☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
@dialecticaldoer.bsky.social
DBT psychotherapist 🧠 social worker 💗 dialectical thinker ⚖️ repentant TV news and entertainment producer 📺 -> Seeker of facts, context, wisdom and equanimity in our time of mass delusion. ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
Pinned
Be Like Sisyphus
How to embrace hopeful pessimism in a moment of despair
www.theatlantic.com
Hopeful Pessimism entails “…simultaneously acknowledging that sense of being cosmically screwed while knowing that finding purpose, and even some kind of hopefulness, is possible in a world that promises nothing.” This is a mood for right now.
In light of today’s events in Venezuela, it’s worth revisiting an official U.S. policy document that hasn’t been widely discussed.
It frames U.S. action in the Western Hemisphere around “U.S. interests,” not imminent public safety.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Brief excerpts below⬇️
It frames U.S. action in the Western Hemisphere around “U.S. interests,” not imminent public safety.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Brief excerpts below⬇️
www.whitehouse.gov
January 3, 2026 at 6:50 PM
In light of today’s events in Venezuela, it’s worth revisiting an official U.S. policy document that hasn’t been widely discussed.
It frames U.S. action in the Western Hemisphere around “U.S. interests,” not imminent public safety.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Brief excerpts below⬇️
It frames U.S. action in the Western Hemisphere around “U.S. interests,” not imminent public safety.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Brief excerpts below⬇️
We should posting unedited video from Jan 6 on a loop as a reminder of what is what.
Two U.S. prosecutors suspended after describing Jan. 6 attack as ‘mob’
The suspensions come in the case of a 2021 Capitol rioter who faces sentencing for unrelated weapons charges.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:38 PM
We should posting unedited video from Jan 6 on a loop as a reminder of what is what.
How Politics Is Changing the Way History Is Taught www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/u...
How Politics Is Changing the Way History Is Taught
www.nytimes.com
October 27, 2025 at 5:13 PM
How Politics Is Changing the Way History Is Taught www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/u...
This is an official US gov website in 2025 alerting the American people that “the well has run dry” for food assistance for hungry families due to the minority political party’s prioritization of “…illegal aliens and gender mutilation...” A blatant misrepresentation of the truth.
October 27, 2025 at 3:13 AM
This is an official US gov website in 2025 alerting the American people that “the well has run dry” for food assistance for hungry families due to the minority political party’s prioritization of “…illegal aliens and gender mutilation...” A blatant misrepresentation of the truth.
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
I’ve had an incredible first week sharing my book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual For Keeping A Democracy with friends across the country. Next up, San Francisco. a.co/d/0GGCiHU
October 26, 2025 at 10:26 PM
I’ve had an incredible first week sharing my book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual For Keeping A Democracy with friends across the country. Next up, San Francisco. a.co/d/0GGCiHU
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
I looked it up once. SNAP takes 2% of the US budget and 93% of the money goes to the actual poor people instead of to the bureaucracy. So it's kind of like if you paid $1000 in taxes, you spent $20 on the poor of which they got to keep $18.60, and you spent $166.66 on the military.
SNAP is probably the most effective federal dollar we spend in terms of long term domestic economic outcomes.
that isn’t why you should support it; you should support it because it is a moral imperative to feed the hungry.
but it’s why even a growth-oriented ghoul shouldn’t oppose it.
that isn’t why you should support it; you should support it because it is a moral imperative to feed the hungry.
but it’s why even a growth-oriented ghoul shouldn’t oppose it.
October 27, 2025 at 2:34 AM
I looked it up once. SNAP takes 2% of the US budget and 93% of the money goes to the actual poor people instead of to the bureaucracy. So it's kind of like if you paid $1000 in taxes, you spent $20 on the poor of which they got to keep $18.60, and you spent $166.66 on the military.
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
Oh?
CNN editor-in-chief Mark Thompson, following a While House meeting, sought to soften the news network's coverage of President Trump's demolition of the East Wing, claiming viewers aren't that interested in the story, according to the Status newsletter.
October 27, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Oh?
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
In America, we have no Kings, no Queens, no nobles, no dictators, and no emperors. We have no slaves, no serfs and no subjects.
Just us—‘We the People.’
Just us—‘We the People.’
June 14, 2025 at 3:31 PM
In America, we have no Kings, no Queens, no nobles, no dictators, and no emperors. We have no slaves, no serfs and no subjects.
Just us—‘We the People.’
Just us—‘We the People.’
