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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 1h

I really can't get over this photo. Do MAGAmites like Kim G not look in mirrors? Are their mirrors all cracked?

I'm all in favor of people letting their freak flag fly and not being hassled about their appearance, but—has KG seen Snow White? 101 Dalmatians? Does she really mean to look that way?

T. Christian Miller @tchristianmiller.bsky.social · 18d

10/ Johnson joined Republican luminaries such as @TuckerCarlson, @DonaldJTrumpJr and @kimguilfoyle at Bukele’s inauguration in June 2024.

Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 4h

#NoKings rally in Brunswick, Maine. Not shown: people three deep lining Maine Street [sic] to the left. There was a lot of honking from the cars making their way through town.

Crowd of several hundred people, many of them carrying signs protesting against Trump, tyranny, fascism, etc. The sky is blue; trees lining the mall provide shade.

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 9h

The Rite and the last movement of Beethoven's 7th are the two pieces of music that make me feel that my body is expanding to fill the universe.

It doesn't hurt that the horns (with "bells in the air") induce sympathetic vibrations (I think) in my chest.

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 1d

I'd rather put a fish in my ear!

Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 1d

Are you actually dismissing the killing and terrorizing of thousands of Black Americans BECAUSE THEY WERE BLACK as "That's just the way it is"???

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 2d

In all fairness, I believe Alex Jones once interviewed Mussolini, so, you know...

...both sides have made problematic decisions on who to interview.

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 2d

CBS News just announced that the upcoming episode of 60 Minutes will feature Lesley Stahl interviewing Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.

Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 2d

It should also be easy for any user to tell their phone "no so-called AI here at all" and make it impossible...

1) ...for any so-called AI–dependent app to be installed; and

2) ...for any so-called AI "agent" in an installed app to run.

And my so-called happiness will be (briefly) complete.

:-)

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 2d

Brainworm Jr sez:

"Egads! We have to get immigration numbers up,
stat! Otherwise our population will drop dangerously low."

Brainworm Jr thinkz:

"Whew! Good thing I thought of that. The boss is going to be really relieved."

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

RFK Jr: "When my uncle was president, the fertility rate in this country was 3.5%. Today it is 1.6%. The replacement rate -- in other words the amount of fertility you need to keep your population even -- is 2.1%. We are below replacement. That is a national security threat to our country."

Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

And no worries on any delay in responding – we all have lives outside BlueSky!

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

A half-assed investigation resulting in a Swiss-cheese indictment would have been worse than useless.

Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

Then a "filter team" goes through the contents to identify stuff that is responsive to the warrant. Then the phone's owner may make attorney-client privilege claims on some of that stuff that have to be adjudicated. (Look for "phone" and "privilege" in the timeline.) All of this takes time!

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

I really, really recommend at least skimming the timeline I referenced. One thing you might not know: getting the contents of a phone takes two warrants, one (a search warrant) to seize the phone and another to access the contents.

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

Thanks!! I have a subscription to The Guardian so this is perfect!

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

Class act!!

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 5d

Well, deleting this. It was a silly thing to say. Point I was trying to say is that too often we see only caricatures of each other. But I said it in a bad way. Whatever. Bum post. It was insensitive and ironically, *I* was the one mouthing off and being judgy.

A post that says "Lotta people feel comfortable mouthing off about Israelis or Palestinians without ever meeting either one of them, sharing a meal with them or talking about their daily experiences." From October 13, 2025 at 1:40 PM

Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you for your candor; we could use a lot more of it not just in social media, but in human discourse generally!

Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

What's the source???

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

And there in the background lurked John Roberts, waiting (and waiting, and delaying and delaying) to give Trump his "I can't be prosecuted" card.

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

Merrick Garland's DOJ and FBI weren't sitting on their asses during that period.

Garland appointed Jack Smith the day after Trump announced he would run in 2024.

If he hadn't HAD TO appoint JS, things might have gone quicker – Special Counsel investigations have guardrails that regular ones don't.

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

So read Marcy Wheeler's timeline (and her writings generally) and try to hold back on "But Garland didn't..." reactions while you do so. There's a lot to take in, but the bottom line is that the investigation was difficult, there were many causes of delay, and SCOTUS (and McConnell) f*cked us over.

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

Because it's so much to get your head around, but more because news media have generally done such lazy reporting, popular narratives have been established, like "Merrick Garland dragged things out" and "The Jan 6 Committee jump-started the investigation", that just don't reflect reality.

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

And by that I mean that it's way too much to hold in my mind all at once, and when I retrieve some bit from deep down and bring it to the surface, another bit gets pushed down.

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

Scroll down to TIMELINE if you want to skip the article about people misreading (or not reading) Jack Smith's report.

I personally find the whole thing mind-boggling – fake electors, coup plotting, investigations, indictments, Trump v. US decision, etc.

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

When you say he "waited so long", are you referring to the time between when he was confirmed as AG (March 2021) and when he appointed Jack Smith (November 2022)? The Jan 6 investigators were very busy during that time. There's a very good timeline here:

www.emptywheel.net/2025/01/15/w...

What Jack Smith Didn't Say about the January 6 Investigation - emptywheel

As part of Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein’s summary of the Jack Smith report, they argued that “Smith [came] to Garland’s defense” regarding his conduct of the January 6 investigation before Smith was ...

www.emptywheel.net

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

Garland appointed Jack Smith the day after Trump announced he was running for president in 2024. That wasn't an attempt to slow things down, was it?

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Paul "8647" Hoffman • Antifascist anecdotes, free of charge @paulhoffman.bsky.social · 5d

Sure, DOJ could have brought half-assed charges. That would have been a bad idea though, right?

Remember that lots of coup plotters were lawyers and claimed attorney-client privilege. That slowed things down, right?

Remember that SCOTUS sat on Trump v. USA. That slowed things down, right?

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