River doesn't know what to say
@riverraven.bsky.social
Il est toujours fatigué. he~they~il
This is a fun podcast. Their analysis of Musk is pretty spot on imo, although I have a few things to add, but it's always enjoyable to hear Mike and Peter joke around about things. However,
Episode 47: Elon Musk
Walter Isaacson’s definitive biography poses the question: is it ok to be a pathetic, cruel, lying reactionary if it kind of helps you build cars?
Walter Isaacson’s definitive biography poses the question: is it ok to be a pathetic, cruel, lying reactionary if it kind of helps you build cars?
Elon Musk
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 12/09/2025 · 1h 28m
podcasts.apple.com
December 9, 2025 at 7:23 PM
This is a fun podcast. Their analysis of Musk is pretty spot on imo, although I have a few things to add, but it's always enjoyable to hear Mike and Peter joke around about things. However,
One of the biggest issues with expecting higher levels of literacy from people isn't just about the written word, people struggle with advanced literacy concepts like authorial intent because they struggle with the concept of intent period.
People don't understand what is meant by "literacy" and the "literacy crisis".
Literacy isn't just not being able to physically read. Many people know how to see words and say words, which is basic reading. Literacy is being able to infer the correct information from what you read.
Literacy isn't just not being able to physically read. Many people know how to see words and say words, which is basic reading. Literacy is being able to infer the correct information from what you read.
December 8, 2025 at 5:02 PM
One of the biggest issues with expecting higher levels of literacy from people isn't just about the written word, people struggle with advanced literacy concepts like authorial intent because they struggle with the concept of intent period.
Reposted by River doesn't know what to say
I have an amazing plan to cut border crossings down to zero just by making our economy terrible
December 4, 2025 at 5:44 PM
I have an amazing plan to cut border crossings down to zero just by making our economy terrible
Remember the purpose of "including" trans men is about defining what a woman is by biology, it is not actually intended to include. If a cis woman can be harassed for looking not womanly enough, they aren't giving tran men a pass from that treatment.
December 4, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Remember the purpose of "including" trans men is about defining what a woman is by biology, it is not actually intended to include. If a cis woman can be harassed for looking not womanly enough, they aren't giving tran men a pass from that treatment.
Yes! It is very good! I watched this because I've watched just about everything Netflix offers in French, so it is in French (possibly dubbed? But I hate dubs so I don't pay attention.) but that's likely a factor in why it didn't get much attention.
Oxygen (2021)
I hate how under the radar this flew given that it’s one of the better tight little thrillers I’ve seen in the last five years or so. A few moments that genuinely made me *holy shit* gasp
Go in knowing as little as possible youtu.be/8IqXgZd-P98?...
I hate how under the radar this flew given that it’s one of the better tight little thrillers I’ve seen in the last five years or so. A few moments that genuinely made me *holy shit* gasp
Go in knowing as little as possible youtu.be/8IqXgZd-P98?...
November 29, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Yes! It is very good! I watched this because I've watched just about everything Netflix offers in French, so it is in French (possibly dubbed? But I hate dubs so I don't pay attention.) but that's likely a factor in why it didn't get much attention.
I was just going over the Trans Discrimination in Europe (2019), and it's frustrating to deal with three statistics of trans women, trans men and then nonbinary being lumped together, because the oppression experienced within each category can be vastly more different than between them.
November 27, 2025 at 8:14 PM
I was just going over the Trans Discrimination in Europe (2019), and it's frustrating to deal with three statistics of trans women, trans men and then nonbinary being lumped together, because the oppression experienced within each category can be vastly more different than between them.
It's not a coincidence that the Nuzzi scandal is happening at the same time that they are firing people en mass for DEI. What are they revealing about what they think is women's place by promoting her upwards?
November 27, 2025 at 4:40 PM
It's not a coincidence that the Nuzzi scandal is happening at the same time that they are firing people en mass for DEI. What are they revealing about what they think is women's place by promoting her upwards?
Reposted by River doesn't know what to say
yep. also really can't overstate how much nuzzi is very much the product of an environment that rewards amoral ambition and frowns on people who sincerely believe anything
November 27, 2025 at 3:15 AM
yep. also really can't overstate how much nuzzi is very much the product of an environment that rewards amoral ambition and frowns on people who sincerely believe anything
I was thinking of doing this as a response to a trans guy and a cis woman, and I know now from experience that at best I would be completely ignored and at worst treated with the particular kind of misogyny they save for transmasculity. So why bother.
I have given birth twice, pretransition, right around the time that this Free birth Society was beginning to form. Reading this was like taking a time machine to my past self, experiencing the atmosphere that they are talking about in this article.
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
November 22, 2025 at 11:03 PM
I was thinking of doing this as a response to a trans guy and a cis woman, and I know now from experience that at best I would be completely ignored and at worst treated with the particular kind of misogyny they save for transmasculity. So why bother.
