@signsanssignified.bsky.social
Guitarist, pragmatic progressive with background in history, sociology, film semiotics. Obsessive social media kibitzer & avid cook.
Pinned
Let's recap the timeline for those of you who haven't been following.
Friday: a deportation flight containing 88 Brazilians takes off from American soil. The deportees are handcuffed and bound in leg irons, as is standard practice on such flights. The Americans are flying into a trap.
Friday: a deportation flight containing 88 Brazilians takes off from American soil. The deportees are handcuffed and bound in leg irons, as is standard practice on such flights. The Americans are flying into a trap.
I swear to God, Lula and Lewandowski have got to be laughing their asses off at the Plantalto that the result of their stunt is a Trump temper tantrum against Colombia.
You’ve got to read the whole thread.
It’s way past time that happened. Those charges were obviously politically motivated from the get go.
A judge has tossed the racketeering charges filed by the Georgia attorney general against activists who protested against Atlanta's Cop City facility.
Fulton judge dismisses RICO charges against training center protesters
In his order issued Tuesday, the judge said Attorney General Chris Carr did not have the authority to bring RICO charges.
www.ajc.com
January 1, 2026 at 8:26 PM
It’s way past time that happened. Those charges were obviously politically motivated from the get go.
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5 yrs ago next Tuesday, an American president who lost an election but refused to accept the loss incited a violent attempt to overthrow the election.
Instead of being treated like a pariah, that president was actually voted back into the White House, a much bigger condemnation of us than him.
Instead of being treated like a pariah, that president was actually voted back into the White House, a much bigger condemnation of us than him.
December 29, 2025 at 11:19 PM
5 yrs ago next Tuesday, an American president who lost an election but refused to accept the loss incited a violent attempt to overthrow the election.
Instead of being treated like a pariah, that president was actually voted back into the White House, a much bigger condemnation of us than him.
Instead of being treated like a pariah, that president was actually voted back into the White House, a much bigger condemnation of us than him.
WTFF? What possible security arrangements can be made with a strsight face if AfD, ‘the anti-migrant, pro-Kremlin party,’ is part of the negotiations? Exactly what is the source of threats to European security, if not Russia? Bjork?
At the insistence of JD Vance, Germany's new Nazi Party, the AfD, is invited to participate in the Munich Security Conference. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
Germany’s far-right AfD invited to join Munich Security Conference 2026
Move comes after party’s exclusion for last two years was lambasted by JD Vance at this year’s event
www.theguardian.com
December 29, 2025 at 5:36 PM
WTFF? What possible security arrangements can be made with a strsight face if AfD, ‘the anti-migrant, pro-Kremlin party,’ is part of the negotiations? Exactly what is the source of threats to European security, if not Russia? Bjork?
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The economic disruption/sabotage of deporting millions of workers at time of near full employment is only just beginning to be felt.
“Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/24/s...
“Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/24/s...
South Texas homebuilders say ICE arrests have slowed work
More than 380 people attended an impromptu meeting that industry leaders in the Rio Grande Valley hosted to draw attention to the chilling effect ICE arrests have had on construction.
www.texastribune.org
December 28, 2025 at 1:57 PM
The economic disruption/sabotage of deporting millions of workers at time of near full employment is only just beginning to be felt.
“Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/24/s...
“Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/24/s...
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We Are Not Negotiating a Ukrainian Peace: Repeated Failures of Emissaries are not Attempts to Reach a Respectable End to War but a Dishonorable Effort to Wear Zelensky Down
open.substack.com/pub/steadyst...
Clarity and Candor. A Must Read.
open.substack.com/pub/steadyst...
Clarity and Candor. A Must Read.
We Are Not Negotiating a Ukrainian Peace: Repeated Failures of Emissaries are not Attempts to Reach a Respectable End to War but a Dishonorable Effort to Wear Zelensky Down
The Steady State | by Bill Piekney
open.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 8:12 PM
We Are Not Negotiating a Ukrainian Peace: Repeated Failures of Emissaries are not Attempts to Reach a Respectable End to War but a Dishonorable Effort to Wear Zelensky Down
open.substack.com/pub/steadyst...
Clarity and Candor. A Must Read.
open.substack.com/pub/steadyst...
Clarity and Candor. A Must Read.
Reposted
If I were innocent, I would want everything released to prove my innocence.
December 27, 2025 at 9:29 PM
If I were innocent, I would want everything released to prove my innocence.
