@ardentpaige.bsky.social
If you follow me and I don't know you, I will block you.
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my increasingly curmudgeonly take is that we all, in fact, have responsibilities. politics isn't an arena for self-actualization. it's an arena for public service. this is as true of voters as it is of politicians.
Ps: a common refrain that you'll hear is that "you're saying the Dems can't be at fault, it's the voters, as if the voters owe something to politicians and not the other way around!"
Yes, actually, that's how the social contract of democracy works. Voters yet the government they work for. Or don't.
Yes, actually, that's how the social contract of democracy works. Voters yet the government they work for. Or don't.
January 29, 2026 at 5:10 PM
my increasingly curmudgeonly take is that we all, in fact, have responsibilities. politics isn't an arena for self-actualization. it's an arena for public service. this is as true of voters as it is of politicians.
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So are you telling me it's wrong for a person to hang photos of them and their best friend now? SMH. www.huffpost.com/entry/donald...
Trump Hung Up A Picture Of Vladimir Putin In The White House
Things that make you go, "hmmm."
www.huffpost.com
January 29, 2026 at 12:36 PM
So are you telling me it's wrong for a person to hang photos of them and their best friend now? SMH. www.huffpost.com/entry/donald...
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Two global trading houses that brokered an opaque deal with the Trump admin this month to sell Venezuelan oil were previously prosecuted for bribery schemes involving oil sales elsewhere… A senior trader at Vitol donated $6 million to Trump’s 2024 election. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Trump officials awarded Venezuela oil-sale contracts to firms tied to bribery
The Trump administration awarded $500 million in contracts for Venezuelan oil sales to two firms with a history of bribery and corruption.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 29, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Two global trading houses that brokered an opaque deal with the Trump admin this month to sell Venezuelan oil were previously prosecuted for bribery schemes involving oil sales elsewhere… A senior trader at Vitol donated $6 million to Trump’s 2024 election. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
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We knew this from the 1950's boom but the boomer generation pulled up the ladder after themselves, are still running things, and refuse to create social benefits.
2022: Massachusetts enacts a 4% tax on millionaires. Critics predict catastrophe.
2026: MA sees 39%⬆️ in number of millionaires, $5B⬆️ in new revenue, & MA is bottom 10 in poverty.
Taxing the wealthy creates more wealth. Taxing working people creates more poverty: www.qasimrashid.com/p/fixing-the...
2026: MA sees 39%⬆️ in number of millionaires, $5B⬆️ in new revenue, & MA is bottom 10 in poverty.
Taxing the wealthy creates more wealth. Taxing working people creates more poverty: www.qasimrashid.com/p/fixing-the...
Fixing the $12 Billion Lie
How Mayor Mamdani Plans to Fix NYC's Existential Budget Crisis—And Why It Affects Every Single American Nationwide
www.qasimrashid.com
January 29, 2026 at 1:15 PM
We knew this from the 1950's boom but the boomer generation pulled up the ladder after themselves, are still running things, and refuse to create social benefits.
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Conservatives in 2018: Dumb libs think words are violence
Conservatives in 2026: Loud noises ARE LITERALLY VIOLENCE OMGGGGG
bsky.app/profile/jody...
Conservatives in 2026: Loud noises ARE LITERALLY VIOLENCE OMGGGGG
bsky.app/profile/jody...
Like, sure, bring on the protest songs by famous singers. But it's the people's "music" that's really spooking these MAGA ghouls. This machine (a whistle lol) kills fascists.
MAGA influencers want anti-ICE protester whistles to be ‘considered a violent weapon’
‘High IQ people don’t respond well to shrill noises,’ Mike Cernovich tweeted before taking aim at the ‘hearing loss causing machines that terrorists use against ICE.’
www.independent.co.uk
January 29, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Conservatives in 2018: Dumb libs think words are violence
Conservatives in 2026: Loud noises ARE LITERALLY VIOLENCE OMGGGGG
bsky.app/profile/jody...
Conservatives in 2026: Loud noises ARE LITERALLY VIOLENCE OMGGGGG
bsky.app/profile/jody...