I have given birth twice, pretransition, right around the time that this Free birth Society was beginning to form. Reading this was like taking a time machine to my past self, experiencing the atmosphere that they are talking about in this article.
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
As Esau Lopez was asphyxiated for the first 17 minutes of his life on Earth, the atmosphere in the room remained serene, even ecstatic. Acoustic music crooned from a speaker in a modest two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Pennsylvania. “You are a queen,” murmured one of three friends in the room.
Only Esau’s mother, Gabrielle Lopez, felt something was wrong. She was pushing hard, but her son would not be born. “Can you help [him] out?” she asked, as Esau crowned. “Baby is coming,” the friend replied. Four minutes later, Lopez asked again, “Can you grab [him]?” Another friend murmured, “Baby is safe.” Six minutes passed. Again, Lopez asked, “Can you grab [him]?” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:58 PM
I have given birth twice, pretransition, right around the time that this Free birth Society was beginning to form. Reading this was like taking a time machine to my past self, experiencing the atmosphere that they are talking about in this article.
Cis men think that they are fighting the patriarchy by making fun of the incompetent white nationalists. INCORRECT! That is what the patriarchy wants you to do. Because that is how it controls who and who is not a man.
November 20, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Cis men think that they are fighting the patriarchy by making fun of the incompetent white nationalists. INCORRECT! That is what the patriarchy wants you to do. Because that is how it controls who and who is not a man.
If someone being bad at their job were an outlier, then it would be enjoyable to mock them. But now we have a whole government bent on reshaping our whole society into less than mediocrity even, and it just makes me sad.
November 17, 2025 at 7:55 PM
If someone being bad at their job were an outlier, then it would be enjoyable to mock them. But now we have a whole government bent on reshaping our whole society into less than mediocrity even, and it just makes me sad.
"what is your favorite movie" is a question that is hard to answer. A thing I like to ask sometimes instead is, "what is a movie that has impact or meaning for you?"
November 17, 2025 at 7:43 PM
"what is your favorite movie" is a question that is hard to answer. A thing I like to ask sometimes instead is, "what is a movie that has impact or meaning for you?"
Top 5 movie genres:
-Narrated movie, and also a book.
-Snappy dialogue, dynamic staging, and actually a play.
-A feast of visual storytelling and symbolism.
-Passionate love between the wrong people who stay together despite.
-Is this place haunted or am I?
-Narrated movie, and also a book.
-Snappy dialogue, dynamic staging, and actually a play.
-A feast of visual storytelling and symbolism.
-Passionate love between the wrong people who stay together despite.
-Is this place haunted or am I?
Top 5 movie genres:
Masculinity is a prison
Fucked-up parents with lots of books
It’s a documentary… or is it
Toxic couple with amazing sex life
Blue aliens befriend space whales
Masculinity is a prison
Fucked-up parents with lots of books
It’s a documentary… or is it
Toxic couple with amazing sex life
Blue aliens befriend space whales
Top 5 movie genres are:
heist
intelligence/espionage thriller
pitch perfect
cerebral ensemble oscar fodder drama
heist some more
heist
intelligence/espionage thriller
pitch perfect
cerebral ensemble oscar fodder drama
heist some more
November 17, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Top 5 movie genres:
-Narrated movie, and also a book.
-Snappy dialogue, dynamic staging, and actually a play.
-A feast of visual storytelling and symbolism.
-Passionate love between the wrong people who stay together despite.
-Is this place haunted or am I?
-Narrated movie, and also a book.
-Snappy dialogue, dynamic staging, and actually a play.
-A feast of visual storytelling and symbolism.
-Passionate love between the wrong people who stay together despite.
-Is this place haunted or am I?
So now I am reading the Frankenstein book, and it makes me want to make my own TV show on it. There are some completely ignored themes in the novel which are much more intriguing than the way the story is usually adapted, and normified.
November 16, 2025 at 8:49 PM
So now I am reading the Frankenstein book, and it makes me want to make my own TV show on it. There are some completely ignored themes in the novel which are much more intriguing than the way the story is usually adapted, and normified.
I finished the Del Toro Frankenstein movie and it was a bit of a disappointment. It's absolutely stunning visually, but it all feels very surface.
November 16, 2025 at 8:36 PM
I finished the Del Toro Frankenstein movie and it was a bit of a disappointment. It's absolutely stunning visually, but it all feels very surface.
As much as I want to support transmascs art, I don't actually read much of it. I think a lot of it is because most of it is made by guys much younger than me, and transness aside, they are not stories I am interested in.
November 15, 2025 at 2:19 PM
As much as I want to support transmascs art, I don't actually read much of it. I think a lot of it is because most of it is made by guys much younger than me, and transness aside, they are not stories I am interested in.
Trump wouldn't do something that takes work.
November 14, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Trump wouldn't do something that takes work.
When talking about transphobia, the thing to realize is that people are selfish. You can think of them as their own business maybe.
