Bodhipaksa
@bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
97 followers 3 following 1.6K posts
Scotland's most prolific Buddhist author. Currently living in New Hampshire. Author of books on meditation and Buddhist practice. Fan of Scots language. Learning […] 🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.scot/@bodhipaksa, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
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bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
Believing absurdities leads to atrocities.

Timothy Snyder points out that the right's insistence that there is vast conspiracy (which they're framing as an Antifa insurrection supported by Democratic lawmakers and judges) naturally leads to the government torturing people, because they only way […]
Original post on mastodon.scot
mastodon.scot
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
Trump plans to have his face on a $1 coin.

Our descent into a tyrannical monarchy continues.

#nokings
#notyrants
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
@mshiltonj I've been reading a lot more paper books this year. In fact I've been stacking them up after I'm done with them to remind me of how much I've read.

Mostly I've been saving my ebooks for reading in bed, because it's easier to read on the Kobo under the covers than to use a book-light […]
Original post on mastodon.scot
mastodon.scot
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
@feritae The idea that this is a form of ethnic/economic cleansing in order to create property development opportunities is all-too believable. I was thinking about the parallel with Trump's plan for Gaza before I got to that part of Dr. Patton's essay.
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
Republicans: "If Democrats call us fascists that's incitement to violence."

Also Republicans: "Democrats are parasitic insects that we need to 'take care of'."

(Any navy cadet that applauded at this point should be dishonorably discharged, or whatever the cadet equivalent is.)
Reposted by Bodhipaksa
sarahjeong.bsky.social
ok I didn't mention this in my piece on friday but one of the things the judge asked about was whether the guardsmen were going to get paid during the shutdown

the doj was like "idk"

the state of oregon was like "we looked into it and the answer is no"
harmancipants.bsky.social
I keep forgetting the government is shut down bc Trump admin is so focused on sending troops to US cities
Reposted by Bodhipaksa
mattblaze.federate.social.ap.brid.gy
We went from "we will deport the worst of the worst" to "we will deport anyone here illegally" to "we will round up anyone who looks wrong" to "people who live in cities are the enemy" essentially overnight.
Reposted by Bodhipaksa
andrewjweinstein.com
ICE admits that up to 50% of arrests in its Chicago raids are "collateral.” These aren't statistics. They are parents taken from their children, neighbors taken from our communities. When does a "collateral" U.S. citizen child's trauma matter? This isn't law enforcement; it's a campaign of terror.
Reposted by Bodhipaksa
kenwhite.bsky.social
Karin Immergut is an ex-AUSA. That’s no guarantee of character, obviously. There are plenty of ex-AUSAs who are hacks, grifters, climbers, and throne-sniffers. Look at Emil Bove. But some of them give a shit about the rule of law and won’t pretend the emperor has clothes./1
kyledcheney.bsky.social
BREAKING: A federal judge has granted a restraining order blocking President Trump's call-up of the National Guard in Portland.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
At this point we can't believe a word federal agents say. Bodycam footage, or the attempted ramming never happened.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/us/federal-agent-shooting-chicago.html
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
@theicarian Kids are being zip-tied, but this isn't it. This is a still from a "humor" video, from more than a year ago, where a policeman chases after his toddler son, who has run away in a parking lot, and pretends to arrest him (not with zip-ties). I don't find it funny, but it's not good to […]
Original post on mastodon.scot
mastodon.scot
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
@brianvastag I kind of lost interest in The Expanse before the end.

Firefly's short run was a travesty. Guillotines for the executives involved would be too quick a punishment.

The Americans stayed good up to the end, as did Breaking Bad.

Rome was too short.

The Peripheral was brilliant and […]
Original post on mastodon.scot
mastodon.scot
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
I'm hoping there's going to be a battery-saving Apple Watch update, because my watch was at 10% by 8 PM and died sometime not long after 9 PM.
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
The Minnesota Star Tribune has seen text messages confirming that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth considered a military occupation of Portland Oregon by the 82nd Airborne, an infantry division that has been parachuted into combat zones in both world wars […]

[Original post on mastodon.scot]
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, center, with U.S. military senior leadership as they listen to President Donald Trump at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Va., on Tuesday..

Text says: "The messages show high-level officials in the Trump
administration discussing the possible deployment of the Army's
82nd Airborne Division, an infantry force that has dropped into
combat zones in both World Wars, Vietnam and Afghanistan."

Summary of news article: "Trump officials discussed sending elite Army division to Portland, text messages show. A high-ranking White House official was indiscreetly texting about the Portland, Oregon, planning last weekend, according to messages shared with the Minnesota Star Tribune."
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
@brianvastag It's really not very good. They seem to have run out of ideas (good ones, anyway) and some of the acting from the principals has been very wooden.
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
Still incredibly disturbed by this account of a 1 AM raid on an apartment building in Chicago, where Border Patrol and FBI agents in military clothing smashed in people's doors—even those of citizens—and dragged everyone out onto the street, including naked children. Citizens & others were […]
Original post on mastodon.scot
mastodon.scot
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
This is a fascinating article from @timkmak's Counter-Offensive on Nato's handling of Russian incursions into Estonia's airspace.

https://www.counteroffensive.news/p/should-nato-shoot-down-russian-jets
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
"Ebony Sweets Watson, who lives across the street, said it 'looked like hundreds' of agents were outside her front door.

'Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers, she […]
Original post on mastodon.scot
mastodon.scot
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
"Rodrick Johnson, 67, is one of many residents who were detained by federal agents during the South Shore raid. A U.S. citizen, he said agents broke through his door and dragged him out in zip ties. Johnson said he was left tied up outside the building for nearly three hours before agents […]
Original post on mastodon.scot
mastodon.scot
bodhipaksa.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy
"Dan Jones was jolted awake around 1 a.m. Tuesday to the sound of federal agents trying to break through his apartment door. They couldn’t get past his double lock, so he went back to bed ... When he got home from work, Jones said he entered his unit to find all of his electronics and furniture […]
Original post on mastodon.scot
mastodon.scot
Reposted by Bodhipaksa
kenwhite.bsky.social
Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later.

harpers.org/archive/1941...
Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompson
harpers.org