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
Here’s the receipts, and here are the links. I advise not watching, it may cause chronic illness.
www.foxnews.com/video/637254...
www.foxnews.com/media/top-tr...
www.foxnews.com/video/637254...
www.foxnews.com/media/top-tr...
![Screen grab of Fox News interview with Oz saying “for folks right now it’s your patriotic duty to be as healthy [as you can].
Special Report May 08, 2025 • 11:05 •
CLIP
Top Trump admin health officials share visions for respective agencies
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials Dr.
Mehmet Oz, Marty Makary, Jay Bhattacharya and Robert F....](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:flwgfsh2mhpoqwjwwt2mesjv/bafkreif3dmxsf3n3522qa4gdumdgv6bflkj7fmge2mmbtm2gjzk456kd3q@jpeg)
May 9, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Here’s the receipts, and here are the links. I advise not watching, it may cause chronic illness.
www.foxnews.com/video/637254...
www.foxnews.com/media/top-tr...
www.foxnews.com/video/637254...
www.foxnews.com/media/top-tr...
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
“Over the top, overdone, ridiculous,” —how one New York plastic surgeon described "Mar-a-Lago Face."
Great piece by @inaeoh.bsky.social
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Great piece by @inaeoh.bsky.social
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
In your face: The brutal aesthetics of MAGA
Does proximity to power rely on a specific look?
www.motherjones.com
March 17, 2025 at 6:56 PM
“Over the top, overdone, ridiculous,” —how one New York plastic surgeon described "Mar-a-Lago Face."
Great piece by @inaeoh.bsky.social
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Great piece by @inaeoh.bsky.social
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
New — Here is a running list of Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) offices that have either been fully eliminated or gutted into non-functionality as a result of today's mass firings (provided to me directly by a CDC staffer):
April 1, 2025 at 3:25 PM
New — Here is a running list of Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) offices that have either been fully eliminated or gutted into non-functionality as a result of today's mass firings (provided to me directly by a CDC staffer):
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
Normally, I repost @hcrichardson.bsky.social’s newsletter, using years of marketing experience to grab the perfect “pull quote” as preface.
Today, she felt she couldn’t relax and repost this Valentine’s Day piece - too much US mayhem.
So I will ⬇️:
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-1...
Today, she felt she couldn’t relax and repost this Valentine’s Day piece - too much US mayhem.
So I will ⬇️:
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-1...
February 14, 2024
I am at home for a short break, and Buddy and I have spent the day taking it easy, a plan I intend to continue for the next several hours.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
February 15, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Normally, I repost @hcrichardson.bsky.social’s newsletter, using years of marketing experience to grab the perfect “pull quote” as preface.
Today, she felt she couldn’t relax and repost this Valentine’s Day piece - too much US mayhem.
So I will ⬇️:
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-1...
Today, she felt she couldn’t relax and repost this Valentine’s Day piece - too much US mayhem.
So I will ⬇️:
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-1...
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
February 13, 2025
February 13, 2025
Four years ago today, on February 13, 2021, Senate Republicans acquitted former president Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
February 14, 2025 at 6:42 AM
February 13, 2025
Reposted by ☯️ Hopeful Pessimist ☯️
DOGE came for the research and statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Education today, declared "fraud" and "waste" and abruptly terminated about $900M in contracts. A lot of what we know about America's schools comes from the data this agency collects. New reporting with @jodiscohen.bsky.social
Elon Musk’s Team Decimates Education Department Arm That Tracks National School Performance
The Trump administration canceled $900 million in contracts overseen by the Institute of Education Sciences, which partners with scientists and education companies to compile and make public data abou...
www.propublica.org
February 11, 2025 at 5:38 AM
DOGE came for the research and statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Education today, declared "fraud" and "waste" and abruptly terminated about $900M in contracts. A lot of what we know about America's schools comes from the data this agency collects. New reporting with @jodiscohen.bsky.social
Let’s get to work.
Trump’s neofascism is here now. Here are 10 things you can do to resist | Robert Reich
America has deep problems, which is why we can’t give up. Protect the vulnerable, organize boycotts and keep fighting
www.theguardian.com
January 25, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Let’s get to work.
Hopeful Pessimism entails “…simultaneously acknowledging that sense of being cosmically screwed while knowing that finding purpose, and even some kind of hopefulness, is possible in a world that promises nothing.” This is a mood for right now.
Be Like Sisyphus
How to embrace hopeful pessimism in a moment of despair
www.theatlantic.com
January 23, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Hopeful Pessimism entails “…simultaneously acknowledging that sense of being cosmically screwed while knowing that finding purpose, and even some kind of hopefulness, is possible in a world that promises nothing.” This is a mood for right now.