“Radicalization doesn’t usually mean that someone abandons their old beliefs. Instead, it usually means that someone is convinced to embrace the worst version of themselves.”
Holy shit yes that’s exactly it
Holy shit yes that’s exactly it
he really is just a nazi, who appears to take joy in the fact that he once sort of knew better. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/was-vance-...
November 14, 2025 at 4:06 PM
When talking about transphobia, the thing to realize is that people are selfish. You can think of them as their own business maybe.
The answer to the social phenomenon in toxic masculinity whereby "real"men punish " not real" men to conform or just suffer, is not, punish the "not real men" in the name of saving women from the danger of "not real men".
November 13, 2025 at 8:23 PM
The answer to the social phenomenon in toxic masculinity whereby "real"men punish " not real" men to conform or just suffer, is not, punish the "not real men" in the name of saving women from the danger of "not real men".
There are times (often) when I want to shake trans men and tell them to snap out of it. No, you do not experience the life of a cis man and your insitence that you do is detrimental to transmascs and also driven by dysphoria.
November 13, 2025 at 5:45 PM
There are times (often) when I want to shake trans men and tell them to snap out of it. No, you do not experience the life of a cis man and your insitence that you do is detrimental to transmascs and also driven by dysphoria.
I do think there may be something to you the increasing ubiquity of gaming as a lifestyle and the way of conspiracy theories of more recently. There's always been conspiracy theories, but increasingly it seems the conspiracy theories have the form of a person making life into a video game.
November 13, 2025 at 1:41 PM
I do think there may be something to you the increasing ubiquity of gaming as a lifestyle and the way of conspiracy theories of more recently. There's always been conspiracy theories, but increasingly it seems the conspiracy theories have the form of a person making life into a video game.
Reposted by River doesn't know what to say
The ethos that drove Republican fixation on Jeffrey Epstein was “I support my team, this might help against the other team.”
And the ethos that drives Republican denial of Trump-Epstein is “I support my team, this might help against the other team.”
Facts? Morals? Others’ opinions? Whatever.
And the ethos that drives Republican denial of Trump-Epstein is “I support my team, this might help against the other team.”
Facts? Morals? Others’ opinions? Whatever.
November 12, 2025 at 5:59 PM
The ethos that drove Republican fixation on Jeffrey Epstein was “I support my team, this might help against the other team.”
And the ethos that drives Republican denial of Trump-Epstein is “I support my team, this might help against the other team.”
Facts? Morals? Others’ opinions? Whatever.
And the ethos that drives Republican denial of Trump-Epstein is “I support my team, this might help against the other team.”
Facts? Morals? Others’ opinions? Whatever.
Reposted by River doesn't know what to say
When I call MAGA/GOP post-truth, this is what I mean. It’s hard for people who value truth to fully grasp.
“But don’t they care about underlying facts? Don’t they worry it’ll come out?”
No, they really don’t. They reject that factual reality matters. Words are just things you say to get something.
“But don’t they care about underlying facts? Don’t they worry it’ll come out?”
No, they really don’t. They reject that factual reality matters. Words are just things you say to get something.
November 12, 2025 at 5:56 PM
When I call MAGA/GOP post-truth, this is what I mean. It’s hard for people who value truth to fully grasp.
“But don’t they care about underlying facts? Don’t they worry it’ll come out?”
No, they really don’t. They reject that factual reality matters. Words are just things you say to get something.
“But don’t they care about underlying facts? Don’t they worry it’ll come out?”
No, they really don’t. They reject that factual reality matters. Words are just things you say to get something.
Reposted by River doesn't know what to say
Accuse your opponents of what you’re doing to confuse and shore up vulnerabilities.
Feed QAnon conspiracy theorists, use them to gain more power.
Blatantly lie about Democrats, accuse them of the worst thing you can think of. Not like lying has had consequences.
Bait-and-switch as anti-LGBT.
Feed QAnon conspiracy theorists, use them to gain more power.
Blatantly lie about Democrats, accuse them of the worst thing you can think of. Not like lying has had consequences.
Bait-and-switch as anti-LGBT.
Will always be puzzled as to why Republicans hammered so hard on the Epstein stuff given that it was obvious that it would be a huge risk for their own guy
Trump and Epstein were buddies throughout the height of his trafficking -- what did they think would happen?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
Trump and Epstein were buddies throughout the height of his trafficking -- what did they think would happen?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
Epstein Alleged in Emails That Trump Knew of His Conduct
www.nytimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Accuse your opponents of what you’re doing to confuse and shore up vulnerabilities.
Feed QAnon conspiracy theorists, use them to gain more power.
Blatantly lie about Democrats, accuse them of the worst thing you can think of. Not like lying has had consequences.
Bait-and-switch as anti-LGBT.
Feed QAnon conspiracy theorists, use them to gain more power.
Blatantly lie about Democrats, accuse them of the worst thing you can think of. Not like lying has had consequences.
Bait-and-switch as anti-LGBT.