If so, after all the destruction they’ve wrought on our country, they can be invited to perform an anatomical impossibility.
When we inevitably start removing Trump's name, images, etc. from everything the fuhrer put his name and image on, many whites will no doubt complain about it as an "attack" on their "heritage."
December 28, 2025 at 5:38 PM
If so, after all the destruction they’ve wrought on our country, they can be invited to perform an anatomical impossibility.
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Ther insatiable greed is killing us. Literally.
December 28, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Ther insatiable greed is killing us. Literally.
Reposted
Uninformed car salesman Elon Musk has criticised NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani for naming 31-year FDNY veteran Lillian Bonsignore as the next fire commissioner.
December 27, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Uninformed car salesman Elon Musk has criticised NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani for naming 31-year FDNY veteran Lillian Bonsignore as the next fire commissioner.
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I don't think most Americans have any idea how dangerous it is for a president to declare an entire ethnic group to be "garbage." This is how the worst atrocities in human history have begun.
December 27, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I don't think most Americans have any idea how dangerous it is for a president to declare an entire ethnic group to be "garbage." This is how the worst atrocities in human history have begun.
Reposted
I say his gently, but…
There’s something unspeakably shameful The United States letting people go hungry.
Not because its government doesn’t fix it —
but because tomorrow a few private Americans could, and never notice the cost.
That’s the part that sits wrong.
There’s something unspeakably shameful The United States letting people go hungry.
Not because its government doesn’t fix it —
but because tomorrow a few private Americans could, and never notice the cost.
That’s the part that sits wrong.
December 26, 2025 at 7:08 AM
I say his gently, but…
There’s something unspeakably shameful The United States letting people go hungry.
Not because its government doesn’t fix it —
but because tomorrow a few private Americans could, and never notice the cost.
That’s the part that sits wrong.
There’s something unspeakably shameful The United States letting people go hungry.
Not because its government doesn’t fix it —
but because tomorrow a few private Americans could, and never notice the cost.
That’s the part that sits wrong.
I’m not familiar with these people but the guy cites a constitutional phrase about executive power sans references to constitutional limits on that power while the woman argues the unitary executive theory’s threat to democracy & markets, and doesn’t let him interrupt. Good for her.
PHILLIP: “We’re either a free market, or an economy that looks like China or Russia where you have to go to one guy to get answers on everything. If that's the kind of country you want, get ready for the next president who doesn’t wear your shirt color to do it.”
December 27, 2025 at 3:26 PM
I’m not familiar with these people but the guy cites a constitutional phrase about executive power sans references to constitutional limits on that power while the woman argues the unitary executive theory’s threat to democracy & markets, and doesn’t let him interrupt. Good for her.
Yeah, and if we keep it up, we can cut the country’s population in half by getting rid of all those pesky libruls, and the rest of us’ll have a great time as the economy, our education & other systems crumple in a heap. Won’t that be terrific?
That's 2.5 million less taxpayers
Kristi Noem: "It's amazing what President Trump has done. 2.5 million people have left our country because of his leadership."
December 26, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Yeah, and if we keep it up, we can cut the country’s population in half by getting rid of all those pesky libruls, and the rest of us’ll have a great time as the economy, our education & other systems crumple in a heap. Won’t that be terrific?
Reposted
Thanks to @magaziner.house.gov, who named and shamed Noem in a televised Congressional hearing on Dec 12th — it only took him one minute to plead the case of Donna Hughes Brown. When big social media influencers highlight the work that Dems are doing to help Trump’s voters, voters will take notice.
December 25, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Thanks to @magaziner.house.gov, who named and shamed Noem in a televised Congressional hearing on Dec 12th — it only took him one minute to plead the case of Donna Hughes Brown. When big social media influencers highlight the work that Dems are doing to help Trump’s voters, voters will take notice.
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Way to go Marty! The Supreme Court’s refusal on Tuesday to let the Trump administration deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area was in large part the result of a friend-of-the-court brief submitted by a Georgetown University law professor named Martin S. Lederman.
How a Scholar Nudged the Supreme Court Toward Its Troop Deployment Ruling
www.nytimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Way to go Marty! The Supreme Court’s refusal on Tuesday to let the Trump administration deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area was in large part the result of a friend-of-the-court brief submitted by a Georgetown University law professor named Martin S. Lederman.
All true, but in re the only metric prioritized by Trump—massive media coverage of supposed cost-cutting measures that will never be examined by his cultists—it was, literally & figuratively, a smashing success.
