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Reposted by SteelPhoenix78

Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 2d

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 7d

Yep.

Of course, he also warned us about AI all the way back in 1984, and nobody seems to be listening to that warning, either...

elmo from sesame street standing in front of a wall

ALT: elmo from sesame street standing in front of a wall

media.tenor.com

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 7d

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 7d

Sorry, but I think you put "in" where you meant to put "under the".

SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 9d

Yep...I know the looks on their faces well.

It's the same look I've had on my face for every mandatory in-person after school faculty meeting I've had to attend throughout my teaching career...Only worse, since these poor souls had to listen to Trump & Hegseth run their mouths.

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 9d

Thanks! Will do!

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Reposted by SteelPhoenix78

KPD Max von Sydnow 🇨🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼🇺🇦🇬🇱 @mpdeejay.bsky.social · 9d

Nonzero chance that there are several Air Force or Navy officers whose takeaway from this is that they cannot trust a nuclear launch order.

FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 9d

Trump: I'm not a fan of some of the ships you do. I'm a very aesthetic person and I don't like some of the ships you're doing, aesthetically.

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 9d

Nice!

Finally got started on my own gym journey a month or so ago...Haven't made a ton of progress, but I have made some - Have come down from 296 lbs to 273 lbs since I started near the end of August!

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 9d

(2/2) If that's an accurate assessment, then Jesus, it sounds like this was a lot like every chicken-shit after-school faculty meeting I've ever been to that could have & should have been an E-mail...Only worse!

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 9d

(1/2) I haven't gotten all the details, but let me see if I understand:

This thing that #Trump & #Hegseth called all the generals & admirals in for was more of the same chest-thumping we've already seen for months, coupled with Hegseth trying to plug his book?

Is *that* what you're telling me?!?

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 9d

In response to Ellison's horseshit, I quote the good Captain Mal Reynolds: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmej...

I aim to misbehave

YouTube video by Sean Mahan

www.youtube.com

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 9d

I will grant that there are times when it is absolutely necessary to defend an otherwise peaceful society through force of arms (to quote an old Roman saying, "Si vis pacem, para bellum"), but too often, people like Hegseth use that unfortunate truth as an excuse to go looking for a fight.

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 9d

Absolutely.

"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said.

We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.

Ira Byock"

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 10d

I get that; it's pretty much exactly what I said here earlier in response to OP: bsky.app/profile/stee...

SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 10d

I totally get that...I just don't give Trump credit for coming up with all of it. He's a stupid, senile mouthpiece for the actual fascists. The thing is, as the focus of the personality cult that is MAGA, he's also the weak point of the whole thing...

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 10d

In light of the huge amount of debt that's included in this deal, I'm wondering if it will ultimately end up with the Saudi conglomerate selling off EA & all its component studios for parts...Your thoughts?

SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 10d

Once he's out of the picture, there's no one else who could rally the base as well as he could.

SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 10d

I totally get that...I just don't give Trump credit for coming up with all of it. He's a stupid, senile mouthpiece for the actual fascists. The thing is, as the focus of the personality cult that is MAGA, he's also the weak point of the whole thing...

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 10d

If it were coming from anyone else, I'd call it a strategy, but Trump's not capable of forming one. If anything, he's just parroting what Stephen Miller & the others are dumping in his ears without fully grasping it.

SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 10d

Remember, the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over & over again, and expecting a different result

SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 10d

That's the thing, I don't think this is part of any coordinated plan of his, I think he's just a complete loon who's throwing everything he can at the wall to see what sticks, both in terms of distracting from the Epstein files, as well as trying to run the economy...

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 11d

Jesus...Does anyone have any idea about a motive?

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 20d

Well said, Thunk!

LOK'TAR!!!

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Reposted by SteelPhoenix78

THUNK DA PEON @thunkdapeon.bsky.social · 20d

THUNK KNOW IT LOOK DARK—LOTS OF REASONS TO GIVE UP HOPE.

BUT THUNK BELIEVE SOMETHING WITH WHOLE HEART—ONE DAY, KINDNESS GONNA WIN. NOT TODAY, MEBBE NOT TOMORROW, BUT SOMEDAY.

WHY THUNK SO SURE? CUZ KINDNESS KEEP SHOWING UP EVEN WHEN EVREETHING TERRIBLE. KINDNESS STUBBORN LIKE DAT.

WE NOT DOOMED.

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Reposted by SteelPhoenix78

Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 20d

"Fascism is a temper tantrum disguised as an ideology" is a great line

Gareth Watkins @garethwatkins.bsky.social · 21d

Dam been writing a book about this and she just TikToked it in 90 seconds.

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SteelPhoenix78 @steelphoenix78.bsky.social · 21d

“The figure of the tyrant-monster is known to the mythologies, folk traditions, legends, and even nightmares of the world; and his characteristics are everywhere essentially the same. He is the hoarder of the general benefit. He is the monster avid for the greedy rights of ‘my and mine.’ The havoc wrought by him is described in mythology and fairy tale as being universal throughout his domain. This may be no more than his household, his own tortured psyche, or the lives that he blights with the touch of his friendship and assistance; or it may amount to the extent of his civilization.
“The inflated ego of the tyrant is a curse to himself and his world—no matter how his affairs may seem to prosper. Self-terrorized, fear-haunted, alert at every hand to meet and battle back the anticipated aggressions of his environment, which are primarily the reflections of the uncontrollable impulses to acquisition within himself, the giant of self-achieved independence is the world’s messenger of disaster, even though, in his mind, he may entertain himself with humane intentions.
“Wherever he sets his hand there is a cry (if not from the housetops, then—more miserably—within every heart): a cry for the redeeming hero, the carrier of the shining blade, whose blow, whose touch, whose existence, will liberate the land.”
--Joseph Campbell, "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" (1949)

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