trump very clearly sees any attempt to hold a criminal head of state accountable as a threat to his own standing
This sounds like a defense of fellow wannabe dictator Yoon Suk Yeol
August 26, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by MeMartin
I celebrate every victory for voting rights, but this one is particularly special. No issue has been more hotly contested or more important to PA voters than this one. The DSCC and DCCC fought hard and it is great to see them prevail. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
In Big Win for Voters, Pennsylvania Must Count Undated Mail-In Ballots, Court Rules
In Big Win for Voters, Pennsylvania Must Count Undated Mail-In Ballots, Court Rules
www.democracydocket.com
August 26, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by MeMartin
I promised Texas would be sued.

And I don't bluff.
www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Advocates File Immediate Legal Challenge to Texas Gerrymander
Advocates File Immediate Legal Challenge to Texas Gerrymander
www.democracydocket.com
August 23, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by MeMartin
Reminder that Putin has never said he wants a trilateral meeting, had never said he would respect Ukrainian sovereignty, and has never said he wants to end the war. Not to be a downer, but the discussion of security guarantees is premature.
August 19, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Excellent summary of the Anchorage event:

KGB meets KFC to create Baked Alaska.
August 16, 2025 at 2:33 PM
"Saying you would deal with Vladimir Putin by getting along well with him only means that Vladimir Putin has already dealt with you."

— Garry Kasparov, Russian dissident and world chess champion
August 15, 2025 at 2:20 PM
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv... "...reports that contain harsh and surprising assessments of democratic U.S. allies, including the U.K., Romania, Germany, and Brazil, and softer depictions of some dictatorships and other countries favored by Trump or his entourage."
Trump Has a New Definition of Human Rights
State Department reports portray Germany as more oppressive than El Salvador.
www.theatlantic.com
August 14, 2025 at 7:15 AM
The White House has been - publicly, at least - ignoring the horror, not even speaking the words "Epstein survivors"... a normalization and decriminalization of sexual harm; if Maxwell is pardoned, "there will be an insurrection" according to Gretchen Carlson here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Hw...
Fmr Fox News host: ‘There will be an insurrection’ from MAGA base if Maxwell is pardoned
YouTube video by MSNBC
www.youtube.com
August 11, 2025 at 4:09 PM
www.motherjones.com/politics/202... I spent 2 yrs of grad school at a private "christian" university. There I saw future ministers in well known clubs whose established secret initiations involved astoundingly sordid traditions. Some of these guys are now known politicians. Follow the smoking gun.
Why evangelicals couldn't care less about Trump's Epstein scandal
They have a long history of falling for narcissists posing as Saviors.
www.motherjones.com
August 8, 2025 at 3:25 PM