Why DOGE Failed
Many posts have discussed federal deficits and the federal debt . Like previous efforts to reduce the deficit by cutting " waste, ...
www.bessettepitney.net
December 24, 2025 at 3:25 PM
All true, but in re the only metric prioritized by Trump—massive media coverage of supposed cost-cutting measures that will never be examined by his cultists—it was, literally & figuratively, a smashing success.
When efforts to curb the spread of hate in public contexts are twisted into threats to the ‘freedom’ to do the spreading, the implied ideal state of ‘free speech’ is one in which those targeted are brutalized into retreating from public spaces, online or off. It’s about white power, not freedom.
They Seek to Curb Online Hate. The U.S. Accuses Them of Censorship.
www.nytimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 2:52 PM
When efforts to curb the spread of hate in public contexts are twisted into threats to the ‘freedom’ to do the spreading, the implied ideal state of ‘free speech’ is one in which those targeted are brutalized into retreating from public spaces, online or off. It’s about white power, not freedom.
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#CBS #BariWeiss
"Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices," Sharyn Alfonsi wrote. "It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.
"Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices," Sharyn Alfonsi wrote. "It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.
December 22, 2025 at 7:16 PM
#CBS #BariWeiss
"Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices," Sharyn Alfonsi wrote. "It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.
"Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices," Sharyn Alfonsi wrote. "It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.
We’ll call them ‘Dreadnauts.’
Battleships are just big targets in a war with another great power. If we have money to throw around we should be building more attack submarines, which are dramatically more survivable in all the scenarios that matter. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/u...
Trump Announces New ‘Trump Class’ of Warships
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:05 PM
We’ll call them ‘Dreadnauts.’
Big gubmint, Trump style: “My friend doesn’t like you. I don’t like you, neither.’
“We will let bridges collapse”
Sean Duffy on blue states: "What I can do is I can pull their money. That's the leverage I do have ... I guarantee you that the federal taxpayer is not going to fund their roads and bridges and their systems when they are putting illegals on the roads."
December 23, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Big gubmint, Trump style: “My friend doesn’t like you. I don’t like you, neither.’
That’s funny—I did convince myself—it wasn’t hard—that Vance is a creep.*
* To be fair, he did most of the work for me.
* To be fair, he did most of the work for me.
December 23, 2025 at 1:38 PM
That’s funny—I did convince myself—it wasn’t hard—that Vance is a creep.*
* To be fair, he did most of the work for me.
* To be fair, he did most of the work for me.
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Anyone who sends people to concentration camps to be tortured should be tried and, if found guilty, hanged like the Nazis they are.
December 22, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Anyone who sends people to concentration camps to be tortured should be tried and, if found guilty, hanged like the Nazis they are.
I had no idea that Trump & his goons were ‘Marxist Democrats’ (whatever that’s supposed to mean), let alone the ‘radical left’ variety (are there other varieties available? Or are they like Howard Johnson’s ice cream—58 flavors but only 3 are for sale?).
The House Speaker warned of “radical left Marxist Democrats dismantling the Republic” and calling on “happy warriors” to emulate Charlie Kirk.
Mike Johnson Delivers Paranoid Speech About 2026 Midterms
The House Speaker warned of “radical left Marxist Democrats dismantling the Republic” and calling on “happy warriors” to emulate Charlie Kirk.
trib.al
December 21, 2025 at 9:07 PM
I had no idea that Trump & his goons were ‘Marxist Democrats’ (whatever that’s supposed to mean), let alone the ‘radical left’ variety (are there other varieties available? Or are they like Howard Johnson’s ice cream—58 flavors but only 3 are for sale?).
And you can believe me because I have a long record of honesty, am always right & never lie.
Btw, all of my past political opponents who by the merest coincidence took swan dives off the roofs of hi-rises would attest to the above, were they still available.
Btw, all of my past political opponents who by the merest coincidence took swan dives off the roofs of hi-rises would attest to the above, were they still available.
Yeah, russia is fine, putin has to go though.
December 21, 2025 at 9:00 PM
And you can believe me because I have a long record of honesty, am always right & never lie.
Btw, all of my past political opponents who by the merest coincidence took swan dives off the roofs of hi-rises would attest to the above, were they still available.
Btw, all of my past political opponents who by the merest coincidence took swan dives off the roofs of hi-rises would attest to the above, were they still available.
Reposted