Val Syverson 🕷️
@vjpsyverson.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.3K following 3.4K posts
Paleontologist, teacher, parent, biophile, UU, intellectual omnivore. Topics: natural history, nerd stuff, surviving the culture war. Tenuous professor at UC Davis. Allergic to puns. (protogynous, he/they/Þei; Dr.) 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼
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vjpsyverson.bsky.social
There's a magnificent passage in "The Dispossessed" about this.
"Speak not of what men deserve. For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think."
— Ursula K. LeGuin, The Dispossessed
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tredain.bsky.social
It's probably a very bad thing that we have so many billionaires with so much power whose collective brains have all been utterly broken because of a combination of A) they're afraid to die B) their dick doesn't work, and/or C) People yelled at them online.
schnorkles.bsky.social
I know and the fact that all the c and g therapies that were going to enable this completely bombed in clinic has sent them into a total tailspin.
motherjones.com
They say the only things certain in life are death and taxes.

But America’s billionaires, having taken care of the latter, are now trying to disrupt the former—and make sure nobody can pry their fortunes from their cold dead hands.
vjpsyverson.bsky.social
guy who hates soup but specifically in a racist way
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zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
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chaoskat.bsky.social
Salvation Army seen feeding ICE today. For anyone who doesn't already know about their bigotry, here is more, No need to give them your money this Christmas, or ever.
unraveledpress.com
It’s dinner time for the police. Appears to be pizza from a Salvation Army van.

Broadview’s “free speech” curfew starts soon, at 6pm.
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clairewillett.bsky.social
this is more than just marching in full regalia to Broadview and praying outside of it

this is very deftly trapping ICE into the position of having to literally - LITERALLY, to them - turn Christ away from the door

any Catholic ICE officer was probably shook, I’m really not exaggerating
vjpsyverson.bsky.social
The natural progression of an ecological community through different stages of development.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecologi...
Ecological succession - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
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mtsw.bsky.social
Yes ultimately many Dem electeds are afraid to give police under their command lawful orders because they think they will not be obeyed and the consequences that fact would have for them and for their state.
impemboganecue.bsky.social
It’s easy to call out Pritzker on this but something darker may be happening here. I’m not sure if he is secretly helping Trump behind the scenes. I think he’s terrified to test whether state police would obey him at all if he used them against the feds
unraveledpress.com
Several Illinois state troopers out here now with pepper ball launchers of their own.
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vjpsyverson.bsky.social
Nah, people like this are fine with it as long as it's not consensual
vjpsyverson.bsky.social
Do they really not realize that this kind of language just...reeks of desperation?
mossworm.bsky.social
can you all shut up for one second so I can find the ESD catalog
US Forest Service page says "The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people." US NRCS page says "The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people." US FSIS page says "The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people."
vjpsyverson.bsky.social
Trying to stop the process of ecological succession is a losing battle, is what I'm basically trying to say here.
vjpsyverson.bsky.social
Well... sure, we're all constantly being transported into the future, and we don't get much say in it. Places change, always. They have to. I don't think any community in this country is old enough to have become the human equivalent of a climax community; none of them are old enough.
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titaniumman91.bsky.social
It's worse, *they were cooperating*.

ICE asked to search, the son said yes, told them to wait while he put the dog in the bathroom. They asked for the sons ID, he went outside to get it and ICE started snooping and opened the bathroom door and then shot the dog.

Never cooperate without a warrant.
vjpsyverson.bsky.social
antifaxolotl is my new favorite thing
mattiekaiser.bsky.social
The resistance will be televised... On the cartoon network?
Screenshot of tiktok video captioned "new characters unlocked at the Portland Detention Center" showing several inflatable cartoon characters including "left shark" and some guitar players in the background
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donmoyn.bsky.social
These guys have gotten incredibly rich by fleecing the government with subpar tech that was designed for rentseeking rather than performance. A smart Dem agenda item would be to build internal tech capacity. The fact that it would punish these guys is just a silver lining.
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grandmasterfei.bsky.social
Except the president of MIT (which Trump’s uncle attended, as he frequently rambles about) just told his administration to pound sand.
jameeljaffer.bsky.social
MIT's response to the Trump admin's proposed "compact" is excellent and should be a model for other universities. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...
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4nikkolas.bsky.social
after millions of views and shares of my Portland Frog art. (thank you all🙏🏾) I got requests to highlight priests, and chickens, and Chicagoans, and T-Rexes, and more… all of us who refuse to bend the knee. so this is for US.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.
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upine.bsky.social
Agree that they should answer for it. And we should push to rebuild USAID.

At least some food is getting to some ppl. We need to push harder to get more of this done.

bsky.app/profile/maga...
magaziner.house.gov
Boxes of lifesaving food aid manufactured by @edesianutrition.bsky.social in NK are finally moving again to hungry children around the world.

This is the result of months of advocacy and proof that even in these challenging times, it’s still possible to get good things done.
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reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.

This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.
On the other side was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for his help.
"I wasn't planning on letting her stay, but I didn't know what the hell was going on," the man said of his Venezuelan migrant neighbors. But he quickly relented. The little girl was inconsolable and hid under his bed.
"I didn't want them to take her," said the man, who didn't want to be named because he fears he'll be targeted by federal authorities for his actions.
"I gave her my bedroom, and I just told her,
'Just stay there. Don't open, don't, shh, just stay quiet," he recalled telling the mom and daughter as he choked back tears.
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seed-corn-thoughts.bsky.social
Just to make sure we're all on the same page- the Democrats *are*, in fact, pushing for the prosecution of anybody who assists Trump and Vought in their illegal RIFs:
democrats-budget.house.gov
vjpsyverson.bsky.social
Sounds like you don't like car-dependent single-story residential neighborhoods, and prefer walkable mixed use areas with plenty of green space? I agree with that, but I don't think we get there by nitpicking about architectural styles and calling new neighbors an "invasion".
vjpsyverson.bsky.social
This is so dazzlingly nonspecific I can't even come up with a response to it. I literally cannot imagine anyone disagreeing with any of these statements, which indicates to me that they're probably pretty much vacuous.

What "alternatives"? What do you mean by "good housing", or "quality of life"?
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jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social
Of course someone who makes eating raw eggs a load-bearing part of their personality wouldn't understand that the majority of people on earth like to eat things that taste good
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jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social
As a matter of fact I'm definitely on board with swapping "western civilization" or whatever for a reasonable assortment of street food and a good doner wrap
dieworkwear.bsky.social
going by the decor, is this not TGI Fridays?
Someone on Twitter posted a photo of themselves doing a happy dance as they receive a hot plate of fajitas. Then "Raw Egg Nationalist" on Twitter retweets them, writing:  It's incredible that these people exist, but they really do. These are the people who justify the demographic replacement of Western countries in terms of the variety of street food and how many different kinds of fried-meat-and-vegetables in flatbread they can buy.