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Counterpoint: the one strength of LLMs is that they are good at making one *feel* that way.
January 29, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Counterpoint: the one strength of LLMs is that they are good at making one *feel* that way.
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Been writing about this for a long time. 2022
January 29, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Been writing about this for a long time. 2022
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The word "terrorist" means nothing coming from an imperial colonizer state. All it means is "we have the power to convince you idiots that the people we commit genocide against are the bad guys, actually."
It is actually an ancient tactic to make those resisting occupation out to be terrorists. The US government usually employs this tactic in its foreign policy on countries it is stripping of resources. The current regime has decided to use this same tactic on the Blue States it is trying to occupy.
January 29, 2026 at 12:24 PM
The word "terrorist" means nothing coming from an imperial colonizer state. All it means is "we have the power to convince you idiots that the people we commit genocide against are the bad guys, actually."
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Laken Riley’s killer was arrested prosecuted & convicted.
Which you’ve been groomed to oppose now.
They’re conditioning right wing guys to normalize govt murder of citizens, w/zero accountability.
Perpetual victimhood for perpetual authoritarianism.
When you need to brainwash white guys real fast.
Which you’ve been groomed to oppose now.
They’re conditioning right wing guys to normalize govt murder of citizens, w/zero accountability.
Perpetual victimhood for perpetual authoritarianism.
When you need to brainwash white guys real fast.
Laken Riley was also a nurse.
There were zero democrats protesting in the streets for her.
There were zero democrats protesting in the streets for her.
January 29, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Laken Riley’s killer was arrested prosecuted & convicted.
Which you’ve been groomed to oppose now.
They’re conditioning right wing guys to normalize govt murder of citizens, w/zero accountability.
Perpetual victimhood for perpetual authoritarianism.
When you need to brainwash white guys real fast.
Which you’ve been groomed to oppose now.
They’re conditioning right wing guys to normalize govt murder of citizens, w/zero accountability.
Perpetual victimhood for perpetual authoritarianism.
When you need to brainwash white guys real fast.
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It’s weird how the “if you haven’t done anything wrong then you don’t have anything to worry about” crowd is trying to illegally shield what they’re doing from journalists who are acting 100% within their rights and the law.
We’re just not a free country.
Any American watching this play out between regime forces and journalists overseas would recognize it for what it is.
Any American watching this play out between regime forces and journalists overseas would recognize it for what it is.
January 29, 2026 at 3:50 PM
It’s weird how the “if you haven’t done anything wrong then you don’t have anything to worry about” crowd is trying to illegally shield what they’re doing from journalists who are acting 100% within their rights and the law.
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If you aren't familiar with what DARVO is, get familiar with it. "Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender." The govt is relying on DARVO as a tactic on a national scale, and it is also increasingly a conservative tactic to attack outspoken critics of their ideas, theories, & renderings of history.
DARVO - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
January 29, 2026 at 3:52 PM
If you aren't familiar with what DARVO is, get familiar with it. "Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender." The govt is relying on DARVO as a tactic on a national scale, and it is also increasingly a conservative tactic to attack outspoken critics of their ideas, theories, & renderings of history.
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Veatch ("Ghost") described being invited to test out Sora with a group of other artists, being horrified by the racist and sexist output, and then horrified again at the lack of interest on the part OpenAI.
www.documentary.org/column/synth...
>>
www.documentary.org/column/synth...
>>
The Synthesis: Valerie Veatch Connects AI and Eugenics in ‘Ghost in the Machine’
Valerie Veatch traces the links between AI and eugenics in Sundance-premiering Ghost in the Machine, a self-funded documentary treatise made with Zoom calls and conviction
www.documentary.org
January 28, 2026 at 10:52 PM
Veatch ("Ghost") described being invited to test out Sora with a group of other artists, being horrified by the racist and sexist output, and then horrified again at the lack of interest on the part OpenAI.
www.documentary.org/column/synth...
>>
www.documentary.org/column/synth...
>>
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presented without comment
January 29, 2026 at 7:04 AM
presented without comment
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Seeing people in software dev who, a minute ago were talking about ethics, accessibility and sustainability, disregard the unethical nature of the tech and switch to using LLMs tells you everything you need to know about why the software industry continuously enables horrible things
fwiw I don't think it is possible to build genAI in such a way that it benefits workers rather than capital because it is fundamentally based on non consensual extraction of labour to get going. what would it actually mean for the workers to own the means of production here
January 29, 2026 at 10:24 AM
Seeing people in software dev who, a minute ago were talking about ethics, accessibility and sustainability, disregard the unethical nature of the tech and switch to using LLMs tells you everything you need to know about why the software industry continuously enables horrible things
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Of the biggest scandals in US history just this week, I think I’d rank them:
1) Federal paramilitaries invade US city based on racist lies, murder US citizens
2) Slush fund for the president from stolen foreign resources held in Qatar
3) Whatever FBI and DNI are doing re: 2020 election in Georgia
1) Federal paramilitaries invade US city based on racist lies, murder US citizens
2) Slush fund for the president from stolen foreign resources held in Qatar
3) Whatever FBI and DNI are doing re: 2020 election in Georgia
January 29, 2026 at 2:52 AM
Of the biggest scandals in US history just this week, I think I’d rank them:
1) Federal paramilitaries invade US city based on racist lies, murder US citizens
2) Slush fund for the president from stolen foreign resources held in Qatar
3) Whatever FBI and DNI are doing re: 2020 election in Georgia
1) Federal paramilitaries invade US city based on racist lies, murder US citizens
2) Slush fund for the president from stolen foreign resources held in Qatar
3) Whatever FBI and DNI are doing re: 2020 election in Georgia
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This is extra important. Don’t believe me? We were able to track the detailed movements of US military and intelligence personnel in Germany to suspected NSA facilities, their homes, brothels, etc using data collected by mobile ad data likely from dumb apps www.wired.com/story/phone-...
January 29, 2026 at 4:03 AM
This is extra important. Don’t believe me? We were able to track the detailed movements of US military and intelligence personnel in Germany to suspected NSA facilities, their homes, brothels, etc using data collected by mobile ad data likely from dumb apps www.wired.com/story/phone-...
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These are death squads. They are trying to add restrictions to death squads.
January 28, 2026 at 10:39 PM
These are death squads. They are trying to add restrictions to death squads.
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New low for Trump approval today, at 39% of U.S. adults on average across dozens of pollsters. fiftyplusone.news/polls/approv...
January 28, 2026 at 9:15 PM
New low for Trump approval today, at 39% of U.S. adults on average across dozens of pollsters. fiftyplusone.news/polls/approv...
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100 percent you're going to see some right wing jerks complaining that Springsteen has gone woke because they never once actually listened to his lyrics before
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 9:27 PM
100 percent you're going to see some right wing jerks complaining that Springsteen has gone woke because they never once actually listened to his lyrics before
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I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
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While we're on the subject of absolute musical legends writing songs about the current moment
January 28, 2026 at 9:29 PM
While we're on the subject of absolute musical legends writing songs about the current moment
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The immanent contradiction of dominance masculinity is that it both claims absolute authority and strength and also cannot countenance even the slightest challenge.
We need to talk about the rise of "smol bean fascism" where you have all the guns and the immunity but the really scary people are the ones with whistles and phone cameras and they're giving you generational trauma and ptsd by filming you killing people for no reason
January 28, 2026 at 10:04 PM
The immanent contradiction of dominance masculinity is that it both claims absolute authority and strength and also cannot countenance even the slightest challenge.
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Anthropic execs in 2024: '“Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world,” an internal planning document unsealed in legal filings last week said. “We don’t want it to be known that we are working on this.”'
wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
Inside one company’s secret plan to ‘destructively scan every book in the world’
Court filings reveal how AI companies raced to obtain more books to feed chatbots, including by buying, scanning and disposing of millions of titles.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 27, 2026 at 1:18 PM
Anthropic execs in 2024: '“Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world,” an internal planning document unsealed in legal filings last week said. “We don’t want it to be known that we are working on this.”'
wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
wapo.st/4rjXAMQ